Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

Aside from getting the necessary food, Su Yutong had never seen the door in front of her opened.

She gently placed the bag of space food in her hand on the door and reached out to knock softly.

"Professor, it's lunchtime."

As usual, there was no response.

Su Yutong was not surprised at all, shrugged, and prepared to leave.

Based on her past experience with feeding, she estimated that the food would not be taken in for at least another hour or two.

But today's situation seems a little different.

She had just turned around when she heard the sound of the office door opening behind her.

Su Yutong was slightly taken aback and subconsciously turned to look at the door.

"Teach, professor?"

Su Yutong called out softly.

Perhaps it was Su Yutong's voice that startled Lü Yongchang, for he abruptly stopped in his tracks.

"Yu Tong..."

Lu Yongchang glanced in Su Yutong's direction and said in an extremely hoarse voice, "I need to go to the biology lab."

As he spoke, he strode towards the gate.

"Watch out!" Su Yutong exclaimed softly, "Professor, it's your lunch!"

Lu Yongchang paused again as he took a step.

He looked down and this time, he finally saw the lunch set up at the door.

"Lunch... never mind, let's eat later." A flicker of anxiety and excitement crossed Lü Yongchang's eyes. "By the way, Ling, is Mao Zhengzhi in the lab? Tell him I have a plan!"

As he spoke, he tried to walk around the bagged food in front of him.

But soon, he stopped what he was doing again.

There is no other reason.

He saw Su Yutong glaring at him.

After hesitating for a while, Lü Yongchang chose to follow his heart—he silently bent down and picked up the bag of space food.

"Uh! I suddenly realize I'm a little hungry..." A hint of embarrassment flashed across his face as he quickly stuffed the package into his pocket. "I'll take it to the biology lab to eat, okay?"

Su Yutong didn't say anything, but silently made way for them.

……

Outside the biological laboratory.

Mao Zhengzhi hurriedly ran towards the laboratory door.

"How is that possible..."

"Really resolved in just one week???"

"Are you kidding me?!"

As he hurried along, he muttered something to himself.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

At the main entrance of the laboratory, a familiar figure came into his view.

However, this image...

Mao Zhengzhi looked at Lü Yongchang with a strange expression: "Professor, what's going on?"

"Huh?" Lu Yongchang, with messy hair, holding two bags of space food and a bottle of drinking water in his mouth, looked up at him with a confused expression.

Upon seeing Mao Zhengzhi, Lü Yongchang noticeably quickened his swallowing pace.

"..."

He choked.

Lu Yongchang's face flushed slightly as he took a big gulp of drinking water.

"Professor, it's not that serious, please enjoy your meal!"

Mao Zhengzhi walked to Lü Yongchang's side with a wry smile and gently patted his back.

"call……"

After swallowing the last bit of food in his mouth, Lü Yongchang let out a sigh of relief and muttered to himself, "Finally, the mission is complete."

"A mission?" Mao Zhengzhi looked at Lü Yongchang with a puzzled expression.

"Cough! It's nothing!"

"You've come at the right time. I can say with certainty that the Proxima Centauri civilization's technology tree has definitely gone astray; their biotechnology far surpasses other disciplines..."

As he spoke, Lü Yongchang discreetly stuffed several bags into a specially made trash can next to him.

……

Inside the biological laboratory.

Mao Zhengzhi silently stared at the holographic projection in front of him.

In the holographic projection, the familiar human gene sequence is on the left.

On the right is the genetic sequence of the Proxima Centauri.

"The genes of the Proxima Centauri are very different from ours. Among them, the biggest obstacle that hinders us is their base pairing principle."

As he spoke, Lü Yongchang reached out and manipulated the holographic projection.

"Based on their research data, I found some basic commonalities between the genes on both sides."

"Interoperability?" Mao Zhengzhi was slightly taken aback.

"That's right." Lü Yongchang shrugged. "For example, they are like us, organisms that perform aerobic respiration."

"Through these basic genes, and with the help of research data from the Proxima Centauri civilization, I found a correspondence rule between the genes on both sides."

"The genes that synthesize telomerase-like enzymes can also be transformed according to this correspondence rule."

As Lü Yongchang finished speaking, the complex gene sequence in the holographic projection underwent a slight change.

Rotate, disperse, recombine...

After a series of corresponding changes, a brand new gene sequence appeared before the two of them.

Unlike before, this gene sequence is a shape that Mao Zhengzhi is extremely familiar with.

"but."

Before Mao Zhengzhi could even feel happy, Lü Yongchang's voice rang out again: "Because the genetic structure of Proxima Centauri is somewhat different from ours, many possibilities have arisen."

"At that time, we may have to do some experimentation..."

Mao Zhengzhi breathed a slight sigh of relief: "It's just taking a chance and trying things out, what's the big deal?"

"By the way, how many possibilities were there again?"

"...There are probably over 100,000 varieties."

As soon as he finished speaking, the holographic projection magnified instantly, displaying over 100,000 gene sequences before Mao Zhengzhi's eyes.

Mao Zhengzhi: "..."

You call this some kind of experimentation?!

He swallowed hard. "I think this task might be a little difficult..."

……

Tucao returns to Tucao.

At this stage of the experiment, even with a million possibilities, they had to bite the bullet and try their luck.

As for the experimental method... it's actually very simple.

These base pairs can be inserted into the genes of E. coli.

Then, it's a matter of seeing if these E. coli bacteria can survive.

Only E. coli that can survive normally can proceed to the next screening stage.

Observe whether the inserted base pairs "operate" normally—synthesizing that special telomerase-like enzyme.

……

The idea was good, but reality is harsh.

More than two months have passed.

They only completed the first step of the experiment.

This was achieved with the help of Zero.

However, there is still good news.

At least, their choices have been reduced by 99%.

Originally there were more than 100,000 possibilities, but now there are only more than 1000.

Before they could catch their breath, Lü Yongchang and Mao Zhengzhi buried themselves in the second step of the experiment.

As time went on, samples were excluded one by one.

Ultimately, only one possibility remained before them.

Lu Yongchang took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "Let's begin the examination."

With slightly trembling hands, Mao Zhengzhi took out the sample and prepared to begin the testing.

This is the last sample.

Failure means that their efforts over the past two months have gone down the drain!