Chapter 1 After Excavation and Climbing

After a period of digging and climbing, the five of us finally broke through the rock layer at the top of the mangrove trunk and arrived at the next level of space above where the mangroves took root.

As soon as we crawled out of the mangrove trunk, Fatty collapsed on the ground, stretching out his limbs to form a big "大" character. He gasped for breath and muttered, "Damn, damn, damn, I'm so tired, this is really a miserable job…"

Indeed, Fatty hadn't rested for a moment, constantly digging upwards. I don't know how long he dug before finally breaking through the mangrove trunk in the rock layer and reaching the next level.

I crawled out of the hole I had dug in the mangrove trunk, stretched my muscles, and yawned.

I looked up at the mangrove tree. The mangrove didn't stop growing when it emerged from the ground. After its trunk pierced through the rock layer, it grew another seven or eight meters before stopping. The mangrove's canopy also began to spread its branches as the trunk stopped growing.

The mangrove's branches were like vines, extending to every corner of this space. There were no leaves on the branches, only bare stalks like vines. The ends of the branches glowed like red light bulbs. The red light at the ends of the extended branches lit up one after another, gradually illuminating the entire area.

The red light complemented the blue and green light on the surrounding walls, and the blended colors and light had a strange feel to them.

There were also some mangrove branches like ivy, climbing along the ground, stone walls, and some unclear rock formations, disappearing into the unseen darkness.

Some branches gradually forked during the spreading process, and the forked branches continued to extend.

During this period, the sound of soil and rock collapsing appeared sporadically in other areas of the space. Some sounds came from above us, some from in front of us, some from our left, and some from our right.

The closest sound to us was in the area beneath our feet.

I listened carefully to the sound of the soil and rock collapsing. It sounded a bit like – trees taking root, sprouting, and breaking through the soil.

The rejuvenation of all things seemed to happen in just an instant.

The rocks beneath our feet were broken through by the mangroves, and red trunks emerged from the ground, growing rapidly.

This was the second mangrove tree.

The second mangrove grew rapidly, just like the first mangrove we had climbed earlier. Its branches spread, and it quickly grew into a strangely shaped "towering tree" like the first mangrove.

During the growth of the second mangrove, I saw many mangrove branches extending from the darkness, like long, red, winding snakes, with their heads glowing with a bright red light, probing into unknown areas.

As more and more red lights lit up, the entire space became brighter and brighter. The red light gradually covered the influence of the green light, becoming the main color of light in this space.

"One, two, three…"

Fatty counted the number of mangroves in the space. He had the best eyesight here and could see the layout and structure of the mangroves, while we couldn't see clearly.

Fortunately, the mangroves were not aggressive. The scattered branches were not attracted to us, but spread out according to their own growth process.

At first, the growth and extension of these mangrove branches seemed very chaotic, in a disordered state. But after they had all grown and were looked at together, it was found that their growth presented a wonderfully harmonious state.

The different mangrove branches cooperated with each other, intertwined with each other, combined in twos and threes, complementing each other. It was as if they were not individual entities, but a whole.

We stood there staring at the growth of the mangroves, feeling the changes brought about by the mangroves' growth. The space became brighter and brighter, as if spring had returned to the earth and all things were recovering.

This wonderful process made me forget that these wonderful mangroves were formed by the combination of the cursed "pitaya" that had run out of people's skulls.

After a long time, the "rumbling" of the soil and rock collapsing finally stopped. All the mangroves had grown, and the bright light in the space was evenly distributed in every corner of the space. Looking around, it felt like we were wrapped in the mangrove trunks.

Although the space was brighter due to the influence of the mangroves, the red light was difficult to get used to, making it difficult to see the structure of the space clearly. We could only make out some vague things, like boxes or rock formations, but we couldn't distinguish them clearly.

"How many mangrove trees are there?" I asked Fatty.

Fatty pondered for a while and said, "I counted a bit messily, some were blocked and couldn't be seen clearly. I feel like there are at least fifty."

Fifty mangrove trees meant that there were at least fifty spaces like the one we had just passed through around us.

The next second after we carefully observed the mangroves and the objects in the space, the red light suddenly changed. With a flash of golden light, the red light turned into golden light, and the space instantly brightened up, as if it were daytime.

The color of the intertwined mangroves also slowly changed, gradually turning golden and becoming translucent.

We could vaguely see some rapidly flashing particles in the translucent branches, as if they were transmitting something.