At the edge of the dry forest, Mildred Hempree and Blitz Tell looked at the silhouettes of students swallowed up by the mist.
"This is his chance...you didn't say that either."
Mildred Hemprey watched the figure step into the mist and return to the cabin.
…
The thick gray mist like melted cheese pulled Lu Li away. They blocked his companions and blocked the sounds around him, surging silently.
Just when the sticky feeling was about to slow down Lu Li's steps, they disappeared without a trace like the last wisp of smoke rising from a burned-out campfire.
Lu Li walked out of the fog.
It is broad and gloomy, dim and oppressive, with entangled vines, twisted branches and the dead jungle stretching in the distance frozen in the sky.
The hanging roots of the dome were like scallops inside a shell, with slightly shorter roots hanging high in the sky like stalactites. The changes in the spatial scale seemed to have reduced consciousness. Unfortunately, Lu Li could not find any familiar sights around him.
Lu Li took out the compass from his inner pocket. The pointer pointed straight towards the strangely twisted dead forest ahead. He opened the eyeball wooden box and summoned the merchant Anthony to confirm the position.
The compass could only keep Lu Li from getting lost in the vast swamp. Businessman Anthony could help him find the exit, but the "exit" that Ernie Hamilton Wayne pointed to and the "exit" out of the swamp may not be pointing to the same direction.
Same goal.
Businessman Anthony quickly felt that he was confirming that he was in the northern part of the swamp. If he wanted to go back, he only had to go south and enter the dry forest in the distance.
Looking around to make sure there were no clues left around, Lu Li walked around the swamp and approached the dry forest.
It seemed safer to stay in a swamp with a clear view than a dry forest that obscured his perception. But for Lu Li, the woods were his natural ally.
wetlands.
As a forbidden area close to Midnight City, the old sewer, and the Giant Tree Academy, the swamp has always been reclaimed and weakened. To a certain extent, the surface of the earth may be more dangerous than this dim world.
But that doesn't mean it's safe here. The swamp is a restricted area after all, and there are still terrifying entities lingering in unknown areas and depths.
And this is deep in the swamp.
Lu Li, who was alone, didn't seem to be lonely.
Keeping his distance from the dead mire where no one knew what was hidden, Lu Li, who advanced for a few minutes, only gained some distance from the dead forest in the distance.
It was farther than expected. Fortunately, the broken mire revealed a broken path leading to the dead forest. The surroundings were open enough, so there was no need to worry about sudden attacks. Just be careful of the mire around you.
When the shoes stepped on the soft soil, the edge of the soil slipped into the mire, causing ripples, and then was pushed back to the shore by more violent ripples that suddenly appeared.
There was a tremor deep under my feet. The surrounding swamp reflected the dim yellow dome in a viscous ripple, making the world muddy.
Lu Li, who was looking around, looked up to the east, and there was faint vibration coming from the ground.
Expand the map, and the east part of the map is marked as the mining area dug by the earth dwellers.
The vibration should originate from the mining area.
The tremor lasted for tens of seconds, leaving behind a turbid quagmire that had not yet calmed down.
Lu Li looked around again. Bubbles and blurry outlines were rising from many broken swamps, as if something had surfaced and then quickly disappeared, as if nothing had happened.
Marking their location and avoiding them, Lu Li stepped forward through the swamp, his steps unwavering.
Next, the underground tremors coming from the mining area occurred several times at a near-fixed frequency. Each time, the swamp was muddied, revealing a safe path leading to the dense forest, and at the same time, many things in the swamp were washed ashore.
For example, when you are stranded on the shore, your clothes are covered in mud and cannot be distinguished in color.
The branches opened up the dirty clothes, and an arm bone was wrapped, covered with bite marks that were either new or old.
Throwing away the branches, Lu Li walked around the swamp near the edge of the dead forest.
Stepping into the dark and dead dead forest, there is no breeze, only the sound of footsteps, they are already dead.
Lu Li walking in the dead forest was like walking in a cemetery with tombstones standing there, peaceful and solemn.
What disturbed the peace here was not Lu Li's arrival, but the subtle, low-pitched shouts.
"Exorcist? This way, I'm over here..."
Following the sound, a strange shadow was entangled and tightly bound by the roots of a dead tree. It was disgusting, the deformed spider shape swallowed the poor girl, and the corrosive liquid caused the body of the half-remaining girl to ooze pus and decay.
But the situation is not as disgusting and abominable as it appears.
The spider body and the girl's body belong to the same consciousness, only the corrosion and pus actually affects the spider girl's body.
"I'm from the Giant Tree Academy..." The spider girl trapped in the tree root cage asked Lu Li for help, throwing out an academy badge similar to Lu Li's badge: "Exorcist, help me get out."
The two badges are put together to form the outline of a giant tree. This is the badge of the lower college.
Lu Li's eyes fell on the tree roots that were tightly bound to the spider girl and formed the stomach pouch for slow digestion.
"These trees are alive. Don't get close, they will attack you." reminded the spider girl in the prison. Therefore, she did not struggle and endured the pain of being digested as nutrients.
"What should I do."
"Try using fire."
Lu Li did not take the suggestion and focused his mind to feel the woods. But it was the same as the feeling of stepping into this dry forest. This was a cemetery. The trees erected tombstones for themselves. There was no life here. Instilling humanity might just make the people lose their temper.
The trunk becomes soil and new plants are born.
"It has nothing to do with the woods, it's not part of this place."
And the crux of the problem: Lu Li couldn't feel emotions from the root prison.
Friendliness, welcome, rejection, hatred... none of these.
For Lu Li, who is the controller of [Tree Whisperer], the real answer is clearly revealed.
"What's the meaning?"
"It may be some kind of weird thing that mimics the appearance of tree roots. Your departure will not cause the forest to resist."
The slightly startled spider girl tried to lift up her sharp forelimbs and pierce the roots. The prison squirmed slightly, then contracted when it received the damage, then retracted into the ground, releasing the annoyed spider girl.
No accidents, no conspiracy.
If Lu Li had not appeared, the spider girl would most likely have had to resist before being corroded to the point of being seriously injured, and then discovering the truth. The predator was almost eaten by the weak prey.
Lu Li stood nearby, quietly waiting for Spider Girl to treat her injury.
The spider girl didn't care about the severe injuries that would be fatal to humans. She took out the crushed herbs from her waist pocket and smeared them on the surface of her body, mixing them with the rotten and thick juice formed by digestion, covering her body like sludge.
"I'm so lucky that I met the Exorcist. Before entering, we were all talking about whether there was a chance to meet you. Can I follow you and become your companion?"
The clever and lively spider girl swears by her endless chatter, which brings excitement to the "cemetery".