Ten thousand I am across the heavens

"Director, are you nervous about your first time on the operating table?" The surgeon in the white coat asked with a smile. After several clinical trials, Xiao Lu had finally become the one lying on the experimental table. However, the technology was now relatively mature, and using the developers as the last volunteers in clinical trials was a common practice in the underground base. Just like that classic World War II story.

For a long time, parachute manufacturers couldn't guarantee that their parachutes would open every time they landed. They claimed this was simply a technically possible error, and that some parachutes would inevitably fail to open. Then the military changed their acceptance testing method: having the manufacturer's boss personally jump with their parachute. After this change, no parachute failed to open.

While this is a somewhat ironic joke, having the drug developers use the drug themselves as a final test is, in a way, a form of insurance. Perhaps every generation, like theirs, works in the same direction.

Human nature is never uniform; there will always be those who seek crooked paths and opportunistic gains. Such individuals will inevitably exist in the future, and the systems we establish now will naturally become the firewalls erected to protect society from corruption. The more robust the systems we create, the longer they can withstand the gradual collapse of the system, and the more likely we are to witness the resurgence of civilization.

Although the people in the underground base were still in a relatively ignorant state, they were gradually developing some ideas that would lay the foundation for civilization.

Xiao Lu shook his head. He rolled his eyes. Finally, he could breathe a sigh of relief: "The clinical trial has come this far. What problems could there possibly be? If I collapse on the operating table this time, I would be letting down all the volunteers who collapsed on the operating table before. Let's get started. I can't wait to experience what it's like to be a superhero."

With the injection of anesthetic drugs, he quickly fell into a deep coma, wearing an anesthetic mask. The modified drugs were injected into his body, and immunosuppressants were also working. The first drug injected was the genetically modified virus, whose effects had become very stable after multiple adjustments. It could infect almost all somatic cells in the human body without harming the cells themselves. It could even penetrate the blood-brain barrier directly to infect brain cells, possibly causing very slight memory confusion during this process. This is because brain cells are ultimately more fragile than other cells; the more sophisticated the system, the less resistant it is to external interference.

However, such side effects were perfectly acceptable during wartime. Moreover, the eldest son's cells entering the brain wasn't necessarily a bad thing; the eldest son was a higher life form. Compared to ordinary humans, he was like bacteria compared to ordinary organisms—undoubtedly superior. Higher life forms are far more complex than humans, and their intelligence far surpasses that of ordinary people.

After the eldest son's brain was modified using his cells, his memory, thinking speed, and many other cognitive attributes were greatly enhanced, although his thinking style remained his own. It didn't directly change his cognitive abilities, but it broadened his potential and freed him from the mental constraints that had previously limited his capacity.

After Xiao Lu was injected with the virus, he entered a dormant state, and his metabolism was reduced to a minimum to ensure that no large number of new cells would divide during the viral infection process. This ensured that after most of the cells in his body were infected, the transformation phase would begin.

Not all cells synthesize proteins and secrete them onto the cell surface all the time. For example, nerve cells are often quite inert; it's not like inserting a gene into the cell nucleus will immediately result in its expression.

This is where Gu worms come in. Specialized Gu worms can stimulate cells at a microscopic level, and many medically-specific Gu worms are utilized at this point. Genes inside the cell begin to be expressed on a large scale. Corresponding receptors and proteins on the cell surface are generated during this process. The entire process is relatively short, as many Gu worms can act as catalysts in this process.

The next step is the most dangerous one: injecting the selected and processed long-term stem cells directly into the human body.

These cells have had their nucleus-like core removed, replaced by extremely tiny Gu worms. The Gu worms in this world vary in size; some are as large as a river-swallowing toad, capable of blocking the river's flow when lying on it—far larger than normal animals. Others are equally small, invisible to the naked eye. Smaller than a cell, smaller than a cell nucleus, they can also do this.

These special firstborn cells are structures within the cell nucleus that have been removed. It's even difficult to call them nuclei, as their cellular structure is vastly different from that of mammals and even the entire biological world of plants and animals; it's far more complex. Fortunately, it's not necessary to understand all their functions; one only needs to find the control center and replace it with a Gu worm. These Gu worms occupy negligible space in the human body. However, by controlling the Gu worms, one can indirectly control these firstborn cells, which theoretically allows for things that humans cannot do. For example, the speed of nerve signal transmission in mammals is already very fast; after evolution, with the addition of the medullary shell, the speed of nerve signal transmission can reach hundreds of meters per second. But this is far inferior to the quantum-like efficiency of human control over Gu worms. Theoretically, with sufficient computing power, controlling these cells is almost instantaneous, making the slight delays that humans experience when controlling their own bodies negligible.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that humans undergoing this enhancement are completely transformed, becoming entirely new species. After Xiao Lu's body was injected with new first-generation cells, his body was rapidly changing, and the metamorphosis had gradually begun. Layer after layer of his skin began to peel off, while large amounts of sweat began to be secreted. At this time, nutrients began to be injected into his body, and the first-generation cells were evenly replacing his original body cells. During this process, some of his original body cells would be replaced. This would cause some cells to die and become waste, which would be metabolized and eliminated through physiological metabolism.

