Chapter 1373: The Terrible Double-Edged Sword
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
There was also a very troublesome problem.
At that time, the Turan people had not yet found a good way to store the mandrake fruit for a long time.
After all, the fruit, which had been genetically modified, contained tiny amounts of spirit magnets, and absorbed too much spirit energy from the crystal veins, was extremely unstable. It was simply a ticking time bomb.
At that time, the Turan people had not invented alll kinds of secret medicine for witchcraft yet.
If the mandrake fruits were simply piled up without being processed, the spirit energy stored in the fruits would produce a response similar to “resonance.”
After the spirit energy surged past the threshold, the thousands of fruits, as well as all the buildings and residents around the warehouses, were blasted into the sky.
After such accidents happened many times, the ancient Tulan people, who were busy winning the monster wars, could only temporarily give up the idea of storing mandala fruits on a large scale.
The best way to deal with the mandala fruits that filled the entire valley was to eat them into their stomachs and vent them out as much as possible in the form of sweat, blood, and the desire to kill.
Otherwise, it would have been better to let them rot in the wilderness and return to the ecosystem.
Due to all these factors, the Turan civilization was not prepared for an endless famine.
The shocked ancient Turan people turned their eyes to the electromagnetic experts living on the hope.
It was these experts who created the mandala tree.
They were the last of the Turan civilization’s experts and technicians.
However, the experts couldn’t explain why the mandala tree suddenly stopped growing.
They tried everything they could to stimulate the mandala tree. They injected high-concentration nutrient solution, electrocuted it, burned it, cut out the genes, and even prayed around the mandala tree.
Other than making the mandala tree’s huge flowers bloom even more brightly and brilliantly, as if mocking humans, there was no effect.
The experts could only guess that this was a self-protection mechanism of the mandala tree.
Just like how humans would seal off mountains and forests and set up no-fishing periods during fishing and hunting activities.
‘The mandala tree also needed a period of rest after absorbing underground psionic energy for a long time and crazily bearing fruit.
After all, spiritual energy was an extremely unstable and corrosive energy.
The cells, fiber tubes, roots, and branches of the mandala tree could not withstand the spiritual energy from underground for a long period of time and were in danger of collapsing.
The survival instinct made the mandala tree choose to “Seal off the mountain and cultivate the forest’on its own.
As for the mandala tree that grew at different times, why did it choose to “Seal off the mountain and cultivate the forest”at the same time?
The experts believed that it was because the mandala tree released a special pheromone so that the surrounding species would know that it was time to rest.
After all, the roots of the mandala tree were deeply embedded in the earth and intertwined with each other, forming an inseparable whole.
Ifa mandala tree entered hibernation, the surrounding species that were connected to its roots would still continue to absorb psionic energy.
The psionic energy would still enter the body of the sleeper through the roots that had fused together.
This “Convergence’was a common natural phenomenon.
There was nothing mysterious or incredible about it.
The good news was that the experts had studied it deeply and concluded that the mandala tree’s demise was only temporary.
It was believed that once they had rested enough and regained cellular activity, they would start to absorb energy again and bear fruit.
The bad news was that no one knew how long the mandala tree would rest.
Perhaps tomorrow, all the mandala trees would ‘awaken’.
Perhaps, the next mandala fruit would only be bom after ten or even twenty years.
This conclusion caused a huge uproar in the Tulan civilization.
Realizing that they could not count on the mandala tree for the time being, the ancient Tulan people tried every means to save themselves.
They first thought of increasing the intensity of hunting totem beasts, trying to use the flesh and blood of Totem Beasts to tide over the famine.
However, the population that the farming civilization could feed, and the population that the fishing and hunting civilization could feed, were completely different things.
Moreover, totem beasts also had to rely on the mandala fruit to be able to reproduce.
‘When the Tulan people faced the famine, the totem beasts that used to be fierce and ferocious were also staring at the mandala tree that seemed to be incomparably gorgeous, but did not grow even half a fruit on its branches.
With the decline of mandala fruit, the number of totem beasts was decreasing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Most of the time, there was no time for the ancient people of Tulan to harvest the flesh and blood of totem beasts.
‘The Hungry Beasts had already killed each other and devoured each other’s flesh and blood.
‘What was left for the ancient people of Tulan was only a bare skeleton.
The path of fishing and hunting was impa.s.sable.
The ancient Turans could only turn around and try clumsily to cultivate the fields and grow crops.
But the spirit magnets had made the mandala tree too perfect.
Perfect to the point of depriving all other crops and cash crops of the possibility of large-scale cultivation.
