Of course, most of the so-called “wildlings” were the humans who escaped to the underground world in the Great Dark Age when they could not withstand the tyranny of the demons anymore as well as the demons who escaped here in exactly the same way when the reign of demons collapsed.
That was because the environment on the border of the crust and the mantle was terribly harsh. Not only was the breathable oxygen lethal here, but the temperature was also ridiculously high. Normal human beings could not get used to the wilderness that did not have an air circulation system or cooling rune arrays, and they would be gone soon after they entered the rough country.
Demons, as well as the humans governed by demons in the “Great Dark Age”, however, boasted their unique advantages.
Li Yao now knew that the so-called “demons” and human beings were essentially the same thing, and the thirty thousand years of the Great Dark Age were in fact still the cruel oppression and tyranny of humans over humans.
However, that was the age when the biochemical technologies were highly developed. The studies on how to release the power of genes had reached the peak.
In order to excavate the underground mother lodes and to make use of the geothermal energy, many humans were forced to accept genetic modifications, which turned them into demons that required little oxygen and could endure droughts and heat remarkably. Even their forms were changed into bizarre-looking, gigantic reptiles.
The offspring of the human beings whose genes had been modified had a much higher chance of mutation than ordinary human beings did because the “gene locks” inside their bodies had been ripped off. After generations of such “humans” or “demons” escaping to the underground worlds, their progeny further mutated because of the harshness of the environment, consuming less and less oxygen and becoming more and more resistant to drought and high temperature. Some of the variations even grew a layer of dense plants on their skin. The plants would absorb carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen, and demons would absorb the oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. It was a rather amazing collaboration.
At first look, those demons were like plants that could walk and talk, but actually, they were still just poor folks who were forced to immigrate to such a rough environment.
Therefore, the humans in the 10,084th district, who only descended to the underground worlds during the Star Ocean Imperium, could barely get accustomed to life in the deeper parts without shelter and a civilization. However, for the humans and demons who were born in the Great Dark Age, a tiny part of their offspring could still live inside the darkness as “wildlings”.
Besides wildings, there were also other animals and plants. The demon emperors and demon gods in the Great Dark Age, as well as all the civilizations of Cultivators from the Star Ocean Imperium, had tried to colonize the underground world without an exception. Apart from establishing shelters and bases below the ground on a large scale, they had also raised countless kinds of creatures that were used to the poorness of oxygen, darkness, and high heat below the ground by means of genetic modifications and radiation mutations.
They intended to copy the entire ecological system on the ground. In such a way, the living space for everyone would be expanded by a hundred times. However, 99% of the experiments on underground creatures failed. The animals and plants that they produced could only be used in the artificial environment in the shelter and the base at best. They were all abnormal species that could only live their entire lives in a comfortable laboratory like the rock worms.
However, after a lot of shelters and underground towns were destroyed in earthquakes and magma eruptions, 1% of the experimental creatures escaped and survived the difficulties with luck, turning into wild animals and wild plants again!
The wild animals were to the rock worms what boars were to pigs, or what wolves were to dogs.
Li Jialing told Li Yao that while the wildlings and the animals were aggressive, they would not attack the organized towns such as the 10,084th district without a good reason, because while the shelter system in such places had collapsed, some of the defense rune arrays might still be working. Besides, people here had traded abundant rock worms with the residents of upper levels for a lot of tough attack magical equipment. If the wildlings were not attacking with all their strength, it would be barely possible for them to swallow a town.
Besides, there were conflicts among the wildlings, too. They were divided into different clans and tribes, and their hatred could even be dated back to ten thousand years ago. In most of the cases, it was the wildlings who were fighting the wildlings, and they barely touched the residents of the 10,084th district.
Li Yao asked Li Jialing why the wildlings hated each other.
Li Jialing replied that, according to their origins and the time they entered the underground world, the wildlings had gradually evolved into different tribes. The wildlings of this tribe were the oppressed humans who came here during the thirty thousand years of the Great Dark Age, while the wildlings of that tribe were the demon nobles who were forced to flee here during the rise of the Star Ocean Imperium. Wouldn’t such two tribes be mired in a natural vendetta against each other?
While the two tribes were engaged in a fierce war, the Star Ocean Imperium on the surface of the planet collapsed again, and a bunch of people who had just accepted the ideas of the Cultivators escaped to the underground world too. Although most of them stayed in the shelters, some of them did intend to stir trouble by making use of the strength of the wildlings. As a result, more fuel was poured on the fire, and the incessant war in the darkness got more and more chaotic and cruel.
