My portable grandfather refreshes every week

Chapter 319 The Birth of the Insect-Eating Tree
Xue's Law has always believed that his plan is certainly not perfect, but it is the most stable one in his limited vision.

According to the intelligence from the Mist Council, the Sixth Apostle would never allow the swarm to have more authority than the Divine Tree. Otherwise, the result would be that the swarm would devour the Divine Tree, rather than the Divine Tree devouring those insects in human skin and turning them into fruit.

That's why he developed the Divine Tree Bullet and successfully created a subspecies of Divine Tree that could stably devour swarms of insects while also self-destructing.

But now, what does it mean for the divine tree to blossom and bear fruit?

Xue Dinglu felt a cold sweat break out on his back.

The flowering and fruiting of the divine tree is actually a process of sublimation for the divine tree itself. What it fears is that this world, which has just escaped the clutches of the insect swarm, will soon become a world parasitized and distorted by the roots of the divine tree.

When he arrived at the outpost, he found that the sapling of the divine tree had indeed expanded rapidly, overturning the entire outpost base. The factory that produced the divine tree bullets was completely swallowed up, and the outpost base, which had been transformed from the base vehicle, was also completely crushed into scrap metal by the tree roots.

A divine tree, hundreds of meters thick and towering above the clouds, rose from the ground.

What shocked everyone even more was that the divine tree began to bloom. Although the flowers looked like an insect spreading its wings, the terrifying energy and horrifying power gathered on the flower buds filled everyone with fear.

"What exactly happened?" Xue asked.

He seemed to sense the distortion of billions of souls emanating from this divine tree, which made him break out in a cold sweat.

"Actually, it's a bit strange. Don't we have two Zerg Queen corpses on us...?" A tall mech explained somewhat awkwardly, "We spent a huge amount of time dealing with the Zerg Queens before, and we had to use a rocket to throw the Queen's corpse into a star to completely annihilate it..."

"So this time I wanted to take a shortcut. Since this tree could devour the Zerg Queen, I tried throwing her corpse at it, and then what you see is this..."

The mecha said, quite embarrassed.

Xue Luding remained silent, looking at the billions of souls hanging all over the divine tree. He then thought that the tree looked like it had eaten too much and was suffering from indigestion, which was why it had to use its excess energy to bloom and bear fruit.

Xue's law gradually made everything clear.

After the clumsy mech threw the Zerg Queen's corpse to the Divine Tree, the Divine Tree absorbed it without hesitation.

Then came the time for Xue's Law of Genesis to come into play. Using the Genesis technique, he connected to the planetary source and wiped out all the pseudo-insects in the world in one fell swoop.

After all, these pseudo-insects were originally monsters twisted from the planet's native creatures. Even though they had become insects, they were still connected to the planet's Great Source.

These pseudo-insects actually absorbed a significant amount of the planet's ley line energy before they died.

The energy drawn from the ley lines by the swarm is like a continuous source of magic, equivalent to the blood of the entire planet, and belongs to a type of small-scale planetary energy source.

Therefore, when the swarm reaches this stage, it means that the world's consciousness is beginning to decline and die. It is not necessary to extract all the geothermal energy of the entire planet. It is only necessary to absorb the earth's vein magic. The entire planet will have to use the energy of the earth's core to maintain the surface until the energy of the earth's core can no longer supply the surface. Then the entire planet will die completely.

This is also why the world consciousness of the Super Iron Curtain is on its last legs. After learning about Xue's Law, it gave the last World Seed to Xue without any hesitation, and it also dissipated.

It will only be able to be reborn when Xue's Law reactivates the Seed of the World.

These pseudo-insects, whose bodies were originally bulging and filled with the earth's ley line magic, were originally intended to be supplied to the Insect King.

However, the Insect King was shattered, and the entire pseudo-Insect swarm of hundreds of billions was also annihilated in an instant by Genesis.

In addition, the Divine Tree itself is essentially rooted in the planet's blood vessels (small source), and just a few hours ago, this thing also devoured the Zerg Queen without hesitation, hanging the Queen's soul on the tree.

And so, a strange reaction suddenly occurred.

In Xue's original theory, the energy of the swarms of insects that were annihilated by Genesis would dissipate into the world and gradually return to the origin of the world over time.

However, the dissipated magic and swarm of insects connected with the soul of the Insect King atop the Divine Tree through Xiao Yuan's soul...

At that moment, billions of units of energy poured onto the divine tree. And just right, the divine tree itself was not afraid of the impact of energy and souls, especially since it accepted all the spirituality of these organisms.

As a result, this sacred tree, which should have been in balance with the bacteriophage, suddenly began to grow and bloom uncontrollably, like a rampaging Unit-01.

After clarifying all the logic, Xue's Law states: "..."

