Basic Construction

Because the volcano had released its lava, once the lava level dropped to a low point, the Sword of Damocles hanging over Huo Gu's head was finally removed. The threat of the volcano no longer existed, and in its place was a safe dwelling.

After the volcano's magma flow stopped pouring out, Huo Gu issued new orders, and the basic construction of this new "home" began in full swing.

The main roots on the island continued extending new rootlets. These rootlets grew along the island's terrain, forming a thin layer of lichen.

The cells that made up the lichen were a new type of cell Huo Gu had designed with reference to the structure of algae. On the basis of combining wall cells and inner cells, this design added organelle structures such as ribosomes, vacuoles, and nuclei.

Ribosomes could dehydrate and condense the amino acids harvested by the cells into proteins, transforming them into protein structures, which made storage easier.

Vacuoles could exist as storage rooms inside cells, storing resources such as water and protein. The advantage of this was that there would be no situations such as cavities leaking and causing massive resource loss.

This kind of cell could independently take in atmospheric elements from the air through respiration, absorb acid-base rainwater and inorganic salts from volcanic rock, as well as heat radiating from within the volcano, and manufacture the amino acids needed by living individuals.

The reason Huo Gu designed these was for an obvious purpose—to create a "producer" like those in Earth's ecosphere, filling the gap in the entire cell population.

The Titanium Snail's design was extremely perfect. It could even be said to be a living individual that fundamentally should not have been born during the Hadean Eon. Even in Earth's biosphere after 4.6 billion years of evolution, the Titanium Snail would fear no top marine predator within it—except humans.

However, in order to give its abilities in all aspects an upgrade beyond the era, most of the internal space of the Titanium Snail was used to strengthen its speed and armor. This led to the Titanium Snail's low ability in resource collection.

Having Hu serve as the Titanium Snail's resource collector was indeed a compromise, but it was not the best choice. The Hu individuals were only collecting resources, not producing them.

The root and stem system covering the island and several kilometers of nearby sea was also only doing collection work, not production.

Judging by the current rate of increase in numbers, the capacity for organic resources would sooner or later reach the limit of the cells' expenditure, and that time was not far from now. In times of peace, one must think of danger. Huo Gu had to prepare for the arrival of that day.

Because the lichen's overall structure was simpler than the root and stem system's, and it only grew on the surface, the lichen finished covering the volcanic island at a speed that completely crushed the roots and stems.

Immediately afterward, Huo Gu used the root and stem system to excavate rock on one side of the volcanic island, creating a harbor. The surging waves would all be blocked by the harbor reef and would not affect the waters inside the harbor.

After construction was complete, Huo Gu transferred the core tumor-like mass of the root and stem system into this harbor and gave the tumor-like mass an order to expand in size. The range of the life field was thereby expanded once again.

At the same time, the lichen on the island also received the order issued by Huo Gu and completed docking with the tumor-like mass inside the harbor, forming a supply-chain loop.

Next was the island's observation system. Standing high naturally meant seeing far. At the very top of the volcano, where all the main roots converged, the root and stem system grew several hemispherical objects. They were transparent all over, yet still solid and hard. When rain from the sky fell on them, it made a crisp "pitter-patter" sound.

The transparent objects were tempered glass Huo Gu had constructed using silicon and carbon. Although they could not compare to metal in strength, they were not as fragile as ordinary glass.

The tempered glass was filled with transparent liquid. An eyeball grew and enlarged inside the hemispherical glass container. The nerve bundle at the end of the eyeball could transmit electrical signals, while also helping the eyeball rotate in any direction except downward.

On the outside of the glass container was a thin, semi-arc strip, with muscle cells connected at both ends. Where it contacted the tempered glass, there were tiny cilia.

Its function was that of a brush, brushing away rainwater and dust on the glass surface that interfered with vision, completing the act of "blinking."

"Whew, it's finally done."

After exhausting its mind and spirit for so long, Huo Gu could finally let out a breath.

The volcanic island at this moment was no longer as desolate as before, and looked even less like land from the Hadean Eon. Roots, stems, and lichen made this land appear full of vitality.

However, things did not develop as simply as it imagined. It had overlooked certain even more dangerous external factors.

Just as Huo Gu thought it could set out to explore nearby in peace, a new crisis descended quietly.

First, the island's visual system, which had only recently been established, noticed that the cumulonimbus clouds in the orange-red sky had clearly begun to drift faster.

Huo Gu did not take this change in the cloud layer too seriously, because the Hadean Eon was already an extremely harsh environment. Fierce gales, acid-base rain, volcanic eruptions, and occasional lightning—all sorts of factors made Huo Gu subconsciously believe that no worse situation would appear.

When it realized something was wrong, it was through the Titanium Snail sensing the changes in the ocean currents.

The Titanium Snail, which ordinary waves could only make sway slightly, could actually clearly feel an attraction coming from a certain direction, as if a bottomless giant hole had appeared in that direction and was continuously devouring seawater.

The clouds in the sky protruded downward into a cone, and the cloud layer took on a spiral shape.

A vortex appeared on the sea surface, but unlike an ordinary vortex, this was a cone-shaped vortex pointing toward the sky.

The seawater cone and the cloud cone faced each other from afar, gradually stretching themselves out. At last, their tips touched and fused into a mixture of water and vapor, becoming a pillar between heaven and earth.

A term surged into Huo Gu's mind—tornado!

"A tornado? No, this can't even be called a tornado anymore. It's too huge!"

A tornado with a diameter of around one kilometer was something Huo Gu had simply never heard of.

Shocked and horrified, Huo Gu stared at the area where the tornado existed, not knowing what words to use to describe what it saw. It was not focused on meteorology or geography, and had no way to accurately describe this thing that exceeded the range of its knowledge.

Not long after this "water pillar" formed, "water pillars" of the same level were born one after another in other directions. Continuous arcs of electricity flickered across the sky, while the surging, roaring sea surface instead became eerily peaceful and tranquil.

These "water pillars" seemed to affect one another as well. Under this influence, their paths turned toward the volcanic island where Huo Gu was located.