Chapter 276: Biological Mutation (Exclusively Published on Jinjiang Literature City)
Lu Xuan raised an eyebrow and asked the viewers in the live stream, "Isn't the Star Alliance technologically advanced? Why would the detector still detect unknown components?"
This is normal; the Covenant isn't omniscient.
[Let alone the dimension where the streamer is located, even right now, when our exploration team is constantly exploring unknown star systems, we will occasionally discover new ores and new components; this is perfectly normal.]
The question now is, will these unidentified ingredients be harmful to the human body, and will they affect the anchor's life?
Lu Xuan thought that apart from affecting human breathing and causing fever, this component didn't seem to have any other effects, but the volcanic ash itself was already enough to cause headaches.
However, volcanic ash is something that cannot be dissipated in a short period of time, so there is no point in thinking about it too much.
They now have an even bigger headache.
As the tide recedes and land emerges, it's not entirely a good thing; many fish that couldn't escape with the tide are stranded on the ground.
At first, the disaster victims, whether from Yunlu Village or the Western Continent, were overjoyed and went to collect these free seafood items with their containers.
There are so many fish that they can't be counted; they can be found wherever there is land.
Humans can only collect fish from a very small area around the fish. The rest, given the still high temperature, will die from the heat in less than half a day and even start to emit an unpleasant odor.
Even if they did manage to rush over and pick it up, it would be inedible.
A day or two later, the wild was filled with a strong fishy smell.
A few days later, the fishy smell turned into a rotten smell, so foul that it made one's nose sting.
Many schools of fish were also surrounded by maggots, flies, mosquitoes, and even rats.
When Lu Xuan deployed a large number of drones to investigate, the villagers with him watched the disgusting scenes. The women couldn't help but gag, and the men's faces turned pale.
Li Tie's eyelids twitched, and he said, "Won't so many rotting fish and shrimp bring a plague?"
The others' expressions changed drastically.
The word "plague" held immense power for ordinary people like them, and for ordinary people in the past.
Throughout history, the number of deaths and injuries in places where plagues have occurred has been terrifyingly high.
With Lu Xuan around, and the island being isolated from the world, they have nothing to fear. But the Western Continent has millions of people living together; what if they get sick...?
Lu Xuan reassured him with an unchanged expression, "I have already reminded the new emperor in advance that the Western Continent should have already taken corresponding measures."
Chen Rong, who was talking to someone he knew in the Western Continent, said, "I asked around. The Emperor issued a proclamation yesterday, reminding people not to go out into the wilderness. Whenever they go out, they must wear gas masks and protective clothing to avoid contracting the disease."
Ge Yuanze, who had also inquired about the news from General Huo, said, "The Huo family army and the capital's guards are trying to burn all those rotten fish and shrimp. They've also used plant protection machines to spray a lot of disinfectant around the area. It seems there shouldn't be any major problems."
Once the rotting matter has continued to ferment and become nutrients in the soil, the crisis will be over.
The villagers, led by Li Tie, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"We've barely survived so many disasters before. It would be a huge loss if something happened because of these rotting fish and shrimp."
"Actually, there's no need to worry too much. If someone is unlucky enough to get sick, Lu Xuan has some medicines that are suitable for the symptoms, so there won't be any serious consequences."
"That's what they say, but of course it's better not to get sick if you can avoid it."
"That's true."
Upon learning of the measures taken by the Western Continent, Yunlu Village also began to clean up the environment around the three islands.
With Lu Xuan present, the incineration operation was completed quickly and efficiently, and even the smoke was absorbed by him using the Star Alliance's high-tech products.
Incidentally, Lu Xuan also placed these large machines around the island to absorb as much volcanic ash as possible.
Despite the united efforts of the people who descended from the land, an anomaly still occurred.
Half a month after the volcanic eruption.
The rotting fish and shrimp near human settlements were burned, and those further away were eaten by wild creatures until only fish bones remained. Even the fish bones naturally decomposed and disappeared without a trace. Just when people thought the crisis was over.
Countless screams piercing the sky startled everyone awake.
On the island of Yunlu Village.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
"Who's calling?"
