Bard had already gotten used to Ms. Bertilla's personality change after she turned into a plant. Thinking about the upheaval that everyone on this land had faced in the past two years, these small changes seemed insignificant. Ever since the legendary hero from the epic story uncovered the coffin, everything in this world had been changing rapidly, and no one was an exception.
Bertilla just happened to be the one who had changed the most.
"Life needs to be a little ritualistic …" Bard chuckled, his mood had completely relaxed. "It does sound like something she would say recently … Okay, I got it. I'll find her as soon as possible."
General Margarita nodded, but before she turned around and left, she kindly reminded him, "Mr. Bard, wipe your eyes first."
"Eyes …" Bard was stunned for a moment before he finally reacted. He smiled a little awkwardly and wiped the cold water stains on his face with the back of his hand. "Thank you, General."
…
Passing through the lush branches at the edge of the canopy area, passing through the "curtain" and "green wall" formed by layers of broad leaves, one could directly reach the various facilities inside the giant tree through the canopy's extensive pipeline system without going through the external connecting passage. Sitting in a translucent "container" that looked like some kind of capsule, Bard followed the semi-open wooden track to Bertilla's biochemical laboratory. He poked his head out of the track, and at this moment, the container just happened to pass through an open section inside the canopy, so some scenes that only people with special access could see were presented in front of his eyes.
He saw that the astonishing scale of wooden "skeletons" supported one continuous ellipsoidal space after another. Although the skeletons were made of wood, they were tougher than steel. There were also strengthened twigs and metallic leaves between the wooden beams, forming domes and barriers. Glowing vines and huge, chandelier-like fruits hung down from the domes, making these "caverns in the canopy" brightly lit. They did not look like enclosed spaces wrapped in hundreds of meters of wood and leaves at all.
Inside these spaces, there were a large number of neatly arranged pods fixed on the wooden barriers. Fiber pipes and nerve structures extended out from the pods, converged on the flat, solid, metallic leaf floor, and were connected to the "ponds" on the ground. The ponds were covered with tough transparent shells, inside which the biomass solution slowly rippled.
Those "ponds" were cross-type biomass splitting ponds designed by Bertilla herself, responsible for providing nutrients for the biochemical factories here. Thousands of embryos or biological matrices of all kinds were sleeping in those pods. Most of them were experimental projects of the Imperial Druil Association, and some were orders from other domestic institutions, including unit matrices for artificial nerve cords, general-purpose servo brains, and plasma prototypes.
With the establishment of the Alliance, the relationship between the countries became closer day by day. Some orders from foreign countries were also allocated to the biochemical factories inside Thorin's giant tree. However, these orders were still small in number, and most of them were still in the "protocell adjustment" stage, so they would not be sent to these "evolution chambers" yet.
Tubular tracks passed through the upper level of this space, and personnel transport containers were moving briskly on the tubes. Bard saw several other tubular tracks extending from the direction of other chambers, and containers of different speeds were also moving inside. His colleagues from other departments in the containers noticed him and raised their hands to greet him. Just as Bard responded, those containers were quickly transported to other places.
"Working overtime in the middle of the night …" Bard said sympathetically, shaking his head. From the corner of his eye, he could see a pipe that had just been formed and was still in the adjustment phase slowly moving on the dome of the cabin, attempting to connect with a traffic port on the opposite side of the cabin. A Mana Net terminal hanging nearby projected a huge warning message: This traffic pipe is growing. Please do not use it.
In the region of Thorin, many people knew that the giant tree that covered the plains had a massive and complex internal structure. There were innumerable factories, laboratories, living quarters, and various other chambers hidden in her trunk, branches, and even in the depths of her roots. Every day, those structures were changing, evolving, growing, and perfecting into something even more unbelievable. However, almost no one could accurately and completely understand the internal structure of Thorin's giant tree, nor did they know what the next phase of her growth blueprint would look like.
Even in the entire Empire, there were only a few people who knew these secrets, including the highest officer here, General Margarita, the president of the Druil Association of the Empire, Pitman, several grand governors, and the highest ruler of the Empire. However, the one who knew the most first-hand was undoubtedly the giant tree herself, Madam Bertilla.
Bard relaxed as his mind wandered. The light outside dimmed. The capsule was moving into a closed 'tunnel'. The light inside the capsule lit up automatically after a slight delay. The light emitted by the light-emitting cells illuminated Bard's slightly smiling face. After a short while, the outside of the capsule lit up again. Bard looked up outside the 'window' made of a transparent gelatinous shell and saw that he had arrived at a brightly lit indoor space. He had arrived at Madam Bertilla's laboratory.
The capsule opened silently. Bard got out and walked into the depths of the laboratory. After passing through a 'leaf door', he saw the owner of the laboratory, Madam Bertilla, sitting at a round table not far away. The roots and vines under her feet were spread out in a relaxed manner. On the round table in front of her was a set of exquisite tea set. At this moment, the fine porcelain teacup with a white base and gold rim was steaming, and the fragrance of the tea drifted into Bard's nostrils.
Bertilla looked at the liquid in the teacup very seriously. She had probably been studying it for a long time before Bard arrived. She then nodded gently as if to affirm the tea's fragrance. She then reached out for the teacup and poured the tea over her head. This was what Bard saw when he entered the room.
The former wolf general was shocked and blurted out, "Madam Bertilla?"
Bertilla had already sensed Bard's presence. She turned her head slowly and nodded slightly at the visitor. "You're a little earlier than I expected. I heard that you had a letter from home. I thought you would be at least half an hour late because of it."
"Uh … I've received the letter … That's not important." Bard was startled and then pointed at Bertilla's head. "The point is, what are you doing?"
