Chapter 129 - Lighthouse jellyfish

Fu Wenduo pressed his ear to the metal wall of the safe, tapped the side of the box with one hand and kept toggling the combination lock with the other, listening for sounds from inside. Tang Mo is standing by with a torch. The three of them hold their breath as they hear the click-click-click of the lock and key turning in the room.

We are not afraid of what might happen, but just in case.

The black tower research facility is hidden underground, with the exterior of a robotics lab as a disguise, and the security is high. A black safe in a corner, inconspicuously placed, should have no extra protection and could be opened with violence. But Tang Mo and Fu Wenduo decided to try carefully.

The combination to the safe had eight digits, and after an hour Fu Wenduo tried to get four.

The three men were patient. After another half hour, there was a crisp sound and Fu Wenduo looked up at Tang Mo. The two men nod, Fu Wenduo stands up straight, and with a snap, opens the heavy safe.

The bright light of the torch shone through, and there was no protection against violent demolition. Tang Mo pulls out a thick stack of information, and the dense English immediately comes into view.

"Institute of Marine Biology, Texas, USA

Experimental date: 15 November 2017

Experimental subject: XX jellyfish

...

Level A response: 141 experimental samples died ...'

Tang Mo spread out the thick material on the table for the three of them to read together. There are so many proprietary terms in this document that it is normal for Fu Wensheng to be too young to understand it, and Tang Mo, who was quite good at English when he was at university, can only understand it in a general way. He tried to read all of it, but he was still confused by the lumpiness of it.

Tang Mo turned the file back to the first page and looked at the line on it.

"Is ... a jellyfish?"

Fu Wenduo's low voice rang out, "It's a lighthouse jellyfish."

Tang Mo turns his head to look at him.

Fu Wenduo: "This experiment is to study the lighthouse jellyfish. This jellyfish usually inhabits the waters of Central America, but recently there has been a mass die-off. The black tower research institute in the United States noticed this anomaly and brought the samples to China to discuss it. The experiment was unusual on the 15th of November and the American researcher arrived on the 17th. The Earth came online before either side had a chance to take a closer look."

Tang Mo: "I think I've heard of a creature like a lighthouse jellyfish somewhere."

This is something that Fu Wenduo does not know. What is written in the material is no longer understandable in English, it requires a certain knowledge base. Perhaps Luo Fengcheng can read it, but unfortunately he is far away in Shanghai.

Since there was nothing to be done, the three men examined the laboratory a little more carefully. After making sure nothing else was out of place, they took the information and the blue glass vessel from the safe with them. The water in this vessel had been sitting for five months and was already cloudy, and Tang Mo guessed that what was inside was probably a lighthouse jellyfish. It was only when the Earth went online and all the world's animals disappeared, leaving only humans, that the vessel was empty.

The three of them took the information and left the Institute quietly in the night.

Tang Mo found a new Chinese bookstore, and with his experience as a librarian, he easily found a thick English dictionary of marine life. The three of them spent a day and a night looking at this thicker than a dictionary, finally figuring out what this information was about.

The lighthouse jellyfish, which inhabits the Caribbean, has spread to Spanish and Japanese waters in recent years.

This is a small jellyfish with a transparent body and a red digestive system on its head. The whole body is about 5 mm long and is only about the size of a human fingernail. Jellyfish are generally more sensitive to nature than humans, just as dragonflies fly low and earthworms crawl out of the mud before it rains. This is why The black tower was launched and the Texas Institute of Marine Biology collected over 200 species of jellyfish from around the world for study, including the lighthouse jellyfish.

"The lighthouse jellyfish is the only known creature in the world that can change from an adult to a juvenile ..."

Tang Mo was shocked to see this line of introduction.

Changing from an adult body back to a juvenile body ... means that this creature can achieve rejuvenation. Tang Mo had a guess in mind, he looked further down and sure enough, the lighthouse jellyfish was actually immortal!

After reaching sexual maturity, the lighthouse jellyfish will reproduce by turning back into juveniles and then growing from juveniles to sexual maturity. There is no limit to the number of changes that can be made, meaning that if no external force kills these jellyfish, they can reproduce, become juveniles and grow to sexual maturity again and again, achieving true immortality.

Tang Mo looks at the empty blue vessel. Here originally sat the lighthouse jellyfish, yet with the Earth coming online, they were bound to disappear. And before they disappeared ... they actually died.

The three men had read this information in its entirety. The reason why The black tower Institute in the United States had travelled across the Pacific Ocean to China to discuss the lighthouse jellyfish experiments with scientists in China was because the lighthouse jellyfish had died in a safe environment. There were 201 samples in total and 141 died, nearly two thirds of them.

