The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 120 The solution to the paradox and the idea of ​​flying

The First Thunder Scorpions have never seen a creature like the Explorator, but since they belong to the same chelicerate class, in their eyes, the Explorator is probably a strange species with a shorter tail and a pair of claws.

However, they have no intention of showing mercy just because they are the same kind - it seems that the shadows cast by these primitive vascular plants are limited, and these scorpions have almost divided up the territory. Now that the exploration workers are coming, they are mistaken for them. Come to grab territory.

Lin Yi was completely too lazy to pay attention to them. He controlled the explorer to move five pairs of legs and walked directly in front of Shi Lei Scorpion.

But the other party came forward reluctantly, opened its pincers, and waved its scorpion tail in a threatening gesture.

Seeing this, Lin Yi impatiently controlled the explorer to wave his claws, and went forward to fight with the claws of the First Thunder Scorpion.

The chelicerae of the explorer are more slender and do not appear to be dominant. But the fact is that when the claws were swung, half of the claws of the Thunder Scorpion broke off immediately, and blue insect blood dripped from the section, falling on the vascular plants.

In order to adapt to the still harsh terrestrial environment during the Ordovician period, the exploration vehicle was equipped with a smaller version of the inner shell and double-layered muscle system of the Dreadnought. The exoskeleton, at least the vital parts and chelicerae, was also installed in the Dreadnought. The same "composite armor".

In a sense, the explorer's muscles and bones were overloaded by Lin Yi when he still didn't know the approximate intensity required for land activities.

Under the combined action of a layer of hydraulic muscle and a layer of fibrous muscle, it was easy to cut off the chelicerae of the First Thunder Scorpion, while the First Thunder Scorpion, which had lost an arm, quickly twitched and fled, regardless of the threat of the Horseshoe Crab. Plunge into the water.

After driving away the First Thunder Scorpion that came to cause trouble, Lin Yi was able to continue to explore forward and find all traces of possible creatures that were fully adapted to life on land.

Judging from the reaction of the Thunder Scorpions, they may not be able to obtain enough food on land, which proves that at least in this area, there are not many, or there are no land creatures at all.

From the emergence of the Chelicera subphylum in the Late Cambrian to the era of Lin Yi's previous life, no species feeds on plants - and the explorer is no exception.

This means that if other land creatures are not found, the exploration workers cannot go very far and must return to the lake to receive supplies.

After a while, Lin Yi couldn't help but fell into deep thought again as he looked at the dense but empty vascular plant jungle - at least in this area, there seemed to be no land animals.

But at this time, regarding the paradox that put him in a dilemma, he had already thought of a solution to both problems.

Lin Yi didn't know whether the world he lived in in his previous life would still be the same after 400 million years. He didn't know whether it would trigger a butterfly effect, but just in case, he still planned to consider the worst outcome.

That is, this is still the world he lived in in his previous life, but it was 400 million years earlier. Every move he makes now will affect the world he once lived in in future generations.

The process of going from water to land inspired him.

The figure of the First Thunder Scorpion came to mind - they all have similar structures. The scorpions that landed on land survived, while the winged horseshoe crabs that dominated the water died. This made him think of a way. -Leave this restrictive environment!

Yes, if you want to leave as little impact on future generations as possible, without abandoning your martial arts and maintaining a sufficient population, why not leave this environment known to future generations and go to other places where you can avoid triggering as much as possible The butterfly effect, or in other words, even if it is triggered, it will not be serious enough to erase one's own existence and seek development in an environment?

In later generations, at least in the era he lived in, the footprints of human civilization were still limited to the earth and this small part of the solar system.

If he could develop enough strength to break out of the earth and enter the universe before humans appeared, leave the earth, or even leave the solar system, and then erase as much traces of his existence as possible, he would be able to escape from the dilemma. But all this is easier said than done.

Determined by the limits of carbon-based organisms, the harsh environment of space can easily kill any creature. Even the toughest tardigrade can only survive in dormancy for a while.

As for the development of science and technology, he did not have any basis for recreating the scientific research results of later generations of mankind. Lin Yi felt that it would be more realistic for him to make good use of existing gene editing methods to research ways to break through the limits of carbon-based organisms.

If this is really the world he once lived in, then he still has 400 million years left.

Four hundred million years is said to be long enough to change everything, but Lin Yi still has no idea about this ambitious goal.

Now, he feels like a toddler thinking about how to break into the world record. I didn’t even understand it on land, so I just thought about how to set foot in the starry sky.

But due to the pressure of paradox and butterfly effect, he still had to do it, and he needed to do it as soon as possible, lest he disappear without explanation one day.

The description of the Anomalocaris nest group’s description of the meteor event in the Middle Ordovician and the birth of the Ordovician nest group, the original mother nest that appeared in the Dikla crater, and the emergence of “Kraken” and giant starfish, scenes from the previous Ordovician period comes to mind again.

Lin Yi couldn't help but sigh in his mind, maybe there really was a so-called destiny in the dark, which gave him a reason to explore the stars.

Ambition goals often need to be broken down into countless small goals to achieve, and the same goes for this. Therefore, Lin Yi's plan is to establish a foothold on land first before making the next step.

But he also did not give up the idea of ​​searching for other terrestrial creatures and extracting genetic sequences.

At the speed of exploration, it is a little difficult to quickly find other creatures. Moreover, its fatal weakness of being unable to replenish nutrients independently has greatly limited its exploration range.

It is unrealistic to search for a wider range and with higher efficiency only on a two-dimensional plane. He couldn't help but control the explorer to raise his head and look towards the sky.

The dust clouds of toxic substances have long since dispersed, and the sky is clear and blue, but there is no sign of any living creatures - under normal circumstances, it would take tens of millions of years for the earliest ancient Dictyoptera insects to reach the sky.

But flying is not that easy to achieve. Even if the Latin names of horseshoe crabs often have a part meaning "wings", that only describes their paddling feet as flat as wings, and cannot really be regarded as having wing.

But when he mentioned paddling feet, or thought of appendages, some inspiration suddenly emerged from Lin Yi's consciousness, and then, an extremely bold idea quietly emerged.

(End of this chapter)