The next day, Jade City.

Zhou Yi was eating rice with pickled radish and grilled fish.

He suddenly had a thought.

Could it be that the Cave People are also hydrogen-based life forms?

Zhou Yi immediately initiated a consciousness link to inquire the Dongs.

"So there are hydrogen-based life forms."

"Mr. Zhou, you are indeed well-informed. I will record this with the administrators to avoid forgetting it."

But they were not sure either.

The Dongs suggested, "Perhaps there's relevant information in the Record Land, but there's none in the shelter. We could take 3 million of our kind into a hydrogen-based environment to see if they can survive. If they live, it proves we might be; if they die, it proves we aren't."

Zhou Yi shook his head, "Forget it. There's no need to sacrifice 3 million Cave People over a guess."

The Dongs argued, "It's for the acquisition of knowledge and experience. Their deaths will serve a purpose."

Zhou Yi: "..."

The other side explained, "Mr. Zhou, the Cave People's lifecycle is very short. In terms of our time, they live only 60 minutes from birth to natural death. Even without participating in these tests, they will still die."

"The experience and knowledge we've accumulated come from the deaths of countless of our kind. The dead Cave People are meant for this. Their deaths will provide valuable records for their descendants and the entire group."

"Making death meaningful is a duty for the Cave People."

With this explanation, Zhou Yi understood.

This was a cultural consensus among the Cave People, to give back the last bit of their life's value to the group at the end.

Since the Cave People themselves were willing to do this, it was okay.

Zhou Yi, along with the Shell Sanctuary, hurried to Maria Hospital to find Da Vinci for experimental testing.

The experiment was set up in the hospital's scientific research building.

On the suggestion of the Reverse Flow, Da Vinci built four simple hydrogen-based environments.

In these four artificial eco-boxes, there were low-temperature environments, high-pressure environments, oxygen-free states, and liquid hydrogen environments, covering the main scenarios where hydrogen-based life forms might exist.

After 30 minutes.

Based on the experiment outcomes, Da Vinci reported, "All of the 3,007,122 test subjects have died."

"The data clearly shows that the Cave People can absorb some hydrides like water, methane, and hydrogen sulfide for metabolism, but they cannot live and metabolize solely in a hydrogen-based environment. Thus, the hypothesis is incorrect."

Zhou Yi was not disappointed.

At least they had eliminated one wrong answer.

"There's another discovery from this experiment."

The Mechanical Doctor added, "For control, I also designed corresponding extreme environments: high-temperature environments, low-pressure environments, oxygen-rich states, and gaseous environments, as four control groups."

"The control groups showed that the Cave People are thermophiles. They are active in high-temperature environments, showing significantly higher activity and mobility at 80-120°C compared to normal conditions. It is only when the temperature exceeds 300°C that their activity ceases, leading to physiological damage due to further heating."

"Therefore, they can easily adapt to the environment of the Floating Heart, where the Death Light reactions generate continuous high heat."

"Additionally, the Cave People can survive in oxygen-free and high-pressure environments without any issues."

Da Vinci said, "This implies that the Cave People originally lived in high-temperature environments with frequent geological activity causing severe temperature fluctuations. They might have supplemented their energy through sources like lightning, ultraviolet light, or hydrothermal vents."

"This mechanism somewhat resembles the archaea from the early stages of life on Earth."

Zhou Yi thought.

No wonder the Cave People could coexist so well with the planktons on Earth; their physiology had many similarities.

He couldn't help but ask, "Is it just a coincidence?"

"Uncertain," replied Da Vinci. "Based on this experiment, we can infer that during the time of their origin, the Mud Tree World should have been oxygen-poor and maintained high temperatures with abundant energy. Circular Flow outbreaks led to frequent and severe natural disasters."

"Only the Cave People could survive such extreme conditions. Such harsh natural conditions prevented the species from being diverse."

"It wasn't until many years later, after long periods of natural evolution and transformation, that new life forms appeared."

Unfortunately, the Dongs themselves knew nothing about their group's history.

They would need to get more Mud Tablets to truly uncover the rise and fall of the Cave People.

Zhou Yi turned his attention back to hydrogen-based life.

Both Earth and Mars have areas inhabited by electric cats, featuring similar sky holes and Transparent Castle clusters made of seven-layer diamond, centered around fluid hydrogen-based life forms.

This indicated.

That the Golden Elephant Nomads highly valued fluid hydrogen-based life. Keeping cats was a means rather than an end, aimed at constructing an organic ecosystem for hydrogen-based life to emerge.

