Webnovel Author In The Apocalypse World-Chapter 365: Plant King Hypothesis

The entire sequence of events, from the first thrust to the retrieval of the skin, happened so quickly that neither Jang Dojung nor Jo Sungmo moved a muscle.

Both of them remained vigilant, monitoring the other plants for any signs of aggression.

Surprisingly, none of the other plants reacted.

They remained utterly still, as if the destruction of the tomato had not affected them in the slightest.

This, too, was highly unusual.

For now, the three had no intention of advancing further.

With the tomato skin in hand, they retreated back to Kim Haru's location.

Chung Hwangeun handed over the trophy to Kim Haru. "Here you go, Mr. Kim. This skin has some granules inside—I think they might be the seeds you're looking for."

When Kim Haru accepted the tomato skin, Jang Dojung and Jo Sungmo detailed their observations and shared their suspicions with the others.

Their report heightened the sense of alertness among the group.

Kim Haru, however, was less concerned about the mystery for the moment.

His attention was fully on the tomato skin in his hands.

Inside the skin were brown tomato seeds. Despite the drastic mutation that had caused the fruit to grow so large, its seeds remained small and easy to identify.

The flesh of the fruit had turned into liquid, leaving behind only a small handful of seeds inside the skin.

The system immediately unlocked the tomato seed icon in its trading interface.

At least this outing wasn't fruitless.

Kim Haru's mood brightened noticeably.

Unsure of what to do with the tomato skin, he gave it a gentle tug and found that it was surprisingly sturdy.

It might prove useful later, so he tucked it into his system backpack.

While working on these tasks, Kim Haru also listened to Jang Dojung and his team's description of the situation in the field ahead.

"When you attacked the tomato, are you certain that the other plants didn't react at all?" Kim Haru asked, a thought forming in his mind.

He recalled a conversation he'd had during winter with the ginseng spirit and the frost bamboo.

Naturally, it was Kim Haru speaking with the Ginseng Spirit, and the Unmelted Frost Bamboo Tree relying on the Ginseng Spirit to translate.

Although a bit cumbersome, the two plants and one human had eagerly chatted away.

It was during that conversation that the Unmelted Frost Bamboo Tree had mentioned something interesting: if a piece of fertile land hosted numerous mutated plants, there would inevitably be a leader among them.

Using terms Kim Haru could easily understand, it was akin to a mountain king.

If the other plants wanted to live on that land and absorb its nutrients, they had to follow the mountain king's rules.

Of course, they didn't have to obey—they could either leave on their own or be thrown out.

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The mountain king's preferences also influenced the dynamics of the plants on its territory, often resulting in peculiar interactions.

Kim Haru remembered asking the Unmelted Frost Bamboo Tree if there was a mountain king in the forest near his small farm.

He had wanted to know who it was so he could pay his respects.

However, the Unmelted Frost Bamboo Tree didn't tell him, only saying that if the mountain king were willing, it would appear before Kim Haru on its own.

That said, the plants near his small farm were well-mannered, courteous, and each had a unique personality.

This was thanks to the mountain king's good temper and tolerance.

At the time, Kim Haru had been curious about the so-called peculiar interactions in other places.

Now, hearing Chung Hwangeun's account, Kim Haru suspected this might be what the Unmelted Frost Bamboo Tree had referred to as those peculiar interactions.

"I'll need to trouble you all to make another trip," Kim Haru said to Chung Hwangeun. "Please go and test the reactions of two other plants."

Kim Haru then shared his hypothesis with the group.

He believed there was likely a leader among the mutated plants in this area—a plant king, so to speak.

This plant king might have a lazy, easygoing temperament and a tendency to avoid meddling in others' affairs.

As a result, the plants under its rule had adopted a similar attitude of "if it doesn't directly affect me, I'll pretend I didn't see it."

Of course, this assumption depended on the other two plants also remaining unresponsive.

Hearing Kim Haru's explanation, the others found it fascinating.

Jang Dojung in particular, was intrigued.

As the director of a plant research institute, he had long observed peculiar behaviors among plants.

Even identical mutated plants exhibited drastically different temperaments depending on where they grew.

He had always been curious about the reason behind this but, despite being a Plant-type ability user, he couldn't communicate with plants as directly as Kim Haru could.

The idea that a plant king could influence the behavior of all the plants within its territory was something he'd never heard of before.

No one present doubted Kim Haru's claims.

Chung Hwangeun, undeterred by the suggestion to go back for another round of testing, enthusiastically set off.

This time, Jang Dojung and Jo Sungmo accompanied Chung Hwangeun once again.

Meanwhile, Kim Haru didn't remain idle.

He instructed the remaining six people to spread out and carefully observe the field for anything unusual.

Judging by the orderly arrangement of the land, Kim Haru suspected that the plant king here wasn't just lazy—it might also have obsessive-compulsive tendencies or be inflexible.

A plant with such a distinctive character should stand out and be relatively easy to identify.

However, things didn't go as Kim Haru expected.

"Mr. Kim, watch out!"

No one had expected it.

The chili pepper that Chung Hwangeun had picked earlier, which had shown no issues the entire way, suddenly erupted with a powerful shockwave the moment it was handed to Kim Haru!

The explosion was as fierce as a bomb, detonating in an instant.

Even Chung Hwangeun had no time to release his lightning—everyone could only watch in horror as Kim Haru who is caught at the epicenter of the blast, was forcefully thrown backward!

Behind him was the Biryong Cliff!