Starting as a Wallfacer, his defection to the Three-Body Problem shocked the world.

Chapter 158 Organic Matter

The nanorobots quickly brought back the first batch of sample slices.

Before officially landing on this planet, we must first ensure its safety; otherwise, sending people directly to land would be tantamount to suicide.

Unfortunately, Liu Chang had already used up all his clones, and he hadn't brought the Navigator with him for the experiments; otherwise, they wouldn't need to send people down to do the exploration work themselves.

"This thing... why does it look so familiar?"

Liu Chang adjusted the angle of the proton microscope a few more times and repeatedly observed the tissue sample he had collected.

Under his control, two nanorobots are peeling away the cell wall of this cell bit by bit.

"Does this look familiar?"

Liu Chang looked at Shi Qiang and the others beside him. They could also see the images presented by the microscope through the monitors on the ship.

Shi Qiang shook his head.

"Don't ask me, I don't know. I've forgotten most of my biology after the college entrance exam."

Zhang Beihai, who was standing to the side, seemed to be deep in thought. After pausing for a few seconds, he tentatively asked.

"These are... cells from a willow tree?"

"Hmm, it's a very old biology question, so you should be familiar with it." Liu Chang looked up, frowning slightly.

"To be honest, I don't quite understand why the willow trees on this planet grow like this."

"Its growth cycle is only a few decades, yet it can cover an entire planet, which is a very illogical phenomenon. It's like..."

"It seems like those clones were created by you, right?" Chu Yan immediately understood what Liu Chang meant.

"Yes, yes, you know what I mean. It's like this thing is an artifact from another civilization. I think it's okay for me to call it that. It wasn't formed naturally. Something deliberately made it grow into this shape and gave it certain characteristics."

As soon as Liu Chang said this, everyone immediately understood what he meant.

This is as absurd as finding a heart-shaped tissue on the ground while you're tomb raiding.

"Anything is fine, whether there's food or not."

Liu Chang suddenly thought of something.

Shi Qiang patted his pockets and finally found only a handful of sunflower seeds that he had casually grabbed in Liu Chang's Earth Lab before hibernation.

"What the hell!"

Liu Chang forced himself to refrain from cursing Shi Qiang, took the sunflower seeds the other man offered, and placed them on the slices.

"Back off."

As Liu Chang spoke, he took two steps back first, and the others followed suit.

The moment the sunflower seed came into contact with the slice, the willow tissue sample, which had previously lost its activity, suddenly began to regain its vitality!

In the blink of an eye, the sunflower seeds that were thrown down were instantly turned green, with countless cells completing a series of chemical reactions such as engulfment and absorption within a second.

And with the intake of energy, a tender branch slowly grew out, and it continued to grow at a visible speed, searching for other things around it that it could devour.

"catalyst!"

Everyone present understood everything in an instant.

This thing is definitely a catalyst-like substance or a genetically modified artificial product. How could normal plants grow so fast? It starts to grow wildly almost the instant it comes into contact with organic matter.

Fortunately, none of them touched the thing with their hands the whole time, otherwise, they probably would have lost their arms in the next second.

Moreover, its energy conversion rate is also very strange. It only swallowed a melon seed, but now it has grown so big!

how did you do that?

Some of these completely violate common biological sense.

Shi Qiang reacted the fastest. Almost the instant he saw that the thing was at risk of going out of control, he pressed the switch next to the seat and emptied the oxygen from the cabin.

Subsequently, Cheng Xing immediately had the nanobots cover the entire bodies of the four people present, forming a protective armor and oxygen supply for them.

About half an hour later, the willow buds finally died completely due to lack of oxygen.

The crisis was averted, oxygen was restored in the cabin, and the nanobots on the people slowly faded away.

"Damn, this is dangerous!"

Shi Qiang looked at the messy pile of branches in front of him and broke out in a cold sweat.

Liu Chang was equally horrified.

Although he had a general idea that this thing would grow very fast, and that it might even defy common sense about biology, he never expected it to be this exaggerated.

"It seems the civilization that created this thing is not simple." Chu Yan raised an eyebrow. If Shi Qiang hadn't reacted quickly enough, the growth of this thing would have been terrifying.

"It should be said that it is quite dangerous."

Liu Chang's brows were furrowed at this moment. As an expert in biology, he was all too aware of the vast gap between himself and his opponent in biotechnology.

"We can only guess."

"This is a plant, similar to a willow tree, but its specific biological structure is unknown. What is known so far is that it can devour the energy of organic matter and grow to have an energy conversion efficiency of over 100%. However, it is also possible that there is energy intake that we do not know about during the process of devouring, which is questionable."

"Then it should be an artifact of some intelligent civilization, most likely a carbon-based civilization, because this plant, like humans, also needs oxygen to breathe."

Liu Chang finished speaking in one breath, and this was all the information that everyone currently knew.

"Do we still need to send people down to investigate? Wouldn't that be too dangerous?"

"It is necessary, and absolutely essential!"

Liu Chang's brows relaxed, and his eyes filled with excitement as he spoke.

"This is very likely a relic left behind by a powerful civilization, but that civilization is no longer here, or rather, they never intended to be here at all."

"This is a very good research topic. Although it carries some risks, it is worth trying. Regardless of what you think, I plan to personally land on this planet and find out for myself."

"I'll go with you," Shi Qiang volunteered.

"Have you thought this through? I only have a superficial understanding of this thing myself, and as it stands, it is extremely dangerous."

"Well, it's true what they say, 'He who takes a bribe is bound to be obligated to do so.' Principal Liu, I can't just take your things for nothing, can I?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Chang couldn't help but glance at Shi Qiang again.

"Not bad, you're at least much more conscientious than that kid Lin Xuan."

……

Cheng Xing quickly used nanobots to customize two sets of powered armor for the two of them, as well as a large number of mechanical detectors, which could help them with their exploration work.

"Get the navigator into deep-sea mode. If it senses something is wrong, immediately switch to forward mode and escape. Don't worry about us."

Before leaving, Shi Qiang handed the only family photo he had to Zhang Beihai and gave him some instructions.

Everyone knew that this landing was likely to end badly.

Shi Qiang and Liu Chang may very well die on this planet forever, so it's crucial to do a good job before they leave.

Upon seeing this, Chu Yan, who was standing nearby, immediately shoved the family photo back into Shi Qiang's hands.

"Don't make any rash promises. You should keep this to yourself. I feel like something bad is bound to happen if you keep doing this."

Seeing that he couldn't persuade Chu Yan otherwise, Shi Qiang had no choice but to put the photo back in his pocket and enter the spaceship's landing module with Liu Chang.

"Principal Liu, I'm risking my life to keep you company, so don't forget what you promised me when we get back to Earth!"

"What did I promise you?"

"Grass!"