Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

Lu Yongchang subconsciously took two steps back, staring in horror at the abandoned giant tree behind the transparent aluminum curtain wall.

"Do you know how dangerous this is!"

He whirled around, grabbed Mao Zhengzhi's sleeve, and hissed in a low voice, "That's an intelligent being!"

"A life form with advanced intelligence!"

"To allow something to live on our flagship without knowing its true nature—do you know how much danger that entails?!"

"Professor..." Meng Lu, who was standing to the side, was startled by Lü Yongchang's reaction, but she still spoke up to explain for Mao Zhengzhi, "Yes, it was I who asked Academician Mao to do it this way."

"This has been a great help to my decryption work..."

"This will not happen again!" Lu Yongchang softened his tone slightly. "Academician Meng, you should not be aware of the crisis the fleet encountered last time. This is not your fault."

"Remember, weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival; arrogance is!"

"Professor," Mao Zhengzhi explained, "I've considered all of these points."

He pointed to the transparent aluminum curtain wall and said in a low voice, "Three shipborne laser cannons are installed inside the biological laboratory."

"If it makes any unusual move, Zero will immediately use the laser cannon to destroy it."

"Furthermore, the entire laboratory adopts a modular design. In the event of an uncontrollable situation, it will directly detach from the Earth and be bombarded by the pre-set antimatter cannons."

"In addition, to prevent information leaks, all instruments sent to the biological laboratory are encrypted."

"Not only that, even the probes sent to the lost planet were encrypted and equipped with self-destruct mechanisms."

Hearing these words, the shock and anger in Lü Yongchang's eyes gradually dissipated. He took a deep breath and apologized softly, "I'm sorry, I was too agitated just now."

"We don't know the extent of its intelligence and technological capabilities. What if this is a disguise, like the [painting] back then..."

"I understand," Mao Zhengzhi interrupted Lü Yongchang with a smile. "That's why I took all sorts of security measures."

Lu Yongchang turned his head to look at the transparent aluminum curtain wall to the side, a deep sense of apprehension in his eyes.

In such a short time, it has learned how to coexist harmoniously with human civilization. Moreover, even without the connection of roots, even if it grows in an environment isolated from the outside world, it can still maintain a certain connection with its mother plant...

At this moment, in Lü Yongchang's mind, no matter how docile these giant trees appeared, they were all classified as dangerous creatures!

After a moment of silence, he slowly turned his head to look at Meng Lu.

"The decryption is successful. Shall we try to communicate with it now?"

Perhaps because she hadn't recovered from the conflict, Meng Lu subconsciously turned to look at Mao Zhengzhi beside her.

Seeing Meng Lu's pleading look, Mao Zhengzhi smiled wryly, touched his nose, and said.

"Yes."

"There is some connection between the two, but this is still just speculation."

"We want to take this opportunity to verify whether we can communicate remotely with the giant tree on the Lost Star through this small tree."

……

Inside the biological laboratory, research robots carefully insert electrodes and probes into the slowly twisting tree roots.

Because similar operations had been performed extensively in the past, these tree roots did not show much reaction to this.

"Academician Mo, let's begin."

After checking it again, Mao Zhengzhi turned to Mo Zeyang beside him and said, "Prepare to start transmitting information."

Mo Zeyang nodded solemnly, and then carefully turned on one of the sophisticated instruments after another.

"Academician Meng."

He greeted him softly.

Meng Lu responded and quickly walked to her assigned spot to begin checking the already compiled translation program again.

Lu Yongchang frowned slightly as he carefully examined the holographic projection in front of Meng Lu.

"Bioelectric signal?" he murmured softly.

"Yes!" Mao Zhengzhi explained softly after finishing his work, "Professor, at first, we didn't find any patterns in the bioelectric signals."

"On the contrary, a relatively strong pattern was found in the quantum signal generated by the giant tree."

"This also creates a problem."

"We can use instruments to intercept these quantum signals, but we lack the means to interfere with them."

Lü Yongchang nodded thoughtfully: "That was indeed a difficult problem. How did you solve it?"

"We're lucky," Mao Zhengzhi said with a smile. "As the giant tree matures, its bioelectrical signals gradually become more ordered."

"Of course, the specific reasons for this phenomenon are not yet clear."

"However, thanks to this, we have successfully found the correspondence between bioelectric signals and quantum signals."

"This communication device is based on this principle."

"By interfering with the quantum signals generated in a certain root system of the giant tree through bio-electric current, we can achieve communication with the giant tree."

After a moment of silence, Lü Yongchang slowly spoke.

"Do you think this resembles a human learning process?"

Mao Zhengzhi was slightly startled, but he quickly understood what Lü Yongchang meant: "You mean..."

"The quantum signal we discovered didn't originate from this sapling?"

"Or perhaps it came from that giant tree on the forgotten planet?"

"What do you think?" Lü Yongchang turned his gaze back to the transparent aluminum curtain wall, staring at the rough tree trunk, and said in a low voice, "Do you think it's possible for it to immediately master a mature language system if it grows alone in a closed environment?"

"If that's the case, then the potential of this race is immeasurable!"

Mao Zhengzhi's expression changed slightly, and he nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, you're right..."

"Bioelectric signals are generated spontaneously by the seedling. Because it is newly born and has not yet mastered the corresponding skills, it appears extremely chaotic."

"The quantum signal, on the other hand, comes from the giant tree; a complete language system naturally follows certain rules..."

Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he frowned, clicked his tongue softly, and said, "No, that's not right!"

"Based on our speculation, these 100-meter-tall saplings are probably not individual trees; they are just branches of the giant tree."

"But now..."

Lu Yongchang glanced at Mao Zhengzhi: "You're getting stuck on a rut."

"What if this sapling grows into a giant tree tens of thousands of meters tall after separating from its mother tree?"

"What if...they all possess individual consciousness?"

"Including what I just said, these are all unverified guesses, and no one can say for sure."

"Everything depends on the results of the next experiment."