Stern smiled helplessly, and beckoned Donnie behind him to follow. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Downey had been annoyed that he had missed the process of discussing the relief with the professor because he had gone to rest early last night, and had been following the professor until now, for fear of missing the opportunity to discover the "New World". And just now Kansa said that there was a tree god who wanted everyone to fall to the ground, and he did it very reluctantly, but he had been watching the things around him with great curiosity. And when Donnie was still marveling at the wonder of the tree, Stern told him to follow, and only then did he come back to his senses and follow along.

As he walked, Donnie slowly discovered that the banyan tree was not only big, but also a sperm, and the aerial roots growing from the branches were rooted in the ground, and even the ground was covered with intertwined roots, a large number of fallen leaves, and fallen banyan fruits. There was an indescribable weirdness about the loose and soft feet on it, and he couldn't tell where to blame, maybe it was because it was the softest ground he had touched since walking for so many days.

Gradually, the rows of newly grown aerial roots became denser and denser, making him unable to see the road ahead, causing him to use his hands to push away. Because of the reason that Kansa called the "tree god", Donnie didn't dare to cut it with a knife, in fact, he didn't think it was necessary, but these fibrous roots swept over his body with a wet and cool touch, giving people a feeling of goosebumps all over his body.

Because Donnie's distraction caused him to accidentally hit a pillar root that had grown firmly to the ground, he had to slow down and slowly get around. But as soon as he noticed the long pillars, he forgot to look at his feet—a calf-high slab lay in front of Donnie, causing him to fall forward, falling onto the slippery dead branches and leaves, and startling many unknown insects to flee in all directions.

A large number of forest ants were crawling along the roots of the trees, and from time to time there were scorpions with huge black pincers and multi-clawed centipedes crawling around under the fallen leaves, so frightened that Donnie, who had always hated insects, quickly climbed up. But when he looked up again, he suddenly found that he was the only one left in the vast jungle of roots......

He hurriedly shouted to Stern in front of him, only to hear a few strange bird calls in the distance above him in response - he realized that he might be left behind!

These intertwined light gray pillars and roots mixed with a large number of brown aerial roots surrounded Donnie in front and back, left and right, and even the ground was densely intertwined with tangled roots, which slowly devoured everything around them as if they were alive, turning the place into a huge labyrinth. Donnie was terrified, he had left the group for the first time, and for someone who had never been to such a tropical jungle, it had suddenly become a green hell!

Donnie thought that he couldn't just stay where he was, and that he should get up and follow the group early, but he hadn't followed Stern closely because he had focused on observing the strange forest landscape around him. Now that he reacted, he didn't know where he had gone, and the people in front of him were gone, and the thick roots of the trees blocked his vision so that he could not see anyone else.

Downey had come here with his professor purely because of his curiosity about lost civilizations, and now that he was in such a situation of isolation that he was beginning to regret his decision. First when walking by the river, he was infested by those finger-sized blood-sucking leeches, then he was infested by the miasma of the forest that was not poisonous or not, and now he was caught in a maze of tree roots that became more and more hairy......

Donnie calmed down for a moment, and after thinking about it, it was not a good idea to find someone else to join him while walking, and it was not an option to stay where he was. So he continued to shout and walk, but no one around responded, and gradually Donnie found that the roots of the trees around him almost looked the same, and he didn't know where he went, and he felt that there was no way to go on. Although he had no experience of getting lost in this strange forest of roots, he knew the stupidest way to go, which was to go in one direction to the end and mark it so that if the sergeant were to look for him, he could know his whereabouts according to the symbol.

So he took out his dagger, carved an arrow at the base of a relatively large column, and did not forget to fold his hands and recite a mantra in the same way as Kansa. Then he knotted the fibrous roots next to him, and then continued to move forward in the direction of the arrow, and he walked roughly forward for more than an hour, bypassing countless column roots, and there were dozens of plate roots on the ground that he had crossed, and he also made a large number of arrows and root knots.

But this forest of roots is like a forest that can never be reached, and there is a picture in front of it over and over again—densely intertwined aerial roots. Donnie felt dizzy and his legs went limp, and he had to sit down against a pillar to slow down.

Taking advantage of the break, Donnie began to analyze the current situation, he was originally a young man who loved adventure and liked challenges. I thought that I could walk in one direction, and I could leave this weird root maze by making a mark, but I didn't expect this root maze to be too big, and there were at least thousands of column roots inside, and there was no reference at all. And to avoid these irregular column roots, I don't know when I will go around it. It would be fine if he knew that he had gone around in a circle, but so far he had not touched the mark he had left behind, which showed that this banyan tree occupies such a large area and the situation is so complicated that it is impossible to find other people if he goes on like this, let alone go out.

Donnie remembered to use the compass to find the way out, but when he rummaged through his body, he found that it was not on him. He also tried to climb the roots of the pillars directly up to the trunk of the tree to avoid the aerial roots on the ground, but the roots were so slippery that he couldn't climb them even after dozens of attempts. After several attempts in succession, they were unsuccessful, but they were close to the brink of collapse, both physically and psychologically, and sat down on the ground again.

Then he inadvertently touched the roots of the trees on the ground—there were! He remembered that there was not only one banyan tree here, so the roots of the slabs on the ground must also come from the taproot of the banyan tree. Now as long as he follows the opposite direction of these roots, then he can find the trunk of the banyan tree, and the professor was originally going to go to the trunk of the banyan tree, so he can find them directly there!

But this big banyan tree is not less than a thousand years old, and the roots on the ground have long grown in a disorderly manner, and there are a large number of branches, which are difficult to identify. Downey finally squatted on the ground and spent nearly an hour finally finding an obvious taproot, and was about to follow the direction of the root.

Suddenly he heard some sound in his ears, and the woods were already quiet, except for the occasional cry of birds and beasts from the sky, which was his own panting. So he stopped and listened carefully, and it seemed to be human speech, and the sound of feet on leaves, and it seemed to come from the direction of the root of the tree in front of him.

Donnie listened to the familiar voice and was overjoyed, indicating that his method had worked, so that he could soon join up with the professor and Stern! As soon as Donnie thought of this, he sped up his speed, dodging left and right in the direction of the sound source, and walked between the roots of the tree. When he finally traced all the way to the source of the roots, walked out of the maze of roots and came to the trunk of the banyan tree. Donnie was so tired and sore from looking down at the ground that he was trying to look up when he was frightened by the terrifying sight in front of him and fainted......