Chapter 91: You are my miracle.
That expression and tone were too unusual, and Cheng Ming sensitively grasped some subtle things.
This parasitism of theirs seemed to be different from all the forms she had seen.
“What is your relationship with her?” she asked.
“Perhaps it should be said to be a friendship that crosses species?” Chu Lanying did not hide it and looked at her meaningfully. “Just like you, and your current identity. I saved her, and she reached a cooperation with me. I voluntarily became an experimental subject, and she voluntarily gave me her body.”
Her smile deepened, “I will complete our common ideal for her.”
Fungus, governance.
Humans, Jiao.
Her heart was like a pendulum, and it was ringing in her chest. Her brain had automatically recorded the keywords.
She was actually a witness to the joint efforts of these two species to solve the pollution.
In 2143, the ocean pollution had occurred suddenly. After that, for a long time, various countries had been busy dealing with it and were unable to take care of themselves. It was only after the establishment of the Defense Center that they had a breathing space and could spare their hands to trace the source.
People had tried to deal with the source of the pollution leakage, but had found that the wastewater seemed to be coming from the deep ocean and the deep sea, and it was impossible to accurately locate it, nor could it be blocked.
The reasonable guess proposed by the scientific community was that the nuclear waste that had been dumped for many years had formed sediments and had accumulated at the bottom of the sea. Even if there was an overflow, it had always been diluted and purified. The infinite tolerance of the sea had relaxed human’s sense of danger. It was like a glass of water that was already full. Because it could still hold a paper clip, the greedy person had continued to throw this sharp and hard object into it, one, two, three… the greater the curvature of the water surface, the deeper the ripples, until the last one that had exceeded the limit had fallen in, and drip, the surface tension of the water had broken, and the water had spilled.
The accumulated pollution had broken out one day, and there was no way to reverse it.
Which countries should be responsible for this, history was no longer verifiable, and the small people would not admit it. As early as many centuries ago, humans had been used to different forms of war. There was only continuous shirking and mutual accusations. At this point, the responsibility for paying for the mistake was shared by all mankind.
And this mistake had affected far more than just humans.
Chu Lanying’s gaze on the aquarium was exceptionally gentle.
Before she knew the answer, Cheng Ming would have thought that her gaze was really at her “grandchildren,” but now she understood that the other was probably like seeing a savior.
From the point of view of possibility, to create a “cleaning blanket” that could cover the entire ocean area and could absorb radioactive substances, as the top of the largest creatures on earth, fungi were indeed the best choice.
More than four hundred million years ago, it was the combination of fungi and algae that had broken open the barren rocks and had opened a new chapter of life on this barren planet.
Now, it was once again hoped that it would inherit the heavy responsibility of opening up a path for life.
“What you got was the Wave-Born Floating Flower Algaefungus?” she confirmed.
She remembered how she had agonized for a long time over whether Xiao Ming’s true form was the fungus or the fish. And after understanding the essence of her experimental subject, she had determined that the fungus was just a binder between humans and fish.
But now, looking at it again, her past suspicions were not without reason.
It turned out that from this perspective, the mycelia were indeed the protagonist.
But this kind of fungus, why was it used for fusion experiments? What did the creation of so many monsters have to do with this completely glorious and righteous “world-saving” research?
Everything was beyond imagination.
While Cheng Ming could clearly feel her heart beating faster, her head was empty and numb, and she had a sense of unreality and dissociation.
And, what was the purpose of the existence of flesh and blood? Was it just to treat her as Xiao Ming’s culture dish?
However, somewhat surprisingly, Chu Lanying shook her head, “Not entirely.”
She withdrew her gaze and looked at her again, and explained patiently, “This is just the result, not the beginning and the process.”
After a large amount of screening, it was indeed found that the Wave-Born Floating Flower Algaefungus was the most suitable to shoulder the heavy responsibility. But for a simple fungus to be used for ocean cleaning, the possibility was still too remote. Just looking at the third stage of pollution that was now being intensively and painstakingly solved, it was known that fungi could not communicate, and in a nutrient-rich environment, they would only grow wildly and compress the living space of other creatures.
The original intention of treating nuclear radiation was to solve the survival crisis. If the treatment result was still the achievement of a mass extinction, it would be putting the cart before the horse, and it would be an absurd and hellish joke.
“So, after exploring many different directions, we thought that the mycelial network was similar to a neural network. In the past, there was research that suspected that this creature had an unknown communication mode. And so, then, we had a sudden idea that perhaps we could intervene artificially and adjust its metabolic system, so that it would form a giant intelligent life form—the kind that could communicate with humans.”
Cheng Ming’s eyelids were unknowingly rounded, and her pupils were dilated.
