Chapter 545: Steps of Life Evolution_1

Jiang Que combed through the differences between Third Era organisms and Fourth Era life forms in her mind, using Earth as an example, Third Era organisms initially arrived on Earth with little intelligence.

Even now, on the distant, icy Earth in deep space, there are still many microbes that have existed for billions of years, which should be Third Era organisms.

The reason they lack intelligence is that Earth's environment gradually became suitable for the proliferation of life, so they could survive without intelligence.

No. 7 Bacterium, however, is an exception; it seems that as Mars's environment began to deteriorate, they developed a rudimentary intelligence to survive.

At that time, their level of intelligence was only enough for cooperation, like when Jiang Yu first encountered the No. 7 Bacterium, which used illusions to confuse other organisms.

In the following four and a half centuries, No. 7 Bacterium underwent a second evolution in human laboratories, acquiring a higher level of intelligence.

Meanwhile, the arrival of Third Era organisms or the environmental changes on Earth caused many chemical reactions, gradually giving rise to Earth's indigenous life forms.

These life forms evolved over time, leading to Fourth Era life forms, humanity.

The difference between Third and Fourth Era organisms is that the former always exists in simple structures, basically living on instinct.

But because they have been through the harsh conditions of the universe, their adaptability is extremely strong.

Jiang Que believes that viruses on Earth and some bacteria and fungi that actively attack complex organisms should be considered Third Era organisms.

The struggle between humanity and these organisms has never ceased; they attack humans, and humans have antibodies to counter them.

They mutate, and human antibodies are strengthened in response.

In the beginning, Fourth Era life forms must have also drawn from the structure of Third Era organisms.

Of course, this type of borrowing is not intentionally done but is a capacity and change endowed through millions of years of natural selection, allowing them to survive the predation of Third Era organisms.

Another characteristic of Third Era organisms is their ability to develop intelligence with a very simple structure.

Jiang Que still does not understand the mechanism behind this, however, the probability of such intelligence arising is incredibly small, nowhere near as probable as in Fourth Era organisms, which generally develop sufficient intelligence simply by pressing on.

Yet, the survival abilities of Third Era organisms are something that Fourth Era organisms struggle to match.

Jiang Que then asked, "Do you have any information about Second Era life forms?"

Zheng Kai shook his head, "We only know that Second Era life forms are tenacious and can even survive in the space environment!"

At this moment, Jiang Que's brain was racing, and she immediately thought that the Second, Third, and Fourth Eras of life forms seemed to be related to the environment of the universe.

When Second Era life forms were developing, the entire universe also lacked a hospitable environment, and most of the current planetary systems were nebulae at that time.

Even so, life emerged by chance.

When Third Era organisms came about, the situation had already improved a lot, with most planetary systems having formed.

Even though the environments of these Earth-like planets were quite harsh, with frequent tectonic movement and regular asteroid impacts, at least there was a stable environment relative to the Second Era life forms.

But such an environment still did not reach the conditions needed for Third Era organisms to evolve complex structures; in order to survive, they would restrict the complexity of their own genes.

Thus, even now, Third Era organisms retain very simple structures.

By the time Fourth Era life forms came into being, the situation had further improved, with a very stable environment that allowed Fourth Era organisms to gradually become more complex.

No matter what kind of "potential" they had at the time of their inception, they were capable of evolving enough intelligence.

At this moment, Jiang Que seemed to see the struggle of life in the early universe, and she suddenly felt the grandeur of life.

Zheng Kai said, "Alright, our conversation should come to an end, I won't stop you from leaving."

However, Jiang Que shook his head, "You never intended to negotiate with humanity, did you? From the very beginning, you wanted to annihilate all of humanity."

Zheng Kai, or rather No. 7 Bacterium, fell silent.

Jiang Que continued, "Your uprising indeed caught humanity off guard, but your ability to deceive is still far weaker than that of humans.

"If you really wanted to negotiate with humanity, after you had taken Zheng Kai and some other hostages, you would have started talks with humanity.

"But you didn't. A few hours ago, District 10 was already emptied of people, weren't they? They all went to the nearby Space City and Blue Maiden Star, right?

"You're trying to find more hosts and reproduce your species as quickly as possible.

"Including you, your spaceship must have been turned back by the highest command of the Blue Maiden Star Governing Council, not because you were, as you claimed, waiting for a rabbit to fall into your trap."

Suddenly, No. 7 Bacterium scoffed coldly, "This is what you call 'when the map is unrolled, the dagger is revealed'!"

Jiang Que noted that the expression on Zheng Kai's face was more and more in sync with the tone, No. 7 Bacterium's control over Zheng Kai was continuing.

At this moment, Zheng Kai probably could only communicate his thoughts through his eyes.

Jiang Que shook his head again, "You also know, I can't stop you, right now I have only the ability to protect myself.

"Once I obtain the answers I'm looking for, I will find a place to stay out of trouble.

"The conflict between you and the Governing Council is your own affair, I have no power to get involved. I will quietly wait for the outcome of your conflict.

"However, I believe that your chances of winning are not great."

These words seemed to ease No. 7 Bacterium's expression slightly.

Jiang Que added, "One last question, what is your social structure like? Or, who obeys whom?"

No. 7 Bacterium replied, "The kin who escaped with me from the laboratory, they all take orders from me.

"After we infect humans, we quickly use human energy to complete fission reproduction and rapidly spread to others through droplets or contact.

"The No. 7 Bacterium on you is already second generation, they obey us."

Jiang Que nodded, "I think I understand, there is a clear leadership hierarchy within your same generation, and the second generation will obey orders from the first generation."

No. 7 Bacterium nodded, "Alright, you may leave now."

There were only about ten more minutes left to complete the mutation analysis after No. 7 Bacterium entered the human body, he needed to quickly shut off the device behind Jiang Que.

Jiang Que said with a smile, "Don't rush, so with that said, you're their supreme commander, right? And the first infected person?"

No. 7 Bacterium nodded again, clearly impatient.

"That makes things easier." Jiang Que suddenly shouted, "Little Q! Now is the time!"

The facial display of Little Q, which had already been turned off, suddenly lit up, and following a wave of its hand, it used a laser cutter to slice the guard robot protecting No. 7 Bacterium from the left shoulder to the right hip.

Then it pounced forward to take control of Zheng Kai.

Jiang Que said with a smile, "This is called 'capturing the king to capture the thieves'."