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1242 The Theory of Oxygen Supply Layer

Research on the Devil Worm was progressing slowly.

It was not because of the inability of these scientists, but because every breakthrough discovery led to countless possibilities. The Devil Worm spread their roots of exploration to the boundaries of science and then expanded it to the unknown soil beyond their understanding.

The scientists gathered here were like babies feeding on breast milk. They were ingesting unheard knowledge from a species that had lived for 3.7 billion years.

The challenging topics in biology, genetics, chemistry, and other disciplines were tackled one by one, and they would evolve into new research branches.

In the words of a biologist at the Hua Academy of Sciences, the existence of the Devil Worm already renewed the human understanding of biology.

A few days ago, the world’s largest arthropod on Earth was the 12-foot Japanese Spider Crab. However, Devil Worm’s length was a daunting 15 meters. Also, its terrifying rock drilling ability could penetrate the metamorphic rock formations several kilometers or even tens of kilometers underground, which also brought new understandings of the limits of organisms.

In particular, the massive force behind its two pairs of incisors, in theory, could even cut an entire rebar, or even the armor on the T-3 power armor. Only the rover on Mars nearly one hundred tons in mass could survive the impact of its bite.

Its hardened shell also protected it from being cut by fragmented rock formations during high-speed movements, and its defense was sufficient to be immune from 12.7mm heavy machinegun bullets. Fortunately, Celestial Trade Marines used Gauss rifles, and the armored vehicle was equipped with large-caliber guns and rockets. Otherwise, breaking through the armor would be a challenging enough task.

When Jiang Chen received the combat analysis of the Devil Worm, his first reaction was linking it to the Death Claws.

From his impression, only creatures like Death Claws could fight against power armors.

Inaccurately speaking, it should be the claws of the Death Claws and the shell of the Mud Crabs. A Death Claw alone would have no fighting chance against a Devil Worm. In all the creatures that Jiang Chen had seen before, perhaps only the Mother of Death Claw could outpower a Devil Worm

Later, due to the growing number of discoveries, the research subjects became more and more detailed and specific, and the coverage became more and more widespread. Therefore, they realized there was actually a lack of people.

To address this problem, more than a dozen scientists jointly requested Jiang Chen to invite several well-known scientists in the academic world, but whose nationality did not belong to the four major member states. It was so the problems encountered in the study could utilize the conclusions already made in their respective fields.

After some discretion, Jiang Chen exchanged views with representatives of Hua, Russia, and Frankberg before finally relaxing the restrictions on nationality.

Some of the candidates were selected from the list provided by the joint petitioners. The Earth Defense Alliance issued 11 invitation letters to the South Asian countries, the three countries in Eastern Europe, India, and other minor member states, and authorized them to participate in parts of the project. Also, scientists from Finland, Donetsk, and Nippon, countries that were actively promoting accession to the Earth Defense Alliance, received approval.

However, this led to another problem. That was, the news of the Devil Worm arriving in Celestial Trade could no longer be concealed...

“Verdell Taylor, is there something you need?” In the lounge next to the lab, Jiang Chen put down the newspaper and looked at him as he walked into the lounge, ” If it’s a new joint petition, I’m afraid I will be unable to meet your requirements as we receive thousands of petitions from universities in Europe every day in our mailbox. Too many people want to squeeze in here... It’s also difficult for us.”

When Verdell Taylor heard what Jiang Chen said, he touched his nose in embarrassment and apologized.

His name was one of the names in the petition.

Jiang Chen was always friendly towards scientists and he did his best to accommodate their requests. Verdell Taylor learned the troubles that his request brought to Celestial Trade and the Earth Defense Alliance, so he did feel apologetic toward Jiang Chen.

“It has nothing to do with the petition,” Verdell Taylor coughed, then said, “We have made new discoveries in the study.”

“Oh?” Jiang Chen looked at him, intrigued, “What did you find?”

“You know, the entire atmosphere on Mars is made up of carbon dioxide and everything from the groundwater to the rock formations is acidic.” Verdell Taylor paused, then said, “Based on our previous research, Devil Worms can survive in an acidic environment, and even its blood is a strong acid. Therefore, it’s highly likely this is the result of natural selection from more than three billion years ago.”

“But later, the scientists we invited to the team came up with different opinions.”

“Oh?” Jiang Chen waited for him to continue.

“In addition to the strong acid blood, we also found some unique organic compounds in its blood.” Verdell Taylor wrote a string of chemical formulas on the whiteboard, of which Jiang Chen could not comprehend with his knowledge. “And this organic compound can only exist in a strong acid environment.”

“...My chemistry knowledge is only at that of an undergraduate student.” Jiang Chen said while looking at the long list of chemical formulas on the whiteboard.

“You don’t have to understand it, you just need to recognize this symbol.” Verdell Taylor shook his head and pointed to the letter O in the formula. “These represent oxygen atoms.”

“I do know this...” Suddenly, Jiang Chen found the strangeness in the formula.

Almost after every few letters, he could see an uppercase O.

This may be a bit amateur of an explanation, but it intuitively reflected the problem.

“Even if this Mars creature could survive in an acidic environment, it would never be able to survive without oxygen.” Verdell Taylor said in a tone with absolute certainty. “We have not yet named this organic compound, but it’s an organic compound that can only exist in a strongly acidic environment, and this exact compound gives the Devil Worm the ability to move in an anaerobic environment!”

Jiang Chen understood the message.

There was no oxygen on the surface of Mars. And not just on the surface, but oxygen must also be depleted in the caves underground. The Devil Worms that moved underground like worms must possessed an organ that held oxygen. Jiang Chen suspected it may be a kind of high-pressure airbag, but it turned out the blood was the enabler...

Wait, if there is no oxygen on the surface and underground, where is it getting its oxygen?

There is also the Gaia civilization. He never noticed this problem but how did civilizations breathe underground? It’s just unrealistic to think they mastered air filtration in the Stone Age.

How did these Mars creatures survive underground?

Jiang Chen suddenly realized the problem.

And Verdell Taylor’s next sentence revealed the answer to this question.

“The oxygen content in the atmosphere is less than 1%, and it’s impossible to provide the oxygen needed for an arthropod of this size,” Verdell Taylor said with a hint of excitement. “So, we can say with certainty that there must be a location underground with high oxygen concentration! We call it ‘Oxygen Supply Layer’!”

“Oxygen Supply Layer?” Jiang Chen frowned.

“Yes!” Verdell Taylor nodded, and the excitement between his eyebrows grew stronger and stronger. “I’m sure that in this special underground layer, there must be some special anaerobic fungus. This fungus has adapted to the Mars environment and survives in the acidic environment by consuming carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. Its energy source may be geothermal, or it may be the Devil Worm’s feces, but it acts as both a producer and a decomposer. Only with the presence of this fungi could the underground biosphere form into a locked loop!”

“I was invited by SpaceX to design an anaerobic bacterium that could survive in a medium-acid environment for their Mars atmosphere transformation project.”

“Do you know what this bacterium means to us?” Verdell Taylor said with euphoria and zeal on his face.

Although Jiang Chen could already guess it, he still asked the question.

“What does this mean?”

“It means we will be able to transform the atmosphere on Mars!”