Chapter 703: Chapter 703: Red Tree

The moment the knockout gas bomb exploded, Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick grabbed the other two and instantly teleported into the space.

Having inhaled a small amount of the knockout gas, Ryan Rowe and Flynn Hansen passed out shortly after entering the space. Evelyn Ford summoned Quincy and the others to carry the two back to the wooden cabin.

"What happened outside?"

Evelyn Ford briefly explained what had just happened. By now, the knockout gas should have mostly dispersed. Evelyn used her consciousness to check the situation outside. The Red Birds had been knocked out and were lying scattered all over the summit. The Twenty-Four Peaks were shrouded in a gray, dense fog. Evelyn and Ronan Kendrick each took an antidote pill, then put on protective suits and gas masks before teleporting out of the space.

Back on the summit, Evelyn Ford walked up to an unconscious Red Bird and slapped its back.

"You little punk, trying to catch me. This is what you get."

Having let off some steam, Evelyn Ford had no intention of killing them all. Ignoring the Red Birds on the ground, the two walked toward another peak. What Evelyn was truly interested in was that mangrove forest.

Arriving at the mangrove forest, Evelyn Ford was breathing heavily, her eyes filled with excitement and exhilaration.

"Ronan Kendrick, these Red Trees have so many fruits! They look a bit like camellia fruit, and also a bit like pomegranates. The fruit has a hard shell, and it’s even bigger than a pomegranate. We’ve struck gold! I have to pick a bunch."

"Wait." Ronan Kendrick stopped her just as she was about to pick a fruit.

"Look here." Ronan Kendrick pointed at the base of the tree with his cane. Only then did Evelyn Ford notice a pile of white bones.

’It can’t be what I think it is, can it?’ Evelyn Ford took a pair of gloves from her pocket, picked up a bone, and examined it carefully.

"It’s a human bone. Look over here—they’re all skulls."

Evelyn Ford put down the bone. "Considering how those Red Birds came down this morning and only tried to grab me, these bones... they couldn’t be from the women the Red Birds captured, could they? They use the captured women to fertilize these Red Trees."

"No wonder the rest of The Twenty-Four Peaks is so desolate, while only this peak has a grove of vibrant Red Trees. They were fertilized with human flesh and blood."

In Evelyn Ford’s eyes, these red fruits were no longer tempting morsels, but life-stealing fruits dripping with blood.

The mangrove forest was vast, estimated to be over three mu, with more than a thousand Red Trees. Evelyn Ford walked around and found a large pile of white bones at the base of every single tree. These Red Birds were more terrifying than Ogres. The bones of the humans they had slaughtered, piled high, could have paved half the summit.

Evelyn Ford understood the principle of survival of the fittest, but seeing so many human skeletons still made her deeply uncomfortable.

"There’s a bird’s nest here."

In a particularly thick Red Tree, there was a nest built from leaves. Evelyn Ford climbed up to take a look. Inside was a single egg, twice the size of a goose egg, with a white shell. Taking off her glove, she touched it; the shell was perfectly smooth, with no rough texture at all.

"Ronan Kendrick, even though these red fruits have a hard shell, they have a very fresh scent. I think they might have medicinal properties."

Evelyn Ford took out a fruit knife, picked one of the red fruits, and cut it in half. The flesh inside was white, like a mangosteen, and had an intensely fragrant aroma. Evelyn didn’t dare to eat it rashly; she only sniffed it.

Ronan Kendrick took the fruit and sniffed it. "Generally, things that birds can eat are also edible for humans. There’s an excavator in the space. Later, have Quincy and Ethan Dawson come out and transplant these Red Trees into the space. If they need special nutrients, we can use pork as a substitute."

Evelyn Ford nodded. "Okay. What should we do with these Red Birds?"

"Let’s put them in the storage space. If we release them, they’ll just keep harming humans."

The two of them split up. Evelyn Ford collected the Red Birds while Ronan Kendrick brought Ethan Dawson, Quincy, Miles Vaughn, Peter Owens, and Liam Sterling out of the space. Working in pairs, with one person operating the excavator and the other directing, they began to dig up the Red Trees.

The group worked all afternoon and only managed to dig up a third of the Red Trees. Evelyn Ford decided that was enough. She planted other saplings in the holes left by the Red Trees. As for the white bones on the peak, she gathered them all and buried them in a deep pit.

As long as the Red Birds weren’t wiped out, humans would surely suffer. Evelyn Ford collected all the Red Birds, including the egg, and put them into the space.

They wouldn’t dig up the remaining Red Trees, but they had to pick all the red fruits.

After a busy afternoon, everyone was exhausted. Back in the space, Ryan Rowe was already awake. Evelyn Ford had given Flynn Hansen a sleeping pill, so he would probably sleep until the next morning.

Seeing the baskets full of red fruits, everyone was a little excited.

"Don’t get greedy. We can’t eat these fruits yet. Wendy, take a few to the lab and test their composition. Quincy, go get a few chickens, ducks, and rabbits, feed them the pulp, and see how they react."

As for the others, they naturally went with Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick to plant the trees.

"We need to fence off a plot of land specifically for these Red Trees."

Just then, Leo Denton and his team came over to help. Many hands make light work. In just three hours, the several hundred trees were all planted.

To thank Leo Denton and the others for their help, Evelyn Ford had Wyatt Vaughn deliver two carts of fruit to them.

"Evelyn, I’ve been observing for three hours. The chickens, ducks, and rabbits that ate the fruit pulp are all fine. They’re still very energetic."

"Joy Ford, I’ve finished the experiment. I didn’t detect any toxic substances."

After hearing the reports from Quincy and Wendy, everyone grew a little excited.

Evelyn Ford motioned for everyone to calm down. "Let’s keep them in the storage area for now. When we get back to the base, we’ll take a few to Rhys Chase and have him get the research personnel at the base to run another analysis."

"These few hundred Red Trees will need someone dedicated to caring for them. You all saw it just now—there were a lot of bones at the roots. The Red Birds capture humans and use their flesh and blood to fertilize the trees. It’s still a question whether these Red Trees can even survive in the space."

"I’ll take care of them, Evelyn. Just tell me what I need to watch out for, and I’ll definitely look after them well."

Evelyn Ford nodded. "Alright, then I’ll leave it to you, Mr. Graham. They don’t need meticulous care. Just let me know right away if the leaves change color or the trunks start to wither."

After moving the red fruits to the storage area, everyone hurried back to the wooden cabin for dinner. Once dinner was over, Evelyn Ford went back to her room to rest.

「At six o’clock the next morning,」 she, Ronan Kendrick, and Ryan Rowe left the space, went straight down the mountain, and walked out of The Twenty-Four Peaks.

When Flynn Hansen woke up, he realized his surroundings had changed.

"How did I fall asleep?"

"You inhaled a lot of the knockout gas yesterday and have been unconscious ever since. Eat something first. We need to get on the road after you’re done."

Looking at the lush dead grass all around, the four of them were sitting on a ridge between fields. Flynn Hansen rubbed his head, stood up to stretch his limbs, and then went off to answer nature’s call.

"We’re not on The Twenty-Four Peaks anymore? Where are we now? Did you guys carry me here from The Twenty-Four Peaks?"

The other three looked up at him, all of them speechless.

"You’re only just now realizing we’re not on The Twenty-Four Peaks?"

Flynn Hansen nodded. "I was groggy from sleep. So, where are we?"

The three of them sighed. "We’re lost."

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