Chapter 6169 - 5180: Soul-Stirring Ideal Land (37)

Shiller was standing on the ceiling above the feeding room. He had to take the risk of going into the filter once to find out where the waste discharge pipe was. This was undoubtedly very dangerous because there was definitely a large shredder in the filter, and the consequences of being sucked in were unimaginable.

However, under the reminder of the rats, Shiller realized that in fact, when they moved in the mucus, there was no need to wrap themselves with tentacles. Because they had already been contaminated by Nya’s strength, they could not be contaminated by Misisha’s strength anymore, and Nya’s strength would also protect their blood so that the black mucus couldn’t drain them. Previously, Shiller tried it and found it to be true, so they could free up their tentacles for movement in the mucus.

The strength of the tentacles was actually quite strong, capable of providing a powerful propulsion if used for paddling, which was Shiller’s guarantee to explore the filter. This time he didn’t plan to take anyone, as guiding the waterway and pipe-making required more manpower, and going alone was more convenient.

In fact, it was also because this mucus wasn’t water, it wasn’t transparent at all, making it easy to lose direction inside and very terrifying. Entering without protection imposed a great psychological burden, and Shiller also worried they might collapse underwater, which might instead interfere with his actions. Truth be told, even the rat was unwilling to jump down, so it was better not to bring anyone else along.

Shiller had no hesitation, leaping down towards the mucus. The mucus immediately surged over, trying to drain his blood, but under Nya’s strength protection, it was of no avail. Despite this, he could still feel the bone-chilling cold. Shiller moved his body, his tentacles swayed behind him, and although the resistance was somewhat great and not as flexible as in water, he could still move.

Shiller’s sense of direction was quite good, using his tentacles to paddle water, he swam in one direction, which should be where the filter was located. Sure enough, after swimming forward for some time, he didn’t encounter any walls, but instead felt the vibration of machinery, which might be the working shredder.

The thickness of the mucus had benefits too, as the vibrations became more apparent, making it easy for Shiller to determine the direction of the machinery. He paddled in the opposite direction, climbing upwards along the wall upon touching it, and with a splash, his head emerged. Shiller turned his head to look around, but actually saw nothing. It was a completely enclosed room, and without a light source, nothing was visible.

Shiller could only rely on his tentacles to feel his way, inching towards the shredder’s direction along the wall, and quickly felt the metal casing. Just then, more food was coming in, and the shredder began working, generating strong vibrations. Shiller dodged aside quickly and soon heard the sound of liquid gushing. There indeed was a passage behind the shredder, but how could he get there?

Shiller pondered for a long time but couldn’t come up with a good idea, then switched his thinking to where the shredded meat would be discharged.

If it were just piled somewhere, such a large amount of meat would quickly fill up. Iron Man probably wouldn’t have built several large warehouses just to store waste, let alone these weren’t non-biodegradable or radioactive, having no need for sealed storage. Direct discharge into the natural environment wouldn’t be harmful.

But still, the issue was the amount. If buried in the ground, a huge pit would be needed. If just tossed on the ground, it would form a mountain of meat. Although there were many animals around, they might not consume such a large quantity of meat. Actually, the best solution would be to discharge it into water so that the fish could eat it.

Fish actually have a much stronger digestive ability than terrestrial animals, not individually, but with the environment and ecosystem as a whole. This meat, put on land, might need several days’ worth of flying and running animals to eat but disposed of into a lake would just be a day’s worth for fish.

Shiller thought about the scale of the Dammed Lake and found it feasible. He had suspected before that the cube’s discharge pipes might be spread throughout the entire ecosystem, so having one at the bottom of the lake wasn’t surprising, although it was a one-way outlet. If that were the case, altering it to a two-way to let water backflow wouldn’t be difficult, considering the lake was large, and the water pressure sufficient.

However, they could tackle it from two sides, allowing the lake water to backflow on one side, while channeling rivers from above to infuse water, which would save time better. Once decided, Shiller prepared to swim back. He continued feeling along the wall, intending to move along the wall to the wall where the pipe was before jumping down, to reduce the time spent in the water. Just then, he touched some uneven areas on the wall.

Shiller paused, feeling somewhat puzzled. Why wasn’t this wall smooth? Before, they didn’t know whether the wall was smooth. As mentioned, cats’ eyesight wasn’t good, they were somewhat nearsighted. Even if they could adjust their pupils for better night vision ability, they still didn’t see as far as humans. Moreover, the lack of color perception resulted in images lacking detail, plus the cube was lit in near-total darkness, so they had no idea what was on the walls.

