Chapter 116: Plant-Like Lifeforms

The Xia Kingdom, somewhere in the country.

Inside a conference room, a white-haired scholar wearing glasses stood before a large screen, giving a briefing.

“Everyone, based on the data we have gathered so far, along with the latest information obtained from other countries, we can confirm that Blue Star is in the early stages of a great transformation. The situation ahead is likely to become extremely serious.”

“The number of anomalous dimensions discovered within our borders has already reached five, and it is highly likely that more will appear in the future. We have organized teams to explore several of them, but the situation is far from optimistic. Each anomalous dimension contains extraordinarily powerful mutated beasts. Some of them are completely unaffected by gunfire and bullets. They can even shoot down human aircraft with ease... In addition, our explorations have uncovered several plantlike life-forms.”

“Professor Wu, what exactly do you mean by ‘plantlike life-forms’?” A strongly built middle-aged man interrupted from within the conference room.

He was Captain Dong Mingjun of the Crisis Response Team, primarily responsible for all matters relating to the anomalous dimensions.

“‘Plantlike life-form’ is a provisional name we have given to a newly discovered type of organism from the other world. These life-forms closely resemble the plants of Blue Star, yet they possess unmistakable predatory traits normally associated with animals. Not only do they grow like plants, they can also feed on the flesh and blood of animals.”

At that, someone interrupted again. “Professor Wu, aren’t those simply oversized Venus flytraps and pitcher plants? We have plenty of those on Blue Star.”

Many of the attendees nodded in agreement, feeling that Professor Wu had no need to introduce a new term.

They were all familiar with Venus flytraps and pitcher plants. By secreting scents or nectar, these plants attracted insects and arthropods, then killed and digested them. A very small number had even evolved the ability to prey on small mammals or reptiles.

That was why similar plants on Blue Star were known as carnivorous plants.

“No. It is not as simple as everyone imagines.” Professor Wu shook his head gravely and pointed at the screen. “First, take a look at this video. The footage is being played at twenty times normal speed.”

A shrub-like plant about half a man’s height appeared on the screen. It was lush with branches and leaves, and at first glance seemed entirely ordinary.

However, several attendees quickly noticed that its roots and stems were pressed tightly against the ground, slowly extending toward a spot in the distance.

Drawn forward by those spreading roots, the entire shrub was also moving slowly ahead, much like a sluggish snail crawling across the earth.

That was exactly what it was doing: crawling and migrating.

According to the timestamp on the video, the plant had traveled more than a meter in two hours.

Yet from its appearance, it was undeniably a plant, possessing roots, stems, and leaves similar to those of Blue Star flora...

What shocked them even more was what happened when an animal resembling a fawn approached the shrub to eat its leaves. The branches that had remained perfectly still suddenly came alive, transforming directly into a cage of interwoven limbs that trapped the fawn inside before slowly crushing it to death.

By the end of the footage, many attendees felt their scalps prickle.

At last, they understood why Professor Wu had named it a “plantlike life-form.”

Its method of attack was too strange, too difficult to guard against. Who could have imagined that an apparently ordinary plant would possess such sinister hunting techniques?

Animals were not the only ones who might fall victim. Even a human encountering one for the first time would probably be caught off guard.

When the video ended, Professor Wu continued.

“The only relatively encouraging news is that we have not yet discovered any extraterrestrial humans within the anomalous dimensions. Of course, our explorations remain at a very elementary stage. For safety reasons, we have not ventured more than a hundred kilometers from the entrances. Once stable bases have been established inside the anomalous dimensions, large-scale exploration will begin.

“As our research progresses, we will certainly come into contact with them. After all, there are many extraterrestrial constructs within the phantom images in Blue Star’s sky...”

“Nor are the changes limited to organisms from the anomalous dimensions. Our research has found that the plants and animals of Blue Star are undergoing violent mutations as well. The rate of this mutation is more than dozens of times faster than before. In the space of only a few months, they have completed evolutionary processes that once took hundreds or even thousands of years...”

“Speaking of this, we must mention the mutated estuarine crocodile that appeared several months ago in the primeval jungles of Madura—the so-called ‘Dragon King’ that caused such heated debate online. According to the information currently available, it should be the most powerful of all the mutated beasts on Blue Star. It may also have been the first native organism to undergo mutation...”

“Everyone, what comes next will be a transformation on a scale Blue Star has never witnessed before...”

After listening to Professor Wu’s presentation, many of the attending scholars were left confused and uneasy.

Over the past few months, Blue Star had undergone earth-shaking changes. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it had become almost unrecognizable. The intellectual frameworks they had relied upon were collapsing, while their definitions and understanding of plants and animals were beginning to diverge dramatically from reality.

Much of what Professor Wu had described was entirely new to them.

Seeing the expressions on their faces, Captain Dong could not help sighing.

It was not only the Xia Kingdom. Research institutions around the world possessed little more than a superficial understanding of these changes.

The major powers had always exchanged research findings concerning the spatial rifts.

For example, the Northern Snowland had directly deployed its most powerful Ivan weapon to bombard one of the rifts. The result was not its disappearance, but an expansion of the passage instead.

Researchers had also discovered that the rifts gradually widened as time passed. It was foreseeable that, before long, the ferocious beasts of the anomalous dimensions would pour into Blue Star on a massive scale.

For that reason, every nation was now making active preparations for the dangers that might arise.

Researchers had also detected a mysterious spatial substance around the rifts, something never before found on Blue Star.

Nearby, they had discovered stones carrying extremely powerful energy fluctuations. For the time being, these had been named spirit stones, or magic stones. A year ago, or even earlier, these stones had contained no unusual energy at all. It was as though they had suddenly acquired spiritual power.

Researchers used the excavated spirit stones in animal experiments and discovered that whenever the animals saw them, their emotions became abnormally violent, revealing an intense greed and longing.

The stones seemed to possess an extraordinary attraction for them.

However, when the experimental animals swallowed the spirit stones, most of them exploded outright, their bodies bursting into fragments of flesh and blood. The obvious explanation was that their physical constitutions were too weak to withstand the energy contained within the stones.

A portion of the animals did survive, and their bodies underwent enormous changes.

At that point, the scientific departments concluded that they had found the cause of the estuarine crocodile’s mutation. Before the age of great transformation began, it had possibly swallowed a spirit stone by accident, resulting in all its abnormal characteristics and allowing it to reach a higher evolutionary level than other animals.

The scientific departments of other countries arrived at similar conclusions, not only those of the Xia Kingdom.

After learning of the uses of the spirit-stone deposits, domestic mining companies immediately began organizing large-scale extraction operations, while also establishing reserves for future needs.

Following a brief period of animal testing, a human research trial was now proceeding steadily.

Having learned from previous failures, the researchers planned to ensure safety by having the test subjects swallow the spirit stones in the smallest possible doses, increasing the amount gradually thereafter.