Chapter 336: An Outrageous Race, Artificial Life Form

The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest large galaxy to the Milky Way, with a diameter of approximately 220,000 light-years, almost twice the size of the Milky Way.

The Andromeda Galaxy is also the largest galaxy in the local galaxy group.

When mentioning the local galaxy group, it is necessary to talk about the different classifications of cosmic bodies: planetary system, star system, galaxy, and galaxy group.

Among them, the galaxy group, as the name suggests, is a group of galaxies, just like the QQ group and WeChat group.

Just that the group members of a galaxy group are not QQ friends, but galaxies like the Milky Way.

The local group is the galaxy group that includes the Milky Way, where earth and the Sun are. It is similar to the meaning of a country, a province, and a school.

The local here can also mean ‘us’ as in our country, our province, our school, and our galaxy group.

There are galaxies in this local group, such as the Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way, the Triangulum Galaxy, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, the Draco Dwarf, Leo I and II—together there are 50 galaxies of different sizes.

Among them, the Andromeda Galaxy is the biggest, with a vast diameter of 220,000 light-years, while the Milky Way is second with a diameter of 100,000 light-years.

The ruler of the Andromeda Galaxy was used to the Caius Titans. But unfortunately, there was a change 5,000 years ago.

A new race emerging out of nowhere annihilated the Caius Titans to become the new dominant power of the Andromeda Galaxy.

This race was the Lernaean Hydra.

“The Lernaean Hydra is a terrific species,” Leoux said. “They have not developed technology and are purely a self-cultivation civilization. Their strength lies in their terrific self-cultivation speed and incredible fertility.”

“How is that?” Ling Jiu was puzzled.

“The Lernaean Hydra was not strong and basically an ordinary Level-one planetary being, much like humans, when it was first born,” Leoux said. “Eight-tenth of the Lernaean Hydras became stellar beings within a hundred years. Two-tenth of them became galactic beings within a thousand years. And three-hundredth of them became super-clustered within ten thousand years. This is an extremely incredible number. It means that eight-tenth of the Lernaean Hydras can become stellar beings, two-tenth of them become galactic beings, and three-hundredth of them become super-clustered beings.”

“You may not think it is a big deal. But if you replace the Lernaean Hydras with humans and think carefully, you will realize that this is a scary figure.”

If these were to happen to humans?

Ling Jiu raised his eyebrows.

80% of humans became stellar beings, 20% were galactic beings, and 3% were super-clustered beings.

Ling Jiu could not help but gasp in astonishment. Such a comparison made him realize how terrific the Lernaean Hydras were.

There were 4 billion humans on Earth. 80%, 20%, and 3% translated into 3.2 billion, 800 million, and 120 million humans, respectively.

3.2 billion stellar beings, 800 million galactic beings, and 120 million super-clustered beings?

What an incredible number!

“The most amazing thing is the fertility of the Lernaean Hydras,” Leoux said. “The Lernaean Hydras are no less fertile than the pythons Earth, which means they are so much more fertile than humans.”

“No less fertile than the pythons?”

It shocked Ling Jiu again. How fertile are the pythons?

A python typically lays eggs only once a year, but it can lay 8 to 30 eggs each time. Some may even lay up to a hundred eggs each time.

No less fertile than pythons. Did it not mean that an adult Lernaean Hydra could give birth to dozens of hundreds of offspring every year?

That was outrageous.

“The most unbelievable thing is, the Lernaean Hydra is hermaphrodite. That is to say, all adult Lernaean Hydras can give birth to offspring,” Leoux said.

Ling Jiu had no words.

A species with an impressive self-cultivation speed, an incredible fertility, and now, hermaphrodite ability.

Why did this species have so many abilities? What gave them these unfair advantages?

“I now understand why Caius Titans were overthrown. Who could have stopped such an incredible species?” Ling Jiu forced a smile.

“The Lernaean Hydra is indeed incredible.” Leoux let out a faint smile as it called up a photo of a Lernaean Hydra, which turned out to be a giant serpent with dozens of heads.

This giant snake was over 10,000 meters, its body larger than the Empire State Building, and was covered in black scales.

These were not all. The most outrageous thing about this giant serpent was that it had dozens of heads—33 to be exact.

“So many heads?” Ling Jiu was astonished.

“The most distinctive feature of the Lernaean Hydras are their heads,” Leoux said. “A newborn Lernaean Hydra has only one head. Every time its strength increases, it will grow an extra head. That means, when a Lernaean Hydra has nine heads when it becomes a Level-9 planetary being, eighteen heads when it becomes a level-Nine stellar being, twenty-seven heads when it becomes a Level-9 galactic being, and thirty-six heads when it becomes a Level-9 super-clustered being. The number of heads is the most distinctive indicator of their strength. This Lernaean Hydra has thirty-three heads, which apparently is of Level-six super-clustered being.”

“Amazing!” Ling Jiu shook his head. “The universe is really amazing.”

“Indeed. But species that are beyond the laws of the universe like the Lernaean Hydra are rare,” Leoux said. “My guess is that the Lernaean Hydra is not a naturally evolved species but an artificial life form.”

“An artificial life form?” Ling Jiu could not be more shocked.

“When a species’ science and technology have developed to a certain stage, they would be gods, who could almost manipulate the weather, turn stones into gold, create something from nothing, and even omnipotent, in the eyes of the primitive species,” Leoux said. “And when their biotechnology reaches a certain level, creating life will also be a walk in the park for them. Take me as an illustration. As long as I have a drop of your blood, a strand of hair, or a piece of skin, I can analyze your DNA sequence and clone you.”

Ling Jiu nodded, as he knew that Leoux certainly had this ability.

“It may be difficult for lower-level civilizations to create life, but for the Emissian civilization, it is a piece of cake,” Leoux said. “As long as you figure out the genetic sequence of a species, you can recreate them. This is cloning, the easiest way to recreate life. A slightly higher-level life creation is akin to programming. A programmer writes a program, and then models it to create a new species. And this isn’t difficult. Take the magical dragon in the Huaxian mythology as a demonstration. The dragon belongs to the imaginary totem being that combines the characteristics of nine creatures. I can recreate this dragon. Many living beings and species in the universe are man-made. The Emissian civilization uses thousands of habitable planets as its experimental bases, where many scientists are working. The living things on these planets are the subjects of study.”

“Interesting.” Ling Jiu nodded.

“There are many artificial beings, but they all share a common characteristic, that is, they are too uniform—an apparent sign that they are artificially made,” Leoux said. “So I dare to say that the Lernaean Hydra is an artificial species. Some other boss must be behind their existence.”