Chapter 89: Artificial Selection
[This doesn't seem like good news.] 's voice rang out on the command channel, steady but tinged with gravity.
Outside the temporary command post, the ground trembled slightly.
Already, several Rot-Beasts the size of heavy trucks, relying on their post-evolution immense physical toughness, were weathering the artillery fire and charging, roaring, to within less than two kilometers of the front line.
Several Type 99A main battle tanks on standby swiveled their turrets; their 125 mm smoothbore guns spat tongues of fury, and armor-piercing shells easily tore open the flank of a shelled nearly ten meters in length.
But behind it, a second one immediately charged out from behind the rubble. Its forelimbs had evolved metallic-glinting claws that effortlessly gouged open the prefabricated concrete barriers at the front edge of the position.
Another shell blasted the latter into shredded flesh as well, but behind it, more figures loomed through the smoke and dust.
There was no doubt about it—they had already begun evolving to adapt to artillery fire. The new Rot-Beasts were charging closer and closer, and the pressure on the defense line was mounting rapidly.
Inside the temporary command post, everyone listened to 's discovery, the atmosphere growing ever heavier.
A living, intelligent ecosystem in the process of awakening? Just hearing the concept made it feel impossibly troublesome.
However, upon hearing 's words, in the laboratory shook her head instead, the corners of her mouth curving up slightly as she continued over the command channel: "Quite the opposite—this is good news."
Everyone was taken aback.
instinctively looked up and asked with a frown, "What do you mean? Have you found a way to completely destroy it?"
"Unfortunately, no," denied bluntly. "The essence of that thing is a complete ecosystem.
And unlike the traditional ecosystems on this planet, whose reaction speeds must almost be described in geological epochs, its iteration speed is inconceivably fast.
The death of any individual organism, the rise and fall of any population, is nothing more than a negligible part of its vast metabolism.
For every chemical poison we've tried so far, it can evolve a targeted immune population within two to three generations.
Even high-energy radiation, it can adapt to by evolving more efficient energy-capturing cellular structures—it just takes much longer."
"Ah!" instinctively rubbed the back of his head, sighing in exasperation. "Then isn't it basically invincible?"
"Not quite," said, her tone carrying an irrepressible excitement. "At least for now, its adaptability remains sluggish in the face of pure, absolute kinetic impact, intense heat, and high-energy lasers.
So we still have a chance right now."
[What chance?] pressed.
"Don't forget, I said it hasn't 'woken up' yet." In the laboratory, 's eyes burned with intensity. "As long as it hasn't reached that final step, its 'intelligence' remains at the level of following instinct and rules—not yet capable of examining and designing hierarchies and rules themselves."
"A living ecosystem is, in the end, still just an ecosystem. Those Rot-Beasts remain fundamentally ignorant and primitive."
[Continue.] A flash of insight streaked through 's consciousness core—he seemed to have vaguely grasped the crux of 's idea.
"To them in , we are the true natural disaster and environment!" 's tone grew even more excited.
"We are part of their natural selection! If that's the case, then why don't we try... adding a little something extra to their 'natural selection' process?"
As her words landed, the eyes of everyone in the command post lit up at the same time—they understood now too.
"When it comes down to it, for ignorant beasts, survival is the only metric of success.
Why don't we 'teach' them which evolutionary path gives them the greatest chance of survival?" In the laboratory, spread her arms wide, her face full of eager anticipation, like someone ready to watch a spectacular show.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let's conduct an unprecedented, maximally efficient... !"
"Understood." replied crisply, then turned to the virtual screen. " , do we have candidate 'breeding' targets yet?"
[Found them.] Even while was laying out her idea, had already located several targets using drones in .
[Zones J-7, K-4, and M-11—the Rot-Beasts produced by the newly grown mushrooms in these three areas are smaller in size, high in structural redundancy, and the weakest in attack power.]
"Received!" 's voice was instantly relayed through the command system to all fire units. "All artillery crews, attention: immediately reduce fire coverage intensity on zones J-7, K-4, and M-11!
Shift the focus of fire to prioritize eliminating all individuals with strong offensive traits, high mobility, and body sizes over five meters! Repeat: prioritize their elimination!"
And so, a grand-scale "domestication" began.
The roar of artillery did not cease—it merely became more deliberate and precise.
A that had just evolved a metallic outer shell, resembling a giant rhinoceros, was hit by three plasma rounds simultaneously before it could even charge out of the mushroom cap's range, vaporized on the spot.
On the other side of the city, a cluster of freshly hatched, hound-sized, soft-bodied Rot-Beasts that could only squirm were completely ignored.
In the sky, the drone swarms were like the strictest of examiners—any that attempted to fly was precisely sliced by lasers the instant it took off.
Any individual that ran too fast was met head-on by self-destruct drones.
And underground, the faithfully recorded all of it—which "designs" survived and which were eliminated.
