I Turned into a Tree, Who Cares!

5 Humanity?

Jack chuckled softly as he looked at the eight peregrine falcon chicks, all chirping with open beaks. He extended a branch toward the ground, wrapped it around a half-eaten rabbit carcass, and pulled it up. This was his kill from the day before. He had buried it in the ground, partly to nourish himself and partly to feed these little creatures.

With a bit of effort, he used his branch to tear the rabbit meat into smaller pieces and then carefully placed them, one by one, into the chicks’ eager mouths.

"Such messy eaters," Jack muttered as he watched the falcons devour their food with gusto. He then extended a branch to gently stroke them. Perhaps they had grown accustomed to him; the chicks ignored his playful teasing. Some even closed their eyes, seeming to enjoy his touch.

"Good little ones..." Jack smiled, not minding their indifference as he continued stroking their fledgling feathers.

Meanwhile, Jack was unaware that, not far from the gorge, footsteps were approaching the forest.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Two figures were moving deeper into the trees. They were two young women from a rural village, dressed in simple linen clothing, with gentle, clean features. With a little grooming, they would likely attract a lot of attention, especially since they were identical twins.

"Sis, what’s going on lately? The village hasn’t even been letting us into the mountains," one of them asked.

Sighing, the quieter girl replied, "Well, it’s because strange things have been happening in the mountains lately. Just in the past half month, seven or eight villagers have been bedridden from snake or insect bites, and one person has even gone missing."

The other girl stopped in her tracks, her face paling. Then, she glanced hesitantly into the depths of the forest and said nervously, "Maybe it wasn’t a good idea for me to convince you to come here."

“Oh, don’t be silly, Ling’er; it’ll be fine,” her sister, He Qing’er, reassured her with a bit of annoyance. “It’s summer. If I don’t get a proper bath soon, I’m going to stink.”

“Besides…” she paused, looking hesitantly into the forest. “Nothing’s ever happened to us here before. We’ve come here so many times.”

"You’re right; there aren’t any dangerous animals here," her younger sister, He Ling’er, replied playfully, linking arms with her sister as they walked deeper into the woods.

But as they ventured farther, both girls began to feel uneasy.

"Sis, didn’t the forest seem less dense the last time we came?" Ling’er asked.

"No, it definitely wasn’t this dark," Qing’er replied, eyeing the dense canopy that blocked out nearly all the sunlight.

Though unnerved, the two girls, raised in the mountains, steeled themselves and quickened their pace, following a familiar path. Before long, they crested a small hill and saw a clear pond not far ahead. Smiling with relief, they noticed that the pond was as clear and pristine as ever, reflecting their travel-worn faces like a mirror.

As Jack was amusing himself with the young falcons, he suddenly froze. Had he just heard voices? Female voices, no less.

A bit puzzled, Jack turned his attention toward the direction of the sound.

After a moment, he finally spotted the source. Several hundred meters away, there were two figures playing by a small pond. Although the distance wasn’t far by his current standards, his enhanced vision allowed him to see them clearly.

"Hmm, two rather lovely girls," he thought, pausing briefly to make a simple assessment, though he didn’t dwell on it.

What else could he do, after all? He couldn’t exactly charge over there. As a tree, the most he could manage would be to… bind them.

Besides, humans were complicated. Jack hadn’t yet figured out how to interact with them. The saying "Those who are not of our kind harbor different hearts" was one he took to heart. Humans were particularly complex and unpredictable. If he was unlucky and encountered extreme individuals, there was a high chance they’d capture him for research.

That was a risk he wasn’t willing to take. After some thought, he decided against making contact with these two women. Until he had the means to protect himself, he would remain a quiet, unassuming tree.