Volume 15 Gray Fog Forest Chapter 744: Pillar Roots
"Affect the brain? But the problem is that we didn't inhale the mist at all!" Thirty-three said with a frown.
"It may not be caused by the fog. It may be the magnetic field, or it may be some extraordinary power that cannot be detected by human technology... The gap between us and the Alpha civilization is simply a chasm." Ivan said.
"Tsk...that's true." Thirty-three looked down at the black blade that was pressed against his fingers and nodded.
"And I discovered something else." Ivan held up the transparent specimen bag in his hand, which contained several pieces of bark that he had peeled off with a robotic arm with great effort. But now, these pieces of bark that had been separated from the trunk had shown obvious signs of decay and had turned into something like rotten cotton wool.
"This plant probably didn't evolve naturally, but is a product of the Alpha Civilization's biotechnology. Just like the Seed of Erosion, a part of the limb will decompose and die in a short period of time after leaving the main body... From a certain perspective, it seems... quite environmentally friendly." Ivan continued.
"That's not right. If the bark will rot after being peeled off, then how do these lumberjacks transport the felled wood back to the Ark? Do they have some special way of preserving it?" Thirty-Three asked doubtfully.
Ke Lan also looked at Mo Jue with some curiosity.
"In fact, there is no special way to preserve it. It's just that we choose to cut down different parts. Do you know that there is a plant called 'banyan tree' on the earth?" Mo Jue suddenly changed the subject and asked about another tree that seemed to have nothing to do with the question.
"I know." Ke Lan and Ivan said in unison, but Thirty-three was stunned for a moment, looking confused.
"Hmph, I've been a rough man for most of my life, but I still suffer from my lack of education." Thirty-three said self-deprecatingly, "How did this native plant on Alpha Planet get to the banyan tree on Earth? Tell me more about it."
"Banyan tree, a plant of the Moraceae family, a large tree, can reach a height of 15-25 meters..." Ivan read it out like an encyclopedia of humanoid creatures, but when he read to "the banyan tree has a very large crown area, extending outward with clusters of beard-like aerial roots. Once these aerial roots touch the ground, they will take root...", he suddenly stopped.
"These aerial roots that penetrate the soil are just like the roots of the banyan tree's main trunk. They can absorb nutrients from the soil and continue to grow. The thickest ones can even grow close to the main trunk. At this stage, these aerial roots become supporting roots... A large banyan tree that is old enough can have thousands or even tens of thousands of supporting roots, which creates the unique phenomenon of 'a single tree forming a forest.'" Ke Lan went on.
"I didn't expect that you, the relic hunters, know quite a lot about botany." Mo Jue looked at Ke Lan and Ivan with some surprise. "Yes, the Mist Tree is very similar to the banyan tree on Earth in that a single tree can form a forest. Behind the red line, an ordinary adult Mist Tree occupies an area of more than 10,000 square meters... Most of the trunks you see are actually supporting roots hanging ."
"You mean, all these mist trees are actually the same tree?" Sanshisan raised his head and looked around. "How amazing..."
"Well... the largest single fog-dwelling tree we've seen covers an area of dozens of hectares. According to my father's speculation, the core area of the Gray Fog Forest, the place you are going to, under the sky-high fog mountain... there is probably only one fog-dwelling tree."
"The core area is at least 100 square kilometers, or 10,000 hectares... Such a large fog-dwelling tree is worthy of being called the king of trees, right?" Ivan asked excitedly.
"My father said that this 'Super Mist Roost' is likely to be closely related to the secret hidden in the center of the forest." Mo Jueyou said, "This is one of the few things he has mentioned to me that is related to that 'secret'."
"This forest should have been planted by the Alphas... What's their purpose in doing this? Are they hiding something?" Ke Lan couldn't help but fall into deep thought... He suddenly wondered if the intelligence provided by the Undead Crew might be biased: Is there a possibility that what is hidden in the core area of the Gray Mist Forest is not the remains of an engine wreckage, but something else?
"The 'trunk' you just selected is actually just a prop root. Even if the prop root is cut down, it will rot into dregs in just a few hours. Only the real trunk can be preserved... Finding the location of the trunk is actually the most time-consuming step in our felling work." Mo Jue looked at the specimen bag in Ivan's hand and said, "Another point is that the trunk will not 'eat' people. Only the prop roots will be used as 'eating organs' by the mist tree. So when I saw the corpse embedded in the root of the 'trunk', I knew it was a prop root."
"Then how can we be sure which one is the real trunk? Do we have to peel the bark off each root to check?" asked Thirty-Three.
"The bark of the main trunk will rot if it is peeled off . The 'marrow' at the heart of the Mist Tree must be connected to prevent it from rotting. It is for this reason that Mist Tree is difficult to be processed into floors, walls or small decorations. Now all the Mist Tree furniture on the Ark are large pieces containing the 'marrow'." Mo Jue explained.
"Then how can we find the trunk?"
"Use this." Mo Jue took out a strange device from his backpack. The handle of the device seemed to be modified from a civilian grappling gun, but the muzzle was replaced with a thin hollow steel chisel.
"This thing can pierce the trunk of the Mist Tree and reach the heart of the tree. If the 'medulla' can be pulled out from the heart of the tree, then that is the real trunk. If not, then that is the supporting root." Mo Jue said.
"It's a stupid method, but it's reliable, practical and highly feasible." Ke Lan commented - he was not very interested in this knowledge. Anyway, the purpose of his trip was not for these mist trees, and the method of cutting down mist trees had nothing to do with him.
Apart from its fire resistance, Mistwood itself is not a very high-end material. Its physical properties can be far surpassed by many new materials that can be synthesized with the technological level of human civilization. Apart from relying on its scarcity to become a toy for the rich to show off, this kind of wood is useless .
Of course, this only applies to the Mist Trees that have been cut down and processed into timber. Living Mist Trees are not included.
What is the purpose of the Alpha people planting these mist trees here?
