Chen Ming frowned slightly as he looked at the contents of the photo, and he was very confused.

It’s not because the people who died in Zuo Jing’s laboratory were killed by the laboratory’s protective measures.

Rather, it is the nature of this psychic fungal creature that makes human body tissue extremely toxic to them.

This trait doesn't seem to be a naturally occurring trait.

Just when Chen Ming was confused, Chaofan continued to patiently explain to Chen Ming: "After excessive absorption of high-concentration spores, some fungi will always take root on the corpses of their own kind."

"Although these spores that enter the human body also die shortly after taking root in the corpse, they will continue to adhere to various mucous membranes and cannot be expelled through normal breathing."

"Those that remained in the lungs led to damage to the alveoli, pulmonary hemorrhage, coughing up blood and suffocation, which ultimately led to the deaths of these individuals."

"It is likely that blood is leaking out of other parts of the body tissue in a similar situation. Spores on the mucous membranes of human tissue have taken root in the corpses of the same species and cannot be expelled."

Chen Ming looked at the deaths of the people in Zuo Jing's photo, and it was exactly the same as Chaofan's analysis now.

These fungi are indeed not a threat to humans unless they are intentionally present.

So... did Harmony Company transform the psychic fungal creatures immediately after capturing them?

Then the modified fungal organisms were sent to the plant research station in this galaxy? Or did these fungi have such characteristics from the beginning?

Chen Ming remembered that the records of the space station laboratory he controlled previously stated that the people from Harmony Company suffered serious losses when they captured this group of psychic creatures.

It can't be said that the miners went deep underground without any protective equipment and encountered these fungi, and then were choked to death by the high concentration of fungal spores underground, right?

It must be that these psychic fungal creatures were extremely aggressive towards humans from the beginning, which is why they caused the losses.

That is to say, this characteristic of "human body tissue is highly toxic" is most likely acquired later.

So Chen Ming asked Chaofan: "Is this kind of 'root gene modification' a technology currently mastered by humans?"

"yes."

"Oh, that's all right."

All the doubts in Chen Ming's mind were swept away, and it was certain that this was a feature specially created by Harmony Company.

However, Chen Ming still asked curiously: "When was this technology developed? Why don't I have any impression of it?"

Chaofan sent a paper and the website where the paper was published to Chen Ming's terminal and said, "Technology from five days ago."

"It was published by the research institute of Harmony Company. The paper states that this technology was obtained from the ruins of a destroyed civilization."

"Oh? Is it something found in the ruins of that civilization again?"

Chen Ming immediately opened the paper, but closed it again immediately after realizing that he could not understand what was written in it at all.

“Tsk.”

Chen Ming smacked his lips and clicked on the destination coordinates of the signal sent by the satellite in orbit of the mechanical planet that he had stored in the terminal.

There must be remains of a civilization there, which may also contain such technology.

In short, the situation has been sorted out.

Although the paper was published late, it does not mean that the technology was mastered late.

Maybe it’s because of this fungal organism that Harmony Company’s Research Institute has completely mastered this technology?

Chen Ming just regretted that he still needed to continue normal exploration and could not just send a spaceship there.

Besides, it would be useless to go there. Searching and investigating the ruins is also a huge project.

Who knows how many troubles are waiting for him along the way.

Even if Chen Ming really solved all the troubles on the road, the language problem would continue to bother him.

So Chen Ming took a look at the coordinate position and adjusted the terminal display interface back to normal. He decided to move forward slowly.

If he progresses fast enough along the way, he might be able to learn a few more things, and he will encounter fewer problems.

But suddenly Chen Ming realized a problem.

He asked Chaofan, "Wait a minute, Chaofan, your biological skills are already good enough to understand this cutting-edge paper?"

Chaofan suddenly brought up the previous matter and said, "According to your needs, I have planned a learning route for you that will allow you to use psychic energy to the effect of the Zerg."

"This learning route abandons the learning of most of the same-level technologies that are not necessary for the time being, just to achieve your goal."

Chen Ming understood instantly and said, "So you did the same."

"I don't want to invest too much in biology. My expertise lies in the research of spacecraft."

"That's fine."

After Chaofan figured out the fungi that Chen Ming had on hand, there was really no need for him to continue researching the organisms in depth.

There is indeed no biotechnology-related bonus among its additional Alpha Core bonuses.

Studying the cruiser was something it had no choice but to do. If it was asked to study the creatures for a while longer, Chen Ming felt like he was going to become depressed.

But Chen Ming still has a question to ask.

“What else can these fungi do?”

“Yes.”

