Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 857 - 850: The Elven Illusion

Chapter 857: Chapter 850: The Elven Illusion

"Ehehe..." Baiyue couldn’t help but let out an uncharacteristic giggle upon hearing Luo’er’s rare praise. Her ears, furry and flickering in and out of view, seemed to touch Luo’er’s heart in an instant.

"Go on," said Luo’er, rubbing his nose to hide his embarrassment, and then he urged her to continue.

"Well," Baiyue nodded obediently and cleared her throat before resuming her serious tone, "I don’t know if it’s a coincidence but at the same time as the disintegration of the Aud Empire, the Otherworld’s Little Ice Age arrived as expected, and the regions north of the North Territory were once again engulfed by extreme cold. The Aud people were simply unable to resist such a drop in temperature, and the subsequent decrease in food production, and had no choice but to retreat from the Snow Domain in a sorry state. Thus, the Snow Elves, who are resistant to the cold, took advantage of the weather to snatch the Snow Domain back from the hands of the Aud people."

"However, it is a pity that, according to historical records, the Snow Elves who reclaimed the Snow Domain did not learn their lesson. They remained stubborn and conservative, even going so far as to expel those who were supposed to be their own kind, the Half-elves. But indeed, they were lucky, because after the disintegration of the Aud Empire, the Aud people were no longer able to organize large-scale invasions, so later, although the Snow Domain experienced several warm periods, it was never invaded by the Aud people again. Since the fall of the Aud Empire, the ambitious aspirations of the Aud people also shattered with the empire, leaving nothing but ruins. In such circumstances, the Snow Elves even couldn’t be bothered to rebuild the fortresses of the North Lead Corridor, for they all knew that the Aud people were not coming back."

Strictly speaking, there are only two major human ethnic groups in the northern part of the Aels Continent, namely the Aud people and the Bobulu people. Unfortunately, with the disintegration of the empire, the Aud people also split internally.

The residents of the Masaya Kingdom no longer proudly identified themselves as Aud people but rather called themselves Marsyans. And within Odelanqi, which boasted of being the orthodox Aud people, a subgroup split off, known as the Northern Aud people.

At this thought, an idea suddenly struck Luo’er, and he immediately had a bold hypothesis.

Indeed, perhaps the division of the Aud people’s ethnic group was not accidental, but closely related to the disintegration of the Aud Empire and the arrival of the Little Ice Age.

Previously mentioned, Cheng Ziang carries the genes of the Snow Elves, but outwardly, he shows no traits of the Snow Elves. If Luo’er remembers correctly, including his father Yalunte, they should all be Northern Aud people.

Could it be understood then that the reason why the Northern Aud people broke away from the Aud ethnic group, is because they are indeed not pure Aud people?

Baiyue just mentioned a point that has been overlooked by many: after reclaiming the Snow Domain, the Snow Elves began to expel the Half-elves within, but where did these Half-elves go?

Luo’er feels that a bold speculation can be made: most of these Half-elves fled to the northern foothills of Odelanqi and blended with the locals there. After a thousand years of inheritance and evolution, they eventually developed into the Northern Aud ethnic group.

But this raises a question. Scientific research on Earth has shown that the Elf Race’s genes are extremely dominant. Any offspring they have with other races will invariably display visible Elf traits and inherit the Elves’ longevity.

Assuming the Northern Aud people are indeed descendants of Half-elves, why do they not display dominant Elf traits? Could those traits have been evolved away? But, considering that less than a thousand years have passed, such evolution seems unfeasibly rapid.

It is known that the evolution of species requires a considerably long process. Known methods that can accelerate the speed of evolution mainly include nuclear radiation, which is highly unstable and typically more harmful than beneficial.

With the current level of technology in the Otherworld, it seems unlikely that they would have had the opportunity for nuclear radiation-induced evolution. Moreover, this method is extremely dangerous, and even a slight misstep could potentially result in the creation of monsters. How then did the Northern Aud people eliminate the visible Elf traits, or are the Snow Elves’ genes less dominant than those of the Wood Elf and Night Elves?

