Chapter 264 Ancient Living Fossils

In just one minute, countless densely packed strange creatures appeared on the originally calm blue "sea".

They are only about the size of a palm, lying on the rock surface rustlingly, still carrying the body fluids left when they broke free from the jellyfish skin.

These things look like turtles or crabs. Their bodies are gray and dark brown, and their hard shells are covered with centipede-like tentacles, which seem to be the sharp thorns of the blades they grow.

A creature is not scary, but when the eyes are full of its kind, even the well-informed scientific expedition team members can't hold back.

The professor asked nervously, "Have any of you seen this kind of creature? Is it a bug, a star beast, or an ancient creature that has not been discovered by humans living in this place?"

Military personnel are even preparing for combat. Once the biota launches an attack, they will provide fire coverage.

Ai Moye had already entered the shield car, frowned and said, "Turtle?"

Su Qi looked at the "tide" outside with fear, "Do you think you look like a bastard?"

"No, I have read novels before. There is a very strange ancient creature called a living fossil." In fact, Ai Moye seemed to have seen it in literature or popular science programs.

But she couldn't remember what it was for a while, and she couldn't explain it clearly. If Su Qi went to check it on a whim in the future and couldn't find the program she mentioned, she would definitely become suspicious.

Suddenly, there was another scream outside, as the group of creatures began to expand rapidly. The scientific expedition personnel wanted to videotape and investigate, but they were forced into the car by the military.

The battle was about to break out, and palm-sized creatures surged in size, swarming towards the military from all directions.

The whole ground was shaking, and the strange creatures were coming menacingly, but fortunately they were not very aggressive.

Their movements are somewhat slow, and even if they increase in size, they cannot cause harm to the military, so they are destroyed one after another in the hands of the sergeants.

Lieutenant Colonel Bard had originally planned to contact the starship for a targeted strike, but he found that it was completely unnecessary.

When the strange creatures died one after another and blue liquid splashed out of their bodies, a flash of inspiration flashed in Ai Moye's mind and she slapped her hands suddenly.

"ah!"

Su Qi was startled, but based on his knowledge of Ai Moye, he immediately reacted, "Do you know what it is?"

"Horse crab!" Ai Moye said excitedly, "That should be a horseshoe crab, an arthropod creature!"

The scientific expedition personnel were not ignorant fools, and they immediately became excited.

"Are you sure that's a horseshoe crab?"

"The horseshoe crab has been called a living fossil since the earth's time. Although the name has been passed down, no fossil has been found for research. Are you saying that these living creatures are horseshoe crabs that have been judged to be extinct?"

"It's impossible. I remember it was mentioned in the literature that horseshoe crabs are marine creatures and should have been completely destroyed in the mass extinction!"

Faced with the doubts of the seniors, Ai Moye calmed down and said, "The horseshoe crab is originally a highly adaptable creature, and its ancestors at least existed at the same time as the dinosaurs. In the earth's time, the dinosaurs have long been extinct, but the horseshoe crab is still alive. It has to be good. This is enough to show that horseshoe crabs are not creatures that can be easily destroyed."

The senior professor with the most seniority in the team pondered for a moment and said, "When I was young, I heard my instructor mention that the reason why horseshoe crabs are so tenacious is because they are poison-resistant and have a hard and strong body structure, but they can also adapt to a low-oxygen environment."

If we say that during the period of great destruction of life on earth, the ancestors of horseshoe crabs spread to the interstellar space, and some of them took root here and adapted to the cold, low oxygen, and thick methane environment, it would not be a problem at all.

This idea made the old professor excited. Regardless of whether it was dangerous or not, he jumped out of the car and shouted at the military, "Don't kill, control, stay alive..."

Lieutenant Colonel Bader's eyes were splitting, and he interrupted with a sharp roar, "Danger!"

In the panic, everyone forgot that they were communicating via communicator at the moment. When the lieutenant colonel's roar exploded in the headset, the old professor was stunned for a few seconds due to the shock to his eardrums.

In this short moment, a giant horseshoe crab that was as huge as a mammoth appeared above his head.

Only when you look closely can you feel the terrifying pressure brought by the giant horseshoe crab. On a planet with rich methane and harsh environment, the horseshoe crab's body continues to evolve to adapt.

Its mouth is covered with dense and sharp thorns, and its fine tentacles can move at high speed when necessary. Even a brief burst is enough to pierce the enemy.

Just when it was about to penetrate the old professor Tianling Gai like a giant python's hard tail spine, countless vines rose up from the ground, tightly restraining it like a wooden cage with thorns.

The military seized the opportunity and opened fire immediately, but this giant horseshoe crab was obviously no fool. It immediately hid in its hard shell. The outer hard shell of one tentacle fell off and turned into soft tentacles that quickly wrapped around the old professor's waist and lifted him high. Roll it up in front of you.

There were hostages, so the military firepower had to stop, but before the giant horseshoe crab could wrap the old professor into its shell, green vines swam up like a snake and entangled him tightly.

Su Qi, who activated the winding circle, shouted in a low voice, "Junior sister!"

The magic circle in Ai Moye's hand took shape, and a circle of fairy sword-like wooden knives were drawn around her body, with green light flowing faintly along the edge of the knife.

With Ai Moye's wave of his hand, the wooden knife quickly flew towards the giant horseshoe crab, but turned into putrid liquid the moment it touched the hard shell.

Ai Moye's eyes widened, "Oh my god, it's so hard!"

The giant horseshoe crab also seemed to find that Ai Moye's attack was ineffective. Just as it was about to sweep the old professor away quickly, its hard shell suddenly started to smoke, followed by a corrosive smell.

What shocked everyone was that the shell, which even the military's firepower could not immediately destroy, actually cracked and melted quickly like metal exposed to sulfuric acid, and spread to the entire shell and even the tentacles.

The moment the tentacles broke, Su Qi immediately rescued the old professor, and the giant horseshoe crab had melted into a pool of blue blood.

After the solution was completed, Aimoye and Suchi high-fived happily.

"yeah!"

They had discovered before that the wood attack array was indeed difficult to use, so they turned to the poison array. Using various medicinal materials combined with chemical elements and supernatural powers, various poison arrays can be used to respond to attacks.

This time the formation is related to the body fluids of brain-eating insects.

The old professor was rescued and had no time to thank the two younger ones. He quickly shouted to the military, "These may be living fossils from ancient times. Try to control them and don't kill them!"

The military has been instructed before to switch from a killing state to a capture control and recover the horseshoe crabs as much as possible.

After the firepower cleared a path, everyone returned to the heavy ion shield vehicle and fought and retreated. They did not destroy any horseshoe crabs and only captured a few.

As soon as they returned to land, the scientific expedition team immediately rushed to the reinforced metal cages.

After arriving on the ground, the horseshoe crabs lost their original activity and returned to the size of a palm, shrinking lifelessly inside their shells. (End of chapter)