Chapter 666: The Wonderful Ecology of Jielin (Part 1)

"Blade wind... Time rain..."

Mu You silently recited the two new terms in the text.

The two natural disasters looked quite intimidating, but Mu You had never experienced them, so he didn't feel anything real at this time.

The bigger problem for him now was that the soul-guiding lamp was gone.

This meant that he couldn't die again on the way, otherwise he would be teleported back to the entrance of the second floor and start over again.

"I can only be as careful as possible..."

Mu You shook his head. In addition to the two natural disasters, there was no strategy for the third floor written on this crystal stone, which meant that the three fool ancestors might have all died in the process of exploring the third floor. Everything that followed could only be explored by him.

"Walk around the periphery first, look for the relics left by the mechanic, and see if I can strengthen the black angel..."

Mu You silently calculated the action plan in his mind. According to the failure rate of the parts on the black angel, he could still hold on on this floor, but it was hard to say whether he could still use it normally on the next floor. He had to find a replacement as soon as possible.

After sorting out his thoughts, Mu You was about to control the character to set off.

An unexpected prompt suddenly popped up.

[The airflow suddenly became turbulent, and a whistling sound of strong wind came from the direction deep in the forest, as if thousands of troops were galloping...]

"Is the wind blowing?"

Mu You's heart skipped a beat.

He had just finished reading the introduction of the two natural disasters, and the wind started blowing right after... It couldn't be such a coincidence, right?

[The whistling sound in the forest came in the blink of an eye...]

[A strong wind suddenly swept across your cheek, leaving a barely detectable blood line on your face...]

[More and more strong winds came from all directions, you only felt pain on your cheek, subconsciously stretched out your hand to cover it, but felt that your arm also began to sting violently. ]

[Looking down, you found that the back of your hand and arm were pierced by several needle-like crystal ore fragments, which penetrated deeply into your flesh and blood, and blood flowed out...]

"Emm..."

Mu You was completely confirmed now, it was really the legendary "knife wind".

Without time to think about it, he hurriedly ordered the characters to dodge.

[…Dark clouds rolled in the sky, and the wind howled in the jungle, carrying a large number of tiny crystals in the wind.]

[These crystals were as sharp as blades, flying around, easily breaking the tranquility of the forest…]

[You pulled out the spikes on your arm, but more and bigger crystal spikes immediately attacked, quickly piercing your exposed skin into a bloody mess…]

[With a clanging sound, the silver angel's wings rolled up and covered your body, helping you block most of the damage, but there were still many unprotected places that were pierced by tiny crystal needles…]

[Under the protection of the black angel, you tried to shrink your body into a ball to avoid being swept away by the strong wind, and started to escape, looking for a low-lying shelter nearby… …】

【However, you are surrounded by loosely arranged grass and trees, and you soon find that there is nowhere to hide, because these strong winds do not come from a fixed direction, but from all directions. No matter where you hide, these blade-like crystals are like eyes, chasing you closely, constantly breaking into the gaps in the black angel's armor, piercing your clothes and skin...】

【You feel a burning pain all over your body, and blood drops drip from the wound, quickly dyeing your collar red...】

"It's really powerful..."

This time Mu You has personally experienced the power of this natural disaster. No wonder a storm made the expedition team of the Fool Ancestor run out of ammunition and food.

Fortunately, the text of the crystal mentioned the countermeasures: after encountering the knife wind, you have to find those dead ring trees. The surface of this dead ring tree will become fragile and can be destroyed, while the inside of the ring tree is hollow. You only need to dig a hole on the surface of the dead tree, and after people get in, block the hole, and you can temporarily get a safe shelter.

【"Fifty meters to the left, a dry tree was found."】

【Ava's prompt sounded in time, and you hurriedly followed its instructions and saw a dead tree. 】

【Compared with the thick and round tree, the diameter of this tree has obviously shrunk a lot, and the surface has become wrinkled and covered with dry and cracked bark. 】

【You walked quickly to the bottom of the tree, wielding the Death Prison Blade in your hand, bringing up weak sword energy and bombarding the dry bark. 】

【A series of cuts formed on the trunk, and a hole was soon dug in the wood chips, revealing the hollow tree hole space inside. 】

【You ignored the consumption and swung the knife more vigorously, and soon expanded the gap to a size that could be passed by one person. 】

【You moved a piece of black rock crystal from nearby, drilled into the tree hole, and then blocked the entrance with black crystal. 】

【The murderous wind of ghosts and wolves howling outside was finally temporarily isolated by you. ]

[You are safe! ]

Mu You breathed a sigh of relief, somewhat thankful that he had obtained the divine power to slash the gods, otherwise, it would not be possible to cut a gap in the ring wood so quickly by ordinary means.

The fool ancestors died in this way before. When they slowly dug the tree hole, most of them were almost dead in the wind of the knife.

