A blue light rippled across the center of the reaction chamber, like the surface of a lake ruffled by the wind. Chen Hao stared at the newly emerged fluorescent ring, his finger just raised to jot down the timestamp, when the holographic screen suddenly switched images with a "whoosh".
The surveillance footage of farmland in Zone B popped up, showing a gray-green plastic film slowly collapsing with jagged, torn edges.
"The plastic film damage rate in Zone B is 67%." Nana's voice was a beat faster than usual. "Microscopic image analysis complete—it's not mechanical wear, it's biological erosion."
Chen Hao's hand paused, the pen tip drawing a long line on the notebook. "Insects...eating plastic?"
He turned to look at her, his eyes wide with surprise. "Did they switch careers to become sanitation workers?"
“The traces of polyethylene metabolism are clear.” Nana pulled up a magnified image, in which a thumb-sized parasite was scraping the inner layer of the mulch with its mouthparts, its mandibles gleaming with a metallic sheen. “Its digestive enzyme profile has undergone structural shifts, indicating that it has already acquired preliminary degradation capabilities.”
Chen Hao was silent for two seconds, then slammed his pen on the table: "I get it, it thinks artemisinin is too bitter, so it switched to a dessert buffet, right?"
He grabbed his tablet and flipped through the sample logs from the past three days, his fingers flying across the screen. The artemisinin-treated group had essentially been wiped out, but the activity frequency of the surviving individuals exposed to nanosilver had actually increased, especially concentrated in the abandoned breeding area near the metal support.
"Wait a minute." He stopped what he was doing. "Are these guys... feeding them silver ions like it's a nutritional supplement?"
“The possibility is extremely high,” Nana replied. “Silver is not an essential element for life, but in a high-concentration ion environment, some microorganisms may mistakenly identify it as a substitute for copper or zinc and participate in electron transfer. Existing data show that the activity of oxidoreductase in the target population is increased fourfold, which is consistent with the characteristics of ‘misuse’.”
"Goodness gracious." Chen Hao grinned. "Others supplement calcium when they're deficient, but this guy supplements silver when he's lacking common sense, and he's even become addicted to it."
He stood up, walked around the control panel twice, and suddenly stopped: "Since it loves to eat silver, can we let it eat it until it vomits?"
"What do you mean?" Nana's optical lens rotated slightly.
“Let’s have a dinner party,” he said. “We’re not the ones hosting, the silver ions are; and they’ll be the ones paying the bill.”
Ten minutes later, the new equipment began to be erected in the abandoned breeding area. Silver-rich alloy plates removed from the failed reaction chamber were fixed to a rusty iron frame and coated with a very thin layer of slow-release ion coating. Low-intensity electromagnetic nets were strung up at the four corners, with a voltage just enough to generate a weak alternating field.
"This thing can't even electrocute a mosquito," Chen Hao said, squatting on the ground connecting the wires. "But it can play music."
"You mean the frequency band for simulating mineral release using electromagnetic resonance signals?" Nana asked.
“Yes.” He tightened the last screw. “We won’t kill it, we’ll treat it to a meal. Plenty.”
The aerosol nozzles were activated, and an almost invisible mist of silver ions rose into the air. Thirty-seven minutes later, the first parasite crawled across the isolation strip, its tentacles twitched slightly, and it pounced straight onto the alloy plate surface, beginning to gnaw.
"They're here." Chen Hao leaned over the monitor. "This buffet is quite popular."
In less than two hours, the metal plate was covered with a dense swarm of insects, like a group of elderly people rushing to buy discounted goods. Some were even piled on top of each other, with the one underneath still desperately trying to burrow in.
“The eating speed is faster than expected,” Nana reported. “The average individual intake has reached 2.3 times the lethal threshold.”
"Hold on a little longer." Chen Hao stared at the microscopic image, "until they've eaten themselves so much they can't move anymore."
He slowly increased the voltage of the electromagnetic grid, not to electrocute, but to create a resonant environment that continuously attracts. Crystallization began to occur inside the insects, and their movement gradually slowed. Several tried to escape, but the magnetic field caused them to keep turning back, as if they had forgotten the way home.