The villagers, who were still asleep or had just woken up and hadn't had time to go out, were so startled that they rushed outside without even putting on their coats. They were immediately taken aback by the tall plants outside that were over a meter high, and couldn't help but lean back in surprise.
"What's this?"
"It looks like...weeds?"
Everyone around turned to look at Zhang Chengming, who had spoken, and exclaimed, "Have you ever seen weeds grow this tall in anyone's yard?!"
"Even the grass in the deep mountains of Yunlu Mountain isn't this outrageous!"
"Even if it's going to take a long time, it'll still take time, right? We didn't have any of these things last night!"
"It couldn't have been some wood-type ability user or Lu Xuan who was just bored and caused these weeds to grow, could it?"
"Li Jing?"
When his name was called, Li Jing immediately shook his head, "I didn't do anything."
"Hiss! The edges of these weeds are so sharp!" Chen Rong gasped as he tentatively reached out to a blade of grass in front of him. A cut on his finger was oozing blood.
Seeing this, Ji Xiuling immediately took out a cloth and pressed it against his wound, scolding, "Not only are these things dangerous, but who told you to reach out like that?"
Chen Rong chuckled, "I'm just trying it out. It's just a minor injury, nothing serious."
Those who had originally wanted to touch the weeds silently withdrew their hands after seeing Chen Rong's fate.
Li Tie loudly reminded everyone: "Be careful, keep an eye on the kids at home and don't let them out yet."
After saying that, he looked at Lu Xuan and said, "Ah Xuan, look at this..."
Lu Xuan said, "Everyone stay home and don't move. I'll go out and check."
The able-bodied men of the hunting party exchanged glances and stepped forward without hesitation, "We'll go too!"
“That’s right. We’re not bad at all right now. We can’t let you always be the one to take the lead.”
Lu Xuan remained noncommittal, "Then let's go together."
The group carefully avoided the sharp weeds, left the village to check the surrounding area of the island, and first made sure that there was no problem in the greenhouse before heading towards the edge of the island.
"Look over there!" Wu Yang pointed to the primitive coconut trees on the outer perimeter that Lu Xuan had deliberately left behind, his expression one of astonishment.
The others were also startled when they saw it.
The coconut tree, which was perfectly fine yesterday, has not grown any taller, but its appearance has changed drastically.
Not only did the straight tree trunks become crooked and twisted, but the leaves turned from green to purple, and the coconuts, which should have been green, turned into a glaring red, covered with many small bumps, making one's skin crawl.
The others' expressions changed drastically upon seeing this, but Lu Xuan narrowed his eyes slightly.
Before the mutated coconut trees in the greenhouse successfully mutated in the direction he wanted, there were several failed attempts. The appearance of the coconut trees in front of him was very similar to one of those failed attempts.
In other words, these trees...
[Mutation! It must be a mutation!]
[Wow! In just one night, how did so many mutated plants suddenly appear on the streamer's feed?]
Could it be that the streamer really did secretly get up last night and mutate all these plants?
[How incredibly bored must the streamer be to do something so pointless? What good would it do for them to mutate weeds? It can't just be for publicity; with their popularity, there's no need for that.]
What's going on? Is the era of livestreamers about to undergo a major transformation?
Lu Xuan couldn't say for sure what was going on, but soon someone discovered the coconut crab on the coconut tree.
Upon closer inspection, everyone discovered that the coconut crab was more than twice the size of its previous size and was also much more aggressive.
In the past, it would only try to attack with its pincers when it was caught, but this time, after noticing their presence, it climbed down from the tree and quickly came over.
Zhang Chengming and the others were startled and instinctively took the initiative to strike first, throwing wind blades and fireballs that killed the coconut crab when it was still three meters away from them.
Li Jing took a deep breath. "These crabs are much faster than before."
"Plants and animals have all changed drastically. What's going on?"
The unease in everyone's hearts grew stronger.
Lu Xuan didn't rush to answer, but said, "Let's go and take a look at other places."
Aside from killing a group of ferocious beasts when they first occupied the island, they did not exterminate the remaining herbivores. Therefore, wild sheep, pheasants, rabbits, and other animals can still be found in the wild, and seabirds occasionally land on the island.
