Chapter 138 King of Bacteria

It was an empty, huge underground cave. From the perspective of the robot dog that was the first to reach the edge of the underground cave, it took about twenty meters upward to reach the top of the cave, and nearly fifty meters forward to reach the opposite cliff.

Of course, the cliff on the opposite side is not flat, it is also full of bumps and valleys. The distance of more than fifty meters is calculated based on the closest location.

Downward, I don’t know how many meters away it is. Although the robot dog is equipped with a laser rangefinder, the environment here is too complex, with bumps and twists everywhere. A laser rangefinder that can only measure straight distances is not easy to use here.

Currently, with the ability of night vision goggles, I can barely see that there seem to be many cracks underneath. Some of them are wide, some are narrow, and they are also winding. Some lead to other places, and some lead to deeper underground.

The cave is humid and stuffy. Analysis of air components shows that the oxygen content here is extremely low, while there are many toxic and harmful gases such as sulfide and chloride.

While observing, the other robot dogs also came to the edge of the core cave through different passages, providing different views for the people in the temporary headquarters from different perspectives.

At this moment, I look at this underground cave that may have existed since ancient times and has been isolated from the outside ecosystem for countless years. I look at the different shapes and colors displayed under the night vision goggles, which are full of mystery. With the quaint atmosphere, everyone fell into silence.

This is most likely the birthplace of the fear bacteria. Here, it is very likely that there is an independent ecology that is independent of the external ecosystem.

In ancient times, the ancestors of the fear bacteria were isolated here from the outside world. Over time, this cave may have gone deeper into the ground, or it may have been slightly closer to the surface. Its internal environment, internal layout, structure, etc. may also change countless times. There may be earthquakes, underground rivers pouring in, and different gases filling it. Every change is a disaster for the small ecology that exists inside.

But the fungi that lived in it survived every disaster. They spent a long time in constant evolution, and under the command of the "Lower God", they once again got the opportunity to connect with the outside world.

What exactly is the God of Floors? Where does it come from? How did it enter this underground ecology?

Could it be that the Tower God is also an ancient being that, during its long evolution, has evolved wisdom and the ability to command the fungi? In other words, does it have a symbiotic relationship with the fungus?

Just like the legendary wolf and the wolf, the wolf provides force and mobility, and the wolf provides intelligence. The two coexist in order to obtain more survival resources. The survival model of the wolf and the wolf has long been proven in the face of modern technology. False, but this symbiosis model is often seen in nature.

So, is this the relationship between Lou Shen and Phobia?

Is this place where the fear bacteria was born the same place where the God of Towers exists?

Putting away some of his reverie, Lu Ming once again focused his attention on the observation of this underground cave.

At this moment, under the filming of dozens of robot dogs, although this underground cave is huge, most of it has still been clearly explored.

There are six directions: front, back, left, right, up and down, but there is only one "down", which cannot be clearly identified because it is too deep. The remaining five directions all have detailed video information.

Although the scene here is strange and mysterious, after looking at it for a long time, you can find that compared with other underground caves, caves and the like, there is not much difference here.

The only place where there may be a difference, and the only place where the unknown still exists, and the place where the "Lower God" may exist, is the only place below.

There, even if the robot dog's shooting ability is turned on to the highest level, it is still unclear.

Those cracks and twisting passages are like leading to hell. Just looking at them makes people feel inexplicably palpitated.

but……

The terrain here is too complicated and it is too deep there. With the capabilities of the robot dog, there is no way to go down.

"Can the robot dog be modified to use methods such as rock climbing, abseiling, or simply flying with a drone?"

The engineer thought carefully for a long time, then shook his head in shame: "The terrain is too complex, and it is impossible to do it with the current technology."

Zhang Dingshan knocked on the table lightly: "Since you can't do it, just throw these robot dogs down. Take as many pictures as you can."

Lu Ming knew that Zhang Dingshan was planning to launch a "suicide investigation."

Robot dogs cannot get down below by rock climbing, abseiling, or flying, so just let them fall or roll down. Although this is bound to cause them to fall, you can always take pictures of something while rolling or falling downwards without being directly destroyed.

This price is not small.

The robot dog currently exploring underground caves has been specially customized and modified. However, even if it is a mass-produced model without special customization and modification, the cost of a robot dog with such performance is at least one million.

Now, the cost of building this robot dog has climbed to at least five million per unit.

Twenty units means at least 100 million.

Now, Zhang Dingshan wants to throw away this equipment worth at least 100 million.

Even though Lu Ming has now joined the second action team and can mobilize huge resources that were unimaginable before, he is still a little scared at this moment.

On the other hand, He Wei turned a blind eye to this.

"I'm still a little bit petty." Lu Ming secretly smiled bitterly in his heart: "Compared to this matter, only 100 million is really nothing."

Facing Zhang Dingshan's order, the engineer's expression paled for a moment, and he seemed to be shocked by Zhang Dingshan's generosity. It took him a moment to react, and he responded with a slight awe.

Under Zhang Dingshan's order, twenty robot dog operators issued corresponding orders at the same time. So the next moment, the originally stable images on the twenty screens began to vibrate and tumble violently at the same time.

Lu Ming seemed to see twenty expensive robot dogs tumbling down in the underground cave, constantly colliding with rocks. This made him grin, subconsciously feeling a little distressed.

The shaking and falling of the screen only lasted for a few seconds before one of the monitors turned black.

"The communication cable was torn out."

The operator observed for a moment and gave the answer.

