Thorin's main hub is the most special of all the Empire's main hubs - not only because its crystal array is built on the top of the tree, but also because Bertila, the "living hub carrier", has made a bold transformation of the entire hub using the unique biological characteristics of the Thorin Giant Tree, and she has cleverly integrated the original cold steel and crystals into the structure of the giant tree, and her "design" is reflected everywhere in the canopy of this giant tree.

Margarita was guided by Bertila to the area where the crystal array was located, and the metal devices that supported the crystal array were deeply implanted in the giant tree, and a large number of wooden structures and vine-like "pipes" extended from the layers of branches and merged with the base of the crystal array. With a rattling sound, Margarita saw a "ground" near the pedestal open, and the neat and dense foliage of the trees shook and retreated to the sides, revealing a staircase that sloped downward, as if leading to a deep place.

Although it is wrapped in layers of leaves and branches, the passage is not dim, and a large number of glowing flowers and vines hang down from the "walls" on both sides of the passage, illuminating this "small world" within the canopy like lights.

"This is my 'research room,' and I've built it inside myself so it's easier to use," said Bertila to Margarita, who had already taken the lead in her steps, "please follow me - watch the steps, it's a bit steep, and I've been thinking about how to regrow this part of it lately." ”

"Really...... Ingenious," Margarita followed the other party's "footsteps" and entered this "secret space" belonging to Berthira with several technicians and accompanying soldiers, she looked at the glowing plants on the foliage walls on both sides and the stairs and corridors that grew cleverly, and couldn't help but sigh, "I didn't expect you to have such creativity, Lady Bertila." ”

“…… Actually, I almost forgot that I still have such creativity," Beltila seemed to pause slightly, and then continued to walk forward, "curiosity, creativity, learning new things, observing the world...... I've discarded a lot of things, but lately I've been trying to get them back. ”

As they spoke, they had already walked up the slightly steep staircase and entered a rather wide space.

It was a roughly ellipsoidal "world in the trees", and Margarita swore that she had never seen such a strange but wonderful sight even in her most imaginative dreams—

Sturdy wooden shells and support columns support the place, and countless walls of green leaves and rattans make up the walls, floors, and roof of this ellipsoidal space, illuminated by countless glowing plants—including flowers and drooping mycelium—making it look like a brightly lit botanical cave. In this "cave", Margarita saw many things that were incomprehensible to humans, including luminous vines that spread along the ground, bags that seemed to be some kind of culture sac hanging from the nearby foliage walls, some wooden, cascading platforms, and most striking was the most central ...... Some kind of structure.

It was a huge sac hanging from the ceiling, about dozens of vines and tubular tissues of different thicknesses extended from the top of the capsule, the whole capsule was like a brown-red bag, which seemed to be filled with some kind of liquid that emitted a faint light, and as time went by, some of the thinner "epithelium" on the capsule was still pulsating slightly, and there were things like blood vessels in it that were changing in light and dark.

It's somewhat unsettling, but with a certain mystical appeal, and it's clearly connected to the biochemical technology of the Society of the End of Life in terms of style, but it doesn't have that kind of bloody madness.

"I haven't let anyone else come here," Bertila said to Margarita, "as you can see, this is a place built according to my 'survival mode', and only I can use the things here." By the way, I shouldn't be a 'violation' by doing this, right? I'm not using any public resources, I'm just doing some research here – I'm a druid after all. ”

"Uh...... I don't think it's a violation," Margarita thought for a long time before she could organize her language, "Strictly speaking...... This is your own 'physiological adjustment', and I don't think the laws of the empire can dictate how you should grow......"

As she spoke, the imperial female general seemed to feel that the current topic was a little too brain-burning, so she hurriedly waved her hand before the topic became more bizarre: "Let's not discuss this - Ms. Bertila, you just mentioned that you analyzed the clues from the signal, does this have anything to do with this 'secret base'?" ”

"Oh, of course, because that's where I researched the clues." Bertila nodded, and led everyone to a flower bud in the ellipsoidal space, and as Margarita and the others approached, the one-man tall bud suddenly unfolded on its own, and the originally curled green leaves stretched out, revealing its pure white inner wall.

"What is this?" Margarita frowned and asked curiously.

"It's just a little trick that can be used to present the picture - it's easier for me to manipulate plants directly than to manipulate the Magic Web Crystal," Bertila said casually, "It's just an inconsequential detail, and I want to show you...... This one. ”

As she spoke, she communicated the structure of the plant in front of her, and Margarita looked at it curiously, and then was surprised to see that dark green marks suddenly appeared on the inner wall of the pure white leaves.

"Ever since the last time I received strange signals, I've been wondering what those signals mean – scholars have used a lot of methods to crack it, including codes, codes, sounds, and 'alphabets'...... I've tried a lot of things, but they've all failed, and there seems to be no logic in those short tremors, they don't correspond to some kind of codebook, they don't have numerical patterns, and when they are converted into sounds, there is only noise...... So finally it occurred to me that maybe these tremors didn't involve passwords? Maybe they're some kind of ...... What about something simpler? ”

Bedilla recounted her attempts as she adjusted the lines that appeared on the blade, outlining more details in front of Margarita's eyes.

“…… I used a very simple method that no one had ever tried: just draw the tremor. You see, when a strong tremor appears, it leaves a dot—like an ink dot, very small; If the duration of a tremor is considered to be a 'grid', then as many 'grids' as long as the weak tremor and white noise lasts......

"And then there's here, it's very important, and it took me a long time to figure out what to do with the change here – in the signal that we're getting, every other segment there is a very short, very sharp waveform, and I thought it represented some kind of 'line' at first, but then I realized that it meant...... Change the line.

