Chapter 126 Extra Chapter 3: Exploring a New World 3 [Author's unrestrained creativity, proceed with caution]
Neither of them was overconfident; they used their psychic abilities to trap the phantom jellyfish and then immediately sent Chiu Chiu back to the roots of the vines.
From afar, the two saw Wu Bing and his group training with Jiang Sui in the wild rice paddies.
Under Chen Shaoting's guidance, Jiang Sui successfully dodged the attacks of the wild rice bushes several times, and her observation skills and ability to judge mutated creatures improved considerably.
Wu Bing watched from the side, a smile on his face.
"Kid, you're not bad, you've got some of your aunt's charm."
Jiang Sui blushed and whispered, "How can I compare to my aunt..."
As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Zhi and Lin Yuan jumped off Qiu Qiu's back with another Jiang Zhi, who had been transformed from the phantom jellyfish.
Luo Yonghui was about to say hello when he saw Jiang Zhi No. 2 and his eyes widened.
What's going on?
Everyone else was stunned.
My gaze swept back and forth between the two ginger branches until my eyes ached, but I still couldn't find any difference.
Luo Yonghui: "What... what's going on? Zhi'er, your twin sister? I've never heard of her before..."
Jiang Sui frowned. "My aunt isn't a twin. I only have one aunt."
Hu Yang scratched his head, "Then...why does it look so similar?"
Chen Shaoting glanced at Hu Yang.
This isn't just similar; they're practically identical.
The same eyebrow and eye contours, even the very faint mole on the chin is exactly the same.
The way their lips turned down when they pursed them was the same, and even the way they frowned at Luo Yonghui's reaction seemed like they were doing it in front of a mirror.
Wu Bing: "Captain Lin, which of the two is actually Zhiya?"
Jiang Zhi said with a hint of helplessness, "Yes, I am."
Almost at the same instant, the phantom jellyfish next to it also moved its lips, and the same two words floated out softly.
However, Luo Yonghui and the others were mutants, so they could still distinguish these slight time differences.
The group was even more shocked by Jiangzhi No. 2's appearance.
"What on earth is this thing that's copying you?"
Jiang Zhi told the others about the phantom jellyfish.
The group's expressions immediately turned serious upon seeing Jiangzhi No. 2's face.
Just like Jiang Zhi thought, Luo Yonghui and the others also felt that the jellyfish was very dangerous.
Chen Shaoting said, "Azhi, it's better to get rid of this thing as soon as possible, otherwise it will cause trouble later."
Jiangzhi actually thought the same thing.
But what's amazing about this thing is that when it transforms into other races, it is almost unaffected by any physical or supernatural forces.
She and Lin Yuan had just tried to attack Jiangzhi No. 2, but the injured area would return to its original state.
Upon hearing this, the men's faces darkened.
Looking at that figure, so identical to Jiang Zhi's, one felt a chill creep down their spine—
If that's the case, then this thing is practically flawless.
Jiang Zhi said, "So we have to take this back first and see if the research institute can figure it out."
Jiang Zhi doesn't believe in the existence of a truly invincible being.
No matter how good the illusion jellyfish's illusion magic is, it must have a time limit. It's just that they don't know how long this time limit is yet.
Even if we can't completely eliminate it, keeping it in the base for experimental research would be a good option.
If the base can figure this out, it might be possible to transform it into a usable biological weapon.
In short, given the current state of the phantom jellyfish, Jiang Zhi felt somewhat disgusted whenever she thought about another "self" with the exact same face wandering around outside and doing all sorts of messy things.
Therefore, it's impossible for her to let it go.
Because of the incident with Ginger Branch No. 2, everyone lost interest in staying down there and decided to return to the base ahead of schedule.
After Jiangzhi asked Qiuqiu to bring the ginger tree back, the group took Jiangzhi No. 2 to the research institute.
After she told Professor Shen about the important aspects of the phantom jellyfish, the old man's glasses, which were already perched on the tip of his nose, suddenly slipped down halfway.
His eyes were shining brightly, his gaze fixed on Jiangzhi No. 2, muttering to himself, "Hmm...it's so similar, so very similar...the texture, the expression, even the micro-expressions are imitated so perfectly..."
Before anyone could explain further, he had already turned and rushed into the laboratory.
A moment later, she hurriedly pushed out a transparent vessel that was about half a person's height.
The edge of the vessel gleamed with a pale blue, cool light, and the inner wall seemed to have fine, flowing patterns. Professor Shen carefully placed the vessel around Ginger Twig No. 2.
As soon as it landed, a ring of light hummed up at the bottom of the vessel, and pale blue energy patterns crawled up the inner wall, forming an airtight light shield.
Jiangzhi No. 2 seemed to want to move, but as soon as it touched the light barrier, it was bounced back by an invisible force. Only a very faint ripple appeared on the light barrier, which disappeared in an instant.
"This is a specially made energy confinement device. Both its rigidity and its ability to absorb supernatural energy are outstanding." Professor Shen adjusted his glasses, his excitement barely concealed. "This jellyfish has great research value; it might even elevate our current medical technology to a new level!"
