Bearing the blue sky

Is Chapter 331 coming to an end?

Zhu Ge experienced it.

The energy reserves of my current root system are slowly decreasing.

The growth rate of new buds on the leaves has slowed to a level comparable to that during the dry season.

Although the dent had deepened, it was far from penetrating.

If he continues to push through, he may exhaust his energy reserves before penetrating the membrane.

But if he went back, he wasn't sure if the dent would still be in the same place when he came back next time.

He thought for a while and made a mixed decision.

Instead of completely withdrawing or continuing a strong attack, it maintains the status quo while extending some roots to the side to explore the situation in other areas of the membrane.

This is the essence of the Doctrine of the Mean.

When unsure which option is more suitable, choosing the middle one is the best option.

You chose to extend your root system laterally while maintaining the depression.

Your lateral roots extend laterally along the film surface, gradually covering a wider area.

You discover that the membrane isn't a closed sphere, but rather a slowly expanding plane, like something rising from deep underground.

You notice several similar depressions on the film surface, but their depth and shape vary, with some even deeper than the one you're currently maintaining.

The roots of the blessing song probed one by one in those deeper depressions.

The first dent was about half again as deep as the one he was currently maintaining, but it was also more elongated in shape.

Like a mark left by a sharp blade, the edges are smooth, and the roots encounter almost no additional resistance when they enter.

His roots advanced a distance along the bottom of the depression, and as he approached the deepest point, he felt the tension of the membrane increase significantly.

The resistance to moving forward is increasing exponentially!

The second indentation is more regular in shape, almost circular, and similar in depth to the first one, but has a fine texture at the bottom, which feels like a layer of fibers that has been repeatedly crushed.

His roots lingered on that texture for a moment, but couldn't find a gap to cut into.

The third indentation is completely different.

Its location is closer to the edge of the film than the previous two locations, and its depth is slightly shallower.

However, there is an extremely fine crack at the bottom of the depression, less than one-tenth the width of a single root, but it is indeed there.

When the tip of his root touched the crack, he felt an extremely faint flow of air seeping out from it, carrying a dry, ancient texture that was even more ancient than the air in the cavity.

He concentrated some of his roots at the third depression, allowing the root tips to extend along the direction of the crack.

The crack was shallower than he had expected, extending only a short distance before reaching the bottom, but the bottom of the crack was indeed thinner than the rest of the membrane.

He let the roots linger near the crack for a while, without rushing to apply pressure, but instead allowed the roots to secrete a small amount of water, which seeped into the edge of the crack.

As moisture seeps in, the thin film at the edge of the crack begins to show subtle changes, like paper that has been soaked in water slowly softening.

On the 219th day, you discovered a tiny crack in the third depression on the film's surface. With continued moisture penetration, the crack is widening at an extremely slow rate.

Your leaf growth has almost stopped, but the energy expenditure sensed by your roots is being replenished by water veins deeper underground.

[Your roots have established a continuous connection with that crack, as if they are receiving some kind of signal that cannot be categorized into a known type.]

Zhuge kept the roots around the crack while starting to extend further to the side.

During the expansion, he discovered several more cracks and depressions, but they were mostly sparsely distributed, spaced quite far apart, and of varying depths.

He focused his attention on the slowly widening crack and began to let more moisture seep into it.

As moisture continues to seep in, the width of the crack is increasing at an extremely slow rate, from one-tenth the width of a root to one-eighth the width of a root, and then to one-sixth the width of a root.

The crack itself seemed to be absorbing the moisture, becoming softer as if it were being soaked, and the tension at its edges was decreasing.

When the roots approached the crack, they could feel a faint attraction, as if air was flowing out of the crack, carrying an extremely faint warmth.

A few days later, the crack had widened enough to accommodate a single root.

Zhu Ge carefully guided a thinner lateral root into the crack, slowly advancing along its direction.

After the roots penetrated the crack, they came into contact with a completely new environment.

The air temperature on the other side of the crack was much higher than that above the membrane, and the texture was drier, carrying a special stale smell as if it had been sealed for a long time.

The surface that the tips of the roots touch is no longer a flexible material like a thin film, but a hard, granular rock surface.

Zhu Ge continued along the crack for a distance, sensing that the crack was widening, as if she were entering a larger space.

After its roots had advanced about half a foot, they encountered a hard obstacle.

Unlike a membrane, that barrier is inelastic, cannot be compressed or penetrated, and is a solid barrier.

He extended his roots laterally along the surface of the obstacle, trying to find a way around it.

However, after the roots extended a short distance to both sides, they found no gaps or openings through which they could pass.

strangeness----

Zhu Ge felt doubtful.

This is the drawback of not having visual input.

On the 241st day, your lateral roots pierced through a crack in the membrane and reached a solid rock barrier.

The barrier had a smooth surface, without any cracks or openings, like a wall that had been artificially polished.

You've lingered on that barrier for several days, unable to find a path to continue.

Your perception range extends along the surface of the barrier, covering an area approximately ten feet square, but you have failed to detect any weaknesses.

Your choice is—

First, find new weak points on the barrier surface and try to bypass them.

Second, retreat to the entrance of the rift and wait for the barrier to change on its own.

Third, refocus the energy on the main trunk and canopy, and wait for changes in the underground environment.

Zhu Ge lingered on the surface of the barrier for a while, feeling its texture and temperature.

It didn't feel like a naturally formed rock wall to him; the surface was too flat and the angles were too regular, making it seem more like it had been artificially polished.

