After the Battle of Muxi, with Todd's approval, the town's guard camp underwent an expansion and renovation of its underground space. Hundreds of tons of food, arrows, and herbs were transported there for centralized storage in case of another war.
However, after a period of observation, the war situation around Muxi Town gradually eased, and the possibility of being attacked became smaller and smaller. Therefore, the underground war reserve was transformed into an underground testing ground.
Some sensitive and secretive research has been conducted here.
Although it was mid-October and the temperature wasn't low, Todd still wore a thick linen coat when he entered the underground warehouse.
Every corridor and room in the underground space is equipped with ventilation ducts. Dormice injected with "freezing" bacteria are kept together, and cold air is blown to every corner of the underground space by water-powered fans driven by underground water.
So, while the outside world may be bathed in sunshine, the underground is bitterly cold.
Guided by the "Inheritors" team, Todd walked through a long bend and arrived at a room full of marble coffins.
The body of a sturdy man lay flat on the stone platform in the center.
Huggins stood beside the body, and upon noticing Todd's presence, lowered his head in shame.
Kendi stood beside the stone platform, carefully using a sharp blade to cut open the deceased's skin, extracting blood and muscle tissue, and examining it closely under a microscope.
Without disturbing Kendi, Todd first walked up to Huggins and asked in a low voice, "We've lost six men?"
Huggins nodded, looking down at the ground.
"There were only two of them, and I heard that the alien that caused our casualties escaped?"
Sweat was dripping from Huggins' forehead.
Todd sighed, said nothing more, and walked toward Kendi.
Kendi lay on the operating table, looking with interest at the bones around the deceased's joints, and said to Todd behind him, "Back in my hometown, some scholars studied earthquakes. They discovered something interesting: earthquakes can turn solid soil into liquid soil. We call this phenomenon 'soil liquefaction.'"
Because it involved geological structure and physics, which Todd wasn't very knowledgeable about, he humbly asked Kendi for details.
The latter scooped up some dust from the floor and held it up to Todd, saying, "The soil we usually talk about isn't exactly sand and gravel, but rather wet mud mixed with a lot of water. When this soft, water-rich mud is stimulated by external forces, the water gets trapped inside the soil particles and can't escape, creating a liquid soil that can't withstand weight. In short, solid soil becomes liquid soil."
As Todd listened to Kendi's explanation, he gleaned an important term—external stimulus.
Kendi clapped his hands and said, "The external force we're talking about must be a high-intensity, rapid, and continuous force, like a washing stick hitting clothes, only with the intensity of an earthquake. Of course, ordinary people can't generate this kind of external force, but in this alien species, the impossible has become a reality."
Kendy gestured to Todd to come to the microscope, where Todd saw a strange microorganism through the eyepiece: a tubular organism with a cell wall and cytoplasm, colorless. It had rather long hyphae with many septa. This microorganism parasitized nerve cells and spread through the host cells, either between or through them, via hyphae.
"These are fungi..."
Todd's words startled Kendi, who pressed, "Excuse me, sir, I've never heard of that term you just mentioned. Could you please repeat it?"
Todd glanced at Kendi, repeated what he had just said, and then asked, "Tell me what you observed."
Kendi nodded, pointing to the sample in the petri dish, and said, "These little guys, called fungi, parasitize near the nerve endings in the human body. They can stimulate the nerves at very high frequencies and cause the skin to vibrate intensely, thus simulating an earthquake environment and ultimately triggering 'soil liquefaction.' This is why he can easily turn the soil into spheres and cause them to explode."
Todd listened and nodded. This barbarian mutant had a fungus in its body that attached itself to nerve cells. It could induce a miniature earthquake effect in the human body through high-frequency stimulation.
"Sir, have you considered what the discovery of this microorganism signifies?" Kendi asked Todd with great excitement.
Todd didn't react for a moment and looked to Kendi for an answer.
"This means that castles and walls will completely disappear from the stage of history!"
Todd was a little confused. They were talking about fungi, so how did it suddenly jump to castles and walls?
Kendi leaned closer: "I've heard about the Knights' siege tactics. The most common way to deal with high walls and sturdy castles is to dig a tunnel under the wall, plant gunpowder, and blast a breach. But what about fortresses with moats around the perimeter…?"
Todd fell silent, thinking carefully. It seemed that in the novels and movies of his past life, when discussing the cave-in tactic, they only mentioned planting explosives, but never mentioned how to deal with the moat.
Kendi continued, “The usual method is to place explosives at the base of the wall and detonate them, but this method causes negligible damage to the wall and the fuse is easily extinguished. But with the ability of ‘soil liquefaction,’ everything is solved. Because stone is still soil, only the gravel is more tightly packed, but it still contains moisture, especially the stone walls along the moat. By using the earthquake-like effect caused by this fungus, the stone can be broken down and disintegrated.”
Todd chuckled and patted Kendi on the shoulder: "There are two problems. First, you need to find a way to get safely to the city wall; second, you need an earthquake strong enough to breach the wall."
The latter blinked: "The first problem is not my concern, but we can solve the second problem through experiments."
Looking at the turbaned Southern scholar, Todd remarked with a sigh, "Kendy, I must say, the Southern Empire is far superior to the Church Region in academics..."
After a moment's thought, Kendi said, "The Southern Empire absorbed the academic essence of Taylor's era and advocated drawing on the strengths of many sources in its doctrines; however, the Church is relatively more conservative..."
Just as Todd was about to discuss something more with Kendi, a member of the "Inheritors" squad hurriedly walked up to Huggins and whispered something to him.
The latter listened and nodded, then said to Todd, "Sir, we have just captured a member of the 'Dissident Legion'."
Todd turned around, his eyes lighting up: "Oh? Is it the guy who ran away?"
"No, it's someone else. We found the 'Clash Legion' mark on his back, numbered '9'."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com