Moreover, the ancient turans were used to gripping swords and smashing the heads of fierce beasts with their palms. It was not suitable for them to pick up hoes again, operate farm machinery, and fiddle with various potions and utensils in the laboratory.
It was far from being possible to cultivate another crop that could compete with the mandala tree.
However, the burning hunger would arrive on time three or even dozens of times a day.
It was not until this moment that the ancient Tulan people suddenly realized that there was a fatal problem with their new body, which was full of the characteristics of wild beasts and seemed to be taller, faster, and stronger.
They, who had turned from ‘Human Beings’into ‘orcs’, were too hungry.
There was no free lunch on the mother planet of Turan or in the new world.
They had to pay a corresponding price for any strength they received.
They seemed to be taller, stronger, and tougher. Their fists could unleash destructive power that was as destructive as battering rams or even rockets.
All of this required a lot of nutrients and spiritual energy to support.
Hunger had beaten the ancient Tulan people back to their original state.
No, it was even worse than ‘beating them back to their original state’.
That was because the ancient Tulan people had a large amount of spiritual magnets in their bodies.
Even if the Tulan people could endure hunger by force…
The spiritual magnets would not be able to endure it.
The spiritual magnets, which lacked the nourishment of spiritual energy, began to wreak havoc in the hungry ancient Tulan People’s bodies.
Under the influence of the spiritual magnets, the hungry Tulan people would often become hot-tempered and much more aggressive. Their eyes would be red, and their faces would be as hideous as that of a beast from head to toe. Everybody looked like food that could walk.
“Devour! Devour! Devour everything! Devour all the living things in front of us!”
Such a voice echoed repeatedly in the ears of the ancient Tulan who had gone mad from hunger.
Of course, the depths of the minds of most of the ancient Tulan were still shining with the flames of civilization.
They still had the bottom line of human nature as intelligent beings.
They refused to pay attention to the evil voices in their ears.
They gritted their teeth to overcome the indescribable pain brought by the hunger that washed through their internal organs and limbs like lava.
Then, they were eaten alive by the spiritual magnets in their bodies.
First, their chest caved in, then their limbs twitched and contracted. Then, even their facial features caved in deeply, as if a huge black hole had appeared on their faces, swallowing everything, including their brains.
Their flesh and blood disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye. The spiritual magnets in their bodies, as well as the cells that were completely enveloped by the spiritual magnets, grew out of control like cancer cells.
Very quickly, they became half-mechanical, half-flesh monsters, and became the original… Origins Warriors.
The origins warriors lost all of their humanity and rationality.
They began to attack and devour everyone around them indiscriminately.
Their crazy and demonic att.i.tude was ten times more terrifying than totem beasts.
The ancient Tulan people finally realized that the spiritual magnet was a terrifying double-edged sword.
However, it was too late.
This did not mean that they could not expel the spiritual magnet from their bodies.
The problem was that if they expelled the spiritual magnet from their bodies, they would become weak and pathetic.
How could they continue to survive in this cruel New World?
“Since the end result of starvation was to be devoured by the spiritual magnets and become half-human and half-ghost monsters, it would be better for us to strike first while we are still human and rational
“Idon’t eat people. ‘m a human being. I can never eat people like a monster. However, there seem to be a lot of mandala fruits stored in the town next door. As long as we s.n.a.t.c.h those fruits, we will be saved. We will be able to hold on until the mandala tree reproduces
“There are still some totem beasts living in the mountain in front of us, including the mandala tree’s bark and its accompanying plants. It’s not that we can’t eat them. It’s just that the nutritional value is lower and the spiritual energy stored in them is less. It’s not enough to feed all of us. If we can reduce
our population by one-third…”
After witnessing the living being swallowed by the spiritual magnet and turning into the living dead, such thoughts spread rapidly like wildfire and viruses deep inside the minds of all the ancient Tulan people.
There was no such thing as “Only breaking through once’to break through the bottom line of human nature.
There were only “Breaking through zero times”and “Breaking through ten thousand times.”.
Once one “Tasted the essence”, no one would be able to “Stop at the beginning”.
It was a very simple question.
Suppose that everyone needed to eat a steamed bun to live until tomorrow. Now there were ten people and nine steamed buns. How many people would be left after they killed each other?
If you answer “Nine”, that would be too naive.
Because people don’t just want to live until tomorrow.
They also want to live until the day after tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next month, next year, ten years later, a hundred years later, forever.
People’s demand for buns is unlimited.
Before they are unsure when they will get a new bun, people will only continue to kill each other endlessly and indefinitely until there are ten people and only the strongest one is left, or two or three of the strongest who could do nothing to each other.