Chapter 156: The Reaper of Nature

The Reaper was not a giant beast; its size was only slightly larger than average for this planet.

Since it had no natural predators, the Reaper would quietly eat all day long, spending about 16 hours a day eating.

However, they were not fat; the radioactive elements in their bodies constantly consumed their energy, keeping them extremely thin.

It was not yet known whether this was because it consumed a lot of energy to produce radioactive elements, or whether the radioactive elements were constantly killing its cells, forcing it to eat constantly to maintain its body.

Only after seeing that thing would they know.

Yan Xia did not go looking for the Reaper during the day.

According to the intelligence of the first explorers, the Reaper usually appeared at night and was not hard to find.

Because their whole body glowed.

The explorers did not leave any pictures, but in their descriptions, they said that this creature had an unimaginable beauty.

This was one of the factors that Yan Xia was looking forward to.

"Does it really exist? A creature with radioactive elements in its body?"

"How does it keep its genes from being affected by radioactive elements?"

Yan Xia was not alone on this trip; he was accompanied by several of his students.

Two were from the Lelerala tribe, one from the Qi Shui tribe, and the last one was from the Tang Yan tribe.

The one from the Qi Shui tribe was surrounded by a pile of water, and thanks to technological advancements, he was using a miniature anti-gravity device to float in mid-air.

"Billy, don't try to understand the creatures of the universe with your limited knowledge."

"The universe is too big; our Federation has not yet explored it to the fullest."

"Don't even talk about the universe; even the Milky Way, at most, we have only explored one-tenth of a billionth of it."

"There are only 14... no, 16 races in the Federation; we are too insignificant."

The Lelerala named Billy, who had just spoken, shook his head.

"Ross Bill, that's not what I meant; I just find it hard to imagine."

"It's unimaginable that a creature like this exists in nature, while we, as a Level 2 civilization, are unable to create a large life form that can exist in radiation for a long time."

It was indeed hard to imagine.

However, in Yan Xia's opinion, this did not violate any theorem. In the laboratory, it was possible to create life forms that could survive radiation, and some could even consume nuclear radiation.

This was not a groundbreaking research.

On Earth, there were some life forms that could survive in nuclear radiation water, such as the famous Chernobyl nuclear power plant leak, where some new types of yeast were found in the residual nuclear radiation water.

The name "new type of yeast" may be too obscure, but in fact, they were a type of yeast.

These organisms survived in nuclear radiation water thanks to their strong reproductive ability.

"There's light over there; it must be the Reaper."

The Tang Yan student, Brin Xin, shouted.

Having too many eyes was indeed useful.

The light he mentioned was still far away.

In fact, Yan Xia and the others could have flown directly there, but they would have missed a lot. Along the way, they could investigate the other plants and animals on this planet, which was one of the research objectives.

"Let's speed up; the number of Reapers is very small, and according to the survey, there are less than 100 of them on the entire planet, making them extremely endangered." Yan Xia said.

They continued to move through the mountains.

Yan Xia discovered a mushroom-like organism that emitted a seductive fragrance. After inspection, he learned that this organism was highly toxic; it only took 1 milligram to kill an elephant, and this one weighed at least 10 kilograms, enough to wipe out an entire population.

Later, they discovered a camouflaged organism that disguised itself as a plant and waited for its prey. Yan Xia almost swallowed it whole, but he immediately released his armour and used a laser sword to turn it into a sample.

There were many discoveries along the way.

After more than two hours, they finally reached a small river.

The river was about 4-5 meters wide, and the depth was definitely less than half a meter. The light was getting closer, and it seemed to be moving towards them.

"Let's wait here; the Reaper is probably coming to drink water."

The light was getting closer.

Even Yan Xia held his breath.

When the Reaper finally appeared before them, they took a deep breath.

It was a creature with a transparent body, covered in fine white fur, but it looked more like a soft-bodied animal, like a sea slug, with an extremely soft abdomen. Around its foot, it had wing-like claws that looked very soft and large, resembling the front claws of a Digimon called Barumon, but without any offensive capabilities. Instead, they served as support legs.

At the same time, it had a face that resembled a cat, with compact breathing and feeding organs, as well as giant ears like a gibbon, pointing forward. From around its face, many soft, long whiskers extended, floating freely behind it. The ends of these whiskers were equipped with light-emitting organs, which were at least 10 times brighter than the rest of its body.

Words could not describe its beauty.

Everything about it was just right; its beauty did not lie in its wildness or its lines, but in its softness, like a glowing jellyfish.

If Yan Xia were to describe it, he would say it was like the Forest Spirit in a Miyazaki Hayao animation, although this was just a feeling, and the two did not look very similar.

However, there was a significant difference; the Forest Spirit was the guardian of the forest, while the Reaper was the destroyer of the forest.

Wherever it came from, the plants withered, and wherever it drank, the animals died. It was the Reaper of Nature, an untouchable existence.

"It seems like this trip was not in vain."

Yan Xia saw that many of the creatures in the river had died, and their bodies were floating on the surface, drifting downstream. If other creatures ate them, it would likely cause a large-scale death.

Fortunately, there were very few of these creatures. If there were more, the entire planet might become a dead star.

To avoid injury while capturing the Reaper, Yan Xia had Ella cast a spell from the battleship to immobilize it.

The Reaper was instantly frozen in place.

The spell used electromagnetic force to seal every cell in its body, preventing any unnecessary movement.

At this point, Yan Xia and his four students approached.

The Reaper was not very big, about 2.4 meters tall, and weighed between 500 and 600 kilograms.

Yan Xia touched its skin, and unlike a sea slug, it felt more like a cat or a dog because of its fine white fur. In Yan Xia's opinion, it felt more like a cat because a dog's fur is actually harder than a cat's, and the Reaper's fur was very soft and delicate.

Yan Xia plucked out a hair and examined it, discovering that it was not pure white but transparent, similar to a polar bear's fur. The middle was hollow, allowing light to pass through, giving the fur a white appearance.

A polar bear's fur looked slightly yellow, while the Reaper's fur was closer to milk white. Its body was not the only part with this colour; for example, the whiskers on its head were about as thick as a wrist, and there were only a few dozen of them, emitting a faint green light.

From the surface, you could see its internal organs; it had almost no bones, which was similar to a sea slug. However, in terms of support, their muscle structure was more like an octopus, with greater strength.

Why was it described as slender? Because its entire body was flat, and compared to other land animals of the same size, it was still too thin.

Of course, appearance was secondary.

"The real test is the inside."

"Let's take it back for dissection."

Yan Xia's words seemed to shatter the beautiful feeling.