Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 876: Overcoming Hardness with Softness
Looking at the offspring of the "Fourteenth Epsilon-class Mutant" in front of him, Ke Lan felt that this possibility was not small... In the period called the "Ice Age" by the Hive Civilization, the surface of Alpha was probably not suitable for biological survival. Even if there were a few creatures like the "invincible cockroach" that could survive in extremely harsh environments, the biodiversity on the surface of Alpha would not be very rich.
Five hundred thousand years may seem like a long time, but for the process of biological evolution and differentiation, it is like a flash of lightning. Five hundred thousand years is simply not enough for those lower organisms to evolve into what Ke Lan and the others see now.
Mass extinctions have also occurred on Earth, but no matter what caused them, the time interval between each mass extinction was measured in "billions of years"... Without hundreds of millions of years, it would be impossible for a planet's ecosystem to recover from a complete destruction.
The hive city during the Ice Age is very similar to Noah's Ark - this is not referring to the interstellar colony ship built by the earthlings, but the big ship mentioned in the "Genesis" chapter of the first volume of the Old Testament of the Bible.
In the story, God saw that humans were full of evil and decided to use a flood to completely wipe out humans and cleanse the world. But there was a "purely good man" among humans who received a warning from God before the flood came. God asked him to build a big ship and collect a pair of male and female from each kind of bird and beast and bring them together on this big ship called "Ark".
The rainstorm and flood came as expected, and everything on earth was destroyed. Only Noah and his family and the animals on his ark survived.
Although this is just a fabricated myth, similar floods have been recorded in the historical documents of various civilizations on Earth. This means that an unprecedented flood once occurred on Earth, and the prehistoric humans who survived the flood passed these stories on orally, which gradually evolved into legends full of religious and mythological colors.
The Ice Age may be another form of "prehistoric flood".
Not to mention what happened during the Age of Disaster and the Age of Tranquility, the reason why the surface life on Alpha could develop into its current state is most likely due to the various Earth creatures and their "mutants" that were "preserved" in the hive.
Ke Lan couldn't help but feel a little ironic when she thought that the ancestors of the native creatures of Alpha Star, who were identified as "alien creatures" by the scholars on the Ark, were likely creatures familiar to humans on Earth.
But this also explains well why the genetic sequences of the indigenous organisms on Alpha are extremely similar to those on Earth. The original explanation from the academic community was that Alpha's topography, atmospheric composition, gravity and other environmental factors are similar to those on Earth, so the indigenous organisms on Alpha have so many similarities with those on Earth... But in fact, this explanation is very far-fetched. Any biological evolutionary path is unique. Finding another planet suitable for human habitation in the universe is already lower than the probability of winning the first prize in the lottery. And the probability of this planet having creatures similar to the Earth is more like buying a hundred lottery draws in a row and winning the first prize for a hundred consecutive draws.
The only bug in this inference, or the problem that has not been solved, is the paradox on the timeline.
This timeline does not refer to the timeline after the Ice Age. Everything that happened after that can be matched. The only thing that cannot be explained is how these humans who built the hive city before the Ice Age came to Alpha.
"Wormhole, the problem must be with the wormhole." Ke Lan rubbed his chin - this was originally a habitual action of the old dog, but somehow it was passed on to everyone in the God Hunting Group. When Ke Lan was thinking about some more complicated problems, he also liked to use his fingertips to rub the short and hard stubble. This meaningless action could give his tense nerves a brief relaxation.
But this time, as soon as he put his hand on it, the feeling of the smoothness on his chin interrupted his train of thought and made him stunned for a moment - Ke Lan had not shaved since entering the Gray Mist Forest. The reason why his chin was so smooth now was entirely thanks to that "Epsilon-level mutant".
Most of Ke Lan's face is newly grown... naturally, there can't be stubble on newly grown skin.
"Uh... what was I thinking about just now? Oh, right, wormholes!" Ke Lan tried hard to pull back her wandering thoughts. "Excluding that existence that can only be described as 'God', in the known world, the only thing that can cause a 'paradox' between time and space is a wormhole. But even if we know that the problem lies in a wormhole, it is difficult to seek further answers."
Humanity's research on wormholes is only superficial, and many things are still in the theoretical stage... In the academic world related to wormholes, new theories are proposed and old theories are overturned every year... Scholars and experts are expressing their views to those who disagree with them every day... But in Ke Lan's opinion, the debates among these so-called professionals, not to mention most of them, can be said to be "paper talk" without any factual basis.
The reason is very simple. Human beings currently cannot find a wormhole that can be observed and studied... As for the teleportation devices left behind by the Alpha civilization, the Hive civilization, and the civilization that built Yaguna Kotor (the civilization that built Yaguna Kotor and the Hive civilization are likely to be the same, but Ke Lan cannot be sure for the time being, so let's talk about them separately), let alone study them, even dismantling them is impossible.
A scholar once proposed sending a scientific expedition team to find the exit of the wormhole that the Ark passed through...but this whimsical plan fell into oblivion immediately after it was proposed, and received almost no response.
The success probability of this plan is infinitely close to zero, and the consumption of resources is a bottomless pit... Even if the scientific expedition team can really find the wormhole, it will take hundreds or even thousands of years to complete a round trip. As for getting any substantial results from this research, even if humans are given another thousand years, it is unlikely.
This is like an investment project that requires astronomical funds, but the return on investment is a complete question mark, and the payback period is terribly long...Except for scammers or people with ulterior motives, no one will pay attention to such a project.
For the leadership of the Ark, the most important thing is to allow humans to gain a foothold on Alpha, rather than engaging in such unrealistic tasks as exploring wormholes.
