Chapter 47: Imagination
Translator: Letty / Editor: DarkGem / IceTea
“What…What is this…” Qing Shui was appalled by the contents of the resin ellipsoid. He carefully distinguished the gyri and sulci of the brain. Suddenly, his eyes widely opened, and he seemed to be afraid to believe what he saw.
“This is a human brain.” Although Qing Shui had saw it closely, he still refused to accept this fact. The physiological structure of this tree had destroyed his previous knowledge of biology. “The brain, is it still alive?”
“Yes, it is alive, and it functions perfectly. The ability of keeping the brain alive is the ability that I am proudest of since I mutated.” As the Willow said so, it withdrew that sophisticated twig combination in the air, and its body emerged in the fog again.
“Now, I am sure you understand why I can speak human language.”
“I understand,” Qing Shui nodded. “Reality is rational.” He murmured to himself and took a few deep breaths before he asked, “But how many brains can you control?”
“So far, there are not many; I can only control seven,” The Willow said with a tone of pity. “The amount of information in the human brain is massive; not only does the capacity trouble me, but also the complexity. When I was acquiring and controlling the sixth brain, I felt like all the information collided with each other. It produced a lot of conflict as if they became a twisted twine. It really gave me a hard time. Therefore, after acquiring the seventh, I decided to stop temporarily so that they wouldn’t ‘short-circuit’.”
“I see, but what is your intention after catching us?” Qing Shui looked up to the towering shadow and asked, “As a producer in the food chain, you should not be lacking organic matter; instead, you can absorb as much as you want to from the soil. Therefore, it won’t be very useful for you to swallow me. Plus, you had just said that the roots are useless to you now. That means you have evolved to gain nutrients through other channels. If you really have two methods of getting energy, your body will not be lacking nutrition.”
“And if my body is useless to you, then your goal is my brain. But you just have said that you don’t have room for more information. That’s why I was asking, what do you want from us?”
“You are smart… and I bet you must be extremely knowledgeable; I wish I could substitute one of my brains with yours.” As the Willow spoke, it dropped down another fine twig combination. “This brain is totally worthless; it only thinks about sex, violence and bargaining. I wish I could empty this spot for you. Unfortunately, if I chopped off this branch, I’ll lose the spot too.”
“So…so I am lucky in this sense.” Qing Shui smiled wryly then continued to asked, “You haven’t told me why you caught us.”
“Questions,” The old and hollow sound echoed around Qing Shui and Jing again. “I have questions in my mind, and they have to be answered. Although I cannot hold another massive flow of information right now, I can still handle one or two questions. Therefore, I just want to ask you a few questions.”
“And why should I answer you?”
“If I am satisfied with the answer, I can let go of you guys; but if not, you will exist as my nourishment.” As it talked, another stout twig stretched over; this twig looked ferocious and it was completely different from the sophisticated twig combination from earlier. It was not only thick, but also had sharp barbs. The barbs evenly spread around the twig and dozens of dry hollow human skins were hung on it. “If you can’t answer my questions, you’ll be one of them.”
“Why should I believe in you?” Qing Shui stared at these hollow human skins desperately.
“Because you have no choice.” The Willow retracted the skin pendants and said, “I can find someone else if you don’t want to speak; my life is very long and I am patient. I am not rushing to know the answer, and I think there are plenty of people that know the answer on this planet. You can choose not to believe in me and become my fertilizer immediately, or, you can bet on me. But I can tell you that it is not necessary for me to lie to you.”
“Well …. I have to admit that I really don’t have any other choices. And the way you speak is persuasive; I bet one of the seven brains must have come from a lawyer.” Qing Shui was compelled to reply “Tell me, what do you want to know?”
“What is intelligence? This is my question,” The hollow voice trembled a little.
“Humans have defined intelligence in various perspectives; creative ability, curiosity, logical thinking, organizing and categorizing ability, etc. However, I think what makes human intelligence unique is imagination.”
“How?”
“If you had learned from the brain you acquired, you should understand that many other animals have curiosity, organizing abilities, even logical thinking; these are not something exclusive to humans.”
“Indeed, the rats know how to clean and organize their own nest, lions and tigers know where to find their prey, and monkeys and apes know they can move wooden box under the banana tree so that they can step on it to reach the bananas. Therefore, these things do not make human intelligence unique because the species I have mentioned don’t seem intelligent. So, if you are right, the difference between humans and the other species is…”
“Yes, imagination, it is what makes the real difference.” Qing Shui explained, “Including reasoning, manufacturing, designing, even literature, opera and civilization. They are products of imagination.”
“I see; I am happy with your answer.” After the Willow dropped its response, it retreated into a deep silence. It seemed to be trying to understand what imagination was while Qing Shui patiently waited.
Moments after, the Willow spoke again, “My second question… how did humans obtain imagination?”
“No one has a true answer to this question, but one of the arguments I believe was the fear of natural disasters driving the evolution of imagination today.” Qing Shui spoke slowly, “I heard that the first generation of humans who gained imagination did it through observing the four changing seasons. During the rainy season, humans could produce crops and had a sufficient water supply. However, during the dry season, a large number of humans died due to lack of water. This went through countless generations of evolution. When one of these generations began to imagine what would happen in the dry season, they began to store water and crops with containers they made. And this may be the first generation of humans who gained the ability of imagination.”
“Imagination from crisis? I see,” the Willow again sunk into silence.
Qing Shui didn’t need to wait a long this time. He suddenly felt the branches around his waist begin to move, and when he looked down, he found that the twigs were retracting from his waist to his legs and eventually to his ankles. They eventually withdrew back into the ground completely.
“I am satisfied with your answer; you may leave now,” the Willow said.
“Before I go, can I ask you something?” Knowing that he was free now, Qing Shui’s face lit up with ecstasy. He didn’t leave immediately, but remained where he was.
“Sure, I am listening.”
“Why? Why do you still need to ask me what intelligence is when you have acquired so many human brains?”
“That is because I am not intelligent.”