Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

The atmosphere in the laboratory suddenly became heavy.

The joy of the successful experiment vanished at that moment.

He Bilin, in particular, has even begun to investigate the possibility of various detectors malfunctioning.

But clearly, all his efforts were in vain.

After confirming that all the data was correct, He Bilin exhaled a long breath.

He scratched his head anxiously: "How could there be such a big discrepancy..."

"Professor, do you think it's possible that black holes have some mechanism that we don't yet understand?"

"Is this mechanism what influences our observations and calculations?"

He Bilin's words were met with agreement from several academicians of the Astronomical Academy.

Not only that, even Mao Zhengzhi nodded in agreement, saying, "That's possible!"

"Human understanding of black holes is still very limited. Perhaps this opportunity will allow us to discover something!"

Upon hearing this, a faint hint of excitement immediately appeared in He Bilin's eyes.

New discoveries involving black holes...

Without a doubt, this is a major discovery!

Thinking of the scene where he would "go down in history", He Bilin's breathing became a little rapid!

"There's no need to overcomplicate things."

Lu Yongchang's voice was like a bucket of cold water poured over He Bilin and the others: "If it is not necessary, do not increase the number of entities."

"Try to think in a simple and effective direction. Otherwise, wasting energy is a minor problem, but going in the wrong direction for research is a major problem."

"But... Professor, if it's not because of the black hole, how could the calculation data have such a large deviation? It's more than ten times the difference!" He Bilin tried to refute Lü Yongchang's idea.

After a moment of silence, Lü Yongchang responded softly.

"What if this star is a shining star?"

……

These words, like the rising sun at dawn, instantly shattered the dark fog in everyone's minds!

"Shining Star, Shining Star..."

He Bilin stood there, stunned, repeating those two words softly to himself.

Gradually, his eyes brightened: "Yes, there's still the possibility of Shining Star!"

"I remember, Rose was a shining star back then!"

With a nostalgic smile on his face, Lü Yongchang nodded gently: "Yes, that shining star caused us quite a bit of panic back then."

"If it's a shining star, then everything makes sense."

"The patterns of a star's bursts are almost unpredictable; it may burst forth with extremely powerful radiation in a very short time, or it may dim to the point of oblivion in a very short time."

"Thanks to this, the giant trees possess an extremely strong ability to adapt."

"They can survive under various radiation intensities."

"We can even simulate the growth process of the giant tree on this lost planet."

Lu Yongchang exclaimed in amazement, "When the brilliance occurred, the radiation intensity increased rapidly, and these giant trees began to expand quickly."

"When the brilliance fades and the radiation intensity decreases, they enter a dormant state..."

"No, it's not hibernation," Mao Zhengzhi interrupted Lü Yongchang.

"After the detector was equipped with radiation imaging capabilities, we captured video footage of the giant tree hunting."

As he spoke, Mao Zhengzhi opened a holographic image.

The projected image was a faint fluorescent green.

The atmosphere, giant trees, giant insects, soil... almost everything on the surface of the Lost Star contains more or less radiation.

The radiation imaging function operates based on this principle.

The shades of color vary depending on the intensity of the radiation.

By using the different shades of fluorescent green, Lü Yongchang can easily distinguish the appearance of giant trees and giant insects.

The time marker in the upper right corner of the screen made him realize that the scene before him was taking place during the daytime on the Lost Star.

"It's a cloudy day."

Mao Zhengzhi's voice came from the side, explaining, "The radiation level in the atmosphere has decreased significantly compared to the past."

"Perhaps because it was too hungry, a giant insect chose to leave the treetop and head to the ground."

As Mao Zhengzhi explained, the nearly dark green centipede-like giant insect slowly left the tree canopy and crawled down the light green trunk.

At the base of the light green tree trunk, there were disc-shaped dark green objects.

"These are..." A look of realization dawned on Lü Yongchang's eyes, "The trapping organs of the giant tree?"

"That's right, the test results also show that these mushroom-like organs contain large doses of radioactive material," Mao Zhengzhi nodded in agreement. "They are extremely attractive to giant insects."

In the video, after hesitating for a moment, the giant insect quickly crawled toward the "bait" and began to devour it without restraint.

The next second, the light green tree roots buried underground rose high and dragged the giant insect directly into the ground.

The recording has ended.

"Based on all the data available, we can easily draw a conclusion."

Mao Zhengzhi said with a solemn expression, "These giant insects are indeed, as we guessed, a species kept in captivity by the giant trees."

"Based on the theory of Radiant Stars, the giant trees are feeding these giant insects while they are greatly expanding their growth area during bountiful years, which is when Radiant Stars appear."

"And when the bright light fades in the year, the giant tree will begin to hunt down these giant insects."

"Of course, this is not absolute; hunting will still occur during bumper harvests, but the frequency is not high."

"Just like now, due to the weather, the giant tree chose to hunt down the giant insects to replenish its nutrients."

"Judging from these behaviors alone, the giant tree's intelligence should not be underestimated."

Lu Yongchang nodded thoughtfully and turned to look at the seedling in the biology lab.

"Let's start the decoding experiment once it grows a bit bigger."

"Zero, have Meng Lu come over and tell her we have work!"

As soon as the words were spoken, an electronic synthesized voice immediately sounded.

"receive!"

"Notifying Academician Meng Lu..."

P.S.: Happy New Year to all my readers!

After so much buildup, the truth about the Lost Star has finally been revealed.

An extra chapter for the New Year!

Current progress of bonus chapters (1/10), bonus chapters will be added irregularly!