4.6 Billion Year Symphony of Evolution - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty One Eye

Lin named its giant hemisphere shield “cell wall . ” The cell way was made out of three layers of cells . Lin called the outer layer the “ectoderm . ” It was the thickest and the most flexible layer .

The inner layers were called the “mesoderm” and the “endoderm . ” They were not as thick as the ectoderm . However, if the ectoderm was damaged for some reason, then the inner layers would quickly harden to stop the danger from the outside from advancing .

However, there was nothing that was a threat to Lin now . Therefore, it started to create things on the endoderm .

Traps .

Lin started to form some cylindrical structures on the endoderm . These cylinders were empty, and there was an opening at the ends . White gel was put at the bottom of these cylinders as bait . The inner walls of the cylinder had spikes like the cone-shaped cells . If any cell was lured in, the cylinders would squeeze inwards, and use its spikes to grind the prey down .

Other than these fat cylinders, there was tentacle structures . They was not as large as the enormous tentacle . They were relatively small, and made from a small number of cells . These small tentacles had cells that were filled with stinger cells that could shoot at any that came close .

Lin still found something interesting . Light would cause other cells to come close . It had discovered this by accident . Especially in the night, a bit of light would attract a great number of cells . Consequently, Lin started to use flashing exploding balls at the bottom of the little tentacles to attract prey .

When night came, Lin had a new term appear “beautiful . ”On the ectoderm, large amounts of little tentacles swayed in the darkness and attracted cells that swam by to come close . However, the cells did not know that this was a terrifying trap . If they came into contract with the tentacle, they would be killed by the toxic stingers of the cnidocytes .

The present stinger cells understood to attack with their toxic stingers according to the movement of Lin’s cells rather than at their own will .

After night passed, Lin relied on the deadly cylinders to hunt for prey . Those ignorant cells were attracted into the cylinders by the food inside . They would be torn to pieces immediately by the cylinder that closed and the spikes inside . No cell was able to escape .

The enormous tentacle at the center would directly suck in all the cells that swam by and then use the acid ejectors inside to dissolve the prey .

Relying on these traps, Lin obtained a large amount of food outside the white gel . Because the cells that come from outside was unlimited, Lin’s cell group started to grow … . …

Also, after Lin learned how to combine cells together, it did not encounter anything that was a match for it . It had encountered past enemies such as the crystal microbes and the ghost mist microbes . Lin could easily destroy them .

Once, a gigantic shapeshifting cell floated onto Lin’s ectoderm . This shapeshifting cell was more then ten thousand times the size of Lin’s basic cell . However, Lin still used its numerous tentacles with its toxic stingers and the enormous tentacle to kill it .

The only thing that was slightly troublesome were the viruses . Because the tentacles that lived on the ectoderm could not be moved, they were easily attacked by viruses . However, the viruses could not penetrate the ectoderm so even if several tentacles were destroyed, Lin could immediately send out acid ejectors to dissolve and take care of the viruses .

Concerning viruses, Lin still kept the infectors that were bright red . However, Lin did not let there be more than ten of them .

Innumerable black nights passed … … relying on constant slaughter, Lin’s cells group grew greatly . It started to feel as though it was an invincible being because it had never encounter any other cell like it that could combine cells together .

Lin’s cell group had multiplied in size . The tentacles on the ectoderm grew more packed and even longer and thicker . Right now, Lin did not need to use those cylinder traps . It felt that it was more effective relying completely on the tentacles .

Using the “Longevity” plan, Lin constantly switched out old cells for new ones . The cells were kept in their most active state, but Lin had a cell that it definitely would not switch out .

It was the observer .

Even tough the cell group was so large now, Lin still only had one cell with the ability to see .

This cell was too small . It could not observe the entire situation of the cell group . Therefore, Lin required several more cells that possessed sight and a large field of view .

Lin knew the reason the observer could see wasn’t just because it had ate that strange hard thing at the start, but because there had been light .

The main reason that sight had formed was became it absorbed light .

In other words, if Lin’s other cells could absorb light, they would also have the ability to see .

But how to do that?

Yes, Lin used his old method . He had a group of cells make a great swarm and then gave them thoughts of accepting light and obtaining vision .

It was not successful at the start, and the group of cells didn’t react .

However, after Lin’s observer joined this group, this group seemed to have a wondrous transformation . The ones on the surface started to change the color of their bodies and their shape . The interior was changing at the same time, but was completely different from the outside . They made themselves thinner, and formed something in the shape of a net .

Lin did not try to control the process of evolution . In truth, Lin had never control the evolution of cells . At most, it gave them thoughts of “what should they evolve as . ” The finer details were produced naturally by the cells themselves .

Lin felt incredulity at this quality .

The cells would automatically do some things . For example, when Lin had the diggers go attack an enemy, they would twist and use their denticles to slice at the enemy . Lin did not need to control them to move and twist . It was about the same with the other cells . However, Lin had to control the exploding balls to suck in water before they exploded .

Lin thought at the start that the cells would only be able to do simple actions on their own . But now, it seemed that this was not the case . They could do complex actions .

While the cell group was enormous, and Lin’s intelligence was much higher, Lin still could not understand this .

Why?

Lin could not see from its viewpoint but the cells were still evolving . The cells on the surface were starting to turn into a hexagon, and the cells on the inside changed from a web-like structure to a large sphere . The hexagons on the surface seemed to be inserted on the surface of the sphere .

Lin felt the speed of their evolution was slowing . This meant that they were almost completed . Lin started to feel it .

Vision .

Even more light flooded Lin’s thoughts . Just like vision before, but it was unlike Lin’s narrow field of view . This time, it was large because this was an enormous eye that Lin used six thousand cells to form .

Because Lin had formed this in the water outside the ectoderm, it only needed to look down slightly to see the fur-like tentacles it had constructed on the surface of the ectoderm .

However, this large eye did not have any muscles and it was unable to move . Lin put some tentacles together to form a larger tentacle and then connected the tentacle to the back of the eye .

Now, Lin only needed to move the tentacle to see in all directions . Lin named this tentacle the eyeball antenna .

Lin then had the observer leave the eyeball . Unless the cells were merged together like the cells on the ectoderm, Lin’s cells could split after merging together .

After Lin’s observer left, the eyeball still had the ability to see . This time, Lin could finally see what the so-called eye looked like .

Two different images appeared in Lin’s thoughts but it did not feel any discordance . It still could see every detail from the two images it observed clearly .

The enormous eye’s surface was composed of hexagonal crystals . Lin hadn’t through that the cells would turn into such a shape . However, there was nothing special other than this .

No matter if Lin’s cells were combined or single, they were usually transparent other than the nucleus . However, this eyeball was tinged grey, and it was not easy to see the structure inside .

It was the first time Lin saw the appearance of its observer . The observer’s body was the same as the basic cells but its outer membrane seemed more like a crystal sphere .

This was probably the hard thing that it ate back then?

Lin didn’t know why this thing would allow it to obtain the ability to see . Lin had never encountered something similar ever since then .

… … Why? Even if the cell group was enormous, Lin still did not understand many things .

In the end, it was a success, so then let it continue to grow .

The term “future” appeared in Lin’s thoughts .

Future, what would it be like?

Lin didn’t know . Even if it had such a large eye, when it looked into the distance, all it could see was an endless deep blue… … Lin thought that it was invincible here, but in this world, there definitely were many more unknowns and wonders … …