“Hello human, I am a tree.” The shadow moved like a ghost without any sound. When it stood close enough to Qing Shui and Jing, it completely blocked the light. It spoke again, “If I have to explain in the human language, I am a willow tree, a mutated one.”
“Willow tree?” Qing Shui suddenly thought of those thick and stout roots he had seen a week ago in the sewer; those roots covered the whole underground world and he even thought that was a “World Tree”. This made him even more curious and skeptical about this world. He still remembered he brought a souvenir – a small section of a thin root, it was in his pocket now.
“Yes, I am a willow.” The gigantic shadow spoke again. “You have met me before. You still have part of my roots, don’t you?”
The hollow sound continued to echo around Qing Shui and Jing, and then Qing Shui saw a twig extend over in the air in a slow pace. The twig kept reaching until it slid into his pocket, then it rolled out that piece of parched root.
“It used to belong to me.” As the shadow spoke, the twig rolled up tightly and that piece of root was crushed “But I don’t need it anymore.”
“Are you really a tree?” Seeing that twig was as flexible as a human finger and hearing the human-like voice, even though Qing Shui was knowledgeable in biology and got used to seeing all sorts of strange plants and animals, he still could not believe these were facts.
“Yes, I am a willow tree and it is not beneficial for me to lie to you.” The voice in the air sounded patient.
“Then how do you know the human language?” Qing Shui yelled, as if using this hysterical voice could cover this crazy fact. “Even though some organisms gained intelligence through evolution, it is still impossible to learn the human language in such a short period of time! Alright! Let’s just assume you have learned it; it is too hard for me to believe you understand every single word profoundly… The way you speak and your tone is nothing like a beginner!”
“You are like…You are like a living human!”
“That is because essentially, my wisdom is that of a human’s; and naturally, the language I speak is the human language.” While the hazy shadow was explaining, a twig dropped from above, but it was dozens of times thicker than the last one and looked extremely complex – it was like a precision instrument consisting of a twig combined with numerous thin branches.
In this twig combination, some branches were as thick as an index finger and the thinnest ones were finer than human hair. All of them wrapped around a football size of ellipsoid covered with a thin transparent resin film; within the ellipsoid, there was a human brain.
It was a fresh human brain. The blood vessels seemed to be delivering blood to parts of the brain as if they were functioning perfectly, and they were also fused with those hair-like red willow branches, which were constantly transporting blood and minerals to the brain.
Chapter 47: Imagination
“What…What is this…” Qing Shui was appalled by the contents of the resin ellipsoid. He carefully distinguished the gyri and sulci of the brain. Suddenly, his eyes widely opened, and he seemed to be afraid to believe what he saw.
“This is a human brain.” Although Qing Shui had saw it closely, he still refused to accept this fact. The physiological structure of this tree had destroyed his previous knowledge of biology. “The brain, is it still alive?”
“Yes, it is alive, and it functions perfectly. The ability of keeping the brain alive is the ability that I am proudest of since I mutated.” As the Willow said so, it withdrew that sophisticated twig combination in the air, and its body emerged in the fog again.
“Now, I am sure you understand why I can speak human language.”
“I understand,” Qing Shui nodded. “Reality is rational.” He murmured to himself and took a few deep breaths before he asked, “But how many brains can you control?”
“So far, there are not many; I can only control seven,” The Willow said with a tone of pity. “The amount of information in the human brain is massive; not only does the capacity trouble me, but also the complexity. When I was acquiring and controlling the sixth brain, I felt like all the information collided with each other. It produced a lot of conflict as if they became a twisted twine. It really gave me a hard time. Therefore, after acquiring the seventh, I decided to stop temporarily so that they wouldn’t ‘short-circuit’.”
“I see, but what is your intention after catching us?” Qing Shui looked up to the towering shadow and asked, “As a producer in the food chain, you should not be lacking organic matter; instead, you can absorb as much as you want to from the soil. Therefore, it won’t be very useful for you to swallow me. Plus, you had just said that the roots are useless to you now. That means you have evolved to gain nutrients through other channels. If you really have two methods of getting energy, your body will not be lacking nutrition.”
“And if my body is useless to you, then your goal is my brain. But you just have said that you don’t have room for more information. That’s why I was asking, what do you want from us?”
“You are smart… and I bet you must be extremely knowledgeable; I wish I could substitute one of my brains with yours.” As the Willow spoke, it dropped down another fine twig combination. “This brain is totally worthless; it only thinks about sex, violence and bargaining. I wish I could empty this spot for you. Unfortunately, if I chopped off this branch, I’ll lose the spot too.”
“So…so I am lucky in this sense.” Qing Shui smiled wryly then continued to asked, “You haven’t told me why you caught us.”
“Questions,” The old and hollow sound echoed around Qing Shui and Jing again. “I have questions in my mind, and they have to be answered. Although I cannot hold another massive flow of information right now, I can still handle one or two questions. Therefore, I just want to ask you a few questions.”
“And why should I answer you?”
