In the deep and dark underground caverns of the Kanas Mountains, Robin and his party groped their way through the labyrinth-like underground tunnels, carefully searching for all the subtle clues that might lead to the enemy's tracks along the way, in order to capture the 'dragon' that was about to break out of the cocoon in the midst of lightning and thunder. 【】

At this time, three hours had passed since Robin led the team deep underground, and Colonel Mark, Anse El and others, who were far away in the army fortress, learned the news through the communication message sent by the previous accompanying explorers as soon as Robin decided to continue deeper. The panicked Colonel Mark and Anse El gathered more than half of their troops to rush to reinforcements, and the squadrons that had been carrying out exploration missions in the Kanas Mountains were immediately ordered to assemble here and go deeper into the cave to reinforce Robin's already lone team.

It can be said that because of Robin's arbitrary behavior, the military deployment of the entire Hayden planet began to tilt sharply towards the Kanas Mountains, and the resulting consequence was to completely break the original stalemate of the war situation on the planet Hayden, and put all the bets on Robin's rash action without warning.

At this moment, Robin, who is accustomed to acting intuitively, does not realize that his risky behavior can cause such a big change in the situation. Now he focused almost all his energy on exploration, facing the many forks in the cave that would appear from time to time, as well as the complex terrain with huge height differences, Robin and Zoro spent every second on judging the route, and according to the clues found from time to time and the terrain images sent by sonar detection, they chose the right path as much as possible to move on.

"Scratches on the rocks here are starting to increase, leaving fresh traces of corrosion on many stalactites, which are probably caused by some kind of strong acid. There's also some debris left behind by the crustaceans' debunked shells, and I think we're pretty close to our goal. ”

In a relatively wide open area within the cave, Zhuo Luo finally found the biggest discovery of his trip. Through these large traces, Zoro believes that they are now in a position very close to the temporary lair of the Insats.

"Arthropods and reptiles, which have an instinct to shed their shells, tend to eat their old shells after shedding their shells to replenish the calcium lost by shedding their shells. These debris are supposed to be left over from the process of swallowing, but as a rule, they will never leave any food that is beneficial to their body, and they will eat their old shells clean. So, judging from this clue, those creatures that have just finished shedding their shells should have left in a hurry. And ......" Leona looked at the multiple test data on the instrument in her hand and said affirmatively, "And after my DNA testing, the DNA of these fragments is completely different." In other words, this suggests that these debris are left behind by the simultaneous shedding of multiple species, which is completely inconsistent with biological laws, so the only explanation is that something is raising them, and that they are only capable of raising and mutating multiple species at the same time when the size of the race reaches a certain number. ”

"So...... Have we found a large army of Insats? And could they have already discovered our invasion and left in such a hurry? Robin's voice revealed an irrepressible excitement.

"Your Majesty, I need to tell you bad news. The sonar we had set up at the mouth of the cave had just stopped working, suggesting that something had broken through our camouflage and destroyed our sonar detector. So now we've lost our 'eyes', and in the recent sonar feedback, we found that there was an obstacle in the area not far away, so we couldn't get the terrain survey data for that area. The explorer at the head of the report was pale.

"Oh? Which area was blocked? Hearing this, Robin immediately became vigilant and looked at the three-dimensional topographic map in the hands of the explorers.

The surveyors sketched a large area on the three-dimensional map with their hands: "From here to here, there is an area of nearly 10,000 square kilometers where sonar information is confused, and it is impossible to obtain detailed detection data. ”

"What an amazing creature." Leona pondered for a moment, shook her head and smiled bitterly, "It seems that the Insats have already figured out how to deal with our sonar device in their own biotechnology. ”

"Huh?" Robin looked at Leona in bewilderment, not understanding why Leona would say that.

