Chapter 271: A World Without Fire
Jason couldn’t help but exclaim, "It’s incredible! This thermonucleus organ is like a biological thermoelectric battery. It can literally ’charge’ itself using ambient heat energy."
"Their entire anatomical structure evolved around this thermonuclear core. Those long tails they possessed likely made it easier to regulate and create temperature differentials within their bodies."
"This organ seems far more efficient than the human digestive system. The key mechanism is maintaining a temperature gradient between their internal core and the external environment to allow thermal energy to flow. Their bodies could withstand high-temperature zones of 60 or even 70 degrees Celsius for extended periods and still remain perfectly comfortable."
At this thought, Jason looked slightly dissatisfied with human biology. Relying on physical food consumption for energy suddenly felt incredibly primitive and inconvenient.
While the Nyxians also consumed small amounts of physical food, they did so far less frequently than humanity, and it was never their primary source of caloric energy.
"If humanity possessed an organ like that, imagine how much time and logistical trouble we could save. We could literally just sleep near a radiator to refuel..."
However, noticing the deep frown forming on Lily’s face, he quickly shut his mouth. The brilliant scientist had virtually zero recreational hobbies; her one true passion... was enjoying good food. Perhaps culinary appreciation was a uniquely defining aspect of human culture.
Jason quickly changed the subject. "In that case, do all subterranean organisms possess similar thermonuclear organs? Even the primitive reptilian natives should have them, right?"
Lily nodded, offering a low hum of agreement. However, she maintained her serious, academic tone. "Yes, we’ve identified similar organs in a variety of subterranean fauna, which provides immense reference value for our biological sciences. However, the Nyxians and the modern lizardmen are two entirely distinct species. Their anatomical structures are fundamentally different."
"Furthermore, over the past ten million years, Nyx’s global ecological environment appears to have undergone a drastic shift!"
"Ten million years ago, the atmosphere was heavily saturated with methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide, which acted as a vast reservoir of chemical energy. Continuous meteorite impacts and hyperactive volcanic eruptions constantly replenished those atmospheric compounds."
"For reasons we haven’t yet determined, atmospheric carbon levels have plummeted since then. As a result, the ’thermonucleus’ within the modern lizardmen has severely degenerated. They are forced to consume a significant amount of solid food to survive, unlike the ancient Nyxians, who barely needed it."
"Today, only the acidic black swarms and certain deep-strata fibrous plants remain as pure geothermal organisms..."
It was a groundbreaking discovery. Several recovered digital archives clearly recorded the atmospheric composition of that ancient era: exactly as Lily had deduced, the atmosphere back then boasted massive concentrations of methane and carbon monoxide, while oxygen levels were virtually nonexistent.
Many Senior Scientists hypothesized that the sudden mass extinction of the Nyx Civilization was directly tied to this drastic environmental collapse! The statistical probability was incredibly high.
Of course, there was an alternate hypothesis: the atmospheric shift occurred after the Nyxians went extinct. No one knew for certain yet... The Federation needed more empirical evidence to make a definitive ruling.
Jason paused to process the data before returning to the original topic. "So, thermal radiation was the ultimate energy source for the Nyxians, not physical food. They could completely replenish their stamina simply by sleeping near a geothermal vent, without taking a single bite of sustenance."
"The biological divergence between them and humanity is so extreme that their entire cognitive framework evolved completely differently. They never had any biological need to invent agriculture."
"If the first Great Sage was the visionary who painted the star map, then... the second Great Sage must have been the pioneer who risked their life to harness a basin of raw magma. They craved temperature; they needed extreme heat. Their digestive tracts were underdeveloped, meaning heavy physical eating was biologically inefficient and likely detrimental to their lifespans."
"...Wait, why didn’t they utilize fire? Wouldn’t it have been infinitely more convenient to harness open flames, like our modern lizardmen do?" Jason suddenly asked, a logical discrepancy flashing through his mind.
Lily rolled her eyes at him, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Because there was almost zero oxygen in the atmosphere back then! The oxygen concentration was less than 0.1 percent. Basic chemical combustion reactions were physically impossible!"
"They evolved to harness the thermal radiation of magma and the ambient chemical energy in the air. They didn’t need to breathe oxygen or facilitate internal oxidation-reduction reactions. Biologically speaking, these organisms were entirely anaerobic."
