National Gardener: I can choose the evolution path of spiritual plants.

Chapter 221 Mutation
During the rat eradication campaign, some surviving rats escaped from Tokyo through hidden passages and fled in other directions.

Although the rat eradication campaign was effective in the short term, it caused the virus to spread to surrounding cities.

Although rat eradication is being carried out across the island, the area is too large, especially outside the city, and rats are no longer limited to the sewers.

The vastness of the world makes them extremely difficult to hunt.

The rats that were lucky enough to escape from the towns roamed in the wild and rural areas, spreading the virus to other mammals.

The officials of Radiation Island have issued a new decree that all animals, no matter how precious or rare, will be killed in any area where the virus is found.

The promulgation of this decree instantly reduced the efficiency of the rat transmission route.

However, there are still surviving mammals and reptiles that spread the virus, especially small animals such as mice and geckos that live in hidden habitats.

If the demon virus had not had relatively minor side effects and did not require the deployment of a large number of medical personnel to treat the virus in a race against time, Radiation Island might have already failed in its efforts to prevent and control the virus.

In the fight against the virus on Radiation Island, countless animals were killed, which made Lin Zhi particularly distressed.

Because many animals have not yet been infected with the virus, they cannot acquire infection points after being killed.

At the same time, a large number of animals were killed, effectively blocking the virus transmission route. On the fourteenth day of the virus release, the number of people infected with the virus/the number of animals stopped at 27.

In fact, this number is still slowly decreasing.

At noon on the 100th, the number of infection points exceeded million again, and Lin Zhi hurriedly strengthened the virus infection ability.

As 100 million infection points are consumed, the infection capacity also rises to level 6.

Extreme: Droplet transmission: The virus host can release the virus into the outside world when talking or sneezing. The virus exposed to the outside world can survive for 60 hours in a non-toxic environment below 2°C and can float in the air to infect new hosts.

Advanced Heterogeneous Transmission: The virus acquires the ability to infect all mammals, reptiles, and birds.

Although birds were added as a transmission channel, Lin Zhi was not too excited.

Due to the animal hunting and poisoning activities on Radiation Island, a large number of birds have been killed. Now there are not many birds alive, and most of them are hiding in deep mountains and forests, which does not help much in the spread of the virus.

The evening of the 14th.

An underground garage in Tokyo.

A rat as big as a puppy fled in a hurry, rushed out of the garage, and instantly ran into the green belt next to it.

It passed the green belt and crawled along the rainwater pipe towards a building. Its eyes emitted a scarlet light, and under the moonlight, every hair on its body stood up, emitting a metallic luster.

After climbing to the 5th floor, there was an open window and it jumped into the room along the pipe.

The mouse looked around and saw two people sleeping in the room.

It was agile and quickly ran to the head of the bed and bit someone's neck hard.

……

Morning, fifteenth day after the virus was released.

A system prompt woke Lin Zhi up.

[The demon virus has mutated. Should we consume 271457 infection points to update the virus structure? ]

Mutations?

Seeing this word, Lin Zhi was immediately surprised and quickly opened the system panel to check the specific information of the virus.

Virus:Demon Virus
Evolution level: E
Enhancement level: lv6
Virus effect: Emotional excitement (makes the infected person emotionally excited and unable to control their emotions easily. When encountering a situation where their emotions fluctuate violently, there is a high chance that their emotions will get out of control.)
Virus Capabilities

……

Mutation: Gluttony: The Devil Virus acquires the ability to secrete "enhanced digestive enzymes", causing the infected to continuously desire food and quickly digest and absorb nutrients.

Infection Enhancement: lv6 (0/1 million)

Resistance enhancement: lv5 (0/100 million)
Spread Enhancement: lv5 (0/100 million)
Adaptive Enhancement: lv6 (0/1 million)

After seeing the new ability "Gluttony", Lin Zhi fell into deep thought.

A minute later, he was ecstatic.

This gluttony is a magical skill!

Overeating can speed up the infected person's digestion of food and absorption of nutrients, and make the infected person continue to have a desire to eat.

This means that the virus will be able to obtain dozens or even hundreds of times more nutrients from the host than before.

The more nutrients obtained, the more virus progeny can be multiplied.

As the virus concentration increases, the chances of the host losing control of their emotions increase. The virus's other abilities will also increase as the number of viruses increases, and the chances of triggering their abilities increase.

In addition, affected by gluttony, animals that are forced into desperate situations will become crazy and desperate for food and survival, and may even attack and prey on humans.