The length of the communication cable is sufficient, but now it is torn. It is likely that the cable drum is stuck and cannot release more cables.

In such a complex environment and with such strong electromagnetic interference, if the wired cable is torn off, it means that it is no longer possible to communicate with the robot dog. Even if it can capture something, it's pointless.

After this, the screen began to turn black one after another.

Every black screen means that a robot dog is completely destroyed. And their destruction only resulted in a chaotic scene that lasted from a few seconds to a dozen seconds.

In less than half a minute, nineteen of the twenty video frames went black. Only one is still lit.

This is a lucky robot dog. Even if it fell and hit for more than twenty seconds, it could not be completely damaged, and it still maintained the ability to communicate with the outside world.

But the operator tried to operate it twice, and finally shook his head: "I can't move it."

The picture presented at this moment was a dark and deep crack that seemed to go straight to the ground.

Perhaps humans know more about space than the interior of the earth. At this moment, the crack appearing in front of people seemed to announce the infinite mysteries hidden deep underground.

Zhang Dingshan nodded: "Bring out all the pictures and check them frame by frame."

Twenty robot dogs shot a total of about five and a half minutes of video during the fall. These videos are now being carefully observed by people with unprecedented solemnity, and they are carefully searching for any valuable information that may exist in them.

But most of those images were very blurry and distorted, and it was impossible to tell what was being captured.

Under the violent movement and vibration, even a small piece of stone may be twisted into a monster. Therefore, people had to introduce another set of specialized picture analysis systems, combined with the motion status of the robot dog lens at that time, to restore these distorted pictures one by one.

This took several hours. After that, people finally saw the steep rock walls, the weird and twisted stone pillars, the deep caves, and the still bottomless dark cracks.

Although these scenarios are strange, they are obviously of little value.

Just when Lu Ming felt a little disappointed, He Wei suddenly shouted.

"Captain, Lu Ming, there is something discovered here!"

Lu Ming immediately turned around and looked stunned.

At this moment, the main body of the monitor screen was still a dark crack, leading straight into the underground at an unknown depth. But at the edge of the screen, something was half exposed.

It is in mid-air, and it can be clearly seen that it is not in contact with the rock wall. It is cylindrical in shape, about ten centimeters in diameter, slightly curved, and there seem to be many thin things like flagella or cilia extending out from it.

Although he could only see part of it, Lu Ming recognized it immediately.

During this period of time, Lu Ming became very familiar with this kind of thing. He had seen it countless times under the microscope and on the screen.

This is fungus!

However, the fungus is obviously a microorganism, how could it be so big! How could it be captured on camera by a robot dog?

The robot dog’s lens is not a microscope!

A giant fungus with a diameter of more than ten centimeters and half a meter or even one meter in length?

How can this be? !

Especially, this thing seems to be suspended in mid-air? This thing can actually fly?

At this moment, Lu Ming even felt as if his three views had been subverted.

"Is there any more video material?"

Next to him, the engineer had sweat on his forehead. Under his command, a dozen operators were quickly checking the rest of the footage. After some busy work, he wiped his sweat and said: "Only Robot Dog No. 17 captured about one second of footage of this thing. After that, Robot Dog No. 17 fell into the underground crack."

"Bring me the original footage."

This scene, which was only 970 milliseconds long, appeared in front of Lu Ming. When Lu Ming clicked the play button, he vaguely saw a shadow flickering in the violently shaking picture.

After slowing down, Lu Ming saw a section of the "giant fungus" slowly protruding from the edge of the screen, slowly extending, and then, as the shooting angle changed, it was slowly blocked again, and finally disappeared.

"Is it a problem with the shooting angle, or is this thing... moving?"

The engineer said: "It has been determined to be a problem with the shooting angle. This thing is not moving."

Lu Ming looked at Zhang Dingshan and He Wei and saw that their expressions were full of solemnity.

Is this thing a living thing or a dead thing?

If it is a living creature, how did this thing appear? What kind of life is it? Is it the god of the building?

Is the relationship between the building god and the fungus similar to the relationship between the queen bee and ordinary bees, or the relationship between the queen ant and ordinary ants?

In this case, there seems to be an explanation for why this giant fungus is so huge.

In nature, queen bees and queen ants are also much larger than their counterparts.

But, isn’t this “Bacteria King” of the fungus too big?

Is it precisely because of its huge size that it has intelligence? Aware? Can you command ordinary fungi?

Or... it's a dead thing that looks similar to a fungus, but is actually made of rock or other materials, similar to a sculpture or something like that?

But such a thing that can be determined to be exactly the same as a fungus based on only one part is obviously impossible to be naturally occurring. So, who sculpted it?

If it was an ancient person, then how could he know what the fungi looked like in an era without microscopes?

At this moment, many conjectures filled Lu Ming's mind in an instant. But he soon realized that there was no point in making such wild guesses.

At this moment, all I know about this thing is the video footage of less than one second. However, without sufficient information, no guess can be made accurately.

The detection must be carried out again, and more information on this thing must be obtained.

But...I'm afraid it won't work to rely on a robot dog. Existing technology cannot detect in such a complex environment.

He Wei took a deep breath and stood up.

"I'll go in and learn about this thing for a while."

Lu Ming subconsciously wanted to stop it.

In any case, the situation is unknown at this moment, and it is too dangerous to face a potentially new and unknown life.

But before Lu Ming could say anything, he saw Zhang Dingshan nodding solemnly and directly agreed to He Wei's suggestion.