"Without oxygen, intense combustion cannot exist. Therefore, there was no fire!"
"It completely defies our conventional understanding of industrial evolution... We have no idea how their civilization managed to advance."
At this point, Lily’s tone dropped, becoming somewhat cryptic. "Just imagine it, Jason. A civilization entirely devoid of fire... A society that could only harness raw magma, yet somehow managed to innovate their way into a modernized, industrialized era that rivaled, and perhaps even surpassed, our own..."
The Nyx Civilization never discovered fire—this revelation was absolutely historic! It was an earth-shattering paradigm shift for the Federation, completely overturning the foundational models of their sociologists.
It was nearly impossible for the human mind to comprehend how a civilization, stripped of the most basic tool of fire, could have forged such a brilliant, technologically advanced modern society!
Was a civilization forged under those conditions...? Inherently superior to humanity?
"They achieved all of this because... their core culture placed absolute, unparalleled value on intellectual pursuit, and they fanatically revered the title of ’The Great Sage’!" Lily said quietly, locking eyes with Jason.
A heavy, awestruck silence fell over the two of them.
A world without fire wasn’t just a nightmare-level evolutionary handicap; it was practically... hell difficulty!
If fire had never existed on Earth, humanity would still be trapped in the darkest ages of primitive ignorance, no different from the wild apes swinging through the canopy.
Humanity’s accidental mastery of fire allowed them to cook their meat, unlocking massive caloric surpluses that fueled brain growth, enabling them to migrate out of the cradle of civilization and conquer the globe. Fire provided the foundational tool to ward off apex predators, survive brutal ice ages, and paved the way for advanced human evolution...
But ancient Nyx had no oxygen. Therefore, there was no fire. Nothing at all!
Even humanity’s later industrial leaps, the steam engine, the internal combustion engine were entirely dependent on combustion. But ten million years ago, in a world suffocated of oxygen... even with vast oceans of methane, combustion was impossible, severely crippling their accessible energy sources.
From an evolutionary perspective, if the starting difficulty for Earth’s civilization was a baseline "1", the starting difficulty for the primitive lizardmen was a "10", a brutally harsh environment compared to humanity’s cradle.
Therefore... the starting difficulty for the ancient Nyx Civilization was easily a hundred times greater than Earth’s. It was a solid "100"!
...Absolute hell difficulty! They didn’t even have basic fire. Was the universe expecting cavemen to jump straight into harnessing direct nuclear fission?
"It’s genuinely mind-boggling to imagine how their society evolved and how they engineered technological leaps without the catalyst of fire..."
Jason found it utterly incredible that a species could overcome such an insurmountable evolutionary roadblock.
The endless cosmos was filled with impossible anomalies, bringing an infinite sense of wonder and terror.
Naturally, the universe was so unfathomably vast that humanity was definitively neither the strongest nor the most intelligent species. Even the most arrogant megalomaniac in the Federation had to concede that hard truth.
And now, they had proof of a civilization that arose without fire... They had conquered obstacles that were virtually unimaginable to human engineering.
Biologically and intellectually, they were almost certainly superior to humanity.
And this was just a random rogue planet the Federation had blindly stumbled across. In the dark expanse of the universe, could there be empires vastly more powerful than even the Nyx Civilization?
Absolutely! The Nyx Civilization was far from the apex predators of the cosmos.
Because ultimately, they were a civilization that had been annihilated by the "Great Filter"!
Just thinking about the implications sent a cold shiver down Jason’s spine...
A crushing wave of existential insignificance washed over him.
The dazzling sea of stars, the boundless void, if humanity had never been forced into deep space, they never would have discovered these terrifying, wondrous truths. If they had stayed on Earth, they would have remained forever trapped in a comfortable, ignorant fantasy, fearless only because they were blind to the truth...
Currently, the digital archives recovered regarding the Nyx Civilization were fragmented and heavily corrupted.
The lost Nyx Civilization still harbored countless unsolved mysteries...
How did they initially industrialize? How did they manage to evolve into a modern, electrified society? And what exactly triggered their apocalyptic downfall? To this day... it remained a haunting mystery.
However, Jason wasn’t in a rush, and neither was the Federation. As long as they methodically excavated the ruins, they would eventually unearth the answers they sought...
Anxiety wouldn’t speed up the process. Archaeological decryption required time, patience, and the right catalyst to push their understanding forward...
