Zhou Yi looked around and found himself in an unfamiliar sea region.

The surroundings were pitch dark and tranquil.

Occasionally, there would be flashes of lightning overhead, like thunder hidden in the clouds.

Zhou Yi couldn't determine his exact location, but the thick dust beneath his feet, as well as the murkiness and stuffiness that were unique to the sea floor, were all too familiar to him after many years of navigating the ocean depths.

Relying on the flickering of the Death Light above, he managed to discern the sheer contours of the mountains above, indicating that he must be in a different sea floor canyon.

There was no sign of any life in the vicinity.

Zhou Yi's attention returned to his hand—his right forearm was completely shattered, turned to black ash on the ground, impossible to pick up.

The break was charred black, and touching it, he could still feel the heat, while the upper part of his arm was slightly swollen but still usable.

Without a hand, he could only return to have a prosthetic limb fitted.

His Life Value had also dropped to a mere 170,000, after consuming more than half of the 450,000 Light Seeds.

Zhou Yi felt regret.

He then looked at the banana in his left hand.

All this was for it.

To be precise, there was also the Mud Tablet.

But the Mud Tablet was nowhere to be found.

Zhou Yi used his teeth to peel the banana. The skin was quite thick, and the fruit inside was somewhat bizarre, not white like a normal banana, but more like a colorful rainflower stone.

Colorful Banana?

What kind of variety was this?

He sniffed it, and it smelled quite nice.

Should be edible, right?

Zhou Yi took a small bite. It was soft, fragrant, and sweet, and left a cool sensation as he swallowed.

After eating the banana, all sorts of strange and fragmented shadows suddenly emerged in his mind, like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle.

Could it be...

Zhou Yi hastily finished the banana in a few bites.

The broken images in his mind immediately merged into one, becoming clear and distinct.

In an instant, Zhou Yi understood everything.

This banana was a special biological tool that had been cultivated, storing vast amounts of knowledge and memories, termed the Common Sense Banana.

As the name implies, the Common Sense Banana contained a wealth of basic information that could be acquired and remembered by eating it.

It originated from the Mud Tree Civilization of the Otherworld.

The technology trees of this civilization are mud and tree.

Mud is a material and carrier that can be easily modified.

The locals used mud to create a multitude of Mud Tablets, various containers, specific tools, and tree-top constructions, as well as for in-depth mixing and processing, turning it into a medium that could cultivate all sorts of plants.

Tree refers to the Giant Trees that cover the world where the locals live atop them, while below lies the flooded Dead Sea.

Giant Trees can withstand the power of the Death Light without rotting or dying. They themselves are incredibly powerful living beings, but their growth habits and tendencies still retain their plant nature, which are harmless to the locals.

In the early days, people lived by leeching off the Giant Trees, but later they learned to utilize them further.

They carved passages under the bark that led all the way underground, from where they could excavate a great deal of mud. This Circular Flow-modified mud itself had a lot of energy and came with many magical properties.

Having obtained the mud, the Mud Tree People began to build clay platforms on the trees, through which they produced various mud sculptures and tools.

At this stage, they developed the vast uses of Dead Sea Mud, especially discovering that this kind of mud could promote rapid growth and sudden mutation of various plants, thus beginning to artificially cultivate plant life using the mud.

Later on, they started to experiment with cross-breeding plants and grafting on the Giant Trees. Through this, the Mud Tree People discovered a plethora of utility flowers, fruits, and leaves that could be used as tools.

Apart from greatly enriching their food sources, many of these fruits exhibited a rich variety of functional properties.

Some fruits had tough, thick shells, becoming new materials; some leaves held water exceptionally well, so specific multi-leaf plants were fashioned into water containers; some petals and pollens could alleviate various abnormalities among the locals...

This triggered the first technological explosion among the locals.

This was also when the Mud Tree Civilization began to take shape.

However, at this point, they were merely at a primitive stage of utilizing and altering their natural environment.

The Mud Tree People still needed to live cautiously as the land was home to various fierce monsters, whose bodies had been altered by the Death Light and were naturally much stronger than the tree-dwelling people.

Relying on the Giant Trees and a variety of plant tools, the Mud Tree People finally began to attempt hunting the Guangna Species from the Dead Sea. Capturing these dangerous creatures was not for food, but more importantly, to study why they were so strong.

Some Mud Tree People came up with bold ideas.

They grafted plants onto the bodies of the Guangna Species, cultivating a series of peculiar new species, a significant number of which possessed strong offensive capabilities, far surpassing their own kind.

The Mud Tree People's plant tool arsenal expanded rapidly.

Later, they even applied this to themselves, grafting plants onto their bodies and, upon death, connected themselves to the Giant Trees, becoming part of the Giant Trees.