"In the same way, we've received several other very short, sharp waveforms, each with its own meaning, that are used to position the subsequent 'dots' to a specific relative position in the previous paragraph......"

On the leaves, more and more imprints of magic were imprinted, and according to Berthira's idea, the mysterious signal that Thorin Hub had "listened" to was rapidly transforming into a pattern of dots and blanks, and Margarita was almost certain that Berthira was right!

Because the dots are not arranged randomly, they are being arranged in a neat and regular shape!

"What is this?" Finally, a technician standing behind Margarita couldn't help but speak, and the middle-aged man in the short robe of a magic guide technician stared at the "dot diagram" on the blade, and exclaimed in dismay, "This ......"

"A square, a square formed by the dots joining together into a line, is very ...... Regular, the number of dots on each side is exactly the same. Bertilla said, and as she spoke, the dark green pattern imprinted on the leaves still extended.

The striking dots have been connected to form a square, but it's clear that that's not all there is – there are still new dots popping up in the blank space next to the square, and they are very clearly aligned in lines and combined into patterns!

Margarita and the rest of her entourage watched with wide eyes, speculating at what it would eventually look like, but after a few seconds, it all came to an abrupt halt.

The dots that followed came to an abrupt halt after forming a short line segment.

"What's next?" Margarita couldn't help but look up and ask, "Why is it gone?" ”

"The signal is cut off," Berthira said, spreading her hands, "that's all I've recorded." You know, it's very, very inefficient to record graphics with these tremors, and we might have to record a long and uninterrupted signal to get a complete picture of this thing - but I only got a signal for 10 minutes.

“…… Damn......" Margarita couldn't help but muttered something not very ladylike, and then showed a thoughtful look, "So the essence of these signals ......"

"www.yyhcxs.xyz It should be a picture, and what we see is probably only a part of it—we don't know exactly how big it is, and its meaning and who sent it are a complete mystery," Bertila spread her hands very humanly and shook her head, "I even suspect it's a drawing, but of course it's just speculation—after all, there are so few parts to see." ”

"All in all, now we can almost be sure that this thing can't be some kind of 'natural phenomenon,'" Margarita took a deep breath, "Whoever is doing this, there is a being that has been sending us a picture all the time—maybe not on purpose, but rather an indiscriminate broadcast, just happened to be captured by our crystal array." In any case, the matter must be reported to the imperial capital immediately. ”

"Of course," Bertila nodded, "this is unusual, and think of the recent incident of internet trolling...... There are more and more disturbing things in this world. ”

"Hmm...... Speaking of which, when did you discover these patterns? Margarita gave Beltila a sudden look, a curious look on her face.

"It was only a few hours ago," Berti tugged at the corners of her mouth, a hint of a hint of a smile, "luck was the bulk of it—the idea I came up with didn't match the normal rules of codebreaking, and I was lucky enough to bump into it." ”

"That's still a remarkable achievement," Margarita complimented sincerely, and then couldn't help but turn her head away, her eyes falling on the sac in the center of this ellipsoidal space, "Actually, I wanted to ask from just now, this thing...... What exactly is it for? ”

There are a lot of weird-looking things in this ellipsoidal space, but most of them are at least in line with the characteristics of common things such as vines, flowers, branches and leaves, only the sac hanging in the center of the space is so strange and mysterious that it is difficult to ignore, Margarita has been attracted by it since she came in just now, but she is too embarrassed to ask because of her official duties, and at this time, after the conversation, she finally couldn't help but speak.

In front of him, the former Grand Imam of the end of all things...... What exactly is she studying in her "private research room"?

Hearing Margarita's inquiry, there was nothing unusual on Beltila's face (mainly vegetative faces are really not easy to make expressions), but there was a hint of pride in her tone: "That's the optimization and supplement I made to myself, and this time I was able to successfully crack the clues in the signal, thanks to the assistance of this thing." If you want to see it, I can open the outer sac, but what is inside may have a bit of a visual impact on the average person...... Be ye prepared. ”

Margarita smiled and said confidently, "Of course - we are all specially trained, and we will not be shocked in any situation. You can open it up and satisfy our curiosity. ”

Bertilla nodded, and with a flick of his hand, there was a sudden creeping and squirming sound from the sac in the center of the "room", and then many neatly arranged cracks appeared on the surface of the maroon capsule, and the whole package structure bloomed like petals, revealing the transparent ovoid inner shell inside, the translucent nutrient solution in the inner shell, and the huge and amazing biological tissue soaked in the nutrient solution.

It turned out to be a brain! A "synthetic brain" soaked in a nutrient solution that is nearly a person tall!

Margarita, a specially trained Imperial officer, widened her eyes the moment she saw the thing, and then she felt the hairs on her body stand up slightly: "This ...... What is it!? ”

"I built a brain for myself – trying to mimic what a human brain makes, but of course it's a bit of a problem with size...... I didn't want to make it this big at first. Bertilla said with no change in her expression, as if it were a trivial matter.

Margarita felt that her thoughts could no longer keep up with the vegetative person in front of her, and her head was dizzy when she asked the question again: "How did you come up with the idea of creating a brain for yourself?" ”

Bertila thought seriously this time, and patiently explained to the other party: "After becoming a plant, I found that my way of thinking is also moving towards the direction of the plant every day, and recently I have even stood here like a real tree, and I don't want to do anything except bask in the sun and bear fruit and shake the leaves in the wind...... I was worried about this situation, so I built a brain for myself to help me stabilize my perception as a 'human', and as for the improvement of logical thinking and associative ability brought by this brain...... In fact, it was a windfall. ”

Margarita's widening eyes finally slowly returned to their original shape, and she glanced at the former Imam of the End of Everything in front of her with a strange expression, and suddenly felt that it was still too difficult to communicate with a plant......