“More than 90% have lost their ability to move independently,” Nana confirmed. “The silver crystals in their bodies are evenly distributed, and their nervous system has been suppressed.”
"Close the net." Chen Hao pressed the button.
Beneath the ground, a steel plate slowly rose, lifting the entire area, along with the insect carcasses and alloy residue, from its original position. The sealing cover closed automatically, and a red light illuminated, indicating that the contaminated area had been sealed off.
"Send it into the smelting chamber?" Nana asked.
"Don't burn it yet." Chen Hao stroked his chin. "These insects have eaten so much silver, maybe we can refine some 'insect-silver alloy'. We can make a spoon and feed it to the chickens to prevent disease."
"We recommend prioritizing the treatment of residual soil risks," Nana advised.
“That’s true.” He stood up, stretched, and his neck cracked. “After all, what we have in abundance here now is surprises.”
He walked to the window and gazed at the rebuilt wheat fields in the distance. The new wheat seedlings had just sprouted, their greenness almost defiant. The meteorite sickle leaned against the corner of the wall, its blade gleaming coldly.
"Do you think they might evolve a solar-powered charging function next time?" he asked, turning around. "Soaking up the sun during the day and gnawing on electrical wires at night, they'd become a perpetual motion machine."
“Theoretically, there is a trend toward diversifying energy acquisition methods,” Nana calmly responded, “but the development of photosensitive structures has not yet been observed.”
"Sigh." Chen Hao sighed, "I was hoping they would pack up and leave on their own one day."
He sat back down at the control panel, the tape on his right knuckles so black it was impossible to tell what its original color was. His forehead was covered in a layer of sweat, mixed with some dust he'd somehow gotten on, leaving several crooked marks.
The insect swarm activity curve on the screen finally returned to zero.
He stared at it for a long time, then suddenly whispered, "These guys... they really dare to eat."
Nana stood to the side, the robotic arm fine-tuning the residual pressure of the electromagnetic mesh to ensure no fish escaped. The optical lens scanned the bottom of the enclosed area, and the radiation level steadily decreased.
"Next step?" she asked.
“Wait,” he said. “Wait until they have a good sleep inside.”
After he finished speaking, he reached for the water glass, and just as the glass touched his lips, the alarm went off.
It wasn't a sharp beep, but a short buzzing sound, followed by all the indicator lights on the control panel flashing simultaneously.
Chen Hao put down his cup and frowned as he looked at the main screen.
The progress bar for the smelting chamber is stuck at 12%, but the status shows "not started".
“The system reported an anomaly.” Nana spoke at the same pace. “The underlying commands were intercepted, and the lifting tray is in standby mode.”
"Who stopped me?" He tapped his finger on the table.
“No trace of external intrusion.” She pulled up the log. “The last operation record is the transfer command you issued five minutes and eighteen seconds ago. During the execution, it was interrupted due to an unknown condition.”
Chen Hao narrowed his eyes: "You mean... it stopped by itself?"
"Technically known as 'logic conflict blocking'."
“But my orders were crystal clear.” He stood up and leaned closer to the screen. “Could it be that it thinks the bugs haven’t had enough to eat and wants more?”
Nana didn't answer. Her camera panned to the sealed seam in the ground; the infrared image showed a faint heat source gathering below, its temperature 1.7 degrees Celsius higher than the surrounding area.
“The heat signature is moving,” she said.
Chen Hao held his breath.
In the image, a small patch of the originally still insect corpses began to undulate slightly, as if something was wriggling underneath.
“Impossible.” He lowered his voice. “The silver crystals should have turned them into stone.”
“Unless…” Nana began slowly, “they have found a new metabolic pathway.”
Chen Hao didn't move. His hand slowly tightened its grip on the edge of the table.
The next second, a trace of pale gray liquid seeped from the edge of the sealing cap, flowing down the steel plate and accumulating into a small puddle on the ground. The droplet made a slight "sizzling" sound as it hit the ground, and tiny bubbles rose from the ground coating.
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