I am immortal with scientific thinking

Evolving virus?

When Lin Chen heard this word, his brows furrowed deeply.

The source of the S-level supernatural event, the Evolutionary Disaster, caused a species explosion of all living things on the Blue Planet like in the ancient Cambrian period. It was recognized by the entire civilization as the most critical sign of the complete outbreak of idealistic invasion.

And it is precisely because of this tiny virus that the entire human civilization is facing a formidable enemy.

The fall of Yuncang City is actually related to this virus?
"No!" At this moment, Su Mu raised an objection, "As far as I know, this virus should have little effect on humans, not to mention that the brain is just a separate organ, not a complete living organism. Even if you inject the evolutionary virus, so what? It is impossible to cause the fall of this city!"

After hearing these words, Li Nuowei sighed and said:
"At the beginning of the experiment, we had no way to find the corresponding methods and means to explore the core of consciousness, the deepest mysteries of the human brain, and even touch the spiritual realm that humans have never set foot on since ancient times."

"We don't even have the most basic theories, and most supernatural events are either monsters or items that cannot be explained. Even a small number of them are mysteries that are difficult to understand, so we simply can't find any solutions."

"Until the Evolutionary Disaster was discovered by us humans, someone in the laboratory came up with a point. Since we can't find anything related to the soul to study, why not just create one?"

"So, evolving viruses came into our field of vision."

Having said this, Li Nuowei paused for a moment, then continued:
"In fact, from the very beginning, we had the same consideration as this comrade. If we experiment directly on animals, or use some method to bypass the human body's defense mechanism to make the evolved virus effective, I am afraid there will be unpredictable consequences."

"So, considering all the above, we decided to adopt another plan, which is to artificially extract the brain of a person who has just died, and then inject the evolution virus into it, trying to make it mutate in some way, so as to help us explore the research in the soul field."

"We call this experimental project the Brain in a Vat."

"Then what?" Lin Chen's eyes moved slightly, and he asked, "Then what happened?"

"Then?"

At this point, Li Nuowei was silent for a moment before saying:
"Then things just got out of control without us noticing."

"First, some researchers in the lab inexplicably said they saw a huge fire that burned the entire lab to ashes. We were already dead a long time ago, and now we are just embers."

"Then, these groundless fantasies became more and more serious, and some researchers even became insane and doused themselves in gasoline at home and burned themselves to death."

"This incident quickly made us realize that something was wrong, and we set up a special research team and investigation department. But at that time, no one thought that the source of this mutation was actually the human brain that had been injected with the evolution virus."

"This [Brain in a Jar] has developed intelligence that is very different from that of humans. It has learned to lie dormant, learn to observe, and even possesses the ability to control the brain."

"Unknowingly, the entire branch of the Supernatural Research Institute fell at an unprecedented speed that no one had noticed. The relevant law enforcement agencies and local garrison forces noticed the abnormality and sent out special investigators. Unfortunately, they were all controlled by the brain in the jar and instead invaded the local law enforcement agencies and garrison forces..."

"Just like that, the city fell completely without anyone noticing..."

At this point, Li Nuowei's face was filled with desolation:
"If I hadn't been on vacation at home at that time and escaped, I would probably have become a member controlled by this brain in a jar..."

"The local garrison has tens of thousands of people, not to mention the city's population of over one million. How can this monster [Brain in a Vat], which was just created through an experiment, be able to completely control them?!" Su Mu's expression turned gloomy and he raised a question.

"This is the most terrifying thing about the evolutionary virus. As long as the species it coexists with has sufficient energy, it will evolve all the time." Li Nuowei said this with a pale face. "With the continuous supply of human brains, this monster [Brain in a Vat] has completely broken the mental barrier in our theory and gained incredible spiritual and mental power."

"Not to mention controlling ordinary humans like us, he can even do the legendary...mind interfering with matter and manifest himself in the world!"

"Has the situation deteriorated to this point?" Although he said so, Lin Chen's tone was full of inexplicable meaning, "But if the other party is really so strong, how did you survive? And why didn't you escape or report the matter?"

"Report or escape?" At this point, Li Nuowei smiled bitterly, "This city has been used as a hunting ground by the Brain in the Vat. Any intruder will never leave alive. People come in, but those who leave can only be corpses covered in human skin. Once you want to report, you will be detected and blocked. In the past, we have spent nearly a thousand lives before we came to this conclusion..."

"As for why we survived, it's because we all... well, arrived."

Suddenly, it seemed as if they had reached the end, and a wall appeared in front of everyone in the dark passage.

The captain took a step forward, felt around on the wall, and pressed hard on an inconspicuous position.

Boom!

Suddenly, the wall in front of him began to vibrate violently, as if some kind of switch was turned on. A door appeared on the surface of the stone wall, then protruded forward and moved to the right, revealing a space that looked like an elevator.

"Let's go, the survivor base is underground." The captain stepped into the elevator, and Li Nuowei followed closely.

Lin Chen and Su Mu looked at each other and walked in one after another.

Soon, the stone door was sealed, everything outside returned to its original state, and the elevator room continued to sink.

"This was originally an underground base that my family spent nearly 10 billion to build in order to prepare for future disasters. Later, it was used for survivors to live in," Li Nuowei explained.

"Your home?" Su Mu looked at him in surprise.

"Well, my father is a first-generation rich man who does business all over the world. After learning that I worked in Yuncang City, he spent a little money to provide more security for me." Li Nuowei said modestly.