Three hours later, a new batch of Rot-Beasts hatched from the fruiting bodies were all visibly a size smaller.
This war had thus become a bizarre, one-sided screening process.
***
Meanwhile, outside the in .
Gazing at the colossal creature coiled in the institute's central plaza, everyone on the instinctively held their breath.
Its body was coiled in three full loops, translucent crystal scales layered one upon another, refracting cold iridescent light in the afternoon sun—like a creature out of myth.
Even though its eyelids were tightly shut, apparently in slumber, the oppressive pressure of its enormous frame still made everyone's hearts skip a beat.
"The monitor reading is stable at 'Zero-Level -95.' No fog zone detected," lowered his binoculars and said in a low voice. "Good news—this thing probably hasn't reached third tier."
"Don't let your guard down," shook his head, his voice coming through the speakers of his power armor. "' ' was able to actively control its fog zone.
With that snake's ridiculous size, it's hard to say what its exact tier is. Maybe it simply doesn't have fog-zone traits, or maybe it just hasn't released its fog yet."
Then he checked the power level of his and gave the order: "You all hold the perimeter. I'll go in alone first to scout the situation.
See if I can find the research data or prototype for that new high-power microwave weapon Professor Xu mentioned.
, get me drone navigation."
[Received.]
"Alright, you be careful." nodded in response.
Then lowered his profile and, hugging the shadows along the perimeter wall, silently sidled up to the institute's north gate.
After entering, he looked up and took in the scene—the interior was even stranger than what could be seen from outside.
The once-neat green belts had long since died, replaced by vast clusters of blue crystals growing from the soil, some two to three meters tall, like fountains frozen in time.
The building facades were covered in a thin, transparent crystalline film that split sunlight into countless fragmented spectral bands as it passed through, making the entire compound feel like the inside of some enormous prism.
Aside from that, most of the buildings here had collapsed. Wearing the " " power armor, he carefully picked his way through the rubble and debris.
The good news was that the mutated crystal giant serpent coiled in the central area didn't seem to have noticed him—this sneaky little bug.
The bad news was that the institute's corridors were abnormally packed with zombies, and their crystallization symptoms were far more severe than those outside.
Some had most of their bodies replaced by crystal, with only a small patch of gray, rotting flesh left exposed.
The crystals at their joints had frozen them into rigid postures, yet they still shuffled along slowly, every step accompanied by faint, crisp "click" sounds.
And stranger still—when stepped into that area, the heads of those previously sluggish crystallized zombies actually turned, all at once, slowly tracking his movement!
A spine-chilling sensation of being silently watched by countless eyes instantly broke a cold sweat across 's back.
What was going on? Had the pheromones he carried, which made zombies ignore him, stopped working?
frowned, thought for a moment, and cautiously retreated to a blind spot.
Then he quickly pulled a simple "perfume" vaporizer from his pack and cranked its output to maximum.
However, when he cautiously stepped out of cover again, those zombies' heads still turned toward him with precision.
So it wasn't a concentration issue either—these zombies genuinely couldn't be affected by pheromones.
Having confirmed this, 's heart sank.
Fortunately, these zombies only "watched" him without attacking, their crystallized eyes hollow and lifeless, as if it were merely some instinctive reaction.
Therefore, despite his unease, he didn't choose to retreat.
Rifle at the ready and following the route plotted by the drone, he continued creeping toward a laboratory building deeper inside that was still in relatively good condition.
Along the way, blue crystals were everywhere.
They sprouted from cracks in the walls, spread out of manhole covers in the ground; in several places where ceilings had collapsed, crystals had fused the concrete slabs of two floors into one.
In the distance, the giant serpent's steady breathing was faintly audible—dull and rhythmic.
At last, he reached his destination.
Half a wall of the laboratory building had collapsed, which spared him the trouble of breaking in.
raised his muzzle and silently dropped several crystallized zombies blocking the way with a few electromagnetic rounds.
Taking advantage of the gap while they convulsed on the ground and hadn't yet gotten back up, he darted into the building.
Then, without sorting through anything, he worked furiously, sweeping every seemingly useful paper document and blueprint in sight into his pack.
He then tried to boot up a computer; after confirming the power was out here, he decisively unplugged and took every hard drive and portable storage device he could carry.
On the HUD inside his tactical helmet, the drone's navigation arrow steadily pointed along the extraction route.
Just as he finished looting, stuffed the last hard drive into his pack, and was about to pull out—
The entire institute suddenly shuddered.
"Hsss—!"
Immediately after, a bizarre hiss—like crystals grinding together—came from the center of the institute.
's expression shifted, and he immediately looked toward the central plaza through his tactical visor.
The crystal giant serpent had actually raised its incomparably huge head and, opening its maw, sprayed a colossal, visibly blue-white stream of vapor into the sky.
The stream dispersed after rising a dozen or so meters—revealing countless fine crystal particles falling like a blue blizzard.
