boyutpedia Chapter 288 The Changes in the World
Chapter 288 The Changes in the World
"Mr. Lin, it seems there's a problem with our communication control system."
Helen, who was busy at the control panel, turned around and looked at Lin Fan sitting in the chair, her face showing a look of disbelief.
"We've tried all the frequencies, both external and Miller's, but we can't get in touch. It seems like something is interfering with our signal..."
Lin Fan looked at the devices on the control panel with a puzzled expression; he didn't understand any of them.
"When did it start?"
"The interference started about a minute or two ago."
At first, the interruptions were sporadic, but they became more and more frequent until now, the signal with Miller and the others has been completely lost.
Helen spoke while pulling up the communication connection logs.
"I'm not a communications expert, but I can tell that our communications are not physically damaged."
A large amount of unidentified noise appeared in the signal spectrum, with very regular frequencies, resembling some kind of... bio-electromagnetic pulse.
Hearing this answer, Lin Fan was even more confused.
Bio-electromagnetic pulse?
What is this thing?
He didn't ask any questions, but instead got up and walked to the control panel, his eyes scanning the various monitoring screens.
Apart from the desolate silence of the collapsed ruins of Turbine Hall One, there was nothing suspicious about it.
Outside the nuclear power plant, all was quiet.
"etc."
Lin Fan's gaze quickly locked onto the surveillance footage in the direction of the cooling tower.
He remembered that the cooling tower used to be covered with a layer of radiative algae, which emitted a pale blue light.
He had confirmed with Da Wu that the thing only absorbed radiation and was not offensive.
But the situation in the picture now is completely different from what he saw before.
The area of radiation-eating algae on the outer wall of the cooling tower was at least three times larger than what he had seen before.
And those pale blue fungal carpets, somehow they had spread from the tower to the ground, covering an area of dozens of meters around.
Meanwhile, the densely packed pores on the surface of the radiation-eating algae are continuously spewing out fine powder.
Moreover, the color of the powder has changed.
It's no longer the pale green it used to be, but rather a variety of colors.
These colorful spore powders drifted in the air, spreading with the wind and covering the entire area around the cooling tower.
"this……"
Helen, who also noticed this, looked surprised.
She had been maintaining the nuclear power plant equipment programs and hadn't been paying attention to the monitoring footage.
This thing... how come it's so big?
However, what shocked her even more was...
In the video, the ground covered with colorful spores is undergoing visible changes.
A small patch of grass near the bottom of the cooling tower had long since turned yellow and withered due to radiation leaks.
But now, these plants are starting to turn green again.
It wasn't the kind of slow-recovering green, but rather it was growing wildly at an extremely abnormal rate.
The withered grass stems sprouted new shoots within seconds, then grew taller as if on fast-forward—three seconds, five seconds, ten seconds…
In just a few dozen seconds, the weeds that were originally only ankle-high had grown to knee-high and were still growing.
Even the surrounding saplings are changing in a way that is visible to the naked eye.
The trunk thickened at a visible rate, the branches stretched wildly in all directions, and the canopy expanded rapidly.
"How...how could this happen?"
Even though she wasn't a biology expert, Helen sensed something was wrong when she saw the scene on the screen. She murmured nervously,
"The vegetation growth rate completely defies common sense in biology... Could it be that those spores are catalyzing plant growth?"
Lin Fan did not answer her.
Because he had already closed his eyes and was connecting with the Great Crow in his spiritual sea of consciousness.
"Big Crow, what's with those spores?"
The large bird quickly responded: "Which spores?"
"What else could it be? Of course, it's the spores released by the radiation-eating algae on the cooling towers of the nuclear power plant. Now the plants around the nuclear power plant are growing like they're on drugs. What's going on?"
As he asked the question, a brief silence fell over his mind.
The big crow seemed to be pondering something, and soon it gave its answer:
"Brother Lao, I don't understand why the radiation-eating algae are undergoing this change..."
"But just now I sensed that the world is being affected by an unknown force."
In my memory, the spores of those radiation-eating algae themselves do not alter the genetic structure of native vegetation, but if other catalysts are present in the environment... those spores could become the triggering condition.
Hearing Da Wu's explanation, Lin Fan felt like he understood, but not entirely:
"Don't talk to me in such complicated terms, speak plainly."
"This means that the rules of the world are being rewritten."
Lin Fan frowned.
"The rules of the world are being rewritten? What will the future hold?"
"I don't know."
Da Wu's answer was very direct.
"But I can sense that this change is not limited to your location."
At this moment, similar anomalies are occurring simultaneously at multiple radiation leak sites across North America.
Is the entire North American continent changing?
Lin Fan took a deep breath.
"How much longer until you get here?"
"At the current speed, it will take about four to five more hours."
"Can you hurry up?"
"Big Brother, I've been fast enough." Big Crow paused, as if remembering something, and said softly, "Also, Little Crow has already reached the shore."
Lin Fan was taken aback: "What? What's it doing coming ashore?"
"It said it sensed a mutated energy source on land and couldn't control its instincts. I can't stop it, but with me here, it won't get out of control."
Lin Fan rubbed his temples.
What kind of mess is this?!
A single Uruguayan landfall is already a major headache.
Well, now both of them are here!
These two enormous beasts came all the way here...
Forget it, there's no time to worry about that now.
He opened his eyes, about to say something to Helen, when at that moment, the communication device on the control panel that had lost contact suddenly emitted a piercing electrical sound.
Following closely behind...
"Buzz—buzz—Mr. Lin... can you... can you hear me—"
It was Miller's voice.
The signal was intermittent and extremely weak, but it was still discernible.
Lin Fan rushed to the communication device, picked up the microphone, and said, "Miller, I'm here. What's the situation on your end?"
"Mr. Lin, something's happened on the eastern flank—those...those plants—"
The signal began to fluctuate violently again, and Miller's voice came and went.
"...They're attacking us...my men...the wounded...damn, the grass is moving..."
Then the signal was completely cut off.
Lin Fan put down the microphone and looked at Helen.
Helen was staring at the surveillance footage to the east.
Due to the distance and angle, all that can be seen in the image is a blurry expanse of green spreading rapidly.
But along the edge of that green patch, a few points of light were faintly flickering.
It looked like gun muzzle flash.
I'm going out for a bit.
Lin Fan thought for a moment, then turned to leave.
"Where are you going?" Helen followed.
"Go check out the eastern defense line."
"I'll go with you."
Lin Fan turned and glanced at her: "Where are you going?"
"I'm the only surviving engineer at this nuclear power plant; I know the terrain better than you do."
Helen's tone left no room for negotiation: "Besides, communications could be restored at any time. I have a portable radio with me, so I can contact the outside world at any time."
Forget it...
Lin Fan didn't bother to say anything more, nodded, and then walked out first.
The two quickly crossed the underground passage and came out through the side door of the administration building.
The moment the door was opened, the smell in the air changed.
It wasn't the radiation smell from before, nor was it the oil and concrete smell commonly found in nuclear power plants.
Instead, it has a strong, damp smell with a humid, rotten aroma.
That's the smell that only appears when plant communities grow at high density.
The moment the two rushed out the door, they were completely shocked by what they saw outside.
Less than an hour has passed, but the place has already changed.
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