This metabolism is excreted in a form similar to sweat, and the body's cells are tightly integrated with those of the firstborn. Although the genes are not directly altered, it becomes a chimera of two different organisms, albeit predominantly human. The original human cells are like a framework, while the firstborn's cells are like climbing vines that spread and grow within that framework. While the plant may seem more free, it ultimately cannot transcend the human body's framework. Any attempt to expand beyond this framework will only result in a return to its original human essence.

Xiao Lu's modification surgery was a complete success. The entire procedure proceeded almost without incident. When he awoke, the surgery was finished; he had been cleaned and dressed in clean clothes. The instant he opened his eyes, Xiao Lu sensed a difference in the world, as if a blind person had suddenly regained their sight. It was as if someone who had never seen the world before was witnessing its appearance for the first time.

Suddenly, countless colors appeared in his eyes that humans could not distinguish before. His visual cells had developed many different cone cells and sensory cells, allowing him to distinguish an incredibly wide range of spectra. Moreover, this was not displayed indirectly through color charts like those in infrared night vision devices, but rather he could directly and clearly see infrared and ultraviolet light and recognize exactly what kind of color it was.

The sunlight and lamplight were the same white light. To an ordinary person, it would be difficult to distinguish between them, but to him, the difference was immediately apparent. Besides this, he also felt that everything he saw was slowing down, not drastically, but roughly equivalent to twice the slow motion he used to experience. As he gradually adapted to his modified body, this sense of time displacement gradually disappeared. This was because he hadn't yet adapted to his body or such a fast thought process, resulting in the perception that everything around him had slowed down.

"How does it feel? How does it feel to become Superman?" A group of colleagues from the same department gathered around. Although they were very familiar with how to perform the modification surgery, they had never experienced the modification themselves and did not know what it would feel like for a person after the modification. Compared to their director, the volunteers were not as professional, and their descriptions were still somewhat lacking in their opinion.

"I can only say that the transformation is so great. Now I understand why it is difficult for volunteers who have successfully completed the experiment to describe their current state. It is because we have never clearly understood many of the things they have seen, heard, and felt. These things that they have seen and perceived do not exist in human concepts."

For example, in your eyes, the bed sheets appear to have only two colors under the light, but to me, they appear to have four colors. Two of these colors are indescribable because they are not named in human language. It's like how I can never tell a born blind person what red, yellow, blue, and green are. No matter how eloquently I describe them, without seeing them with my own eyes, I will never understand what colors are. And if they regain their sight and see any color, they won't be able to identify it based on our previous descriptions.

My newfound perception extends far beyond color. I can directly feel the effects of gravity, a sensation similar to vision, yet different. Overlaid on my perception of the world, I can't even describe the entirely new colors I see to you, let alone these new sensations.

The senses we humans possess are actually quite limited. Sight and hearing are relatively better, at least in terms of the precision and breadth of our perception of light and vibration. The senses of smell and taste, however, have a much smaller range of perception; in fact, they can be combined. All of these senses are generated through the contact of the body's cells with various chemical substances, producing specific neural stimuli.

My current perception of gravitational fluctuations and electromagnetic fields is far more precise and expansive than sight. Without firsthand experience, it's difficult to grasp my current state. It's fair to say I've far surpassed ordinary humans; to put it bluntly, I've become like a life form superior to humans.

Our previous tests on these basic attributes of strength weren't actually that meaningful. My strength and speed are indeed much greater than ordinary people, but I believe the more significant change is the revolutionary shift in my perception of the world—that's what truly changes a species.

Just like the birth of vision, which was a game-changer for other primitive organisms in the biological world, the perception I now possess not only gives me a clear understanding of the outside world, but also gives me precise control over my own body, and even the ability to precisely manipulate every single cell in my body.

Just like now. It's possible to regenerate my body." Xiao Lu closed his eyes and briefly sensed his body. During this process, he blocked out several senses of the outside world. In just a short moment, an arm grew out of his shoulder. Although his body shrank slightly because of this arm, the newly grown arm was almost as flexible as the original. With such ease, he even picked up the water glass from the bedside table and, like a clown juggling, threw several glasses into the air and caught them again, showing no signs of unfamiliarity.

"I can now reconstruct my body structure at will; growing new arms is just the most basic thing. Because I am only familiar with the operation of human arms right now, theoretically, once I am more familiar with this body, I can make one of my hands become the head of a venomous snake, spread out rapidly, and then end the enemy with deadly toxins."

As for anything more extreme, I haven't tried it yet. Theoretically, I could degenerate my brain and transform into other physiological structures. But if I did that, would my self-awareness be preserved? I'm not sure. So tests of strength and speed are actually not very meaningful; everyone was testing while maintaining a human form. Theoretically, I could transform myself into a cheetah-like posture. Of course, in actual combat, this ability to freely transform one's life form would certainly have far superior applications.

[To be continued]

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