37 Chapter 37

A/N: Here's the promised bonus chap. Enjoy!

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Mark was lost in thought, contemplating about the spider. He remained silent.

Meanwhile, Landry mistakenly thought Mark didn't believe what he had just said. Anxious to convince him, Landry leaned in close and whispered, "It's true, I have inside information."

"Oh?" Mark snapped out of his reverie.

Landry looked mysterious and said, "Let me tell you, the soil samples brought back on the cargo rocket from Mars were just the most basic things."

"Is that so?" Mark was puzzled.

According to what he knew, these things from Mars didn't come directly. They were sent from the Mars rover located on Mars to the Mars Orbiter, Phlogiston Space Station, which was in orbit around Mars.

Then, the collected materials were sent towards Earth by the spacecraft. After precise calculations, the spacecraft was captured in Earth's near orbit by another space station by the earth.

Mark knew all this very clearly because he had just arrived at the base half a year ago, right when this plan was launched. He heard that it was precisely because of this plan that they decided to recruit a group of graduate students from major universities.

In the following six months, nearly 180 days, Mark spent most of his time behind his mentor, Dr. Harper, keeping an eye on the return rocket's movements.

The items stayed briefly at the earth space station.

Then, they took the return module from the space station and entered Earth's atmosphere, landing somewhere on the Gobi Desert (which was near Mongolia and China) near their base.

Afterwards, the base's security personnel drove to the landing site to retrieve the return module.

The base received the items two nights ago.

Upon arrival, the items needed to be left undisturbed for a period of time, to eliminate any potential space radiation, before they could be closely examined.

Moreover, all retrieval from the return module was done by personnel wearing protective suits.

By the time Mark and his team saw the items, they had already been roughly categorized.

They could only observe the return module, quietly sitting in a room, through thick protective glass.

Due to his outstanding achievements and good performance since joining the base, Mark had earned the favor of Dr. Harper, becoming one of his closest assistants.

Yesterday afternoon, Dr. Harper planned to conduct their first soil observation and analysis activity. He asked Mark to retrieve a sample labeled "Valley Underground" from the Martian soil storage cabinet.

According to the label, this soil sample was extracted from a valley on Mars, possibly created by a meteorite impact or formed naturally. It was painstakingly excavated bit by bit from deep underground using the instruments on the rover.

The main purpose was to study whether there were water resources and various components in the water beneath the Martian soil.

Mark carefully recalled what he knew and asked in confusion, "I heard that this soil sample was obtained by Dr. Harper and a few senior researchers before we arrived. They remotely controlled the digging device on the rover and spent nearly half a year to excavate it. It's extremely precious. Why does it seem like you're saying it's not the most valuable sample?"

Landry shook his head, "Theoretically, it is indeed very precious. Several senior researchers took turns working around the clock for twenty-four hours to obtain this soil. It has significant implications for Martian research."

Mark had no doubt about Landry's words.

Although Landry was a bit eccentric, his academic level was very high; otherwise, he wouldn't have been specially recruited here. Mark had always felt that Landry used some connections to get here, but his strong abilities were also crucial.

Moreover, Landry's mentor was a famous figure in soil science. He was a true authority in domestic soil science.

His research in soil science had made significant contributions to increasing grain production in various countries, effectively saving countless lives.

"But!" Landry's tone changed, "Guess what?"

Mark eyes twitched as he wanted to punch the grinning face of his friend. He then said almost loudly, "Spit it out!"

Landry snorted, "Well, it's not that exciting." He continued, "But among the items brought back from Mars in the return module, there's a stone tablet! It appears to be artificially processed!"

Mark: !!!

"Is the next plot going to be something like 'I got a stone tablet from Mars but it turned out to be a bearer of apocalypse'?" Mark exclaimed in surprise.

Landry: "???"

"You've been reading too many online novels and mangas, haven't you? Do you think we're in a manga?" Landry said with exasperation.

"Look who's talking." Mark retorted. "But, about the artificially processed stone tablet you mentioned, is it true?"

"Yeah, it's true," Landry nodded nonchalantly. "But it's just speculation; it could also be the result of natural weathering. Who knows?"

Mark nodded slightly, seemingly acknowledging Landry's words.

Putting aside how Landry came to know such classified information, the mere possibility of the existence of that stone tablet could overshadow everything related to Martian soil. Once confirmed that the tablet was artificially processed, it would mean that there was once a civilization on Mars!

It could also indicate that extraterrestrial beings had visited it in the distant past!

Just that alone would be enough to shake the entire astronomical community! Because whether it was the former or the latter, it would confirm that human beings were not the only life in the universe!

If it was the former, it would at least prove that life had existed on Mars in the distant past.

It might even mean that humans on Earth were descendants of Martians!

If it was the latter, it meant that there might be some civilization in the distant depths of space secretly observing Earth.

The thought was both thrilling and frightening.

It sent shivers down their spines!

However, aside from these two commonly speculated scenarios, Mark had another idea.

Parallel universes!

Since he could traverse to other parallel universes, why couldn't something from another parallel universe cross over to his universe?

Perhaps even the spider that bit him came from a parallel universe?

After all, if he possessed the ability to traverse time and space, the spider might also have it, right?

Mark's head started to ache.

With so little evidence, he couldn't rule out certain conclusions and could only brainstorm.

"Landry, do you have a way to get close to that stone tablet?" Mark turned to Landry, who was busy eating, his eyes shining as if they would glow.

Landry was startled by Mark's audacious and utterly ridiculous idea. "Are you crazy? That's super duper top-secret! There's certainly a lot of elite soldiers guarding it nearby around the clock, that tablet is currently the highest-level secret in the base. There's no way we can get close to it for now."