After saying that, he immediately called his assistant to push over a mobile experimental table and carefully moved the container that was trapping Jiangzhi No. 2 onto it.
Without even bothering to greet Jiang Zhi and the others, he walked briskly deeper into the laboratory, muttering to himself, "Let's test what level of attack it can withstand first... Oh, and connect the real-time monitoring device too..."
Jiang Zhi looked at Professor Shen, who was already immersed in his own world, and shook her head helplessly.
"Alright, let's hand over this harvest to others first," Jiang Zhi instructed Wu Bing and the others.
The trip didn't yield many results, but we managed to complete most of the tasks.
The heavy bag of mutant rice seeds and some tuber seeds in my backpack needs to be handed over to the planting department for trial planting and cultivation as soon as possible.
The bundles of tough, fibrous material and some wood as hard as diamonds that we collected were exactly the materials the logistics department needed, so we sent them over.
Some plant samples and small mutant organism samples that were collected on the spot were also sent to the institute's sample room.
After finishing these matters, Jiang Zhi remembered something else and said to the staff member beside her, "By the way, tell Colonel Huang that as agreed before, the new technological products developed by the research institute, whether weapons or protective equipment, must be sent to me for inspection first so that I can choose some that are usable."
This is what she deserves, and it's also a guarantee that gives her and those around her more confidence in the world today.
The staff member smiled and said, "Comrade Jiangzhi, don't worry, Colonel Huang has already instructed us on these. This is a newly developed product, and its uses and materials are all marked on it. Please take a look."
Jiang Zhi took the form and slid her finger down the list of entries. She quickly scanned the entries for alloy daggers and protective masks, only stopping when she saw the line for "sound storage device".
The note above states, "It can store 10 audio clips and consumes one unit of energy every 10 days."
This is perfect for keeping at home as a condiment.
I can give my family a break from time to time, and just thinking about it makes me happy.
Thinking of this, Jiang Zhi put a checkmark next to this line: "I'll take this one."
The things presented to her were mostly products that the research institute could mass-produce, and they were very stable and safe, so Jiang Zhi wasn't worried about anything.
She handed the remaining forms to her brother and Luo Yonghui, saying, "You guys take a look too. Pick out whatever you need, and just have the staff fill out the forms."
Jiang Shu didn't take a liking to it.
Wu Bing, on the other hand, took it and his eyes immediately fell on the "multi-functional bayonet" section. His pen flew across the paper: "This bayonet looks sturdy! I'll take this one!"
Hu Yang and Luo Yonghui also came over and whispered to each other about the items "portable emergency light" and "wear-resistant protective gloves," and soon they each checked off a few items.
After everyone had finished checking off the forms and handed them back to the staff, the sky outside the window had already darkened considerably.
The orange-red sunset peeked through the window cracks of the research institute, casting faint shadows on the ground, and even the air was filled with a relaxed weariness.
The new world is out of sync with time, with only winter and summer remaining.
Ten years have passed since the catastrophe, and we are now just entering the second year of the fourth summer.
Three months passed in this daily exploration of new worlds without me even realizing it.
During these three months, Professor Shen practically lived in the laboratory, working tirelessly on research.
On this day, he finally walked out of the laboratory with a stack of reports in his hand.
Upon hearing that there had been a breakthrough in the research on the phantom jellyfish, Jiang Zhi immediately pulled Lin Yuan along and rushed to the research institute.
Professor Shen pointed to the records in the report and said to Jiang Zhi in a light and quick voice, "There's a trick to the duration of the Phantom Jellyfish's transformation. Each time it transforms into a different species, if it gets injured in the middle, the duration will be shortened. Otherwise, it will lengthen the transformation time as its level increases. By the way, its physical defense is very weak; any ordinary person can kill it, just like the ordinary jellyfish we've seen before."
At this point, he pointed to another page of the report: "The most interesting thing is this—it doesn't have any independent thinking, but the longer it transforms into the same species, the better it can imitate the other's thinking. And there's something even more amazing: it has no reproductive isolation, so theoretically it can combine with any species."
Jiang Zhi's heart skipped a beat when she heard this.
She couldn't help but exchange a glance with Lin Yuan.
—The thing they were most worried about is indeed true.
Professor Shen, oblivious to their thoughts, turned and took out three vials of pale blue liquid from the refrigerator, his eyes filled with pride: "I tried using its property of not harming the original body after transformation, and extracted this healing liquid. Drinking it will make people recover quickly. Even if the body is blown to pieces, as long as the heart doesn't stop and the head doesn't die, it can recover to normal. It's just that this stuff is too precious. I racked my brains and only managed to get three bottles."
The ginger twig No. 2 in the container had somehow transformed back into a translucent jellyfish, swaying gently inside the light shield, looking like it had been tormented to the point of near collapse.
It transformed into the shape of ginger twigs one moment, and into Professor Shen and his assistants the next.
