by <unknown>
"Speed it up!"
The head surgeon growled and cut through the muscle tissues in front of him again. This time, paying no mind to employ specific cutting techniques, he quickly took out an electric drill and drilled into the exposed vertebral.
"Boss, other qualities aside, the regenerative of subject one alone is phenomenal."
Chen Chen, Hannibal, and Li Lei stood at the back, watching them scramble away at their tasks. Hannibal commented, "This regenerative ability is truly impressive. If we can apply it on our Black Knights, their combat longevity will be greatly improved.
"The premise is that we'll have to prepare sufficient nutrition."
Li Lei also added. "Judging by this terrifying regenerative speed, its consumption should be up to a hundred times higher than that of ordinary people."
"That's a given."
Chen Chen nodded. "Energy bars will no longer cut it for these monsters. They're going to need injections."
During the three men's discussion, the assistant in charge had finally drilled sixteen small holes into the subject's spine. A modified God chip was then made ready for the next step.
To be clear, the so-called modification largely left the primary component of the God chip untouched. This technology was far beyond the current technological scope of Blacklight Biotechnology. The only thing they could modify was the electrode placement of the God chip.
Inside the movie, the original God chip had six tiny feet no longer than one centimeter. The length allowed it to puncture the human spine and lodge itself into it effortlessly but there was little chance of it working out for a giant four times larger than a regular human.
The one-centimeter long electrode should barely be able to reach its spinal cord.
That was the reason the God chip electrode was refitted, extending them from one centimeter to three centimeters. This length should suffice.
The monster's spine was extremely sturdy. Even with a chainsaw, it took a considerable amount of effort to work through it. By the time it was done, experiment subject one's back had become an unruly jumble of blood and flesh.
The group did not spare a moment to relax. They promptly installed the God chip. It was only after ensuring all electrodes had punctured into the spinal cord when they began treating the monster's wounds.
They cleaned up all the pulled muscles and skin and then used needles and threads to suture the wound. The entire process took an hour, where the operation was finally nearing its end.
The only thing left to do now was to wait.
Like the previous Black Knights, these T-virus mixed Black Knights had inhibitory serotonin injected. The cranial cavity was full of hydrocephalus and the brain had long shrunken and degenerated. The subject did not have a trace of consciousness.
The God chip began to take over the body.
One minute, two minutes, five minutes…
They stared at the subject intently. They saw the Black Knight's constant beating of its exposed heart and its puffing chest mimicking the motion of the heartbeat but there was no other movement.
Chen Chen was not in a rush.
Ten minutes later, Chen Chen suddenly spotted subject one's finger twitching ever so slightly.
The movement was extremely minor. Only Chen Chen noted it distinctly. Within half a minute, the muscle tissues all over the Black Knight's body began to jerk.
"It's moving, it's moving!"
The group exclaimed.
Chen Chen knew that this was caused by the God chip configuring its electrical signals.
After another half hour passed, the God chip, which was finally starting to adapt to this body, made experiment subject one to open its eyes.
It was then when they noticed the pupils of experiment subject one was a deep, dark red.
After that, experiment subject one sat up on the stretcher and looked at them quietly.
Even when sitting on a stretcher, it was a lot taller than the average person. Experiment subject one had granite-like muscles paved all over its body. Coupled with its cold stare, it mounted a gigantic amount of pressure on the crowd.
Without realizing it themselves, everyone other than Chen Chen stumbled two steps backward.
Despite knowing that with the God chip controlling it, there was no chance of the monster snapping out of control. The sight of the monster triggered an inherent genetic instinct like that of a herbivore encountering a lion.
Their underlying basic instincts kept telling them that this monster in front of them was not to be angered.
"After the fifth examination of the body fluid samples, we still found no traces of the virus."
At the moment, an assistant in charge of testing the body fluids reported to Chen Chen, "It has been determined that the T-virus isn't present in experiment subject one's body. Its infection ability is nil."
"Very good."
After receiving the report, the research personnel began removing their air-tight helmets. Although the equipment was an excellent defensive measure, they were very stuffy to wear. Unless necessary, nobody liked to wear them on the job.
"Let's examine the capability of experiment subject one first."
Li Lei bit his lip and slowly approached experiment subject one. "Subject one, can you understand what I'm saying?"
Subject one, with its horrifically pale and bald head, responded with a faint nod.
With that, Li Lei was at ease. "Try to get up from the stretcher. I'll be tabulating your data accordingly."
"Clack!"
Following Li Lei's order, experiment subject one slowly stood up. When he got up, he staggered a few steps and stood firmly in his spot after finding his center of gravity.
"It's a success!"
They erupted into cheers.
After that, they took subject one out of the laboratory and to the training field for the Black Knights to perform physical tests on strength, speed, reaction speed, and other bodily functions of this gigantic beast.