At the same time, everyone on the radiation island is quarantined at home, and ensuring daily necessities is the top priority.

Due to excessive nutrition, they will need dozens or even hundreds of times more food than before.

A large number of animals were killed, and the radiation island lost its source of meat.

How long can we last relying solely on stored food?

Once there is a shortage of supplies, the residents on the radiation islands, whose emotions are amplified, will easily lose control of their emotions, bringing instability to isolation and prevention and control.

As long as there are dozens of conflicts, they will spread from one point to another and plunge the entire society into chaos.

Even if it can be suppressed by the cabinet in the early stages, over time, when most people are facing a food crisis, it is amazing what people who lose control of their emotions can do when they go crazy.

Lin Zhi seemed to see the light.

He immediately confirmed that it would cost more than 27 infection points, and with the power of the system, the viruses in all infected people would be updated.

Day 16 of virus release.

Radiation Island, National Institute of Research.

101Lab.

Juro Inaka dropped a tube of reagent into the culture dish. Looking through the microscope, he saw that the reagent invaded the demon virus and quickly killed the virus.

Seeing this, he smiled and said:
"Finally done. The structure of this rabies virus is too simple. A special medicine has been developed and the virus will be completely eradicated soon."

At this time, a young man rushed into the laboratory in a panic.

"Teacher, it's bad, teacher, the virus has mutated!"

"Mutations?"

"All nucleic acid samples tested today came back normal. Frontline doctors felt something was wrong, so they extracted the virus and observed it. They found that for some unknown reason, the structure of the virus had changed dramatically overnight."

"what?"

Inaka Juro yelled, "Are you kidding me? How could the virus mutate completely?"

"It is indeed unbelievable, but it is the fact. I asked different places to extract the virus for observation, and through comparison, the conclusions we reached are consistent."

"No, that's impossible! Logically, the virus mutates from individuals and then spreads to others again."

A look of horror appeared on Inaka Juro's face. "It is impossible for all viruses to mutate into the same virus at the same time. Just like there are no two identical leaves in the world, as long as they are not sub-strains of the same strain, how can it be possible for all viruses to mutate into the same virus at the same time?"

He took the petri dish out of the incubator and placed it under a microscope.

Then he said, "Look, these viruses are still the original viruses."

"Yes, all virus samples stored in laboratories around the world before yesterday morning have not mutated. All viruses extracted after yesterday morning have mutated..."

"What a joke! According to what you said, this is not a virus at all, it's a demon!!!" Inaka Juro said crazily. In fact, what his assistant said overturned his scientific knowledge.

Theoretically, there is a "one in infinite" chance that all viruses will mutate into the same virus at the same time, but this is simply impossible to happen in reality!
Soon, Inaka Juro calmed down again.

"Send new virus samples and mobilize more scientists..."

……

In a detached villa outside Tokyo, Lin Zhi was following the latest news.

As he expected, after the virus updated its gluttony ability, the symptoms of the infected people quickly became more serious.

Under various pressures and trapped in the depressing environment of a room, more and more people are venting their anger by rushing out of their homes, smashing, looting and burning, regardless of prevention and control instructions.

Various problems also began to appear in the city's logistics support chain one after another.

There are bad rumors on the Internet.

Although most of the issues were dealt with quickly by the Cabinet, there are still some incomplete aspects.

Lin Zhi thought that there would soon be unrest on Radiation Island and the cabinet would be paralyzed.

But one piece of news left him speechless.

"People infected with bull madness can actually eat plants and trees to fill their stomachs!"

Lin Zhi clicked on the news and was shocked to find that due to the effect of "enhanced digestive enzymes", virus-infected people were able to digest plant and tree cellulose and break down the nutrients needed for human survival, such as glucose.

In addition, some foods that were difficult to digest before can now be fully broken down and digested.

Take a very simple example.

For example, in the past, an infected person would poop half a bowl of shit after eating a bowl of rice.

But now, even if I eat the same amount, I can only poop at the bottom of half a bowl.

Why is this happening?

Because of the decomposition of food, the ability to absorb nutrients increases dozens or hundreds of times.

Why do dogs eat human poop? Do dung beetles also eat dog poop? Bacteria and fungi also eat dung beetles' poop?

It means that the digestion is not thorough and sufficient.

Now, the feces of people infected with the virus are not eaten by dogs, dung beetles, or even bacteria.

The strong digestion and absorption abilities, coupled with the sudden expansion of the diet, actually alleviated the food crisis.