Tang Mo thought about it: "The information says that these lighthouse jellyfish do not die from external forces, but from autochthonous reproduction. Each time they reproduce asexually, they are supposed to change back to their hydroid form. But on 15 November, two thirds of this batch of lighthouse jellyfish did not change back into their hydroid form after reproduction. Like the other jellyfish, they simply died."

Fu Wensheng said: "November 15th was the day that The black tower made its first sound, and three days later Earth went live. The black tower must be involved in the deaths of these jellyfish. Jellyfish are more aware of changes in the natural world than humans are, so did they sense something and die?"

There is some truth in that.

November 15th is such a special date that it is hard not to think of The black tower. And as jellyfish are very sensitive creatures, it is most likely that these lighthouse jellyfish sensed some change and died one after another. However, it still doesn't make sense.

"These 141 lighthouse jellyfish should have changed back to juveniles after asexual reproduction, but instead of changing, they died." Tang Mo tightened his brow, his brain working quickly. After a long time, he suddenly looked up at Fu Wenduo, and a word came to him, "This can't be suicide, can it?!"

Fu Wenduo has always had a bigger brain than Tang Mo, but this time he was slightly stunned by Tang Mo's words.

Fu Wenduo thought for a moment, "It was not influenced by external forces, it was indeed suicide."

Tang Mo had a sudden flash of light in his head.

It seemed that he had seen somewhere a creature similar to a lighthouse jellyfish, not immortal, but very similar. He recalled it for a long time, and finally found it in the fragments of his memory. Tang Mo immediately said, "I've seen a lobster before, and it's the product of a genetic mutation. Lobsters are sexually reproducing creatures, but that one can reproduce asexually, which means it can clone itself over and over again, and all its offspring are genetically identical to it. It's kind of immortal like that, with a hint of similarity to this lighthouse jellyfish."

Fu Wenduo gradually understood what Tang Mo meant: "You mean, asexual reproduction, constant cloning of oneself, no genetic changes ..."

Tang Mo caught the light at once: "The genes will always remain the same, that is, no evolution will take place."

Fu Wenduo's eyes narrowed as he grasped the key word: "... evolution."

Nice, just evolution.

Tang Mo flips the information to the reverse tens of pages. In the experiments on the death of lighthouse jellyfish, the researcher gives eleven possibilities for death. Three of them are the most likely. The first is the influence of external forces. Even if the researchers were sure they had accurately controlled the external elements of the experiment, they were not 100% sure they had actually allowed the jellyfish to reproduce in complete safety. The second is that lighthouse jellyfish have some special way of dying that humans have not yet discovered. And the third is species evolution.

Asexual reproduction is a low-level form of reproduction. The stability of genes makes it difficult for evolution to occur in species that reproduce asexually, such as meadowlarks and jellyfish. Sexual reproduction is the mainstay of evolution.

Researchers in the United States did not think that these lighthouse jellyfish would suddenly evolve overnight as a whole, as this would be too inconsistent with biological theory. However, they may never have known that three days later, humans around the world were forced into The black tower game. Compared to The black tower, the sudden evolution of the creatures seems perfectly normal.

"They guessed it had something to do with The black tower, but they didn't guess that The black tower would end up like this."

The American researchers came across the ocean, they were not able to reach a conclusion before they disappeared, but passed on a guess to Tang Mo, Fu Wenduo five months later.

All that The black tower has done is for the evolution of mankind.

No one can prove whether this conjecture is correct or not, and there is not a single lighthouse jellyfish on the planet right now to support this theory. Tang Mo's heart was beating fast, and after a long time he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself down.

This is ultimately just a guess.

Tang Mo went through all the information again and committed it to his mind. For insurance purposes, Fu Wenduo and Fu Wensheng also went through it. Tang Mo then burned the material. Including the lighthouse jellyfish that had disappeared into the blue vessel, he threw the blue glass container into the fire as well.

Having done so, Tang Mo looks up to find Fu Wenduo looking at him.

The two men stared at each other in silence.

After a long time, Tang Mo smiled and asked, "It doesn't seem so strange. If The black tower is really forcing people to evolve, then it would be logical for it to act as a catalyst to bring out human psychic powers. But why humans?"

The lighthouse jellyfish have evolved, but after three days, they all disappear. The only ones left on Earth at the end are humans.

In the quiet bookshop, Fu Wenduo asks rhetorically, "What is the smartest creature in the world?"

Tang Mo didn't understand why he was asking this question, but he did remember a film. In a rare mood for a joke, Tang Mo said, with a serious face, "Rats."

Fu Wenduo: "..."

Fu Wenduo, who had actually seen the film, said, "It's all The black tower's choice."

Yes, everything is The black tower's choice.

