I Have A Super USB Drive

by <unknown>

  Leo looked over. Several people, who appeared to be the research center's personnel, were escorting the person Jesse had pointed to into the building. Then, they walked over to Leo.

  "Welcome!"

  From a distance away, the Chinese man at their head was already booming. "Welcome, Mr. Foster. We're truly honored by your presence today!"

  Greeted by this unprofessional welcome, Leo tamped down his disdain and shook hands with the man. "Are you the chairman of this company?"

  "No, I'm the director of personnel for the research center. These are my subordinates."

  The Chinese native chuckled. "Please come in. To be honest, you're the last to arrive. The other ten families have been waiting for some time."

  "The other ten families?" Leo was startled. "Who else is here?"

  "On the European side, in addition to your Foster family, there's the Wilson family. From the North American Continent, there are the Edwards family, the Alexander family, and the Rodriguez family. In addition, there's also the Muhammad family from the Sand Continent…"

  With each name that the Chinese man mentioned, Leo's eyes twitched furiously.

  He held himself back from grabbing the man's tie to ask him a barrage of questions and instead walked into the hall without saying a word.

  At once, the packed crowd within the hall looked over at the same time.

  "Please ask your bodyguards to wait here." Qian Wenhuan then gestured to a conference room next to him. "The other families are already in the conference room."

  Leo nodded and ordered Jesse and the bodyguards to stay in the hall. Following that, with Qian Wenhuan leading the way, he entered the conference room.

  The atmosphere inside was different from the rowdy hall. As soon as Leo walked in, he noticed everyone sitting in an orderly manner around a wide conference table.

  Leo was acquainted with most of them. After all, the upper circles would always cross paths. Most of them had similar positions to his own, being business oligarchs from various countries and family members of financial groups.

  The only person sitting at the head of the long conference table was a young man from Mainland China whom he had never seen before.

  At this time, there was only one vacant seat left at the conference table.

  It was blatantly obvious that this seat was for him. Therefore, Leo breezily walked to his seat under everyone's gaze, then sat down at an unhurried pace in a true exhibition of British aristocratic manners.

  "Very well, now that Mr. Foster has officially arrived, our meeting can officially begin."

  At the first seat, the youth smiled and his voice was transmitted to every corner of the room through a microphone.

  Chapter 108: The Island |

  In a luxuriously decorated conference room, twelve men of varying temperaments sat silently in their respective seats. Everyone was staring expectantly at the youth in the first seat.

  A solemn atmosphere slowly filled the room.

  At this time, the youth in the first seat suddenly spoke.

  "Most of you should already know each other, so I won't waste time on introductions."

  The youth pointed at himself. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Chen Chen and I'm from Mainland China. I'm the one who organized this gathering and I'm also… The spokesperson for God's Forbidden Zone."

  "I'd like to ask, what exactly are the intentions of God's Forbidden Zone in inviting me here?"

  However, before Chen Chen could finish, a Middle Eastern man with a white scarf wrapped around his head interrupted impatiently. "People like us have very limited time. If it weren't for your technologies, I believe no one would be sitting here."

  "Your Highness Prince Zayed, at least wait for me to finish speaking, hmm?"

  Chen Chen spread his hands in a powerless gesture. "As for God's Forbidden Zone, I've explained it in great detail in the invitation letters. There's no need to go over that again. The reason I've asked everyone here is actually very simple — I want to invite all of you to join the organization. After all, we should bring all our forces together."

  Everyone remained silent as they waited for Chen Chen to go on.

  "First, please take a look at this information."

  Chen Chen clapped lightly and a few employees walked in instantly, delivering eleven documents with blue covers to each person.

  When they opened the file, many of them could not help but inhale sharply.

  Leo opened the file too. It turned out to be a report that was more detailed than the one before. Not only that, the report also contained a completed plan for extending the lifespan of humans.

  The meticulous nature of the plan was truly breathtaking.

  "I wonder if everyone has heard the concept of the 'escape velocity for humanity's lifespan'?"

  Suddenly, Chen Chen broke into their surprised mutterings with this inquiry.

  They all shook their heads.

  Seeing this, Chen Chen smiled gently. "In that case, let me introduce what it is. What you're seeing now is the specific implementation plan for this project."

  With that, the large screen behind Chen Chen gradually lit up and the words "Mankind Anti-Aging Plan" appeared.

  "The goal of God's Forbidden Zone is to break the Hayflick limit of the human body and acquire the right to longevity that has been exclusive to gods. To this end, we've launched this mankind anti-aging project. The first step of the plan is to delve into the study of stem cells."

  As he spoke, the screen behind Chen Chen started to display pictures of experiments.

  "I believe you've already understood from the invitation that, through hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cell transplantation, the body may be effectively restored to a younger state. Plus, unlike other stem cell therapies that treat the symptoms but not the cause, our technology will first kill the stem cells in your body, which are then replaced by the cloned stem cells.

  "The external result of this — the human body's hematopoietic function, muscle function, bone function, liver function, and other body functions can be miraculously restored, and aging is thus reversed!

