Let you be the wall-facer: you turn around and join the Three-Body Problem?

"At least they weren't killed directly by the water droplets, right? In my opinion, as long as humans are still alive, it's a good thing."

Her words left Zhang Beihai speechless.

Yes, at least it proves that they are still alive, but there is a high probability that they will be captured by the Trisolarans.

It’s a pity that he and his companions will never have the chance to fight against the Trisolarans again.

Otherwise, Zhang Beihai must find a way to avenge the Trisolarans for the blood feud in the Doomsday War.

"Speaking of which, Cheng Xing, where are we going? Why do I feel like you're going in circles?"

Zhang Beihai said as he looked at the star map on the console.

Judging from the ship's trajectory, they are not very far from the solar system, only about six or seven light years away.

But now the maximum speed of the Navigator has exceeded 50% of the speed of light. Even if we remove the acceleration and deceleration, as well as the sailing distance under normal conditions, it is impossible for it to only travel such a short distance.

"I'm trying to find a way to upgrade this ship, and only some nearby planets have the metal minerals I need," said Cheng Xing.

"In fact, if you run a little further, you may find the metals I want, but I prefer to play it safe."

Zhang Beihai still doesn't know that the ultimate destination of this battleship is to go to the Trisolarans' hometown, so he just thinks that Cheng Xing is staying here just to be prepared.

"I think you woke me up. What do you want from me?"

Zhang Beihai stomped his feet, and his military boots collided with the metal deck, making two "bang" sounds.

The hibernation period was a bit too long, which resulted in them not being able to adapt to their current bodies when they woke up.

"You are not the only one who has been awakened, Captain Zhang."

As soon as Cheng Xing finished speaking, Shi Qiang, yawning, walked over from a distance. At the same time, behind him were the captain of the Blue Space, Chu Yan, and the ship's biology expert Liu Chang.

The four of them gathered in the conference room. Although it seemed that they had not seen each other for a moment, in fact, nearly fifty years had already passed.

The doomsday war that shocked humanity happened half a century ago.

After the four people arrived, Cheng Xing's holographic projection slowly turned around and handed over the operation of the ship to the background system for calculation.

"How was your sleep, everyone?"

Shi Qiang rested his elbow on the table, wiped the boogers from his eyes with his other hand, and yawned.

"Not bad. I slept so well that I'm older than I was when I was born."

As he spoke, he casually took out from his pocket half a portion of tobacco that he had taken from Liu Chang that year, put it in his mouth, lit it and started smoking. Liu Chang, who was watching from the side, suddenly felt his veins throbbing.

"My tobacco!"

Originally, this happened almost fifty years ago, and he was about to forget about it. But Shi Qiang's action made Liu Chang, who had just woken up, instantly think of some very bad memories.

"Oh, Principal Liu, don't be so stingy. It's just tobacco leaves. When we return to Earth, we will all be great heroes. You can plant tobacco leaves all over the Earth and no one will care about you." Shi Qiang smiled and took another puff of his cigarette.

"It's great. Now that Mr. Chang is away, we can smoke freely during meetings from now on."

In the past, Shi Qiang always felt uncomfortable at any meeting when Chang Weisi was present. But now that Chang Weisi is not around, these people can't control him.

After learning that Chang Weisi was still alive, Shi Qiang couldn't help but feel relieved.

In any case, the other party was his old leader, who was willing to take him in and let him join the PDC when he was expelled from the police. Otherwise, he might have starved to death in the early stage of the great trough.

"Okay, let's get down to business."

Zhang Beihai signaled Cheng Xing to get straight to the point. He couldn't stand it any longer if the two continued to argue.

Cheng Xing nodded slightly, and then displayed an image captured by the detector on the big screen.

It is a planet, but from the pictures taken from a distance, the whole planet is green and looks full of vitality.

It was the first time for everyone to see such a strange planet. Even Liu Chang, who specialized in biology, couldn't help but stand up subconsciously.

"This is a planet that is relatively close to us that was captured by the probe. Doesn't it look strange?"

Everyone nodded.

"That's because this planet originally looked like this."

As Cheng Xing spoke, he pulled up another picture.

It was an Earth-like planet, and its overall color was white, which looked completely different from the green planet we see today.

"This was taken about 45 years ago, and when we got here, it had already become like this."

Cheng Xing pointed at the two pictures.

"It seems that something caused this planet to undergo earth-shaking changes just a few decades ago. This is very strange," Chu Yan analyzed.

"Is his wife cheating on him? How come he has become such a cuckold?" Shi Qiang came forward and took a closer look at the two comparison pictures.

"Ah, it's moldy."

Everyone was immediately attracted by Shi Qiang's words, and they all came forward to carefully observe the photo taken later.

Only then did everyone realize that on that green planet, they could see small black dots one after another, which made it look like it was moldy.

Liu Chang recognized what it was at a glance.

"Volcanic rock."

"It's so strange. There seem to be many active volcanoes on this planet, so how come there is such lush green vegetation?"

This contrast is very strange. How should I put it? It's like there is a pool of water in a piece of magma.

