51: Ancient trees: guardians or prisoners?

"Brother Gu Qinghan, how did you get so injured?"

At the entrance of the C-zone cafeteria, Wang Yan looked at Gu Qinghan, his brows slightly furrowed.

Gu Qinghan waved his hand, indicating that he was fine.

He heard the other party was still calling him Li Qingshan, so he smiled and said, "Actually, I lied to you before. My name is Gu Qinghan."

Before, he had assumed the identity of Li Qingshan, partly out of mischief, but most importantly to hide his true self.

But now, he had already dealt with Li Qingshan.

Wang Yan was definitely an honest and good kid, and Gu Qinghan felt there was no need to keep lying to him.

Wang Yan let out an "Oh" and then said magnanimously, "It's a small matter. By the way, is the issue resolved?"

"Yes, it's pretty good, resolved. Thank you for your trouble these past few days."

"It was nothing. By the way, do you have any plans recently?"

Wang Yan looked at the skeletons behind Gu Qinghan, a hint of apprehension in his eyes.

If he estimated correctly, three or four such skeletons could contend with him.

If five or six attacked together, he would probably be finished.

Gu Qinghan scratched his head; his biggest goal now was to survive.

Initially, he wanted to improve his strength more in school, but as his strength increased, the Necromantic Energy required for him to level up became more and more.

If he only relied on killing these weak monsters, he would have to wait an eternity to level up.

However, after today's battle with Li Qingshan, he deeply realized that his strength was still not top-tier.

More importantly, after killing Li Qingshan, a black-red Necromantic Energy entered his body.

Although it didn't cause him any harm, Gu Qinghan had a vague feeling of unease.

To survive, he needed to continue to grow stronger.

And to grow stronger, this university campus could no longer satisfy him.

Moreover, he needed to go outside to find someone, a very important person.

At this moment, Chen Yuting walked over quickly, and seeing the bloodstains on Gu Qinghan also startled her.

However, she quickly saw that it wasn't Gu Qinghan's blood, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's go out of school and see what the outside world is like.

Staying in school will eventually lead to running out of resources. I want to go out and explore."

Gu Qinghan's words carried a stubbornness that even made Chen Yuting smile slightly.

But before she could be happy, Wang Yan shattered her beautiful dream, sighing softly and saying, "Don't mind me being a killjoy, brother, but even though you are very strong, I don't think you can necessarily get out of school."

Gu Qinghan frowned, asking in confusion, "Why do you say that? Do you know something?"

Wang Yan nodded, took a sip of water, and then continued, "Yesterday, when I went out to level up, I met a team that came back from the C-zone gate, and they told me some things."

He paused, then asked a seemingly unrelated question, "You must all know that our school has an Ancient Tree from when it was founded, right?"

Gu Qinghan didn't know why he asked that, but he still nodded.

"Those who came back said that this Ancient Tree seems to have mutated!"

"That Ancient Tree is at least over a hundred years old, right? Didn't they say it was almost withered?

Also, what does this have to do with us not being able to leave the school?"

Wang Yan sighed, his face full of helplessness, "It's this Mutated Ancient Tree that has surrounded the school! That team searched all the way from the A-zone, and there was no place to get out."

Gu Qinghan was stunned; the university he was in occupied a huge area, how could it be surrounded by a single tree?

However, Wang Yan's serious expression didn't look like he was faking it at all.

Wang Yan also knew that what he said was too shocking, so he took out his phone.

He wiped the fingerprint-covered screen and opened a photo; it looked like it was taken from someone else's phone screen.

Gu Qinghan was a little surprised that the other person still had a phone, and then he looked at the content of the photo.

But when he saw what was in the photo, his expression changed from calm to astonishment and disbelief.

In the photo was the main gate of their school.

But at the gate, thick roots, as wide as an adult, broke out of the ground and extended upwards for a long distance.

From the photo, this tree wall made of roots should be about three or four meters high.

"This... this is like a primeval forest..."

Chen Yuting's mouth was slightly agape, her eyes showing deep shock.

Gu Qinghan also frowned tightly; although the photo was a bit blurry, it made him feel a sense of oppression.

That feeling was as if he was trapped in a cage, waiting to be chosen.

He looked at Wang Yan and asked, "Didn't they try to get out? Do these tree roots attack people?"

"They did try, but climbing out is impossible because there's a very slippery, viscous liquid on top.

Digging out also doesn't work, because these tree roots have very strong regenerative abilities and quickly repair damaged areas.

Some people say that this tree wants to trap us in school until we die, but others think that this tree is protecting us."

Gu Qinghan's mouth twitched; he had indeed heard the saying that this tree was the guardian deity of their university.

But if they believed the Mutated Ancient Tree would protect them based solely on that, it was too naive and optimistic.

"Regardless, I'll go see for myself. Thank you for the information."

He sincerely thanked Wang Yan and then prepared to leave.

Wang Yan hesitated, then suddenly called out to him, "I know my strength is nothing to you, so I won't ask you to take me with you, but can I ask you for one thing?"

Gu Qinghan thought for a moment, not rushing to agree, "Tell me first. If it's not too much trouble, I can lend a hand."

He admired Wang Yan's character, and Wang Yan had also helped him and given him information about the Mutated Ancient Tree.

Gu Qinghan was willing to help such a person, as long as it didn't cause him too much trouble.

Wang Yan's face immediately broke into a smile upon hearing this, "Don't worry, it's definitely no trouble. There's a food processing plant north of our school.

My parents both work there, and they're probably there now. I want you to help me check on them and tell them I'm safe."

Gu Qinghan knew about that food processing plant; it seemed to have been invested in and built by a famous enterprise from Kimchi Country.

However, the distance between the school and there was at least dozens of kilometers.

Before the game started, this distance would have been quickly covered by a taxi.

But now, this distance might take a long time to travel and would involve many unknown dangers.

"Sorry, I can't risk going that far at a time like this."

Gu Qinghan shook his head; he wasn't a pushover, and the other party's request exceeded his expectations.

He had his own set of values: the effort put in and the reward gained had to be roughly equal for him to be willing to do something.

If someone had helped him, he would definitely try his best to help them back, provided it didn't threaten his own life safety.

If he were strong enough at this moment, or had a sufficient reason to take the risk, he would agree to Wang Yan's request, but that wasn't the case now.

Wang Yan realized he hadn't been clear and quickly explained, "Sorry, sorry, please let me finish.

That food processing plant processes pre-made meals, so you can also get a lot of food there!

Right now, you probably only eat things like bread and instant noodles every day, right? You can't keep eating those forever, can you?"

He spoke very quickly, seemingly afraid that Gu Qinghan would leave directly.

Gu Qinghan looked at him with interest this time, then asked again, "But pre-made meals should require specific storage conditions, right? The power is out now, so it would be useless for me to go, wouldn't it?"

Wang Yan heard this question and knew that Gu Qinghan was definitely tempted, so he immediately explained, "Don't worry, don't worry. That factory has a daily output of at least dozens of tons, so they already considered the power outage issue.

My dad said their cold storage has imported batteries that can maintain the cold storage for nearly half a month."

Gu Qinghan was silent for a moment, weighing the pros and cons in his mind.

"I agree, but I can't guarantee that I can definitely accomplish it.

If I encounter dangers on the way that I cannot handle, I will abandon it without hesitation."

Wang Yan nodded; it was already good that the other party was willing to try.

"Thank you."