Start with a photographic memory and build a memory palace

Chapter 299 Nanoscale Diamond Clusters

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"witchcraft!"

Wu Wen thought of the Jiuli remnant he had met in the Kingdom of Duoluobodi years ago, whose witchcraft involved controlling pollen spores.

We walked into the thick fog and entered the mountains.

Apart from the spores mixed in with the pervasive fog, Wu Wen has not yet found anything else unusual.

Continue to delve deeper.

When they reached the halfway point of the mountain, Wu Wen finally noticed something unusual again.

"The magnetic field is disordered!"

The area is already shrouded in thick fog with extremely low visibility. If the magnetic field is disturbed on top of that, people can easily lose their way, just like being lost in a maze.

Wu Wen continued to delve deeper.

Sure enough, they hadn't gone far when they saw several figures slowly wandering in the mist ahead.

"He Li!"

Wu Wen recognized one of them as the commander of the elite Turkic cavalry escort who had accompanied him to Gaochang back then.

Wu Wen stepped forward.

Upon seeing Wu Wen, He Li and the three men beside him, despite being extremely exhausted and weak, immediately tensed up, quickly drew their curved knives from their waists, and cautiously faced Wu Wen.

"He Li, what's wrong? Don't you recognize me?" Wu Wenping said calmly.

However, upon hearing Wu Wen's words, He Li and the other three men raised their weapons and slashed at Wu Wen without saying a word, as if they had a deep-seated hatred between them.

"Humph!"

Wu Wen snorted coldly, and instantly, arcs of electricity crackled around his body, shooting out four bolts of electricity that struck the four people.

After being electrocuted, He Li and the others convulsed all over. At the same time, the spores parasitizing their bodies also lost their vitality under the stimulation of the current.

A moment later, Wu Wen arrived in front of the four people who had fallen to the ground.

"Are you awake yet?" Wu Wen asked He Li.

He Li nodded, and his previously empty eyes finally regained some light.

"Lord...!"

"It really is you! What brings you here?"

Wu Wen did not answer He Li's question, but instead asked in return, "You do not need to know why I am here."

Tell me first, what happened here? What happened to you all?

He Li slowly recounted to Wu Wen: "A few days ago, I obeyed the Khan's order and led people here to investigate the situation here."

Unexpectedly, once they entered the mountain, they lost their way and could no longer find their way out.

I wasn't panicked at the time. After all, the mountain wasn't that big, and I figured I could get out eventually if I could find a way.

But little did they expect that a monster was hiding in the thick fog of the mountains.

I've never even seen what it looks like, but it always manages to silently devour the people I bring.

To deal with this monster, I ordered everyone to form pairs and defend each other from both sides.

Unexpectedly, this monster could transform into anyone's appearance. Just like that, the people I brought were devoured by it, leaving only four of us, including myself.

These past few days, we haven't dared to rest for a moment. When we're thirsty, we drink dew; when we're hungry, we eat grass roots and tree bark to stave off hunger.

As he spoke, a bitter expression appeared on He Li's face:
"Although we haven't given the monster another chance, at this rate, we won't be able to hold on for more than a day."

Looking at Wu Wen in front of him, He Li's eyes revealed a glimmer of hope.

"I never expected to run into you here, my lord! Please, my lord, save me from this hellhole!"

"Not urgent!"

Wu Wen replied, "I'm here to solve this problem. Follow me, and I want to see what this monster you're talking about really is!"

As he spoke, Wu Wen reached out and pulled He Li, who had fallen to the ground, up.

The numbing effect created by the electric current has gradually disappeared.

He Li steadied himself and then helped the other three people up as well.

Wu Wen observed his surroundings for a while, then continued to walk deeper into the area.

He Li originally wanted to dissuade Wu Wen, but seeing him walking forward fearlessly without looking back at him, he swallowed the words in his throat.

The four of them staggered and followed closely behind Wu Wen.

Not far from where he walked, just as Wu Wen passed a rather thick tree, he suddenly kicked out without warning.

Immediately, the tree fell to the ground.

However, at the point of breakage, what is shown is not the trace of broken wood fibers, but rather like a piece of cloth being torn, with the two broken sections still connected by dense fine threads.

Upon seeing this, He Li quickly stepped forward to check: "This is... the tree is about to become a spirit!"

"What kind of tree is about to become a spirit?!"

Wu Wen said calmly, "This is not a tree at all, but a mycelium mimicking it."

He took a few steps forward and saw another plant that resembled a mycelium.

Ordinary fungal strains can only turn their mycelium into mushrooms; they cannot mimic the environment or imitate things in it.

This situation means that the fungus has developed sentience!
To verify his hypothesis, Wu Wen followed the distribution of mycelium on the ground and eventually arrived at a crack in the mountain.

"Wait for me here!" Wu Wen instructed He Li and the others.

Upon hearing this, He Li nervously replied, "My lord, let us follow behind you. Although it may be dangerous inside, I still feel it's safer to follow you than to wait here."

"Okay, then you can come in with me."

Without saying any more nonsense, Wu Wen went straight into the mountain crevice.

As they ventured deeper, it was as if they had entered a spider's cave, with mycelium covering the rock walls like a spider web, layer upon layer.