"What?"

“Yes.”

"ah?"

Chen Ming asked again and again with some uncertainty, and the extraordinary answers he got were consistent.

But Chen Ming still clearly remembered that he had seen a biohazard sign painted on the door of the laboratory just now. Can these fungi really be eaten?

Chaofan explained: "The cultivation direction of psychic fungi at Harmony Company's Vegetation Research Station is food."

"This fungus reproduces extremely quickly. As long as it can grow normally like ordinary mushrooms, Harmony Company can cultivate a psychic food with a stable output."

Chen Ming carefully considered what Chaofan said, and it seemed that there was no problem.

Even if the Human Empire has not openly acknowledged the existence of psychics, it is impossible for Harmony Company to directly sell psychic food as a name and gimmick.

But since the CEO and the boss of Harmony Company know each other, and their spiritual energy food is not false propaganda, there will always be a market for it.

So if this psychic fungus can really be successfully cultivated and become psychic food.

It is of very high value to Harmony Company.

Moreover, Chen Ming had just seen what Chaofan wrote in the report he gave him.

The radiation from the stars in the galaxy of the Vegetation Research Station has a consistent effect on many plants.

That is, the plants affected by radiation will change in the direction of increasing their overall size, thinning their cell walls, and increasing the amount of intracellular fluid, that is, changing in a direction that makes them more suitable for eating.

Although fungi are not plants, they are the result of the changes of those plants.

Harmony Company would send the fungi here after modification for trial.

The result of the attempt seems to be that there is a real possibility of success.

Because Chaofan discovered it based on the data of the space station that Chen Ming brought back.

It has been a month since Harmony sent the modified fungi to this space station, and it should have experienced the stellar radiation it was supposed to.

Moreover, the space station has already applied for the next batch of fungi for experiments, and it was approved on the same day of application.

If this project had not progressed, it would definitely not have been so easy to get the psychic fungus approved.

So…these fungi may have evolved into edible forms.

Chen Ming slightly supported his forehead. It turned out that fungi and other things should be fed to the queen insects...

Although he had this thought in mind, he still asked, "Do these psychic fungi have other uses?"

Chaofan replied: "Basically it only has its own function, as a highly offensive biological weapon."

"Although this fungus is harmless to humans, it is highly contagious and can cause great damage to the host after parasitizing it."

"But it has another fatal weakness: it is afraid of high-intensity ultraviolet rays. That's why Harmony discovered it deep underground."

Afraid of UV rays?

Chen Ming was stunned for a moment and asked, "What about the starlight?"

"I'm afraid, but the stars in the galaxy where the Vegetation Research Station is located are special, and their spectrum contains almost no ultraviolet rays, so the Vegetation Research Station can carry out subsequent experiments."

Chen Ming frowned again and said, "It's not even qualified to be a biological weapon. If it wants to be a biological weapon, it must first remove its weakness of being afraid of ultraviolet rays."

"Otherwise, when the sun rises, the biological weapons will all be wiped out. That would be really..."

In that case, he had to really consider the option of feeding the fungus to the Zerg.

Anyway, he could keep some samples and consider other uses for these fungi later.

But as Chaofan said, although this thing poses no threat to humans, it will still cause big problems if released into nature.

After all, these fungi are alive and can hide underground, lurking during the day and becoming active at night.

If such biological weapons were used to attack humans, they would be eliminated in minutes.

But if it is in nature, it is very harmful to any living thing.

Besides, if a living organism is parasitized, the fungi inside the organism are not afraid of the starlight outside.

These organisms will become time bombs storing fungi, which are very dangerous.

So Chen Ming thought about it and decided to give the Queen Insect the shriveled sample he had obtained before, which would be safer.

But at this moment, the Queen of Insects seemed to have learned some of Chen Ming's ideas through the hive mind network, which was multi-directionally connected.

There was a hint of resistance from it.

It wanted Chen Ming to feed it living psychic fungal creatures, and it wanted to kill them and devour them itself.

Although Chen Ming didn't know what the significance of this was, the Queen Insect would definitely not be in danger with Chen Ming's protection.

Even if he got hurt, the worst that could happen was that he would stuff the Queen's consciousness back into another body that she had created before.

So Chen Ming satisfied the Queen of Insects' wish without thinking too much.

Maybe the queen of insects thinks that the prey she killed with her own hands tastes better.

However, just in case, Chen Ming still let the Queen Insect leave the nest temporarily.

Keep a distance from the insect nest while eating the fungus that Chen Ming sent over to prevent the fungus from spreading and causing problems in the insect nest.