[Being in a safe space, you have time to observe the surrounding environment. ]

[The inside of this tree hole is about a few dozen square meters. On the inner wall of the trunk, there are some soft-bodied small animals clinging, and there are some white flying insects in the upper space, buzzing and making mosquito-like sounds. They are all small animals hiding in for refuge like you. ]

[Looking up, the tree hole extends thousands of meters upwards, but the top is not covered by the tree canopy. It is directly exposed to the air like a chimney. The reason why there is no strong wind from the top of the tree is that the ring tree is tall enough and the top of the tree is higher than the range of the knife wind. ]

"It seems that it will not end for a while..."

According to the previous text, the knife wind will last for more than five hours, and you cannot go out during this period.

Mu You was about to hang up and take a rest, but unexpectedly, Ava's prompt popped up again.

["Warning, the same type of pulse signal is sensed, and it continues to come from the area three thousand meters away to the right front."]

"Oh?" Mu You was happy, thinking that he was lucky. He just found the shelter and then found the signal location of the mechanic. Double happiness.

Unexpectedly, Ava's next sentence made him stop laughing.

["The signal is moving continuously and is about to leave the sensing range. Do you want to track it immediately?"]

"???"

Mu You was at a loss. What the hell is moving? Shouldn't this kind of signal be engraved on the moonstone in the moon well?

Is the mechanic still alive?

Or has the moonstone been taken by someone else?

Mu You couldn't be sure for a moment. He shouldn't have gone out at this time, at least he should wait until the knife wind stopped.

However, the thing was moving. If he didn't look for it now, he might have passed it by...

The red text was still flashing. There was no time to hesitate.

Mu You thought for a while and decided decisively: Go find it!

There was no way. The Ring Forest was too big. Missing it once might be a lifetime miss.

[You push away the rock outside the tree hole, get out of the hole, and face the knife wind again...]

Next, Mu You faced the knife wind and began to search for the signal according to Ava's guidance.

The corpses of various small animals can be seen everywhere along the way. Most of them were killed by crystal thorns because they had no time to dodge.

The range of the knife wind covered the entire Ring Forest, raging in all directions and angles. Except for those large animals with thick skin and flesh, ordinary creatures exposed to the air could never withstand such damage.

At this time, most small animals either have the ability to dig and hide deep in underground caves, or have the ability to fly and can fly above the crown of the ringwood tree to avoid the range of the knife wind.

But there are still many small and medium-sized creatures that have neither the ability to dig holes nor the ability to fly like humans. Mu You is very curious about how these creatures usually survive the knife wind.

[The knife wind seems to be more violent than before. The sharp crystal fragments keep cutting your skin. As the blood flows, your life is declining at a speed visible to the naked eye...]

Mu You glanced at the panel. In this harsh environment, if he is exposed to the air for more than ten minutes, he will die.

Fortunately, the location of the signal is not far away. After Mu You went out, he ran all the way against the wind, and the distance of three thousand meters was reached in a blink of an eye.

[You see a giant snail with a body length of tens of meters lying in the woods ahead. The body of this snail is transparent, like a wriggling jelly, crawling slowly in the knife wind. The hard shell on its back protects it from all the crystal thorns attacking from the sky. 】

【A large number of small animals came from all directions and gathered in front of the giant snail, as if they wanted to hide in its body for refuge. 】

【The snail accepted everyone and opened its mouth, forming a soft channel that went straight to the abdominal cavity. The small animals lined up and crawled into the snail's mouth in an orderly manner, entering its abdominal cavity for refuge...】

【According to Ava's guidance, the pulse signal came from the belly of this snail. Should we go and search? 】

"..." Mu You looked strange. The signal was actually in the snail's belly, and judging from the situation, this snail seemed to have become a refuge for these small animals in the knife wind... Mu You vaguely understood what was going on.

"Yes."

【You quickly approached the giant snail, followed the small animals around, and stepped into the snail's mouth. 】

These local small animals all dared to drill into the snail's belly so directly, indicating that this snail is likely to be a harmless creature.

【Stepping through the soft and slippery esophagus, you finally came to the snail's belly. 】

【This is a spacious and warm biological abdomen. At this moment, a large number of small creatures have gathered in the space. They temporarily put aside the fighting and predation at the level of the external food chain, snuggled up to each other, and stayed close together to keep warm and rest. 】

Mu You didn't expect that there were such "saint" animals in the Jielin, who selflessly used their bodies as shelters during natural disasters to protect the small animals from wind and rain.

On Earth, this kind of behavior of taking advantage of environmental changes to attract other animals into the body is generally for the purpose of eating these animals. As soon as the external creatures come in, they will be digested by strong stomach acid.

But this snail is not like that. It does not secrete any dangerous substances in its abdomen, but simply provides a safe space.