Just then, the group saw a person bound in a large clump of mycelium, hanging from the rock wall.

"Lechuan!"

He Li recognized the man as one of his men who had come with him.

He rushed forward to check, cut open the mycelium with his knife, and discovered that his subordinate was still alive.

He quickly removed the mycelium from Le Chuan's body and was surprised to find that the mycelium had grown into his ears, nostrils, and even his mouth.

When it was pulled out, a large strand came out, giving the impression that the mycelium had penetrated deep into his body. Wu Wen stepped forward to examine it, his expression turning serious.

It seems this strain of bacteria has truly become sentient!

Under his investigation, these hyphae can penetrate the blood-brain barrier by secreting a nerve growth factor.

Its hyphal network forms a pseudo-synaptic connection with the synapses of human neurons, much like the hard-wired interface between a computer and a biological brain.

Mycelial networks possess distributed computing characteristics, and their mycelial cord structure can store memory fragments.

The pheromones in mycelium can induce the brain to release specific brain waves.

When synchronized with the electrical coupling frequency of information transmitted within the hyphae.

The two can then achieve a fusion of consciousness.

—

One person was saved.

Wu Wen did not stop and continued to walk deeper inside.

In the winding, narrow crevice, they encountered seven or eight more people, all in the same situation as Nalechuan, tightly wrapped and parasitized by mycelium, hanging on the rock wall.

There were simply too many people to take them all with them at the same time.

So, after rescuing them, they put them on the ground for the time being, planning to find a way to take them out one by one when they came out.

Reach the end of the crevice passage.

Wu Wen and his group found themselves inside a huge hollow in the mountain.

This enormous hollow space in the mountain is filled with various kinds of vegetation, just like a small oasis.

However, Wu Wen's careful investigation revealed that these were actually mimicked by mycelium.

Furthermore, many of these plants were parasitic on the bodies of numerous Turkic people, growing in a mimicry manner.

There were several thousand of these Turks, presumably all the Turks who had entered the mountains and then suddenly disappeared without a trace, gathered here.

"My lord... what should we do now!"

Seeing this shocking scene, He Li's hands and feet trembled slightly, and he nervously asked Wu Wen for his opinion.

"You guys wait here, I'll go check!"

After Wu Wen finished speaking, he walked alone into this "little oasis".

As he ventured deeper, the mimicry plants behind him began to undergo subtle changes.

Wu Wen noticed something, but ignored it and walked straight towards the center.

His unbridled behavior seemed to have angered this small oasis.

Suddenly, the oasis became violent, the branches and vines lashed at him fiercely, and even the grass at his feet slashed at Wu Wen with its serrated edges.

Zhila...zila...

With a hissing sound, bright electric light flashed around Wu Wen's body. High-voltage arcs connected to form a dense protective net, like a barrier, isolating any form of attack.

Nothing could stop him.

Soon, Wu Wen arrived at the very center.

There is a rock about half a person's height here, with a pitted and uneven surface, looking just like an ordinary piece of ore.

Wu Wen stretched out his palm and placed it on the stone.

A moment later, a look of surprise instantly appeared on his face.

"Nanoscale diamond clusters!"

"It's such a treasure!"

Wu Wen thought that anything that could cause a wild fungus to mutate must be extraordinary.

But he never expected that this thing was actually a nanoscale diamond cluster.

This stuff can't be produced on Earth, just like gold.

Nanoscale diamond clusters are formed when cosmic rays bombard carbon-based materials in space, inducing their formation.

As the saying goes,
The upper limit of technology is determined by theory.

However, the lower limit is limited by the materials.

Wu Wen has researched a lot of things, but because he lacks suitable materials, he is unable to demonstrate them.

Moreover, without materials, his various theories could not be put into practice.

Practice is the only criterion for testing truth!

Without practice, its correctness cannot be verified.

For nanomaterials.

Although Wu Wen has now mastered some manufacturing methods, such as biosynthesis.

However, the output is so low that the time required is measured in years.

The large cluster of nano-sized diamonds in front of him was enough to last him a very long time.

Furthermore, the unique crystal structure of nanoscale diamond clusters, in addition to its exceptionally high hardness and thermal conductivity, also contributes to its unique properties.

What makes Wu Wen most happy is that it also possesses quantum properties.

When nanoscale diamond clusters are formed, the carbon atoms rearrange due to bombardment by high-energy particles, resulting in nanodiamonds with special defect structures.

It is precisely these defects, especially vacancies and dislocations, that give it the quantum properties of a "solid-state quantum bit".

A vacancy is a single carbon atom missing from the crystal structure of a nanoscale diamond cluster, like an empty seat.

A dislocation is when the arrangement of atoms is like a line that has been pushed out of place, creating a "crooked line".

A qubit is the basic unit of quantum computing, similar to "0" and "1" in a computer.

However, a quantum bit can also be a superposition of "0" and "1" at the same time.

When a defect called a "vacancy" occurs in the crystal structure of a nanoscale diamond cluster.

The electrons inside are like tiny magnets, able to point "up" or "down", or even both simultaneously, existing in a superposition state.

This is the quantum property of nanoscale diamond clusters having solidified qubits.

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(End of this chapter)