Chapter 1 The Beginning

Facing the scene before him, Fang Senyan took a deep breath.

"It really is true, Mbenja. You actually know even this supreme secret of the Dybbuk clan! Then your true identity could actually be…"

*I really hope I'm wrong, otherwise, will there eventually be a battle between us?* In this short period of time, the successive waves of big black ants finally had a noticeable effect. The poisonous gas in the cave was finally neutralized, and they surged in like a black torrent, their target not the sun altar in the middle, but those plants around the altar that were already flowering.

These ants began to climb up the stems of these plants, then used their sharp mandibles to crush the flowers, and carry them back to their nests. Only with these flowers could their ant queen reproduce young queens and split the colony again. Simply put, these flowers are the only way to cure the ants' infertility and strengthen the colony. No wonder they were desperately trying to snatch them.

Fang Senyan noticed that these ants weren't uninterested in the Sun Ladder on the flower platform, but the ditch surrounding the platform was like an impassable chasm to them. Once an ant fell in, it was immediately corroded clean by the mysterious liquid.

Now that the poisonous gas inside had been cleared away, Fang Senyan took a deep breath. He couldn't wait any longer, nor did he dare to wait any longer, because time was passing mercilessly. Furthermore, it was completely unclear how long Mbenja could delay them outside. To avoid any unforeseen delays, the necessary risks had to be taken.

He stepped directly onto the white skull path. The feeling under his feet was that the skulls actually had a slight elasticity. He didn't know what method had been used to keep these skulls, which had been through thousands of years, in the fresh, moist state they were in just after having their skin and flesh stripped off.

Once Fang Senyan acted, he strode unhesitatingly towards the sun altar in the middle. Bright sunlight shone down from the top, clear and bright, and one could even see the dust floating in the air.

The colorful leaves of the Sun Ladder swayed slightly in the wind, and were even slightly translucent. One could even see that its leaf veins were as clear as human blood vessels, and it seemed that nutrient-filled liquid was being transported through the conduits.

Fang Senyan took a deep breath, and Mbenja's drunken admonition from the night before flowed through his mind again: when picking the Sun Ladder, only pick the withered leaves, and be quick, and don't touch the other branches and leaves, otherwise it will cause other unknown consequences.

But at this moment, Fang Senyan saw a corner of a light blue stone exposed in the soil in the flower platform. The texture and luster of this "stone" were very strange, completely unlike anything that should exist on Earth! His heart stirred, and he observed carefully, then actually found several similar light blue "stone" fragments on the surrounding cave walls!

Suddenly, such a scene appeared before Fang Senyan's eyes: thousands or tens of thousands of years ago, a meteor streaked across the sky above the African continent. The meteor was about to burn out in the atmosphere, and then disintegrated before falling to the ground, scattering, spreading out, and as the fragments fell, they successfully shattered the top of a hidden underground cave, creating several large and small "skylights" in this originally sealed cave. This was the reason why the cave's ceiling showed such a bizarre topography.

And the largest fragment after the meteor disintegrated, after piercing through the cave ceiling, smashed into the chamber of this "sun altar." Perhaps because this meteorite carried a radiation band that had never existed on Earth, it mutated the local plants, or perhaps the core of the meteorite originally contained the seeds of life. Coupled with the special environment and suitable light, heat, and moisture, a plant that had never appeared on Earth propagated here. However, because the environment suitable for its growth was extremely harsh, it could not reproduce in large quantities.

After many more years, a small tribe called the Dybbuk discovered this place by chance. After a long period of exploration, they discovered a way to master the energy within this plant, and then became a huge empire. They believed that the power bestowed by the sun god was hidden in this plant, and that by obtaining that power, they could gain access to the sun god, so they named it the Sun Ladder.

At this moment, Fang Senyan also noticed that next to the main root of this "Sun Ladder," there were actually several independent young seedlings! The branches and leaves of the Sun Ladder above it were even more strangely shaped like a womb, suggesting that the Sun Ladder also needed to reproduce and nurture the next generation, and in a viviparous manner!