Under the environment of the Death Light, the mutual grafting of animals and plants gradually succeeded, producing a series of incredible chemical reactions, and then the safe and useful individuals were continually cultivated in large numbers. The Common Sense Banana is a product of this grafting technology reaching a highly mature stage.

This key step catapulted the Mud Tree Civilization into a fast track of development, leading to the second technological explosion.

In the Wasteland World, the mutual grafting of animals and plants may seem a bit horrifying, but for the Mud Tree People, it was not something difficult to accept.

Their lives were inherently sustained by the Giant Tree and other plants; drawing strength from them and returning that strength upon death—a natural occurrence in the eyes of the locals.

The Mud Tree People, utilizing mud and trees, eventually subdued and dominated the once high-and-mighty Guangna Species, ruling the world and formally establishing the Mud Tree Civilization.

After eons, they too faced extinction.

The cause of their demise was not due to foreign invasion but because of insects.

Within the Giant Tree grew myriad insects, nibbling away at it and drawing strength from its vast and sturdy trunk. The better the Mud Tree People maintained the Giant Tree, the faster these insects grew.

Initially, the Mud Tree People exterminated the insects multiple times, keeping their numbers within a safe range.

However, following two technological explosions, the insects began to parasite on a variety of graft organisms, gaining a diverse set of powers and evolutionary directions.

The Mud Tree People had tried various methods to eradicate and peel off the insects from the Giant Tree.

But the insects were inexterminable.

Their roots lay beneath the dead sea floor, where countless insect eggs were hidden.

As long as the filthy and polluted Dead Sea could not be reversed and cleansed, they would always exist.

Parasitizing the Mud Tree Civilization, the insects' rate of evolution far outpaced any previous era, and they had access to an abundance of food incomparable to any other time.

Like the former Mud Tree People, they too experienced a complete outbreak one day.

Throughout the protracted struggle, the insects toppled one Giant Tree after another with their constantly evolving powers, which led to the Mud Tree Civilization losing its core foundation for survival and ultimately succumbing to irreversible ruin.

The Mud Tree People had no choice but to flee this world.

...

This was essentially the situation.

Zhou Yi looked at the banana peel in his hand, hesitated for a moment, but eventually bit the bullet and ate it.

What if there was some information even in the peel?

He swallowed the astringent banana peel.

However, he did not gain any new pieces of the puzzle.

Only then was Zhou Yi convinced that a banana indeed contained just that much Common Sense.

In fact, many details had already been imprinted in his mind.

This grafting technology was incredibly advanced, enabling every newborn to quickly acquire a basic understanding of the whole world—a highly efficient and simple educational aid.

As for Stinger Man.

There was also a record of it in the banana.

The so-called Stinger Man is actually a specially cultivated fruit named Black Thorn.

Its outer shell is tough and thick, with the outermost layer somewhat similar to a coconut, able to withstand and absorb the intense Death Light, possessing speed and resilience. It has been modified into a pointed human form with long arms and legs, matching the physiological structure of the Mud Tree People.

The long thorns on the exterior serve both as camouflage and support that can anchor in various environments.

The Mud Tree People would enter the Black Thorn and cross realms through Space Bubbles, escaping to Otherworlds.

The so-called Stinger Man is actually a spaceship.

Contrary to Zhou Yi's initial judgment, the Black Thorn was alive; it still exhibited life characteristics.

It was just a life form without self-awareness, used as a biological tool.

Most of the time, the Black Thorn remains in a low-energy state.

When attacked or touched, it enters the next phase, activates a more powerful mode to adapt to the environment, and jumps to other areas to avoid danger.

Offering treasures is actually an enticement mechanism for responding to the outside world.

If an unknown life form approaches and tries to open the Black Thorn, it throws out an item and then makes a quick escape, using self-amputation to survive.

At the same time, it attacks others who haven't received an item to prevent more individuals from approaching.

The treasures given by Stinger Man were actually various baggage packed by the Mud Tree People. In the Wasteland World, items from the Mud Tree Civilization could indeed be considered treasures.

Thinking this, Zhou Yi felt somewhat helpless.

Rumors really are no trifling matter...

He had another thought.

The fleeing Black Thorn had brought itself over from the previous area.

Which meant—

It might still be nearby.

Zhou Yi immediately began to search around.

Using the energy perception of Alert, he found the Black Thorn in an inconspicuous depression about 200 meters outside the nearby cliff.

It was wedged into the wall like a humanoid sea urchin.

But at this moment, the Black Thorn had reverted to Stinger Man's dormant mode.

The key point was—

Having eaten the Common Sense Banana, Zhou Yi now possessed the knowledge to operate this biological vessel.

His spirits instantly revived.

Missing a right hand, he at least had to take this Mud Tree Person's interdimensional spaceship!

Here I come!

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