Wrong, she was not a witness. She was the result of their countless trial and error—a human-mermaid-fungus hybrid with a human consciousness.
Were you creating a god?
As she listened, this became her only thought.
“Baby,” Chu Lanying looked at her with a smile and also called out this intimate title, which made her feel a sense of disgust and resistance, and also a confused and terrifying dizziness. “You are my miracle.”
…
She was an experimental subject, and she existed to solve the problems of this world.
The impact of the latter was greater than the former.
“So, I didn’t lie to you, Xiao Ming,” Chu Lanying’s gaze was even more gentle. “The land can’t raise you. You have to go to the ocean, you can only go to the ocean.”
“How much potential does your body have? Haven’t you felt it?” she caressed her with a pleasant expression, although her fingers had just gotten close when they were knocked away by Xiao Ming’s mycelia.
Indeed, the power of this body was always breaking through her understanding, and it was still growing and constantly raising its limits.
Her understanding of Xiao Ming was completely insufficient.
Her understanding of herself was completely insufficient.
Now, with enough information, she could finally understand.
But it was also becoming more and more difficult to understand.
“In that case, why did you still give me so much freedom?” she asked Chu Lanying, with a questioning, sarcastic, and self-mocking tone.
To let her experience the warmth of the human world and then take it away, didn’t she think it was too cruel?
She had suddenly lost, and had suddenly learned too much. She was a little dazed, but she felt more absurd.
Should she call her mother? Would a mother create a daughter just to let her die?
“It’s not death, my child,” she smiled gently and replied patiently, but in Cheng Ming’s eyes, it was all a hypocritical care and pity. “Oh, sorry, should I, first, introduce you to our race?”
Mermaids, without a doubt, were also an extremely advanced race.
They had their own system of civilization.
Following Chu Lanying, the moment she walked out of this high-tech space, the light and her physical sensation all changed. It was as if she had stepped into a desolate and deep underwater tunnel. Cheng Ming walked into a holographic corridor.
As her foot landed, a seed on the ground emitted a faint blue fluorescence. As they walked forward, it gradually took root and grew branches, dispelling the darkness and spreading out more veins.
This was the evolutionary tree of a species.
Jiao and humans were not convergent evolution, but a divergence of the same lineage.
A sister group that had evolved together in the long river of time.
The specific era was difficult to clearly verify. It was a long time that was measured by the growth of this planet, spanning ten thousand years, and ten thousand thousand years, a magnificent epic.
Everything had originated from a special marine microorganism. According to the current classification, it should belong to the Rickettsia.
“Do you know about Wolbachia?” Chu Lanying pointed to the light screen on the wall and pulled out a standard purple Gram-negative bacterial cell structure.
If she were in the education industry, she would probably be a good teacher. She started with a phenomenon that was in line with Cheng Ming’s cognition and introduced a bacterium that was widely symbiotic with insects.
The infection of this bacterium had a significant gender preference, and it often led to an extreme imbalance in the host’s sex ratio, and even a complete abandonment of males.
An infection event in the evolutionary history of the mermaid species was clearly caused by a microorganism similar to Wolbachia.
Parasitism and symbiosis, mutual benefit and struggle.
“In the long-term co-evolution with it, it eventually led us to the path of complete parthenogenesis. This created the biggest difference between us and humans—we will pass on our individual genes completely to our offspring.”
Glancing at Cheng Ming’s frowning and thoughtful expression, she guessed what she was thinking and said with a light laugh:
“From the perspective of genetic diversity, this is indeed not conducive to adapting to the environment, but we have our ‘technology.’ Just like your powerful medical technology, I don’t know how many embryos that should have been naturally eliminated have been saved.”
“…” Cheng Ming relaxed her slightly furrowed brow and was speechless.
Chu Lanying continued, “And, it has a powerful fusion ability. The fish part of a mermaid, to some extent, is indeed an accidentally stitched-together foreign product. And as you now know, our ability to change our appearance also comes from it to some extent.”
Fusion.
Keenly capturing this word, Cheng Ming was slightly stunned and blurted out, “Wave-Born Floating Flower Algaefungus?”
“No,” but Chu Lanying shook her head and denied it. “Wave-Born Floating Flower Algaefungus is its imitation.”
“Have you heard that this algaefungus was discovered by Cheng Ran in animal cells?” she turned her head to look at Cheng Ming. In this chaotic tunnel, the data and images around her were changing, and the flowing light was faint and brilliant. She was like an elf shuttling through the cracks of time and space, and she was slowly revealing the unimaginable truths that had been intentionally hidden. “It was a cover.”
“Can you imagine?” her smile was subtle. “This fungus, the culprit of many disasters you thought, was created by you humans.”
