Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

"Academician Mao, we've brought several white mice."

The researcher placed the breeding cages one by one on the experimental table and said softly.

Mao Zhengzhi nodded, whispered his thanks, and then spoke to Lü Yongchang again.

"Professor Lü, look."

"There are a total of 13 mice here, which survived in the deep-sea liquid for 24 to 312 hours in turn."

"So far, we have not seen any long-term effects."

Lu Yongchang bent down and examined it carefully.

"Excellent, excellent!"

Lü Yongchang nodded in satisfaction: "Has the experiment been conducted on gorillas?"

Mao Zhengzhi shook his head: "There isn't enough time. We plan to start experiments on gorillas next week."

"As for human experimentation, we are prepared to apply for permission to use those most heinous death row inmates."

"No rush, let me think about it carefully," Lü Yongchang said after a moment of contemplation. "Let me take a look at all the experimental data first."

……

In Mao Zhengzhi's office.

The holographic projection clearly displayed the information about the deep-sea fluid and the purification and filtration device.

Thanks to the brain's continuous and long-term enhancement by the system, Lü Yongchang mastered the knowledge in just a few hours.

He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air and closed his eyes.

Consciousness once again sank into that fluorescent green space.

As the white dot slowly lit up, the originally dim cursor began to glow brightly white.

[Balance Techniques in Overweight Conditions: Initial Mastery]

Then, the white light began to extend again.

A slightly dim cursor appeared "in front of him".

[Hibernation Capsule Technology]

Based on the brightness of the cursor, he made a rough estimate.

80%.

In other words, they have mastered 80% of the so-called hibernation pod technology.

……

He opened his eyes again and looked at Mao Zhengzhi, who was sitting to the side waiting.

"How is it?" Mao Zhengzhi asked nervously, like a student waiting for their teacher to grade their homework. "Are there any mistakes?"

Lü Yongchang smiled and shook his head: "No problem at all."

"You did a perfect job."

Mao Zhengzhi breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile reappeared on his face.

"The gorilla experiments can be put on hold for now," Lü Yongchang continued. "Currently, we should consider combining hibernation hormones with deep-sea fluid."

Mao Zhengzhi was slightly taken aback.

"The reason is simple," Lü Yongchang explained directly without keeping anyone in suspense, "Our technology is not advanced enough at present."

"Not only that, we don't have enough time to develop."

"Interstellar travel takes an extremely long time."

"With a global population of 80 billion, we need to bring at least a large portion of them, if not all of them," Lü Yongchang said in a deep voice. "This is a guarantee for future productivity and technological inheritance."

"With billions of people, plus the consumption that can easily take hundreds of years... let alone fifteen years, even if we were given fifty years, we still couldn't build such an extravagant spaceship!"

"Therefore, we need a hibernation life support pod that can provide nutrition, protection, and all the necessary supplies."

"Apart from the essential support personnel, most people begin a hibernation that lasts for up to a hundred years after entering the starship."

Mao Zhengzhi nodded thoughtfully.

I think I understand what you mean.

"This technology isn't difficult; I can give you a solution right now."

……

Inside the laboratory.

A mouse was injected with a standard dose of hibernation hormone and then placed in a glass container.

The purified hibernation agent is extremely potent; within just a few seconds, the mice enter a state of "feigned death."

Mao Zhengzhi then injected the pale yellow deep-sea liquid into the container and turned on the filtration and purification device connected to the container.

The instrument is started, and the deep-sea fluid begins to circulate.

"Now, all we need to do is add some nutrients to it to meet your requirements."

"As for the hibernation life support capsule you mentioned, we just need to modify the filtration and purification device and design it as a box-shaped container."

A hint of doubt appeared in Lü Yongchang's eyes.

Is it really that simple?

Is that 20% gap in the tech tree system just a problem with the container design?

"Let's wait and see."

He said in a deep voice, "My intuition tells me it won't be that simple."

……

Clearly, things were not as simple as Mao Zhengzhi had imagined.

At first, everything went smoothly. The mice lay quietly in the solution, just like corpses soaked in formalin.

But a little over an hour later, something strange happened.

"Academician Mao!" A researcher monitoring the mice's vital signs exclaimed, his expression changing drastically. "The mice's vital signs are rapidly deteriorating!"

"His heart stopped beating!"

"Quickly, get it out!" Mao Zhengzhi's expression changed drastically, and he quickly stood up from his seat and gave the order.

After much commotion, Mao Zhengzhi announced the results with a grim expression.

"The white mouse is dead."

Lü Yongchang sighed softly.

Sure enough, this thing wasn't that simple.

"Let's dissect it first to see what's going on."

……

"Professor, the autopsy results are in."

Mao Zhengzhi, with a strange expression, walked up to Lü Yongchang with a report in his hand.

"The mice died from lack of oxygen."

Upon hearing this, Lü Yongchang froze on the spot: "Lack of oxygen?"

"Did something happen to Deep Sea Liquid?"

"Is the filtration and purification system malfunctioning?"

Mao Zhengzhi shook his head: "We checked, and both are fine. The problem is with the mice."

"During the dissection, we found that the mice's lungs contained almost no deep-sea fluid."

At this point, Mao Zhengzhi slapped his head in frustration: "I should have thought of that sooner."

"After this mouse entered hibernation, its breathing rate and strength decreased significantly. It was fine when breathing air, but it had problems when it was switched to deep-sea fluid!"

Lü Yongchang looked somewhat gloomy.

Now we're back to the question we started with.

The liquid is too dense for humans, or any living organism, to "breathe".

But now, this problem is becoming increasingly serious.

During deep hibernation, the breathing rate approaches zero.

Unless the density of deep-sea fluid is like that of air, this problem cannot be solved.

But does this liquid really exist?