“If I am satisfied with the answer, I can let go of you guys; but if not, you will exist as my nourishment.” As it talked, another stout twig stretched over; this twig looked ferocious and it was completely different from the sophisticated twig combination from earlier. It was not only thick, but also had sharp barbs. The barbs evenly spread around the twig and dozens of dry hollow human skins were hung on it. “If you can’t answer my questions, you’ll be one of them.”
“Why should I believe in you?” Qing Shui stared at these hollow human skins desperately.
“Because you have no choice.” The Willow retracted the skin pendants and said, “I can find someone else if you don’t want to speak; my life is very long and I am patient. I am not rushing to know the answer, and I think there are plenty of people that know the answer on this planet. You can choose not to believe in me and become my fertilizer immediately, or, you can bet on me. But I can tell you that it is not necessary for me to lie to you.”
“Well …. I have to admit that I really don’t have any other choices. And the way you speak is persuasive; I bet one of the seven brains must have come from a lawyer.” Qing Shui was compelled to reply “Tell me, what do you want to know?”
“What is intelligence? This is my question,” The hollow voice trembled a little.
“Humans have defined intelligence in various perspectives; creative ability, curiosity, logical thinking, organizing and categorizing ability, etc. However, I think what makes human intelligence unique is imagination.”
“How?”
“If you had learned from the brain you acquired, you should understand that many other animals have curiosity, organizing abilities, even logical thinking; these are not something exclusive to humans.”
“Indeed, the rats know how to clean and organize their own nest, lions and tigers know where to find their prey, and monkeys and apes know they can move wooden box under the banana tree so that they can step on it to reach the bananas. Therefore, these things do not make human intelligence unique because the species I have mentioned don’t seem intelligent. So, if you are right, the differen
ce between humans and the other species is…”
“Yes, imagination, it is what makes the real difference.” Qing Shui explained, “Including reasoning, manufacturing, designing, even literature, opera and civilization. They are products of imagination.”
“I see; I am happy with your answer.” After the Willow dropped its response, it retreated into a deep silence. It seemed to be trying to understand what imagination was while Qing Shui patiently waited.
Moments after, the Willow spoke again, “My second question… how did humans obtain imagination?”
“No one has a true answer to this question, but one of the arguments I believe was the fear of natural disasters driving the evolution of imagination today.” Qing Shui spoke slowly, “I heard that the first generation of humans who gained imagination did it through observing the four changing seasons. During the rainy season, humans could produce crops and had a sufficient water supply. However, during the dry season, a large number of humans died due to lack of water. This went through countless generations of evolution. When one of these generations began to imagine what would happen in the dry season, they began to store water and crops with containers they made. And this may be the first generation of humans who gained the ability of imagination.”
“Imagination from crisis? I see,” the Willow again sunk into silence.
Qing Shui didn’t need to wait a long this time. He suddenly felt the branches around his waist begin to move, and when he looked down, he found that the twigs were retracting from his waist to his legs and eventually to his ankles. They eventually withdrew back into the ground completely.
“I am satisfied with your answer; you may leave now,” the Willow said.
“Before I go, can I ask you something?” Knowing that he was free now, Qing Shui’s face lit up with ecstasy. He didn’t leave immediately, but remained where he was.
“Sure, I am listening.”
“Why? Why do you still need to ask me what intelligence is when you have acquired so many human brains?”
“That is because I am not intelligent.”
Chapter 48: Carrier
“You are not intelligent? How can that be possible?” Owning seven different human brains and being able to handle a conversation with Qing Shui in a wise way… no one would believe that the Willow was not intelligent.
“Nothing is impossible. I do not possess intelligence. I am currently only possessing and utilizing these brains. In fact, the ability to organize the language I am speaking with you comes from the signals of these brains. Hence, I, as a tree, am not intelligent.”
“I thought if you can utilize these brains, it means you are intelligent too, isn’t it?” Qing Shui was still confused by the Willow’s words.
“It’s different, I am merely a carrier.” The hollow voice spoke again, “my consciousness was given by these brain; in some sense, I am more of a person who changed its body, but not a tree who grew brains! Because my thoughts and actions are generated by the seven brains, I don’t have the ability to think.”
“I can even say this is a cross-species human evolution, essentially because I only possess human brains, while the thoughts and ideas are all produced by them. I am simply a provider of a stronger body and a bond of connecting these brains.”
“I have learned that in science fiction, humans are planning to relocate their brain into an artificial body when technology becomes advanced enough to do so so that humans can live longer. Right now, even though I am a willow tree, I am like the artificial machine that humans have been aspiring for. The ability I gained from the mutation was absorption and possession. It was a coincidence that I was able to acquire a human brain. But what am I really? I am still a willow tree.”
“It sounds reasonable.” Qing Shui pondered over the Willow’s statement, “but in the end, you are still different from machines as you are constantly evolving; right now, you are already aware of your own existence. I dare to say you are only steps away from having your own intelligence. By the time it happens, you will not be limited to possessing human brains, but will truly exploit their intelligence and make them your own.”
“I am curious about what kind of world will be created by an organism like you that aggregates the intelligence of mankind.”
