National destiny: Starting with a coffin, building an aircraft carrier is broadcast live globally.

"Aaaaaaahh ...

This is probably the most heartfelt and unadorned voice I've ever heard Nathan speak since I met him.

However, the owner of the voice, along with the mournful ending tone, disappeared on the spot in 0.1 seconds.

The rift closed rapidly, as if the living person who had just stood next to the Thorn Spear was an illusion.

Before we could even mourn for Nathan, another crack silently opened up in the center of the deck...

It's wider and longer than the one Nathan was standing on!

Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, a familiar, jet-black tongue lazily stretched out and licked around the 'upper lip'.

"Wait... isn't this a ruminant digestion module?!"

Klaus looked utterly resistant.

"Yes, the situation is urgent, there's no time to explain."

As he spoke, he pushed the still bewildered Estin and Luigi off the ground, one in each hand.

"Waaaaah—"

"what!"

Then, with two short gasps, he kicked Ivan to the ground, jumped down himself, and grabbed Klaus as well.

"Don't move it, it's teething now..."

In the darkness, a calm voice rang out:

"Yes, I'm talking about you, Nathan."

Nathan: "..."

He silently retracted the climbing whip hanging from one of his teeth and obediently squatted down.

Honestly...

My exploration career seems to have reached a completely new and absurd height today!

......

After the ship's bio-energy module reported the incident, [Abyss]'s bio-energy bar turned gray, making it unable to support the release of the skill [Flare].

But unfortunately,

The [Energy Core β] he obtained in the Sea of ​​Mist is equivalent to a disposable battery, enough to support him in giving these Shadow Bamboo a thorough "sunshine spa".

Solar flares.

The long-depleted, stranded ship shuddered, and the long-awaited energy instantly flowed to every corner.

The light of the [Heart of the Sun] grows ever brighter.

The Shadow Devouring Bamboo Forest, which had already climbed onto the deck, also sensed the threat, but was trapped on the left and right sides.

They frantically tore at the fishing nets and claws, the bamboo leaves rustling, but it was too late—

"Buzz—"

A buzzing sound that seemed to obliterate everything, and extreme whiteness and heat.

The energy of the [Energy Core β], enough to turn a delicious cod into Iron Man, is released in full at this moment!

The sides of the boat and the bamboo clinging to it became the primary targets.

Those shadows that were invincible in the darkness melted away like snowmen exposed to the scorching sun under the flare, leaving not even a trace of water. The bamboo joints also quickly lost their vitality, twisted and carbonized, turning into black ash.

"Sizzle—"

The fishing net woven from Luna titanium alloy, the leg hair razor, and Klaus's mechanical claws all groaned under the strain.

Although Klaus couldn't see, that didn't stop him from letting out mournful cries:

"Waaah... My net! My claws!"

His heart was bleeding.

Ivan casually comforted him:

"Out with the old, in with the new!"

Klaus turned and glared at him with the same look he'd given a spendthrift, while Renyi also gave the engineer the same look.

The flare lasts only about ten seconds.

The exposed parts of the bamboo, which can be clearly seen from the outside, are carbonized, but some of the deeply buried roots are still wriggling.

The 'stomach walls' around everyone began to ripple, and a tremendous force came from beneath their feet.

"ha?"

"Puff puff puff—"

The four living people who had just been swallowed were spewed out like watermelon seeds, rolling around in a mess on the deck.

Finally, the captain was leisurely escorted out.

"How is it?"

He smiled and looked at the group of people who were slumped over, and asked:

"Is it fun?"

Everyone: X﹏X

Just then, Aurora suddenly burst out of the cabin.

"I...I felt it...sorrow..."

It was so heavy it made it hard for her to breathe!

The bamboo forest has been lost...

These remaining root systems thus lost the protection of their shadows.

They resembled dying wild beasts, seemingly prepared for a desperate struggle—

"Boom..."

The ground trembled more violently than when the bamboo forest moved before, and more and deeper Shadow Devouring Bamboo roots broke through the soil.

but,

Instead of attacking as before, they stretched out wildly towards the sky, intertwining with each other.

That scene...

It looked just like a desperate embrace made up of countless black arms, trying to pull down the sky!

"Do they...do they have any more powerful moves?!"

"No...that's not right..."

Aurora's deep blue eyes unconsciously filled with tears.

She wasn't feeling sympathy; rather... she was simply infected by this emotion.

The roots of the Shadow-Eating Bamboo made a crisp "crackling" sound.

On its resilient surface, cracks appeared, and in the middle...

bright.

A gentle...holy white light, full of hope and vitality.

The flowers are blooming.

It blooms on those dark, ugly, twisted roots of the Shadow Bamboo, which symbolize plunder and death.

Countless pure white flowers bloomed boldly at the same time.

One flower...

A cluster... a whole patch.

In just over ten seconds, this desolate soil, ravaged by the Shadow Bamboo, was transformed into a gentle sea of ​​flowers.

Each flower swayed gently, its gentle glow softening even the dark clouds that obscured the starlight.

Everyone on deck was stunned.

Ivan and Esting stared with their mouths open, unable to utter a single word.

Klaus didn't even care about the Death Thorn Spear and Newton.

They exhaust their last bit of nourishment, burning away all their shadows, all for this one magnificent bloom at the end of their lives.

Nathan didn't even stand up; he just knelt on the deck, gazing intently at the unexpected beauty before him.

His sequence...

It allowed him to sense things more clearly than others...

These greedy and ruthless creatures made no wails, showed no resentment, only accepted their fate... and withered away peacefully.

The beautiful scenery arrived unexpectedly, and vanished just as quickly.

Or perhaps they simply forgot about the time.

The blooming sea of ​​flowers began to wither and weather at a regrettable speed, eventually turning into countless white specks of light that dissipated into the air.

The root system, which covered several kilometers of underground, was also reduced to dust in an instant.

It was as if the earth-shattering scene just now was just an illusion.

The world returned to silence.

Only the Abyss remained silently anchored in the center of a scorched earth, bearing witness to everything that had just happened.

Where the roots of the Shadow Bamboo finally intertwine and extend, a palm-sized, smooth, jet-black seed, marked with soft white lines, lies quietly there.

He jumped off the deck at will.

This time he landed steadily on the ground.

He walked up to the seed, bent down, and picked it up.

Seed of Life (Shadow-Eating Bamboo)

[Comment: It represents the end of a tribe, but also carries all their hopes. At the end of darkness, perhaps not light, but another, even deeper darkness... or maybe a bowl of delicious bamboo shoot soup? PS: Its territorial instincts... are even stronger than a honey badger's; plant with caution.]