Therefore, they quickly found these wild animals and discovered that, unsurprisingly, they had also changed.
They grew larger and more aggressive, lunging at them with ferocious expressions as soon as they saw them.
Having no other choice, the group quickly killed the animals.
Just as Lu Xuan bent down to examine the animals' fur, which was now even tougher than before, Li Jing suddenly shouted, "Oh no! The ranch!"
The others, thinking of the expanded herds of cattle, sheep, and chickens on the ranch, couldn't help but change their expressions and hurried towards the ranch, praying in their hearts that nothing bad would happen.
Wild animals can be killed, but farmed animals can provide them with a continuous supply of dairy products and fresh eggs.
If these things also go wrong, they won't be able to drink milk or milk tea anymore, nor will they be able to eat boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, steamed eggs, salted eggs, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and other delicious foods.
However, reality is often cruel.
When they arrived at the pasture, or rather, just approached it, the group saw cattle and sheep that were noticeably larger and more frenzied.
Many people felt their vision suddenly go black, and that it was all over.
"Wait! Don't jump to conclusions." Wu Yang observed carefully for a moment and said, "Although these cattle and sheep have changed, they haven't attacked the greenhouse. They don't seem to be as aggressive as wild animals."
The others paused, then began to observe, and subsequently discovered that it was indeed true.
Lu Xuan also noticed this. Comparing the differences between wild and farmed animals, his gaze fell on the feeding troughs in the ranch that were filled with the residue of various mutated crops and fresh fruits.
The group regrouped and entered the ranch.
As soon as they entered, the enlarged cows, sheep, and chickens became noticeably more restless, but they still didn't attack. They just kept mooing, bleating, and clucking, making a racket that hurt people's ears.
Lu Xuan's heart sank as he looked at the farmed animals. He opened his communicator to contact the village chief and others who were staying behind, telling them to stay at home and not come out for the time being. He then contacted the new emperor to inquire about the situation in the Western Continent.
As expected, things had also fallen into chaos over there.
Lu Xuan's eyes flickered slightly, and he turned to Zhang Chengming and the others, saying, "You all go back first, I'm going to the Western Continent."
After saying that, he took out the aircraft before anyone else could react, quickly started it up, and flew away from the island.
During the process, they quickly selected to start the first screen mirroring recommendation.
There aren't many streamers who can get featured on the screen mirroring feature, so unlike last time, it doesn't take a whole day to wait.
Instead, the application was approved immediately upon submission.
When Lu Xuan arrived in the Western Continent, the already large number of viewers in the live stream surged again, growing rapidly at a rate of hundreds of thousands of new online viewers and tens of thousands of new fans per second.
Western Continent.
Yangshan, Luochuan, Fengxian, Licheng...
In every town, countless people wearing gas masks were cutting waist-high weeds in front of their houses. Every now and then, someone would accidentally cut themselves on the sharp edges, wincing or cursing.
"These damn grasses are too sharp! Even my knife can't keep up with them!"
"Not only is it sharp, but it also grows too fast. I just cut it off, and several inches of new growth has already sprouted!"
"Pull it out by the roots!"
"Please don't! Someone was so angry just now that they tried to pull it out by the roots, and as a result, their gloves melted and their hands were cut and bloody."
"Then burn it..." He stopped mid-sentence, glancing at the fact that half the street was lined with tents, and swallowed his words.
They'll burn it down unless they're willing to abandon their own houses.
Someone sighed, "We're lucky we were just weeding. I heard that the people who went hunting or gathering today were really unlucky. Many of them encountered rabid wild animals. The pheasants and rabbits grew to the size of dogs and bit people on sight. Many people had flesh torn off and lost their lives."
"I've heard about it too. The clinic was extremely busy a while ago because of the fish going crazy. We finally had a period of peace, but now the clinic is full again."
"The superhumans, the guards, and the Huo family army are all outside the city, guarding and killing any approaching wild beasts. If it weren't for them, we probably wouldn't even have time to peacefully cut weeds."
The others were both alarmed and distressed upon hearing this.
