Chapter 60: Martian Refugees
The red-haired woman's eyes were moist, and she looked at Li Yang with angry eyes.
She was about to throw the beef pancake in her hand on the ground, but a fragrant smell wafted from the meat pie to near her nostrils.
She furrowed her brow, and her nostrils flared twice, a primal longing expression flowing across her face, as she trembled and asked: "Can this thing... be eaten?"
"Of course it can be eaten! It's much more delicious than nutrient solution." Li Yang gave her a brilliant smile.
The red-haired girl hesitated for half a day, slowly bringing the meat pie to her mouth, taking a small bite, carefully chewing it several times, and then looked up with a surprised expression, exclaiming: "It's so delicious! It really tastes better than nutrient fluid!"
The red-haired woman started eating in big mouthfuls, tears streaming down her face as she ate. In less than a minute, the meat pie had disappeared into her stomach.
"I've grown up so big, but this is the first time I've ever eaten something so delicious! Waaahhh...", The red-haired woman whispered softly after finishing the meat sandwich.
"Have you eaten enough? Have a drink of water. If you haven't eaten enough, I have some more." Li Yang handed over a bottle of Wahaha purified water.
The red-haired woman took the water over, but didn't know how to open the lid. Li Yang saw her predicament and helped her open it. After drinking the purified water, she let out another cry of surprise: "How come this nutrient solution doesn't taste right?!"
Liyang had originally thought that the nutrient solution they drank was a kind of beverage-like food, but now it seems that's not the case.
"He shook his head and said, 'This is a new type of nutrient solution that can quench thirst but cannot fill hunger.'"
The red-haired woman nodded, a look of longing on her face, and sized up Leyang's body with her eyes. Feeling that she was still hungry, Leyang turned his hand over and handed her another meat pie, smiling: "Are you still very hungry? Eat another one."
"But I don't have a spirit stone anymore?" The red-haired woman said with a disappointed face.
"It's okay, take it." Li Yang stuffed the meat sandwich into her hand.
The red-haired woman took over the meat pie, looked at Li Yang with a grateful face, but didn't eat it immediately. She turned her head and was about to run away.
"Hey, wait a minute, I have something to ask you!" Li Yang shouted.
"I'll go dig up some Spirit Stones. Thanks for the meat buns, I'll come find you to trade once I've dug them up." The red-haired woman had already run far away.
Li Yang let out a wry smile and quickly followed after her, thinking that by following this woman, he might be able to easily understand many secrets about Mars.
With Tie's help, Li Yang could easily catch up with this woman even if she wanted to run at a hundred times the speed of light.
"Hey! My name is Li Yang, what's yours?" Li Yang asked while running.
"My name is In. I'm going to the mine, it's better if you don't go, it's very dangerous inside," said the red-haired woman, turning her head and speaking softly.
"Sound, I want to follow you to the mine and see how the Ling Stone is dug out."
"What's there to see? You adults aren't always indulging in pleasure at the Guangming Palace trading district, so why would you come to these dark and damp mines?"
After communicating with this Martian woman named Yin for a while, Li Yang slowly understood what kind of situation their world was in.
Originally tens of millions of years ago, there was water and plants on Mars, and tens of billions of Martians lived on it.
In a protracted war, a country called the Empire of Light used a powerful weapon to destroy the rest of the countries and unify the entire planet.
However, the weapons they used were too powerful, and the entire Martian atmosphere was destroyed. The water and air on the surface slowly escaped into space, forcing the more than 1 billion citizens of the Bright Empire to move their homes underground. They built large caves under Mars' hard rocks, using special technology to produce oxygen, nitrogen, and other gases that could sustain the lives of Martians, barely surviving in the depths of over 1,000 meters until now.
According to the sound description, the king of the Bright Country is called the Queen of Light. She holds a powerful weapon in her hand that can instantly destroy a large number of lives on Mars.
This radiant queen has a quirky personality, she enslaved all the Martians to find this spiritual stone for her, in exchange for the life-sustaining nutrient solution from her hands, and if anyone dares to disobey, they will be killed without mercy.
The nutrient fluid is produced by a Martian organism known as the "Martian worm". The Martian worms live deep in the subsoil, feeding on certain algae that grow by absorbing geothermal energy and combining it with carbon dioxide, water, and the remains of dead Martians, much like plants on Earth use sunlight for photosynthesis.
That is to say, Martians eat Martian insects, Martian insects eat algae, and algae eat geothermal energy and the corpses of Martians, forming a unique biological circle.
However, this Bright King seems to be uninterested in these nutrient fluids. She only wants spirit stones, which are diamonds on Earth. Fortunately, Mars has a unique environment with a large amount of mid-grade diamonds existing.
The physical structure of Martians is surprisingly similar to that of Earthlings, which puzzles Li Yang.
Yin told him that she had learned from the older generation that there were intelligent lives on Venus, Mars and Earth in the solar system. These three intelligent lives shared the same roots and were considered to be of the same mother, which made Lei Yang suddenly understand.
Venus has been explored, and it's certain that there is no possibility of intelligent life surviving. It seems that the humanoid species above has long been extinct. As for Mars, due to the harsh and dark living conditions, the population has dwindled, with only over 300,000 people remaining. It's estimated that in a few thousand years, they may also become extinct.
