Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

More than an hour later.

Lu Yongchang quietly watched the white mouse in front of him, which was trapped in a cage and running around aimlessly.

"What are you planning to do?"

Mao Zhengzhi, who was standing to the side, asked softly.

After a moment of contemplation, a ruthless glint flashed in Lü Yongchang's eyes as he pointed to a fungal sample that had not undergone any treatment.

"Grind the fungus into powder and inject it directly into these mice."

Mao Zhengzhi's expression changed drastically: "Are you crazy?!"

"These are alien life forms; mice have absolutely no resistance to them!"

Lü Yongchang sighed deeply.

"We don't have enough time to analyze these Martian creatures slowly."

"What we need now is the fastest and most direct solution."

"First, I need to know whether the substance I want is inside these fungi."

……

After grinding a whole fungal sample into powder, Lü Yongchang and Mao Zhengzhi mixed it with physiological saline and finally made 15 fungal mixtures of different concentrations.

To ensure the rigor of the experiment, Lü Yongchang carefully selected twenty mice, five of which served as the control group and were injected with the same amount of physiological saline.

The remaining fifteen fungi, as the experimental group, will be injected with equal amounts of fungal mixtures of different concentrations.

After all the work was completed, Lü Yongchang solemnly placed the mice into specially made breeding cages.

Next, all they have to do is wait patiently.

At the beginning, both the fifteen mice in the experimental group and the five mice in the control group were in very good condition.

but!

Within just over ten minutes, an abnormal phenomenon occurred.

The fifteen mice in the experimental group all closed their eyes and collapsed in their cages.

Among them, the higher the injection concentration, the shorter the time it took for mice to go from waking up to "coma"!

The mouse injected with the highest concentration of the fungal mixture collapsed within ten seconds, while the mouse injected with the lowest concentration of the fungal mixture lasted for several minutes!

Upon seeing this, Lü Yongchang's pupils dilated sharply.

What a powerful effect!

It's important to know that even at the highest concentration, it only contains 1% fungal powder!

"Brother Mao!" Lü Yongchang barked, "Prepare to begin the inspection!"

Mao Zhengzhi looked serious and immediately opened the breeding cage, taking out the fifteen tagged white mice one by one.

……

After a thorough examination, Lü Yongchang gasped in shock!

At first, he thought the fifteen mice had simply fallen asleep.

However, based on the examination results, this is definitely not a simple sleep; strictly speaking, it is basically equivalent to a state of suspended animation!

When a mouse's body temperature is 38°C, its normal respiratory rate is 160 breaths per minute and its normal heart rate is 625 beats per minute.

But now, the mouse that was injected with the highest concentration of the mixture has a respiratory rate that has dropped to an extremely low level, taking a breath only once every ten minutes!

As for his heart rate, it dropped to two to three beats per minute!

The body temperature dropped directly to the ambient temperature.

If the instruments hadn't detected that it still had a heartbeat and was breathing, Lü Yongchang would have thought the mouse was already dead!

Although the mice injected with the lowest concentration of the mixture also entered a state of apparent death, their data were much more normal, with their breathing and heart rate dropping to about 10% of the normal level.

Mao Zhengzhi, who was in charge of recording the data, exclaimed in shock, his pupils dilating violently: "This...this is astonishing!"

"If this state can be maintained, these mice could even sleep for hundreds of years to come!"

Although he successfully put the mice into a true state of hibernation, there was little joy in Lü Yongchang's eyes.

"The most pressing issue now is..."

"How do we wake them up?"

Upon hearing this, Mao Zhengzhi's expression suddenly froze.

Yes.

How can I wake them up?

……

Inside the biological sub-laboratory.

Wearing protective clothing, Lü Yongchang sat in a chair with a melancholy expression.

Mao Zhengzhi, holding a thick document in his hand, strode up to Lü Yongchang.

"How did it go? What was the result?" A glint of light flashed in Lü Yongchang's eyes as he asked in a low voice.

Mao Zhengzhi sighed softly and slowly shook his head.

"It was unsuccessful."

"We have tried every method available, but none of them have worked."

"And..." Mao Zhengzhi paused slightly, "there's another piece of bad news."

"We discovered that the mouse that was injected with the lowest concentration of the mixture had already begun to burn its body fat."

"Although it's not growing fast, at the current rate of depletion, it will probably die in about a month if we don't take any action."

Lu Yongchang was silent for a moment, a hint of guilt flashing in his eyes: "Let's start with the nutrient solution."

"By the way, what were the blood test results?"

Mao Zhengzhi's expression brightened: "Some abnormal objects were detected in the blood!"

"It's not an object..." Mao Zhengzhi subconsciously reached out to scratch his head, but ended up scratching his protective suit.

He awkwardly withdrew his hand, and said hesitantly, "Well, based on my observation, it seems more like a biological enzyme."

"However, its structure is completely different from that of biological enzymes on Earth."

"The only thing that can be confirmed is that it is a very special protein."

A glint of light flashed in Lü Yongchang's eyes.

Biological enzymes!

Based on the system's prompts, Lü Yongchang was now 90% confident!

The problem lies with this so-called special protein!

"Can't we just treat the symptoms and solve this enzyme problem directly?"

He pondered for a moment and then asked.

"It's very difficult!" Mao Zhengzhi shook his head vigorously.

"Yongchang, you should know that although there are 500-600 kinds of amino acids on Earth, life on Earth is made up of 20 specific amino acids."

"Although the scientific community does not yet have a definitive answer, many believe that this is related to the early evolution of the Earth."

"Although Mars and Earth are very similar, their evolutionary processes must have been very different."

This also led to a result.

"The amino acids that make up these proteins are not the amino acids we are familiar with."

Lu Yongchang's expression changed slightly.

This means that the biological knowledge that humans currently possess is basically useless!

Mao Zhengzhi continued, "Currently, it seems that the only way for us to succeed is to slowly decipher the genetic information of Martian fungi."

"However, this could take a lot of time."

"No way!" Lü Yongchang shook his head and rejected the suggestion outright.

Deciphering genetic information? Are you kidding me!

Who knows how long it will take to build this from scratch!

"Perhaps... there's another way!"

Lu Yongchang's eyes showed even more guilt as he murmured to himself.

P.S. Ahem, thank you all for the five-star reviews! I'll update more in a few days if I feel better!