Ten thousand I am across the heavens

In the field of biotechnology, it was Xiao Lu and his team's turn to step in. They had been working day and night researching how to utilize the eldest son's flesh and blood. As a super-life form, although his genetic material differed greatly from humans, and even contained non-carbon-based components and energy-based parts in his physiological structure, he was ultimately still a biological being. He could also be seen as representing the future direction of human evolution.

If one day humanity can evolve into this ultimate life form, even without any mechanical technology, it would be enough to enter the interstellar age and become a top civilization within it.

Therefore, the potential for developing related biochemical technologies is extremely high. Currently, the simplest and most effective strategy is to fuse the eldest son's flesh and genes with the human body, thereby creating a modified human. Alternatively, a gene-enhancing drug could be created.

This is undoubtedly extremely difficult, as the genetic material of the two groups is fundamentally different. This difference is far greater than the difference between humans and other animals. Humans and other animals at least share a common ancestor. At least their genetic material is the same. Even between humans and other plants, the genetic material is the double helix structure of DNA. Even further back, the difference in genetic material between humans and some special microorganisms is merely the difference between DNA and RNA.

However, the genetic material of the eldest son is inherently different from that of the human body; this difference transcends the boundaries of kingdom, phylum, family, class, genus, and species. Logically, there shouldn't even be a conventional method of fusion. Combining a human with other animals is already extremely difficult; combining with the eldest son sounds like a fantasy. But this world is ultimately a world where Gu worms exist. Many seemingly impossible things have solutions beyond conventional methods.

"Gu worms are a type of life form that is very different from human genetic material. They can even be refined from non-living, non-biological materials, yet they exhibit the characteristics of life. In fact, Gu worms can be refined purely from inorganic matter, yet they produce the effect of a living organism."

Xiao Lu had proposed the relevant research ideas as early as the beginning of the project: "What we need to do is use the Gu worm, a special life form, as a medium to allow humans to borrow the flesh and blood of their eldest son, and even fuse with his genetic material. This fusion is not about replacing all of one's own cells and turning oneself into another life form. You should have heard of chimeras, a special existence, and there must be chimeras among us. The probability of such a special individual being born may be only one in a million. But given the population size of the underground base, it is almost certain that they will exist."

A chimera is formed when two genetically different fertilized eggs accidentally combine into a single individual during development. The two genetically different fertilized eggs develop simultaneously, resulting in two different sets of genes within the same person. However, this person can live a healthy life like a normal person and does not exhibit any additional self-awareness that interferes with their life. Most of the time, chimeras behave just like normal people. This natural fusion is what we aim to achieve. Our goal is to use enhanced worms we create to embed the eldest son's cells into our bodies through normal physiological metabolism, without affecting normal physiological functions. Regular physiological activities are maintained by our original cells, while the eldest son's cells serve to enhance the individual, granting them superhuman abilities.

The research approach chose the relatively simplest non-gene fusion method. Chimeras are arguably the least difficult approach in the field of bioengineering at the level of fundamental modification. It's also the simplest method to enable humans to have compatible genetic materials based on both carbon and silicon.

In other worlds, Lenor had actually made similar attempts. For example, nanomechanisms are a human modification method very similar to chimeras. People who have had nanomechanisms implanted gain various superhuman abilities from these nanomechanisms. At the same time, the nanomechanisms themselves also become part of the genetic material and are passed on to the next generation with each birth. Newborns have newly formed nanomechanisms in their bodies.

For the eldest daughter cells to achieve the same result, they would naturally need to undergo some modifications. However, since the eldest daughter cells already possess the ability to self-replicate, the difficulty of modification would be significantly reduced. At least, there's no need to consider how to create a special, extremely microscopic machine capable of self-replication.

However, the related clinical trials are very risky, with a considerably high mortality rate for volunteers. This is far more dangerous than cells that are born in the body. No matter how cancer cells mutate, they are still ultimately the body's own cells. Even if they differ greatly from human cells, they are still much safer than progeny cells.

The creation of artificial chimeras is akin to forcibly fusing the human body with other cells. If we compare the firstborn cells to cancer cells, it's not just about implanting cancer cells into the body, but also about allowing them to spread autonomously to various organs, reaching a point where cancer is incurable in its late stages. If the technology malfunctions and these firstborn cells suddenly go out of control, the condition becomes virtually incurable, directly reaching late-stage cancer. Even with life-saving techniques, they can only bring the person back to the moment before death. After that, death will proceed as before. Neither the legendary ability to bring the dead back to life nor the ability to heal the wounded can cure the injuries caused by such experiments.

Even with such danger, the number of volunteers signing up for the clinical trial still exceeded three digits. Knowing the potential for death, everyone in the underground base was filled with a burning desire, as if they wanted to prove to the world that they were capable of becoming the next protagonists in the world, and qualified to fight against natural disasters with their own strength.

While this approach inevitably involves numerous sacrifices, these same sacrifices pave the way for technological advancements. The fifty-seventh volunteer, covered in dark spots, lay in agony on the operating table, managing a weak smile as he asked Xiao Lu, "I've lived for a long time. But now I'm afraid I really can't hold on any longer. Before I die, can you tell me how far we are from success?"