"Nothing particularly noteworthy has happened recently, so how could things have changed so much overnight?"
"Who knows what happened? In the end, it's just that God didn't give us a way out."
"Sigh, I hope the higher-ups can come up with a solution soon."
·
At that time, inside the safe house that served as the council chamber in the capital.
The new emperor summoned his court officials, as well as leaders from other towns such as Liu Wenchi and Ye Feiluan, to discuss the current situation.
"In less than half a day, tens of thousands of people have been injured or killed in various towns and cities. This is even worse than when the fish went berserk. If it is not contained as soon as possible, the consequences will be unimaginable."
"It's easier said than done. We don't even know why those animals have to grow so big."
Ye Feiluan offered a guess.
“The plants and animals that have changed so much in the outside world seem to be greenhouse crops, as well as the plants that the wood-type ability users have contracted. The fur of those giant immortal beasts that Yunxianhou once took out, which were said to come from the immortal realm, also seems to be comparable to those animals that have grown bigger.”
The new emperor's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this. "Marquis Yunxian once mentioned the word 'mutation.' Could it be that the changes in these plants and animals are due to mutation?"
Minister Bai frowned. "But how could everything have mutated for no reason?"
The others whispered among themselves, but none of them could come to a conclusion.
"Your Majesty, I've seen it!"
Marquis Weiyuan, who had been fiddling with the remote control with several generals, shouted and zoomed in on the screen.
The images shown above are from dozens of drones that were sent out in advance to check the current situation in the outside world.
The ministers perked up and instinctively turned to look, their expressions instantly turning to one of utter horror.
"Oh my god!"
"So many wild animals!"
"There are so many plants, and they all look much taller than the weeds in the city!"
In dozens of scenes, you can see that every place is covered with countless weeds, trees and wild animals.
The weeds and trees looked nothing like what they remembered, and the wild animals were even more outrageous. They already knew that the animals had grown larger, but how come some of the wolves had horns on their heads and others had wings on their backs?
Some had their fur bristled and became like a hedgehog covered in thorns, while others had changed fur color, coming in all sorts of shades like red, green, and purple.
Those present were dumbfounded.
Someone had a sudden thought and raised a question: "Logically, many wild animals should have been submerged after a tsunami, so how come there are still so many herds of animals?"
An old general standing nearby said, "There's nothing strange about it. Not all places were flooded. There are still quite a few hilltops left. People know to escape to higher ground, so how could the animals not move? They probably only came down the mountain after they realized the tide had receded."
Then this ridiculous turn of events happened.
“Those plants are not right either.” Minister Bai said in a deep voice, “Logically speaking, the ground that has been soaked by seawater has become saline-alkali land with excessive salt content, and it is difficult for plants to grow in a short period of time.”
But now, those plants are growing even more abundantly than the crops in the greenhouse.
He even saw quite a few mushrooms that were bigger than a human face.
It hasn't rained at all recently, and the temperature is still around 40 degrees Celsius, which is not suitable for mushroom growth at all.
"Look over there, vines are attacking wild animals!" someone exclaimed, pointing to one of the scenes.
Upon closer inspection, the others indeed spotted what appeared to be the mutated poison vine they had seen at the auction. The vine-like tendrils quickly wrapped around the approaching rabbit, draining its flesh and blood in the blink of an eye, and then tossing the shriveled skin and the only remaining head to the ground.
"Hiss—!" The expressions of everyone present changed drastically.
The new emperor's expression darkened further.
Marquis Weiyuan solemnly said, "Your Majesty, this matter is extraordinary. It is probably beyond the comprehension of us mortals. We will likely have to wait for Marquis Yunxian to arrive before we can understand it."
The others nodded in agreement.
The new emperor nodded and said, "Marquis Yunxian is already on his way..."
Halfway through his sentence, an announcement came from outside: "Lord Yunxian has arrived!"
Those present immediately brightened up.
The new emperor quickly exclaimed, "Send the message immediately!"
When Lu Xuan entered the council hall, he was greeted not only by the ardent gazes of the court officials, but also by the astonishing images still playing in mid-air.
The viewers in the live stream were shocked when they saw it.
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