Chapter 27 Saving Time

To save time, Hao Ren planned to have the elven engineering team split into two groups and start working on Sunset Volcano and the Tree of Life simultaneously. Although the situation at Sunset Volcano was complex, the survey data was detailed, so there was not much to worry about. Hao Ren decided to personally supervise the excavation work in the Tree of Life area.

Of course, there was an even bigger reason: he heard that the scenery there was good, and he decided to take some photos to post on the Inspectors' Forum...

The Hollettans didn't expect that the fellows Hao Ren brought with him would be so pragmatic, traveling so far to start work directly without even taking a sip of water. However, they quickly organized accompanying teams to go to the two sites. This time, the teleportation array was out of the question. The scale of the elven excavator brigade was simply beyond the limit of teleportation technology. Fortunately, the elves' aircraft were not slow, and it only took a few tens of minutes to cross the entire Holletta.

So the elves' airborne excavator unit inquired about the location of their destination, and then directly ascended into the clouds and flew into the distance, while Hao Ren and the others followed Marshal Ofra through the teleportation array to the Tree of Life. Another group going to Sunset Volcano was the responsibility of the Pope.

Spatial teleportation was of course faster. When Hao Ren and the others arrived near the Tree of Life, the excavator unit was still flying on the road, giving everyone a little time to look at the surrounding scenery.

The Tree of Life is located in a vast and vibrant mountainous area. The entire area is surrounded by gentle mountains, forming a gently sloping basin. Within the basin, there is a dense forest, full of greenery. The stronghold established by the Radiant Church in this area is an old monastery on a nearby mountain. This building, like the churches in the other two sealed areas, is ancient and weathered and inconspicuous in appearance, but it is one of the oldest and most sacred facilities in the world.

The teleportation array near the Tree of Life is set directly next to the monastery church: the Kingdom Knights are not stationed here. The entire Tree of Life is the sole responsibility of the Radiant Church. The King only set up a few symbolic knights here, and they live directly in the monastery.

Compared to the desolate and eerie Dragon Spine Mountains and the harsh environment of Sunset Volcano, the area around the Tree of Life lives up to its name. It seems vibrant and the environment is pleasant. From the outside, probably no one can associate this place with the terrifying ancient legends. Perhaps that is why Holletta's monitoring of the Tree of Life is weaker than in the other two places, unlike the other places where both Kingdom Knights and Church Knights are stationed. Hao Ren and the others stood at the entrance of the monastery, looking at the overlapping peaks and the green trees surrounding the mountains, and immediately felt refreshed. Elizabeth quickly climbed onto her father's shoulders, opened her throat, and shouted at the distant mountains: "Mountains, lalala..."

The Demon Princess is actually quite innocent and lively—when she's not taking things apart.

As soon as Lily saw the bright scenery around her, she couldn't control herself. She ran around the mountain like a madwoman for several circles before settling down, holding a large handful of stones in her hand: "Landlord, which one do you think is prettier?"

Hao Ren randomly picked a stone to coax Lily back, and curiously looked at the mountains in the distance, as well as the strangely shaped dome-shaped mountain in the center of the basin surrounded by mountains (its shape is a bit like a volcano, making it particularly conspicuous). He searched for a long time but couldn't find the shadow of the Tree of Life, "Ofra, where's the tree you're talking about?"

Ofra raised her finger and pointed to the center of the basin: "That's it—only this is left of the Tree of Life now."

Hao Ren was stunned before realizing that the other party was pointing at the strange dome-shaped "mountain" in the center of the basin!

"Holy crap..." Before Hao Ren could say anything, the first one to jump up was Lily, who was playing with stones, "It's so big?!"

Hao Ren quickly concentrated and looked at it carefully, finally seeing some clues from the strange mountain: its "mountain body" seemed too regular, and the upper part seemed to be uniformly thick, unlike a normal mountain, and in the wilderness around it, you could see a large number of winding bulges. At first, he thought those bulges were mountain ridges, but now he realized that they were actually roots growing out of the ground!

This is the remains of the Tree of Life, now only a stump remains, but even from this mountain-like stump, you can still see how amazing its former scale was. Perhaps its canopy could even extend to the top of the atmosphere!

