After finishing her instructions, Xu An buried her head in the covers. The electric waves from earlier had caused her head to throb intermittently.
Xu An inwardly grumbled that it wasn't just Willow that was affected; if she listened any longer, she felt like she'd be sent away.
As expected, just as Xu An entered the space, the willow tree began to go berserk due to the sound of the electric waves.
Thousands of willow branches began to twist wildly, thrashing in the air as if mad. The surrounding area was filled with the crackling sound of碎石 and the sounds of animals fleeing for their lives.
"Doctor, why are there so many animals here!"
A researcher beside him looked with surprise at a snow-white fox that ran past him, his eyes filled with a strange delight.
A moment later, another pheasant whizzed by.
The researcher seemed unable to hold back any longer and reached out to catch it, not knowing how long it had been since he had eaten chicken.
But his outstretched hand was pushed away by Zhang Bo, who said with a serious expression, "Don't forget why we're here. Once we deal with the willow tree, you can eat whatever animals you want on this mountain."
The young researcher then withdrew his greedy gaze, though his eyes lingered on the constantly fleeing animals nearby.
But he knew the doctor was right; as long as the willow tree was dealt with, why worry about not having food?
Xu An had no idea how many hours had passed in the space. It wasn't until Goudan licked her ankle that her headache began to subside slightly.
She didn't even have time to ask Zeyuan what the "danger" he mentioned earlier was when she felt Zeyuan's summons.
Knowing that the willow tree had stopped moving, Xu An did not hesitate. She flashed out of the space and, almost without a pause, moved as fast as lightning.
Concealed by the mist, she sprinted towards the willow tree.
Zhang Bo only caught a glimpse of a figure flashing before his eyes before it disappeared.
He felt something was wrong and quickly ran forward, only to find that the willow tree before him showed no abnormalities.
"You two, set up the equipment, and we'll start extracting together."
The other two researchers struggled to place the large boxes on the ground, then opened them, took out all the bottles, jars, and various instruments, and began to assemble them one by one.
Then, holding a dagger, he approached the willow tree and fiercely plunged it into the trunk.
The sap from the willow tree was collected in transparent glass test tubes.
Then the action was repeated.
They didn't stop until the willow tree no longer produced sap.
This continued for an hour.
"Doctor..."
The researcher spoke with some difficulty, "The life detector shows no reaction. This willow tree has not detected any other substances, nor does it show any signs of life."
The man's voice was hoarse, and even he couldn't believe that the detection results showed it was just an ordinary willow tree.
Everyone had seen the willow tree seem to have a life of its own, twisting and thrashing wildly in a frenzy.
But the current detection results were dead silent, with no signs of life at all.
"Doctor, could it be that our sound waves were too strong, and this willow tree..."
He wanted to say that the willow tree might be dead, but looking at the doctor's expression, he dared not utter the last two words.
He had never seen Zhang Bo like this. His usual gentle and approachable demeanor had completely vanished.
The current Zhang Bo was like a true mad scientist, holding the transparent liquid in his hand and muttering something to himself, but no one could hear clearly.
"Impossible, no, impossible, impossible!"
Zhang Bo looked at the gene sequence displayed on the instrument, and a fleeting figure from earlier suddenly flashed through his mind.
If the willow tree itself did not have vitality, was it due to external forces?
And had someone stolen this external force?
Then everything would make sense!
His face regained its extremely frenzied expression.
In the blind spot where no one could see him, he brought the silver box, which he never entrusted to others, to his front, quietly opened it, took out a transparent pale blue liquid, and a smile of unknown meaning spread across his face.
He adjusted his state of mind and returned to his previous gentle and elegant demeanor.
Zhang Bo walked over to the two students who had been following him.
"I'm sorry about earlier. As you know, I've made so many preparations to find the willow tree's life gene chain this time, but then I found out all my efforts were in vain, and I lost my composure. I apologize to you both."
The two young men stood awkwardly in place, not knowing where to put their hands. "It's alright, Doctor. We know how much effort you've put into your research over the years. We're just one step away, so it's understandable that you're a bit disappointed. We all understand."
The two looked at each other and saw relief in each other's eyes.
That's right, this was the doctor they were familiar with.
The commotion here naturally attracted the attention of others.
Wang Zhao and Liu Fei were each lost in their own thoughts and hadn't paid any attention to their fiddling with the experimental equipment for a long time.
Their eyes were firmly fixed on Lin Zhuoran, Zhou Haimei, and Yu Qin, who was being carried up on a makeshift stretcher.
In the morning, no one knew what Zhang Bo had fed Yu Qin, but Yu Qin's complexion had miraculously become rosy.
During the time the willow tree went berserk after they went up the mountain, she even let out a murmur, and her eyeballs kept rolling under her eyelids, showing signs of waking up. This scared Wang Zhao and Liu Fei to death.
With all their minds focused on how to get rid of Yu Qin.
As for Lin Zhuoran, she and Zhou Haimei had to monitor Zhang Bo's experiments while constantly guarding against Wang Zhao and Liu Fei.
For a time, the atmosphere was tense.
The most leisurely people in this group turned out to be Song Ran and the driver.
...
Xu An, with a pounding heart, took out the small mushroom and returned to the space. Before she could examine it carefully, the small, faintly glowing blue object was swallowed by Zeyuan.
Xu An: "..." I really want to curse!
"Did Zhang Bo see me?"
After swallowing the mushroom, Zeyuan's aura even seemed to strengthen.
"No, I gave you speed buffs. He's just a mortal, and there's mist. He definitely couldn't see you."
After speaking, Zeyuan changed the subject, "However, that Zhang Bo seems to be unaware of consciousness entities. He's still there cutting tree bark."
"What do you mean?"
"If he knew about consciousness entities, he would have acted like Weng Quan, knowing that the source of consciousness is a physical entity. He should have dug directly towards the heart of the tree instead of just cutting the bark."
Zeyuan seemed to have finally won a point and looked at Xu An as if she were an idiot.
"However, it seems that Zhang Bo is about to make a move."
"Make a move for what?" Xu An was confused.
She couldn't see anything from within the space at the moment. She didn't know that while Zhang Bo was chatting with the two researchers, he had also handed them a cup of water.
And that cup of water contained the pale blue agent he had taken out like a treasure.
However, the agent turned colorless and odorless upon contact with water. After taking the water, the two thanked him profusely and drank it without suspicion.
Zhang Bo looked at the emptied water cups and patted the two on the shoulders with a satisfied expression.
"If I weren't short-handed, I would be really reluctant to part with you guys..."