Chapter 604: Test Subject 39_1

Xiao Qi was most excited when he received this report; he was researching the topic of converting matter into energy, which first required the conversion of matter to matter and energy to energy.

The process of energy to energy conversion was too inefficient at the moment, losing too much energy, and such a method did not allow for high concentrations of energy.

The conversion between matter and energy had also been realized to some extent, such as humanity's application of dark matter.

However, what Xiao Qi pursued was the conversion of ordinary matter into energy; the matter stream engine had completely changed the energy structure of humanity, but currently, it could only use dark matter and antimatter to achieve energy conversion.

Moreover, the loss was significant, and the current improvements to the matter stream engine by humanity were mainly focused on reducing the losses in this process.

As for ordinary matter, it was still nothing in front of the matter stream engine, but theoretically, matter and energy could be converted without loss.

That was the dream Xiao Qi had been chasing; with such technology, the universe would be an energy bank for humanity, and humans could use any matter and energy to transform into anything they needed.

This goal was still far from humanity, and Xiao Qi's main research was still on the conversion between matter and matter, as well as energy and energy.

The conversion between energies had been realized quite early, such as turning solar energy into electrical energy, then using electric power into light energy or kinetic energy.

But the loss in this process was too great, still a far cry from Xiao Qi's pursuit!

The "Curtain's" escape process gave Xiao Qi hope.

Heat could be viewed as a form of energy, such as the heat within the human body, which maintained the basic functioning of the body.

With more heat, like in a steam engine, steam could provide power, converting thermal energy into kinetic energy.

With even greater heat, such as on the surface of a star, any natural metallic substance would melt.

But what could heat of ten degrees Celsius do? Even the operational temperature of the human body needs to be around 36 degrees Celsius, let alone powering a steam engine with just ten degrees Celsius.

Yet the captured "Curtain" had accumulated five days' worth of heat at ten degrees Celsius and then made two of its cloth-like tentacles attain blistering temperatures, using high heat to break through the exterior wall of the small laboratory.

This was simply incredible!

How could heat accumulate to the extent that it could cause its shell to emit a blistering temperature like steel? With its flesh-like structure, how had it accumulated such temperatures? How could it withstand such high heat?

Xiao Qi felt that if he could just understand how the "Curtain" achieved these feats, the issue of lossless energy conversion could be greatly solved.

Soon, the escaped "Curtain" began to be cornered by armed robots within the mothership, but the "Curtain" exhibited extraordinary intelligence, skillfully dodging and even occasionally attempting to counterattack.

Fortunately, the mothership was a fully intelligent vessel; if there had been human crew members, the "Curtain's" escape could have already caused casualties.

Eventually, the "Curtain" was captured; the spots on its surface started flashing again, and the surrounding robots even received a scrambled electronic signal.

Was the "Curtain" trying to communicate with the robots?

But the electronic signal was too chaotic, hardly resembling an intelligent signal.

What surprised the biologists, however, was why it suddenly had the ability to emit electronic signals?

After bringing the "Curtain" back to the laboratory, it was immediately placed in a low temperature of below fifty degrees Celsius to be "frozen," to prevent another "escape."

And the tentacles that had been cut off earlier had already undergone initial research.

Jiang Yu and Xiao Qi both requested a copy of the research report.

The report said that the "Curtain" had an extremely dense structure in its shell, which could actually isolate the severe space environment.

In cold environments, the shell would become very hard, thus preserving the internal temperature of the body.

And in warm environments, the shell again would become soft, allowing the internal structure of the body to absorb heat.

The fine threads inside the "Curtain" were the key to its survival in space. When the temperature was low, these threads would become crystalline, storing energy and heat.

When the temperature was high, the threads again turned into a liquid, which could speed up the "Curtain's" movements.

What surprised people the most was that researchers found the "Curtain" could even control its own metabolism. In space, it could maintain a state without metabolism for a long time.

Only in a suitable environment, with food and water, would it carry out metabolism.

Even when metabolizing, the energy it consumed was negligible compared to humanity because its internal cellular structure was very special.

Their cell walls resembled those of plant cells, thick and with distinct edges, and they stored a lot of energy. Once they divided, they no longer needed any energy supply until the cell died.

The division of cells occurred when there was food and the conditions for survival allowed it.

Xiao Qi was most interested in how to store and gather heat, but the report did not mention this.

Some experts speculated that this must be the result of a combined effect of the hard shell and the internal thread structure because a large number of metallic substances were found in its shell, and those threads could also act as "organs" for storing heat.

After Jiang Yu finished reading the material, he said to Xiao Qi over the channel, "This reminds me of something long ago.

"The Trisolarans once had an experimental subject called 39, and I remember he also had a thick shell that allowed him for short periods to be exposed in the space environment.

"Back then, the Trisolarans really didn't treat people as humans, actually turning the genes of the Second Era Life Forms inside a human body into dominant ones!"

That was a memory from long ago, had he not seen the information about the "Curtain's" shell, he would have already forgotten it.

Xiao Qi was contemplative, just about to offer her thoughts, when Song Xingrui, the commander of the Second Corps' reconnaissance battalion, suddenly reported, "Wallfacers, professors, we have made a new discovery in the ancient battlefield!"

An excited biologist exclaimed, "Did you find a group of Second Era Life Forms?"

"No, we've discovered a dwarf planet!"

"What's so important about a dwarf planet? Aren't there plenty of them in the universe?"

However, Jiang Yu and Xiao Qi immediately realized something was amiss. Previous reconnaissance reports had stated that there was nothing left at that ancient battlefield. Therefore, the sudden appearance of a dwarf planet naturally implied its significance.

Jiang Yu simply muted the biologist in the channel, "Tell us the specifics."

"Yes!" said Song Xingrui, "Just a few minutes ago, a dwarf planet suddenly appeared next to the mothership detaining the 'Curtain'.

"At first we thought it was an enemy warship, but the other side did not attack the mothership."

Song Xingrui paused slightly as he looked toward a side screen, "The mothership has just received an intelligent signal from the dwarf planet, um, please hold on…"

A few seconds later, he continued, "Decryption completed. It's an invitation."