Chapter 1590: The Blood-Sucking Tree

Xia Qing, staring intently at the Sichuan pepper tree, briefed the latest situation: "The small birds have been affected by the Yi-9 gas and are falling."

Zhang San, inferring from the distant image whose details he couldn't make out, speculated: "The Sichuan pepper fruits must have split open and released a large amount of Yi-9 gas. The small birds inhaled an overdose, causing neural overload and falling into a comatose state or outright brain death."

The evolved Blue Star gave every organism a chance to evolve and grow stronger, but it also raised the danger level of survival competition. To become powerful, one must overcome danger after danger.

Of the unconscious or dead small birds, roughly two-thirds landed on the thorns at the crown of the Sichuan pepper tree, while the rest landed on the snow around the canopy.

The Sichuan pepper tree, with its iron-gray branches and clusters of purplish-red fruit, quickly became a dazzling tree draped in feathers of every color; the accumulated snow around it was likewise covered by birds of every hue. As the small birds in the air fell, yet more birds converged from all directions, once again shrouding the sky above the Sichuan pepper tree, making it the noisiest, most beautiful, and most lethal battlefield in this frozen wilderness.

"Medium and large birds that inhaled the Yi-9 gas are in an excited state and have begun fighting and scrambling. The giant birds, with their stronger resistance, are least affected; they've started to descend and peck at the outer husks of the Sichuan pepper fruit hanging on the branches…"

Xia Qing, who was livestreaming to her idol, paused for a few seconds before speaking again: "Third Brother, the bird corpses impaled on the tree thorns didn't bleed a single drop — that Sichuan pepper tree is sucking blood."

Her territory was planted with worm-eating peanuts and jujube trees, so Xia Qing wasn't the least bit surprised that this Sichuan pepper tree had evolved the ability to drink blood.

Zhang San acknowledged her and offered a rigorous, professional hypothesis: "This isn't simple 'blood-sucking' — it's a highly evolved energy and matter recycling mechanism. The thorns on the tree aren't just defensive weapons; they're also the tree's highly efficient absorption organs. It should be able to secrete a special biological enzyme."

Zhang San paused and asked: "Are there any absorption organs protruding from the thorns?"

Xia Qing answered cautiously: "From what I can see, no."

Zhang San continued his analysis: "Then it's a different enzyme from the Black-Skin Peanut's — most likely a blood-coagulation-converting enzyme, or a rapid tissue-liquefying enzyme, or both. The biological enzymes quickly break down the bird-corpse tissue into a nutrient solution the tree can absorb directly. The iron in the blood becomes a catalyst for photosynthesis, while the proteins and trace elements are converted into the energy the tree needs to grow."

Xia Qing quietly watched the scene in the distance and spoke again: "Third Brother, would this count as the tree and the birds forming a mutualistic symbiosis?"

Zhang San stared at his laptop screen, where giant raptors were trampling small bird corpses while pecking at strings of Sichuan pepper fruits or outer husks, and answered rigorously: "This doesn't qualify as mutualistic symbiosis. Mutualism usually describes a stable, interdependent relationship between different species — like legumes and rhizobia, or the chestnut trees and hornets in District Three — where both parties would grow poorly without the other."

Xia Qing kept watching the distant scene and asked: "Then would it be commensalism?"

"From a professional standpoint, this isn't commensalism either — it's selective resource exchange. The core distinction between the two lies in 'who bears the cost' and 'whether the benefit relationship is neutral'…"

Xia Qing listened attentively, while Yang Jin, standing behind her, once again marveled at the big shot's patience and teaching with her.

"Caw-caw — Xia Qing, Xia Qing!"

Xia Qing and Yang Jin were earnestly absorbing the big shot's lesson when the hopping raven Molly grew impatient and flapped Xia Qing's protective mask with her wings.

Hearing that this bizarre human had acquired yet another bizarre name, Zhang San felt his mood lift considerably.