“You will see that day come…” The last word of the Willow sounded determined, but was filled with hesitation. It chuckled for a few seconds as its figure began to disappear. The shadow on the top of Qing Shui’s head was getting smaller and smaller, and the warmth of the sun sprinkled on Qing Shui again.
“Where are you going?” In the very end, Qing Shui shouted to the vanishing figure.
“To the south. I am biding my time. I’ll come back when I am able to think as an individual.” As the Willow said, the shadow completely became invisible, and the world returned to bright red.
Gazing at where the Willow left, Qing Shui didn’t make a sound for a very long time.
“Mr. Li, Mr. Li…” Qing Shui did not recover until Jing grabbed on his shirt.
“Mr. Li, let go of the Willow, we still have to find formalin.” Jing didn’t consider too much about the Willow. Her world was simple and she had someone and something more important to think about compared to the existence of the Willow.
“Chang and the others are still waiting for us. If we go back late, that bullfrog will rot and we’ll starve again.”
“Right…right! You are right.” After Qing Shui was interrupted by Jing, he grinned to himself mockingly as looked down at the ground again. “I can’t even guarantee my own safety now, why would I think of those problems?” He again glanced at the direction where the Willow disappeared and carried Jing on his back. “Let’s go for the formalin!”
“Now that the Willow is gone, we can take advantage of its power; it is certain that there are no other dangerous organisms around us now.” The courtyard was as peaceful as it had been; they found the chemical storage room, and they didn’t run into other dangers as expected.
In the room, Qing Shui easily found the pungent chemical solution he wanted – formalin.
After confirming the tags on the plastic bucket, Qing Shui picked up two units without hesitation. He also grabbed some small packages of medication just in case. Then, the two walked as fast as they could back to Chang.
The return was fairly smooth and with Jing’s detection, they avoided some dangerous creatures which were circling around the hospital. Half an hour later, they found Chang and the others.
“Why you were so slow? The meat has almost gone bad.” Seeing Qing Shui with the buckets, Pang Zi asked anxiously, “You didn’t encounter any beasts, do you?”
“Yes, in fact, an extremely dangerous one which almost killed me.” As Qing Shui spoke, he walked to the front of Chang, and Chang had been able to stand up. Apparently, he had regained mobility. Although he still looked weak and his upper body was still charred and crimson, he seemed to have no serious problems.
“How? I thought nothing should be able to get close to you with Jing’s forewarning. Was it something that came from underground?” Chang stepped over to check Qing Shui and Jing in haste, but found out they weren’t injured at all.
“We are fine, it is too complicated for me to explain what exactly happened to us right now. I’ll tell you when we get back to the base. Now, let’s treat the bullfrog first. Pang Zi, you guys dissected the frog, didn’t you?”
“We did it long before you came back, we even deboned it. See, me and Lin have packed them into the bags.”
‘Great, thank you.’ Qing Shui walked to those big woven bags and opened one bucket of formalin. He evenly sprinkled the chemical solution into every bag with a wisp of grass, and then said, “The formalin will slow down the rotting process. We need to find some barrels to dilute the formalin with water after we go back to the base, and then we can put them into the barrels. With this strong preservation method, our food can be preserved for three or five days.”
“Alright, we are re
ady to go. The longer we stay, the more dangerous it will be.” Seeing that Qing Shui had organized everything, Chang turned to the doctor and said, “thank you for today, please come with us.”
“I didn’t help much, you don’t need to thank me about this; your body was strong enough to recover itself.” The doctor was still expressionless; she spoke unemotionally, “Let’s go.”
“Coming,” Chang nodded as he turned to his friends; Qing Shui, Pang Zi and Lin each carried one woven bag on their back.
“Do you need help?” Chang walked with Lin.
“I might have not been able to carry this before, but don’t worry. I have become stronger than before.” Lin had a pale smile on her face, “You were burned; take care of yourself first.”
“Hahaha, good, good.” Chang laughed, he waved his right hand as a sign to ask Jing to follow him. The six walked back together.
As they walked on the gravel pavement, Chang walked behind the group to ensure everyone’s safety. He lowered his voice and asked Jing, “Jing, can you tell me about the danger you ran into?”
“It was a big willow, a gigantic one! I couldn’t see what it looked like at all. I only knew it was there; it was so big that It blocked the sky! And even when it was right in front of me, I couldn’t sense anything as if it nullified my ability.”
“A willow?” hearing the words made Chang frown. A hospital and a willow; he recalled that the second day of the red fog, he also had encountered a willow when he went to the hospital for medication. It consumed human blood and flesh, and it hung those hollow human skins on its branches as if they were trophies. The level of that willow was higher than 100 already by that time, and it was only the second day! The strength and the rate of its mutation were horrifyingly fast.
In fact, Chang clearly knew that he had almost never met any organisms over level 30 these days. That implied that even though the rate of evolution and mutation had been escalated, the willow was still one of the kind in terms of the rate of mutation. If the one he met and the one Qing Shui ran away from were both willows, then the one that Jing was talking about was the one he had escaped from.
Global Evolution Page 20
