Chapter 681: He and His Child

Chapter 681: Her and Its Child

As the Alliance Institute of Biology had initially speculated, the forests of Baiyue Province were the child born of "Gaia" and Earth.

The forest here referred not only to the trees within it.

It also encompassed the flowers, grasses, insects, birds, beasts, and even the humans who once lived here.

The hive that descended upon this land opened its gene pool, granting every living being in this territory the ability to exchange genetic material with one another.

Of course, this exchange was not a chaotic, ruleless migration.

Rather, within the framework of natural selection unique to Earth, it allowed the finest gene segments and their permutations to emerge victorious from evolution, flourishing through extreme competition and relentless trial and error.

In just two centuries, they traversed a path that Earth's ecosystem would have taken two million, twenty million years—or perhaps never even walked at all.

The rustling of leaves and the chirping of insects filled his ears.

Hearing this staggering conclusion, Fang Chang stood frozen for a long moment, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly as he swallowed.

"...So this is fusion?"

Chen Yutong nodded.

Old Bai, standing nearby, couldn't help but press further.

"And the people here? Did they undergo that fusion... fusing with alien DNA?"

Chen Yutong nodded again.

"Barring any surprises, yes. There aren't as many survivors in this area as in Clearspring City, but some must have stayed behind."

Old Bai stared at her blankly.

"But... aren't the survivors in the southern sea still fine? We didn't notice any difference between them and us."

As if anticipating his question, Chen Yutong explained patiently.

"Individual evolution and population evolution are two different dimensions. Faced with an extremely harsh natural environment, some chose to leave, while others chose to stay. The survivors in the southern sea are merely those who left; they no longer participated in the evolution occurring within this rainforest."

Old Bai frowned slightly.

"And those who stayed?"

"They 'disappeared' in evolution, or rather, were fused, transformed into other forms of existence..."

As she spoke, Chen Yutong crouched down, gently plucked a leaf of yellow bamboo grass from the roadside, and handed it to him after standing up.

Taking the leaf, Old Bai looked at her in confusion.

"What's this?"

"A leaf of imperial bamboo grass," Chen Yutong said, looking at the leaf in his hand. "In the mitochondria of sliced cells from an imperial bamboo grass sample, we discovered fragments of human mitochondrial DNA."

Human mitochondria?!

Both Old Bai and Fang Chang's faces showed astonishment.

How the hell was that possible?!

"...We can't yet trace how this originally human DNA fragment migrated into the imperial bamboo grass—perhaps through the food chain, perhaps via some intermediate microorganism as a bridge, or both. In subsequent investigations, we soon found similar cases in mutated spiders, lizards, and even snails... They contain both human components and components from other species."

Looking at the two dumbfounded men, Chen Yutong spoke softly.

"This is Gaia."

"She handed Earth a key, unlocking the lock in our evolution."

"The lock of all things' evolution."

Fang Chang stared at her, feeling utterly bewildered yet vaguely understanding.

It reminded him of a game he once played called Stellaris.

There was an ascension perk he rarely selected called "Cross-Species Compatibility," the final stage of "Genetic Ascension."

Not that this path was weak—in fact, it was the most broken ascension path in the entire game.

Because once cross-species compatibility was unlocked, players could perform a series of war-crime operations, such as constantly placing two organisms with different traits on the same planet, forcing them to hybridize. The resulting hybrids would inherit a positive trait from one parent, unrestricted by genetic modification caps, allowing infinite stacking.

Players only needed to repeat the process a few times to eventually create a super-species that combined all positive traits in the game!

It was like being covered in buffs!

However, the side effect was that the player's species interface turned into a chaotic palette.

Hybrids born from any two different species would then reproduce with other hybrids, eventually making images and names bizarre.

Whether the computer's CPU would explode was unknown, but the human brain's CPU would definitely burn out.

Why bother?

Even without stacking buffs to the sky, the game's few underdeveloped AI were no match for the player.

Thus, most players stopped short, refusing to take the final step of Genetic Ascension to maintain species purity and immersion.

A few players, after achieving the ultimate goal—obtaining that super-being with countless buffs—would gather all hybrid intermediates on one planet, declare war, charge the colossus, and wipe them all out in one go.