He extended his roots laterally along the barrier surface, noticing extremely subtle temperature changes on the barrier surface during the process.

The temperature near the left edge of the barrier was a few degrees lower than the center. The temperature difference was very slight, but he could sense that its direction was subtly different from the rest of the barrier.

He continued to extend his roots along the direction of that temperature difference, and the closer he got to the left edge, the more obvious the temperature change became.

At the far left edge of the barrier, his roots touched a corner, roughly a right angle, with a smooth surface, like the joint between walls.

The roots extended upwards along the bend for a distance, and above the bend, they sensed a layer thinner than a membrane, slowly flowing.

The presence of that layer was similar to the previous thin film, but it was thinner and had lower tension.

He let the roots linger near that thin layer, feeling its edges slowly changing.

On the 253rd day, you found a thinner interface at the edge of the barrier.

The texture of that interface is similar to that of the main film, but its thickness is only about half that of the main film, and its tension is also significantly lower.

]

When your roots touch that interface, you can feel air flowing on the other side, carrying a very faint breeze.

The wind was gentle, but persistent, as if it were coming from some larger space.

Your choice is—

First, concentrate our efforts on penetrating that thinner interface.

Second, return to the main fissure and move more roots to this newly discovered location.

Third, continue exploring along the edges of the interface to find other possible locations.

Zhu Ge experienced it.

The thinner interfacial tension is indeed much lower than that of the main film, but it is located closer to the corner of the barrier, in a narrower space, and cannot accommodate too many roots at the same time.

If you try to penetrate directly, you might be able to complete it in a short time, but if the space behind the interface is more cramped than expected, it may affect subsequent expansion.

Since that's the case—Zhu Ge pondered for a moment, hesitated for a second, and then made her choice.

You choose to return to the main fissure and move some of the roots to a new location.

A relatively unobstructed channel has formed in the main crack. Your roots ascend along that channel, turn at the corner, and reach the location of the thinner interface.

You've mobilized about one-third of your root system to that interface surface, beginning to apply pressure simultaneously in multiple directions.

[The surface of the interface begins to show subtle indentations under the continuous pressure of your roots.]

The depth of the indentation is slowly increasing, but at a faster rate than the indentation of the main film, suggesting that the structure of that interface layer itself is indeed more fragile than that of the main film.

Zhu Ge sensed that the tension of the interface was gradually decreasing, and the depth of the indentation had reached a considerable level, but the interface was still not penetrated.

His roots touched a texture at the bottom of the depression that was denser than the surface itself, as if the internal structure of that surface was not uniform, but rather made up of multiple layers of materials of different densities.

He let some of his roots stop near that denser area and began to explore to the side, trying to find the edge of this interface.

After the roots extended a considerable distance across the interface, he confirmed that the area of ​​this interface was larger than he had initially thought, but its edges were still within his perceptible range.

The edge of the interface meets the corner of the barrier, forming a closed structure.

[On the 271st day, you have been applying pressure to that interface for over half a month. The indentation has deepened to the point of near penetration, but the underlying dense layer remains intact.]

[You've noticed that this interface is structurally very similar to the main film, but it appears to have formed later and has a more uniform texture.]

Its edge meets the corner of the barrier, where there are no gaps or openings.

Your choice is—

[First, continue to apply pressure where it is, and we believe the interface will eventually be breached.]

Second, move to other areas of the interface to find a thinner spot.

Third, abandon the attempt to penetrate this interface and return to the top to reassess the overall tree growth strategy.

Zhu Ge lingered on the surface of the interface for a long time, sensing the extremely subtle changes that occurred in the dense layer at the bottom of the depression under his continuous root pressure.

The dense layer was indeed slowly deforming, at an extremely slow pace, but its shape was being pressed into deeper indentations by his roots.

He decided to persevere for a while longer.

If no breakthrough is achieved after a period of time, he will then consider moving to other areas of the interface.

Anyway, he still has many more chances.

[On the 283rd day, the pressure you've been applying has finally begun to produce substantial progress.]

[A very fine crack appeared at the center of that dense layer, less than one-twentieth the width of a single root, but it was definitely there.]

You direct the root tips towards the crack, allowing water to seep into it. The crack slowly widens as the water soaks in, gradually increasing in width until it can accommodate a single root.

On the 291st day, you successfully threaded a tiny lateral root through the crack.

When the tips of the roots touched the air on the other side of the interface, the gust of wind reappeared, even more clearly than before.

It carries a sense of openness, as if flowing from a vast space.

On the other side of the interface is a space that is even wider than the thin-film cavity.

[After your roots passed through that interface, they didn't touch any physical barrier, but instead sensed a slowly flowing air and extremely faint light, as if you had finally reached a location closer to the earth's surface.]

The roots of the blessing song continued to extend a distance in that new space.

The information he sensed confirmed that this was indeed a more open space than the area he had been in before.

The air temperature was slightly higher, the humidity was significantly lower, and extremely faint sounds echoed in the space, like the sound of wind passing through some narrow passages in the distance.

He continued to extend his roots along that space, sensing that his roots were approaching the top of that space.

There was a barrier there that was thinner than any of the previous barriers, with a fine texture on the surface and obvious cracks at the edges.

[You've finally seen the exit after your long underground journey.]

イ口!

Zhu Ge was greatly encouraged.

The tribulation is almost over!

It seems he didn't put in much effort for this simulation.

It's a pity that no unique trait appeared, but it's still a success. We'll have to see which trait is better later.