by <unknown>
Long ago, Chen Chen had gotten an idea:
To prevent these clones from thinking, they would all be injected with targeted, inhibiting serotonin to inhibit brain development. Eventually, their brains would atrophy completely, leaving behind a cavity in the brain.
Nonetheless, strangely enough, their cerebellum and brainstem would be unscathed.
In that case, Chen Chen wondered, if these clones were implanted with the God chip, would he be able to control them to act like normal people?
Therefore, Chen Chen had immediately asked Hannibal to begin a "hormone regulation experiment". Through the regulation of hormones, they would make these clones grow into their adult forms within a year.
At this point, it appeared that the experiment had been successful.
Chapter 168: Black Knights |
"How is it going? Are there any hidden risks in the clones that have grown through hormone regulation?"
As Chen Chen observed the cramped, uneven rows of life incubators before him, he posed this question to Hannibal and Li Lei.
"None that we know of for now."
Hannibal replied immediately, "After all, the human body depends on hormones for growth. We've just sped up the process and shortened the time from more than ten years to just one year. We just need to maintain an adequate supply of nutrition."
On one side, Li Lei added. "Remember that we cultivated an extra clone for each of the five villagers from Gorob Village? Those five have just undergone transplant operations some time ago. We've performed liver transplantation on three of the cirrhotic patients and the remaining two pneumoconiosis patients also had lung transplantations. Now, they have recovered."
Chen Chen nodded.
He had known about these operations, just that he was still in Germany when they were carried out, so he had not gotten involved.
It was worth mentioning that the thirty-three Gorob villagers still lived in the research center.
These people were Chen Chen's first batch of subjects for experimental observation. All sorts of data still had to be extracted from them and verified, but the frequency of data extraction was not as high as before.
There was a time when this group of people still clamored to leave. Nonetheless, they had accepted the benefits that Chen Chen had offered them and they still wanted to leave? Dream on.
This group of people was proof of Chen Chen's various experiments and even crimes. Of course, Chen Chen could not let them leave. Otherwise, the Earth Federation would be able to easily locate the proverbial smoking gun.
Thus, ultimately, Chen Chen implanted these thirty-three people with the God chip and kept them in the research center.
At the moment, Chen Chen was looking at the clones within the life incubators. After some thought, he said, "Since that's the case, prepare for the implantation of the God chips."
After Chen Chen gave this order, one of the clones who had shown the best growth was taken out of the life incubator and laid out on an operating table.
As for the actual operation, Chen Chen did not have to get his hands dirty. Neither did Hannibal and Li Lei. The assistants in the laboratory were good enough for that.
These assistants were all talents with potential that Chen Chen had recruited from all over the world. At the start, they would not be involved in such highly confidential projects. Chen Chen would only issue the invitation after they had been inspected by him and proved that there were no problems with their capability and temperament.
The moment they agreed to join God's Forbidden Zone, Chen Chen would implant them with the God chip.
As a result, the people here knew about the existence of the God chip.
Currently, Chen Chen looked at the team of assistants surrounding the operating table, carrying out the work he had once done. He was overcome by a momentary wave of emotion.
More than a year ago, before he came to Namibia, he had personally performed this operation on Samuel and his daughter.
At that point, Chen Chen was still a lone wolf. God's Forbidden Zone was just a dummy organization too. Samuel was the first person to join God's Forbidden Zone, only he did not know it.
Today, Samuel was still loyally helping Chen Chen manage the small research institute in Switzerland. Meanwhile, his daughter had started walking again long ago and was living happily just like her peers.
As they had an abundance of manpower, the God chip was successfully implanted in the back of the clone's neck within half an hour.
This clone was a black male youth who came from the genes of a Gorob villager. At this moment, as the chip was implanted, the black youth on the operating table immediately opened his eyes.
As they had not used any anesthetic, the young black man did not show any symptoms of anesthesia after the operation. First, he sat up in the hospital bed, but when he tried to get out of bed and stand up, he could not do it.
"This must be what happens when he tries to control his body for the first time. After all, this body has never been mobilized, so the muscles aren't fully stretched out."
Hannibal explained by one side.
Chen Chen simply walked over and said to the young black man on the bed, "God, can you hear me?"
The young black man nodded.
"Very good. If you can hear what I'm saying, move your left hand."
Hearing this, the young black man remained seated on the hospital bed and slowly raised his left hand.
"Very good. Now you move your right hand and draw a circle."
The young black man then raised his right hand and shakily drew a circle.
"Now try moving your legs." Chen Chen continued.
The young black man immediately shook his lower legs gently.
"Well done."
Chen Chen nodded. "Although the movements are still very rusty, at least it's certain that the God chip can control these clones. In that case, all remaining clones should be implanted with the God chip, except for our customers' clones."
After some thought, Chen Chen added. "Li Lei, Hannibal, your department should also make preparations. I'm going to move your department to an experimental base that's more hidden."