The situation on Gaia's planet resembled a civilization that had taken "Cross-Species Compatibility."

For some reason, they had not only achieved cross-species integration but also merged all organic life on the planet into one through unimpeded genetic exchange.

To outsiders, they appeared as a unified consciousness.

Yet, upon closer examination, it was not the hive mind commonly understood, but rather a myriad of hives all as one!

She was the all, and the all was her.

That civilization, now dissolved into formlessness, might be far more advanced than humanity could imagine.

As for why their footprints had not spread across countless stars, or why they had lost their original form, it was merely a difference in pursuits.

The stars in the sky were never of a single color; not all civilizations were keen on territorial expansion.

Perhaps some civilizations were born to build a wonder, or to write a poem.

And their poem had been completed in ages past—the entity that human colonists called Gaia.

The colonists sent the hive carrying that poem back to Earth, and the hives scattered across Baiyue Province were but an excerpt from that poem.

Fang Chang vaguely felt he was nearing the truth of the Three-Year War—the main storyline buried since the launch of *Wasteland OL*.

Looking at Chen Yutong, Old Bai still wore an expression of incomprehension.

"But... how is this possible?"

The prevailing view in biology held that horizontal gene transfer was unique to microorganisms, rarely occurring among eukaryotes.

This was also why Earth's life evolution, after passing the early microbial stage, mostly extended downward in a "branching" pattern.

A river separated two groups of mice—one on a mountain, one in a forest. A million years later, the river dried up, the two groups met again, and reproductive isolation had occurred, marking them as different species. In fact, "isolation" was a necessary condition for the formation of new species.

Most biology textbooks and popular science articles, when explaining concepts of geographic and reproductive isolation, mentioned this simple model.

Yet she told him that the barriers between species had been broken?!

Although he wasn't well-versed in biology, he had at least received nine years of compulsory education.

And this didn't even require that.

He could believe that horses and donkeys could mate, but ants and trees, spiders and cockroaches... how on earth could these bizarre combinations ever come together?!

Seeing the bewildered look on his face, Chen Yutong raised her index finger and pressed it against her brow, speaking with a hint of exasperation.

"...I think I can guess what you're thinking—reproductive isolation between species, right?"

Old Bai nodded.

"Yes."

Chen Yutong patiently continued.

"Generally speaking, that's the case, but gene transmission doesn't only happen through reproduction... Take an example from Earth: the smelt and the herring are two unrelated cold-water fish, yet the antifreeze protein gene of the herring appears in the gene sequence of the former. This phenomenon is called horizontal gene transfer."

"According to literature from the Age of Prosperity, similar cases exist not only in fish but also in reptiles, birds, and mammals. So, by the time of the war, the prevailing academic view was that the evolution of life is not a classic tree shape—there have always been a few thin threads connecting some branches."

"What Gaia did was turn these threads, which originally played only a minor role in biological evolution, into bridges between species, transforming Earth's original tree-like evolutionary pattern into a 'web' similar to that of Gaia."

This time, it was Old Bai's turn to press his brow in frustration.

"So... we've now joined the glorious evolution too?"

Chen Yutong nodded, looking toward the dense, impenetrable rainforest in the distance.

"Yes. The genes we carry will also enter this forest in some form. The ubiquitous microorganisms will break down our feces, hair, and even our remains—these are all pathways. But on a macro level, this is integration. On a micro level, as long as we aren't eaten by the local mutants and turned into excrement, we won't disappear from this rainforest."

Fang Chang, who had been deep in thought for a long time, suddenly spoke up.

"And if we leave this forest?"

Chen Yutong looked at him.

"Nothing will happen. Just like the survivors who fled this rainforest to the island, the genes they take with them no longer participate in the evolution of this forest."

"In fact, over the past two centuries, mutants have been leaving this forest, and new ones have been joining. Some groups have thrived and multiplied here, while others have contributed their DNA and then vanished from the forest."

"Abstractly speaking, this forest is like a 'Gaia' that has superimposed Earth's natural laws and developed to a primary stage. All the organisms in the entire rainforest are fruiting bodies, and their sum total forms an abstract 'Mother Nest'... As for the most primitive, concrete Mother Nest, we're still searching for it."