  "This is the 'age-reversal treatment project'. With this method, everyone here will gain an additional twenty to thirty years of life.

  "However, here's the question."

  Chen Chen's tone shifted suddenly. "Why just twenty to thirty years? After the hematopoietic stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells are replaced, it'd be as if we had returned to our teenage years. We should still have forty, fifty years ahead of us. Isn't that so?"

  Everyone raised their heads in unison, waiting silently for Chen Chen's answer.

  "Now I'll tell you the answer — it's because of our organs."

  Chen Chen pointed to his chest. "Besides differentiating into muscle cells and bone cells, mesenchymal stem cells can also differentiate into cardiomyocytes and liver cells, which serve to repair the heart and liver. However, this doesn't take care of our lungs, kidneys, and intestines, and other important organs.

  "If a human body is compared to a wooden barrel, then the 'Age-reversal Treatment' will increase the height of some wooden staves, but not all."

  As he spoke, the big screen behind Chen Chen automatically displayed an animated image of a wooden barrel leaking continuously.

  "Research on success would often use this wooden barrel analogy. Extending human lifespan is the same. Simply increasing the height of a few staves won't cut it. Only by increasing all of it, will human lifespan be extended."

  Chen Chen looked at his audience who was growing more absorbed and pointed to the files. "Now, please turn to the second page."

  There was the sound of pages being flipped in the room.

  "See? This is how we'll raise the height of the other wooden staves."

  Chen Chen spread his hands. "This is the second project of our plan —'cloned organ transplantation'.

  "As we all know, for now, there's no organization in the world that has the ability to develop cells into comp
lete organs, not even our God's Forbidden Zone.

  "Therefore, we shall simply bypass this technical limitation and start directly with cloning."

  With that, pictures from the cloning laboratory were displayed behind Chen Chen.

  "What everyone is seeing now is the human cloning laboratory of our experimental center. The five fist-sized fetuses are clones, cloned from the somatic cells of local villagers. Moreover, those five villagers each suffered from severe liver cirrhosis and pneumoconiosis."

  Chen Chen continued to explain, "We're now trying to birth the five fetuses by injecting hormones. The experiment has essentially succeeded. It's expected that the five cloned fetuses will be catalyzed to the biological age of fifteen within a year."

  When everyone heard this, there was a flicker in their expressions.

  "What follows next is easy. Human organs are basically mature at the age of fifteen. Even if they're not fully matured, this wouldn't affect things much. Transplantation can be carried out directly because there's a near-hundred-percent matching rate. To everyone, this is the best source of human organs.

  "In this way, the shortcomings of the remaining organs are also accounted for."

  Just then, a middle-aged man raised his hand and asked doubtfully, "But any sort of human cloning will not be accepted internationally. Surely this technology can't be openly popularized?"

  "If you're talking about popularizing the cloned organ transplantation project, then don't worry."

  Chen Chen explained, "These technologies will only be used on members who join our God's Forbidden Zone for the time being. After a buffer period of twenty to thirty years, the technology will slowly be shared with the world. I believe that by that time, the technology to generate complete organs from stem cells should already exist."

  Everyone caught on immediately.

  Chen Chen grinned. "In other words, the current users of the mankind anti-aging project are just the people here."

  At this moment, a young man in his early twenties from the Wilson family suddenly giggled and asked, "What if, after we custom-make our clones here, these clones grow up and escape, and we're exposed in an ugly scandal?"

  Upon hearing this funny question, a burst of laughter broke out in the room.

  However, Chen Chen replied with a straight face, "There's no need to worry about that. We've developed a targeted, inhibiting serotonin. This serotonin will inhibit the human brain in the embryonic stage, causing their brains to shrink completely. But this won't affect the cerebellum and brain stem.

  "This means that no matter how much those clones grow, their brains would always remain in a shrunken state. They would not even have consciousness. Thus, the plot of The Island will never happen."

  Everyone chortled again after hearing this.

  At this point, the initially heavy atmosphere of the room had gradually become more relaxed.

  Chapter 109: Mankind Anti-Aging Project |

  "These are the two projects that have begun development in God's Forbidden Zone.

  "In addition, we're also working on a project on neural stem cell connection regeneration."

  Chen Chen continued. "This project is to supplement the emergence of human cloning technology. I think everyone must've heard of the 'head transplant' operation?"

  As he spoke, the screen behind Chen Chen displayed news regarding a head transplantation.

  "Professor Ren of Harbin Medical University once performed an animal head transplant experiment. He connected a monkey's head to a different body. In the end, the monkey and its new body shared the same blood circulation, but the spinal cord failed to connect. Thus, the monkey was paralyzed from the neck down."

  After a pause, Chen Chen said, "Although this experiment failed in the end, it was also a success because it proved a successful method of head transplantation — by freezing the subject's head for a short period, the head can be kept alive throughout the operation. Moreover, this wouldn't damage the brain. This result was published on SCI.

  "Our neural stem cell connection regeneration project is to prepare for this. If there's a full-body disease in the future that can't even be treated with cloned organ transplants, wouldn't it be easier to directly clone the body, then change the head?"

