Zhang Fan walked downhill, quickly navigating the path ahead, as it had already been explored.

Zhang Fan's initial explorations were all horizontal, much like how humans often prefer to start their explorations horizontally when they arrive on an unfamiliar planet.

But when Zhang Fan occasionally began to explore vertically, he discovered that human exploration of the Martian surface, including his own horizontal exploration in the nest, was nothing more than birds playing in the treetops.

The secrets of Mars are hidden deep underground.

During his search, he saw the murals.

You heard me right, and he was certain he wasn't mistaken either. This wasn't something formed naturally; it was definitely a mural.

The mural looks like a "tree" drawn with fine pencil lines, with only branches and no leaves.

In fact, murals have always existed in the lava tubes, on the walls of lava tubes, and even on some exposed cliffs on the Martian surface. It's just that no one realized they were "murals" before, and thought they were just traces left on the surface by rock weathering or thermal expansion and contraction inside the rock.

When Zhang Fan saw the "tree" drawn on the rock wall, he didn't realize at first that it was a drawing of a "tree" and thought it was a trace caused by groundwater erosion in the cracks of the rock.

Until one day, Zhang Fan discovered that the "tree" on a certain rock face overlapped with the map he had drawn on the tree bark.

Zhang Fan had a master map, a summary of all the tree bark maps he had explored. Because the master map was too large, it no longer used detailed "pipes" but instead used "thin lines" to represent the underground routes.

One day, while resting and lying down staring at the rock face, Zhang Fan suddenly noticed a "tree" on the rock face and some thin lines on the master map he had drawn...

Total overlap!

Realizing this, Zhang Fan broke out in a cold sweat and immediately frantically searched for the "trees" on the rock face, making rubbings of them one by one to compare with the map he had drawn.

These weren't trees, they were maps!

It is a navigation map of the entire underground lava pipe system, drawn on the rock wall by some intelligent life!

On each "tree" was an "apple," and Zhang Fan quickly understood the meaning that the "apple" represented:

This is your current location on the map.

Each of Zhang Fan's explorations became a transcription of the "murals," and with the guidance of the "trees," his exploration progressed by leaps and bounds.

Until one day, he saw a very special "big tree" in the mural.

The tree not only bears an apple, but also a five-pointed star.

Zhang Fan stared blankly at the "five-pointed star" for a long time. The "apple" represented his current location, so... what did the "five-pointed star" represent?

If a pentagram appears on a map of Earth, it only has one meaning. Since this is Mars, Zhang Fan would interpret it as representing the most important location on the map.

At that time, Zhang Fan's food reserves were running low. He suppressed his strong curiosity, drew a picture of the "big tree," and then returned the way he came.

This time he prepared for a week, with his goal being that "five-pointed star".

Zhang Fan didn't believe that insects could depict such complex patterns. If that were the case, it was very likely that some kind of intelligent life once existed beneath Mars, and their level of civilization, judging from their mural-painting behavior, was at least at the level of the ancient primitive people of Earth.

I wonder if "they" are still around? Are they still evolving? Can we communicate with them?

This may be the first time in human history that we have made contact with extraterrestrial civilizations.

As they got closer to the "pentagram," Zhang Fan grew increasingly nervous. He hid his bow and sickle behind his back and held a potato in each hand.

Zhang Fan felt that if they really encountered aliens, they would definitely not be able to communicate in language, but they could express their goodwill by giving them food.

If things go wrong, you can still use potatoes as stones to throw at them, right?

A little bit of human ingenuity.

Zhang Fan stopped, his heart pounding. He could already see a glimmer of light ahead. He only needed to turn one more corner to reach the location of the "five-pointed star".

Zhang Fan took a deep breath, gripped the two hard potatoes, and slowly moved forward.

The view ahead is wide and open.

Dome.

Zhang Fan stared wide-eyed ahead. It was indeed a dome, a white, fluorescent dome just like the egg chamber where the cockroach queen was located.

Why is there a dome here too?

Could they be two cockroach queens?

That's not right. If there were cockroaches here, there should be insects everywhere, but he hasn't seen a single one so far.

The white dome is opaque, making it impossible to see inside.

Zhang Fan approached the dome, placed his hands on the white hexagon, and leaned close to try and peek inside.

The white hexagons spread out like water.

Oh my god!

Zhang Fan fell into the dome.

Before he could even stand up, he was stunned by the sight before him.

This place is like a mysterious underground garden, surrounded by lush greenery, abundant vegetation, verdant leaves, and blooming flowers.

Zhang Fan stood up and looked at the center of the mysterious garden, his gaze fixed on it.

In the center of the Secret Garden, there is also a large banyan tree, and in the canopy of the banyan tree, there is something that looks like a "cocoon".

Zhang Fan had once suspected that the location of his treehouse was originally occupied by something resembling a "cocoon," and now that has been confirmed.

Zhang Fan pushed aside the dense forest and walked towards the "cocoon".

Walking under the banyan tree, Zhang Fan could clearly see that the "cocoon" on the tree was more than two meters high and more than one meter in diameter, just like a glowing egg hanging on the tree crown.

Zhang Fan put away the two potatoes, removed his equipment except for the sickle at his waist, grabbed the aerial roots of the banyan tree, and climbed up to the treetop.

A tree branch, about half a meter thick, extended from the side, splitting into three branches in mid-air, supporting the glowing egg.

Zhang Fan took a deep breath, keeping his eyes and ears open, his right hand resting on the hilt of the knife at his waist, and carefully walked forward along the outstretched tree branch.

Squeak squeak squeak—

I knew it!

Damn it!

Zhang Fan swiftly drew the sickle from his waist, gripped the handle with both hands, and crouched down on a tree branch.

Thump, thump, thump—

Two brightly colored insects strode nimbly down from the top of the tree canopy.

It wasn't a cockroach?

Zhang Fan looked at the creatures in front of him with some surprise and fear; he recognized these creatures.

Magic Flower Mantis.

The largest mantis on Earth, with brightly colored body, especially when its wings are spread, they are multicolored, like a blooming flower, which is very beautiful. Therefore, some people keep the mantis as a pet.

However, these two mantises were far too big, with body lengths exceeding two meters.

Whoosh!

The transparent scythe on the Demon Flower Mantis's chest made a cut.

Zhang Fan was certain that he was at least 10 meters away from the mantises. Their scythes weren't that long, but the scythe in his hand silently broke in two, the blade falling to the ground below the tree.

Holy crap! Cutting objects from a distance?

What's the point of fighting?

Seeing the mantis crawling over, Zhang Fan jumped down to the side of the tree branch without thinking.

His bow and arrows lay beneath the tree; though they might be useless, they were his only weapon for the moment.

Zhang Fan used the tree branch to slow his descent. Only when his body fell through the tree canopy did he realize that two mantises were already standing under the tree, holding transparent scythes and waiting for him.

Damn it!

That's not fair!