Chapter 439: The Struggle Between Animals and Plants_1

For the early ten probes, a planetary system was too vast, with many places to explore. Until now, they had not captured images of the leaves hidden deep within the Root Tentacle Beasts emerging. It had always been assumed that the Root Tentacle Beasts were in a symbiotic relationship with some kind of plant.

Now that they knew the Root Tentacle Beasts were a combination of animal and plant, the biologists of the Solar System were also very shocked.

The characteristics of the Root Tentacle Beast were also common features of plants that could survive on Blue Maiden Star.

Xing Yuanbin speculated that millions or even tens of millions of years ago, the plants on Blue Maiden Star might have been as flourishing as those on Earth.

However, with the influence of massive gravitational sources on the Qingnv Star System, the winter on Blue Maiden Star grew increasingly longer, leading to the extinction of most plants, leaving only those with mobility like the ones present now.

Of course, this was predicated on the slow increase in winter duration, allowing life sufficient time to evolve.

Only a few species like the Mucus Beast belonged to the animal kingdom.

This posed a huge mystery for the next evolutionary step of Blue Maiden Star: Would plants or animals become the future rulers of Blue Maiden Star?

Generally speaking, because of their sufficient mobility, animals were the most likely to evolve into intelligent life.

However, the number of animal species on Blue Maiden Star was too few, and they were not at the top of the food chain.

While it was unlikely for plants to evolve intelligence, the plants on Blue Maiden Star were an exception since they had evolved mobility.

Therefore, the future rulers of Blue Maiden Star could very well be evolved from plants.

According to the theory of evolution, every planet with complex life forms was likely to evolve a species that would dominate the entire planet.

Other life forms would only be dominated and slaughtered by the planet's rulers, such as humanity on Earth.

The unique environment of Blue Maiden Star might make this process exceedingly long, and it was very possible that intelligent plants would never evolve.

It was also possible that Blue Maiden Star might fall into a star like a comet before it developed intelligent life.

But that was all far in the future, no need to worry about it now.

What Jiang Yu and the others needed to worry about now was how to deal with the Root Tentacle Beasts that were massively landing on Base Island.

Although their movements were slow, satellite surveillance showed that the seas near Base Island had turned yellow. If they all came onto land, there would probably be no space left on the entire Base Island.

According to data provided by the early probes, every summer, all islands would be occupied by Blue Maiden Star's native flora and fauna, which would have a massive impact on the development of the base.

The attendees had differing views on this issue. Some believed that military action should be taken immediately to eliminate all the Root Tentacle Beasts that had landed on Base Island, as well as those that had not.

After all, no one had the time to care about the life and death of others, and securing enough living space for the Pioneering Fleet was the top priority.

The majority, however, believed that the Root Tentacle Beasts and other native life forms of Blue Maiden Star embodied the diversity and greatness of life. Being carbon-based organisms themselves, humanity should show them adequate respect.

They should not compete for their living space and should instead cede most of Base Island to the native species, for after all, humans were guests on this planet.

Jiang Yu had not expected that the majority's opinions would so greatly differ from his own.

Moreover, the meeting attendees' thoughts clearly reflected the sentiments of most of the people in the Pioneering Fleet.

Seeing the unprecedentedly fierce debate in the meeting room, Jiang Yu realized that this matter needed to be handled with care. Otherwise, it could easily lead to widespread dissatisfaction and potentially destabilizing incidents.

In a colony planet so far from the Solar System and with only a handful of soldiers, Jiang Yu was acutely aware of the fragility of his rule.

It was the people's trust in him over a long time and the crisis of survival that had united everyone around him, working tirelessly and without compensation under challenging conditions.

However, this doesn't mean that with the high-status of a Wallfacer, one can disregard everyone's will without limits.

The people trust Jiang Yu, and Jiang Yu gives the people hope; this forms a positive cycle.

Once this virtuous cycle is broken, Jiang Yu's identity as a Wallfacer might not be as effective.

After hastily concluding the meeting, Jiang Yu then had private conversations with quite a few individuals, including senior government officials like Hao Ying and military leaders like Cao Yang.

And even more so with ordinary workers and soldiers.

Through these talks, Jiang Yu quickly identified key aspects of the problem:

First, this was humanity's first time handling the biological issues of a colonial star system, there were no precedents or guiding principles, so everyone was somewhat confused at heart.

The more so at this time, the more everyone would believe that their own views were the result of their own judgments, possessing sufficient righteousness and correctness.

Second, when facing life forms like the Trisolarans that were stronger than humanity, or the Silicon Star People who were roughly on par with humans, humanity would unleash immense potential, with the determination to fight the adversaries to the end.

Yet, when faced with creatures like the Root Tentacle Beast, beings who lagged far behind humanity and nearly had no chance of catching up, humans would develop feelings of compassion and the like.

After much contemplation, Jiang Yu decided to connect with the upper echelons in the Solar System and the renowned scholars from the biological field, while simultaneously livestreaming the meeting regarding the treatment of the indigenous life forms of Blue Maiden Star.

On the day of the meeting, Jiang Yu granted everyone a half-day off, and most people crowded in front of the screens, paying attention to the progress of the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, both sides expressed their views, and just before they started arguing, Jiang Yu said:

"Actually, the focus of everyone's argument is not how to treat the Root Tentacle Beast, but whether we should show our mercy when facing lower-level extraterrestrial life forms."

The sides with differing opinions paused slightly, as if that was indeed the case.

Jiang Yu continued, "According to the Dark Forest Law, we must eliminate any extraterrestrial intelligent life, no matter how primitive it is.

"The factor of a technological explosion might allow them to surpass us in a short period, and we must eliminate this potential threat.

"But the indigenous life forms of Blue Maiden Star can't be considered intelligent life; we don't feel any threat from them. So, what should be our approach? To eliminate or not to eliminate?

"This is an area that the Dark Forest Law has not touched upon, so everyone is unsure of what to do.

"The reason I attach such importance to this issue is to discuss and formulate a normative solution. Should we encounter similar situations in the future, we will use today's solution as a standard and adjust according to the actual circumstances."

This was also the reason Jiang Yu insisted on departing with the Pioneering Fleet, for many issues were being encountered by humanity for the first time, and quick and correct judgments had to be made on the spot.

"That's right," Bernice echoed, "The Wallfacer has identified the crux of the issue, and by discussing these aspects, we can find a solution to the problem."

Jiang Yu added, "I also want to remind everyone that the Pioneering Fleet is currently very weak, and we need sufficient living space.

"However, after developing for a period, we will have the ability to solve more problems. Therefore, my suggestion is that this issue can be resolved in two steps.

"The first step would be prioritizing our living space, the second would consider the living environment of the indigenous life forms."

After Jiang Yu, who was well-prepared, divided the issue into two parts, most people felt it was an acceptable approach.

After one or two seconds of silence in the meeting room, Lu Mingyang, who insisted on not overly encroaching on the living space of the indigenous life forms, asked:

"So, are we still going to harm some of the Root Tentacle Beasts? What will be the standard when implementing the second step?"