Chapter 47 (1/2)

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, then 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 into the air, and it body emerged in the fog again.

“Now, I am sure you have understood why I can speak human language.”

“I understand.” Qing Shui nodded. “The real is the rational and the rational is the real.” He murmured to himself and took a few deep breaths, he asked “But how many brains can you control?”

“So far there is not many, only seven.” The Willow said with a tone of pity, “The amount of information in the human brain is ma.s.sive; not only the capacity had troubled 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 conflicts 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 won’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 roots are useless to you now, that means you had evolved to gain nutrients through other channels. If you really have two channels of gaining organic matters, your body will not lack nutrition.”

“And if my body is useless to you, then your goal is my brain. But you just have said, 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 subst.i.tute it with you.” As the Willow said, it dropped down another fine twig combination, “This brain is totally worthless; it is all about s.e.x, 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 untied. Although I cannot hold more ma.s.sive flow of information 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 skin 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 rus.h.i.+ng 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 I really don’t have any other choices. And the way you speak is persuasive, I bet one of the seven must came from a lawyer.” Qing Shui was compelled to reply “Tell me, what do you want to know?”