Chapter 438: Another Form of Indigenous Organisms_1

In the 35th year of the Shelter Era, October, the basic outpost was completed.

The materials and tools for constructing the simple base were all carried by civilian ships, so several rudimentary work areas were established without any foundational industries.

Mining equipment was also transported by robots to the designated locations.

With the commencement of the mining operations, humanity's first foray into pioneering work on another planetary system officially began!

A few days later, as the first emissions were released into the atmosphere of Blue Maiden Star, the metallurgical plant also announced the start of its operations.

Although the primary energy source for metallurgy was the surplus nuclear power from the civilian ships, some waste gases were still generated during the smelting process.

In the Solar System, industries producing waste gases were constructed in space. When Earth initiated the Wandering Earth project at its inception, its surface was already devoid of any polluting enterprises.

The "Water Replenishment Plan" only brought a large number of industries back to Earth, although the pollution from modern industries was very minimal.

But on Blue Maiden Star, such concerns were disregarded. In a life-or-death situation, development had to come first.

After the completion of the shaping factory and the 3D printing factory, the manufacture of robots began immediately.

And the robots produced were immediately put into industrial production, causing the industrial system of Blue Maiden Star to grow exponentially.

By January of the 36th Shelter Era year, the base already had the capability to produce high-end industrial products.

Jiang Yu first produced a large number of surveillance satellites and J195s, conducting a thorough search of Blue Maiden Star and achieving global signal coverage without delay.

The existence of "Xiao Hei Wu" was something Jiang Yu could not tolerate; he did not allow the presence of detectors from other civilizations in humanity's colonies.

Under the search of dozens of surveillance satellites, expectations were met, and soon, two "Xiao Hei Wu" were discovered.

Then, the J195s that had been on standby in the atmosphere immediately swooped down and gave the "Xiao Hei Wu" a good beating.

Now that global signal coverage had been achieved, the J195s no longer needed human soldiers to pilot them, as they could be remotely controlled by Galaxy III.

This way, the J195s could remain on standby in the atmosphere for extended periods.

Thanks to Jiang Shiliu, humanity's intelligent individual combat robots could completely subdue the "Xiao Hei Wu" with ground friction.

It was unclear whether that was the extent of the "Xiao Hei Wu" or if they had chosen to lie dormant; in any case, no new "Xiao Hei Wu" were discovered in the following week.

However, Jiang Yu was still a bit uneasy, so he made the monitoring of Blue Maiden Star and deployment of J195s routine, ready to strike immediately upon the discovery of new "Xiao Hei Wu".

In the same month, Cao Yang's combat staff member, Betrand, led twenty civilian ships to rescue those who had escaped in lifeboats during the previous battles.

Jiang Yu ordered them to prioritize the rescue of surviving officers and soldiers because Blue Maiden Star was about to have the ability to produce warships, yet he lacked enough soldiers.

Modern warship officers and soldiers require at least three years of specialized training, and currently, there was neither the energy nor the time to train new soldiers.

Watching the factories produce tirelessly day and night, everyone felt a weight lift from their chests.

Give them another year, and even if the enemy turned back, they would not be afraid.

This was the confidence given to people by humanity's powerful productive forces!

...

Lu Mingyang struggled to walk a few steps on the muddy blue soil, then inserted the white alloy steel stake into the designated spot.

The two robots following him quickly drove half of the steel stake into the soil.

Unbeknownst to them, summer had already arrived on Blue Maiden Star, and the rate of ice and snow melting was much faster than anticipated.

Base Island revealed its true face, with its blue soil making it seem as though one were in a dream. This was significantly different from the soil composition on Earth and nearly impossible for planting Earth's vegetation.

However, after analyzing the blue soil, Xing Yuanbin believed that it could be terraformed.

As the permafrost thawed, the experiment of soil transformation proved highly successful, and there is hope that, in the future, ornamental plants from Earth could be cultivated here.

Lu Mingyang withdrew his gaze and continued to trudge through the muddy terrain.

He was currently conducting a field survey of the foundations for the construction of a residential area. Due to a shortage of robotic labor, many people had been assigned to participate in the construction work.

The arrival of summer had melted a large amount of ice and snow into the water, turning Base Island into a marshy island.

Lu Mingyang wiped the blue stains off his space helmet, looking somewhat desperate at the muddy road ahead of him.

If it weren't for the steel stakes hanging all over the robots' backs, he would have wanted the robots to carry him forward.

"What is that?" Wei Wei, who was beside him, suddenly asked as he looked toward the barren coastline.

Following Wei Wei's gaze, Lu Mingyang saw a huge yellow octopus-like creature slowly emerging from the water onto the shore.

"It must be some kind of animal from the Blue Maiden Star," Lu Mingyang guessed.

The others who started off curious, soon lost their interest to the high skies after watching for a while.

Because there were just too many of those "yellow octopuses," the nearby sea had turned yellow.

It was unclear who started to flee first, but in any case, Lu Mingyang also began to run back. Humanity always felt inexplicably timid in the face of the unknown.

The robots, having received no new orders, remained in place, carefully observing the fleeing humans, appearing not to understand why the people were running away.

In the mud, Lu Mingyang himself did not know how many times he stumbled; his spacesuit was now completely covered in blue mud.

He had calmed down a bit by now and looked back to find that the actions of those "yellow octopuses" were very slow; they had not even completed their landing.

Lu Mingyang stood still for a moment, then suddenly started walking back.

Wei Wei hysterically shouted through the communicator, "Are you crazy? Run!"

Lu Mingyang replied, "No, no, no, they don't seem to be aggressive."

He walked back for a few minutes before he could clearly make out the appearance of these "yellow octopuses."

They resembled a giant root system, consisting of a massive main trunk and many complex, various-sized "lateral roots."

These "lateral roots," like the tentacles of an octopus, seized the ground to move forward gradually.

The "yellow octopus" crawled and wriggled on the blue soil for a while before it suddenly stopped, and its tentacles slowly extended into the soft soil.

Then its main trunk suddenly split open, and a large green sphere emerged from it.

The big sphere slowly unfolded until it stretched into a vast green film.

Lu Mingyang watched the entire process, dumbfounded, "Damn, they're performing photosynthesis!"

…

Lu Mingyang recognized that these "yellow octopuses" were the same Root Tentacle Beasts that Cao Yang had observed earlier.

After careful observation by Xing Yuanbin, and communication with biologists from the Solar System, it was now almost certain:

It turns out that Root Tentacle Beasts are a hybrid species, half-plant and half-animal, which includes the Tadpole Beasts and most species on the Blue Maiden Star are in this state.

When Bo Xiangdong created the Orange Leaf Assassin, many people thought he had opened a Pandora's Box of life's taboos.

The biology on the Blue Maiden Star proves that animal genes and plant genes can also collaborate.

These species had such characteristics because the winters on the Blue Maiden Star were too long, and the permafrost was too thick, forcing species like the Root Tentacle Beast to evolve the feature to burrow into the water to avoid the cold.

And when summer comes, the Root Tentacle Beasts would return to land to perform photosynthesis and store energy, preparing for the coming winter.