Xia Qing pointed at the distant battlefield and asked: "Does Caw-caw want to go over there and eat the husks too?"

The raven Molly excitedly flew circles around Xia Qing: "Go, go! Xia Qing, go!"

Xia Qing asked: "Is Caw-caw asking me to go with you to eat?"

"Caw!"

Zhang San warned: "You're standing downwind. Molly must have caught the scent of the Sichuan pepper fruit and been lured over. Grab her — don't let her go and get herself killed."

Xia Qing didn't grab the brain-domain-evolved raven outright, but gestured and negotiated with her: "Caw-caw, that big tree's gas is extremely powerful; it's already killed a lot of birds. You don't have a protective mask, so going over there now is very dangerous. Later, let Yang Jin go and snap off two clusters of Sichuan pepper fruit for you to eat. Deal?"

Tens of thousands of birds were waging chaotic war around a single tree, and Xia Qing couldn't even spot a shadow of the White-Eye raven, let alone know whether it was alive or dead. The raven Molly wasn't carrying a bomb under her talons right now, so if she went to snatch Sichuan pepper husks against thousands of birds that had grown up fighting in the Evolution Forest, her odds were far too low. Clearly she knew this herself, which was why she wanted Xia Qing to go with her.

Hearing that Xia Qing wouldn't go, Molly didn't dare charge in alone either, and could only fold her wings and land on Xia Qing's shoulder to keep watching.

Though he couldn't see Xia Qing communicating with the raven, Zhang San could tell she hadn't used force to stop the raven from taking the risk, which plunged him into thought.

The new human currently lying prone on the snowy mountain, however, was considering a very concrete problem: "The raptors are all rushing over to grab them, which means fresh Sichuan pepper husks may be more beneficial to birds — or they're afraid there won't be any left if they're late. Jin-ge, if you send someone now to snap off two branches and bring them back, how confident are you that the raptors won't notice?"

Yang Jin replied: "Eighty percent."

In other words, there was still a twenty percent chance the raptors would notice and trigger a conflict.

Xia Qing immediately vetoed her own proposal: "Then we won't go. We'll grab the branches later when we go collect seeds. Caw-caw won't get fresh ones this year, but we'll bring the branches back and have Xin Yu plant one in the territory — then Caw-caw can eat as many as she wants!"

The raven Molly was delighted again, hopping up and down on Xia Qing's shoulder: "Caw-caw, Xin-xin, Xia Qing!"

Zhang San……

"So close, so close!!!"

The nine researchers in the basement of Mountain 86 watched the grand spectacle of the great Sichuan pepper tree maturing through the camera, stamping their feet and pounding their chests in frustration.

They had been stationed here for nearly a year, all for this day. If Hui-3's army had arrived just one day later, they could have collected the Sichuan pepper tree's unique evolution enzymes and captured the giant raptors!

One researcher gritted his teeth in hatred: "Professor Xie, let's detonate the bomb and blow up that tree. This is a precious species we went through hell and high water to find — we absolutely can't let Professor Fu Tianfeng and the Hui-3 Research Institute get the better of us!"

Another researcher beside him immediately objected: "You just said it's a precious species. This isn't about who benefits — blowing it up would be a loss for all humanity!"

"Right, we can't blow it up. If Professor Fu Tianfeng's team takes over this research, there'll definitely be a major breakthrough soon."

"Hmph, what then? You think you can use this tree to join Professor Fu Tianfeng's research team?" the first researcher sneered. "Don't forget — we belong to the Blaze Squad. All our research resources are provided by the Blaze Squad, and both our own lives and our families' lives are in the Blaze Squad's hands!"

The noisy underground lab immediately fell silent. Research leader Xie Longhai spoke slowly: "The commander only ordered us to burn the data, not to blow up the tree. After we're captured, what you can say and what you can't — everyone should think it through in advance."

On the snowy peak, Yang Jin received the latest intel reported by his team member: "Boss, we've detected a large helicopter coming from the direction of Hui-6 Base, heading toward us at top speed!"