Chapter 92: Heavenly Treasure
There were corpses everywhere.
All kinds of corpses.
Several entire rat nests.
Some of the bodies were missing limbs.
Others looked as though they had died suddenly without warning.
There were centipedes, ants, and countless other insects mixed among them.
The sight was so dense and horrifying that it resembled some kind of poisonous insect breeding pit used to cultivate venomous creatures.
Even Joo Joowon could not help but break out in goosebumps.
After stepping closer for a better look, he finally noticed even more details.
Rather than saying the old tree had died because the rats had chewed through its roots, it was more accurate to say that the tree had already withered to death.
Its roots were shriveled dry, devoid of even the slightest trace of moisture.
But it had been raining continuously for the past two days.
Even if it was not exactly normal rain, rain was still rain as far as plants were concerned.
There should have been no reason for the tree to reject it.
Yet the roots remained completely dried out.
So dry that not even a single drop of moisture could have been squeezed from them.
The lush canopy above almost looked like a final burst of life before death.
The situation was obviously abnormal.
Joo Joowon guessed that the weeds growing all over the courtyard, some of which had already reached knee height, were probably in a similar state.
The moment that thought crossed his mind, another realization suddenly struck him.
He cried out in heartbreak.
"My heavenly treasures!"
It really was not his fault for thinking that way.
After all, the corpses beneath the tree roots were right there in front of him.
Surely they had not all gathered beneath the tree simply because they were bored and wanted to hold some kind of banquet?
That was obviously impossible.
The most reasonable explanation was that the creatures living near the courtyard had all sensed the presence of some kind of "heavenly treasure."
Driven by the instinct for evolution, they had all rushed over.
Every living thing wanted a share of the feast.
The fighting that followed was probably the reason why some of the corpses in the tree pit were missing limbs or partially eaten.
As for the other victors, perhaps they had died because they were unable to withstand the energy contained within the heavenly treasure.
That would explain why so many complete, uninjured corpses had been left behind.
Even humans found it difficult to resist their instincts when faced with delicious food.
People would often overeat without restraint.
Creatures like rats and insects, which relied even more heavily on instinct, obviously had no understanding of concepts such as moderation.
Being eaten to death or dying because they could not endure the energy overload was completely normal.
There were an enormous number of animal corpses here.
Aside from the larger creatures such as rats, the rest consisted mostly of cockroaches, insects, and various tiny creatures.
The bodies were piled up so densely that they formed a small hill.
There had to be thousands of them.
It was easy to imagine just how fierce the struggle must have been.
Joo Joowon could not help but sigh in regret.
What a waste of good resources!
Among all the creatures that had participated in the fight, the only survivors were probably those few rats.
As for the heavenly treasure they had been fighting over, the answer was equally obvious.
The sap of the old tree.
Joo Joowon snapped off a branch from the tree and, without much hope, poked through the pile of corpses.
There really was a layer of murky liquid pooled beneath them.
Whether it was tree sap, blood, or simply rainwater left behind from the storm, he could not tell.
"Byeol, do you feel anything? Any impulses? Do you have any special feelings toward anything in the courtyard?"
Joo Joowon looked toward Byeol with hopeful eyes.
"Meow?"
Byeol, who had been busy grooming himself, glanced at Joo Joowon in confusion.
Then, under Joo Joowon’s eager gaze, the cat lowered his head and continued licking his fur.
Joo Joowon’s face immediately filled with disappointment.
Still unwilling to give up, he bent down and pulled a few weeds from the ground.
The roots of the weeds were just as shriveled and dried as the roots of the old tree.
The contrast between the healthy, vibrant appearance above ground and the withered roots below ground was almost absurd.
However, this discovery did not surprise Joo Joowon at all.
After all, he had already realized where the problem lay.
It should be remembered that competition in the plant world was just as fierce.
Plants employed every trick imaginable in order to compete for sunlight and water.
If a plant had weak roots, encountering a typhoon, a rainstorm, or a drought could easily cause it to wither and die.
Plants with strong root systems, on the other hand, could often survive almost any situation simply because their roots extended deep enough into the ground.
Within the entire courtyard, the old tree was undoubtedly the apex predator of the food chain.
After growing year after year, its roots had spread throughout the entire yard.
If some special circumstance arose, there was simply no way the other plants could compete with it for resources.
Its only disadvantage was that it was still, in the end, a plant.
So when all those animals came charging toward it like a piece of prime meat, it had absolutely no means of defending itself.
This realization gave Joo Joowon an important reminder.
In the future, perhaps he would not need to fear being surrounded when passing flower beds or gardens.
After all, while competing for resources, those creatures would probably have already beaten each other senseless.
By the end, who could say how many winners would actually remain alive?
Looking at it that way, perhaps potted plants, despite their natural disadvantages, actually had a greater chance of successfully evolving because they did not need to compete with anyone else for resources.