The results were mind-blowing. The strength of an average person was 600 – approximately 1200N while subject one's strength ascended to 9000N. His speed was three times that of a regular person and similarly, three times more capable in sprinting and endurance tests alike.
Chapter 236: Bionic Technology Extraction |
On the training field in the Spire Experimental Base, there was the constant teeth-grinding screech of a steel bar being twisted.
After several months of reconstruction, the underground cavern had been transformed into a gigantic military base. Apart from the pyramid structure taking up to 10,000 square meters of real estate in the middle, there were also all sorts of dormitories, warehouses, training fields, and various facilities. There was even a soilless cultivation building which was usually not put to use.
At the present, there was a giant twice as tall as a regular person standing in the middle of the training field wearing nothing but white pants. He gripped a steel plate approximately five centimeters thick and with both hands pulling each side, began to slowly tear it apart.
This was where the sound of metal bending originated from.
The giant's strength was ten times that of a regular person and could reach a speed of up to 90 kilometers an hour at full sprint. He could maintain such speed for up to five hundred meters while also boasting extreme endurance.
The reflected data was only representative of the giant who had only just come out of the life incubator.
After one to two months of intensive exercise, the giant's strength could at least be doubled, the same for his endurance. While a significant breakthrough in terms of speed was not expected, he should be able to achieve a speed of hundred kilometers per hour.
The giant was like a hybrid of man and T-rex. Forget about lions or beasts, the giant would gladly take on the likes of rhinoceros and elephants.
Chen Chen was aware that even if a regular person was somehow enlarged to 3.5 meters, it was still nigh impossible to display such statistics. At m
ost, the subject's strength may be increased by two to three folds. Furthermore, the subject may see a decrease in speed and endurance as opposed to an improvement in those aspects. The worst-case scenario was that the subject would be wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life, unable to stand up ever again.
This was the effect of T-virus amplification.
From muscle mass to bone density, subject number one had displayed superhuman growth in all categories. It would make more sense to classify him as an entirely different species from common humans.
A new species evolved by the T-virus.
This was considered rather remarkable. Chen Chen remembered that in the game Resident Evil, these giants were branded as "tyrants" and they ranged from two meters up to four meters. The one thing they all had in common was their extreme individual combat abilities and regenerative abilities. No number of bullets was enough to pierce through their frame.
What was rather puzzling was that the Umbrella Corporation in the video game chose to introduce a claw-shaped structure for its right limb as a means of enhancing its combat abilities. It was the same thing as eternally strapping a cold weapon (TN: a classification of weapon that does not involve the use of gunpowder or other explosive materials) to the tyrant.
This observation was probably one of the earliest instances of questionable decisions. For a B.O.W. that could be controlled remotely, instead of designing a claw-like cold weapon, it would be more optimal to equip the tyrant with a Gatling Vulcan on one arm and an RPG rocket launcher on the other. To replace the practicality of regular limbs with claw-shaped limbs was certainly an intriguing decision.
In contrast, the newer biological organic weapon iteration, the Pursuer from the Nemesis Project made much more sense.
When Chen Chen saw subject one tearing apart the steel plate with his bare hands, an idea he never thought of before suddenly occurred to him. "Maybe the size of these biological organic weapons isn't the hindrance we think it is. They may prove to be surprisingly useful under certain circumstances.
"Alright, it seems like choosing to use T-virus to manufacture biological organic weaponry was the right move."
Chen Chen clapped his hands together to gather the staff's attention. "Still, it won't be necessary to produce too many of these unconventionally sized soldiers. This batch of six should suffice. From here on, I'd like you all to start working on smaller variants."
"We'll try to limit the size of the next batch of T-Black Knights to below two meters tall."
Hannibal assured him with a nod.
"That's not all."
Chen Chen raised a finger and reminded. "As opposed to these soldiers optimized for strength, I'd prefer if you guys would develop more agile soldiers. These Black Knights should not exceed 180 centimeters and shouldn't be too large. Ideally, they should be able to blend into a crowd."
"Understood."
Hannibal and Li Lei exchanged a look and nodded together.
It was only then when Chen Chen took his leave.
The reason Chen Chen had requested for such specification was that he did not expect the Black Knights to be utilized in a large scale battle. At the very least, before Blacklight Biotechnology was capable of taking on the entire Earth Federation, Chen Chen was not going to alter the primary uses of the Black Knights.
The way Chen Chen saw it, the Black Knights were more suitable for secret operations. This included operations such as escort protection, targeted assassination, intel collection, small-scale operations, and so on. This was to say that the Black Knights usually operated in public situations, therefore they should prioritize giving the Black Knights regular physique to help blend into a crowd.
In truth, Chen Chen always had the idea for a "Supersoldier Project" in mind.
