by <unknown>
With Blacklight Biotechnology's strong push for publicity, the phrase BHB Combative Police Force constantly ranked on top of the global search query. Phrases related to BHB were everywhere in both Northern American and European networks. The reputation of the three heroes was on par with the likes of Superman, Captain America, and various other superheroes.
Over the last few months, while the entire world focused its attention on Namibia, military experts all over the world also began to direct their greedy gaze at Blacklight Biotechnology's military department.
After witnessing the prowess of the XTN robots, the orders for the related weapons also started pouring into Blacklight Biotechnology in an endless stream.
However, most continents did not lose their minds over the XTN robots but instead exercised restraint over them. Most continents only purchased the XTN-XXX model robots in double digits. It was only the heavy hitters like Northern America and the Central Continent who shelled out enough to purchase up to three digits of these models. Most of the customers maintained that they only wanted to purchase some to conduct experiments and if the product was worth its value, they would return for more in time.
Blacklight Biotechnology did not oppose this manner of purchase. After all, there were more than thirty different models of XTN. Even if they only bought twenty to thirty units of each model, it would still total to nearly a thousand units. The total order value easily reached above 500 million U.S. dollars.
With dozens of different customers coming in, the total revenue easily went up to seven to eight billion dollars.
Despite all that, the Mark drones series and the XTN robot series were just appetizers as far as both parties were concerned. The main dish was the dozens of military technology owned by Blacklight Biotechnology that greatly surpassed the military technology of any other country.
For example, there was "Directional Aiming", "Long-distance Environmental Detection", "Coriolis Effect Simulation", and so on.
Chen Chen never intended to auction them off in the form of a one-off purchase, but instead to incorporate them into various preferential policies and agreements. The purchasing parties started many rounds of intense negotiations with Blacklight Biotechnology to discuss the terms.
Meanwhile, the public relations team led by Xia Yin also went back and forth between several major continents to conduct negotiations as well.
After several months and many more lengthy negotiations, agreements were reached successively with the four top continents of the Earth Federation, Northern America, Central Continent, Europe, and North Sea Continent.
Following the terms of the agreements, Blacklight Biotechnology would soon establish branch companies in dozens of major cities spread across these continents. They would also build research centers and sanatoriums, essentially building a localized and miniaturized version of Eco Science City.
Upon their completion, these sanatoriums would soon be able to take advantage of their location to quickly seize the local healthcare market.
It was public knowledge at this point that certain local medical institutions had been secretly using technology patented by Blacklight Biotechnology all this time to treat their patients and bypassing the patent fees. Now that Blacklight Biotechnology had a local branch in these places, they could proceed to cement their ownership over these procedures.
Meanwhile, the branch companies and research centers could continue to focus their attention on subsequent biotechnology development. Now that they had local drug certification permits, the process became streamlined.
The reason Chen Chen strived to spread his reach across the globe was to gain a monopoly over the global market.
The rise of branch companies all over the world meant gaining access to all these local markets. After its completion, all personnel and resources would be easily transferable across different continents, reducing the need for splurging a vast amount of expenses.
To gain greater leverage on the market and put himself ahead in the future, Chen Chen did not mind losing out on insignificant, short-term profits.
Time glided past quickly as the international political landscape continued to develop day by day. Around the end of May, when talks of conditions of establishing local branches were being conducted between Blacklight Biotechnology and the continents, Little X suddenly reminded Chen Chen.
"Am I hearing this right? You're saying that Osmond Biotech acquired a small workshop and inside this small pharmaceutical workshop, there's an employee named Rowling Keith?"
Chen Chen lifted an eyebrow, faintly surprised by this piece of news as a faint shadow of a smile appeared on his lips.
Osmond Biotech was none other than the name of the company in which the protagonist of a certain movie worked in. That movie was the first movie that Chen Chen had produced just three years ago — Deadly Crisis: A Shocking Scheme.
Since the name of the company was a rather conventional name, it was no surprise that a company like that did exist in reality. Due to suspicions of the odd characteristics of the interaction between the movie and the USB drive, Chen Chen made sure to keep a close eye on this company in real life. While this company was structuring another round of financing, Chen Chen saw the opportunity and immediately stepped in to acquire fifty percent of the company's shares.
With that, Blacklight Biotechnology became the shareholder with the highest shares of Osmond Biotech. Even the founder of the company, John Parker, only held fifteen percent of its shares.
However, since Blacklight Biotechnology was a third-party in this transaction, they had specifically agreed to the terms that they would not interfere in the company's internal affairs when signing the contract. Therefore, Blacklight Biotechnology did not have a say in any of the company's internal operations.
As the date drew closer to the timeline depicted in the movie, the company seemed to have flicked on an invisible switch. They regularly made a number of breakthroughs concerning Alzheimer's disease when even international pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson could not achieve anything of the like.
