Operation Thousand-Year-Old Demon Decay

Which moment in the past do you most want to go back to? Why do you want to go back to that moment the most?

I read a "poem" somewhere when I was a child, and there were a few lines that impressed me deeply:

I am the incarnation of a poplar tree, which once grew in the desert. It has lived for a thousand years without falling, has fallen for a thousand years without decay, and has decayed for a thousand years without decay. It is like my eternal youth.

When I was young, I thought this artistic conception was grand and romantic, and I just wanted to be a tree. Now that I think about it, what kind of evil monster is this that violates the laws of nature? Isn’t this a rotten tree possessed by black magic that appears to be alive but has already rotted away from the depths of the soil?

With the unforgettable feeling of helping the world, I want to go back in time to save the fate of this tree and prevent it from becoming a rotten heart tree eroded by evil forces.

The question is: when did this tree stop being a tree? Where does the evil black magic power come from?

In order to find the answer, I went back to my past as a bird, got into the bird's body, lived in the bird's eyes, soared, hovered, and surveyed.

At that time, the desert was still an oasis, and plants followed the laws of nature, growing, surviving, dying, decaying, and being buried, nourishing new growth, and starting over and over again, so that they could live and grow endlessly. What is endless is the constant growth of new plants.

Until one day, I rested on the branch of a tree and heard the leaves whispering: "Why do we fall to nourish the land? This rich land has so many nutrients and water sources, enough for us to survive for generations to come. .

Thus, the branches transmit the plans of the leaves to the roots, all the way to the ends of the roots. This tree just thrived on the oasis, greedily sucking the essence of the soil, causing the surrounding plants to shrink and retreat until I died. Because I am a bird, and the life of a bird is short.

When I found the tree again in the form of a prairie dog, the oasis was gone, the land was bare, the vegetation was no longer glorious and lifeless. Except this tree. What is so special about this tree?

I drilled into the depths of the earth to find the answer, but I almost lost my direction by being surrounded by the intricate behemoth. The tree trunks exposed on the ground are just the tip of the iceberg. With such a huge foundation, even if the tree occasionally looks like it is withered, it is actually not dead at all. It is just accumulating strength to extend its tentacles deeper and further, so that other plants have no nutrients to absorb and die.

What a selfish and hateful dryad!

Fortunately, I have the superpower of "going back in time" given by @Flora, the initiator of the essay contest.

I went back to the time when I was a little squirrel. The oasis looked more ancient, with all living creatures, chirping insects and birds, and diverse plants. I jumped around and looked for food. In the sun, I saw a shiny black seed. Its shape was very special, with five pointed corners. I wasn't sure whether I should touch it or not, but my squirrel's belly growled with hunger: "What's the point of a seed?" So I peeled open this strange-looking little thing, only to find a plain inside, and swallowed it whole. .

The fate of the evil tree is thus strangled in the shell of the seed. In this way, the little squirrel saved a future oasis. Of course it doesn't know that humans can't go back to the past like it did and easily strangle baby Hitler in the cradle.

The future fate of the little squirrel is unknown. It may not become another creature, a bird, or a groundhog, and therefore this me will not appear on the earth.

But the earth has a large area of ​​lush forests and boundless oases. Life will decay and be reborn in other forms. There is no thousand-year-old demon trying to be immortal.