Nobody knew how the lightning life appeared exactly, just as nobody knew how the first organic molecules such as amino acids were born from the crazy collisions and intense reactions of inorganic substances. All in all, in the atmosphere of the ancient giant in the past billions of years, violent energy waves were released and exploded countless times in the form of lightning. Through incredible coincidences, lightning captured some unusual particles, which were the rare elements from the depths of the ancient giant or outer space, such as the element of argon, and so on.
When the powerful lightning pierced through the core of the element of argon, it was immediately vaporized into crystal, perfect plasma balls by the extremely high temperature. The free electrons with negative charges formed the outer layer of the plasma, and the ions with positive charges formed the inner layer. The two layers formed a clear boundary, but it allowed energy to circulate and transform freely, just like the membranes and walls of biological cells. It was a great yin and yang that could communicate with the universe.
In other words, the countless coincidences of lightning created the miracle of life, a gaseous, pure energy, plasma 'cell'.
Of course, such 'plasma cell' was different from the cells in the sense of carbon-based life. It did not have the so-called 'genetic material'.
However, the form of life was colorful in the first place, and genetic information did not necessarily have to be transmitted through genes. The five definitions that defined a cell — the ability to self-replicate, to transmit information, to have a metabolic mechanism, to grow on its own, and to have a clear boundary with the outside world — were all met by a 'plasma cell'.
Although in the beginning, its life could only last for a few microseconds, in its short and glorious life, it could also absorb energy from the outside world, expand, and even split. It could extend lightning tentacles and absorb the neutral elements around it, such as argon, helium, methane, ethane, and so on, adding them to its own energy reaction and glowing in colorful brilliance. It could even split itself into two different plasma cells, each of which carried the same electromagnetic characteristics.
It could even transmit information by radiating electromagnetic energy to other plasma cells, so that the atoms in each plasma cell would keep the same vibration frequency.
If this was not a 'cell', if this was not a 'life', then what was the meaning of the definition of life?
Li Yao noticed that the amazing lightning sprites had not appeared for a long time, much less than the glorious hundred thousand years of history of the human civilization. It was even less comparable to the civilization of the Pangu civilization or the 'black-wall maker' billions of years ago.
Their "history" was only about two to three thousand years.
Two to three thousand years ago, it was the time when the two high-mass stars near the ancient giant entered the end of their lives and began to blossom violently, showing signs of a 'supernova explosion'.
Perhaps, it was the intense matter and energy ejection of the dying star that injected new vitality into the atmosphere of the ancient giant star before its death that led to the birth of the lightning spirits.
They were out-and-out "children of the sun".
Although they only had a history of two to three thousand years, they had crossed a journey that carbon-based intelligent life would take hundreds of millions of years to complete.
Their lives were short and intense. Every bolt of lightning that cut across the sky of the ancient giant planet could only last a few to a dozen seconds, but in those dozen seconds, billions of plasma cells were born in the lightning. The lightning was their river of life and their eternal home. They had to continuously absorb the various elements in the atmosphere and experiment with new discharge structures and electromagnetic restraining fields, trying to make themselves and the lightning last longer, even if it was just a microsecond. If they could not do that, they would divide and multiply crazily, attempting to 'jump' to another bolt of lightning that was just born before that bolt of lightning was annihilated.
"Survive, survive, survive!"
Li Yao seemed to be able to hear the roar of infinite desire of the newly born plasma cells in the crackling electric arcs.
Yes, the meaning of life was not just to survive, but if they could not even survive in the beginning, then they would not be able to find any other meaning.
At the origin of any life that had just been born, especially at such a bad and cruel origin, survival itself was the only meaning.
Li Yao's every brain cell was enshrouded in lightning.
He was full of respect, 'appreciating' the poem of life that had lasted for thousands and billions of years.
He 'saw' that countless plasma cells grasped the few subtle moments of life, constantly absorbing and devouring the surrounding elements, trying to use various elements and atomic vibration frequencies to form the cornerstone of their own life.
The attempts had all ended in failure. Those plasma cells that had swallowed the wrong elements and used the wrong vibration frequency were instantly annihilated, leaving not even a ripple behind. In exchange, the lucky ones were able to extend their lives by 0.001 microseconds.