A few hundred million small amounts of money...Su Mu and even Lin Chen couldn't help but twitch their lips slightly.

"The base of survivors is below. So far, we have only found about 300 people." Li Nuowei sighed slightly, "As for why we were able to survive, you will know once you see it..."

Ok?
Soon, the elevator door opened again, and the scene before them appeared in front of everyone.

This is a huge hall. There is a display screen opposite, monitoring everything happening in the surrounding area. In the hall, there are living people lying scattered everywhere.

These people all had numb expressions and walked like zombies, having completely lost hope for the future. The strangest thing was that their brains were half as big as those of ordinary people and seemed to be popping out.

"This is..." Seeing this scene, Lin Chen and Su Mu couldn't help but frowned.

"Aren't you wondering why we were able to survive?" Li Nuowei whispered behind the two people, "This is the reason. The reason we survived is not because we escaped the monsters' pursuit, but because we were used by them as food for their entertainment."

"What is going on?!" Lin Chen's expression darkened and he turned his head to look at Li Nuowei.

Li Nuowei did not look at Lin Chen, but looked at what was in front of him, with a look of dismay on his face:
"This is the original situation of this city. The [Brain in the Vat] was constantly killing humans, devouring their brains, and then refining them into zombies, returning to the original living people."

“Once the living people find out that their loved ones are not actually human, they will fall into confusion and shock, which will gradually turn into fear and despair, and eventually they will go completely crazy… For the brain in the vat, this is the most delicious food.”

"In the past three months, it has been torturing us in this city in this way. First, it makes those relatives who have been replaced show some abnormalities, which we notice and become terrified and suspicious. Then, it continues to amplify these abnormalities, making us feel fearful. Then, through the constant denial of others, it makes us fall into a kind of self-torture. Then, in this process of fear and despair, we completely lose our minds and become crazy..."

"And in this process, it will cause our brains to develop an inexplicable disease and produce terrible fantasies. The whole world will seem to be on fire in our eyes. In this process, our rationality will continue to slip away, and we will eventually fall into madness."

"All greed, jealousy, malice, resentment, kindness, sacrifice, justice, and determination will continue to disappear in this process, until you become numb to the bone marrow, and in the end, only a piece of high-quality food without any impurities will remain..."

Lin Chen looked at him deeply and said:
"I never thought you were so determined."

If it is really as he said, then the other party behaves like a normal person, but his will is stronger than that of an ordinary person.

Li Nuowei shook his head and said:
"You think too much. It's just that I got sick very late. No one knows how this disease was contracted, and the time when the symptoms appear varies. But the only thing that is certain is that once you see the world engulfed in fire and everything is embers, it is equivalent to being targeted and there is no escape. So now, hurry up and leave..."

The world is in flames and everything is embers?
Hearing this description, Lin Chen's heart couldn't help but shudder.

If he remembered correctly, the same scene seemed to have occurred in his dream last night.

When Lin Chen fell into deep thought, Su Mu looked at the captain beside him:
"What about you? Are you also infected?"

"We have only been in this city for less than two days, so we are not sick yet. I decided to stay here." The captain was silent for a moment, and anger rose on his face. "Millions of people cannot die in obscurity like this. At least we have to let them know that we are not easy to mess with!"

"Since these survivors have been targeted, the monsters will come to us sooner or later. The demolition expert and I want to take this opportunity to sneak into their lair. Even if we can't die together, we will make them pay the price!"

"You..." Su Mu was slightly stunned after hearing this, then he sighed lightly and stopped asking questions.

"We have made up our minds to die, but the people outside must know the whole story of the disaster here, otherwise if this monster gets out one day, it will be an absolute disaster for our civilization!" Li Nuowei said in a deep voice, "So I hope you two can leave here quickly and report your intelligence to the top leaders of the civilization so that they can be prepared!"

"That's true..." Su Mu nodded, as if agreeing with the idea.

But before he could finish, Lin Chen suddenly spoke up and interrupted him:
"I thought so too, but the problem is that we consumed too much energy in the battle just now. We need some time to recuperate. Do you have a place for us to recuperate?"

"Of course." Li Nuowei was stunned when he heard this, and then nodded.

Then he led the way and took the two out of the hall.

The underground space is even larger than the villa on the ground. At a rough glance, it should be about 600 square meters. In addition to the hall, there is also a curved corridor and rooms.

He seemed to have found a room at random, opened it, and said:
"This place was originally used to store food, but now it's all used up and no one wants to live alone, so you can rest here for a while."

"Thank you very much." Lin Chen nodded.

"Okay, call me if you need anything." Li Nuowei gave an instruction and then left.

After watching him leave completely, Lin Chen withdrew his gaze, and Su Mu walked up:
"I've checked, there's nothing extra in the room."

Lin Chen nodded without denying, closed the door, and fell into silence, seemingly thinking.

"What? Are you doubting what he said?" Su Mu could tell at a glance what Lin Chen was worried about.

"A true lie is not about fabrication, but about concealing one or two pieces of true information at the most critical point. This way, even the smartest people will have a high probability of making a misjudgment and being tricked." Lin Chen stroked his chin with a dim look in his eyes. "To be honest, I don't hear anything wrong with his story, but if I consider it from the very beginning, I am a little confused."

"What can't you figure out?" Su Mu asked.

Lin Chen glanced at him, was silent for a moment, and said:
"It's this guy, how did he survive?" (End of this chapter)