When the bird split open, no one spoke.
The boat was already two hundred meters from the shore, the lake surface shrinking into a shimmering silver patch in the distance. The cabin lights were on, casting a pale glow on all four faces. Karl stared at the purple leaves in the sealed jar, tapping his finger lightly twice on the glass.
"What if it suddenly moves?"
Nana stood in front of the lab bench, the scanner aimed at the sample. "No. The plant tissue has been inactivated."
Chen Hao leaned back in his chair, his legs crossed, the soles of his shoes still covered in mud from the lake. "What about that bird? It didn't just die; it completely separated from its family."
Susan placed the recorder on the table; the screen was still on the last frame—the bird's body had split in two, one half hanging from the branch, the other half on the ground.
“We need to figure out what happened,” she said.
Nana nodded and pulled up the video playback. The image moved forward frame by frame until the bird's head froze.
“Notice its muscle condition,” Nana said. “No struggling, no convulsions. Death happens within milliseconds, nerve signals are interrupted.”
"Poisoned?" Karl asked.
“It doesn’t look like it.” Nana switched to the data panel. “Toxins usually cause spasms or internal bleeding. This bird’s organs are intact, and there are no signs of ruptured blood vessels.”
"So it was cut open?" Chen Hao sat up a little straighter. "Who did it? Was there a knife in the air?"
“We cannot rule out the possibility that a sudden increase in internal pressure could lead to tissue tearing,” Nana said, “but a trigger is needed.”
The cabin was quiet for a few seconds.
Susan opened her notebook and flipped to the record of the collection. "We only touched the plants, took water samples, and scooped up two flying insects. The bird flew over by itself, ate the biscuit crumbs... and then exploded."
"So the problem might be in the food chain," Carl said. "There's something wrong with what it's eating."
Nana took out another sample—a pair of translucent little fish in the water—and placed them in an incubator. “These fish ingested spores released by the plant. Their bodies glow because they have accumulated a certain fluorescent protein inside them.”
"So," Chen Hao said, "the fish ate something poisonous and are still thriving?"
“They are in a hypermetabolic state.” Nana pulled up a microscopic image. “Their cell division rate is more than three times that of normal fish. But their mitochondrial structure is abnormal, and their energy conversion efficiency is extremely low. They are burning themselves.”
“Short-lived wretch,” Carl said.
“And it’s unstable.” Susan pointed to a fluctuation at the edge of the image. “Look here, the cell membrane potential is jumping around wildly, and it could collapse at any moment.”
Nana continued, "If birds prey on these kinds of creatures, they ingest not only nutrients, but also a large amount of undigested active substances. Once a critical point is reached, the physiological system cannot withstand it, and acute disintegration will occur."
"Disintegrated?" Chen Hao frowned. "You mean... it exploded?"
"To be precise, it's tissue separation," Nana said. "It's like a balloon being blown up too much and bursting."
Chen Hao looked down at the compressed biscuit packaging in his hand. "Did those crumbs I scattered also get contaminated with spores?"
“Very likely,” Nana said, “but we didn’t have the testing equipment at the time, so we couldn’t confirm it.”
“So that bird,” Carl said slowly, “wasn’t ambushed. It ate something it shouldn’t have, and its body couldn’t take it, so it exploded.”
"It sounds like a hapless creature," Chen Hao sighed. "I should have known better than to feed it."
“If you don’t feed it, it will eat other things,” Susan said. “Everything in the lake is connected to this chain.”
Nana initiated the deep analysis program, placing plant leaf slices into the gene sequencer. "The key now is to identify the source. The gene sequence of this plant does not belong to any known classification."
A data stream begins to scroll on the screen.
Several people gathered around.
“It has chloroplasts, which can perform photosynthesis,” Nana said. “But it also has a conduction structure similar to that of animal neurons. The closure of the leaf is not a mechanical response, but a judgment made in response to external stimuli.”
"Judgment?" Susan was stunned. "You mean it can think?"
“It’s not thinking, it’s sensing,” Nana corrected. “It can ‘feel’ touch, temperature changes, and even the intensity of light. Although it’s simple, it’s much more complex than the mimosa.”