Although most of the brilliance of civilization had dimmed in their heads as time went by, the memory of hatred had been passed on generations after generations. Today, even those wildling tribes did not know why they were fighting the hostile tribes. It was now just a natural instinct that had been engraved on their gene strands.
Li Jialing told Li Yao that there were three wildling tribes in the areas of death near the 10,084th district, respectively known as “Black Armors”, “Night Wings”, and “Red Rings”.
The Black Armors, as their name suggested, boasted an extremely solid black shell. Not only did the shell possess a high defense ability, but more importantly, it could also store the high temperature below the ground like a special solar panel and transform the heat into part of the energy that was vital for their survival, thus significantly reducing the Black Armors’ demand on food. So, they could be spared from the unnecessary hunting as much as possible, and their survival abilities were greatly increased.
The Night Wings, on the other hand, boasted a pair of broad membrane wings. In the underground world that was full of narrow, rugged caves, the membrane wings were naturally not for flying or gliding. Instead, they could envelop the Night Wings completely into cold, giant cocoons. On one hand, they could prevent the heat and the water inside the body from losing; on the other hand, they could also stop other underground predators from noticing the Night Wings through infrared senses.
Many residents of the 10,084th district believed that after the Night Wings covered themselves with the membrane wings, they would turn into cold stalagmites and enter the special hibernation state where they did not need to take in anything for years. Naturally, that was an exaggeration of their abilities, but the Night Wings were certainly adept at survival.
The Red Rings, in the meantime, were the most terrifying predators of the area.
The Black Armors and the Night Wings’ naturally-endowed techniques focused more on defense, but the genetic mutations of the Red Rings were more inclined to attacks.
They had a pair of red eyes that were extremely sensitive to infrared rays. They also gained an organ that could detect ultrasonic waves like bats. The two abilities allowed them to perceive everything around them clearly in the depths of the darkness where there was absolutely no light.
With their powerful hunting abilities, the Red Rings had been crushing the Night Wings for thousands of years. Even the membranes of the Night Wings were likely to have been grown to avoid the detection of the Red Rings.
It was not until the Black Armors moved here from somewhere else and resisted the Red Rings with the Night Wings that the war of the wildling tribes came to a balance again. That, of course, was only the roughest theory. Outsiders were neither aware of nor interested in the specific details.
However, the earthquakes near the 10,084th district were more and more frequent and seemed to have destroyed the habitats of a lot of wild animals and plants. Those animals and plants were the targets of hunting and collections for the wildling tribes. Having lost most of the sources of food, the tension among the wildling tribes immediately escalated.
If the tension was not resolved in time, there would only be two possibilities.
Optimally speaking, the Black Armors, the Night Wings, and the Red Rings would be killed by each other in a fierce battle and go extinct.
But it was also possible that, when the three tribes were all short of food, they would temporarily hold back the grudge deep inside their genes and attack the nearest 10,084th district together. After all, the oinks of thousands of fat rock worms could spread to deeper parts of the world along the gaps.
It was exactly under such a background that Long Yangjun went to the areas where the three wildling tribes were active. A lot of Nepenthe believers went with her. Apart from the believers of the 10,084th district, many of them were from the four-digit towns or higher places.
According to the principle of Nepenthe, all humans were brothers and sisters and worth saving no matter where they lived.
Frowning, Li Yao decided to enter the wildling tribes and trace Long Yangjun after hearing Li Jialing’s introduction.
When they passed the “giant tree” at the center of the 10,084th district, he suddenly changed his mind.
“Wait a moment.”
Li Yao said, “Tell me where the core units of the air circulation system and the cooling arrays of the 10,084th district are.”
As Li Yao had expected, the core units of the air circulation system and the cooling arrays were right below the “giant tree”, or the mainframe crystal processor.
The two things were both critical for the locals. Once they broke down, the locals would either be choked due to the lack of oxygen or be killed by the high temperature.
However, perhaps because of their fear for “Immortal Cultivators”, or because of their absolute trust for the “Serenity Seraph”, believing that the Serenity Seraph’s honorable guests would not hurt them, none of them had the courage to stop them from investigating but simply observed from far away.
There was still confusion, doubts, and anxiety on the young people’s faces, but the adults and the seniors had nothing but the usual tranquility and silence.
The air filtering and circulation magical equipment was a piece of fundamental tool for space voyages and could be found on every starship.
Besides, as the Prince of Ventilation Tubes, Li Yao had profound studies on ventilation tubes and air circulation systems of various forms and structures. Naturally, it was impossible for him to make any mistake.
Removing the shell of the units smoothly, Li Yao became grave when he saw the carbon dioxide sieve, the cartridge, and the oxygen generator inside.
