The branch where the black bird perched was rather high. Du Ke could not reach it without climbing, but that did not stump him. Standing beneath the branch, he continuously extended the bottom of his Nano Armor, raising himself up as though he were walking on stilts.
He grabbed the black bird and dispersed the bird-catching net. The bird was now held in his hand. It was only as large as a pigeon, black all over and somewhat like a crow. The difference was that ordinary Earth birds had three toes facing forward and one backward, while its claws had two facing forward and two backward in a symmetrical arrangement.
This allowed it to grip branches more firmly.
While holding it, he could feel a gentle force trying to bounce his hand away, accompanied by a faint glow.
"Is this force really magic?" Having personally experienced the strength of its "magic shield," Du Ke was quite curious. "How does it work? Is it consistent with Earth's system of mechanics?"
Earth's system of mechanics was based on the four fundamental forces. Scientists had always sought to unify these four forces and thus establish the essence of the universe. Although the trees in the New World were different colors and its creatures had different means of "attack," they still appeared to be carbon-based lifeforms, so they might also follow the four fundamental forces.
Yet the Mind Power pursued by the extraordinary civilization of the Ocean of Mind clearly did not belong to the four fundamental forces—though perhaps it did, and they simply did not yet understand its underlying principles.
"If it is consistent with Earth's system of mechanics, then how should this magic shield be explained?" There was no way to know. At the very least, Du Ke truly could not figure it out.
"I'll call you Shield Crow." He casually gave the black bird a name.
After filming and recording it, he plucked a feather as a keepsake and released the Shield Crow. The individual Shield Crow was too large, and bringing it back would consume too much energy. It was not worth it.
"Caw!" Freed, the Shield Crow let out a strange cry and flew away, vanishing into the Great Blue Forest in the blink of an eye.
Du Ke continued onward. He did not want to stay in a place filled with Bomb Caterpillars. After walking dozens of meters, he arrived at an open stretch of forest. There were not many blue trees here. Instead, there was a patch of low shrubs. Besides blue, these plants also came in red and yellow.
What puzzled Du Ke most was that he saw a group of mushroom-like "fungi." For the time being, he would call them fungi.
The smaller mushrooms were only palm-sized, but the larger ones stood as high as half a person. Their caps resembled umbrellas and came in red, blue, green, purple, and yellow. They were dazzlingly colorful and vibrant. Du Ke did not know how large the biggest fungi on Earth were, but the mushrooms here were truly enormous.
They also grew in clusters among the shrubs.
He walked up to the largest mushroom and crouched down. Its stalk was probably as thick as a person's waist. It looked tender and brittle, though Du Ke did not know whether it was poisonous. Beneath the mushroom cap, he saw countless sesame-sized dots embedded densely along one of its ridges.
"These are mushroom spores, right?"
Using small tweezers, he carefully plucked several dozen spores and placed them into a glass test tube, then tucked it into his storage box for safekeeping. As he circled around it, he suddenly discovered holes in the stalk of this Great Mushroom. More precisely, they were artificial holes, not ones formed through natural growth.
He came to that conclusion because there were three holes, resembling one door and two windows.
The door was no longer visible, leaving only a large opening. However, within the two smaller holes that formed the windows, there were still obvious window frames. Most of them had already been enveloped by the mushroom stalk, leaving only a few pieces of the framework visible.
"These are definitely windows and a door!" Du Ke manifested a flashlight and shone it into the hole. Inside, he saw a large space that should have been hollowed out by someone. It had clearly been abandoned for a long time, and the mushroom stalk had grown solid again. "Did I just discover the natives of the New World?"
Comparing the size of the mushroom to the doors and windows, he immediately imagined a group of tiny people less than a palm tall.
"Are these the intelligent species of the New World? Should I call them Mushroom People?"
He proceeded to inspect the other mushrooms and found that the stalks of four larger mushrooms all had similar holes left by doors and windows, while the smaller mushrooms did not. This further confirmed the existence of the Mushroom People. A group of Mushroom People had once settled here.
"Maybe the Mushroom People cut down the blue trees, leaving behind this patch of low shrubs, and planted these Great Mushrooms here." Du Ke continued imagining. "Then Bomb Caterpillars invaded. The Mushroom People could not withstand the Long-Haired Bombs, so they migrated elsewhere."
It was merely speculation.
Still, it eased Du Ke's mind somewhat. After all, such a tiny intelligent species lived in primitive mushroom houses. What kind of civilization could they possibly develop?
Besides, if Mushroom People this small could survive in the forest, it meant this Great Blue Forest was not especially dangerous.
"I just need to be careful not to come into contact with this world's viruses and bacteria... Right, once I return to Earth, I absolutely need to build a sterile laboratory to prevent the bacteria and viruses carried by New World species from leaking out and infecting the surrounding population." Thinking of the pandemic that had once swept across the world, Du Ke became solemn.
Back then, Westerners had brought cold viruses to North America, and the Native Americans had nearly been wiped out because of it.
"It does not matter much if the viruses and bacteria I brought infect the New World. But they absolutely must not infect Earth in return, or I would become a sinner against humanity."
These Great Mushrooms of different colors might not have been the same species, but Du Ke still grouped them together and called them Large Mushrooms.
At that moment, something hidden amid a clump of grass caught Du Ke's attention.
He lifted the grass and immediately saw a massive snail shell half-buried in the ground. It was as large as a millstone and had likely been dead for a long time. It was grayish-white, with a great deal of pink "moss" growing over it. There were also small bean-sprout-like plants poking through the gaps in the shell.
"Such a huge snail?"
He knocked on the shell, but unexpectedly, a small creature darted out from inside. Before Du Ke could react, it had vanished into the shrubs.
"What was that? I only saw a grayish blur!"
The little creature had already disappeared, so Du Ke could only keep knocking, trying to coax another one out. Unfortunately, there were no more. He even smashed the shell apart, yet saw nothing except some dry grass and dead leaves. That little creature had probably used the place as a nest. Among the dry grass and leaves were little black pellets, which were likely droppings.
Du Ke had no interest in picking up droppings. He scraped off a little moss from the shell's surface, then pulled up one of the bean-sprout-like plants and stuffed them together into a test tube.
Yet he thought, When I saw the mushroom houses earlier, I thought this world might not have any large animals. But the appearance of such a huge snail shell proves that this world not only has large animals, it may even have animals unimaginably huge... Right, I do not feel unusually heavy or light. This world's gravity is roughly the same as Earth's.
After setting foot in the New World, he had not felt any discomfort, so the planet where this New World was located was probably about the same size as Earth.