As a result, the social unrest gradually subsided and the cabinet continued to operate normally.

……

Day 20 of virus release.

Radiation Island, National Institute of Research.

101Lab.

Juro Inaka sat in front of the computer, staring at the data displayed on it.

He said to himself, "The virus is evolving in a direction that is beneficial to the human body, and there is even a tendency for it to merge with the human genome."

"In addition, the latest observations show that these viruses have the ability to replicate beneficial bacteria and can even replace human cells to maintain the normal functioning of the body."

Inaka Juro closed his eyes and thought.

After a while, the assistant came in from outside.

"Teacher, this is a research report sent by Dr. Yamano on the ability of the rabies virus to replicate various bacteria."

Juro Inaka took the report and looked at it with a serious look. Dr. Yamano was a bacteriologist and he was a student of a famous school. This line of academic tradition had a history of more than 100 years. During these years, he had been secretly conducting human experiments in the Kuroko steppes and was an authority in bacteriology.

After the outbreak of the leukemia virus, he took a cargo ship and returned to Radiation Island with thousands of Kunlun slaves.

When Juro Inaka saw the various report data and experimental conclusions, he couldn't help but take a deep breath.

It’s simply unconscionable!
In just twenty days, most of the thousands of Kunlun slaves brought back had been consumed, and the tragic conditions of their experiments were appalling.

"I feel chilled after reading this report. It is not an exaggeration to say that this lineage should be punished by heaven and earth, and their descendants should be extinct." said Jingzhong Juro.

The assistant beside him heard this and said quickly, "Yes, but this is for the future of mankind. You are the leaves basking in the sun, and they are the roots deep underground. Only when the roots are deep can the leaves flourish."

"Haha, then let them bear these sins alone!"

Juro Inaka relaxed and continued to watch the experimental report.

"So, the rabies virus can perfectly replicate the abilities of these bacteria, then combine with the human body and replace some of the body's tissues, thereby achieving the effect of curing various diseases?"

Inaka Juro had an idea that "even some of the abilities of beneficial bacteria can strengthen people's physique, enhance their physical fitness, and prolong their lifespan."

He looked at his assistant and said, "It seems that we need to change the direction of our research."

"Change the research direction?"

"Well, for now, let's not worry about how to cure and eliminate the leukemia virus. Anyway, the harm is not too great. Judging from these data, the benefits of the virus are greater than the harm. Let's change direction and study how to use the virus to contribute to us."

"Is this... okay?"

"You are a graduate student at Chengnan University. Don't you know that the genes of viruses occupy a part of the human body? Those are viruses that have been integrated into the human body during the evolution of life and have contributed to human evolution. If we can successfully integrate viruses into the human body, perhaps we can make humans evolve again."

Inaka Juro smiled and said, "I have a feeling that if it succeeds, it will be a leap forward in evolution. By then, do you think I can be as famous as Einstein?"

"What does the cabinet say?" asked the assistant.

"The Cabinet? Hehe."

Inaka Juro laughed disdainfully and said, "Don't you know how crazy the cabinet is? Once this report is submitted, they will support me more than anyone else."

"Yeah, that's right. The old guys in the cabinet even came up with the idea of ​​dumping nuclear waste water into the sea. They are really crazy."

The assistant nodded and said, "Then I will go and compile and submit the report."

"By the way, start breeding the mice immediately," Inaka Juro ordered.

On the 22nd day after the virus was released, Lin Zhi discovered that the number of people and animals infected with the virus suddenly increased, increasing by 10,000 overnight.

He curiously opened the news website and found some clues.

"Ten thousand mice were sent to Tokyo overnight. The Cabinet will conduct a large-scale clinical trial of the rabies virus."

"The mouse breeding farm is expanding its scale and plans to produce 10 million mice per year."

"What...what is this for?"

Lin Zhi was surprised and happy.

What’s shocking is that I don’t know what the Cabinet has researched, but they have actually started large-scale clinical trials. Could it be that they have produced an inactivated vaccine?

This is very possible. After all, inactivated vaccines are not difficult to make.

The good news is that with the addition of so many mice, he will have more income.

Currently, we are only a few hundred thousand infection points away from upgrading all four basic capabilities of the virus to level 6.

After that, you need to save tens of millions of infection points and upgrade to level 7.

According to Lin Zhi's reasoning, if the ability is upgraded to level 7, the virus can evolve to level D. At that time, the virus itself will most likely have four more abilities.

(End of this chapter)