Moreover, because the small animals that come in are of various kinds, many of them have sharp teeth and claws, walking on the fragile flesh of the snail, they unknowingly cause many difficult-to-heal wounds to its internal organs.

So Mu You is very curious about the purpose of this snail. Would rather endure his own injuries than accept and protect other species? In normal biological evolution, this kind of completely "altruistic" behavior should not appear in theory.

Let's not talk about this for now. After entering the snail, Mu You immediately followed Ava's instructions and found the source of the pulse signal - a white duck with a big mouth.

According to the text description, the duck looks a bit like a pelican, and the signal came from its stomach.

[You walk up to Big-billed Duck and take out the Healing Blade. 】

[The big-billed duck shivered in fear when he saw the shining blade in your hand. He hurriedly tried to escape, but you held him down forcibly. 】

[Amidst the screams of the big-billed duck, you cut open its belly with a healing blade, groped around in it, and quickly found a bluestone. 】

[You obtained the ‘Moon Stone with Information’*1. 】

[As the bluestone is taken out, the incision of the big-billed duck heals automatically. The scream of the big-billed duck suddenly stopped. He glanced blankly at his intact belly, then raised his head and looked at you with a fearful look. He hurriedly fled to the other end of the abdominal cavity and hid himself in a bunch of small animals. among. 】

[You connect the bluestone to the mechanical heart, and a recording automatically plays in your mind. 】

["My research has made progress!" The excited voice of the mechanic first came from the recording. 】

["In the third level, I encountered a creature called the 'Red Sky Ape'. When this ape reaches adulthood, it will grow a layer of detachable fur on its body. This fur has many functions, such as waterproofing, warmth and shock absorption." With this function, you can not only wear it yourself, but also use it to protect your cubs after giving birth.”]

["This moment inspired me: my design of armor has always been developed in the direction of being stronger and more versatile. However, an overly strong armor often means it is bloated, heavy, and clumsy."]

["What we really need now is a lightweight and compact armor, like the Red Sky Ape, a special armor that can be directly covered on the human body's skin like a layer of clothing without affecting a person's movements. At the same time, it also has defense and resistance comparable to the skin of the ancestors!”]

["As long as we can make this kind of armor that is like underwear, we can definitely save my people and avoid the parasitism of that kind of ghost!"]

["I have a strong hunch that this is the right direction! This kind of armor is probably the final form of mechanics. I will continue to research along this direction and look forward to my results..."]

The recording paused for a moment, and after dozens of seconds, a supplementary voice recording popped up again.

["Oh, by the way, I have buried three combat mechas under this moon well. They are all temporarily modified using local materials in Jie Lin. The time is limited and the functions are relatively rough, but they should be enough to protect you when you walk through the third and fourth layer."】

"Well……"

Mu You was a little speechless. You buried the armor under the moon well. However, the moon stones used as transmitters have been taken away by animals. They have been transferred to many hands. They must have been completely different from their original positions. They have lost their position. , where should he go to find it?

[Amidst the raging wind, the giant snail is still crawling hard against the wind, sheltering animals in distress along the road. 】

[More and more small animals squeezed into the snail's belly, and the abdominal cavity quickly became crowded. 】

[You suddenly heard a painful howl coming from above your head. 】

[Looking up, through the snail’s transparent body, you can directly see the outer black carapace of the snail being bombarded by densely packed crystal spines. 】

[Not all crystal spines will be bounced off by the carapace. As the wind gets stronger, the crystal thorns carried by the wind also become larger and larger. Occasionally, there will be some large sharp crystal thorns, like javelins, which penetrate deeply into the carapace with huge kinetic energy, and even pierce the carapace. Directly into the snail's body. 】

[Soon, the giant snail's carapace was pricked like a hedgehog, and the snail screamed more and more frequently. 】

[Through the snail’s transparent body tissue, you find that under the stimulation of these crystal spines, the snail actually begins to slowly ovulate. 】

[Transparent eggs the size of marbles continue to roll down into the snail's abdomen. Every time an egg falls, it will be quickly picked up by a small animal and carefully protected in its arms. 】

[As the eggs are discharged, you notice that the snail’s vitality seems to be running out quickly...]

"ovulation?"

Mu You was stunned for a moment, and suddenly he understood the purpose of this snail in taking in small animals.

This giant snail relies on the stimulation of the knife wind to ovulate, so it deliberately crawls around in the knife wind. After ovulation, its body will die soon. At that time, small animals will need to help transport these ovulated eggs to places suitable for survival in the forest, and then hatch again into new babies. snail.

In short, this is a symbiotic relationship: the snail helps the small animals survive the knife wind, and the small animals help it hatch its offspring and take care of its offspring until they grow up until they become new giant snails, which will be used for future generations. More small animals provide shelter from the wind and rain.