After the external disinfection work was completed, Bai Yixuan and the others breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"Attention, Mystic Maiden No. 2: Do not exit the cabin after the hatch is opened. The samples will be collected by designated personnel!"

Lü Yongchang's command came over the radio.

then……

A few minutes later, Bai Yixuan and the others sat blankly in the driver's seat, watching several staff members in full protective suits enter the cabin and carry all the samples out.

"team leader……"

Hong Fan's voice was filled with sorrow: "The script shouldn't be like this, right?"

"Shouldn't we be attending a victory celebration right now?"

"Cough cough..." Bai Yixuan's eye twitched again. "No, don't rush."

"Maybe we'll be able to have a big meal once we get to the quarantine point!"

As soon as he finished speaking, several staff members wearing protective suits and carrying medical kits entered the cabin.

As the "Big White" walked straight toward them, the six astronauts' faces stiffened.

"Captain Bai Yixuan, please cooperate."

"We need to conduct a full-scale inspection of you."

As he spoke, the lead staff member opened the medical kit and took out a bunch of bottles and jars.

"Please provide urine and stool samples, and we also need to draw blood for testing."

Finally, the staff member added, "These were all arranged by Professor Lü."

Hong Fan looked at the various instruments in front of him with a somewhat pale face and swallowed slightly.

"Excuse me, after these tests are completed, can we have hot pot?"

The staff members paused slightly, then looked up at Hong Fan together.

Even through the protective face shields and masks, Hong Fan could feel the smiles in the eyes of several staff members.

"What are you thinking about?" the head staff member said irritably. "There is a special diet at the quarantine site. To prevent any accidents, you can only eat specific foods for the next 14 days."

"Moreover, this test needs to be conducted every day for 14 days, which is also to eliminate the interference of diet on the test results."

Bai Yixuan and the other six: "..."

...

The first laboratory of Xia Kingdom, the biological sub-laboratory.

As a newly built laboratory, the equipment inside is naturally the latest and most advanced.

After all, the role of biological laboratories is not limited to hibernation technology.

The improvement of human genes, the extension of lifespan, and the treatment of alien viruses or bacteria are all inseparable from biotechnology.

We might not be able to feel it on Earth.

But once humanity truly enters the universe and becomes an interstellar civilization, then the average lifespan of just over 70 years will be completely inadequate.

Wearing protective clothing, Lü Yongchang slowly walked into the laboratory.

"Professor Lü!"

A slightly excited male voice came from afar: "Over here!"

Lu Yongchang's eyes flickered slightly, and he quickly looked in the direction from which the sound came.

Looking at the figure waving at him in the distance, a smile appeared in his eyes.

Even through the thick, airtight protective suit, he recognized the person immediately.

Mao Zhengzhi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is a leading figure in China's biological sciences community.

At only 36 years old, he is among the youngest academicians in the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Like Fang Xu, Mao Zhengzhi didn't have a deep generation gap with this 21-year-old, and their relationship was usually quite harmonious.

Lu Yongchang quickened his pace, walked up to Mao Zhengzhi, nodded and smiled, "Brother Mao, how's it going? Have you gotten the sample yet?"

The person in the oversized protective suit on the other side nodded repeatedly, their tone tinged with excitement: "Of course!"

"I've been waiting for you for ages!"

With that, Mao Zhengzhi turned and walked toward an isolation laboratory.

After undergoing a meticulous disinfection process, the two entered a brightly lit laboratory.

Lu Yongchang was immediately drawn to the samples on the lab bench.

He quickened his pace and walked rapidly to the experimental table.

Through his protective mask, he carefully examined the creature in front of him.

It is dark brown all over, and its surface is dry and covered with wrinkles, just like a withered tree branch.

However, this "tree branch" is obviously much more twisted.

The entire "tree branch" was twisted into a ball of yarn.

Lu Yongchang frowned slightly, a suspicion rising in his mind.

This must be its self-protection measure, right?

Lu Yongchang subconsciously picked up the tweezers next to him, pinched both ends of the tweezers, and gently tugged at them.

There is a noticeable sense of resistance.

To avoid damaging the sample, he gave up the urge to untangle the "ball of yarn" himself.

“We measured the length before you came.” After entering the laboratory, Mao Zhengzhi’s tone became much more serious.

“We tested dozens of samples in total, with an average length of about 20 centimeters.”

Lu Yongchang was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously muttered to himself, "So long..."

"Although it's not confirmed yet, we estimate that this fungus should be similar to mushrooms on Earth," Mao Zhengzhi's voice continued.

Lü Yongchang nodded thoughtfully.

Have you performed slide examination?

Mao Zhengzhi quickly shook his head: "I haven't had time to do it yet."

Lü Yongchang nodded slightly.

That's true; the samples only arrived in a few tens of minutes. There's no way to conduct research that quickly.

Being able to measure basic data is already quite good.

"Let's do the slide examination now!"

As he spoke, Lü Yongchang reached out and took some equipment from the side. He carefully used tweezers to tear off a small piece of fungal tissue and placed it on a glass slide.

The surface of the fungus was very hard, and he felt extremely obvious resistance during the tearing process.

But there's a saying: great effort can produce miracles.

Despite forceful tearing, the fungal sample was still managed to break open, revealing its internal, fluffy tissue.

Then, lay it flat, cover it with a coverslip, and stain it...

The series of operations were performed smoothly and efficiently.

In order to accurately observe the fungal samples, Lü Yongchang and Mao Zhengzhi prepared several temporary slides of different parts of the fungus.

When the image from the optical microscope was projected onto the computer screen, both of them froze in place.

"This structure..."

Mao Zhengzhi took a light breath: "It's similar to the cell structure of fungi on Earth."

Lu Yongchang nodded solemnly: "They are roughly the same, but there are still some differences."

"At least, its cell walls are much thicker than those of species on Earth."

"And... didn't you notice that the cells of this fungus only occupy one-tenth of the entire cell wall?"

As he spoke, Lü Yongchang adjusted the magnification of the optical microscope to allow it to display more cells.

Mao Zhengzhi was taken aback.

Sure enough, some cells shrank to one-twentieth the size of the cell wall space!

He instinctively wanted to move the slide to observe more cells.

"etc!"

Lu Yongchang's voice revealed a hint of surprise: "They're absorbing water!"