"Take cover! Minimize contact!" 's and 's warnings rang out simultaneously over the channel.
and the others outside, along with inside, immediately took in the nearest buildings.
***
The battlefield.
The results of the "domestication" tactic far exceeded expectations.
After over thirty hours of extremely patient, targeted screening, the battlefield situation had undergone a fundamental reversal.
The fruiting body in Zone K-2 had visibly shriveled; the new generation of Rot-Beasts it produced had shrunk from the size of a dog to that of a house cat.
More critically—they no longer actively charged the positions.
Under the 's special rule of "either grow weaker, or die," the evolutionary direction of the rot-flesh fungus had been forcibly twisted.
All newly grown mushroom fruiting bodies developed toward miniaturization and densification; any individual that tried to grow larger was immediately eliminated by targeted strikes.
The was very "smart"—it quickly "learned" that the bigger and more mobile something was, the more certain it was to die.
And the Rot-Beasts it produced had completely lost their former ferocity.
Their bodies grew smaller and smaller, and every aggressive biological structure—claws, fangs, bone spikes—vanished over generation after generation of screening.
[Report! The latest batch of Rot-Beasts in the southeastern zone has evolved into a harmless form.] 's voice carried an undertone of amusement he couldn't quite hide.
A high-definition photo popped up on the screen.
They were a group of four-legged creatures about the size of house cats, with soft, slime-like bodies. They didn't even have claws. Their only "attack" method was probably rubbing their bodies against other things.
They huddled together, even licking one another.
The only pity was that their exterior was still dark-red rotting flesh tissue—they really weren't much to look at.
In the command post, everyone let out a sigh of relief at the photo.
grinned and laughed: "If we keep screening like this, could we actually raise it into little kittens and bring them back to the to keep as pets?"
"Sure," nodded with a deadpan expression. "When that day comes, you'll be the first one to raise them. The moment one eats you as a midnight snack, we can sit down to the feast."
"Then I'm not raising them!" 's head shook like a rattle drum.
Everyone burst out laughing, and the tense atmosphere vanished completely in that moment.
But everyone was well aware that this did not mean victory.
The destructive potential and insane malice inherent in this thing were plain to see; anyone who genuinely believed it could become harmless would be the world's number one fool.
[The structure of the — 's has finished scanning all of it.]
projected a massive three-dimensional structural map that spanned the entirety of the underground beneath onto the screen.
The intricate, staggeringly extensive made everyone inhale sharply once more.
's gaze sharpened, and he said in a low, weighty voice: "Since we've found it, then next, let's teach it what the 'correct' way for mycelium to grow really is!"
And so began an operation to clear the underground mycelium, starting from the city's outskirts.
Newly grown mycelium quickly "discovered" that any tendril attempting to extend outward would be mercilessly destroyed by explosives and vibration drills.
The effect became apparent within hours—extending outward meant being cleaned up, wasting resources for nothing; it was ineffective growth, the most utter waste of resources.
The faithfully followed the most basic law of survival: since extending outward meant death, it contracted inward.
Driven by survival instinct, the fungus's underground network began actively receding.
Rather than futilely expanding outward, it was better to entangle itself within, concentrating all resources at specific above-ground locations that wouldn't be attacked, rather than remaining buried deep underground.
This —arguably the largest-scale and fastest in biological history—reached its final conclusion on the fifth day.
The last fungal colony in the center of was completely sealed off from contact with the outside soil by a half-meter-thick layer of quick-dry concrete.
Above all the concrete slabs was a terrifyingly dense, tightly packed mass of miniature mushroom caps, though even the largest individual was no bigger than a fist.
Between the mushroom caps huddled an astonishing number of Rot-Beasts, but they had lost all their offensive structures—just soft lumps of flesh left with only the instincts to breathe and writhe.
And when the last active mycelial strand in the dark-red was destroyed, an unexpected mission notification popped up on 's system interface.
[Ding! Five: Burn the Clean—Completed!]
[Mission Rating: Outstanding.]
[Calculating rewards... Rating increased... Hidden building unlocked... Hidden blueprint unlocked... increased...]
[+60,000 .]
[Unlocked Technology: "Origin" Ecosystem Construction Module Blueprint Ă—1. Unlocked Special Building: "Veil" Surface Fortress-Class Anomaly Containment Research Center Ă—1, Blueprint Ă—1.]
[Current : 89,829.]
[Ding! Detected that the provided a far more intelligent solution than expected when completing the mission.]
[Triggered : More Than One Solution!]
[Achievement Description: Mediocre minds always cling to the phrase 'there is no other way,' yet only the wise understand that many problems have never had just one solution.]
[Reward: 20,000 , Unlocked Technology: (Lv.5), Unlocked Special Building: Single-Molecule Dynamic Analysis & Epigenetic Reprogramming Laboratory Blueprint Ă—1.]
[Current : 109,829.]
: [?!?!?!?!]