Tang Mo does not know why The black tower has chosen humans, nor does he know if its purpose is to force humans to evolve. But there is no doubt that if the game does continue and humans reach the seventh level of The black tower, evolution will definitely occur. Even the worst human players are now smarter and more physically capable than they were six months ago.

The information taken from the laboratory was all burned, and as it was about to get dark, the three planned to rest in the Xinhua bookstore.

Suddenly, Fu Wenduo's eyes went cold. He got up quickly and ran outside the bookshop with great speed. Tang Mo was startled and pressed his hand on the small parasol. Fu Wenduo flickered out of sight and went to the door. Tang Mo waited for ten seconds and did not see him return.

Fu Wensheng: "Big Brother should have found something, but it's not something dangerous."

Tang Mo looked at the child. It was true that Fu Wenduo was too cautious to just leave, something must have happened for him to go out suddenly, but it was not an enemy attack, otherwise he would have talked to Tang Mo.

Tang Mo thought about it and went out with Fu Wensheng.

The two men rounded the junction and saw Fu Wenduo at once. Fu Wenduo has now also turned around, as if to call back to Tang Mo and the two of them. When he saw Tang Mo, he stopped dead in his tracks. Tang Mo's face gradually sinks as he sees the body lying behind Fu Wenduo.

Blood gurgled down the other man's chest.

It was a young girl who lay on the ground, looking at the sky, her eyes wide with resignation. Her heart had been half ripped out, and the flesh had fallen next to her body in what could be described as a single blow. The blood hadn't quite clotted, and the thick blood flowed down to Fu Wenduo's feet, dampening the soles of his shoes.

The girl had just died when Fu Wenduo came out. If an onlooker had seen this scene, they would have naturally assumed that Fu Wenduo had killed her, just as Fu Wenduo's hands were still covered in blood. Tang Mo, however, calmly approached, examined her and asked, "Did you see the murderer?"

Fu Wenduo: "No. When I arrived her body had not fallen and she was standing here. But her chest had been broken open and half of her heart and ribs had fallen to the ground. I couldn't save her, I treated her with mineral water and she was still dead. The injuries were too severe and she was not fit enough."

This would have been a low-strength reserve, and even Fu Wenduo's quickest efforts would not have saved her.

Fu Wenduo, who was a bit more physically fit than Tang Mo, must have suddenly heard the girl being attacked in the bookstore. It was also possible that he had been doing missions for years and was more sensitive to such things and sensed that someone was killing the girl, so he didn't have time to say hello to Tang Mo and ran straight over, trying to get here as fast as he could. Unfortunately, he was still a step too late. He didn't see the killer, and he didn't save the girl.

Tang Mo reached out and closed the girl's dead eyes.

"Last time that one could consider if it was thrown out of the copy, this one is even stranger." Tang Mo's expression was cold and sensible as he analysed, "Firstly they must have both been killed by humans, and with one brutal blow. That's the same thing. There is another common denominator, the person who killed them we didn't see."

Fu Wenduo knows that Tang Mo is talking about a body they suddenly saw on the road three days ago. Like this one, it seems to have been killed by a transparent person, both in different ways, but neither of them can find the killer. The last time it could be said that it might be related to the copy of The black tower, but this time Fu Wenduo saw the girl fall, but still could not see the killer.

This is not like The black tower games.

The night is drawing in, and without electricity, the streetlights on either side of the road don't come on in time, and the world falls into darkness. The three of them stand beside the cold body, the wind whimpering as the cold breeze burrows into Tang Mo's sleeves. The girl's blood slowly solidified, turning dark brown and branding the ground.

Tang Mo said, "It's dark, so find a place first, take her and have a closer look at the situation."

The three men moved to prepare to leave.

Suddenly, an upbeat music blasted out. Tang Mo quickly turned his head to look at The black tower, only to see one bright white line after another rolling upwards from the bottom of the dark tower. The black tower's music didn't end as the white lights continued to flash.

As soon as the six o'clock hour was up, the music came to a screeching halt and the bright line settled into the middle row.

Players around the world stopped moving and looked at The black tower in unison. Ninety percent of the players had a look of fear on their faces as they trembled in fear. Some cried and fell to their knees, begging God to save them. But instead of God, they waited for The black tower's excited beep.

"Dingdong! The first mandatory tower attack game opens on March 31, 2018."

Buzz!

After a dull sound, Tang Mo saw the bright white line on the tower of The black tower slowly change to an eight-digit number.

'28315123'

As if he suddenly understood something, he turned his head and looked at Fu Wenduo.

Within ten seconds of them preparing to carry off the girl's body, the numbers on The black tower had changed -

'28315019'

Tang Mo's eyes widen.

... It's only been ten seconds!

The numbers are still changing on the huge dark tower.

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