"Another experimental base that's even more hidden?" The two of them looked at each other in surprise.
Chen Chen nodded. "You've seen Resident Evil before, right? There's an underground lab in the movie called 'the Hive'."
"You're saying that we have an underground lab similar to the Hive?"
Hannibal and Li Lei looked down toward the ground subconsciously.
"That's right. Our God's Forbidden Zone has already built an underground laboratory."
Chen Chen snapped his fingers. "Although it's not as large as the Hive, it's more concealed. A few more living facilities and it's done."
Next, following Chen Chen's order, the clone research department took out all of the remaining clones and implanted God chips into them.
Little X only had to perform targeted programming once on the chips of these clones. Then, they were able to continuously train themselves like intelligent AI, improving the strength, physical fitness, and reflexes of the body.
One could imagine — a group of people who knew no feelings, no pain, not even exhaustion, could continuously strengthen themselves and constantly exceed their physical limits. As long as these people were given a few months, they could immediately become the mightiest warriors!
They did not even need to go through a learning process. As long as Little X incorporated various skills into their chips, this group of people would be like members of a holistic special force, without any weakness whatsoever!
Seeing the immense combat potential of these clones, Chen Chen decided to separate these cloned fighters from the Black Security Service and set up a new rapid reaction force instead.
After thinking about it, Chen Chen named this new unit — the "Black Knights".
After all, this would be a force that could only exist in the dark, never seeing the light of day.
Unlike the Black Security Service which was a combat department out in plain sight, the Black Knights would be Chen Chen's real trump card...
Chapter 169: Press Conference |
1 April 2023. Sunny day.
Harbor of Walvis Bay, Namibia.
At the break of dawn, before the locals had even risen for the morning, they began hearing the loud noises of a gathering crowd outside their windows.
A lively atmosphere quickly took over the coastal town. The gathering of thousands of visitors from afar at the harbor of Walvis Bay had penetrated the tranquility of the bay. They were facing the sea, waiting for the arrival of a grand cruise ship.
This group was comprised of media outlets from all across the world.
Even though Qian Wenhuan had only sent out invitations to approximately 500 media agencies, more than 3000 agencies were present at the scene. These media representatives behaved like they were fueled by pure adrenaline, paying out of their pocket to get all the way out here. When Qian Wenhuan was notified of this, he did not know whether to laugh or cry.
This was the resulting scenery: It was as if all of the media outlets across the world were gathered in the city of Namibia. Among the sea of crowd, one could easily spot internationally-renowned media bodies such as Chinese Press, Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
Despite being more than two hours until the conference, there were already several thousands of news reporters gathered at the Walvis Bay harbor. The number only continued to increase as time went on.
"Choo--!"
At that moment, the sound of a bellowing whistle came from a distance. Many people turned toward the direction where it came from. They were greeted by the sight of a silhouette of a figure the size of a mountain approaching from the horizon.
"That's the Blackwatch Cruise? It's enormous!"
"Oh my God…"
"How is this possible, this cruise is nearly larger than an aircraft carrier…"
Many people present at the scene held their breaths subconsciously upon noting the massive scale of the gigantic cruise ship. Some media had already booted up their cameras and aimed their lenses at the towering figure.
Under the morning sunbeam, a cruise ship resembling a gigantic sea monster surrounded by darkness began approaching.
A media outlet labeled with the AP trademark occupied the very front row of the harbor. Following the signal of a director, a coolly dressed Caucasian lady put on her signature smile and appeared in front of the camera.
"Dear viewers, you're now watching a broadcast from the Associated Press, my name is Allie, and I will be your host today. It's the first of April, usually a light-hearted day of celebration, but a particular corporation has set their conference on this date. This company is none other than Blackwatch, the corporation behind the construction of the Eco Science City in Africa.
"Does everybody see the black ship in the distance? It's the newly launched Blackwatch Cruise, it's also the largest recorded cruise ship in the Earth Federation. Its body spans more than four hundred meters with a displacement reaching up to 350,000 tons. What's even more surprising is that the cruise ship will not be opened to the public as it's a completely private cruise ship. Today, we'll be attending the conference held by Blackwatch Corporation on the cruise ship…"
Allie, the host of Associated Press recited her script confidently. Somewhere close by the Associated Press was the Agence France-Presse.
"Dear honored viewers, this is the Agence France-Presse report. I'm now standing at Walvis Bay, the coastal city in Namibia. As you can all see, there are flamingos everywhere around here. Matter of fact, this area is a nature reserve owned by the Namibian government, it's illegal to hunt or kill flamingos here.
"Today, we'll be attending the conference hosted by Blackwatch. As many of you may have heard, a company has managed to reverse the aging process of mankind and allow the elderly to restore their youth. They managed to accomplish something that has never been done before. Stay tuned with Agence France-Presse to find out if this is all hyped up or even a scam…"
Similar broadcasts were reenacted again and again at the harbor of Walvis Bay. Even nearby residents were drawn in to observe the rare spectacle. The Namibian officials even specifically dispatched a battalion of troops to serve as security forces for this event.
