The ragdoll rabbit hadn’t seen Song Nanxing for several days. When she saw him enter the door, she happily leapt over and hugged his calf.
Song Nanxing squatted down and picked her up, carefully examining her from head to toe. He praised, “Little Moon is even more beautiful than before.”
Jing Rao’s craftsmanship was indeed excellent. Song Nanxing had originally thought she just helped with minor repairs, but to his surprise, she had actually replaced the ragdoll rabbit’s entire body with new fabric. The off-white plush felt even softer to the touch than before. Song Nanxing couldn’t quite tell what material it was, but it definitely felt softer and more resilient.
The ragdoll rabbit wore an intricately elaborate light green puff princess dress, with eyes made of sparkling red crystal buttons.
She shyly spun around once in front of Song Nanxing, then stretched out her short paws to show him.
Song Nanxing observed her for a moment and said, “She seems more agile than before.”
Jing Rao chimed in beside him, “The old fabric was too fragile and had been used for too long, so it was easy to get damaged. I used nearly new fabric to resew the body. I filled it with cotton, rebuilt the skeleton, and added ball joints. She should be more flexible now. The only things left unfinished are the two ears—they’re a bit tricky to make, so it’ll probably take a few more days.”
Only then did Song Nanxing realize that the green mushroom knitted hat the ragdoll rabbit wore wasn’t just for decoration.
“Thank you for your trouble,” Song Nanxing said softly, rubbing the ragdoll rabbit’s head and looking at Jing Rao.
Jing Rao asked, “Do you think she looks like before?”
Song Nanxing paused, scrutinizing the ragdoll rabbit carefully. “Pretty similar. No big difference. Why do you ask suddenly?”
“She cares about this very much,” Jing Rao said.
She was skilled at making all kinds of dolls, and human dolls naturally were included. She had told Little Moon that she could make her a human doll body, but Little Moon absolutely refused. Even the new body had to be exactly the same as the original.
Since Little Moon insisted, Jing Rao could only maintain the original appearance while trying to make the body more durable and flexible.
Song Nanxing looked at the ragdoll rabbit, who raised her head to look at him in return. Her short paws hung down at her sides, and her red eyes glittered as if a little proud.
Song Nanxing read her body language — I’m still the same as before. Nothing has changed.
But for some reason, Song Nanxing didn’t feel happy about this. He rubbed the ragdoll rabbit’s head with some worry and softly said, “It’s okay if you change. I’ll still recognize you. You’ll always be my—”
My what?
Song Nanxing hesitated briefly, then completed his sentence, “You’ll always be my Little Moon.”
The ragdoll rabbit was clearly very happy. Her short paws hugged his hand, and she rubbed her cheek against the back of his hand to express her joy.
Song Nanxing played with her for a long time before finally going downstairs.
Just before leaving, he suddenly remembered that Jing Rao had once wandered through the wilderness and was well-informed. Maybe she knew something about the banyan tree’s origin, so he asked, “Have you seen any news recently? Are there any monsters related to the banyan tree in the wilderness or the fog zone?”
Jing Rao thought for a moment and said, “No trees, but I’ve seen something similar once. The people in the wilderness call it the Corpse Tower. It usually doesn’t actively attack. It mainly relies on its own territory to trap prey. They say if you accidentally step into its domain, you’ll willingly become its nourishment. Over time, piled-up corpses stack and entwine to form a tall tower, which is why it’s called the Corpse Tower. But I’ve only seen it from a distance once, so I don’t know much detail.”
Its appearance didn’t sound very much like a banyan tree, but its trapping characteristic was very similar.
Song Nanxing thanked her and went downstairs to send a message to Cheng Jianning, asking if she could find any information about the Corpse Tower.
Cheng Jianning quickly sent back a brief profile.
Number 105: Corpse Tower.
There wasn’t much more information than what Jing Rao had said, except one point was specially emphasized — the Corpse Tower appears in fixed locations and has no active aggression. If discovered, do not approach within 100 meters.
The last data update was six months ago. It noted that at the known fixed coordinates, no Corpse Tower had been found. It was suspected that the Corpse Tower had either been swallowed by other monsters or migrated.
This monster was considered relatively mild and safe during observation and thus hadn’t attracted much attention.
Song Nanxing looked at the only photo included. It seemed taken in the fog zone and was quite low resolution. The massive Corpse Tower stood in the thick mist, with a trunk thick at the base and narrowing at the top, towering like a high tower. But unlike typical spires, countless thin branches extended around the trunk, resembling gnarled tree limbs stretching fiercely. From afar, it could be mistaken for a giant dead tree.
Zooming in, Song Nanxing saw those “branches” were actually arms extending outward.
The entire Corpse Tower was formed by tightly embraced corpses stacked together. Their bodies melded, with only their arms desperately reaching out, creating a visual effect of both a tower and a tree.
Song Nanxing pondered the similarities between the banyan tree and the Corpse Tower.
