Jiang Ye's brow furrowed. Could the smart bacteria make a mistake?
[A second batch of 10,000 primitive cells released. A large number died in the hot water. Second-generation cells began to consume the corpses of primitive cells.]
[Some primitive cells mutated directly, evolving into second-generation cells. The second-generation cells consumed a large number of primitive cells and began to reproduce.]
Jiang Ye suddenly understood. This was how the early development worked.
First, a batch of cells was released to adapt to the environment and evolve into advanced cells. Subsequent cells released would serve as food, indirectly increasing the number of evolved cells and expanding the results.
Ten thousand cells sounded like a lot, but in reality, it was an imperceptible amount, almost negligible in weight. The metal can at the bottom of the water still contained a massive reserve of primitive cells, enough to keep things going for a long time.
Jiang Ye felt a bit sleepy. He set a half-hour alarm and lay down to sleep.
After 28 minutes, Jiang Ye suddenly dreamed of a subterranean fire erupting from the bottom of the water, killing all the cells, which startled him awake.
He looked at the screen and saw a long string of messages from the smart bacteria.
[The number of second-generation cells increased to 8,000.]
[A fierce burst of cosmic radiation struck. The outer cells ruptured and died, while the inner cells managed to survive.]
[The surviving cells attempted to evolve a radiation-resistant layer, but the evolution failed. Insufficient nutrients led to a massive die-off, with the cell count plummeting to 400.]
[A third batch of 10,000 primitive cells released. A large number died in the hot water. Second-generation cells began to consume the corpses of primitive cells.]
Jiang Ye felt the plot was a bit familiar. Wasn't this the same thing that happened before?
He sat down at his desk to handle some work, glancing at the smart bacteria's messages after processing each document.
He had expected the smart bacteria to guide the second-generation cells to evolve a radiation-resistant layer soon, but unexpectedly, throughout the entire day, the cells died repeatedly, trying to evolve over and over again without success.
Before going to bed that night, Jiang Ye couldn't hold back and sent a message to the smart bacteria.
Jiang Ye: "Why haven't you produced third-generation cells after a whole day? Should we use artificial means to improve them?"
Smart Bacteria: "No, we cannot always rely on artificial strength. As we are just beginning to guide cell evolution, we lack experience and need to continue trying. We are close to finding the right approach."
Jiang Ye: "Then keep up the good work. Call me if you need anything. I'm going to sleep now."
Jiang Ye drank a bowl of stomach-soothing water and fell into a deep sleep. Perhaps it was due to the busy work during the day, but he snored loudly that night.
When he woke up, the messages had been updated again.
Hundreds of them!
Jiang Ye quickly scanned them. The smart bacteria seemed to find the speed too slow and adopted a strategy of division. They split the second-generation cells into 100 groups, feeding each group 10,000 primitive cells and constantly attempting mutations.
However, the results were quite comical.
[The 78th group of second-generation cells was irradiated by cosmic rays, resulting in an unexpected mutation. While it did not develop a radiation-resistant shell, its self-healing ability greatly increased. More than half of the cells quickly repaired their wounds after being bombarded by rays and continued to survive.]
[The gene for enhanced self-healing quietly appeared, giving birth to third-generation cells, totaling 100.]
[The third-generation cells evolved a larger appetite and began to compete for food with other groups of second-generation cells.]
[The third-generation cells consumed voraciously and reproduced rapidly, their numbers skyrocketing to 80,000. The second-generation cells of groups 77, 76, 79, and 80 starved to death collectively due to lack of food.]
[The third-generation cells continuously consumed up to 30 groups of second-generation cells, their numbers soaring to 500,000.]
The timestamp of the last message was five minutes ago. It was estimated that at this very moment, the third-generation cells were still desperately feeding everywhere, snatching the food of the second-generation cells and ultimately forcing other groups of second-generation cells to die.
The office door was knocked. Liu Jizi pushed a meal cart in.
She seemed to have just showered, her hair fluffy, wearing a fuzzy, long pajama set, and yawning.
"Today's meal is lighter. Boiled Cabbage in Broth, Chive and Egg Pancakes, Fruit Salad, and Shepherd's Purse Dumplings. Is the Commander satisfied?" Liu Jizi placed the plates on the desk, took a pair of chopsticks for herself, and handed a pair to Jiang Ye.
"Boiled Cabbage in Broth? How could I not be satisfied?" Jiang Ye picked up his chopsticks.
"I see the smart bacteria's progress is quite slow," Liu Jizi said.
"The beginning is always slow. Once the smart bacteria get used to the work, their speed will likely increase rapidly. Bacteria, with generations every half hour, can quickly cover an entire planet if they reproduce aggressively," Jiang Ye said, grabbing a chive and egg pancake to eat. "The egg in these pancakes tastes strange?"
"It's not egg, it's ostrich egg," Liu Jizi replied. "It has high protein content and is said to be aphrodisiac."
"What's the use of being an aphrodisiac? I'll be here for a long time," Jiang Ye said with a helpless smile and shook his head.
"Commander Cen said she'll be coming over tomorrow," Liu Jizi said in a low voice. "She asked me to keep it a secret."
"She's just coming over. Why the secrecy?" Jiang Ye asked, surprised. "And you're telling me even though she asked you to keep it secret?"
"You are the First Commander," Liu Jizi smiled. "Actually, it's nothing much. Tomorrow is your birthday, and she's coming to make you a big cake as a small surprise."
"Ah, birthday or not, I don't live on Earth anymore, so I don't use Earth's calendar. What's there to celebrate?" Jiang Ye smiled. "The current dates are all messed up. Look at the Spiral Star; if you calculate a day by the standard 24 hours, a year on the Spiral Star has over 800 days and 27 months."
After eating, Liu Jizi pushed the meal cart away and returned to her office to work. Jiang Ye sat back down at his desk.
Throughout the long morning, more messages from the smart bacteria continued to appear.
[The number of third-generation cells surged to 4 million.]
[The cell cluster spread outwards with the water flow and encountered alkaline hot springs.]
[The alkaline environment instantly killed a large number of third-generation cells, reducing their numbers to 3,000.]
[The half-dead cells began to struggle.]
[Two mutations occurred. One type of cell developed a fine flagellum at its tail, allowing it to move forward by rotating the flagellum and escape the alkaline area. Another type of cell attempted to consume alkaline substances and successfully converted sodium ions into its own material.]
[Heritable genes were produced, giving birth to Flagellated Bacteria Generation 1 and Alkali-Consuming Bacteria Generation 1.]
Jiang Ye was surprised. They had actually figured something out.
The evolutionary process was quite brutal. When the environment changed, the vast majority died, with only a tiny minority surviving, lucky enough to continue existing through mutations.
The directions of mutation were also different. The alkali-consuming bacteria were adapted to the environment, while the flagellated bacteria took control of their own destiny by escaping the environment.
It was hard to say which strategy was right or wrong. Jiang Ye felt the alkali-consuming bacteria had a greater chance of winning, as there were many alkaline hot springs nearby, providing a continuous supply of food.
The smart bacteria interface split into two. The left side reported on the alkali-consuming bacteria, and the right side reported on the flagellated bacteria.
The two different types of bacteria began a survival race!