But now this giant tree has been dead for more than ten thousand years, and its upper part has long collapsed and turned into the soil and rock of the entire basin. Now it is black all over, covered with vegetation, and dense forests and shrubs spread along its steep trunk, disguising it almost indistinguishably from the surrounding mountains.

Hao Ren took a breath: "This whole thing is a tree..."

Before he finished speaking, Doudou immediately poked her little head out of his collar. After seeing the overlapping peaks and greenery in front of her, the whole fish straightened up with a "bang": "Can eat for a long time! Can eat for a long time! Daddy can eat for a long time..."

At this time, a Hollettan military officer was standing next to him. The military officer was stunned when he saw Doudou: "What is that?"

But he quickly glanced at Hao Ren, quickly restrained the rude expression on his face, and coughed with a solemn expression: "Ahem, sorry, I forgot that you are different foreigners from us. Hollettans do not have such avatars..."

Hao Ren didn't even have time to explain: "...?"

Doudou jumped out happily at this time, grabbed Hao Ren's clothes and shook them hard: "Daddy, I want to eat, eat!"

A group of Hollettan officials around them suddenly showed expressions of understanding, and several seemingly scholarly recorders quickly took out their notebooks and wrote furiously. Vivian's face turned red with suppressed laughter, and she pulled Ofra hard: "Quickly tell them that this is neither a foreigner's avatar nor a foreigner when they were young!"

Ofra frowned and waved her hand at her subordinates with a forceful expression: "Stand properly! Look at what you look like!"

After speaking, she turned her head to look at Hao Ren and Doudou, her expression struck by lightning: "You two are father and daughter? What did you do to a fish?!"

Before Hao Ren could say anything, Lily jumped up to join in the fun: "It's with a pot..."

Ofra: "God..."

Hao Ren: "...Can anyone let me say a word?!"

Fortunately, such chaos did not last long. Just as Hao Ren's side was having a happy time—at least Lily, this heartless fellow, was laughing happily beside him—a roar suddenly came from the sky.

The excavator brigade finally arrived.

The data terminal, which had been a soy sauce character for a long time, took off when it heard the sound, flew to Hao Ren, and activated the holographic projection. An image of a high-level elven technician appeared in front of everyone.

"Sun King, all equipment has arrived."

Hao Ren looked at the giant tree in the center of the basin and nodded vigorously: "Begin."

The engineering equipment in the sky let out bursts of engine roars after a moment, and then quickly dispersed to hundreds of meters above the basin according to a certain pattern, while two special aircraft flew to the center of the basin instead. The two aircraft hovered in the air, turning on their respective element sensors, and the secrets deep underground gradually appeared in front of all the engineering equipment operators.

The technical strength of the Irem elves may be behind those interstellar civilizations in general, but they still have other areas to be proud of—mining, gravity control, deep scanning. These technologies are all important dependencies for them to transform their planet into a chain of space islands. It can be said that this is a group of long-eared people who have skewed the "magic tree". Except for not being able to build spaceships, they have almost built everything in advance that does not belong to their civilization level.

The element sensor, which can penetrate hundreds of kilometers of rock, can accurately depict three-dimensional images of the deep strata. The Firstborn sleeping under the Tree of Life was soon scanned in detail and projected in front of Hao Ren through the data terminal.

He saw the way the Tree of Life bound the Firstborn: entwining it layer by layer with huge roots, even merging with it.

The underground part of the Tree of Life is even more magnificent than the part above ground. Deep beneath the strata is a root system that stretches nearly two hundred kilometers. This root system coils and entangles into an almost perfect sphere, and the Firstborn is located inside this spherical cage. The Firstborn's tentacles also spread everywhere, but they are basically entangled by the roots of the Tree of Life and restricted to a certain range. These two giant creatures with the same dense roots are entangled and restrained each other, forming a stunning underground spectacle.

The hair on Lily's tail stood up layer by layer at a rate visible to the naked eye: "It feels so disgusting..."

Vivian also frowned and nodded: "Yeah, like a scouring pad."

This bat's housewife occupational disease relapsed.