Salts

The salt Huo Gu spoke of did not refer only to sodium chloride, the table salt humans ate in daily life, but broadly to a major category in chemical systems: "compounds formed from metal ions or ammonium ions combined with acid radical ions or nonmetal ions."

"Found it!"

After adjusting the vitreous body of its eyes several times, Huo Gu caught sight of a pillar of smoke rising from the seafloor in the distant sea, exactly like the submarine volcanic smoke columns it had seen before.

"As expected..."

Its originally somewhat panicked mood instantly settled down. A certain guess in its mind had been verified.

Aside from the acidity or alkalinity of an aqueous solution, there was another important factor behind the denaturation of proteins in the cell membrane: temperature!

During the Hadean Eon, this was a deathly wasteland suited only for microorganisms. In this era, the planet was one supergiant steamer.

Why had there been torrential rain lasting millions of years?

This was the reason. The high temperature of the entire planet's core boiled the seawater, and while the water vapor shed its heat high in the sky, it fell back to the planet's surface as rain, then repeated the evaporation all over again.

During this period, the temperature of the seawater was constantly maintained at the highest temperature liquid water could reach—100 degrees! In other words, boiling water!

Life was extremely tenacious. Even in such an extremely harsh environment, life still existed. The cell cluster and the microorganisms it had encountered earlier were living examples.

However, although a high temperature of 100 degrees could not harm these microorganisms, low temperature could.

When salts formed, it was an "exothermic reaction," but since the water temperature was already at its highest, 100 degrees, there would not be much effect. The key point came afterward.

Due to environmental factors, not long after these salts formed, "hydrolysis" would occur. This was an "endothermic reaction," and during the process of hydrolysis, the water temperature was drawn away.

And so, in this "steamer" world, "low temperature" was created.

Of course, this "low temperature" was only relative to the surrounding boiling-water environment. For primitive microorganisms that had been in contact with 100-degree boiling water since birth, it was very difficult to adapt to a "low-temperature" environment of 70 to 80 degrees.

"No wonder the number of microorganisms collected by the digestive cavity suddenly dropped..."

It muttered to itself in understanding while debugging the cell membrane mechanism.

After the debugging was complete, Huo Gu once again repaired the inner wall of the digestive cavity and observed it with full concentration, not daring to relax in the slightest.

If another problem occurred, that would mean there were still factors it had overlooked, and it would need to debug the cell membrane all over again.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly enough. The new inner cells and wall cells were both carrying out their work normally, and Huo Gu let out a sigh of relief because of it.

Through the eyes of the cell cluster, it gazed at the smoke column in the distant waters. Huo Gu knew that it too was one of the culprits behind the creation of the neutral "low-temperature" water region.

An alkaline submarine volcano!

It was precisely this kind of volcano, together with the acidic volcano at Huo Gu's starting point, that had caused substances to intermingle under the action of currents. Acid and alkali neutralized each other, producing salts in this stretch of water sufficient to change the temperature of the nearby area.

"Farther ahead is the alkaline water region."

Huo Gu could predict that near that volcano, there had to be an ecosystem of alkaliphilic microorganisms as well.

Should it go?

To be honest, Huo Gu very much wanted to go and see what was there. As a scholar with a deep interest in biology, a treasure trove of the unknown had appeared right before it; to say it did not want to explore would be a lie.

Among humans, there were always some people who dared to court death in pursuit of knowledge, and Huo Gu was one of them.

"I'd better resolve that matter first."

Huo Gu decided to set aside the exploration of the alkaline water region for now.

It was true that it dared to take risks for knowledge, but that did not mean it would risk its life when there was a safer method available. That was not called "fearlessness in the face of death." That was called "an unpaid IQ bill."

The cell cluster began replicating new individuals in large numbers to expand the size of the entire cluster.

Originally, to ensure mobility, Huo Gu had always deliberately controlled the cell cluster's own mass, but now, it needed more cells to verify its idea.

"I do understand the principle of not putting all your eggs in one basket. I hope the next experiment can proceed smoothly without any accidents."

"The experiment to increase the power of the life field officially begins!"

The cells obeyed the command and changed their positions inside the cell cluster, appropriately squeezing aside to make the largest cavity so far, with a volume equivalent to three times that of the water-storage cavity.

If it wanted to extend the cells' "life field" to the outside world and issue commands to distant individuals of the same kind, then there was only one choice—increase the output power of the "life field"!

"Come on, let me see whether this can actually work..."

"Inner cells, partially unwind and create new individuals."

The inner cells that received the command began releasing enzymes and carrying out individual division.

This division proceeded very quickly, far surpassing the speed of all previous cell replication. Even the self-replication speed of bacteriophages was slightly inferior.

A tiny cell equivalent to one percent of an inner cell detached from that inner cell.

This cell was extremely small, and its gene chain was likewise extremely short. Its structure was also very crude. Its cell membrane was even thinner than the membrane of the original primordial cells; it did not even require an aggressive microorganism, as a violent ocean current alone could wash this kind of cell membrane apart.

This was also the reason it took so little time to produce: its structure was simply too simple.

"A new type of cell..."

Huo Gu thought of the purpose of this kind of cell, and a plan formed in its mind.

"Mm, I'll call it a 'sensory cell.'"

The replication of this new type of cell began in full swing within the cell cluster. Before long, this large cavity, equivalent to three times the size of the water-storage cavity, was packed full of sensory cells.

Between the sensory cells, Huo Gu used connecting proteins to link them, forming a vast microscopic matrix. Then a network made up of inner cells ran through and connected the entire cavity, ensuring the supply of nutrients to the sensory cells.

If it wanted the field to expand its range of influence, it needed to increase the field's power. And if it wanted to increase the field's power, it needed to start with the field source.

Although Huo Gu had not been able to figure out what the essence of this life field was, or why the field source was an emerald, that did not prevent it from increasing the power of the field to a certain extent.

Increasing the number of field sources was an effective means of enhancing output power. In other words, as long as there were enough controlled cells, the range of the life field would also expand.

Based on all these factors, Huo Gu realized one thing—as long as the field source did not change, the contribution of large cells and microcells to the life field should be equal. Then, if it manufactured a large number of ultra-small controlled cells that possessed nothing but field sources, would the power of the life field not be indirectly increased as well?