Although they had some way to go before achieving something like coming up with a cure for Alzheimer's disease, they were already garnering a significant amount of interest and discussions around themselves.
Now, Osmond Biotech had stealthily acquired a small workshop and employed someone named Rowling Keith?
Chen Chen could not be any more familiar with this name since it was the name of the protagonist of Deadly Crisis: A Shocking Scheme. This man would soon go on to lead a team and invent AD-001.
"As it is, Rowling Keith has been recruited by the founder of Osmond to participate in a special assignment team to conduct research in a secret laboratory. This laboratory they are working in isn't connected to the external network and all researchers are instructed to put away their electronic devices outside the laboratory whenever they enter."
Little X explained, "Which is why so far, I still haven't been able to collect any information regarding what's going on inside the laboratory."
Chen Chen nodded contemplatively and noted. "Back then, when I first watched Deadly Crisis: A Shocking Scheme, I already had slight suspicions that the movie is more or less connected with reality. Now, I have a hundred percent certainty that the events depicted in the movie will also occur in reality…"
Little X reflected on this observation as well. "I had my doubts initially, but there's the chain of events starting with the GS Combat Suit, followed by the Alzheimer's disease targeted drugs and us purchasing shares in their company. Finally with the appearance of the protagonist, Rowling Keith…
"All these coincidences strung together implies that these are no longer mere coincidences, but inevitable. Sir Godfather…"
Little X suddenly asked suggestively, "Do you think that we might alter the events that may follow if we were to interject and capture this protagonist?"
Chen Chen shook his head cautiously. "Let's refrain from doing that for now a
nd just wait. Leaving the topic of whether we can alter the events of the movie aside, there's no way of telling if our attempts at altering it may lead to some form of violent chain reaction.
"Perhaps our attempt will not result in anything substantial, but there's also the chance that the magnitude of the consequences of doing so will be immeasurable…"
"Alright."
Little X answered dejectedly and lowered her head.
"Still, I think we can take some action if it comes to things not described in the plot of the movie."
Chen Chen suddenly switched his tone. "For example, we can install spying devices inside that laboratory to allow us to monitor their movements. This way, there's a lesser chance of us being caught off guard by sudden developments."
"Understood, I'll dispatch several Black Knights to Osmond Biotech."
Little X answered.
"Send more Black Knights. When the AD-001 is successfully developed, we can start hunting them down following the plot in the movie. There's no need to hold back since if we kill him in the middle of the pursuit, then that would mean the plot in the movie can be effortlessly altered without causing much rippling effect. On the other end, if the Black Knights could not kill him no matter how hard they tried…"
Chen Chen paused momentarily and contemplated. "That means there has to be some sort of law in place that we're unable to breach."
"How about the ending of the movie?'
Little X asked, "According to the ending of the movie, the protagonist finally overcame multitudes of danger and delivered the drug to the president of his corporation. It was then when he realized that the president was dressed in the same black tights like the ones who were after him all this time. Should we make similar arrangements to fit the ending of the movie as well?"
"That's right."
Chen Chen said, "I'll be waiting for him in the end. I'd like to see what happens after he delivers the AD-001 to me."
After making these arrangements, Chen Chen returned to the Spire Experimental Base.
During this period, with the help of James Watson, the father of DNA along with the three most outstanding scientific research members under Chen Chen's wing — Hannibal, Li Lei, and Neumann, the secret of G-virus and the black goo was gradually unraveled and gave way to the discovery of sophisticated characteristics of these subjects.
Chen Chen sat on the second floor of a level-five biosafety lab and observed them conducting various sets of experiments below.
The subject of the experiment this time was not the common research subjects of the Spire laboratory, but a far more valuable subject — Black Knights.
Chen Chen watched as Watson instructed Hannibal to take out a syringe that was securely wrapped in a bag. The tip of the syringe was far sharper and longer than their usual variant. Its material was an all-black special metal instead of regular metal.
Inside the intricate syringe, a puddle of red liquid could be spotted. The redness of the liquid was far more vibrant than the usual color of blood while also appearing extremely translucent.
Chen Chen continued inspecting the sequence with great interest. He saw Hannibal aiming the needle at the naked Black Knight's heart and proceeding to slowly insert it into the veins of the heart.
After the needle had sunk into the Black Knight's body, the tube was held down and began injecting its liquid into the Black Knight with a swift zip.
One second, two seconds, three seconds…
In just three seconds after the injection, the Black Knight's body started to tremble.
It started with a faint tremble. Within moments, the Black Knight was shaking all over. It had only been seven seconds since the injection — what followed after was something that Chen Chen would never forget!
With his very own eyes, Chen Chen saw the Black Knight suddenly puffing up like a balloon. It was as if the innermost vessel of the Black Knight burst open and grew hundreds of new stems of muscles. The muscles of the Black Knight continued to bulge until it ripped through the skin and revealed layers upon layers of muscles dyed in red blood.