"Can't you see?" Bertilla gently shook the empty teacup in her hand. "I'm drinking tea."
Bard was dumbfounded. "Pouring it on your head?"
"Mr. Bard, haven't you watered flowers since you were young?"
Bard: "… Uh … I thought you would at least use your mouth … You see, at least from the outside, it looks more normal … Well, your logic is correct, at least from the perspective of watering flowers. But didn't you say that life should have some sense of ritual?"
"Ritual is just an ornament of life. If I live purely on ritual, I will lose my leaves from malnutrition starting tomorrow," Bertilla said casually with a blank expression. She then picked up the teapot and filled the two teacups on the round table half full. She then invited Bard to sit down and have a cup of tea. I just grew these. "
Bard was about to walk to the round table when he suddenly staggered. He stared at the former Dark Matriarch with his mouth agape. "Wait a minute, you grew these tea leaves yourself?! You're using your own leaves to make tea?! "
Bertilla seemed a little helpless at Bard's fuss. She shook her head and reached for her cup of tea. This time, she did not pour it on her head. Instead, she soaked her fingers in the tea, and the liquid in the cup was absorbed at a speed visible to the naked eye. She then glanced at Bard and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Leaves return to their roots. The autumn leaves return to the soil and become nutrients for the trees in the coming year. I just added a pot of boiling water to this process. Mr. Bard, why are you making such a fuss?"
Bard sat down at the round table with a strange expression on his face. He had to admit that what the "Tree Lady" said made sense. At least, he could not refute her logic. However, this did not stop him from having a strange feeling when he looked at the cup of tea in front of him (and the few tender leaves floating in the tea). But soon, he thought of the Sorin fruit that was very popular in the Sorin region and the local specialty candied fruit. The strange feeling in his heart was quickly washed away by the calmness in his heart. He picked up the teacup and took a sip. The strange fragrance finally calmed his somewhat chaotic thoughts. "Thank you. It tastes very good, Ms. Bertilla."
Bertilla smiled. "Very good. It seems that the tea is very effective. You've calmed down. Now we can talk about business."
Bard did not know whether to laugh or cry. He thought that if it was not for this damn tea, he would not need to 'calm down' at all. His mind was very clear, but in front of Bertilla, he did not say these words. Instead, he smiled a little awkwardly. "Why are you looking for me today?"
"Something … about the old days of the Dark Order." Bertilla took her finger out of the teacup. She looked at the remaining traces of water on the teacup being quickly absorbed. Her voice was a little gloomy. "At that time, there was a pair of elven sisters. Do you remember them?"
"Rayna and Firna?" Bard quickly recalled. "Of course, I remember them. They were responsible for many things in the eastern and central areas of the old Ansu. I had a lot of dealings with them when I was active in these two areas. What's wrong? Why do you suddenly mention these two? "
Bertilla did not answer directly. Instead, she asked casually. "Do you know where they went after the cult was destroyed?"
"Well … I heard that they tried to recruit Typhon but failed. They fled into the wasteland," Bard said with uncertainty. "You should know more about this than I do."
"Yes, they fled into the wasteland." Bertilla nodded. "And there are clues that they may be in cahoots with the Terminator cult in the wasteland. They are plotting against the power hidden in the old Gondor capital. So, His Majesty has been investigating this matter and learned a lot about the elven twins from me …"
"I've heard about this too." Bard nodded.
"So, I want to hear about your 'impression'," Bertilla said. "About the Firna sisters, did you feel something … particularly out of place from them?"
"Particularly out of place?" Bard frowned. "That's a broad question … In my opinion, there were many things out of place about them. Even the upper echelons of the cult were not normal. Even I was not normal. Madam Bertilla, you know, it was hard to find a rational person in the Terminator cult. Everyone had all kinds of eccentricities and habits. As for the elven twins … their way of speaking, the way they interacted with each other, their overlapping personalities and memories were all strange. Especially after I saw the information revealed by the Theocratic Council and found out that they actually shared a soul … it felt even stranger."
"Well, it seems that my question is not specific enough." Bertilla shook her head. "What I mean is, did you feel something inhuman in them? Whether it was the knowledge they had, the way of thinking in their words and actions, or the way they looked at the world, or the power they occasionally revealed, was there any inhuman feeling? "
"Inhuman?" Bard froze for a moment and frowned slightly. "Although I wanted to say that they were 'inhuman' as elves, I guess that's not what you meant … Sorry, I can't remember at the moment. Back then, my highest rank was only the Priest of Withering, one rank lower than the Hierarch. When I interacted with the Firna sisters, I was basically following their orders and did not have much opportunity to observe them … By the way, why do you want me to know about this? I don't think I'm a very good — "
"Because in this land, you are the only surviving cult member of the Terminator cult other than me." Bertilla interrupted before Bard could finish. "Of course, Pitman also had some contact with the cult … but he is even less suitable than you as a source of information."
Bard blinked and understood Bertilla's helplessness. At the same time, he said thoughtfully, "Sounds like you have found something recently? Or did you suddenly have a guess? "
"I've been doing some … things recently, and coincidentally found some clues. I'm beginning to suspect that the elven sisters have been deceiving everyone since the beginning, since … the Gondor era a thousand years ago. "
Bard's eyes widened. He had already guessed from Bertilla's attitude that the elven twins were problematic during the Terminator era, but he never thought that this matter could be traced back to the Kingdom of Gondor a thousand years ago. Clearly, this matter was more complicated than he thought.
He looked at Beltilla and did not hide the doubt in his eyes. Beltilla hesitated for a moment and stood up from the round table. "Come with me. I'll show you something, and you'll understand what I've found."
(End of Chapter)
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