Chapter 57 - 56: Origin Cell
"This is Mind Broadcasting."
Liang Zhi said with a hint of resignation, "It took a great deal of cross-referencing before I could reach this conclusion."
"Who would have thought that the source of such a huge disaster would actually be a cicada?"
His unique understanding of these unknown phenomena stemmed from his mastery of knowledge from both worlds.
Liang Zhi continued his story.
After he began to grasp the principles at work, he started a new experiment.
He used the voice of a god, spreading the thoughts of the modified Tree Transformation via Mind Broadcasting to influence the Theseus Cells from the other end of the Big Tree Cave.
For the unstable Theseus Cells, a Mind Broadcast carrying the message ’Change’ was an extremely powerful signal.
This triggered the biological chaos in the sealed-off area.
Meanwhile, because normal cells are highly stable, the effect on them was minimal; it didn’t even reach outside the Big Tree Cave.
This allowed him to achieve a targeted control effect, and it was extremely covert.
After the biological chaos began to take effect, he concealed information about the sealed-off area to prevent the pandemonium from being discovered, creating a facade of peace and tranquility.
This was also why the outpost’s messages could never reach the monitoring station.
But the cover-up couldn’t last forever. With the exposure of the Red Rope Worm incident, more and more people began to pay attention to the sealed-off area.
So, he took the opportunity to have Li Luo come to the outpost to dispel everyone’s suspicions. He didn’t think a Hunter who had just arrived in the Abyss would be able to find the source of the chaos.
But to his surprise, not long after Li Luo arrived in the sealed-off area, he accidentally stumbled upon a way to completely resolve the chaos.
Fortunately, as he was keeping a close eye on the sealed-off area, he discovered that a creature fitting the Ugly Duckling Phenomenon had been born.
It was a lamb of the Broken Tree Sheep species.
After implanting a Red Rope Worm in the lamb ahead of time, he infiltrated the team and followed them as they tracked the lamb underground.
This was all in pursuit of the Primordial Cell.
"You know the rest," he said, spreading his hands.
Captain Su was enraged by this answer. "You got so many of my brothers killed just to prove something that might not even exist?"
Liang Zhi repeated what he had said at the very beginning:
"It was a necessary price. In the face of proving the existence of the Primordial Cell, these sacrifices are nothing. Don’t you want to know where you come from?"
"This is the foundation that could allow our two life forms to coexist peacefully," he explained gravely. "Can you honestly say you have no prejudice, no fear, when it comes to Theseus Cells?"
The soldiers fell silent.
Mo Ling was also reminded of his own frantic escape from the Anti-Cell World. Prejudice against the ’other’ was indeed unavoidable.
In the Abyss, the unknown breeds fear.
"How did you know the Sheep-headed Man would find the Primordial Cell? Wasn’t it just slaughtering Theseus Cell Life?" Captain Su was still confused.
Liang Zhi shook his head and explained, "No. The Ugly Duckling Phenomenon isn’t just about slaughter; it’s also about tracking. The creature will continuously track its way back to the most ancient source. The slaughter is merely a sign of low intelligence."
"Once its intelligence increases, it will slaughter less and begin to trace its own origins. Eventually, it will find a similar species and transform into it."
The slaughter is just a means of differentiation.
During the tracking process, his plan was to prevent the Sheep-headed Man from ever turning into a normal cell lifeform, forcing it to continue searching for the Primordial Cell.
Unexpectedly, during the battle with the Prophet, the Sheep-headed Man still transformed into a normal cell lifeform.
What surprised him the most, however, was that the Sheep-headed Man found the Primordial Cell in the end anyway.
"I figured it was time to tell you all this. At the very least, you’ve seen this strange egg with your own eyes." He pointed at the nest and said calmly, "So I don’t want to hide it anymore."
Captain Su sighed. "You can’t be sure that it’s the Primordial Cell, can you?"
Liang Zhi faltered for a moment, then replied, "No, I’m sure. It has appeared in my mind many times."
His cryptic answer left everyone around him confused.
He walked toward the strange egg in the nest, and this time, no one stopped him.
Mo Ling’s eyes were fixed on Liang Zhi as he advanced toward the nest.
He didn’t doubt Liang Zhi’s story; he just felt his actions were far too audacious.
’It’s like he was just randomly conducting experiments, trying things haphazardly, and somehow, he still succeeded.’
Recalling the events of the past few days, Mo Ling realized that many of Liang Zhi’s plans had been gambles.
The Red Rope Worm, the chaotic mutations—they were all highly random, yet they had actually led him to the "Primordial Cell" of his obsession.
’But is it really the Primordial Cell?’
Mo Ling maneuvered the Block to follow him.
The Sheep-headed Man, meanwhile, had already arrived beside the strange egg. It seemed to have no interest in the egg itself; instead, it was busy picking up the Druid’s Spines from the nest.
’This Sheep-headed Man... it doesn’t seem like it was looking for the Primordial Cell either,’ Mo Ling thought, a strange feeling welling up inside him.
After picking up the spines, the Sheep-headed Man tried to tie them to the rack on its back. It looked as if it was trying to assemble a human figure out of the spines, but it couldn’t manage to piece one together.
Liang Zhi walked past the Sheep-headed Man, which paid him no mind and continued to rummage through the spines on the ground.
Soon, he reached the edge of the strange egg. He swiped at the eggshell with a dagger. The shell was very soft and instantly split open.
A clear liquid slowly oozed out. He took a container from his bag and collected the fluid.
He took out a device, aimed it at the flowing transparent liquid, then plugged in an electronic screen and began to observe it.
As he watched, an uncontrollable smile spread across his face.
On the screen were soft, tiny cubes, like transparent crystals, wriggling continuously.
These little cubes were much larger than cells and could be observed with ease.
They gathered together, moving about without any apparent consciousness. On a macroscopic level, they looked like a living, transparent slime, constantly surging.
’These are cells?’
Mo Ling couldn’t believe it. He stared intently at the image on the electronic screen.
The small cubes had only a thin, transparent membrane enclosing a clear liquid, with no impurities inside.
’Cube-shaped cells with only a cell membrane.’ That was the only thought that came to Mo Ling’s mind.
After observing for a moment, Liang Zhi could no longer contain his joy. While recording data on the cells, he muttered to himself, "That’s it. It’s exactly as I imagined."
He switched to a modeling software and began to compare it with the cells.
The structure of the cell model in the software was identical to the cube-shaped cells he had just discovered.
Mo Ling was baffled. ’Isn’t this the first time he’s seen these cells? He couldn’t even find the egg before, so how could he have such a precise model?’
But Liang Zhi’s joy was impossible to fake. The hand holding the electronic screen trembled with excitement, and his breathing grew more rapid.
It was the completely normal reaction of a Researcher who had just confirmed his hypothesis.
But where did such an accurate hypothesis come from in the first place?