Before they were annihilated, those lucky ones immediately transmitted the information such as the brand-new elements and vibration frequencies with electromagnetic radiation and shared it with all their 'compatriots' in the same lightning.
Those 'compatriots', on the other hand, were either dividing crazily to increase the number of plasma balls in the lightning geometrically, or they were trying to jump out of the lightning like moths darting at a fire and find another newborn lightning in the ocean of methane and helium to buy a few more seconds for their entire race.
After such crazy attempts and the efforts and sacrifices of tens of thousands of generations of 'people' in the past ten seconds, the survival time of the plasma balls was gradually increased from a few subtle moments to almost one second. The lightning that they lived in was also modified by them to be different from regular lightning and could last for several minutes, dozens of minutes, or even longer. They even consciously connected several lightning bolts and 'weaved' them into marvelous geometrical shapes in an unbelievable way. Everything they did was for the purpose of increasing the survival time of the lightning in the atmosphere and the ability of super long-distance transmission.
They were building their own 'space warships' and 'spaceships'. They had refined the lightning into their own spaceships!
Li Yao 'saw' that the plasma cells that had upgraded the lightning into a 'warship' gradually boasted a high self-organization ability on the fierce battlefield of life. Their exploration of the entire planet began, too. They were no longer limited to the places where the lightning was most intense but spread out to every corner of the ancient giant planet with the lightning around the magnetic field.
Then, they discovered the place that could make life leap further and evolve into a 'civilization', which was the most obvious Great Red Spot on the ancient giant planet.
The Great Red Spot was a super cyclone more than a thousand kilometers in diameter. It often lasted more than a hundred years.
The intense changes of air pressure inside the super cyclone could make the discharge reaction of the lightning more violent and faster, resulting in more possibilities.
The super cyclone stirred the materials around nonstop. A lot of materials were even absorbed from the depths of the ancient giant planet and spurted out. Like the volcanic eruption deep inside the primitive ocean, it brought abundant energy and materials to the core of the planet and made it the cradle of life. It could also bring more elements to the plasma cells.
'Red Phosphorus', the special material that constituted the Great Red Spot, could also release glamorous, unpredictable flames in the high-speed friction of the lightning. It became the carrier that carried the 'civilization'.
Yes. Every beam of 'Red Phosphorus Fire' could only last several minutes or hours at most. It was' fleeting 'in the time scale of human beings. But for the plasma cells that could pass on a generation in a few seconds, the burning of a beam of fire was long enough. It was like the paper that could be maintained for decades without rotting. It could be used to make' books' and pass on 'wisdom'.
Just like that, the plasma cells drove the lightning and searched for one Great Red Spot after another. They prospered and thrived, establishing the real 'lightning civilization'.
Their civilization was, of course, entirely different from the civilization established by the carbon-based intelligent life. At the very least, 99% of the information that Li Yao read was incomprehensible. He had no idea what the plasma cells were doing, what they were establishing, and what they were pursuing.
On the other hand, if the "lightning civilization" could observe the human world's wine, women, wealth, love, hatred, the rise and fall of countries, heroes, and so on, they would certainly not be able to understand what the highly self-organized carbon condensates were doing, right?
However, there were some things that all the 'civilizations' had in common.
Li Yao 'saw' that the plasma cells ignited clusters of phosphorescence deep inside the Great Red Spot on their own initiative, recording specific information with the bouncing flames.
Perhaps, it was their major research discovery, their understanding of the universe, their secret method to pass on life, and a way to construct a more powerful 'lightning warship'.
It was also possible that it was a poem that they sang about 'faith' and 'love'. It was a fancy but useless show off. It might even be the incantation of a religion that was based on their origins and superstitious beliefs about the sun.
Similarly, just as they tried to modify the lightning that they were in in in the past, they were now modifying the super cyclone that they were in. They precisely manipulated the electric current, electric charge, and voltage, manipulated the clouds made of helium and methane, and manipulated the speed and angle of the storm, all in order to make the Great Red Spot that they were in bigger and more stable so that it could last longer. Also, they could absorb more elements from the depths of the ancient giant and carry more magnificent Red Phosphorus Fire.
The naturally occurring Great Red Spot could only last for a hundred years, but after their modification, it could last for three to five hundred years. On the scale of the lightning civilization, it was almost an eternity.
Then, there was war.
War, especially civil war, was an indispensable part of the growth of all civilizations.
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