Chapter 475: Chapter 410: Research and Hypotheses (Part 2)
"The fourteenth squad has completed the cleanup of ’Acid Canyon’. A new variant of the Reaper Race was discovered, and samples have been collected and sealed."
"Logistics Team Three requests support, encountered a counterattack by the ’Excavator’ group while digging underground fortifications... hold on, the issue has been resolved. These insects are pitifully weak after losing their time loop intelligence."
The communication channel of the command center was filled with reports of victories.
Frost sat in front of the tactical projection, with hundreds of real-time battlefield images floating in front of him.
His fingers tapped in the air, categorizing, analyzing, and redistributing each new piece of intelligence.
"The advance is 40% faster than expected," he muttered, but there was little joy in his eyes, "It’s going too smoothly; it seems the opponent will flip the table much sooner than before."
Even without the memories of the loop, Frost remained well aware that once their battle proceeded too smoothly, the possibility of the opponent using time reversal to flip the table would significantly increase.
"But these insects don’t seem to intend to initiate time reversal immediately. Is it that the conditions for using this ability are not met, or do they want to gather more intelligence, or is it something else...?"
Based on the intelligence feedback from various Wizard Squads, the Reaper Race seemed to be... retreating.
They abandoned numerous peripheral strongholds, concentrating their forces in a few critical areas.
In those abandoned areas, they even left intact production facilities, research data, and even larva breeding grounds that couldn’t be transferred in time.
It was a clear sign of intending to make a last stand.
"What are they thinking?"
Frost stared at those areas on the map that were previously heavily defended but now quickly captured, with knitted brows.
If they wanted more intelligence, the Reaper Race should have resisted bravely.
No matter the heavy casualties, all would return to the original state after time reversed, so there was no reason to fight so timidly.
Meanwhile, at the research center of the camp’s core area.
Jeming, wearing a white coat, was standing in front of a three-meter-high transparent incubation chamber.
Inside the chamber floated a corpse of the Reaper Race.
This corpse was a rare "worker bee" variant.
Its body was smaller, its shell thinner, its forelimbs specialized as delicate manipulative organs, and its compound eye structure more suited for close observation.
"This was found at the ’Fungal Mat Farm,’" a Fourth Level Female Wizard, Alison, pointed at the corpse and said, "They were responsible for tending a kind of fungal plant that secretes high-energy nutrients, the primary food for the Reaper Race larvae."
Jeming nodded, scanning the corpse with Divine Sense.
In his perception, the energy circuits inside the corpse were unusually clear.
It wasn’t a remnant after death, but a certain... "development stalled" state.
"Have you dissected it?" he asked.
"Of course." Alison walked to an adjacent console, bringing up a set of holographic images, "Look here... its nervous system has seven layers of redundant backups, its digestive system can adapt to seventeen different energy sources, and the reproductive system... is completely degraded. This isn’t a complete organism, more like a kind of ’multi-functional tool.’"
Hearing this conclusion, Jeming couldn’t help but frown.
Such a structure is quite common in some insect swarms with group consciousness, but the Reaper Race only has insect-like habits and appearance; fundamentally, they are high-level life forms with independent thought.
These beings even have their own culture and high-tech skills!
Such a structure appearing in a high-level life form just feels wrong.
Alison continued, "Before, we’ve also captured various mutant samples, but this particular specimen shows the highest degree of differentiation, even exceeding our previous expectations of this species."
The image zoomed in to show a more microscopic structure.
"But thanks to this sample, we’ve finally made a breakthrough in their genetic material research." Alison pointed at a simulation diagram of a gene chain, "We compared this with samples of twelve other different variants and found their differences mainly concentrated in the expression control region—like the same set of building blocks, but assembled differently, they can form completely different things."
Jeming stared at the blinking genetic nodes, a thought stirred within him.
"So the various variants of the Reaper Race are not independent ’species’, but rather phenotypes of the same species at different developmental stages or induced by different environments?"
"More accurately, it’s ’metamorphosis’," Alison corrected, "like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but in the Reaper Race, the ’metamorphosis’ is more extreme and more controllable."
"Interesting..." Jeming couldn’t help but rub his chin, "This species... is artificial? So the Reaper Race is actually a runaway artificial product?"
"Exactly, naturally evolved species wouldn’t exhibit such controllable changes. Moreover..."
Alison switched the image, this time showing a series of larval development records.
"We intercepted monitoring data from several breeding sites and discovered that the larvae of the Reaper Race experience at least three significant morphological changes during development. Each change requires specific environmental stimuli—temperature, energy concentration, pheromone signals, even including... time pressure."
"Time pressure?" Jeming sharply caught onto the term.
Alison’s expression turned serious.
"This is a recent discovery, not yet documented in official reports." She lowered her voice, "We analyzed data from 37 different breeding sites and found that the development of all larvae responds to a certain kind of specific fluctuation. When the fluctuation occurs, the larvae’s metamorphosis process accelerates over 300 times, then returns to normal speed after the fluctuation ends."
Jeming felt a chill down his spine.
"That fluctuation..."
"We are temporarily calling it ’temporal ripple,’" Alison said, "discovered by a Logistics Department Wizard who mastered the Time Law. According to him, it was actually a simulation of the Law fluctuation generated after the conclusion of time reversal."
The laboratory fell into a brief silence.
Several wizards conducting experiments nearby also paused their work and gathered around.
"So," a Fifth Level Warlock wearing tactical glasses adjusted his frames, his voice filled with incredulous excitement, "the development of the Reaper Race is bound to the plane’s time loop? With each loop, some part of them develops into the necessary form based on information left from the previous cycle?"
In Jeming’s mind, the pieces began to come together: "So the extent of time reversal in this plane is far longer than we imagined, but what we can observe and experience is only the point in time after entering this plane."
"Very efficient," another wizard remarked, "Imagine, a civilization that can continuously trial and error over countless cycles, cultivating the most war-suited variants with the least resources. Even from a temporal standpoint, this civilization could be prepared for the enemy’s arrival before they even get there."
"If they can break through the plane’s limitations..."
"Then they would become a true catastrophe."
In the discussions, Jeming silently took out a Record Crystal, recording all the preceding conversation and research data.
But his thoughts were already drifting in another direction.
If the Reaper Race’s development is bound to the loop...
Then what controls the loop, or the "mechanism"? Could it also be the same mechanism controlling development?
Even further...
If the mechanism of the Reaper Race’s metamorphic development and information transfer during each cycle can be understood, could it indirectly lead to discovering the method of their time reversal?
This idea made his heartbeat quicken.
He looked at Alison, "Regarding the Reaper Race’s information transmission mechanism, how far have you researched it? Can it be... artificially simulated?"
Alison was stunned for a moment, then her eyes lit up with realization.
"Are you thinking...?"
The laboratory fell silent once more.
The wizards were all intelligent, and Jeming’s hint made them instantly grasp his intention.
Exchanging glances, the wizards quickly confirmed the feasibility of the plan.
"Theoretically possible," Alison licked her lips, "But we’ll need more samples, especially developmental data from high-tier individuals. Additionally, simulating information signals requires enormous computational resources..."
"I’ll apply for it," Jeming said, "Commander Frost will approve it—as long as we can demonstrate the value of this research direction."