However, the shocking thing was that most of these young seedlings had withered and died, and the cause of death was actually that their mother plant had stretched out several tentacle-like roots from the stems beside them... tightly strangling them!

What a cruel and intelligent plant this was!!

It must have felt that the environment here, the nutrients, and the moisture were only enough for it to grow. If its seedlings propagated, then they would definitely compete for the limited survival resources suitable for their growth, and the mother plant would definitely die! So although this plant was reproducing based on instinct, it was actually even willing to strangle its own offspring to maintain its right to survive! How indifferent and cruel!

Seeing such a scene, Fang Senyan's heart stirred, and he set his sights on the largest and most robust seedling! Although this seedling was tightly entangled by the mother plant's roots, even though its brothers and sisters had withered and died, it was still resisting stubbornly, using its branches to hold on to its last chance of survival. Such tenacity and stubbornness immediately moved Fang Senyan, and he shot into action without hesitation.

The superhuman personal abilities of contractors were of course incomparable to ordinary people. Fang Senyan directly broke the root that was tightly wrapped around the seedling with a backhand. When he pulled, he found that the root was unspeakably tough, almost like pulling on a wire. But Fang Senyan exerted his strength and still broke the root. From the cross-section of the root, even more light yellow liquid was ejected, looking like the scene of a human arm spurting blood after being chopped off.

After breaking the root, Fang Senyan's palm slammed into the loose, moist soil, digging out the still-living seedling growing in the soil without any damage, and threw it into the team space. Immediately afterwards, Fang Senyan grabbed the fist-sized light blue meteorite fragment, and then turned around and fled!

Fang Senyan's series of actions seemed complicated, but they were as smooth as flowing clouds, all done in one go! It probably only wasted less than two seconds.

The Sun Ladder mother plant, feeling that its tentacles had been broken, suddenly fell into a state of rage. The thick stem trembled, and suddenly mud flew everywhere, actually whipping towards Fang Senyan like a man-eating flower! Fang Senyan had now finished all the bad things, and didn't dare to resist this thing's attack head-on, so he quickly rolled away on the spot. A thought flashed through his mind: "Should I take the Sun Ladder right away? No! Of course not! I have no interest in becoming a tian shi (heavenly eater) or a mutated mature body."

But when Fang Senyan ran out of the sun altar cave with joy, his pupils suddenly shrank. The Sun Ladder mother plant's rampage had obviously triggered some mechanism! To Fang Senyan's left, a stone door that looked covered in dust was shaking and opening! Inside, a gaunt, hunched, damp, and withered figure shivered, then slowly stood up! The dust on its body was constantly falling, and it looked like it had accumulated for at least several hundred years.

Fang Senyan took a deep breath.

He knew that this was the final test he had to face for not listening to Mbenja and playing his cards as he pleased.

The withered figure walked out slowly like a robot. One could vaguely see its white hair, tattered coat, and hunched body. In the sunlight, the thing's upper and lower gums were exposed. The yellow teeth and dry, black gums showed the tight muscles on the skeleton contracting to barely maintain its forward movement.

Obviously, this was an Infected Mature Body that Fang Senyan had encountered before, but he didn't know why the Dybbuk people would let it serve as the guardian of the last line of defense!

"Ahhhhh..."

The withered figure actually let out a long sigh. The muscles on Fang Senyan's face couldn't help twitching again!! This was the first time he had encountered a talking Infected Mature Body! This implicitly meant that this guy should have some intelligence, which also meant that Fang Senyan was bound to face a hard battle! A life-and-death struggle!!

"How many years has it been since I saw sunlight? A hundred years, two hundred years? In that endless darkness, how much I longed for the warmth of the sun!" The guy actually raised his hand and shouted. One could see that after it made this movement, the dregs and tattered clothes on its body were rustling down, and even the exposed spine was rattling. At this time, it suddenly turned its head to look at Fang Senyan, and issued a hysterical roar of greed and hunger: "But! I crave that abundant flesh and blood even more, those steaming intestines, that still-beating heart, the joy and sweetness of fresh blood splattering everywhere with one bite!"