Chapter 2181  Speculation

“Very soon.”

Ji Haiting’s voice came quickly through the miniature earpiece, “Fang Heng, the passage below is extremely dangerous. There’s a high likelihood of direct conflict with the spawns if the tree spirit race enters. My advice is to evacuate immediately.”

“Fang Heng, what’s your take on the recent words from the tree spirit race?”

“What?”

Fang Heng remained calm and unperturbed, asking lightly, “If the tree spirit race could indeed destroy the source of energy for the spiritual domain blockade network, does that mean the entire network had failed?”

Ji Haiting seemed to pause noticeably upon hearing the question, and his breathing became somewhat heavier as he said, “The source below is the main energy supply for the network. If it’s destroyed, the entire spiritual domain network will be completely paralyzed.”

“I understand.”

Fang Heng said, then leaped directly down from above the passage!

In any case, he needed to go down and assess the situation!

“Whoosh! Whoosh!!”

A brilliant blue light surged around him.

Fang Heng realized he was plummeting rapidly.

“Hu!”

In midair, Fang Heng immediately transformed into his bat form, stabilizing his descent speed, and slowly flew towards the bottom.

Having descended about a hundred meters, the sounds of combat from the depths below reached Fang Heng’s ears.

He glanced down and finally saw the bottom.

It was a wide hall area.

Fang Heng dropped from the circular pit in the ceiling and quickly surveyed his surroundings.

Raven and a group of tree spirit race members were engaged in combat with dozens of spawns.

Without his assistance, the tree spirit race was slightly at a disadvantage.

As he landed, Fang Heng swiftly reverted to his human form.

Raven stood nearby, manipulating nature spells to aid his kin in battle, his eyes filled with intense concentration.

“Fang Heng…”

Raven whispered as he saw Fang Heng’s arrival, “Just as I suspected, it’s that thing.”

Following Raven’s gaze, Fang Heng’s pupils constricted sharply.

What was that?

Not far ahead, at the forefront of the hall, there was a twisted mass of blue energy condensed together.

The substance was encased in a glass artifact, continuously releasing blue sparks.

The energy ball was enveloped in layers of scale-like alloy metal pieces.

Occasionally, sparks would escape from the gaps between the metal scales.

Fang Heng furrowed his brow tightly.

It was a spherical life form unlike anything Fang Heng had ever seen. It seemed to be entirely composed of blue energy bodies. Heavy-duty wires were connected to the outer alloy glass barrier, leading into a large adjacent mechanical device.

Fang Heng glanced sideways.

Raven appeared unusually wrathful.

“Raven, what is that thing?”

“I don’t know,” Raven shook his head, then continued, “But I can sense a very strong ripple of natural energy from it. It’s absorbing the natural energy through the spiritual domain network, suppressing the natural energy flow of this world.”

Fang Heng glanced at the large mechanical device and whispered, “Mr. Ji, can you see what’s happening here?”

“Yeah, I’ve roughly seen the surroundings through the pinhole camera. If I’m right, this is most likely an electronic spirit controlled by the spawns,” Ji Haiting replied.

On the other side of the research institute, Ji Haiting watched the transmitted images through the pinhole camera, his eyes revealing a profound astonishment.

The spawns had always been very cautious about guarding the energy area below, strictly prohibiting anyone from entering. Ji Haiting had only been able to glean some clues from reports before, such as high-frequency energy reactions. But no one had dared to inspect it like Fang Heng did.

Ji Haiting took a deep breath, his tone carrying a sense of gravity, “Fang Heng, something comes to mind. Several years ago, I managed to obtain some information from the Federation. It’s said that when the spawns first arrived on our planet, they were quite interested in the power of the tree spirit race.”

“In the early days, the spawns had some contact with the tree spirit race, but there wasn’t much substantial progress. Since the spawns couldn’t stay in our world for long periods, they chose to cooperate with us humans and invited us to join the Star Alliance.”

Ji Haiting paused here.

During that period, the tree spirit race was the dominant force in the world, and humans could only engage in clandestine activities behind the scenes.

Raven stood nearby listening, knowing there were some things he couldn’t openly discuss.

“Humph.”

Raven had been listening to Ji Haiting’s account all along. Now, he made a disdainful noise and continued, “Back then, we had some contact with the spawns. They did have some abilities and proposed cooperation with us. They also mentioned things related to the Star Alliance.”

“At that time, we were still searching for ways to reopen the world passage, so we didn’t have time to deal with them. Those uncouth foreigners… annoyed us, so we took direct action and quickly drove them out of our territory.”

Raven turned to Fang Heng and asked Ji Haiting, “So after that, did the spawns come back to propose cooperation with you?”

“Yes. The spawns later approached the human Federation.”

At this point, Ji Haiting decided to lay it all out plainly.

“During that period, the activities of the tree spirit race were much more frequent than they are now. After several attacks on cities occurred, the Federation became extremely wary of the tree spirit race.”

“The arrival of the spawns undoubtedly became a lifesaver for the Federation. After discussions, the Federation immediately reached an agreement with the spawns, agreeing to join the cosmic alliance established by the spawns – the Star Alliance. As a condition, the Star Alliance would impart advanced technology to humanity and establish a spiritual domain network to block the power of the tree spirit race.”

Fang Heng pursed his lips.

Alright then.

After cross-checking the testimonies of the two individuals, he pieced together the sequence of events.

The spawns were somehow constrained, unable to stay in this world for too long.

Upon discovering this world, they didn’t resort to violence or destruction but chose a path of cooperative development.

They made contact with various intelligent species in this world.

Given the nature of the tree spirit race…

It would likely have been difficult to cooperate with them.

Fang Heng speculated that after encountering the various intelligent species on the planet, the spawns found humans more amenable to negotiation, so they decided to cooperate with the human Federation.

In order to deal with the tree spirit race, the spawns and humans secretly established the spiritual domain blockade network.

The tree spirit race, always proud, probably didn’t pay much attention to any blockade network controlled by the spawns at that time.

None of them had anticipated the significant impact of the completion of the spiritual domain network.

Then it was like boiling a frog in warm water.

As time passed, the power of the spiritual domain network gradually took effect, weakening the strength of the tree spirit race even further.

At this point, with the technological support from the spawns, humanity’s strength saw a significant boost.

By the time the tree spirit race realized something was amiss, it was already too late.