  Everyone looked contemplative.

  Here, Chen Chen concluded. "'Age-reversal therapy' and 'cloned organ transplantation', in addition to the ongoing project of 'neural stem cell connection regeneration'. With all this, we're sure that we can extend your life by forty or even fifty years!"

  When everyone heard this, their eyes widened with fierce desire.

  "Of course, this is only a theoretical figure. In fact, there are still two natural enemies that may limit our age, which are cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

  "Therefore, to maintain the escape velocity of humanity's lifespan, we're also developing the 'Alzheimer's reversal treatment' project and the 'cancerous cyclin-dependent kinases' project!"

  Chen Chen assumed a stern expression once again. "Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative disease of the nervous system, characterized by memory impairment, aphasia, executive dysfunction, personality and behavior changes, and so on. The cause is still unknown.

  "However, in our organization, there's a breakthrough in Alzheimer's disease!"

  After he said this, everyone's eyes lit up.

  Assuming that the first two technologies were genuine and effective, they were still within the scope of modern medicine. On the other hand, the treatment of Alzheimer's disease was truly beyond the scope of modern medicine.

  At this point, a few more assistants came in. Each of them was holding a beautifully packaged blue glass bottle that was as thick as a finger. This glass bottle contained about 10ml of a seemingly transparent liquid.

  "Everyone can take home a bottle as evidence. This liquid developed by our organization has the ability to accelerate brain activity, inhibit hippocampus and medial temporal lobe atrophy, and eliminate beta-amyloid deposits."

  Chen Chen pointed to these blue vials and said, "The external effect of this is to temporarily increase one's thinking speed. The average person, upon taking it, will experience significant improvement in their logical thinking. The effect of this is more effective than Ritalin or Modafinil."

  "Is that so?" Many of them took the glass bottle from the assistants' trays with excitement.

  "If you feel assured enough to do so, you can even drink it on the spot to see for yourself." With that, Chen Chen took the last sealed bottle left on the tray, unscrewed the bottle cap, and poured the contents into his mouth without hesitation.

  The people present were stunned by Chen Chen's actions and were tempted to try it out. Nevertheless, on second thought, they gave up on the idea.

  When Chen Chen noticed their hesitant manner, his lips curled up in a subtle smile.

  The liquid in the glass bottle was a brew produced by dissolving NZT-48 in glucose.

  Even so, after being diluted, the NZT content in this syrup was extremely low. Chen Chen had experimented with this in advance. Such a small amount of NZT could only temporarily enhance one's mental activity. It could not compare to the efficacy of the original drug.

  Still, this was already much stronger than the smart drugs on the market.

  Even if someone with Alzheimer's disease took this drug, it would still speed up brain activity for a short time. It would appear as if the disease was under control, so these people would have no choice but to believe in it.

  Chen Chen was also not worried that they might try to analyze the drug themselves. After all, the complexity of NZT could not even be replicated by Chen Chen, let alone these people.

  "In that case, can we take home a few more vials with us?" Suddenly, an old man from North America asked.

  "Sorry, but the production cost of this drug is 1000 USD per milliliter. We've only made this much for the time being." Chen Chen spread his hands in a powerless manner.

  His audience did not say much else.
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  Chen Chen continued explaining, "This is the 'Alzheimer's reversal treatment' project you saw in the invitation letter, which corresponds with the 'cancerous cyclin-dependent kinases' project'. Unfortunately, the project relating to cancer cells still hasn't produced any results at the moment."

  Despite what Chen Chen had said, the people in the room were not going to say anything else. This was because, in this meeting, they had already absorbed so many outrageous facts…

  Even putting aside the forthcoming projects, just the ones that were introduced were so tightly linked together. Everyone was left with no choice but to believe that this research center truly did possess technology that surpassed the entire Federation's…

  At this point, no one was even thinking of withdrawing.

  Chen Chen concluded. "These projects are just the tip of the iceberg in God's Forbidden Zone. I can guarantee that no organization in the world has technology as comprehensive as ours. What's more, these projects are connected in series to form the complete mankind anti-aging project!"

  As he spoke, a large screen gradually lit up behind Chen Chen, displaying a data graph.

  "The 'mankind anti-aging project' is so named because, at a certain point in time, we humans shall extend our lifespans with the help of medical technology that's been developed to a certain degree. Then, with our extended lives, we'll develop even more effective medical technology, thus further extending our lives, and so on…

  "Just like the concept of escape velocity in astrophysics. Only when the kinetic energy of an object is equal to its gravitational potential energy, will it escape from a celestial body with a mass of m. Similarly, if we refer to the current average lifespan of human beings, the increase in lifespan resulting from the two technologies developed by God's Forbidden Zone, and the speed by which medical technology is developed is set as X1, and the extended time for human lifespan is set as Y1, then we get:

  "During the period of Y1, as long as X1]Y1, we'll continue to develop more advanced medical technology, X2, to extend our lifespan again by Y2 years, and this will officially enter an infinite cycle!"