48 Hours a Day

It was quite weird for Zhang Heng to see his other-self.

His second-self was still wrapped in something like a cicada pupa, with fluid surrounding it as if still growing in a mother’s womb. Other than that, Zhang Heng also noticed a fist-thick fibrous tube inserted into the creature’s brain. This might explain the perfectly-shaped fourth ventricle they saw on the CT image.

The other end of the fibrous tube was connected to a smaller pupa. The thing inside it was trying to break through the pupa’s thin film and crawl into the tube.

At this point, Zhang Heng has basically figured out how they replaced humans.

They did not get into their target’s head. Instead, they had found a way to clone a human body. This body was like a garment. Once that thing got into the brain, they could start to talk and act like a human. It was no wonder why they had been so inefficient and had not attacked him for so long.

Once that thing arrived at the fourth ventricle through the fibrous tube, they would start to plan an attack on him. And it seemed that daylight might come faster than expected. Zhang Heng walked around the ancient plant and counted the cicada pupae on the trunk. Among them, there were more small pupae, their numbers reaching to the hundreds. In comparison, there was far fewer cicada pupa—only thirteen of them—which was a bad number.

Including the time when Judas betrayed Jesus, Jesus happened to have thirteen disciples as well. Given the huge disparity between the number of small and large cicada pupae, it meant that those creatures needed to compete with each other to get out and walk on this earth. This was somewhat similar to the human reproduction system.

Zhang Heng had just spent a short time here, and his shoulders were already covered with ashes. In such a turbid environment, even breathing had become a little difficult. Fortunately, he brought a mask with him in advance, though he knew that it was not ideal staying here for too long. So, Zhang Heng decided to speed up.

Although he knew nothing about this mysterious living organism in front of him, its relationship with the fourth ventricle’s parasite was now clear.

The weird-looking tree was the one that gave birth to those parasites and cloned those human bodies.

The tree could also be compared to the Zerg’s Broodmother in StarCraft. In other words, as long as Zhang Heng destroyed this place, he could at least stop the tree from producing more of those things, even if he could not kill every single one of them.

Zhang Heng drew his knife to test the plant’s defense mechanism, but before he could even get close to the tree, the vines entwined on the branches started to move again. And this time, every single vine was on the move. They were like giant pythons that had awakened from a deep slumber.

Immediately, Zhang Heng stopped moving forward. When the sarcomas on the vines exploded together, there would be no dodging them, no matter how agile he was. And as long as he stepped away, the vines would immediately slow down and return to their squirming state.

Zhang Heng also noticed that those cicada pupae hanging on the branches were far away from those vines. It was to prevent them from being damaged during battles.

Did that mean the vines could attack indiscriminately?

He frowned. It would prove challenging to get close to the tree, especially its heart. Fortunately, he had anticipated all kinds of scenarios that might take place tonight, and he was well-prepared. Zhang Heng then squatted down, opened the backpack behind him, and took out a gasoline bottle.

The backpack had limited capacity, and Lego bricks had taken up most of the space. Although little was left for the gasoline, it should be enough to light up the whole tree. Zhang Heng unscrewed the bottle and sprinkled as much gasoline as he could on the plant’s center. At the same time, he slowly retreated to the door. The vines were not engaged in a combat state at that time.

After that, Zhang Heng struck a match as he decided to bid this alien tree goodbye before him.

The lit match fell on the gasoline accurately, and it started to burn the tree. In the blink of an eye, the entire tree was engulfed in flames.

Coupled with the atmosphere, the burning alien was a strangely beautiful sight. When the flames started to attack the tree, the vines tried to protect it, but there was no target for them to attack.

However, the flame in front of him only lasted for less than two seconds. With the next “breath,” the tree was no longer spitting out ashes. Instead, it started to spit bright red sap. The moment the flames came into contact with the sticky liquid, they instantly extinguished.

The fire was quickly brought under control. After the third exhalation, the flames had disappeared entirely, and the previously blackened areas began to fall off, in their place, replaced by new bark. It began to look just as it did before.

The entire fire extinguishing and repair process only took less than half a minute. After that, everything returned to normal.

At the other end of the hall, Zhang Heng realized that he was in huge trouble this time. In front of him, the alien tree did not seem to have much offensive ability. It had to rely on the vines to protect it. He was, however, in awe at the creature’s self-healing ability and crisis response capabilities.

In gaming terms, the alien should belong to the kind of boss with high health points where it allocated all its attributes to survival points. This was in line with its evolutionary theory. Other than those ugly vines, it still had the small cicada pupae to protect it. Focussing solely on defense, there was no longer any need for it to develop any offensive abilities.

Judging from the damage on the alien tree, Zhang Heng figured that not even a rocket launcher could blow up its outer trunk, let alone the Paris Arrow in his backpack. Even if he managed to find its weakness, there was nothing he could do as long as the outer defense was intact. At this point, he might just need an intercontinental ballistic missile-level weapon to deal with it.

Zhang Heng had no intention to stay here any longer. His throat had already started to itch, and his vision became increasingly fuzzy as well. After Zhang Heng attempted to burn it down, the putrid smell became even more intense. And Zhang Heng also realized that this smell had a slight paralyzing effect. He might be fine for now. However, if he continued to stay here, his movement would become slower, and it would affect his brain as well.

It seemed like there was nothing he could do to destroy the tree tonight. Zhang Heng took his mobile phone out of his pocket, took a few photos, recorded the place, and walked out of the hall through the door.