"From the standpoint of the biological world, no kind of ability can be invincible, and all things are mutually reinforcing, which is an eternal truth in the natural world. For example, in the early stage of life, predators evolved advanced organs such as eyes in order to find their prey more easily, but then, some predators at the bottom of the food chain developed the ability to camouflage, which weakened the role of the eyes to the greatest extent. The predator soon develops the ability to smell, but the prey begins to change its sweat glands and other odor organs according to the sense of smell, and uses the pungent smell to counter the predator's olfactory system. So in the biological world, any one ability can only maintain an advantage for a while, as their hostile species will quickly figure out how to deal with it. This is also the reason why species at the top of the food chain are always the most vulnerable to extinction, and evolutionarily speaking, everything they structure is to strengthen the ability to highlight a certain aspect, and when this ability is restrained, it is time for them to perish. ”

"You're talking about biology, and our sonar technology is technology, so it shouldn't be the same." Robin didn't quite understand why Leona would take the topic so far.

"No, all our scientific and technological achievements are borrowed from the biological instincts of a certain creature in nature. In the early stages of our invention, we found inspiration in bats, and then we used their predatory instincts. Therefore, although we have made this biological instinct more diverse and advanced through scientific and technological means, we are still not out of the category of sound waves and radio waves in essence, which means that our technological behavior is also a biological ability that can be overcome. Leona bowed her head and continued after a moment of speech: "Take bats as an example, as mammals that mainly hunt, bats have eyes, noses, ears and other organs that have long evolved in mammals, and they have also evolved the unique predatory ability of sonar from their hearing. So, from a biological evolutionary point of view, it's a great ability. However, as hostile species and food for bats, insects such as moths will sooner or later evolve some ability to resist ultrasonic detection by bats, provided that they are given enough time and opportunity. In nature, it may take tens of thousands of years for this creature to evolve, but if the Insats are involved, who have the pinnacle of biotechnology, then this evolution time will be greatly shortened. After all, we've been using sonar technology for many years, and there's no reason why they shouldn't know that we have it, and there's no reason why they shouldn't make up for their disadvantage in this technology. ”

“……”

After listening to Leona's words, Robin and the others looked at each other and asked bitterly, "So...... If the situation is really what you say, then it will be difficult for us to use sonar technology against them in the future? ”

"It takes time for technology to become widespread, and it is impossible for a species with a vast territory to evolve the same ability at the same time. Just like us human beings, when a new technology is born, the scope it can cover is often only in the circle of the inventor, and only through the communication between people will the technology be disseminated, so as to cover all mankind. I think the same should be true of the Insats, after all, we have not received any reports of the Insats having an anti-sonar system, which means that the Insats in front of us may be the most advanced people to develop this kind of biotechnology. And as long as they are prevented from coming into contact with the Insats from the outside world, and preventing them from spreading the genes of this cultivated species to the Insats outside, then we have the opportunity to continue to use sonar technology on other planets to stay ahead of the curve, and of course, sooner or later, the Insats on other planets will invent the same anti-sonar technology. But the enemies of nature and I are already engaged in a race for survival, and if we can gain a little more time, we will have the opportunity to expand our advantages and develop our technology one step ahead of them. ”

"Hey! Hi! ~ I think the chat time should be over. ”

Zhuo Luo and Li, who were looking for traces at several forks in the road, suddenly retreated quickly, shouting with ugly faces: "Enemy attack!" ~Quite a lot, no! It should be a lot! ”

"In what direction?" Robin stepped forward with his gun in hand, while Lee had already begun to climb the dome with a lock, so that he could take the vantage point first.

"In all directions, there is the sound of a large number of creatures gathering here at every Yongdao, and it looks like we are surrounded." Zhuo Luo looked at the pale-faced explorers and asked nervously, "Robin, whether we retreat or hold on now, you have to get an idea right away." ”

"Guard! ~ This is the best opportunity to seize the main force of the Insat, and we must not let it go. Robin gritted his teeth and gave a categorical order: "The combatants are outside, the non-combatants are inside, and the defensive line is arranged on the spot in a defensive formation." Messenger, send a distress signal to report our location immediately, and ask Anse Air to send reinforcements immediately! ～”

(To be continued)