He never expected that such a wondrous magical reaction could occur. Looking at the completely twisted divine tree, Xue Lude glanced at the Seed of the World in his hand...

He felt completely numb, but thankfully, no one died; at most, only a few unlucky people were injured.

This divine tree seems quite peculiar. It does not actively devour any creatures other than insects, just as it does not actively devour humans. However, if you are unlucky enough to be within its range, you will still be attacked indiscriminately.

However, for the swarm, this thing seems to actively devour the insects. Just like those pure-blooded Shub insects who survived Genesis, even though they hid in underground caves thousands of meters deep, they were killed by the underground tunneling mechs and their bodies were brought out.

Just as the mechs carrying the swarm's corpses approached the outpost, the tree roots suddenly sprang up, instantly snatching away the Dreadnoughts and the corpses in their hands. Then, a whip was used to throw the Dreadnoughts away, leaving them dazed and confused. The corpses of the insects, however, were crushed and absorbed by the tree roots.

This is a scene that just happened; the divine tree seems to have undergone some changes that even Xue's Law could not have predicted.

The good news is that the tree is just preparing to flower and bear fruit, and there are no further developments; it remains stable for the time being.

It's unclear how long it will remain stable, but the members of the interstellar squadron have clearly noticed this thing and are starting to sweat profusely.

Perhaps they are also preparing to launch their planet-destroying attacks, since the natural disasters of the Divine Tree would be far more troublesome than the insects if they were to erupt.

However, Xue Lude was puzzled because he seemed to sense that there were still a large number of bacteriophages on this twisted divine tree...

"Wait a moment, let me make direct contact." Xue Dinglu interrupted one of the interstellar squad members who was preparing to react.

He arrived at the sacred tree, his hands imbued with cursed blood and a large amount of bacteriophages. Hopefully, nothing unexpected would happen, but even if something did, the bacteriophages could protect him, at least giving him time to escape.

However, the moment the cursed blood touched the divine tree, an endless swarm of insect souls, filled with resentment and unwillingness, surged forth.

The resentment of a swarm of billions of insects was then shattered by "Innovation Century" as if it were a roadside insect being kicked to death.

Xue Dinglu was stunned for a moment.

But in reality, the Zerg swarm was annihilated by the Innovation Era while it was still alive, let alone after it died.
The cursed blood flowed along the phloem of the divine tree, and he was astonished to discover that this divine tree's genes were completely different from those of other divine trees...

For other sacred trees, their own cells and bacteriophages are locked in a life-or-death struggle, like enemies killing their fathers.

But within this divine tree, perhaps due to their long-term symbiosis, they actually achieved a reconciliation that lasted for centuries, and then...

When facing external threats, eat the bugs first!
Xue Law: "..."

He suddenly remembered this: bacteriophages are viruses after all... and viruses are the most adaptable and mutating organisms, especially since this is a bacteriophage super-enhanced by the cursed blood.

So, amazingly, the bacteriophage became a symbiotic entity of this sacred tree cell, similar to chloroplasts and mitochondria, becoming an internal organ of the sacred tree cell.

In the primitive era, prokaryotes devoured and merged with each other, eventually becoming intertwined. Mitochondria and chloroplasts were born in this way; these two cellular organs were originally separate prokaryotes, but they were incorporated into other cells.

Bacteriophages and genus cells are now in roughly the same state...

The unfortunate result of their consensus is...

insect!

Xue Dinglu silently drew out the cursed blood and looked at the strange divine tree with a twitching expression.

No, perhaps it shouldn't be called the Divine Tree anymore. It has become a completely different subspecies from other Divine Trees. A more accurate name would be the Insect-Eating Tree.

This bacteriophage, which coexisted with the cells of the Divine Tree, eventually became this kind of life form. Xue Law felt as if he had accidentally created the most terrifying demon, a Divine Tree that specifically feeds on the Shub insect race!
But this is only temporary. As mentioned before, phage mutations are unstable and occur at a fairly high frequency. Right now it is a phage tree, but who knows what strange thing it might turn into without the intervention of the cursed blood.

Therefore, Xue Dinglu immediately said, "Everyone evacuate the area. Everyone should be at least ten kilometers away. I'll figure out a solution!"

He immediately went to the Starfleet's logistics ship, found the Starfleet personnel, and handed them over the data and cells of the insect-eating tree.

The interstellar squadron quickly concluded: "Truly a product of nature's miracle! This wondrous virus coexists with the divine tree, much like primordial cells fusing together in ancient times, creating a fusion miracle! I can hardly describe this magnificent miracle, if only stable control could be achieved..."