Anyway, the only people on the entire planet who can threaten the Queen of Insects are the mechanical race, and the mechanical race is now all under Chen Ming's control.

These mechanical creatures can even protect the Queen Worm, so the Queen Worm will not be in danger even if she leaves the hive.

Perhaps after the queen insect kills and eats these psychic fungi, after digestion is complete, it will usher in the next cocooning and evolution.

It's time for the weekly record again.

Because of the Queen of Insects, there is a lot more content in this week's records, but other content has been slightly reduced.

After all, Chen Ming had been mainly studying and taking care of Queen Insect's affairs in the past week, so naturally he paid less attention to other things.

However, Huihuang has never stopped exploring the surrounding galaxies.

In the past week, two habitable planets and seven or eight planets with open-pit mines or other resources were also discovered.

Chen Ming could clearly feel that as the scope of exploration expanded, the number of valuable galaxies and planets was increasing.

But the things inside are still the same, not worth Chen Ming's excessive investment.

We'll go to the habitable planet as we did before and catch some creatures to feed the queen insect.

It is enough to leave some simple development equipment and some afterglow individuals on the resource planet to collect resources.

In addition to recording these galaxies, the devices on them, and the number of afterglow individuals.

There was nothing else to do. Chen Ming quickly turned off the terminal and lay down on the bed.

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

It’s time for Chen Ming’s weekly recording again.

This past week, like the week before, everything went according to plan.

Naturally, Chen Ming began to record the important events, exploration progress and learning progress of the past week step by step.

The important event of this week was that the Queen of Worms, after nearly falling apart, successfully used the highly corrosive blood that evolved after being infected by fungi to kill the psychic fungi in her body and devoured these psychic creatures.

Entered the evolutionary cocoon again.

Now Chen Ming understood why the Queen Insect had insisted on feeding it living psychic fungi.

Because being parasitized by fungi is also a battle in a sense.

But the battlefield is inside the Queen Insect's body.

During the battle, the Queen of Insects evolved highly corrosive blood specifically for targeting the fungi that parasitized it, and ultimately won the victory.

This time, the queen insect's cocoon-making process seems to take longer than before.

Anyway, the queen insect formed a cocoon three days ago, and there has been no reaction until today.

However, since Chen Ming does not need to worry about the Queen Insect's safety, he now hopes that the Queen Insect's cocooning time can be longer.

Based on Chen Ming's understanding of the Queen Insect during this period, the longer the Queen Insect spends in cocoon form, the greater the degree of evolution, and the stronger the ability that will eventually be evolved.

Chen Ming took note of the Queen Insect's situation this week, and then began to record this week's exploration progress.

He had another important matter to record.

During the day today, when Chen Ming and Bai Quan were in class.

Bai Quan suddenly sent Chen Ming an invitation letter, an invitation letter to his promotion ceremony to lieutenant general.

This is a formal invitation and a formal procedure that must be followed.

The promotion ceremony will begin in a month, giving everyone invited to participate ample time.

Although Chen Ming would not go and had no way to go, he still said curiously at the time: "I thought that this kind of formal awarding ceremony would at most invite some people of status and position."

"The Fourteenth Legion is not an orthodox imperial army, but an independent legion, so some of its rules are different from those of the army."

“And there is a banquet after the ceremony, which is itself an occasion for communication.”

After receiving Bai Quan's reply, Chen Ming didn't say anything more.

Anyway, this promotion ceremony has little to do with him.

He has already received the benefits from Bai Quan, so the credit belongs to Bai Quan and should have nothing to do with Chen Ming.

Moreover, it has been almost a month, and Baiquan has almost approved everything that needs to be approved.

The Stardust class was already carrying the artificial spiritual awakening nerve towards the boss.

It won’t be long before Chen Ming will be able to get a new cruiser that can best utilize his psychic combat power, as well as a spiritual awakening nerve that will definitely allow him to further improve his mental power.

Of course, this incident did not affect Chen Ming, and he still studied normally during the day.

At night when it is almost time to rest, the records are also normal.

Just do what you should do anyway.

The record is recorded.

Chen Ming just made a note of this matter. After all, Bai Quan must have been very busy during those days, and his studies might have changed a little during those days.

Remember it in advance so that you won’t be in a rush when the day comes.

These are the only two important things worth recording.

Now it’s time to record the progress of exploration in the past week.

In the past week, the afterglow individuals have explored the surrounding area to more than 170 light years, which is faster than Chen Ming expected.

Chen Ming would drive the Supreme Point to visit every valuable planet.

Take away the creatures, leave behind an afterglow, and transmit back data.

