164 The Color-Changing Tree

The originally black tree turned snow-white in an instant. Everyone was shocked and retreated warily.

However, other than turning snow-white, the tree did not undergo any other changes, nor was there any danger.

After a while, the white tree gradually turned black again, as if nothing had happened.

"This tree is a little strange. It's clearly a black tree, so why did it suddenly turn white?" Li Xuan was extremely curious as he held a wooden stick and stabbed it a few times.

However, the black tree remained black without any changes from before.

Zhou Wen aimed his mysterious phone at the black tree and the camera function immediately locked onto it. Clearly, it was the tree that had caused the mysterious phone to vibrate.

He pressed the shutter button and the phone immediately entered the picture-taking interface.

Quite a number of people were using their cell phones to illuminate the area as well as taking pictures of the black tree. Zhou Wen's actions didn't seem too out of the ordinary.

As there was no danger, someone boldly shook the black tree. In the next second, the black tree had turned into a ruby-like color. It was like a gem in the shape of a tree, shimmering with a dazzling glow of riches.

The person shaking the tree was a girl. This scene gave her a shock and she hurriedly retreated.

Just like before, nothing dangerous happened. The red gem tree gradually lost its luster and soon returned to its dark appearance.

"This is really strange." Li Xuan seemed to have thought of something as he carefully shook the black tree with his hand. Indeed, the black tree had changed color again. However, it was different from the previous few colors. This time, the black tree had turned golden.

"It seems like the color will be different depending on the person," Li Xuan said.

"Let me give it a try." Everyone was curious as they attempted to shake the black tree.

Indeed, just as Li Xuan said, when different people touched the black tree, it would transform into another color. Even if it changed to red, the red itself was a different shade.

"Old Zhou, try it too," Li Xuan said to Zhou Wen.

"There's no need. I don't like to take risks. It's best you don't touch it." Zhou Wen shook his head. Before figuring out what the black tree was, he was unwilling to touch it.

The phone was still in the middle of downloading, and the download speed seemed much slower than before.

After the crowd had their fun, they realized that the black tree didn't have any other function other than changing colors. Soon, they were bored with it.

As there was nothing else here, everyone left Death City and continued exploring Restriction City.

The mysterious phone was still in the middle of downloading. It didn't finish even when the club activity ended and everyone left together.

With the screen constantly downloading, Zhou Wen had no way of gaming. After returning to his dorm, he had a good nap—a rather rare opportunity.

Ever since he had advanced to the Legendary stage, the feeling of having sleep paralysis hadn't happened again. Zhou Wen had a good nap and ended up waking the next morning. After washing up and eating, he realized that the download had been completed when he unlocked the mysterious phone. There was a tree-shaped icon on the home screen.

However, the cartoon-styled icon looked different from the black tree. There were three words "Dead Man Tree" written below.

Zhou Wen was somewhat curious as to why a tree had an instance dungeon. He immediately tapped on the tree's icon.

After launching the app, the scene turned black. In the dark space, there was a tree—a black one. However, in the dark cavern, one could clearly see the tree's appearance.

Apart from its cartoon-styled appearance, it was the black tree they had encountered in Death City.

The blood-colored avatar stood in front of it, but apart from the black tree, there was nothing around it. Zhou Wen was momentarily at a loss as to what the instance dungeon was for.

He summoned the Silver-Winged Flying Ant and let it fly towards the black tree. He then attacked the black tree with Magical Needle which stabbed into it but failed to penetrate it. He wasn't able to damage the black tree at all either.

The tree didn't react and remained standing quietly in the darkness.

Zhou Wen hesitated for a moment before deciding to let the blood-colored avatar personally touch the tree to see if there would be any abnormal changes.

However, Zhou Wen found it strange that after the blood-colored avatar touched it, the color of the black tree did not change. It was still black, completely the same as before.

Strange, why didn't the color change? Zhou Wen remembered that in Death City, the black tree had undergone a change in color when people touched it. Nothing like what had happened to him was experienced in game.

Is it me or is it a problem with the game? Zhou Wen was momentarily unsure of what the tree was for, nor did he understand the use of the instance dungeon. All he could do was ignore it for the time being. After quitting the game, he logged into other dungeons to hunt monsters.

Now, Zhou Wen only grinded two types of monsters. One was mutated Legendary monsters since only they could drop stats crystals above 18 points which were of use to him.

Another was Epic creatures that could drop stats crystals that exceeded 20 points. They were similarly useful to Zhou Wen.

However, Epic creatures were too powerful. He was no match for the few Epic creatures Zhou Wen encountered in-game, so all he could do was search for the mutated Legendary creatures.

…

In a room at the An family's residence in Luoyang, An Tianzuo had recently returned home.

"Tianzuo, has the situation around Luoyang been very bad recently?" Ouyang Lan asked worriedly.

"It's not that bad. Apart from the problematic matters at the Qihe River, there aren't too many problems in other places," said An Tianzuo with a smile. "Mom, don't worry. As long as I'm in Luoyang, I won't let those dimensional creatures invade Luoyang."

Ouyang Lan nodded slightly and sighed before saying, "The Holy Land qualification competition is just around the corner. If Zhou Wen goes alone, I won't be at ease. Let Ah Sheng accompany him, right?"

"Mom, are you really letting Zhou Wen go? Aren't you going to reconsider?" An Tianzuo frowned.

Ouyang Lan shook her head and said, "I know what you're thinking. However, Xiaojing has a congenital illness. It would be terrifying if something were to happen to her during her acceptance of the special physique. I don't want Little Jing to take any risks. Do you understand?"

"Understood." An Tianzuo added, "But I believe that Little Jing can do it."

"There's no need to elaborate on this matter. I've already made up my mind. Furthermore, the nomination has been changed to Zhou Wen. There's no way to change it." Ouyang Lan stopped An Tianzuo from continuing.

An Tianzuo remained silent. Although he didn't agree with Ouyang Lan's decision, he would not go against her wishes. He had always been a filial son.

Ouyang Lan sighed lightly. "Besides, Zhou Wen might not be willing to go. He has no blood relationship with the two of you, but his temper is extraordinarily similar. He's always so stubborn."

"It's different. He's stubborn while we are confident," said An Tianzuo proudly.

Ouyang Lan only looked at An Tianzuo and smiled without saying another word.