Shiller explored a bit and found that these seemed like marks made by humans, not naturally formed. The black mucus had no corrosive nature, unlike something they would leave. If not them, then only Iron Man could be responsible.

Shiller continued exploring along the wall, going in and out of the black mucus, covering almost the entire wall before outlining an image in his mind. The image was oval overall, with things drawn inside and outside the oval, although they seemed meaningless, or at least Shiller couldn’t make sense of it. He just memorized the pattern and then retraced his steps to return.

Since he knew the walls might have something, Shiller didn’t rush out but continued exploring inside the feeding room. As expected, he found another pattern on the ceiling, which seemed like lots of small circles, resembling some kind of decorative pattern. There was also one on the bottom of the room, even more disorganized, seemingly a random pattern corroded out.

Shiller memorized all the patterns before crawling out and finding the currently working Peter. Peter was using some type of bark to make pipes, having already crafted quite a long section.

Shiller stopped him and then said, "I found some patterns on the wall."

"What?" Peter looked somewhat puzzled.

"Inside the building, in the dining rooms and the rooms with filters, there are patterns on the walls. We didn’t notice them before because it was too dark to see." explained Shiller.

"What patterns?" Peter set down what he was holding and walked over.

"Come with me." Shiller led Peter down. The cube was too high, so climbing up and down it was a bit difficult, which is why they usually didn’t leave the roof terrace. But there were indeed no drawing materials there, so Shiller took Peter down to the soil below and started drawing for him.

After drawing all three patterns, Peter widened his eyes and said, "These are blood cells."

"What?"

"This is a red blood cell." Peter went over and pointed to the oval pattern, "This is the internal structure, and this is the outer membrane. The deliberately drawn wavy lines here should represent antigens, the things previously mentioned that cause rejection."

"These smaller ones are platelets, which we commonly refer to as the blood cells used for clotting. And this peculiar one is actually a white blood cell, appearing to be devouring bacteria."

Shiller was very puzzled because these patterns resembled doodles, just some lines, looking very abstract, impossible for a non-professional to comprehend. Why would Iron Man draw these? Could it be he was just randomly sketching while overwhelmed with work?

But Shiller felt Iron Man wasn’t that type of person; like he said, Iron Man likely wouldn’t feel overwhelmed. At this point, he was probably very enthusiastic. If there wasn’t a purpose, he wouldn’t waste time on artistic creation. If he wanted to pursue art, he wouldn’t have built the cube so square like a shoebox.

Peter suddenly showed an expression of enlightenment and said, "Don’t you think this resembles a picture book?"

Shiller felt even more puzzled, and Peter said, "Iron Man might have been trying to explain something to Yog."

"They both don’t speak the same language and can’t have a psychic exchange, but a drawing is a universal language. Just draw it and let the other person see, and they can get the gist."

"Really?" Shiller expressed skepticism, looking at the three patterns on the ground, "Honestly, at least I can’t see any meaning in these patterns at all. It feels like this picture book should be rated impossible to read for anyone who isn’t a PhD in biology."

"Tony isn’t good at this." Peter also felt a bit helpless, "You can’t expect such a genius to know how to teach biology from scratch; this is already the simplest explanation he could think of."

After speaking, Peter started pointing at the three drawings again: "Look, these wavy lines come in three varieties, representing three different antigens, corresponding to human blood types. Platelets gather together, indicating the process of clotting, and the white blood cells even show a scene of devouring bacteria at work, which feels like the most straightforward explanation he could think of."

"So, may I ask, what is the relationship between these drawings and the principles of blood cell computers?"

"No relation at all," Peter said, "The principle of cell computers doesn’t have much to do with blood cell structures, but he can’t exactly draw the principle of cell computers, can he? That would take forever."

Shiller thought about it and agreed. Drawing certainly could communicate some information, but not anything too complicated, especially something with strong logic. Starting from the most basic link of the logical chain, even if you fill every wall of the cube, you won’t be able to complete it.

Language logic is very important, though English is often criticized as a mountain of feces code, it’s actually very suited for programming and research. One professional term specifically refers to one thing, even though there are many specialized terms hard to memorize, remembering them makes logical expressions simpler thanks to the lack of ambiguity.

Shiller also pondered why Iron Man didn’t teach Yog English, but thinking from a God’s perspective, he believed Yog was the master of all things, and successful communication with Yog would grant access to all knowledge and answers. However, Iron Man might not know that; even if he knew, he might not believe it.

He might only see Yog as a bizarre creature staring at him, or a companion on his journey, not seeking verification from Yog, naturally not bothering to teach language. Like no one teaches their pet dog English, these doodles might just be to entertain a small creature, not really intending to teach anything.