Lina-Tree rembered little. Only fragnts of her human mories remained—like the na Lu Li, and the word 'oracle'.
Lina-Tree was willing to tell Lu Li about its deity, the Essence of the Ancestors. It said that the Essence of the Ancestors was aware of Lu Li's arrival, that his status as a guide had been granted by It, and that It also knew about the anomaly seed in Lu Li's pocket.
The Essence of the Ancestors was the collective mother of all trees. The sorrow from the mass death of the world's trees had awakened Her, but the Essence was still weak. It could only resort to a final asure to ensure its lineage's survival: sending an oracle to guide Lina-Tree and the others away from the dood Thunder Fort to establish the Serene Forest here.
They beca the pioneers, and under the guidance of the Essence of the Ancestors, they established a birthing ground where children were born. The Plantpeople Lu Li had seen were all born in this place. They grew to the appearance of adults in just three years, then gradually transford into trees. Those with less pure blood beca guardians of the forest's outer borders, while those with more potent blood surrounded the Serene Forest itself.
But when the topic turned to the birthing ground, Lina-Tree, for so reason, faltered in its slow, deliberate tale. A look of confusion crossed its ancient face, as if it were reluctant to continue, despite the will of the Essence of the Ancestors.
Lu Li made no comnt.
Lina-Tree also ntioned that so of the other pioneers, old acquaintances from different settlents in the forest, had heard of Lu Li's arrival and wished to et him. It listed several nas, but Lu Li recognized none of them.
After a mont of consideration, Lu Li declined. He planned to leave the forest the next morning and join the caravan at the Port of Storms.
Perhaps because it had been so long since it had spoken with an outsider, Lina-Tree seed to want to say more but was unable. Instead, its face simply materialized on the wall, a strange, living fresco, and watched Lu Li.
There were no needles or thread in the Grove to nd Elder Sister, but a tear like that wasn't a problem for a rag doll, as long as the black stuffing inside didn't spill out.
After adding more wood to the fire, Lu Li lay down on the low bed ford from tree roots. He told Elder Sister to wake him if anything happened and then fell into a deep sleep.
On the wall of the treehouse, the face of Lina-Tree did not disappear, watching over Lu Li as if standing guard over his sleep.
The Serene Forest was quieter than other places. There was no noise from streets outside a window, no screams of anomalies from the wasteland.
The night passed, and by morning, a light mist had settled over the forest.
The fire was burning low, its fla, dimr than an oil lamp's, barely flickering. At so point, the last ember died out, and a thin wisp of gray smoke drifted upward.
Lu Li slowly woke.
He saw young n and won peeking from behind the treehouse, their faces filled with a pure, childlike curiosity. It was hard to believe that none of them were even three years old.
"Elder Sister." Lu Li couldn't see her anywhere.
The mont he spoke her na, she clambered onto his shoulder, sleepily rubbing the eyes of her distorted mask.
"It's morning..."
As Lu Li sat up, he startled the young Plantpeople peeking from outside. Soon after, a middle-aged woman entered the treehouse. She had almost completely turned into a tree, her hands a web of interwoven branches, holding several pieces of fruit.
So of the trees in the Grove were fruit-bearing, and their fruit served as food for the Plantpeople. In the Age of Anomalies, fruit was obviously a rare delicacy. As long as you didn't dwell on its origins.
"Lu Li, are you leaving?" asked the face of Lina-Tree, which appeared on the wall after he had eaten the fruit.
The brief conversation had already made her speech much more fluid.
"Yes," Lu Li replied.
But he would have to wait a little longer. Morning had just broken, and the anomalous fog shrouding the wasteland had not yet dispersed.
Lina-Tree asked again about Lu Li's humanity. The Grove needed help, and if Lu Li's aura were as it had been before, he could assist them.
"I'll recover it by killing anomalies," Lu Li said, sharing the information in return for the Grove's hospitality.
"You can kill that leader," Lina-Tree said.
The offer was tempting, but Lu Li calmly refused.
"She is your prey."
"We only need the nutrients... She can no longer resist..."
This ti, Lu Li did not refuse.
The power of anomalies was difficult to asure; it could only be compared by their manifested abilities. The leader-anomaly was close to being an evil spirit, and by killing the Mother-Model, Lu Li could gain more than five enhanced units of humanity. Humanity increased his resistance to contamination and the damage dealt by the shard of the Atonent in his left hand, but it ca at a price—the price of possessing it. There was enough envy in the old era; it was far worse now.
A figure of woven branches appeared and led Lu Li back toward the outer borders of the Grove, the sa place they had entered the day before.
A few dozen ters into the forest, Lu Li saw the Mother-Model, bound by branches. Fallen trees lay behind her, thousands of branches impaling her body, while worm-like tendrils crawled beneath her skin.
She had her head lowered and didn't move, seeming already dead.
"She's not dead yet..." Elder Sister said quietly.
Lu Li approached the Mother-Model and pressed his left hand to her forehead. A sizzle—the Mother-Model's body suddenly shuddered, and branches snapped with a sharp crack, but even more vines stretched out to entwine her.
Held down by the guardians, the Mother-Model trembled as she raised her bloodshot eyes, staring at Lu Li with pure hatred and malice.
Suddenly, a malevolent thought, sothing between a whisper and a string of words, ford in Lu Li's mind. [Bloodied] [You are covered in blood, your own and your enemy's. Blood pools at your feet, making you ferocious and attracting ever more envy. They fear your blood, but they also covet it.] [Your damage to anomalies is increased] [— Now you are "equals."]
In her death throes, the Mother-Model had bestowed a Cursed Title upon Lu Li. The description was more direct and negative than that of [Beacon]—it was a true curse. After all, the damage humans could inflict on anomalies was negligible. But in a way, it suited Lu Li. He could harm anomalies. And he himself was an object of desire for them.
Having laid her curse, the Mother-Model stopped struggling. Her breathing faded away into a ragged, guttural sound that resembled laughter.
The next mont, Lu Li was pulled into the Mother-Model's dying mories.
A little girl was sleeping in a bed, and the echo of a bell gradually faded.
A woman quietly set down an unfinished basket and approached the bed.
Lu Li stood nearby, watching calmly.
They were a real mother and daughter.
The little girl vanished from the bed, and the woman began to cry.
At that mont, Lu Li tilted his head slightly. The vanished little girl was standing beside him. She gently took his hand. Lu Li did not resist, allowing the girl to hold his palm, rise onto her tiptoes, and press his hand over the grieving woman's mouth, silencing her cries.
In the dim, sorrow-filled cottage, the little girl, still holding his hand, seed to be embracing her mother.
...
Lu Li opened his eyes.
The hatred in the Mother-Model's crimson pupils gradually faded, and enormous, fruit-like tears gushed from her eye sockets. Her body collapsed and lted away like mud, her luminous flesh illuminating the entire dark green forest as the surrounding trees began to grow with wild abandon.
"Forgive ..." a sad whisper dissolved into the forest.
It was unclear whether she was apologizing to the child she couldn't protect, or if it was malice directed at Lu Li.
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