Xiao Lu personally saw off the dying volunteers almost every time. Each final farewell made him feel an increasingly heavy responsibility on his shoulders. As a result, the once outgoing Xiao Lu has become somewhat taciturn.

"We're almost there. Although your body experienced a rejection reaction, there were no obvious rejection reactions in your heart, lungs, kidneys, digestive system, or brain. The rejection was mostly concentrated in your skin, muscles, and blood vessels. These rejection reactions are relatively less fatal. If we're better prepared next time, even if the experiment fails, we have ways to save the volunteer's life. We can wait for technological advancements to bring them back to life. You're probably the unluckiest one; you might be the last volunteer to die on the operating table because of this project." "Ha... how can that be the unluckiest?" The volunteer's strained smile contained a hint of cheerfulness: "If I really am the last volunteer to die on the operating table, wouldn't my name be written in history books? Living in the memories of countless future generations is far more glorious than surviving in the darkness of reality."

It seemed his final burst of energy had ended; the massive dissolution of his skin, blood vessels, and muscles finally took away all his vitality. His eyes slowly closed, as if from exhaustion. The monitors tracking his heartbeat gradually slowed. This volunteer became the last one to collapse on the operating table because of this experiment.

The specialized life support equipment will take time to manufacture, and he clearly won't last that long. However, subsequent volunteers can use this specially customized equipment. Even if similar genetic breakdowns occur, or if large amounts of body tissue rot due to rejection, their lives can be sustained with appropriate treatment. When the technology is advanced enough, they can be revived in a state similar to hibernation.

"We've largely found a solution. First, we need inhibitors, and we need two kinds. It's not just that human cells reject the eldest son's cells; what's more troublesome is that the eldest son's cells also reject human cells, and the latter is far more destructive than the former. We've essentially solved the former problem because we're familiar with human anatomy. The previous volunteer's death wasn't caused by his own rejection of the eldest son's cells, but rather by the eldest son's cells rejecting his own cells, leading to a physiological collapse."

Now, as long as the rejection reaction of the eldest daughter cells to human cells is resolved, a relatively safe fusion can be achieved. Our previous experimental observations revealed that the eldest daughter's body contains a large number of symbiotic cells. These cells originate from a special blood tide produced by the eldest daughter, or what could be called source blood. This blood-like liquid contains various different types of cells that can coexist with the most common cells in the eldest daughter's body. We can extract several types of cells most similar to human cells from these cells. Through analysis, we have discovered their unique mechanism of symbiosis with the eldest daughter. Several special proteins are present on the surface of these cells; cells containing these proteins are recognized as allies by the eldest daughter's cells and therefore do not experience a rejection reaction.

The gene fragments involved in the synthesis of these proteins have already been identified in our previous gene sequencing of these cells. Synthesizing these proteins does not cause any harm to the human body; it simply requires adding a segment to our genes.

We already possess the technology to add gene fragments to adult somatic cells. By manipulating viruses, we can allow a normally deadly virus to replicate itself inside a cell and then be released through vesicles generated by the cell itself to infect other cells, rather than lysing infected cells.

This pattern is somewhat similar to how early organisms, after engulfing other microorganisms, coexisted with them within their cells. This is analogous to the mitochondria in our bodies and the chloroplasts in plants.

By manipulating viruses, we can have retroviruses transcribe the genes we need into the DNA of every somatic cell. These viruses then replicate themselves, infecting every somatic cell, including our brain cells. In this way, even an adult can completely renew their genes within a few days. This is the principle behind gene-editing drugs.

In this way, a special protein layer will also appear on the surface of our cells, which will be recognized by the firstborn cell. When the two exist in a chimeric mode, the firstborn cell will not have a rejection reaction and will regard us as part of itself, or regard itself as part of us, and be controlled by us.

Through repeated failed experiments, the correct technical approach was finally discovered. The 58th volunteer, after receiving the implanted gene fragment, experienced a significant reduction in rejection. Although the volunteer ultimately fell into weakness and had to enter a dormant state, awaiting further technological advancements for treatment, the experiment had made significant progress. The reason for the previous fusion failures lay with the virus. The virus's infectivity wasn't actually that strong. Even if allowed to multiply freely, infecting every cell in an adult human would be very difficult. Some cells would remain uninfected, suffering from rejection, which would undoubtedly be a terrifying disease for the human body. Fortunately, the technical difficulty in solving this problem was much lower. This level of trouble no longer required sacrificing lives. Xiao Lu and his research team only needed to sacrifice their hair and work day and night to develop the technology, and they could essentially solve it.

The final genetic modification plan was successfully developed the day after the four legions were sent out to restrain the eldest son. It passed clinical trials and was confirmed to greatly enhance human physiological functions. Even ordinary people without any cultivation or true essence in their bodies could rely on their physical abilities to exhibit superhuman levels.

Their physical strength alone is comparable to that of a master who has used seven or eight different types of Gu worms, and this is just pure muscle strength. They can also use Gu worms to enhance their bodies, and the muscle strength of their own bodies and the power brought by their Dao traces are completely independent. This means that this enhancement can be applied to everyone. Those top-level masters who have already cultivated to the fourth or fifth stage can also receive this enhancement after being injected with the potion.

[To be continued]

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