"Sound, Guangming Shi is the one responsible for exchanging spirit stones from you guys?" Li Yang asked.
"Of course, you are the messenger of light, how could you not know these things?" Yin Fan asked back.
"Oh, I accidentally bumped my head and got a bit amnesiac." Li Yang casually made up an excuse.
Liyang guessed that perhaps Tieta saw Guangming Shi's image was a bit more pleasing to the eye, so he transformed himself into this appearance.
He followed the sound and ran, ten minutes later arrived at a spacious large hall, there were many Martians here, bustling everywhere. This height is about more than 20 zhang, with a width of two kilometers, in this huge cave, the light was sufficient, and many people lay on the ground to rest.
The walls of the huge cave also have a large number of small holes that are as tall as one person, and it is unknown where they lead to.
"This is the Brightness Seventy-sixth Mine. You see, those small holes lead to the mining work area, many of our fellow countrymen are digging in there." He stretched out his hand and pointed to the surrounding small mines.
"Just call me Li Yang, don't call me Guangming Shi anymore. You go dig the mine, I want to see how you work." Li Yang said softly.
"Good, but I'll give this meat pie to mother first."
Yin nodded silently and walked towards a corner, Li Yang followed her excitedly.
Inside this large cave, there were many Martians lying on the ground and sleeping. These people included men, women, old and young, wearing clothes similar to those of the tone, but dirty. The air was filled with a pungent and foul smell that was very unpleasant.
Here, for Li Yang, it feels like a huge refugee camp. They live together in units of these caves, eating, drinking, defecating and sleeping all taking place here, just like individual villages on Earth.
But unlike the earth, these people seem to have a smaller living space in this crowded cave, sleeping on the ground with people close together, and there is hardly any room to set foot.
On these Martian faces, Li Yang felt a kind of dull and lifeless expression, a kind of apocalyptic sorrow. These people who should have been living proudly on the surface of the planet were forced to live underground like mice, all bearing enormous pain.
"Amu, this is a meat pie, it's delicious, try some!" He quickly walked to the wall of the cave, stopped in front of an old woman who was crouched on the ground, and shook her shoulder with his hand.
"Sound, you're back? I'm not hungry, you still have work to do, eat up." The old lady's bright red hair was unusually eye-catching, and apart from that, she looked just like an elderly woman from Earth.
"Amu, I've already eaten one, this is for you! It's really delicious, it's the first time I've ever had something so good to eat," Yin said.
The old Martian woman took the sandwich with trembling hands, and lightly bit into it. The savory braised beef and fragrant toasted bread were extraordinary. As soon as she took a bite, her cloudy eyes widened, and she exclaimed: "Yin, this sandwich is too delicious!"
Watching his mother's surprise, Yin Hui Xin who was squatting beside him smiled. At first glance, Li Yang didn't have any particular feeling when he saw her, but after seeing a large number of Martian images, the contrast came out. He found that this little girl was much cleaner and more beautiful than those Martians. Her smile made Li Yang's heart flutter for a few seconds.
"I'm not hungry, just one bite will do. You eat the rest, you'll have the energy to dig for coal." The old lady smiled kindly.
"Amu, you haven't eaten for three days, you must be starving, eat a few more bites!" Yin continued to persuade.
Li Yang watched the mother and daughter pushing the meat pie back and forth, thinking to himself whether he should take out the beef and shaobing from his backpack and process a few on the spot. However, with many pairs of eyes watching around him, if he were to suddenly produce these things, it would likely cause them alarm. So he furrowed his brow in thought, wondering what to do.
At this moment, a strong and vigorous young Martian suddenly made trouble on the side. He jumped forward, snatched the pancake and ran away, shouting: "You don't eat it, I'll eat it, I'm starving!"
This man was very tall, half a head taller than Li Yang. When he ran, it was like a gust of wind, and in the blink of an eye, he had run far away. Yun sprang up like a nimble leopard, his face full of anger as he chased after him!
The speed of the sound was clearly not as fast as this big Han, and he was quickly left behind. He was faster than Li Yang, and with Tie Tou's help, Li Yang suddenly appeared beside the big Han with a whooshing sound and kicked him!
Li Yang's foot directly kicked the Great Han's calf, and his body, which was running forward, encountered such an obstruction, and he fell to the ground with a loud cry of pain, hugging his leg.
What made Lei Yang feel helpless was that although this big fellow was in pain and fell to the ground, he did not forget to stuff a meat pie into his mouth.
He had just taken a few bites on the ground when another big fellow snatched it away from him, and more people joined in the scramble, causing chaos throughout the cave!
Li Yang kicked a few feet at the crowd in a fit of rage and retreated when he saw that there were too many people.
When this situation happened in front of him, although he was angry, thinking that others had only snatched a bun, it didn't count as anything. He said to Yin: "Don't be angry, I have plenty of meat buns, wait for a while and find a secluded place, I'll make a few more for you."
"Beep beep beep beep!"
Suddenly, a strange and continuous eerie sound burst, and a large number of Martian runners suddenly appeared in the passage. These Martians were dressed exactly like Li Yang!