At their core, these Black Knights were cloned subjects under the control of the God chip. As seen in the movie Upgrade, even a regular person injected with the chip could instantly turn into an expert in all criteria. One could become a weapons expert, a multi-talented expert in cooking, driving, flight, and everything else.
Of course, the perquisite being that the God chip had to contain enough information.
This meant that apart from works related to science and research, the chip-implanted individuals were essentially all-around special forces.
What if these special supersoldier forces possessed physical traits on par with Alice's in the movie, coupled with the regenerative abilities of the tyrant?
What if after fulfilling all the above conditions, they were further enhanced with the addition of the GS Combat Suit from Gantz?
One could imagine that with this, a large team would not be necessary. If Chen Chen could put together a small task force consisting of ten of such members, they could easily overpower an army.
Still, an overwhelming force of such magnitude could only be achieved in a world pre-world war two, before there were hyper-range communications, combat helicopters, and weapons of mass destruction. The modern wars fought in the twenty-first century were far more layered.
If Chen Chen wanted to catch up to the current military standards, he would need to approach it from three different angles.
Communications, mobility, and anti-missile.
Communications as in a private dedicated communication system. Communication was an extremely important aspect in military affairs. An army that had its communications cut off was essentially stranded and given the death sentence. The importance of communication could not be stressed enough.
During wartime, nobody would be foolish enough to rely on phones for communications. Such primitive methods were easily intercepted and crucial information would be exposed this way.
Besides, a single electromagnetic bomb alone would put you in your place.
Therefore, Chen Chen would at least require an independent communication infrastructure, perhaps even an independent international communication system.
The significance of mobility was self-explanatory.
Currently, the Black Knights that Chen Chen had dispatched on missions still relied on international airlines as a primary form of transportation. Not only was it efficient, but it was also very susceptible to being tracked by the government of each region.
While Chen Chen had aircraft carriers and combat helicopters of his own, they were as good as useless in the face of the air defense forces of each country. One missile was all that was needed to stop them.
Therefore, Chen Chen needed a form of transport that would not be discovered by the airline defense networks of each country. With this form of transportation, the T-Black Knights could be efficiently deployed around the world where their combat abilities could be fully utilized.
Anti-missile was a matter of defensive measure.
As it was, all of the wonders of Blacklight Biotechnology were built within a land with a radius of 500 square kilometers. However, there was no safety guarantee for these wonders.
A single million-ton nuclear bomb, one hundred incendiary bombs or one thousand Tomahawks were enough to make light work of these wonders.
Therefore, a precise anti-missile infrastructure was extremely vital.
With that said, the final criteria was no urgent matter since there was a chance he may never even need it. After all, Chen Chen was not some kind of terrorist nor did he set up Blacklight Biotechnology to wipe out mankind.
It was the exact opposite. Chen Chen had intended to use Blacklight Biotechnology to speed up the advancement of mankind's civilization. In conclusion, the final criteria was a preventative measure at best.
Chen Chen still had a long way to go to accomplish the goal he had charted.
Silently casting these plans back into the depths of his mind, Chen Chen returned to the secret laboratory to look at the ten clones he had cultivated himself. After ensuring that they were in prime condition, he left again.
Five of these ten clones were injected with the T-virus when they were still embryos and would eventually grow into th
e likes of the previous three-meter tall supergiant. As for the remaining five clones, they were left in their original state for Chen Chen's later experiments.
After half a month, the five T-virus-injected clones had grown to approximately three to four years old while the clones not injected with T-virus were still in the stage of infancy.
It may take at least half a year for the clones not injected with T-virus to fully mature. This was the very limit of hormone control technology.
Chen Chen was not in a rush as he was already aware that the experiment would be extremely lengthy. Even with the technology acquired from Resident Evil, it was a tall task to develop a T-virus perfectly compatible with his genes and did not procure any side effects.
Fortunately, as the boss of the company, Chen Chen had a huge amount of funds available to invest as he liked. There was also Little X, the pioneering AI that could quickly and efficiently deduct the protein genetic map of the virus.
These were Chen Chen's assurances.
Before all these, there was something else Chen Chen had to do.
An hour later, Chen Chen was driven to the nuclear power plant.
Previously, an arrangement was finalized with the Namibian government. Chen Chen had free reign to allocate all the generated electricity in his nuclear power plant as he liked and in exchange, Chen Chen must build a one million kilowatt thermal power station for Namibia in its capital Windhoek.
As far as Chen Chen was concerned, although it cost him a great deal, it was all worth it.
This was Chen Chen's subtle approach to extending his reach into Namibia's parliament, allowing him to turn Namibia into his disguised logistics base in time.
It was not so much that the Namibian government was aware of what was going on, but that the greed of men had a knack of surpassing expectations. Plenty of congressmen and ministers had succumbed to the monetary approach of Blacklight Biotechnology and now there was another bait to pull them in, which was an improved quality of life.
