The journey to Purgatory deviated greatly from what everyone had expected at the beginning.

A small-displacement private car with an unsightly appearance drove briskly and silently on the grassy field, and the gust of wind left a faint ripple on the grass behind the car, and the whole world was so vast that the small car looked as inconspicuous as a small insect when speeding on the prairie. If it weren't for the occasional black rock formations visible from the clouds, no one would have imagined another layer of crust hanging over the sky.

The car slowly stopped in front of a black "mountain", which was another "pillar tree" supporting the dome, like a huge cliff-like trunk towering straight over the earth, the lower part of which was nearly a thousand meters high, and the upper part had disappeared into the depths of the clouds. Hao Ren pushed the door and got out of the car, took out some equipment like a measuring frame from the carry-on space, and assembled it on the spot.

The data terminal connects itself to the device, and a rough cross-section of the planet is projected above it, and several small, silver cicada-like machines fly out of the cylindrical container below the device, which fly towards the "Pillar of Heaven" and nimbly burrow into the latter's rock-hard black skin. Moments later, the data was sent back, and on the scan of the data terminal, the hologram representing the pillar tree in front of him was a cold blue.

"The third, also the deceased individual, has completely ceased to react to life," the data terminal reported indifferently as it displayed the data, "Wood fibers can still be found in the depths, but the outer skin is basically petrified, which is a mixed mineral, which may have evolved from the hardening of the secretions of the trunk over the years. These 'petrified' sections provide these hollow cylinders with unimaginable strength...... Almost as hard as a starship's armor plates. ”

"So they can support the world above." Hao Ren looked up at the lower layer of the earth's crust that was obscured by clouds, "Are these tree trunks evenly distributed?" ”

"That's right. evenly distributed, and in large quantities. The data terminal replied. Its screen shows the distribution of the "Pillar Trees" between the first and second layers of the Infernal Planet, and the data from the probe is not very detailed, but a rough analysis is enough. As you can see from the picture, the appearance of the first layer of Purgatory is completely suspended more than ten kilometers above the deep crust of this planet, and there is no geological connection between the two, and a large number of Celestial Pillar Giant Trees are the only support for maintaining this double-layer structure. These giant trees are evenly spaced beneath the earth's crust, one every hundred kilometers: far more than the number of purgatory entrances on the surface.

"Not all giant trees are hollow, in fact most giant trees are solid, they are stronger." Terminal explained, "The hollow trunks that connect the upper and lower worlds like chimneys become the so-called 'entrance to the second level of purgatory.'" ”

Lily asked curiously, "What is this hollow structure...... Pathological changes? ”

"No, it should be intentional," the terminal replied in the negative, "The distribution of the hollow giant trees is very even, on average one out of every hundred pillar giant trees is hollow, and the entire atmospheric activity of the underground space is also cooperating with these 'chimneys', and this special hollow trunk should be something similar to some kind of breathing tube." It is used to exchange the atmosphere with the surface world - and it should also function as a sensor, and the machine can scan a strong electrical signal under the hollow giant tree, if it is correct, it should be ......"

"It's the nerves of the firstborn." Hao Ren interrupted without waiting for the terminal to finish, "These trees evolved from the tentacles of the eldest son, right?" ”

Hao Ren is no longer a rookie who can only make judgments based on equipment analysis, based on the environment of this underground world and the landscape seen in the surface world. He could easily have guessed that only the eldest son could have created such a miracle. The "Pillars of Heaven" that support the upper crust are undoubtedly part of the firstborn, the only problem is that this part has evolved and the form of the firstborn's tentacles is barely visible. Even its internal physiology is very different from that of the eldest son.

