Chinese Superman

Lin Tingwan put away the empty baby bottle and wrote "Eating normally, good appetite" on the record board. Just as she was about to tease Xia Xinghan again, there was a gentle knock on the door of the room.

"Please come in."

She suppressed her smile and her tone became formal.

The door opened silently, and an elderly man walked in slowly, leaning on a wooden cane, followed by Commissioner Chen, who looked respectful.

The old man was dressed in a simple Zhongshan suit, his hair was neatly combed, his face was thin, and his eyes were gentle yet revealed a wise insight.

"Old Qian."

Lin Tingwan quickly stood up and greeted him respectfully.

Lying in the crib, Xia Xinghan's heart stirred: "Is he the old man Qian who could make Sun Kongkong immediately behave? He seems to be a very important figure in this base."

"Tingwan, you've had a long day." Old Qian nodded slightly, his gaze falling on Xia Xinghan. "Is this our little guest?"

"Yes, Mr. Qian."

Mr. Qian took a few steps closer and bent down to examine the baby closely in front of the crib.

Xia Xinghan also opened his bright blue eyes and looked back at the elderly man of high status.

The moment their eyes met, a barely perceptible look of surprise flashed in Mr. Qian's eyes.

"Judging from their appearance alone, they are no different from human infants." Old Qian sighed softly, "It is truly unimaginable that there are extraterrestrial life forms so similar to us in the vast galaxy."

Commissioner Chen chimed in from behind, "Perhaps it's an alien race skilled in mimicry."

Old Qian smiled, his gaze deep: "They might not be aliens. Didn't Xiao Zhao report that someone claiming to be a 'reborn' handed in apocalyptic intelligence? If even reborn people have appeared, then... travelers from parallel universes are not surprising."

These words made Xia Xinghan's heart skip a beat.

He is indeed a time traveler!

Qian Lao's words proved to be spot on.

But what concerned Xia Xinghan even more was the information revealed by Qian Lao in just a few words.

"Not only me, a transmigrator, but even reincarnated individuals have appeared? Handing over apocalyptic intelligence... Could it be that this world is not only experiencing a spiritual revival, but also facing an apocalyptic crisis?"

He paused, his tone becoming exceptionally serious.

"Without harming health, a small amount of blood is drawn for gene sequencing and biochemical analysis."

"Yes, Mr. Qian. I'll prepare it right away."

"Remember," Old Qian's voice suddenly became more serious, each word resounding, "all tests must be conducted within an absolutely safe range, with the first principle being to avoid harming his life and health. He is our guest, not an experimental subject."

"clear."

Old Qian glanced at Xia Xinghan again before turning and leaving with Commissioner Chen.

Outside the door, the alloy walls of the corridor reflected the cold white light.

Commissioner Chen lowered his voice: "Mr. Qian, what should we do next regarding this child?"

Old Qian walked slowly, his cane tapping the ground rhythmically. "Let's wait for the preliminary test results. But based on my intuition..."

He stopped and looked towards the end of the corridor.

"His very existence is a key, perhaps able to unlock a door for us to understand the dramatic changes in this world."

"Do you really think he might be a time traveler rather than an alien?"

"There is no essential difference between the two," Qian Lao said calmly, continuing to walk forward. "The important thing is why he came here and how he will exist here. Our task is to give him a safe environment to grow up in, and at the same time... learn to live with him."

The two turned the corner of the corridor and disappeared into the intersection of light and shadow.

Over the next three days, Xia Xinghan underwent a series of meticulous routine infant checkups.

Lin Tingwan carried him through the various departments of the base's medical area.

When his hearing was tested with a gently ringing bell, Xia Xinghan cooperatively turned his little head to find the sound source; when his vision was tested with black and white contrast cards, he accurately tracked the changes in the patterns; and there were also jaundice tests, heart and lung auscultation, growth and development assessments...

Each result secretly amazed the medical staff involved in the examination.

"Hearing response acuity exceeds the normal range for infants by at least two standard deviations."