"So is it a plant or an animal?" Carl asked.
“Neither,” Nana said. “It’s a hybrid life form. There are no similar ones on Earth.”
Chen Hao stroked his chin. "So everything on this island is a hybrid freak?"
"Current evidence supports this hypothesis," Nana said. "Geomagnetic anomalies and high radiation levels may be mutagenic factors. Long-term exposure to such an environment may cause biological evolution to deviate from the norm."
“No wonder the fish glowed and the leaves moved,” Susan whispered. “They’re not ordinary creatures.”
“It can’t be called a mutation either,” Nana added. “It’s more like… being redesigned.”
"Who designed it?" Carl looked up. "Are there people on the island?"
“No man-made structures were found,” Nana said. “There were also no traces of human activity. It’s more like a natural fork in the road.”
Chen Hao leaned back in his chair. "In other words, this place has gone awry on its own."
“That’s one way to understand it,” Nana said.
The cabin fell silent again.
Carl walked to the window and looked out at the sea. The wind was light, and the waves gently rocked the boat.
"Are the things we brought back safe?"
“The samples have been sealed at level three,” Nana said. “As long as there is no direct contact with living tissue, the risk is controllable.”
“What if the seal breaks?” Chen Hao said. “For example, one night it leaks, and the three of us are asleep, and Nana, you suddenly say, ‘Sorry, the spores are floating out.’”
“I will alert you ten seconds before a leak occurs,” Nana said. “And I won’t turn off the phone while you’re sleeping.”
"You're so thoughtful." Chen Hao rolled his eyes. "I'd almost give you a Best Roommate Award."
“Stop messing around.” Susan flipped through the collection log. “We need to categorize these things now. Plants, aquatic organisms, birds… each one could trigger a chain reaction.”
Nana pulled up an ecological model diagram. "Based on the existing data, I constructed a preliminary food web: plants release spores → small fish ingest and mutate → birds prey on them and die from poisoning. This is just the simplest path."
"Is it possible for the opposite to happen?" Carl asked. "For example, if a bird dies, its carcass nourishes plants?"
“It’s possible,” Nana said. “We found trace amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus enriched in the plant roots, the source of which is unknown. But no traces of digestion were detected in the bird remains, indicating that they were torn apart before they could decompose.”
“Then it’s just a matter of eating and dying, and dying for nothing,” Chen Hao said. “This food chain is a bit fragile.”
“It’s extremely fragile,” Nana said. “If any link collapses, the entire system will become unbalanced. And what we are seeing now may just be a moment in the process of collapse.”
“So that lake,” Susan said, “isn’t paradise, but a graveyard?”
“From a biological point of view, it’s more like an out-of-control testing ground,” Nana said. “Life grows rapidly here, and it also destroys rapidly.”
Chen Hao rubbed his face. "After hearing what you said, I don't even dare to dream about that place anymore."
"I suggest not returning to that area in the short term," Nana said. "At least until we have more defensive capabilities."
“The problem is,” Carl said, “how do we protect ourselves? From the air? From water? Or from a single leaf?”
“Let’s start with isolation.” Susan closed her notebook. “Store all samples separately, wear protective clothing when handling them, and record every step of the contact.”
“I can write a checklist,” Chen Hao said lazily. “First: Don’t feed the birds. Second: Don’t touch the leaves. Third: Don’t think you’re lucky.”
“Add a fourth point,” Carl said, “Don’t assume that something looks pretty is harmless.”
Nana began processing the data, her eye scanner flashing slightly. Her processor was still running deep comparisons, trying to find similar cases in the database.
Chen Hao stared at the sealed jar on the table.
The purple leaves lay still, their surface fuzz trembling slightly.
He blinked.
When I looked again, it was still motionless.
"Nana".
"I am here."
"Did you just say that this thing is inactive?"
“Tissue viability test results are zero,” Nana replied, her eyes never leaving the screen.
"Then take a look at this." Chen Hao pushed the jar forward.
Nana turned her head and moved closer to observe.
A second later, she reached out and took the sealed container, then activated the infrared scanner.
“Impossible,” she said.
The leaves inside the jar are slowly closing up.
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