Mine some easily exploitable resources as well.

After doing repetitive things for too long, the initial novelty wore off and Chen Ming gradually began to feel bored.

It's only when some new species are discovered on a planet that they are temporarily kept and prepared to be fed to the queen insect later.

Then Chen Ming would find it a bit fun to guess what traits the queen insect could exhibit and what abilities it could have.

Studying is the same as last week.

Everything is proceeding step by step. There has not been much progress and the progress is not fast.

There wasn’t much worth recording, so Chen Ming wrote something casually and lay down on the bed.

This week has been a quiet one.

Time is like a wild donkey, it never stops when it starts running.

Another week passed as Chen Ming repeated his daily study.

Nothing important happened this week, and the Queen was still in her cocoon.

However, Glory has already commanded the Afterglow individuals to expand the scope of exploration to more than two hundred light years.

At this distance, the hyperspace channel has basically been completely blocked by the hyperspace cloud.

Chen Ming’s highest point needs to open up a path first before the other small boats behind can enter the galaxy for investigation.

It’s not troublesome at all, just fly over there and it’ll be done.

But the development itself is still as boring as usual.

However, from here on, the number of valuable galaxies discovered by afterglow individuals is increasing.

Chen Ming even found sky steel ore in a galaxy.

Although no definite traces of the Alturan Sky Eels have been found, the existence of Sky Steel Ore is proof that Sky Eels once lived in this galaxy.

Maybe it just went to another galaxy.

So Chen Ming asked Huihuang to increase the exploration of several surrounding galaxies, but no trace of Kongyu has been found so far.

However, in addition to Kongyu, there are other planets that are worthy of Chen Ming's attention.

For example, there are two planets with advanced resources, and a dozen resource planets with different scales where resources can be easily developed.

These planets, like the previous ones, have been used by Chen Ming to develop resources using some of his remaining energy.

There should be more galaxies waiting for Chen Ming to do this in the future.

To the extent that Chen Ming was thinking about whether he needed to bring back some of the afterglow individuals that were temporarily stationed on planets of lower value to mine resources and exchange them for other planets.

Although it is not needed for now, as Chen Ming continues to explore and jump to the next location, he will explore the further expansion of the scope.

The day will come when the remaining energy in Chen Ming's hands will run out.

He always had to keep some in reserve.

However, when Chen Ming and Huihuang mentioned this, although Huihuang did not say it directly, its three minutes of silence made Chen Ming suddenly feel that he seemed to have asked a meaningless question out of his mind.

That's it for exploration in general.

And in terms of learning.

According to Chaofan's previous plan, Chen Ming has mastered some biological technologies related to the Zerg by learning only one technology tree.

This is the technology for making shellac that Chaofan had specifically pointed out before.

As for the other technology of rapid biomass condensation, after the Queen Zerg ate the energy crystal crab and had the Zerg's own energy crystals, Chen Ming no longer needed to learn this thing.

Biomass agglomerates are completely replaced by energy crystals.

Chen Ming just needs to learn the technology of energy crystals related to energy crystal crabs that he had stolen from Yu Hui before. Through the body of the Queen Worm, Chen Ming can directly make everything that needs to be made.

In fact, energy crystals have also replaced the function of shellac to a certain extent.

After all, every Zerg has energy crystals in its body, and its activity time is greatly extended, so the importance of shellac must have been reduced.

However, shellac, a common nutritional supplement for the Zerg, is still needed when the Zerg are engaged in long-term battles, so Chen Ming continued to learn it.

And through the fragments of the Queen Insect's body that Chen Ming knocked off from the empty shell of the Queen Insect's unconscious body, Chen Ming can directly produce shellac around him.

To be honest, this gel-like bright green food makes Chen Ming very hungry no matter how he looks at it.

It doesn’t smell like anything at normal times, but if you poke a hole in the surface of the gel, a unique aroma from inside will leak out.

Just like what Chen Ming just made in his hand.

Chen Ming has always carried a piece of the queen insect's body tissue with him. It was specially made into a wrist guard and worn on his left hand, like pieces of black scales covering his wrist.

This makes it convenient for him to indirectly transform some of the Zerg-related things he needs through this body tissue at any time, and it can also help him test his mastery of Zerg biotechnology.

Just now, Chen Ming was recording what happened in the past week.

Chen Ming's other hand applied it subconsciously.

My hand slipped and produced shellac, and I accidentally broke the skin a little.

Staring at the shellac in his hand that exuded a unique aroma, Chen Ming suddenly swallowed.

(End of this chapter)