Chapter 105: What If It's Poisonous?
A massive tree. In Zhou Fan's estimation, it was a tree so large it would take at least six or seven people joining hands to encircle it!
This towering tree was perfectly straight, shooting directly upward to pierce the clouds. Even with Zhou Fan's keen eyesight, when he tilted his head back to look, he couldn't see its top!
Most importantly, as far as Zhou Fan could see, the tree had only a single, withered branch. On that branch grew a fiery-red, nearly transparent fruit!
Other than that, the tree was completely bare—just a trunk!
Zhou Fan was inwardly stunned. 'How is it possible that I didn't see such a massive tree from the cemetery before I entered the cave?'
'Given this tree's height, it should be visible not just from the cemetery, but even from a thousand meters away!'
Almost instinctively, Zhou Fan activated his x-ray vision. A scarlet glint flashed in his eyes as he tried to examine the great tree in detail. But to his astonishment, his eyes—which had always been infallible, able to see through anything—had no effect at all, as if the tree were shielded by some kind of barrier!
"Wait for me here!"
Zhou Fan said to Chen Yao before turning. Enduring the intense pain wracking his body, he ran back out past the waterfall.
A short while later, Zhou Fan ran back in, the amazement in his eyes now completely unconcealable.
'I couldn't see it! From the outside, you really can't see it, as if the tree doesn't even exist!'
Then, as if remembering something, he grabbed Chen Yao without a word of explanation and ran with her out past the waterfall. After pulling her onto the bank, he once again ran back in by himself.
However, this time, when Zhou Fan entered the cave alone, he froze in utter horror. For the first time, he who was always so composed in the face of crisis felt a deep shock and even a flicker of fear well up in his eyes.
The tree was gone, as if everything he had just seen had been nothing but a hallucination.
When an uneasy Zhou Fan brought Chen Yao back into the cave with him, the tree that had vanished moments before reappeared, looking exactly as it had the first time: a bare trunk with nothing but a single withered branch and one fiery-red fruit.
Zhou Fan looked from the great tree to Chen Yao, and a theory began to form in his mind.
"Zhou Fan, why do I feel such a... kinship with this tree? It's a very, very close feeling, closer even than family," Chen Yao said, ignoring his bizarre behavior as she stared blankly at the giant tree.
"Don't ask me; I have no idea," Zhou Fan said, shaking his head. "All I'm sure of is that this tree is only visible to you and whoever is with you." He glanced at the magical, eerie tree, then at the lone, withered branch on its trunk, and strode forward without a second thought.
'I don't care what you are, but since I'm the one who found you, you're mine now. Guess it's fate,' Zhou Fan muttered to himself. 'When I make it big someday, I'll even move you to a spot with better feng shui!' As he spoke, he reached out, grabbed the withered branch, and with a slight tug, snapped it off.
Looking at the fiery-red fruit, Zhou Fan didn't hesitate. Operating on the principle of "finders keepers," he plucked it off. He held it to his nose and sniffed. It didn't smell strange.
"The moment you snapped the branch, a voice suddenly spoke in my mind. It told me this fruit is edible," Chen Yao said, stepping forward to get a closer look at the branch and fruit in Zhou Fan's hands.
"Edible? Then you eat it. What if it's poisonous?" Zhou Fan rolled his eyes. 'Even if I think this thing is a treasure, there's no way I'm just going to eat it without knowing what it is.'
But as soon as the words left his mouth, he saw Chen Yao staring at him—or rather, at the hand holding the fruit and branch—with a look of utter shock. He instinctively glanced down, and in the next instant, his world went black...
Chen Yao hurriedly knelt and tried to wake the unconscious Zhou Fan, but no matter what she did, he wouldn't stir. With great difficulty, she managed to drag him over to the base of the giant tree.
Hugging her knees, she sat beside Zhou Fan, replaying the moment just before he fainted. The branch and fruit had seemed to come alive, melting directly into his body.
"I don't know what you are, but I feel such a kinship with you," Chen Yao murmured, not knowing if the giant tree could understand her. "So I trust you won't hurt us... right?"
While Zhou Fan was unconscious, the long-vanished Chu Yifeng was in an ordinary residence in Jiang Province.
At that moment, Chu Yifeng stood respectfully before a figure cloaked in a black robe.
"Take this dagger," the robed figure said, their voice hoarse as they handed a pitch-black dagger to Chu Yifeng. "Use it to kill those people. You will grow stronger, and then you can return to Nanjiang City to claim your revenge."
After Chu Yifeng took the dagger and left the room, the robed figure stood before the window, gazing in the direction of Nanjiang City. 'Zhou Fan,' they muttered to themself, 'you shouldn't have killed Wang Tianhao so soon. You have interfered with my grand plan, and there is a price to be paid for that.'