Chapter 85: Face to Face

At the summit of the colossal tree, the amber silhouette bathed in warm light exuded a twisted sense of sanctity that left Qi Chen deeply shaken. It reminded him of the familiar image of angels from his past life, yet only vaguely, for the figure’s proportions bore no resemblance to any angelic definition. Still, it seemed to strive with all its might to assume a graceful posture.

Was this strange being at the top of the tree truly what was luring the masses to climb ceaselessly up the vines?

“Mask, describe how you feel about the figure at the treetop,” came Fu Ying’s command through the headset. She and the Gentle One, not present in person, could only see the amber-formed figure and could not sense the aura it exuded.

Only Qi Chen, inside the mall, could truly perceive it. His spiritual strength was formidable, and thus his perception was equally acute.

“All right, let me focus,” Qi Chen replied, biting his lip and directing all his attention to the awkward figure nearby. He let his mind sink fully into the strange aura emanating from that direction.

“I feel... the aura from this anomaly is very oppressive?”

“No, not oppressive—more like it’s in a nascent state,” Qi Chen corrected himself as his perception deepened. The longer he focused, the more his breath quickened.

“Captain Fu, I think I hear the sound of a heartbeat!”

“A heartbeat?” In the command vehicle, Fu Ying frowned while Gentle One, also listening to Qi Chen’s report, showed a puzzled expression. Suddenly realizing something, he quickly spoke into his headset:

“Be careful! This anomaly may still be dormant!”

Anomalies were called such largely because humans could hardly form a systematic understanding of them. Any attempt to summarize knowledge was often rendered useless by the emergence of new, confounding anomalies.

The forms they took constantly exceeded human imagination—some even exhibited biological characteristics, just like the “heartbeat” Qi Chen now reported.

“Captain Fu, let’s have him withdraw! While the anomaly hasn’t fully awakened, we still have the option of using heavy firepower to destroy it!” Gentle One earnestly urged Fu Ying to call off Qi Chen’s mission. They had confirmed by now that the giant tree was a tangible anomaly, and artillery was a viable option.

To him, there was no need for Qi Chen to linger in such danger.

Fu Ying was silent for several seconds before speaking into the microphone:

“Mask, what do you want to do?”

...

Inside the mall, Qi Chen did not respond immediately. He continued to observe the amber figure basking in the warm light.

He could hear the pounding within the amber growing louder, as if a slumbering monster was approaching the threshold of awakening.

Shifting his gaze downward, he looked at the countless citizens still frantically climbing the great tree’s vines. There were fewer than when he’d first glimpsed the scene.

Many citizens now hung lifeless, their gradually chilling bodies suspended mid-air by vines piercing through them. The ecstatic expressions on their faces had vanished, replaced in death by agony and regret.

Yet, their regret was not for the loss of their lives, but for never reaching the summit they so desperately sought.

“I want to approach the anomaly,” Qi Chen murmured. “I don’t think artillery alone can eliminate it.”

There was no answer in his earpiece, but Qi Chen was intent on moving forward regardless.

However, to investigate the amber figure at the tree’s crown, he first had to solve a problem: how to get there.

He couldn’t fly.

He could either climb the trunk himself or, as he’d done before, have Overlord throw him.

Swallowing hard, Qi Chen edged carefully to the railing and peered down. The dizzying drop instantly made his head spin; he had always harbored a fear of heights.

In his previous life, he had never attempted any high-altitude activities. Even watching extreme sports videos would make his heart race.

“Come on! With all the salary I’ve earned, what’s a little height?” Squinting until his eyes were nearly slits, he summoned Overlord with a thought. The being materialized at his side, ready to hurl him at any moment.

“I need to find a landing point first...” Under stress, Qi Chen muttered to himself. It helped him focus and not dwell on the fatal height below.

He doubted he could grab a vine mid-flight, and letting Overlord throw him directly to the treetop would mean a massive impact. His body, though stronger than average, might not withstand it. The summit offered almost no foothold, unless he clung directly to the amber figure as he fell.

But... the risk was little different from simply falling from the top.

After much consideration, Qi Chen decided to have Overlord throw him toward the nearest branch.

Calling it a branch hardly did justice to its size; given the scale of the tree, each bough could easily support several adults.

“I’m ready to go!”

...

“What’s he doing?” Gentle One stared intently at the recorder’s monitor, noticing the sudden, abnormal shift in the footage.

As he spoke, the camera mounted on Qi Chen’s chest jerked violently. The transmitted image blurred, the scenery around him swept away at high speed, and the wind could be heard roaring through his earpiece.

“Is he out of his mind?!” Gentle One leapt up inside the command vehicle, smacking his head painfully against the roof yet unable to tear his eyes from the screen.

On the other side, the view had already transformed.

...

Qi Chen’s feet tingled, but compared to his shocked soles, his heart was pounding even harder.

His first high-altitude feat had been accomplished without a shred of safety measures.

The brief experience of flight felt like a dream, fading almost as soon as it happened, but the thrill in his chest would not easily subside.

Now, standing on the tree’s trunk, every muscle taut as he struggled to keep his balance, he found himself face-to-face with the anomalous giant tree.

“I’m on the tree now. I can sense even more clearly that a heartbeat seems to throb throughout the entire tree.

“And it’s growing stronger from the roots up... This tree is absorbing nutrients, the source is—”

Qi Chen’s gaze shifted to the citizens clinging to the branches nearby.

The tree’s sustenance was the people themselves.