Furthermore, there is another question: if the Northern Aud people truly are descendants of the Half-elves, then they should logically inherit the Elves’ longevity genes as well.

In that case, theoretically, if one were to go to the Northern Aud region now, it should still be possible to meet descendants of the Half-elves from the time of the Aud Empire.

Curious about the Elf Planet Project, Luo’er asked Wang Xu to find relevant information about it. According to the declassified documents, one of the main reasons Earth’s scientists pushed the Elf Planet Project so eagerly was they calculated that an Elf hybrid could inherit around eighty percent of an Elf’s lifespan.

To be more specific, if Elves could live a thousand years, Elf hybrids could theoretically live around eight hundred years or more, which for humans, is an incredibly long lifespan.

The dream of immortality has always been a longing for humans. While elf-blooded hybrids also age, their lifespans and the extent to which aging is delayed far surpass those of existing humans, this is a significant reason why the Elf Planet Project is continually brought up.

However, Luo’er felt that his conjecture might shatter the fixed impressions of these Earth scientists. Perhaps the longevity of the elf race hybrids wasn’t as they imagined; their age might be determined by the degree of genetic fusion.

Maybe a first-generation half-elf could have eighty percent of the elf race’s lifespan, but the second generation might only inherit seventy or sixty percent of that lifespan.

Following this logic, after a few generations, the advantages of being elf-blooded would be completely lost, meaning that the Elf Planet Project could ultimately only satisfy the wishes of the first few generations; later descendants would not be able to enjoy the benefits brought by the project.

Of course, all of these were just Luo’er’s own ideas, which still needed scientific research to confirm, otherwise they would remain conjecture.

Luo’er thought that the best way to test his hypothesis would be to access Cheng Ziang’s genetic sequence from Haiya Academy for research.

He wanted to know if the people of Northern Aud were indeed descendants of half-elves, and if so, whether Cheng Ziang had inherited the longevity genes of the elf race hybrids and, if he had, how much he had inherited and whether there were any signs of decline.

While Luo’er was deep in thought, he suddenly felt someone poking his cheek a few times. He turned his head and saw Tangmo staring at him and asking softly, "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing much," Luo’er took a deep breath before responding, "Some theoretical issues."

Seeing Luo’er’s expression, Tangmo slightly pursed her lips, took a deep breath, and eventually held back and didn’t voice her thoughts. She knew all too well that relentlessly questioning Luo’er about Melia would only lead to his annoyance, and she was not about to do something so foolhardy.

"If we have children in the future, how much of our genes will they inherit, do you think? Will they live as long as we do?" Luo’er frowned, stared at his own palm, and muttered to himself.

Tangmo was so surprised and delighted by this sudden declaration of affection that her gloominess vanished in an instant, and she looked at Luo’er with wide eyes and a slight open mouth, too shocked to speak.

"You’ve thought about it to this level, I..." Tangmo was so pleased she could barely complete her sentence.

"Eh," Luo’er was startled, and it took him a moment to realize what had happened. Then he felt someone tugging at his other side and turned his head to meet Baiyue’s wistful gaze. He then quickly understood, his face turned red, and he started to explain in a flustered manner, "That, that’s not what I meant, this..."

Baiyue looked at him grievously, her face crinkling into even greater distress as if she was about to cry, she extended her little fist and thumped Luo’er on the shoulder, not too lightly nor too heavily.

"No, listen to me, I need to explain..." Luo’er said, his throat dry and voice anxious.

"Luo’er, why don’t we just tonight..." Tangmo said shyly, not caring whether Luo’er agreed or not, and cozied up to him affectionately.

"Can you all please listen to me, I was just thinking about a scientific issue," Luo’er said with a face that wanted to cry but had no tears.

"Sigh, this is self-inflicted..." Watching Luo’er panic and scramble, Hu Daoke sat across from him, arms crossed over his chest, looking on quietly and letting out a soft sigh.

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