Chapter 362: Chapter 281: Black Mud

The scholars were all men of action, and they couldn’t wait to start the symposium after lunch, with Duan Mingyuan unsurprisingly becoming the main topic of the discussion.

To avoid any awkwardness, Fu Ling had Duan Mingyuan situated in the VIP area — the monitoring center of the Eco-Ship, where he could participate in the experts’ discussions without being there in person.

"This was one of the important topics of the academic summit anyway."

Fu Ling also thoughtfully brought over a fruit platter. "The academic community is very interested in your method of solving ’Dehydration Syndrome.’ After contacting you, their interest naturally shifted to you."

She could tell that Duan Mingyuan was also very interested.

However, the first discussion usually didn’t produce many constructive views, as the gathered experts began brainstorming, mentioning any potentially related intelligence they knew.

The transformation between different types of energy was extremely rare, stemming from the diverse methods civilizations employed to harness energy, especially energy like Scorching Sun Power, which could only be gathered by the most devout believers—this had nearly become a universal consensus.

The discussion included an expert who specialized in Scorching Sun Power. He was also a member of the Ashen Church.

"So, does this inspire you in any way?"

Fu Ling was also sitting in the monitoring center, listening very closely.

She had been intensely curious about this issue since the time on Blue Star.

"Not at the moment."

Duan Mingyuan shook his head.

This brainstorming session continued for nearly half an hour until finally, a previously silent expert suggested a life form known as ’black ooze’.

Upon hearing these two words, the entire room was quiet for a long period.

From their astonished expressions, it was clear this provided significant inspiration to the others.

"What is ’black ooze’?"

Duan Mingyuan asked.

"Uh... first of all, I am certain that there was no disrespect intended towards you."

Fu Ling was the first to clarify, "They were just listing potentially related information."

"You are being a bit too sensitive, I didn’t mean it this way."

Duan Mingyuan always found Fu Ling to be overly cautious today. They had been acquainted long enough; was he really the type of person who would lash out over a few offensive remarks?

Although experts in the field of life sciences unanimously considered it likely that he was not human, He Ya had also claimed that he had many similarities with the "Cocoon," so much so that Duan Mingyuan himself could no longer be 100% sure of his own race now. But there was one thing he was certain of—he was not a cannibalistic ogre.

He had nothing in common with the hot-tempered ogres.

"Then I will speak my mind."

Fu Ling didn’t want to make the atmosphere so strained, but as the host of the academic summit, she had to be more attentive to Duan Mingyuan’s mental state than anyone else, in accordance with the ’Robert-Bilz Clause.’

"The concept of ’black ooze’ originated from some spaceship accident reports in the academic community. The faction that proposed this theory, after reading the internal records of these accidents, speculated the existence of a mysterious life form in the universe."

As she spoke, Fu Ling’s index finger swiped slightly across the screen, and information about the black ooze was displayed in an organized manner in front of Duan Mingyuan.

Duan Mingyuan read the information carefully.

Actually, the researchers who proposed this theory hadn’t seen the black ooze with their own eyes, let alone conducted research on it.

All their conjectures about the black ooze were based on internal briefings from crashed spaceships—before the accidents, many unusual incidents had occurred inside the flagship, such as people seeing another version of themselves.

They shared the same appearance, the same personality, and even their way of speaking was identical.

These "doppelgängers" appeared out of nowhere on the spaceship, methodically initiating their activities.

Usually, the first crew member to sense something wrong was diagnosed with Space Travel Syndrome, having developed hallucinations during the long interstellar journey. In the following days, indeed, they became mentally disturbed, starting to mutter incessantly, while some lost their ability to speak.

Then, this mental disturbance would rapidly propagate throughout the ship.

More and more people witnessed another version of themselves, and by that time, any remedial measures would be too late. All ships that had recorded similar events ultimately met with disaster.

The reasons for the disasters varied: some captains steered their ships straight into asteroids, others blasted their own cabin with weapons.

The only commonality was that the records left in the days before the disasters were filled with madness.

They transformed from normal people into fanatics, and their way of martyrdom was to destroy the entire ship along with themselves.

"This is very subtle."

Fu Ling said, "The condition of those people was exactly like that of Space Travel Syndrome, plus the existence of ’black mud’ is just a scientific hypothesis. No one can confirm if they really exist, so there have always been two voices in academia. Opponents believe that those who propose the black mud theory are overcomplicating Space Travel Syndrome."

"But, Space Travel Syndrome is not contagious."

Duan Mingyuan pointed out the problem.

As a ship doctor, he had read carefully about Space Travel Syndrome before his first voyage.

From the individual cases, they indeed seemed to be experiencing mental disturbances, and usually, it could be resolved by just letting them rest for a few days, or, at worst, isolating the individual. However, in these cases, Space Travel Syndrome showed a remarkably strong contagiosity.

Within as short as three days or as long as a week, everyone on the ship turned mad.

Even to the extent of moving toward self-destruction.

"Exactly, that’s why the black mud doctrine still has many supporters to this day."

Fu Ling said, "Opponents can’t explain why this type of Space Travel Syndrome is highly contagious. They can only call them isolated instances, or some kind of mental illness that we have yet to grasp."

"How do the proponents of the black mud school explain it?"

Duan Mingyuan had a vague premonition in his heart.

"They believe it’s not a hallucination. Instead, there are people who look exactly like them appearing on the spaceship. They never had any psychological diseases; it was the misunderstanding and suspicion from others that drove them mad."

Fu Ling marked the limited records left, "Look, in their understanding, even when destroying the spaceship, they maintained a high level of rationality and were well aware of the consequences."

All the captains who had destroyed their ships shared a common viewpoint.

——They didn’t know how these terrifying creatures had sneaked onto the ship, but they would never bring such entities back to their planet under any circumstance.

The captains mostly destroyed their flagships with this realization.

"Assuming the black mud really exists, they are a group of beings that can completely transform into another person, perfectly copying their memories, personalities, and manner of speaking."

1721.

Duan Mingyuan immediately thought of the "parasite" attached to Eisenberg-Adler, which had nearly driven Eisenberg mad.

"They are real."

"Eh?"

Duan Mingyuan’s categorical declaration made Fu Ling stunned for a good while; she steadied herself, only able to think of one possibility, "Have you seen them?"

"Seen them."

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read