Volcano Modification Plan

One main root after another grew from the seabed toward the land, heading straight across the beach that had once taken the lives of the calabash group and advancing toward the highest point of the volcanic island.

Soon, main roots began meeting at the crater with the two that had landed earlier.

After the convergence was complete, the rootlets of the main roots sank deep into the surrounding terrain and spread through the piles of stone.

Rock's microscopic structure was not actually solid. Rootlets on a molecular scale could easily pierce into the rock layers and extend deep through them in every direction without obstruction.

"Good. Rock layer fixation complete."

Huo Gu, who had already transferred himself inside a Titanium Snail, watched the progress of the rhizome system on the volcanic island with satisfaction.

After encountering that super wave, Huo Gu had been inspired. If he used a physical method to carry out a hardware transfer, he could, in a roundabout way, transfer a mind-body like himself into other cellular collective individuals.

From this, a new type of rhizome was derived. Its interior was mainly made up of sensory cells. By using this rhizome to build a bridge between the nodular mass on the seabed and the sensory region of the Titanium Snail, the two regions would form a whole. After his mind transferred to the other region, cutting off the rhizome's physical connection would complete the transfer.

"The rootlets have already established an intricate web structure in the rock layers. With this, the goal of reinforcing the island's geological structure has also been achieved. We can proceed to the next step."

Under Huo Gu's command, a main root on the seabed, clearly many times thicker than the other rhizomes, grew from the seafloor toward the shore and did not stop until it reached the foot of the volcano on the island.

Although this main root looked the same as the other main roots from the outside, there was a difference within.

Its interior was hollow. Its thick exterior was deceptive; in fact, its volume was no different from that of a normal main root.

The reason this main root had become this way was that it bore the core role in this plan.

It did not advance toward the crater like the other main roots and converge with them. Instead, under Huo Gu's command, it plunged headfirst into the pile of volcanic rock rubble.

Through the information transmitted back from this main root, Huo Gu could sense a powerful resistance. This resistance came from the rock layer. Clearly, this was the result of the main root being too thick.

"I miscalculated. The pressure of the rock layers is greater than estimated. Although the main root can indeed keep advancing, at this speed, who knows how long it'll take to dig through."

After feeling annoyed for a while, Huo Gu thought of a compromise.

"In that case, divide it into three regions."

"First, shrink the head to the thickness of a rootlet and make it the growth region, so it can drill through the rock layers more easily."

"The part behind the head will gradually grow to the thickness of a normal main root and become the elongation region, responsible for extending the length of the rhizome."

"The part behind the elongation region will be the maturation region. The rhizome in the elongation region will fully expand its internal space, forming the pipe cavity necessary for the plan."

"Mm, let's do that!"

The rhizome that received the order still grew and advanced through the rock layer by cell division, but it did so according to Huo Gu's idea.

The effect was indeed obvious. If he had to describe it, the previous drilling speed had been like a person taking a walk, while now, the drilling speed was that of an F1 race car.

Huo Gu could clearly feel the resistance decreasing.

Without any timing tools, Huo Gu did not know exactly how much time had passed. He only knew that quite a long period had gone by. During this time, Huo Gu used the spare organic material to expand the pitifully few Titanium Snails to more than thirty, and the number of calabashes also returned to its original level of more than four hundred.

Because there was no light in the strata, let alone any reference point to determine direction, drilling off course was extremely likely. To avoid it, Huo Gu could only use the information transmitted back by the entire rhizome system and compare it with modeling. But even with this method, there was still a possibility of drilling off course, so Huo Gu did not have full confidence in succeeding on the first try.

When Huo Gu received a signal, he knew that the rhizome's drilling work was finally about to enter its final stage.

The condition that triggered this signal came from outside, namely—the unnatural death of the cells at the head of the rhizome.

Huo Gu immediately ordered the drilling rhizome to stop elongating in the elongation region, and the entire rhizome was converted into the maturation region, expanding the internal hollow passage to its limit.

The cells of the elongation region and growth region began gradually injecting carbon dioxide into their portion of the cavity, using the volume of the gas to expand the hollow passage in the rock layer.

This was the maturation region's method of expanding the cavity. What resisted the pressure of the rock layers was gas, not the rhizome itself, and the energy consumed was negligible.

Strength was inversely proportional to size. The larger the size of a material, the lower its strength.

As the entire main root fully unfolded inside the rock layer, separated from the rhizome by only a thin wall, magma at temperatures as high as 1,200 degrees Celsius finally broke through the wall and came into contact with the drilling rhizome.

Under such high temperatures, even the heat-resistant cell membranes Huo Gu had specially formulated were of no use. In an instant, the charred and carbonized head of the main root was broken down by the lava flow, and the hollow pipe inside the rhizome was completely exposed before the lava flow.

Lava was also a kind of liquid, and it likewise followed the law of pressure. Pressure had nothing to do with volume. This rule was only related to height. The higher the liquid was held, the greater the pressure at the bottom of the container would be. This was also the fundamental reason why such powerful water pressure existed in the deep sea, while the shallow sea had none.

Now, driven by water pressure, lava surged and crashed along the hollow pipe inside the rhizome. Wherever it passed, the rhizome cells were instantly carbonized and destroyed, but because of the lava's high temperature, the pipe expanded by the rhizome was still preserved.

The surging lava would not always follow the path of the hollow pipe. The moment it left the range of the rock layer, the hollow pipe could no longer restrain the lava flow in any way. The violent lava flow burst out of the cavity and scattered in every direction, as if transforming into thousands upon thousands of fiery snakes crawling out of hell and rushing toward the seaside.

Huo Gu took all of this in, and this was exactly what he wanted to do.

The rhizome drilling through the mountain was a sacrifice, made to drill through the foot of the volcano and create a passage for releasing lava.

The lava of this volcano flowed extremely well and did not easily become blocked. This was information he had investigated beforehand and summarized from the data.

Huo Gu would continue creating more than ten similar passages at the foot of the mountain to increase the amount of lava released. When the lava of a volcano could no longer pose a threat and could no longer form an enclosed space that accumulated pressure, what danger could it still have?

This was Huo Gu's Volcano Modification Plan.