The data terminal did not answer directly, but directly released a set of holographic projections. It was the structure of the underground part of the Pillar Giant Tree that had just been scanned by the deep radar, and everyone could clearly see that there was a more massive and terrifying complex world under this giant tree, and countless huge and complex roots like cranial nerves were entangled and growing in the depths of the earth, and the lower down the form, the less like normal tree roots, and at the bottom layer, the roots had completely turned into tentacles, and extended to the deeper part of the earth: that was a place that the radar could not detect, At least the few low-power sensors that Hao Ren carried with him couldn't scan that deep.

"The tentacles of the eldest son evolved into these giant trees, but from the analysis of the physiological structure alone, these trees have completely detached from the life form of the firstborn," the terminal's voice was a little confused, "they are real wood, and they are wrapped in a petrified shell that is stronger than the superalloy, which is very different from the tentacles. It feels like a flesh and blood body has grown a titanium limb and is not grafted. ”

"It is understandable that the firstborn is the source of life, and it is also possible for it to transform part of its own limbs into another species if the situation so requires. What it can do with its source blood, it doesn't make sense that its own tentacles can't do it," Hao Ren was not surprised, "These things can be confirmed with Zhuo Mu when the time comes." The key now is whether this eldest son is alive or dead...... You say it has nerve impulses, but the giant trees are clearly dead. ”

"There is no way to judge, for a creature of the level of the firstborn, it is difficult to define its life and death by the standards of a conventional species: its body and soul, every tissue and organ and even every fragment of it may have an independent definition of life and death, and some of it is obviously withered, but these withered parts support the whole world, and there are still some signals coming from its depths, but only a little bit of electricity."

Lily thought for a moment and a word popped up: "Vegetative?" ”

Hao Ren glanced at Lily with a strange expression, and he said in his heart that there should be no more disobedient way to describe it in the world, but this word is really suitable for the current situation like thunder!

"What if...... If I'm not mistaken, the upper layer isn't the earth's crust either," Vivien looked up for a long time, and suddenly said thoughtfully, "It's impossible for this planet to grow a new shell out of thin air. There could only be one thing at the top of the trunk......"

The data terminal immediately switched to the screen, showing the results of further scanning of the outermost layer of the Infernal Planet's crust, which was the desolate and vast place that everyone had seen when they first arrived here, full of toxic hot springs and monsters, which seemed to be a solid and integrated rock spherical shell, but after a detailed scan of the probe, its deep hidden veins finally appeared.

"You're right, it's the canopy. The first layer of the planet's crust on the planet of Purgatory is the petrified canopy. ”

The canopy of these trees stretched out in patches, without gaps, completely covering the original planet below, and the peculiar "petrification" process of the Pillar Giant Tree was reflected not only in the trunk, but also in the canopy, so that after many years of change, the once plant crown became a rock layer several kilometers thick, and above that rock layer, there was a harsh world that could be called purgatory.

In the process of carrying out this series of transformations, all the giant trees of the Heavenly Pillar died, I don't know if it was in the eldest son's plan or something happened in the middle, in short, these "black mountains" that everyone can see now are just the remains of dead plants, and they are the pillars left behind after the firstborn son's tentacles withered. They are fossils, holding the canopy of the earth's crust that is also fossilized.

Nangong Sanba pinched his chin thoughtfully: "In other words, the place where we are standing now is the real 'primordial surface' of the Purgatory Planet?" ”

"That's right, at least the pristine land before these giant trees completely closed the sky," Hao Ren nodded, his gaze extending upwards to the magnificent black trunk, "I think this is some kind of conservation measure, built to ensure the survival of the biosphere on the primordial land." Coupled with the outermost cloud top, the planet has layers of protection, which has persevered to this day without the sun. ”

At this time, the data terminal suddenly received an emergency communication from a probe, and it immediately shouted: "Hey! Don't study the tree yet, the probe has been discovered! ”

Vivien immediately ran over: "Is it Baptiste's whereabouts?" ”

"No—it's some other man-made traces," the projection of the data terminal showed a picture from afar, and a large ruins covered with plants and mud were clearly visible in the vast prairie, "a city! A city built by intelligent beings! (To be continued......)