The missing families were also tightly embraced, forming the banyan tree’s trunk.
But apart from these two similarities, the banyan tree and the Corpse Tower differed vastly. For example, the data said there was only one Corpse Tower, and it was not mobile. Over the years, it only shifted between five or six coordinate points.
But the banyan tree could disguise itself, alter perception, and infect those who approached with the “tree skin disease.” Infected people would gradually be drawn to the banyan tree on their own as the contamination worsened.
Just these facts alone made the banyan tree much scarier than the Corpse Tower.
What about the group that returned from the fog zone? Were they really human, or something else?
Though it was a harsh thought, Song Nanxing tended to believe those who came back weren’t truly human anymore. They seemed more like bait released by the banyan tree to lure victims.
If that was true, the monster behind all this was terrifying beyond imagination.
Even the giant banyan tree on Chunfeng Road didn’t evoke such a sense of threat.
— Unless none of these are the real banyan tree yet.
Thinking of the twisted humanoid roots that burrowed underground and disappeared, Song Nanxing frowned and sent a message to Chu Yan. Then he contacted Li Hao, asking him to add him to tonight’s patrol team.
He wanted to personally guard the tree stump to see what would happen.
If his guess was correct, those tree stumps wouldn’t stay quiet for long.
Song Nanxing’s guess was confirmed that very night.
Li Hao added him to the shift roster at Happiness Garden. Along with him on duty were two other police officers from the precinct. According to them, the previous night had been calm and peaceful. Their relaxed demeanor showed they were in a good mood, even chatting with Song Nanxing.
Song Nanxing chatted with them off and on but kept his gaze fixed on the quiet tree stump in the rain.
The rain was heavy outside, and the dim streetlight cast a small circle of light where the rain’s streaks could be clearly seen falling.
As time passed, the casual chatter gradually died down.
The two officers sat in their chairs, either tired from talking or nodding off.
A strange aura permeated the damp air, and Song Nanxing immediately sensed it. He nudged the officers and lowered his voice, “Something’s moving.”
Neither responded. Turning to look closely, Song Nanxing saw their eyes closed, and their faces wore eerily strange smiles, as if trapped in a dream no one could wake them from.
He tried pinching the web between their noses but to no avail.
At that moment, a sticky sound came from behind — like something stirring in the gooey mud.
He turned and saw a twisted brown figure climbing out of the wet earth.
Focusing, he realized it wasn’t a human figure, but one of the banyan tree’s deeply rooted, twisted humanoid roots.
One root slowly crawled out of the mud, then two, then three… After all had emerged, the tangled roots stood upright like humans, wobbling as they hoisted the tree stump forward.
Song Nanxing put on a protective raincoat and followed behind, sending messages to Chu Yan and Han Zhi simultaneously to update them.
They both replied almost immediately.
[Captain Han: Emergency backup team en route.]
[Captain Chu: There’s a riot among the missing people at the stadium. I’m heading there now. You follow those tree stumps, track where they go, keep your GPS on. I’ll send Zhou Xuan and Cheng Jianning to support you.]
Could the riot among the missing people at the stadium be related to these tree stumps?
Song Nanxing followed behind them.
Though the humanoid roots carrying the stump swayed unsteadily, they weren’t slow.
After a while, Song Nanxing realized relying on his legs wasn’t a good idea. Just as he was about to go back for his car, a white sedan slid up beside him. Zhou Xuan rolled down the window and said, “Get in.”
Song Nanxing got into the passenger seat, noticing someone sitting properly in the back — it was Xu Lai.
Seeing Song Nanxing glance back, Xu Lai gave a brief, uneasy smile before quickly lowering his head.
Zhou Xuan explained, “Xu Lai’s family had some trouble, so he’s staying at my place for now. But he’s timid, and I don’t trust leaving him alone, so I brought him along.”
He didn’t dwell on it and steered the conversation back to the matter at hand. “What’s the situation now?”
“Not sure yet. We’ll just follow and see.”
Zhou Xuan controlled the car and followed the banyan tree stump about three or four meters behind.
Song Nanxing stared at the car’s navigation screen, frowning. “It looks like it’s heading toward the inner city.”
He suddenly thought of something and immediately contacted Li Hao. “Is the backup team in position? Can you track the movement of other banyan tree stumps in different areas?”
Li Hao’s voice came through amid loud noise and obvious chaos. He shouted, “Yes, but the data is incomplete. Some backup personnel are temporarily out of contact. I’ll send you a mini program.”
WeChat pinged. Song Nanxing opened the mini program Li Hao sent and saw a city map dotted with countless small red points moving slowly.
His finger swiped the screen slowly, voice low, “They really are moving toward the same destination.”
“Can you predict the destination based on their routes?”
“Wait, I’m checking.” Li Hao zoomed in on the movement paths on the map. “It’s Forest Park in the inner city.”