According to natural conditions, these two completely contradictory phenomena are impossible to occur. Even if there is a big difference between the biological communities of this planet and the Earth, you shouldn't plant trees on an active volcano, right?

That leaves only one other explanation.

These green things don't belong to this planet at all. They are products brought by alien species.

Before encountering the Trisolarans, people did not quite believe in the possibility of aliens. However, after experiencing the two hundred years of the Crisis Era, everyone has long been convinced that there are various alien civilizations in the universe.

"This is why I woke you up." Cheng Xing said.

"We are running low on fuel. I originally planned to collect minerals and fuel on this planet. After all, we are still some distance away from the next planet where we can refuel. If we drive slower, we can still get there, but the speed will definitely be reduced."

Everyone immediately understood what the other party meant.

"You want us to go down and investigate the situation, right?"

Cheng Xing nodded slightly.

"After all, this planet is very special. It is very likely a planet visited by alien visitors. I just think these things may have great research value, so I woke you up and asked if you want to study them."

"But I have to remind you in advance that everything is unknown after you go down there, and there may be some dangers. If you don't plan to go, I will handle it according to the default method set by Lin Xuan."

"Default? What?"

Chu Yan was a little curious. After all, the environment of the planets was changeable and complex. If the same method was used to deal with different planets, it might not be completely applicable.

As a result, Cheng Xing's next sentence made everyone present dumbfounded.

"The default procedure Lin Xuan gave me is that when we encounter an unidentified planet, we need to use the Navigator's main gun to [purify] the planet and the creatures on it."

"Grass!"

Shi Qiang couldn't help but curse out loud.

Although this program is a bit outrageous, when I think about the fact that it was set up by Lin Xuan, everything seems to make more sense.

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 that it is dangerous, otherwise allowing people to land directly would be tantamount to seeking death.

It’s a pity that Liu Chang’s clones had been used up long ago, and the experimental equipment was not brought aboard the Navigator, otherwise they wouldn’t have to send people down to do the exploration work now.

"Why does this thing...look so familiar?"

Liu Chang adjusted the angle of the proton microscope a few degrees and repeatedly observed the collected tissue sample.

Under his control, two nanorobots are peeling off the cell wall bit by bit.

"Does this thing look familiar to you?"

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

Shi Qiang shook his head.

"Don't ask me, I don't know. I almost forgot all my biology after the college entrance examination."

Zhang Beihai on the side seemed to be thinking about something. After pausing for a few seconds, he asked tentatively.

"Is this... Willow's cells?"

"Well, it's a very old biology question, so you should be familiar with it." Liu Chang raised his head and frowned slightly.

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

"Its growth period is only a few decades, but it can cover the entire planet. This is a very unreasonable 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. This thing is a bit like a man-made product of another civilization... It should be okay for me to call it that. It was not formed naturally, but something deliberately made it grow like this, giving it certain characteristics."

After Liu Chang said this, everyone immediately understood what he meant.

This is as outrageous as if you were robbing a tomb and found a piece of tissue paper with a heart printed on it on it on the ground.

"Anything is fine, if there's anything to eat."

Liu Chang suddenly thought of something.

Shi Qiang felt his pocket and finally found only a handful of melon seeds that he had casually put in his pocket in Liu Chang's Earth laboratory before hibernation.

"What the hell!"

Liu Chang resisted the urge to curse Shi Qiang, took the melon seeds handed to him, and placed them on the slices.

"Back off."

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

The moment the melon seeds came into contact with the slices, the willow tissue sample that had originally lost its activity suddenly began to regain its vitality!

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

And along with the intake of energy, a young branch slowly grew out, and it was still growing at a speed visible to the naked eye, searching for other things around it that could be devoured.

"catalyst!"

Everyone present understood everything in an instant.

This thing is definitely something like a catalyst or a man-made product after genetic modification. How could a normal plant grow so fast? It starts to grow wildly almost the moment it comes into contact with organic matter.

Fortunately, none of us touched this thing with our hands the whole time, otherwise, my entire arm would be gone in the next second.

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

how did you do that?

Some of them completely violate biological common sense.

Shi Qiang reacted the fastest. The moment he saw that the thing was in danger of getting out of control, he pressed the switch next to it and drained all the oxygen in the cabin.

Afterwards, Cheng Xing immediately had the nanorobots cover the bodies of the four people present, forming a layer of protective armor to provide them with oxygen.

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

The crisis was resolved, oxygen was restored in the cabin, and the nanorobots on the bodies of several people slowly faded away.

"Mom, this is dangerous!"

Shi Qiang looked at the pile of messy branches in front of him and couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

Liu Chang also had a look of shock on his face.

Although he roughly guessed that the growth rate of this thing would be very fast and might violate common biological knowledge, he did not expect it to be exaggerated to this extent.

"It seems that the civilization that created this thing is not simple." Chu Yan raised his eyebrows. If Shi Qiang had not reacted quickly enough, the growth of this thing would have become extremely 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 knew too well how big the gap was between him and the other party in biotechnology.

"We can only guess."