Time passed quickly, and another two weeks flew by.
Jiang Ye was swamped, and the number of stowaways on the three planets had inexplicably surged again. Work on all major planets was under immense pressure, and he had pulled several all-nighters.
Isabelle had fallen ill and had been bedridden for days, and Cen Yemeng had also reduced the frequency of her visits to her husband. Sometimes, when the couple spoke on the phone during meals, they were both engrossed in their work, creating a rather pitiable atmosphere.
What worried Jiang Ye the most was the slow progress of the intelligent bacteria.
The newly opened hot spring areas, from 2 to 6, had all completed rapid evolution. However, after reaching the stick bacteria of Hot Spring 1, they all stopped. No matter how they were induced, how the environment was changed, or how long they waited, there was no progress.
The evolutionary path of the stick bacteria seemed to have encountered an invisible high wall, difficult to overcome, and they didn't even know how high or thick the wall was.
Jiang Ye was anxious, and the intelligent bacteria were also anxious. Many of the intelligent bacteria responsible for guiding the evolution of the stick bacteria had died from overloading. The intelligent bacteria were desperately trying to find solutions, and even internal disagreements had rarely occurred. The Jiang Ye Star Fleet had to send several hundred kilograms of intelligent bacteria for reinforcement.
Jiang Ye felt the current situation was quite miraculous.
Whether the social pressure on the billions of people on Jiang Ye Star, Bi Rong Star, and the Exile Star could be alleviated depended on the small bacteria near the hot springs of Spiral Star, thousands of light-years away.
These bacteria, weighing less than five kilograms in total, with the genes that played a decisive role weighing less than half a kilogram, could affect the survival pressure of billions of people.
The total value of these bacteria could be said to be worthless, yet they influenced the operation of the economies of hundreds of trillions of planets.
Jiang Ye once again felt the complexity of the world, how seemingly unrelated things were closely connected. If the universe were a grand game, the game designer's mind would undoubtedly be an unimaginable organ.
At four in the morning, Jiang Ye was fast asleep.
The office door was violently knocked upon, as if bandits had arrived.
Jiang Ye was startled awake and sat up abruptly, his hand instinctively reaching under the pillow. His hand found nothing, and he suddenly came to his senses, remembering that times had changed. There was no longer a handgun under his pillow, and there would be no danger in this spaceship.
"Come in!" Jiang Ye said.
Liu Jizi, with a flushed face, entered, wearing a white silk nightgown, her two fair, bare legs in slippers.
"What's happened?" Jiang Ye asked, a little nervous.
"Evolution is successful!" Liu Jizi ran to the desk and typed rapidly.
The holographic projection beam immediately rose, illuminating the darkness of the room.
[Some stick bacteria in Hot Spring 1, under the influence of the acid flow, were in close contact for a long time, successfully connecting with each other to form multicellular organisms.]
[A total of 68 groups of multicellular organisms. They have tougher outer skins, adapted to the acidic environment, and began to move to find food.]
[28 groups of multicellular organisms died in large numbers due to difficulty in movement, their bodies tearing apart.]
[In 10 groups of multicellular organisms, "traitor cells" appeared internally, meaning cells that only cared for themselves and not others. The pathways for material exchange were cut off, the external cells collectively died, and the traitor cells were encased by the corpses of their companions, dying from lack of food.]
[In 10 groups of multicellular organisms, "terrorist cells" appeared internally. Individual cells mistakenly identified surrounding cells as enemies and launched fierce attacks on their companions, causing the multicellular organisms to disintegrate and die.]
[5 groups of multicellular organisms swam into the interior of the hot springs and were burned to death by a sudden eruption of magma.]
[5 groups of multicellular organisms underwent malignant gene mutations, exchanging malignant genes without restraint, leading to premature death.]
[The remaining 10 groups of multicellular organisms survived, found the alkaline food zone, and completed their first feeding.]
Jiang Ye felt his blood accelerate. "Multicellular organisms have appeared!"
"Yes!" Liu Jizi nodded frantically. "Epic evolution! This speed is truly fast!"
"Of the 68 that died, ten survived. Will these ten multicellular organisms live?" Jiang Ye worried.
"They should be fine, right?" Liu Jizi said. "Besides the multicellular organisms in Hot Spring 1, Hot Springs 3 and 7 also have huge evolutions!"
Liu Jizi tapped twice on the screen and brought up another set of information.
[Some stick bacteria in Hot Spring 3 came into contact with a large amount of manganese nodules. The first photoexcitation process occurred within the bacterial body, and the prototype of photosynthesis appeared.]
[Some stick bacteria in Hot Spring 7 came into contact with magnesium ore. Porphyrin rings appeared to absorb light, aliphatic hydrocarbon side chains appeared, and the prototype of chlorophyll a appeared, along with the prototype of photosynthesis.]
[Mechanical soldiers have extracted stick bacteria from Hot Springs 3 and 7, with a total number of 5 trillion and 7 trillion respectively, and placed them in the same water body for mixed cultivation.]
[Mixed cultivation was successful, and photosynthetic bacteria appeared, capable of the typical Z-scheme reaction of plant photosynthesis internally.]
[Mechanical soldiers have collected samples of photosynthetic bacteria and will return to the fleet laboratory in half an hour for mass cultivation. Subsequently, they will be widely deployed in suitable areas of the planet to create photosynthetic bacteria adapted to different environments, initiating the Great Oxidation Event.]
Jiang Ye was so excited he wanted to jump up!
His blood pressure instantly shot up!
He threw off the covers, got up, and walked to the desk to send a message to the intelligent bacteria.
Jiang Ye: "I've noticed two key evolutions have occurred: multicellular organisms and photosynthesis."
Intelligent Bacteria: "Yes, Master. The final push has been made."
Jiang Ye: "How long until the Great Oxidation Event?"
Intelligent Bacteria: "That's uncertain. It depends on the progress of the next stage of cultivating various photosynthetic bacteria."
Jiang Ye: "You might as well elaborate."
Intelligent Bacteria: "The environment of Spiral Star is very complex. Different terrains require specific genes to adapt to the environment. Different substances require specific genes to be consumed. There are also temperature and light differences at different latitudes."
Intelligent Bacteria: "The current photosynthetic bacteria can only survive in a small area near the hot springs and cannot be deployed on a large scale. In the next step, I plan to expand the family of photosynthetic bacteria to produce second-generation species that can survive all over the world. Once the second-generation species are successfully cultivated, the Great Oxidation Event will proceed very quickly. You should know that when the math textbook explains exponential explosions, it uses bacterial reproduction as an example."
Jiang Ye: "You've worked hard. I'll go back to Jiang Ye Star to hold a meeting, gather personnel to prepare for settling on Spiral Star, and arrange the winery matters for you."
Intelligent Bacteria: "Please don't be too rushed. It may take at least several months for the situation on Spiral Star to stabilize. After the Great Oxidation Event, the planet's climate will change drastically, and we will need to continuously adjust. There is still a lot of work to be done to make Spiral Star a habitable planet."
Jiang Ye: "I understand. I'm just spreading the word to reassure everyone, to let them know this is happening. Large-scale immigration will definitely be years away."
Intelligent Bacteria: "It won't take years. Small-scale immigration can be achieved within a year at most, and hundreds of millions of people can reside there within two years."