Very soon, the black ship began inching closer. The crowd was able to see the logo on the ship as well as a significant amount of floating ribbons tied by the side of the vessel. It was the decoration for the press conference.
At last, the black cruise ship docked itself by the harbor at the amusement of the crowd numbering in the ten thousand. A group of employees dressed in matching uniforms came down from the cruise ship and began checking entry tickets. The first ones to enter were the media personnel invited by Blacklight Biotechnology. The media bodies who invited themselves were last in line.
Qian Wenhuan set the opera house on the cruise ship as the venue for the conference.
This was an opera house that could accommodate more than two thousand people. The stands were divided into an upper and lower section, allowing it to fit nearly three thousand attendees.
Even with these seating arrangements, it was not able to fully accommodate all attendees. Apart from the invited media members, the rest of them had to stand and watch from the far back without an assigned seat.
The venue was not much different from regular conferences. There was a large platform erected in front of the audience and on the platform, there was a podium. Right behind the podium, there was a 200-inch screen with a size of 3650*2750mm set up. There was nothing else notable apart from that.
Before long, the conference officially commenced.
Qian Wenhuan stepped on the stage with several high-level executives. Since it was just a simple press conference, there was not much by way of introduction or opening remarks, it was largely left for the audience to interpret on their own.
The group gradually took their seats on the stage. Qian Wenhuan took charge of the microphone first and greeted the audience with a smile, "Ladies and gentlemen, please pardon our shortcomings as the conference was set up in a hurry. I'd also like to express my heartfelt thanks to all the journalists who have traveled from afar to attend our company's press conference. Thank you, everybody!"
They bowed modestly on stage, their gestures were met with ceremonious applause from the audience below.
"Alright, the conference shall officially begin now."
Qian Wenhuan switched to a solemn expression. "I believe that many of you are aware that we here at Blacklight Biotechnology Ltd are a medical enterprise dedicating our efforts to extending human lifespan and looking out for the best interest of human civilization as we know it. This is the vision of our company, as well as our ultimate end goal!
"And so, we've launched a treatment procedure for Alzheimer's disease, the chronic disease of the century, successfully limiting its effects to its initial stages. The thesis was published in the world's top scientific journal, Nature.
"In addition, we developed an aging reversal treatment program that can restore people from old age to middle age, effectively extending the human lifespan by thirty years. Similarly, we have published the thesis on this methodology in the world's pioneering magazine, Cell."
Qian Wenhuan proclaimed confidently, "With these two accomplishments alone, we at Blacklight Biotechnology proudly claim our place at the very forefront of the biological world. One day, we suddenly had an idea – could we build an effective system chain that effectively progresses from research and development to experimentation, to incorporating the results in the application and service field in the shortest span possible?
"With that, Eco Science City was born!"
This sparked discussions among the audience below as countless reporters began raising their hands fervently.
"There's no need to rush. Everyone will get a chance at asking questions."
Qian Wenhuan made a waving gesture and pointed at a reporter from Chinese Press sitting in the front row. "Mrs. Ye Zhiqiu from Chinese Press."
"Pleasure, President Qian."
A woman whose poise expressed gracefulness and intelligence got up and spoke politely in Chinese, "Question, what kind of service business is conducted in Eco Science City and is it any different from regular medical facilities?"
"Strictly speaking, there's no difference."
Qian Wenhuan considered the question and shook his head before smiling again. "But more strictly speaking, there's a drastic difference!"
The remark sparked curious looks among the crowd.
"The reason I claimed that there was not much difference is that our Eco Science City also operates on a people-oriented principle. This is our everlasting motto.
"As for the reason I say there's a drastic difference is because we're simply faster. Our medical facilities are better equipped, also… Our technology is more advanced!"
At the end of Qian Wenhuan's sentence, thunderous flashes erupted from below the stage.
Ye Zhiqiu coughed dryly and presented another question in a slightly unnatural manner. "President Qian, I can understand your latter remarks. However, could you elaborate on what you mean by being 'simply faster'?"
"There's a very simple explanation for what I mean by being simply faster."
Qian Wenhuan expressed formally. "As you all know, here at Blacklight Biotechnology, we have our own research center. Plenty of groundbreaking medical advancements have been pioneered by this research center and we subsequently incorporate these technologies into clinical trials in the shortest period. After acquiring international certification, we incorporate it into the application and service field in the shortest time possible, so that our clients may access the latest medical technology available.
"This is what I mean by being 'faster'!"
Qian Wenhuan's formally addressed speech was met with thunderous applause from the audience. Ye Zhiqiu from the Chinese Press also nodded contently before sitting down.