"...How on earth is this even possible?" Old Bai was still scratching his head in confusion, mulling over the question he simply couldn't wrap his mind around.

Seeing his stubborn expression, Chen Yutong felt a bit helpless but still patiently explained.

"This is exactly what we're studying—including why this forest is confined to this province and hasn't spread elsewhere... Don't be too impatient."

She paused, then looked at the contemplative Fang Chang.

"Also, regarding the 'self-healing' you observed earlier, it actually exists based on the principles I just mentioned."

"Genes flow freely between species, and natural selection continuously filters out stronger species. Whether plant or animal, whether producer or consumer in the food chain, every organism here possesses extremely vigorous vitality and nutrient accumulation capabilities... because if they didn't, they'd quickly become those cannon fodder that contribute a few gene sequences and then disappear."

"In this highly 'involutional' environment, once a physical vacuum appears, it's quickly occupied by other species."

Fang Chang asked with a headache.

"Is there a solution?"

Chen Yutong: "Actually, it's quite simple—just maintain occupation of the area. For example, the ground beneath your feet, because people often pass by, doesn't grow overly thick grass. If you pave it with cement, it can last a long time, but the maintenance costs might be higher than elsewhere."

Fang Chang immediately pressed further.

"And what about areas that aren't frequently active?"

"Then... there's no way around it," Chen Yutong said with a helpless expression. "Not just your settlement, but even the former city of Shilong couldn't withstand the erosion of this extraordinary natural force. The organisms here tolerate no waste at all. You'd better find ways to make good use of the land you've reclaimed."

Fang Chang smiled bitterly.

"And then bear the high maintenance costs, right?"

The infrastructure expenses of Fries Port were entirely covered by the Baiyue Strait Development Company; the Alliance's treasury wouldn't pay for road repairs in Fries Port. He had to carefully consider the balance of income and expenditure.

And this wasn't just about money.

From a macro perspective, money was merely a tool to balance the gains and losses of logistics and market supply-demand. A negative asset caused not only a deficit in financial reports but also a massive waste of manpower and resources on meaningless endeavors.

Chen Yutong looked at him helplessly and said, "Maybe keeping the original ecological landscape is a good idea. You don't have to build every settlement the same way. How about exploring a development model suited to Baiyue Province? That's the only advice I can give."

As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, right—aren't you recently researching how to use slime molds in construction? Why not try that bio-self-repairing material? It might just suit the special conditions here. As for land with low utilization, maybe just keep it as pristine forest—"

Just then, Old Bai, who had been stubbornly pondering, suddenly interjected.

"It's not impossible."

Both of them turned to look at him, and Fang Chang immediately asked, "What's the idea?"

"For areas we can't develop yet, how about planting some tropical crops to occupy the land? Like rubber, cotton... I remember a long time ago, the shelter produced some high-yield cotton seeds, right?"

Old Bai glanced at the Moon Clan people in the eastern camp and continued.

"Just like back in Qingshui City—we'd reclaim the land and then contract it out to them to farm. As long as something is growing on the ground, it should be fine, right?"

The maintenance cost of a cotton field was much lower than that of cement ground, and the cash crops could also turn a profit.

Plus, this land had a 'growth speed +n%' buff, and the soil fertility seemed ridiculously high—maybe they could harvest three or four times a year.

He had already given up trying to understand the game's settings from a scientific perspective; instead, using the game's logic to think about it actually opened up new ideas.

Chen Yutong's eyes lit up as she said excitedly, "Exactly... that's a great idea. It's pretty much what I was thinking—just replace the wild plants with cash crops."

Fang Chang frowned slightly.

"But wouldn't that introduce genes into here, making the situation even more complicated—"

Seeing his worried expression, Old Bai shrugged helplessly.

"...We've been here this long. Do you think a couple more chromosomes make a difference?"

Fang Chang froze, suddenly realizing he had asked a very stupid question, ignoring the magnitude gap between individual variables and the whole.

Forget about metabolites—they had left more than a few corpses in this forest. What were a few cotton seeds compared to that?

Besides, this rainforest hadn't just turned this way yesterday; what newfangled thing hadn't it seen?

Rubbing his forehead with his right hand, he said with a wry smile, "You're right..."