The clerk, like a madman, widened his eyes and grinned: "We will be able to reliably manufacture divine trees that can selectively devour specific species! Insect-devouring trees that devour swarms of insects, demon-devouring trees that devour demons, corpse-devouring trees that devour the undead, and even trees that devour garbage, waste, and specific pathogens..."

"I must publish this research! I must master the technology to stably cultivate specific divine trees! Hehe, if I can reach that day, even dying will be worth it! Sage, you must include me in this research! I'll even give you the first authorship of the paper! I definitely want to participate!"

This clerk seemed to have gone mad.

Xue Lude remained silent, unsure of what to say. The truth was, Xue Lude's scientific literacy was insufficient; he hadn't grasped the true value of a divine tree capable of devouring a single, specific individual. Although this individual was born by sheer coincidence, if the Starship Legion truly mastered this technology completely and reliably, the balance of power between the Starship Legion and the Mist Council would shift dramatically.

However, the time and cost required to transform this technology from a coincidence into stability were unimaginable to him, so Xue Dinglu did not care that the clerk had started to study it like a madman, wanting to uncover its secrets.

He simply listed out the circumstances and causes of the birth of this sacred tree in silence, for reference only.

If the interstellar column can truly master this technology, it will be a good thing for the entire universe, and the same goes for Xue's Law.

However, he wasn't here to discuss biotechnology this time.

Soon, this summary of the basic characteristics of the insect-eating tree was presented to the high command of the interstellar squadron. They took a look at it and immediately gasped.

Even though they knew that this was a subspecies of the divine tree that was born out of sheer coincidence, it showed that the potential energy of the divine tree had changed, and that the divine tree itself was neither good nor evil, but that evil people had used it to cause natural disasters.

And isn't this divine tree that devours "humans" also cultivated by humans in a targeted manner?
If Kou can do it, why can't we?
So, with a wave of his hand, he increased science and technology projects, increased investment and research, and sent some materials to a large number of scholars who might be interested in this direction. They seemed to really want to study projects in this area.

Although this research is certainly a lower priority for the Starfleet than T0-level projects like the Mimicry of the King's Inner Universe and T1-level projects like the World Chat Group they are about to develop.

This project is at least a T2 level research sequence, which is already research capable of changing the landscape of the universe.

But these are all things to come later and have little to do with Xue's Law. Xue's Law actually wanted to repeat his old trick and seal the insect-eating tree back into his body, just like he sealed the divine tree of the Angel Rachel's World into his body last time.

There is actually a simpler way, such as using a planet-destroying cannon, but Xue's Law thinks it's not necessary. At least this mutated divine tree only exhibits the characteristic of eating insects.

Soon, several members of the interstellar column came to assist Xue Law, including Olivia, a senior whom Xue Law was familiar with.

Without a young general, this reckless man is more suited to the battlefield or sabotage behind enemy lines.

When the group reached the ground, the divine tree had grown even larger, reaching a diameter of nearly one kilometer. Its trunk seemed to reach into the clouds, with no end in sight. This colossal entity could be seen with the naked eye in the universe.

"It really feels like those world tree-like creatures from the Primitive Era," Senior Olivia exclaimed.

“That’s natural. After all, this thing ate two Zerg Queens, dozens of Zerg warriors, and billions of Zerg swarms. The combined energy of all that is enough to blow up this planet.” Another guy who looked like a lizardman said with his arms crossed. After seeing Xue Dinglu, he greeted him.

Xue Dinglu gave the lizard man an awkward response.

Although it was a bit rude, he really was thinking about the young man's Argonian wife.

"I once used the seal of a world consciousness to seal a complete divine tree inside my body..." Xue Dinglu began to explain his plan to everyone.

"I'll use the same method this time to seal it within me, but the only problem is that the consciousness of this planet has fallen into a state of suspended animation, and the Seed of the World is also in my hands. So what I want to do is temporarily become the consciousness of this planet through the Seed of the World, and after sealing it, I will awaken the true consciousness of that world and let it take over from me, thus successfully escaping..."

That's the plan.

If anyone else were to use this plan, the Starfleet would absolutely not agree, since it requires them to become part of the world's consciousness, which is far beyond what humanity can achieve, and is even suicidal.

However, for Xue Lude, the guardian of Earth, and for "humanity" who has used the authority of the world more than once and has temporarily filled in for the consciousness of more than one world...

This seems to be a basic operation...

Xue Law already had a complete system for dealing with the side effects and information shocks brought about by the power of world consciousness. Even if he became the true world consciousness, he could still escape smoothly.

Although Xue Dinglu is currently weak, his status is already equivalent to that of Zeus, the creator of the universe.

So after discussing it, the members of the Starfleet agreed to the plan.

The Starfleet members also had more to consider. If Xue's Law could succeed, it would prove that their project to modify the Divine Tree had a more profound research significance, namely, that humans could control the power of the modified Divine Tree.