This was merely the beginning. Within seconds, the ripped skin began to regenerate at breakneck speed. What stood out was that the recovered skin took on a dark brown color as opposed to regular skin color. Meanwhile, a vast amount of stratum corneum began to grow all over the regenerated skin. They covered the entire outermost layer of the Black Knight within seconds.
After that, there was a sound of something bulging inside the Black Knight. It seemed as if the bones were starting to mutate as well. Within fifteen seconds, under the observant eyes of every member present at the scene, the Black Knight had mutated into a monstrosity standing more than three meters tall and weighing more than five hundred kilograms!
Chapter 464: Trial |
In the end, the Black Knight injected with the unknown drug had mutated into a three-meter-tall monster with its skin covered in stratum corneum. Additionally, dozens of thick spikes rose along its back in a vertical line.
Even Chen Chen was visibly intrigued when he saw the Black Knight that was near instantaneously transformed into a ferocious giant.
"After many optimizations, this is the G-virus that has reached a near-perfect form, the G-358."
Little X took Chen Chen's hand as she looked at the giant monster downstairs and said softly, "It inherits the power of the G-3 virus and with the guidance of Professor Watson, it has become perfectly compatible with the Black Knight's DNA. After injections, the Black Knight can instantaneously multiply in size and become an ultimate soldier which is more flexible and also boasts higher defensive and recovery ability than a tyrant. Its physiological structure becomes far beyond that of regular humans!"
"What about ordinary humans?"
Chen Chen asked, "What happens if an ordinary person is injected with this virus?"
"It won't have any effect."
Little X turned to look at Chen Chen and informed, "The G-358 perishes instantly when it comes into contact with the outside world, so it can't spread in an external environment. Even if it enters the human body in a facilitated manner, the protein antigen inside it makes it so that it's unable to infect humans at all. It's completely harmless to humans and any other creatures in the world."
Chen Chen nodded, fully understanding the workings of the virus.
Approaching from a biological point of view, cells are wrapped by cell membranes that are made of phospholipids. There are also many proteins embedded in them, such as insulin receptor protein. Its associated structures made it so that it was bound with insulin very easily and once bound, the components fuse easily. There were certain proteins inside the cell that were used to indicate the identity of the cell. This meant that if the fused protein was detected to be different from the original protein in the body, the antibodies would be triggered and provoked a negative reaction.
The same was true for viruses. Various proteins could also be found on the surface of viruses. These proteins could only bind themselves to a set of specific cell proteins and in the case of successful fusing, the virus would then inject its genetic material into the cell body, thereby infecting the cell.
Since not all creatures carried the same surface protein, there may be cases of certain viruses that were entirely harmless to humans.
There were approximately 1.74 million kinds of viruses currently discovered and only 219 of them were known to infect humans, which was nearly negligible.
The reason this new variant of G-virus was unable to infect humans but could infect Black Knight was that it stemmed from a branch of T-virus. The Black Knights were also a variant of mutant humans that was born from cross-infection with the T-virus.
Under categorization, human beings were biologically classified into the eukaryotic kingdom of the mammal kingdom, which was a metazoan subunit, followed by hundreds of further subcategorizations… Primates, anthropoid suborders, suborder anthropoid apes, humans, Homo, and Homo sapiens. Although people in the world
were generally classified into white, yellow, and black-skinned, they were all Homo sapiens on a genetic level. Meanwhile, other classes such as Neanderthals and Denisovans had gone extinct tens of thousands of years ago.
The Black Knights infected by the T-virus were no longer considered as an intelligent human species due to the vast genetic difference, which was why Chen Chen claimed that they were a completely new species of man.
With all that said, this did not necessarily mean that the G-virus could not infect humans. For example, the earliest variant of G-001/002/003 could infect nearly all mammalian species.
Chen Chen looked at the Black Knight transformed into a monstrosity that was no longer human and proceeded to ask, "What are the combative abilities of this new life form like? Is it still susceptible to our control?"
"Of course."
Little X answered confidently, "We've discovered that these changes don't occur to the neural nerves of the subjects. The nerves inside their body and brain are completely unaltered. The only effect is the remyelination and thickening of the nerve surface, which results in the Black Knight's reaction speed being multiplied two to three folds."
Chen Chen was stunned by this relegation.
Chen Chen was aware that the reaction speed of a person was determined by the nerve myelin sheath. The thicker the nerve myelin sheath, the faster the reaction speed of an individual. The Black Knight's reaction speed was already three to four times that of ordinary people as was. What would it be like if it was yet again multiplied two to three folds?
One could only guess what it would look like.
Little X continued. "This is the fifty-fifth experiment we've conducted and we have full confirmation that the Black Knight is perfectly compatible with the G-358. Their combat powers are magnified by more than ten folds."
As Little X said this, she looked at the other end of the laboratory.
