Why it never ends

Chapter 410 Mother Tree
At night, Hesta lay under the reading lamp by the bed, concentrating on reading the book "When the Forest Sings".

When Rico came out of the bathroom brushing her hair, she glanced at the wall clock on the wall—it was already 08:30 in the evening.

"...Are you still asleep?"

"not sleepy."

"It's really rare." Lico walked to Hesta, and when she found that Hesta was already reading the last chapter, Lico was very surprised: "Why are you almost finishing the book? Didn't Mantel say this? A week to read this book?"

"I skipped and read."

"How does it feel, interesting?"

"It's... pretty amazing," Hesta raised his head, "Do you still remember the time when Instructor Arnold took us into the forest for training?"

"Remember, he likes to preach too much." Lico sat down next to Hesta, "I get annoyed every time he leads the team."

"I just thought of Arnold's preaching before. At that time... I remember that he always liked to point to some small trees in the forest and said, look at these trees. Because they are short, they can't enjoy any sunshine, so they can only stand in the cracks They barely survive, but as long as the big trees around them are blown down and broken, some of them will emerge to compete for the sun and a new order."

"...I have the impression," Li Ge raised his head, "he seems to have been worried about his failure to get the rank of colonel before retiring, so he feels emotional everywhere."

Hesta shrugged slightly: "The situation described in this book is completely opposite to what he said."

"what?"

"Trees are actually much more connected to each other than we see. Their roots exchange information underground—carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, water, hormones...even defense signals."

"How did you do it?"

"Through the mycorrhizae of some fungi," Hesta gestured, "the mycelium that grows from the tree trunk produces mycelium, and the mycelium infects the roots of the plant, so that the fungus is like a number of railways, connecting tree to tree together. And since fungi cover entire forests, drawing nutrients from every soil particle, the network tends to be very large...

"If we think of every tree as an exchange node, then the tall, older trees -- the ones with the most, deepest root systems -- would be the busiest exchange nodes in the forest. These trees are called 'central trees', or -- 'mother trees'."

Hesta turned the pages of the book again and read softly:
"'The central tree transfers excess carbon through the mycorrhizal network to the seedlings in the understory, which quadruples the survival of the seedlings'.

"'In a forest, a single mother tree can establish relationships with hundreds of other trees.'

"'We planted the mother trees with their children, and some strange seedlings, and it turned out that they knew their children. The mother trees covered the area where their children were with a larger network of mycorrhiza, and below ground, they gave The children send more carbon. They even reduce competition between themselves and other roots to create more room for her children'.

"'When a mother tree is injured or is about to die, they will also pass on the information of wisdom to the next generation of seedlings-she will leave carbon elements and defense signals. Dealing with the pressures of the future…”

Hesta's voice dropped - she suddenly thought of Ava, and a strong choked sob rose into her throat.

Hesta bowed her head in silence at the right time, until the unstoppable emotions gradually receded, she closed the book, and put it on the bedside.

"It's not like what Arnold said," Hesta said in a low voice, "what he sees is only himself..."

There was a knock on the door, Hesta and Lico looked up at the same time, and Chiba's voice came from outside: "Can I come in?"

"Come in." Li Ke replied.

Chiba probed in, "It's so late, why aren't you sleeping?"

"Jane is telling me about a book, which is very interesting."

Chiba entered the room and closed the door behind her.

"what book?"

Rico held up the cover, "Written by Ms. Anna,"

"...where did you get it?"

"Ms. Mantel, she seems to be a loyal reader of Ms. Anna."

Qianye picked up the book and casually flipped through two pages, "I'll read it tomorrow if it's interesting, don't stay up late."

Hesta raised his head, "Is it okay outside in the afternoon?"

"It's not very peaceful. One person was emotionally unstable. He drew his gun and shot the crew members who passed behind him... But don't worry about it, let them go."

"Where's Police Officer Su Lei?" Li Ke asked, "Is she alright?"

Qianye put the book back again, and said with a smile: "You officers, Si Lei, are always full of energy... Go to sleep, I will watch over you tonight."

Li Ke jumped onto the bed and quickly pulled up the quilt, "Okay!"

Hesta was also lying down, but suddenly dropped his feet to the ground again, "...I haven't brushed my teeth yet."

"Go." Qianye urged, she dimmed the lights in the room, but when Hesta got up, she still keenly caught a little golden thing falling out of Hesta's pajama pants pocket.

Before Hesta bent down, Qianye had already picked up the key on the ground, and she held the handle of the key and twirled it around her fingertips, as if admiring it, but also as if she had lost her mind after thinking about something.

"A flagpole key." Hesta whispered beside him, "We found it in the Aviation Museum yesterday."

"Flagpole key?" Li Ke also looked over, "So there is a special name for this shape of key."

"I also heard from Miss Valenti that it was last autumn." Hesta looked at the key in Chiba's hand, "It was said that it was popular in the Bronze Age, but later because it was not very good at preventing theft, it gradually became popular." no need."

Qianye didn't speak, just handed the key back to Hesta again, and said with a smile: "It looks pretty, keep it."

Hesta looked at Qianye and wanted to say something for a moment, but she couldn't open her mouth. After a moment of silence, she asked in a low voice, "Will Miss Qianye stay here all the time tonight?"

"Well, I'll process some materials outside your room."

"it is good."

……

The time points to one o'clock in the morning.

Hesta listened to Rico's breathing in the dark. Although she closed her eyes, she didn't feel sleepy.Many people and things turned in her mind, and all thoughts finally pointed to Anna's study.

Rico was already fast asleep, and Hesta sat up silently.

Opening the door of the room, it was pitch black outside—everything in front of him was just as Hesta expected, and Miss Chiba left a gap again.

Hesta left the room with ease and walked quickly towards the familiar destination.

(End of this chapter)