Giant Fish Survival: I Can Hear the Giant Fish's Heart

After finishing his conversation with the two, Zhou Wen continued his study of oxygen-rich bacteria. Based on his breath-holding experience over the previous half hour, he noticed a detail: he had not exhaled any air during that time.

The human lungs absorb oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Oxygen-rich bacteria provide oxygen to the body. So where does the carbon dioxide produced by the human body go?

There is only one possibility: it was absorbed by oxygen-rich bacteria and then converted back into oxygen.

Of course, during this conversion process, the efficiency of oxygen and carbon dioxide conversion will inevitably decrease. After all, he can only hold his breath for half an hour at present, and the survival of oxygen-rich bacteria also requires energy consumption, so it is impossible to convert without loss.

After summarizing these ideas, Zhou Wen roughly deduced that oxygen-rich bacteria would prioritize consuming carbon dioxide, converting it into the nutrients they needed, and then releasing oxygen. However, if there was not enough carbon dioxide, they would absorb energy from Zhou Wen's body as their own nutrients.

However, these are all just speculations, and experiments are needed to confirm them.

The method of the experiment was very simple: a fire was lit directly inside the stomach wall, and a large amount of carbon dioxide was produced by the flame. He then inhaled the carbon dioxide to see if his body would experience a state of hypoxia.

If the body does not experience oxygen deficiency, then this hypothesis is correct. Conversely, if oxygen deficiency occurs, it means that oxygen-rich bacteria will consume the host's energy regardless of the situation.

Because the air inside the stomach wall space was relatively humid, Zhou Wen deliberately made the transformed Leviathan float to the surface of the sea, and then lit a fire outside.

Considering that burning wood directly would produce a lot of smoke, and that in a confined space, one could not even breathe properly, let alone be choked to death by the smoke, Zhou Wen also specially burned a few pieces of charcoal. Because charcoal has been burned once, the smoke produced when it is burned again will be much less.

It took two or three hours to prepare everything, which is equivalent to wasting the time of a supply box.

"let's start."

Zhou Wen carried the tinder into the stomach wall space and then lit the charcoal in the furnace. The charcoal began to burn, rapidly consuming the oxygen in the stomach wall space.

At this point, the esophageal diaphragm closed, and the phallus Leviathan resumed its activity. The stomach wall space was not large to begin with, and there were only two algae oxygenation tanks producing oxygen, so the flames inside the furnace soon began to weaken.

This indicates that the oxygen in the stomach wall space was almost exhausted. Subsequently, the flames in the furnace struggled slightly before turning into a wisp of smoke and extinguishing completely. The burning process could not even be maintained for three minutes.

The flame went out, proving that there was no more oxygen in the stomach wall space, but Zhou Wen did not feel suffocated. According to the previous plan, he began to absorb carbon dioxide in the space by expanding his lungs, but his behavior seemed very abnormal because he was only taking in air and not exhaling.

He kept inhaling like that. To ensure the accuracy of the experiment, he also sent two algae oxygenation tanks to Jiang Haitao so that there would be no oxygen in the stomach wall space for the rest of the time.

Of course, combustion produces carbon dioxide and a small amount of carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is toxic, but there is no need to worry too much about this, because the furnace does not burn for long enough to produce much carbon monoxide.

Moreover, even if it did cause harm to Zhou Wen, he was sitting right next to the esophageal diaphragm. If he noticed anything amiss, he could pat the esophageal diaphragm to bring the illusory Leviathan to the surface and allow fresh air in.

Time passed slowly, and soon two hours had gone by. Zhou Wen still did not feel any lack of oxygen or any discomfort.

Just as Zhou Wen was about to continue, he heard the sound of seawater churning in his esophagus; the first supply box of the day had arrived.

Subsequently, the esophageal diaphragm opened, and seawater, along with fresh air, entered the stomach wall space, forcing the experiment to be stopped.

In fact, the result is already certain. Zhou Wen's body remained normal for 2 hours after absorbing carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to extending his breath-holding time by four times. This is enough to prove that oxygen-rich bacteria consume carbon dioxide first.

As long as Zhou Wen is occasionally exposed to an environment rich in carbon dioxide, the effects of oxygen-rich bacteria on his body should be slowed down.

Having learned about the method for suppressing oxygen-rich bacteria, Zhou Wen's long-standing worries dissipated somewhat. He retrieved two algae oxygenation tanks from Jiang Haitao, and after the seawater receded, Zhou Wen opened the supply box.

[Ding! Obtained Bone Armor Mask Blueprint.]

"Is the bone armor mask made from bone-sucking insects?" Zhou Wen casually used the blueprints and then checked the materials used in its creation.

[Bone Armor Mask Blueprint: Requires 1 Bone Armor Sucker Shell and 3 Cloth Pieces.]

Zhou Wen now had a lot of bone beetle shells, and the materials needed for this bone beetle mask were not many, so he made it directly.

The two materials turned into blue light and merged in the air. Then, a white mask made entirely of bone appeared in Zhou Wen's hand. This white mask was very simple, just a plain mask without any decoration.

Although simple, the overall design fits the human face. The bone mask has three holes: two for the eyes and one for the nose. Zhou Wen looked at it from both sides but did not see any rubber bands used to fix it to his head.

So, he put the bone armor mask directly on his face. The moment it touched his face, the mask adhered perfectly to his skin, which Zhou Wen found somewhat magical.

To ensure the mask was secure, Zhou Wen even did a few somersaults in the space inside his stomach wall, but the bone armor mask still stuck tightly to his face without any sign of loosening.

“Okay, not bad.” Zhou Wen reached out and grabbed the bone armor mask. The mask, which had been tightly attached to his face, was easily removed.

Then, Zhou Wen used his iron broadsword to chop at the bone armor mask to test its hardness. He then swung it three times in succession, splitting the bone armor mask in two.

The bone armor mask only withstood three blows, seemingly lacking in defensive power. However, Zhou Wen's current strength is close to 20 points, and combined with the iron greatsword, being able to withstand three blows is sufficient for a mask.

Zhou Wen made three more, keeping one for himself and giving the other two to Jiang Haitao and Chen Xin.

After that, nothing much happened, and Zhou Wen was about to continue reading the novel on the World Channel when a private message came in.

By checking the profile picture, Zhou Wen discovered that it was the same guy who had stepped forward and suggested that the survivor hand over the blueprints to him yesterday when Zhao Teng tried to steal them.

[Hello, sir/madam, my name is He Youwei. I'm sending you this private message to inquire if you would like to join our privately formed guild, "Big Shot," and become its leader. Of course, this guild is currently operating covertly and will absolutely not be made public.]

I appreciate your kindness, but you see, I haven't established a guild yet. It's not that I don't want to, but I know I don't have the ability to manage a large number of people.

[You don't need to manage it, we'll manage it. Many people are dissatisfied with Zhao Teng, but they dare not speak out.]

[Only you are unafraid of Zhao Teng. We hope to get your help to secretly develop the "Big Boss" guild and ultimately fight against Zhao Teng.]

[That doesn't make sense. Chen Xin from the Survivors guild isn't afraid of Zhao Teng either; you can simply join her guild.]

Those guilds are all cut from the same cloth. Good items are always consumed internally within their own guilds; when have they ever considered ordinary people like us?