The progress of research on devil bugs has been rather slow. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

It's not because these scientists can't do it, but because every breakthrough discovery may bring countless possibilities, spreading the roots of exploration at the boundaries of science and advancing into the unknown soil.

The scientists gathered here are like babies suckling breast milk, drawing unheard of knowledge from this specimen from 3.7 billion years ago.

The problems of biology, genetics, chemistry and other disciplines that have been overcome will evolve into new branches of research later.

In the words of a Chinese biologist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the very existence of devil insects has refreshed human cognition of biology.

A few days ago, the world's largest arthropod on Earth was the 12-foot-long Japanese spider crab, but the net length of this devil bug reached a terrifying 15 meters. In addition, its terrifying ability to penetrate rock formations can even penetrate metamorphic rock formations for kilometers or even tens of kilometers underground, which also gives people a new understanding of the limits that living beings can reach.

In particular, its two pairs of incisors are able to bite each other, theoretically even slicing through an entire rebar, and even the armor of the T-3 power armor is vulnerable to it. Only armored units with a tonnage of nearly 100 such as Mars rovers and Martian infantry combat vehicles can survive its impact and bite.

There's also the hardened armor that protects it from being cut at high speeds in fragmented rock formations, and is strong enough to resist direct fire from 12.7mm heavy machine gun bullets. Fortunately, the soldiers of the Star Ring Marine Corps use Gauss rifles, and the infantry vehicles are also equipped with large-caliber cannons and external rockets, otherwise it is not so easy to break through the defense.

When he got this devil insect lethality analysis report, Jiang Chen's first reaction was a dead claw.

In its impression, only Deathclaw is a creature that can fight power armor alone.

To be precise, it should be the blade of the Deathclaw and the armor of the mirelurk. If it's just a dead claw, there's really no chance of winning head-on with the devil bug. Among the creatures Jiang Chen had seen, I was afraid that only the Mother of Deathclaws could surpass it in terms of individual combat effectiveness.

Later, as more and more discoveries were made from devil bugs, the research sub-topics became more and more detailed, and the fields covered became more and more extensive, so that there was a shortage of manpower.

In order to solve this problem, more than a dozen scientists jointly asked Jiang Chen for instructions, inviting several scientists who are well-known in the academic community but whose nationality is not in the four major member states to participate in the research. Because the problems encountered in the study of devil bugs may be used to draw conclusions that these people have already reached in their research in their respective fields.

After some deliberation, Jiang Chen exchanged views with the representatives of China, Russia, and Germany, and finally relaxed the restrictions on nationality thresholds.

Some of the candidates were selected from the list provided by the scientists who jointly petitioned, and the Earth Defense Alliance issued a total of 11 invitations to South Asian countries, three Eastern European countries, India and other minor member countries, allowing them to participate in some of the projects. In addition, Finland, the principality of Donetsk, and Japan, which are actively promoting joining the Earth Defense Alliance, have each had a scientist engaged in research in the field of genetic engineering approved.

However, this also brought another problem, that is, the news that the devil worm had arrived in Star Ring City could not be concealed any longer......

"Verdale Taylor, what's the matter?" Sitting in the lounge next to the laboratory, Jiang Chen put down the newspaper in his hand, looked at Verdale Taylor who walked into the lounge, and said in a gentle tone, "If it's a new joint petition, I'm afraid I'll be very satisfied with your request." Now we get thousands of petitions from Nordic universities every day in our mailbox, and too many people want to squeeze in...... We're also having a hard time doing it. ”

Hearing Jiang Chen's words, Verdale Taylor touched his nose embarrassedly and said sorry.

The joint petition also has his name in it.

Jiang Chen's attitude towards scientists has always been very friendly, and their requirements have basically been met as much as possible. Later, Verdale Taylor also knew from the representatives of his own country how much trouble his people had caused to the Star Ring Trade and the Earth Defense Alliance, so he still felt a little guilty about Jiang Chen.

"It has nothing to do with the petition," Ferdale Taylor coughed, and said softly, "we have made a new discovery in our study of the devil bugs. ”

"Oh?" Jiang Chen glanced at him with interest, "What discovery?"

"You know, everything on Mars, from the entire atmosphere made up of carbon dioxide, from the groundwater to the rock formations, is acidic. "According to our previous research, the ability of devil bugs to survive in acidic environments, and even the strong acidic environment of blood, is likely the result of natural selection during these more than three billion years of evolution. ”

"But then, the scientists we brought in to the project team came up with a different perspective. ”

"Oh?" Jiang Chen waited for his next step.

"In addition to the strongly acidic blood, we also found some special organic matter in its blood. As he spoke, Verdale Taylor wrote a string of chemical formulas on the whiteboard that Jiang Chen's chemical knowledge could not understand at all, "And this kind of organic matter can only exist in a strong acid environment." ”

“…… I only have an undergraduate level in chemistry. Looking at the long list of chemical formulas on the whiteboard, Jiang Chen sweated.

"You don't need to understand it, you just need to recognize it. Verdale Taylor shook his head and pointed to the letter O in the chemical formula, "These represent oxygen atoms. ”

"I still know this......" Suddenly, Jiang Chen found something strange from this line of chemical formula.

Almost every few letters, you can see a capital O.

This may be a bit too amateurish, but it is a very intuitive reflection of the problem.

"Even if this Martian creature is able to survive in an acidic environment, it will definitely not survive without oxygen. Verdale Taylor said in the affirmative. "We haven't named this organic matter yet, but it's this organic matter that can only exist in a strong acidic environment that provides the devil bug with the ability to move in an oxygen-free environment!"

For Verdale Taylor's words, Jiang Chen can understand.

There is no oxygen on the surface of Mars, not only on the surface, but also in underground mines. The devil worm, which arches like an earthworm at the bottom layer, must have an organ that can hold its breath for a long time. Jiang Chen guessed at first that it was some kind of high-pressure air bag, but he didn't expect the cause to appear in the blood......

Wait, if there's no oxygen on the surface or underground, where are they ventilating?

There is also the Gaia civilization, he has never noticed this problem, how exactly the civilization built on the ground solves the problem of oxygen. It can't be said that they mastered air filtration technology when they were in the Stone Age, right?

How do these Martian creatures survive underground?

Jiang Chen suddenly realized this problem.

And Verdale Taylor's next sentence reveals the answer to this question.

"The Martian atmosphere contains less than 1% oxygen, and it is impossible to provide the oxygen needed for this large arthropod," Verdale Taylor said with a hint of excitement, "so we can assert that there must be such a place under Mars where there is an abundance of oxygen!

"Oxygen supply layer?" Jiang Chen frowned.

"That's right!" Verdale Taylor nodded, the excitement between his eyebrows growing stronger, "I'm sure there must be some kind of special anaerobic fungus growing in this special underground space. The fungus is able to adapt to the Martian environment, survive in an acidic environment, and consume carbon dioxide to produce oxygen. Its source of energy may be geothermal or the feces of the devil bug, and it acts as both a producer and a decomposer. It is precisely because of the presence of this fungus that the Martian underground biosphere can be connected into a closed circle!"

"I was once asked by SpaceX to design an anaerobic bacterium that could survive in a moderately acidic environment for their Martian Atmosphere Modification project. ”

"Do you know what this bacterium means to us?" said Verdale Taylor, with a feverish expression.

Although he had vaguely guessed something, Jiang Chen couldn't help but swallow and spit at the mouth.

"What does that mean?"

"Means we'll be able to reshape the Martian atmosphere!"