"I'm not sure, this is my first time seeing this thing," Li Nannan said. "If I had to guess, it might be a native of your planet."
"I thought of that. If it's a native, we don't have to worry too much. We live on the surface, and they live tens of kilometers underground. We won't interfere with each other. The only problem is that building a geothermal power plant will be difficult," Jiang Ye replied.
After ten minutes, the analysis results for the subterranean creature finally came out.
To their surprise, its genes were not deoxyribonucleic acid, but a silicon-based chain.
This meant that on the evolutionary tree, this was a creature entirely different from humans.
The composition of its epidermis was also strange. Mass spectrometry indicated that over half of it was metal, but not common metals from the periodic table. Two were unheard of, with only their structural diagrams listed. There were also some deformed metals, such as deformed plutonium, with a charge of +94 and a mass of 186. In other words, it was Plutonium-186.
Jiang Ye's knowledge of physics and chemistry had practically vanished, so he specifically read the explanations attached by the laboratory scientists.
Under normal circumstances, Plutonium-186 in this form could not exist. The atomic nucleus could not have 94 protons and 92 neutrons; it would cease to exist in less than a hundred-millionth of a second.
There was also deformed copper, deformed iron, deformed bismuth, and so on. The proton-to-neutron ratios were incorrect, yet they existed stably in a ghost-like form.
The scientists initially thought there was a problem with the instruments. They replaced the instruments and ran the tests several times before confirming that the data was correct.
An extremely strange creature.
Jiang Ye felt a bit scared, a fear of the unknown.
He sent the analysis report to Li Nannan.
Li Nannan quickly replied, "I've sent it to a few scientists I know, all of them are top-tier. They just received it and said this thing is very interesting."
Jiang Ye: "This isn't a matter of being interesting or not. A lot of people have already died at the construction site. If we don't understand this thing, more people might die."
Li Nannan: "Just wait. I'll call you as soon as there are results."
For the next two days, the laboratory continued to research the subterranean creatures. They had already given it a name: Geocentric Worm. This name could not be used as a formal scientific name, as the Galactic Empire's species database already contained over 2,400 types of Geocentric Worms discovered on various planets.
Some scientists suggested naming this newly discovered creature after the commander. However, Jiang Ye declined. He didn't want a fire-breathing ugly worm imprinted in an encyclopedia with the annotation "Jiang Ye Worm." Moreover, this worm had already caused deaths upon its discovery, which was quite inauspicious.
Jiang Ye continued to handle the work related to the casualties.
He had to compensate the families of the deceased workers, with compensation varying based on factors like years of service, credit, and family situation.
Some workers only needed six million in compensation, while others required over thirty million.
This was based on the compensation standards of their home planets.
The injured also received compensation, ranging from five hundred thousand to two million. This was mainly for mental distress, as they were quickly healed in life support pods and their lives were not affected.
The halted geothermal power plants were not idle. They used small drills to attempt further excavation and placed subterranean probes.
Two geothermal power plants soon detected suspected Geocentric Worms, while other power plants had not found any anomalies for the time being.
The power plants that detected Geocentric Worms were far apart, indicating that this creature might be widely distributed beneath the planet, and was at least not a localized organism.
Jiang Ye's scalp tingled.
When he first arrived on this planet years ago, he had seen how barren it was on the outside and thought it was a dead planet.
As more creatures were discovered, and now with the underground also having them, things were certainly becoming lively.
With so much earth pressing down, enough to crush a barbell, he wondered how these worms survived.
Fortunately, these Geocentric Worms seemed to have no intelligence, just primitive little beasts.
If they had intelligence, it would be frightening. Perhaps there would be Geocentric Worm dynasties or civilizations underground, and they might even come to the surface to drive out humans, leading to a planetary defense war. That would be a huge problem.
The water ghosts had come in a wave like that back then, scaring people quite a bit.
Jiang Ye just wished for a peaceful life. Why was it so difficult?
Four days after the Geocentric Worm incident, the Galactic Empire military laboratory finally produced preliminary results, all of which were rather trivial research conclusions.
[Possesses simple intelligence and a rudimentary language, capable of basic communication, such as indicating food locations, issuing mating calls, and signaling danger. Communication relies on radio waves of different frequencies, which change with the individual's growth. Therefore, this Geocentric Worm's communication is limited to individuals of the same age.]
[The genes show traces of artificial splicing, with no possibility of evolution. Any slight alteration results in death. After tens of thousands of generations in a time capsule, it maintains 100% of its initial state. It is suspected to be a non-naturally evolved creature, meaning a manufactured product. There are no records of this product in the Galactic Empire's database. It may be a product from outside the Galactic Empire's territory, or an unregistered black market product.]
[The body can perform space jumps and store large amounts of energy. The jump intensity is low, limited to within a star system, and it lacks autonomous jump capability, requiring external assistance. Preliminary judgment suggests it may have corresponding equipment to assist in jumping, likely a weapon. There is a small probability that it has symbiotic creatures assisting it.]
[Energy storage relies on stellar algae, which functions similarly to chlorophyll in plants. Stellar algae were first discovered within other organisms. They may have been artificially injected or ingested and not digested, becoming part of the Geocentric Worm's body.]
[Note: Stellar algae, a rare space organism, were first discovered in the solar system twenty years after the Third War. They have since been found widely across numerous stars in the Milky Way and are known as "star killers." They have caused the demise of tens of thousands of stars and are classified by the Galactic Empire as "organisms to be exterminated." Stellar algae resemble single-celled organisms and can survive on the surface of the sun, absorbing vast amounts of energy. They then migrate in swarms to Venus for reproduction. The migration to Venus is primarily due to Venus's high carbon dioxide content of ninety-seven percent, as stellar algae larvae can only survive in high concentrations of carbon dioxide. Reproduction is exponentially explosive, capable of consuming a small star in a very short time, after which they collectively migrate to the next star system for reproduction. The vast majority of stellar algae serve as migration fuel, with a small portion reaching their destination.]
[Conclusion: Stellar algae, like the smallpox virus, were declared extinct worldwide many years ago and are only recorded in databases. The discovery of long-extinct stellar algae within the severely artificially modified Geocentric Worm is highly likely to be a biological weapon manufactured by an unknown force. A detailed analysis report will be issued within 48 hours. A Level 1 biological threat alert has been triggered. This information will be directly transmitted to the highest levels of the Galactic Empire military and broadcast across all planets and space stations in the M78 Nebula.]