His eyes were glazed as he murmured, "Let me out...let me out..."
Jiang Zhi took a deep breath. This thing had only been in the research institute for three months, but it already seemed to have simulated a lot of human thinking.
They even perfectly mimicked human despair.
If this continues, she's really afraid that one day something unexpected will happen and it will escape.
Thinking of this, Jiang Zhi felt a chill run down her spine.
"Professor Shen, once you've done enough research on this thing, you should destroy it as soon as possible."
Professor Shen knew how troublesome this thing was, and nodded, saying, "Alright, even if we don't deal with this jellyfish, it won't survive past tonight."
Lin Yuan said, "No matter what, we can only feel at ease if it is completely destroyed."
In fact, Lin Yuan was a cautious man.
In a few months, once the elite mutants trained at the base have graduated, we'll take them to the deep pool and eliminate all these phantom jellyfish.
Only in this way can we completely eliminate future troubles.
Professor Shen nodded, "Don't worry, I know what's important."
As night fell, only the low hum of the instruments could be heard in the laboratory.
Professor Shen initiated the destruction procedure as planned. The pale blue energy shield gradually tightened, and the phantom jellyfish in the container, squeezed by the light barrier, had its translucent body shimmer with tiny specks of light, appearing powerless to struggle.
Professor Shen turned away, somewhat reluctantly.
After spending three months together, Professor Shen had actually talked to this phantom jellyfish quite a few times.
Reaching this point still leaves me somewhat disappointed.
The guard yawned, glanced at the instrument screen, saw that the readings were normal, and then turned and leaned against the wall by the door.
No one noticed that a tiny glimmer of light, smaller than a fingernail, silently separated from the gradually shrinking jellyfish.
If Professor Shen were to see this, he would definitely recognize it as the way jellyfish lay their eggs.
The faint light hovered in place for a moment, then suddenly transformed into an unknown black dot, drifting to the corner of the lab table and finally landing among a pile of tools, unnoticed by anyone.
This is also one of the characteristics of the mirage jellyfish.
Newly hatched jellyfish are just a ball of light, which can drift to any place at will.
This is a characteristic of the mirage jellyfish that improves the survival rate of its larvae.
It lay there quietly all night, unnoticed as the laboratory lights came on and off and the night watchmen changed shifts.
In the latter half of the night, the laboratory fell completely silent, and even the hum of the instruments subsided.
The black dot suddenly moved, as if gently blown by the wind, and rolled to the edge of the table. Then it shrank and transformed into a shiny black mutant ant—exactly the same kind that often crawls in the corner of the laboratory.
It quickly climbed down the table leg, slipped through the gaps in the floor tiles, avoided the soles of the patrolling guards' boots, and crawled all the way into the drainage pipe at the back door of the research institute.
As dawn approached, the "ant" crawled out from the other end of the pipe and landed in the grass outside the research institute. Morning dew clung to it, but it didn't stop; it quickly burrowed into the deeper grass, its figure flashing and disappearing completely into the shadows before the morning light reached it.
Meanwhile, in the laboratory, the destruction process was nearing its end, leaving only a puddle of pale blue water in the container.
No one could have imagined that this phantom jellyfish, which was thought to "not survive the night," would secretly leave behind a offspring unnoticed.
This offspring, separated from the phantom jellyfish, emerged from the research institute in the form of a mutated ant, but did not immediately leave the base.
It was too small and weak; any mutated creature could easily crush it.
Finally, it chose a corner of an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the base to hide.
Over the next few months, it grew silently, like a vine clinging to the shadows.
Sometimes it transforms into moss in the corner of the wall, quietly watching the patrol team members' boots roll over it.
Sometimes it transforms into a mutated midge and flies around.
It silently absorbs the biological information around it, mimicking the way humans walk and the tone of their voices in the base.
The phantom jellyfish larva hid in a corner of the base for several months, gradually transforming into the appearance of an inconspicuous boy.
Finally, he found an opportunity to blend into the outgoing group and leave the base. He instinctively returned to the deep pool, gathered his kin, and migrated to a distant place along the underground river.
Six months later, Lin Yuan and Jiang Zhi led their men to the deep pool to encircle and annihilate the jellyfish clan, only to find a stagnant pool of water, the entire Phantom Jellyfish clan long gone.
As time went on, the matter was overshadowed by a series of crises.
Years later, "pseudo-humans" gradually appeared in the new world.
They look exactly like humans and can mimic human speech, behavior, and even emotions, but they are not real humans.
Some are mixed in with human settlements in other parts of the world, while others form communities on the periphery.
No one knows its origin.
Humanity continues to struggle forward on this land, while these pseudo-humans, evolved from phantom jellyfish, carry the traces of imitation "humans" and quietly continue on another path.
Human civilization thus diverged into two directions.
A hundred or even a thousand years from now, perhaps these two species will merge into one in the same form to become a new race, or perhaps an unprecedented racial conflict will break out over the question of "who is the legitimate one".
However, that's a matter for later.
Now, who knows?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com