"Its visual tracking capabilities are excellent, and it appears to be able to distinguish patterns with millimeter-level detail."

"Physical development indicators...all data are at the upper limit of the normal range, and muscle tone is even slightly above the standard."

"The strangest thing is that there is not a trace of neonatal jaundice, and the skin is unbelievably smooth."

After completing the final basic examination, Lin Tingwan carefully drew 3 milliliters of blood from Xia Xinghan's heel.

The moment the needle pierced his skin, Xia Xinghan didn't feel much pain; he was just worried that the needle wouldn't go in.

Clearly, in just a few days, his baby body had not grown to that extent, let alone have an eyeball that could stop bullets.

"So brave."

Lin Tingwan gently pressed the blood collection point, her eyes filled with affection.

The dark red blood sample was quickly labeled, sealed, and sent to a high-level biological laboratory deep within the base.

Three days later, a preliminary analysis report was presented to Mr. Qian.

Dr. Zhao Mingyuan, the chief biologist at the base, stood in front of Professor Qian's desk, pointing with a complicated expression to the rotating double helix model in the holographic projection—that was Xia Xinghan's gene map, or rather, the representation of the gene map.

"Professor Qian, we've encountered...an unprecedented situation." Zhao Mingyuan's voice carried the mixed emotions of excitement and confusion typical of researchers. "From the perspective of routine blood biochemistry indicators, he is not fundamentally different from a healthy human infant, and in many aspects, he is even better. But..."

He switched the projection, and a complex, nested, three-dimensional lock-like structure appeared in the air.

"We discovered an encryption system in his genome... which we'll tentatively call a 'genetic lock.' This isn't a literary metaphor, but a real information protection mechanism encoded in the DNA base sequence."

Old Qian squinted his eyes and leaned forward slightly: "Explain in detail."

"This system locks away his core genetic information layer by layer. Currently, we can only read the most superficial gene expression that maintains basic life activities."

Zhao Mingyuan operates the control interface, and the lock-like structure unfolds layer by layer, each layer becoming more complex and ingenious.

"Based on preliminary algorithmic model calculations, even with the peak computing power of our most advanced supercomputer, 'Tianhe-7,' it would take..."

He paused, then uttered a shocking number:

Around 2014.

Commissioner Chen gasped, "Two thousand years?!"

"This is still the most conservative estimate," Zhao Mingyuan said with a wry smile, adjusting his glasses. "And this is only the first layer. Based on the structural model, there are at least nine layers of this gene lock, and the difficulty of breaking through each layer increases exponentially. The second layer might take tens of thousands of years, and the third layer... it will probably have to be calculated in geological timescales."

What's more, there are fourth, fifth, sixth... all the way up to the ninth floor!

If Xia Xinghan's superhuman gene lock can be fully deciphered, Xia's technological level has probably reached an unimaginable height.

Let alone civilizations of different levels, flesh and blood are weak and vulnerable, but mechanical ascension is within their reach.

A long silence fell over the office, with only the intricate lock-like structure in the holographic projection silently rotating.

Then--

Mr. Qian suddenly laughed.

It wasn't a bitter smile, but a genuine, hearty laugh, filled with a sense of relief and contentment.

"Good, good!" Old Qian nodded repeatedly, his eyes gleaming with wisdom. "The gene lock is good. Having this gene lock is actually a tremendous good thing!"

Commissioner Chen asked, puzzled, "Mr. Qian, why...why is this a good thing? Shouldn't we be cracking his secret as soon as possible?"

Old Qian stopped laughing, his eyes sharpening: "Mingyuan, let me ask you, without this gene lock, could we directly extract valuable information from his blood?"

Zhao Mingyuan pondered for a moment before cautiously replying, "Without this encryption structure, given his extraordinary physiological characteristics, we might be able to analyze some potential mechanisms for enhancing cell function and improving energy utilization efficiency. However, whether we can reproduce it and whether we can apply it safely is another matter entirely, and it may require years or even longer of research and development."