Zhou Yi summoned Xiao Fu, "I don't quite get it. Since they put so much effort into cultivating hydrogen-based life, why did the Golden Elephant Nomads abruptly abandon constructing the Taboo Paradise on Earth, and give up on Mars just because they got annoyed by the electric cats… are high-level civilizations that emotional?"

"Hard to say."

The Reverse Flow said, "Not everything is done within a rational framework."

"I once came across relics of a high-level civilization that documented a war with another civilization over a bird-like creature they were carefully raising. The other civilization put these birds on the table, eating them every day."

"This sparked a hundred-year war. Eventually, the bird-raising civilization won, and the bird-eating civilization had to sign an agreement to stop eating the birds. Only then did the war end."

Zhou Yi: "..."

"It sounds absurd and contrary to common sense, doesn't it? Actually, it's quite simple."

Xiao Fu said solemnly, "Because different groups have different value systems. What we treasure might be junk to others. What one group considers sacred and untouchable, another group might desecrate daily… Large-scale conflicts and wars are not uncommon."

The Golden Elephant Nomads genuinely raised electric cats, genuinely got annoyed by their noise, genuinely aimed at constructing a Taboo Paradise to create death experiences, and truly abandoned the endeavor."

"These two instances show that they like raising various life forms and possess strong life cultivation technology, but have limited patience."

Zhou Yi thought so too.

Humans are no different.

We genuinely love our pets, and yet genuinely get fed up and abandon them.

The grand vision of constructing landmarks is true, but so is giving up and disappearing.

...

Two days later, the Red Kestrel suddenly flew in urgently.

"Zhou, there's news from the Western Continent related to us."

Zhou Yi immediately thought, "Did something happen in Flower Town?"

"No. It's the Leshan Buddha. It got into a fight with a natural disaster over there."

Zhou Yi frowned, "What happened?"

The Red Kestrel began to explain.

After leaving Sand Port, the Buddha headed west.

Because the East Continent was relatively stable overall.

Especially with the various major moves by the Legal Front, except for the Wasteland Development Company, no one could withstand it.

All the sea lords were terrified of becoming the next target for the Legal Front's annexation, so they focused on development cautiously and did not dare to stir up trouble.

"The Heavenly Kingdom's main territory is also in the east. With the Empire stationed there and a large population, the situation is relatively controllable. If a war breaks out, numerous refugees would flee to the Heavenly Kingdom at all costs. Even if they can't become Heavenly Country Citizens, they would prefer to be slaves or black market workers in the Heavenly Kingdom rather than stay. This pressures all the sea lords to manage carefully to avoid population loss."

"The west is dominated by various Governors and Guangna Cities, with numerous sea lords engaging in long-term local fragmentation, mutual annexation, and wars more frequently than in the east."

The Red Kestrel provided a brief overview, "Due to historical and environmental factors, the East Continent is more stable and leans towards urban-based development. Both the Guangna Species and enhancers tend to form cities."

"The Western Continent, however, has cultures reliant on mutual raiding and wars. The large forces often plunder the smaller ones, who in turn prey on civilians, turning many civilians into raiders. Many towns depend on forming pillage groups to make ends meet."

Zhou Yi understood.

The East Continent developed a farming-based culture, while the Western Continent remained steeped in nomadic conflicts.

"Amid this backdrop, the Buddha traveled west because it needed to help more people in crisis."

The drone continued, "According to satellite records from the Star Axis, the Buddha was quickly attacked by a Guangna Species army upon entering the Western Continent."

"Because the location is far from the company and trade is monopolized by Yi City, the company's goods flow there slowly, and its influence has yet to expand. They thus know very little about the company."

"The Guangna Species army dared to attack the Buddha, knowing it wouldn't retaliate. Thus, they acted recklessly, intending to capture and sell it for its immense value."

Zhou Yi's eyes twitched.

The local gangs on the Western Continent really had no rules.

Daring to rob a passing Light Core Body showed how bold and reckless they were.

However.

The Buddha's abilities were [Attract Life] and [Lay down the Slaughter Knife]. The more people it influenced, the stronger it became, closely linked to external interactions.

Being attacked made it stronger.

From this perspective, going to the Western Continent was the right move.

Zhou Yi asked, "And then?"

The Red Kestrel replied, "Even though the Buddha was under constant attack, those forces could not harm it, especially since it was in the Dead Sea, in the most suitable environment."

"Thus, it endured the attacks and calmed numerous raiders and attackers, even saving some who collapsed from excessive attacking. Its immense power and unique actions gradually made it somewhat famous there."

"But recently, the Buddha got into a great trouble."

The Red Kestrel paused.

"It was severely injured and sank into the Dead Sea while resisting a super Light Core Level Light Burst…"

Zhou Yi frowned, "Immediate rescue!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.