The only real research data may be the archives from the 499th year of the New Era, the year when the Ark passed through the wormhole...
Thinking of this, Ke Lan was suddenly startled.
He had been to Black Well, where hard drives containing various files were placed on shelves ...but the files from the 499th year of the new era had disappeared.
Not only was the hard drive that stored the files gone, but even the shelf that held the keyboard had vanished.
Where the inscription "The 499th Year of the New Era" was engraved was an empty space, an extremely abrupt empty space.
It's like a wormhole hiding in the darkness of the universe, swallowing up all the light... nothing can be observed.
It’s a pity that Ke Lan was in a hurry to search for information related to the 776th Special Forces Team and did not give this matter a high priority. In addition, a series of "emergency events" that happened afterwards meant that he no longer had the opportunity to ask the Undead Crew why the files of that year disappeared.
Perhaps even the other members of the crew knew nothing about this.
The 499th year of the New Era is nearly 500 years ago, and all the current members of the Undead Crew were not born in that year. At that time, there was no technology other than "deep hibernation" that could significantly extend human life.
"Ke Lan, have you thought of a way to deal with this monster?" Sanshisan said. He thought Ke Lan was thinking about how to deal with this monster. "This guy doesn't seem to be willing to give up waiting... Even if we choose to take a detour, it will probably follow us."
"I haven't thought about it yet." Ke Lan shook his head, and his thoughts that were spreading to the distant stars were instantly pulled back to reality, "I was just thinking about something else."
"Something else?" Thirty-three was slightly startled. "What is it?"
"We'll talk later," Ke Lan moved his newly grown limbs, "Just now, I thought of a way to deal with this monster."
"Whatever you want... If you need me, remember to let me know in advance." Sanshisan crossed his arms over his chest. After spending so much time together, he had gradually gotten used to Ke Lan's jumping but divergent thinking. In layman's terms, it was difficult for ordinary people to keep up with his train of thought and to match his "waves".
But because of this, Ke Lan is often able to perceive many things hidden beneath the surface and at a deeper level. These things may not be directly helpful in solving the current problems, but in the long run, they are of great significance.
"Oh... you're still thinking about something deeper. If I can't leave this place, I'll be trapped to death... I'm not a saint with super high enlightenment. I can't do anything like 'If I hear the truth in the morning, I would be willing to die in the evening'." Sanshisan said in his heart with self-mockery. At the same time, he focused all his attention on Ke Lan, watching Ke Lan walk step by step towards the monster within the boundary line.
"Be careful, don't force it. If it doesn't work, just retreat. We still have plenty of time, there's no need to risk everything." Sanshisan said a little worriedly.
"Have you ever heard of using softness to overcome hardness?" Ke Lan flicked his arms lightly, and a living armor condensed into a long strip of cloth immediately wrapped around his arms, swaying gently in the air - it looked like the ribbons on the immortals in myths that moved without wind.
"Use softness to overcome hardness... Of course I've heard of it! After all, I am also a Chinese." Thirty-three said in astonishment, "But... How are you going to overcome it? Tai Chi? Using a little force to overcome a great force?"
For many people, when talking about using softness to overcome hardness, the first thing that comes to mind is "Tai Chi". Tai Chi can be said to be a model of using softness to overcome hardness in martial arts...but many people don't know that this concept actually originated from the kind of street literature that you can buy more than a dozen books with one credit point. If someone really takes this seriously, then in actual combat, they will definitely die miserably.
For example, there is a certain Tai Chi master who claims that he has mastered Tai Chi and can dissolve any attack from the enemy. He has accepted a large number of disciples, and even moved his gym from a small alley in the East Eighth District to a prime location in the East Third District. But one day, two modified humans with only level two enhancement came to challenge him and knocked him to the ground, unable to get up for a long time. The next day, he went on a live broadcast and said that other people's bodies had been modified and were not "real natural persons." This is simply a lack of martial ethics.
But only practical martial artists know that martial arts are about training strength and speed. The so-called "one force can break ten skills", "the only martial arts in the world that cannot be broken is speed", "young and strong people are the weakest" and so on. However, these are irrefutable truths that have been verified in actual combat. No matter how sophisticated the skills are, the gap in strength is difficult to make up - especially when fighting with bare hands.
A martial arts master from the old era, even the Master Ye who said "I can beat ten people", would be knocked down by the enhanced people of this era with just two punches.
What Ke Lan meant by "using softness to overcome hardness" has nothing to do with the so-called "Tai Chi".
He did not step into the boundary of the jungle, but stood at the edge of the boundary and threw the "ribbon" transformed from the living armor towards the monster.
The "ribbon" fell down lightly, and the monster subconsciously used its tail to whip the "ribbon". However, just when its tail was about to touch the "ribbon", the "ribbon" instantly turned into liquid and wrapped up its tail.
Ke Lan’s idea was simple. Since he couldn’t win by a head-on confrontation, he might as well not confront the opponent at all.
After wrapping around the monster's tail, the living armor seeped in from the gaps between the scales, filling all the spaces between the scales. Then, the living armor suddenly hardened and began to expand - a teeth-grinding "cracking" sound came from under the monster's scales.
The scales made of Nino alloy on the monster's body are very hard, but the connection between the scales and the body is not so "indestructible".
If all the scales on its body were seamless and there were no gaps, then Ke Lan would really have no way to deal with it - just like the black mummy on the plane, but the problem is that in this case, the monster itself would be unable to move.
Everything has weaknesses, it's just that Ke Lan didn't discover its weakness just now.
Ke Lan grabbed the end of the "ribbon" and pulled it hard, and suddenly, a large number of scales were torn off!