In fact, after studying this far, they also thought of that organization, the Mist Council. The path that the apostles took seemed to lead to the same goal: to use people to control the power of the divine tree.

……

A massive seal began to surround the divine tree.

Xue Dinglu also arrived at the Divine Tree and connected with it through the cursed blood.

For some reason, he felt an extremely close connection to the divine tree. It was probably due to the bacteriophage fused within the tree. Xue Lude could be considered the father of this bacteriophage, and after the divine tree fused with the bacteriophage, it seemed to have inherited this connection.

So when Xue's Law was connected with the Divine Tree, it calmed down and stopped expanding rapidly. The fruit on the withered flower stopped growing and instead shook gently, as if it had shaken itself.

Xue Lude held the Seed of the World in his hand and said to the other interstellar squadron members who were assisting him, "Let's begin."

His spirit instantly connected with the Seed of the World, the last remaining existence of the World Consciousness, and the necessary condition for Xue's Law to awaken Him.

If the plan remains unchanged, the magic power that was originally gathered on the Divine Tree should be gathered on this World Seed, so that this world consciousness can return.

But at this moment, Xue's Law decisively used the power of the world.

In an instant, his soul no longer resided within his body, seemingly enveloping the entire world. Xue Luding remained calm; this was normal. He had essentially become a temporary-level world consciousness.

If this continues for a long time, his personality will truly be overwhelmed and devoured by the information of the world's consciousness. However, for now, he only needs a few minutes.

The interstellar squadron also began to assist, and a massive seal began to appear on the divine tree. The divine tree offered no resistance, like an obedient child, allowing the seal to uproot it completely.

In the "World Consciousness" mode, Xue Lude grabbed the seal of the Divine Tree, opened his body, stuffed the Divine Tree inside, fixed the structure, and adjusted the seal so that it would not harm his soul.

At the same instant, in the consciousness space that had just recovered, a towering tree appeared, seemingly expanding the entire subspace of consciousness by half. The tree roots sank deep into the consciousness space, and beneath the tree, the magic academy that Xue Luding and Old Green had built together appeared extremely small.

"Plan went smoothly! Success!" Xue Law, who had stolen the world's position, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Even more smoothly than sealing the divine tree last time, this time the tree was directly stuffed into the consciousness space, and it seemed to have become symbiotic with Xue Lude himself.

At the same time, in this state, Xue Dinglu was actually able to feel a faint sense of joy emanating from the divine tree.

Whether it's a misperception or not, Xue Law felt that this divine tree was gradually beginning to develop consciousness. Besides the simple awareness of "insects, delicious," it actually showed a sense of closeness and attachment to Xue Law.

But ultimately, there's no harm in it.

As Xue Lude thought this, the Insect-Eating Tree took root completely in the consciousness space and perfectly merged with Xue Lude's soul.

This seal was also well preserved, at least allowing Xue Luding to throw the insect-eating tree out as quickly as possible if anything went wrong, or to exile it directly into the void.

After completing this step, Xue Dinglu finally had a fruit in his hand that looked like a golden scarab beetle.

This is the fruit of the insect-eating tree, a culmination of energy gained after devouring billions of insects.

However, the fruit has also mutated, and its appearance looks like a large beetle. He can feel that it contains the souls of billions of insect swarms and the magic power of the world they have absorbed. As long as he eats it, he can instantly raise his strength from the current near-4th rank to the 5th rank.

Become the true Thirteenth Apostle!

However, Xue's law ultimately did not have this intention.

He despised the apostles, and likewise, he despised the fruit of the Tree of God.

Even though this fruit was formed from the absorption of insect swarms, he still felt disgusted by the billions of souls inside it, even though he knew that after eating the fruit, these billions of souls would be instantly refined by him and transformed into the purest energy.

The world consciousness of this planet will also awaken with difficulty, and it may take countless years for it to gradually recover its vitality.

Therefore, it would be better to give this fruit to the consciousness of this world, since more than 90% of its energy was drawn from His earth veins.

So Xue's Law did not hesitate and directly fed the fruit to the Seed of the World.

The next moment, the world consciousness awoke, freeing itself from that brief period of apparent death and finally recovering. In an instant, it took over the world's authority and learned about everything that had happened during the period of apparent death through information.

Then, He looked at Xue Luding with great complexity. At this moment, this young lady, who had originally seemed to have submitted to her enemy, seemed to have completely fallen into evil. He seemed to have finally let go of everything and enveloped Xue Luding in an instant.

"What, what are you doing!" Xue Dinglu exclaimed, suddenly realizing that things had completely gone beyond the plan.

"I dedicate everything I have to you, my dearest, and leave you with the most precious treasures."

(End of this chapter)