Today's video call with Blue Star lasted significantly longer than usual.

Liao Changtian received approval from his superiors to provide Zhang Fan with more detailed information about his current situation on Mars.

If we trace the origins of the current "Bird's Nest" stadium, humanity should thank the group of outstanding scientists from the last century and 100 years ago. It was they who jointly launched the "Human Backup Project," leaving a "spark" on Mars for the restart of human civilization.

The "Bird's Nest" Mars base is the main carrier of the "Human Backup Plan," and is the crystallization of the wisdom and continuation of the spirit of those scientists.

Those imaginative scientists didn't stop there; they also envisioned a future Mars colonization plan:

The first step is to launch a large number of nuclear bombs to bombard the south pole of Mars, causing the glaciers on the polar cap to melt completely, forming liquid water and an initial atmosphere on Mars.

The second step is to send anaerobic prokaryotic algae to Mars to improve the atmosphere. Once the oxygen content of the Martian atmosphere reaches a certain level, cockroaches, which are extremely resilient and feed on algae, will be sent to Mars to establish a primitive ecological cycle.

The third step involves algae altering the Martian atmosphere, and the death of cockroaches that feed on algae improving the Martian soil. Once these small plants and animals have initially modified the Martian environment to be suitable for human habitation, large-scale Martian colonization will begin.

“Compared to the ‘Human Backup Plan,’ the Mars colonization plan was not fully implemented because it was too advanced,” Liao Changtian said. “Furthermore, launching nuclear weapons to Mars would have been an impossible thing to do at the time.”

"What are you trying to tell me?" Zhang Fan knew about the human backup plan and the idea of ​​human colonization of Mars, but he didn't know what the connection was between the two.

“As I just said, the plan was not fully implemented,” Liao Changtian said. “In other words… part of the plan was implemented.”

Which part?

"The second part," Liao Changtian said, "is to send anaerobic prokaryotic algae and algae-eating cockroaches to Mars."

“Well, as far as I know, no algae or other microorganisms have been found in Martian soil,” Zhang Fan continued. “And cockroaches couldn’t possibly survive in the Martian atmosphere. So, does that mean the second part of the plan failed?”

Even if cockroaches are incredibly resilient, they could not possibly survive in the low-pressure, oxygen-deficient environment of Mars.

Although Mars does have an atmosphere, it is 100 times thinner than Earth's atmosphere, with an oxygen content of only about 0.1%, compared to Earth's 20%.

If a human were to remove their spacesuit helmet on Mars, the air would be rapidly expelled, and even if you held your breath in time, your lungs would explode from the inside due to the pressure difference.

If it were cockroaches, the situation wouldn't be much better.

“That’s not an ordinary cockroach,” Liao Changtian corrected Zhang Fan. “It’s a cockroach that has undergone DNA genetic modification.”

"DN gene surgery?" This was the first time Zhang Fan had ever heard this term.

"Yes, we only gained a rudimentary understanding of this rumored gene surgery after receiving data from 'Phoenix'."

"Even you don't understand DNA gene surgery?"

"I don't know." Liao Changtian shook his head. "This is not a medical technology originating from Earth. It is a technology that is strictly prohibited by the United Nations, just like human cloning technology."

"Not Earth? What does that mean?"

"100 years ago, a group of scientists somehow obtained the technology for DNA gene surgery. Based on our current research, it is speculated that this should be related to a NASA Mars exploration mission 100 years ago."

"The mission was to send a gorilla named 'Kaiser' into Mars orbit, but the mission ultimately failed."

"The group of scientists I just mentioned were also the core members who later worked together to make the 'Human Backup Project' possible."

"Could you tell me more about DNA gene surgery?" Zhang Fan asked.

“Yes, but we don’t know much about it right now.” Liao Changtian took a document and looked at it, saying, “This technology has been encrypted twice in the data of ‘Phoenix.’ Because the World United Government is now in charge of US affairs, we have been able to decrypt the code and learn about the contents.”

“There’s too much information, so I’ll only talk about the parts that are relevant to you right now.” Liao Changtian flipped through a few pages of the document and said, “In addition to enhancing the cockroach’s metabolism, one important surgical procedure for genetically modifying cockroaches is to remove the entire abdominal spiracles.”

"Remove the spiracles?" Zhang Fan's eyes widened. "Then how do cockroaches breathe?"

The nerves that control respiration in cockroaches are located in their abdomen, and the spiracles on their abdomen are equivalent to the lungs in humans.

Cockroaches have very simple respiratory organs and blood circulation. They do not need to control their breathing function through the brain, and their blood does not need to transport oxygen. They can breathe air directly through the spiracles.

"First, I want to correct a misconception of yours. There are many different ways of breathing in nature. Mammals breathe with lungs, aquatic organisms breathe with gills, insects breathe with tracheae, and there are also organisms that breathe through their skin, such as frogs that can use their skin for auxiliary respiration."

"The DNA gene surgery gave those cockroaches the ability to breathe through their skin, and the air they breathed changed from oxygen to carbon dioxide."

"As you know, 95.3% of the Martian atmosphere is carbon dioxide."

“Inhale carbon dioxide, exhale oxygen…” Zhang Fan stared incredulously.

“Yes.” Liao Changtian nodded. “In the Mars colonization plan, modifying the oxygen content of the Martian atmosphere is an important part, and they have indeed succeeded.”

"Then why are you telling me all this?" Zhang Fan wondered.

"Do you remember these photos?" Liao Changtian displayed some photos on the communication screen.

Zhang Fan glanced at it a few times and nodded: "I remember, this is the repair record I sent you."

The "Bird's Nest" base is exposed to the Martian surface and is frequently subjected to wind and sandstorms. Recently, it has also been exposed to sun and rain, volcanoes and earthquakes, so it is normal for some equipment to be damaged and need repair.

“We noticed something unusual in the photos you sent us.” Liao Changtian zoomed in on several photos on the screen. “Based on that, we re-examined all your repair records and picked out some suspicious points. Didn’t you see anything in them?”

"What?" Zhang Fan stared wide-eyed at the photo, but it was just a regular cable with exposed insulation, nothing special about it.

“This cannot be caused by natural erosion.” Liao Changtian circled the damaged part of the cable in the photo with a red circle. “We have asked the most authoritative biologists and entomologists on Earth to look at these photos. They all agree that the damage was caused by the mouthparts of cockroaches.”

“Cockroaches…” Zhang Fan stared wide-eyed.

“It’s a cockroach,” Liao Changtian replied.

"How big must this cockroach be?" Zhang Fan was utterly shocked as he looked at the exposed cable, which was as thick as an arm.

"Based on the cut marks from the damaged cable insulation, our entomologists estimated that this cockroach should be about this size." Liao Changtian held his hands in front of his chest, making a circle.

"Holy shit!" Zhang Fan cursed out loud. "Isn't that about the size of a giant rat? You couldn't kill such a huge adult cockroach with a slipper, could you? Holy shit!"

"No, no, no!" Liao Changtian shook his head and quickly corrected Zhang Fan's mistaken idea. "You misunderstood me. According to entomologists, the thing that gnawed on this cable should be cockroach larvae."

larva?

Zhang Fan fainted immediately.