by <unknown>
After the team leader was done with his scolding, he waddled away, contented with himself.
There was no word that could describe how infuriated York was. He had only done as the team leader instructed him to. Not only did he have to be reprimanded senselessly, he was also potentially going to lose his job.
He could not handle this anymore...
York was feeling dejected. He sighed and slowly opened a webpage and began scanning for useful articles online, just as he always did.
Since he worked in a small media outlet, he did not have the privilege of on-site reporters. His only source of content was by scouring for resources online. Fortunately, there were no topic restrictions for the articles written as long as they attracted plenty of clicks. This meant that most small media outlets tended to hop on to whatever topic was trending at the time.
After browsing for some time and noting that there were no interesting topics, York looked at the time and saw that it was around eight-thirty. He suddenly remembered to check out the Blackwatch official website.
Blackwatch was the single most influential company in the world with no clear rivals. Whatever news announced from their end was bound to astound the world, which also meant that for small media outlets like the ones York worked in, Blackwatch was the best platform to piggyback on.
York was a regular customer of the Blackwatch official site and regularly tuned in for their routine eight-thirty site refresh.
At eight-thirty sharp, York went to the Blackwatch official site and repeatedly hit the F5 button.
His repeated attempts at refreshing the site paid off by the thirteenth time. A new headline appeared in the center of the homepage of the official website while at the same time, the entire website turned black and white.
"Hm, what's going on?"
York was taken aback by the sudden incident. He initially figured that it was a problem with the screen. It was only after he read the headline when he realized what happened. He hung his mouth wide open and was completely frozen in his seat...
[Captain of the BHB Combative Police Force, Brooke Humphrey, killed last night in the line of duty, retiring at the age of 35.]
York was floored by this headline. It took him several seconds before he came to his senses, which he then immediately tapped into the article with the cursor.
This took him to the article page.
"In the early morning of 20 August 2028, Brooke and the recently inducted officer Lane were ambushed in the suburbs of Queens, New York City when they reported to duty to arrest drug traffickers in the area. The captain was hit by anti-tank artillery and passed..."
Attached below the passage was a black and white photograph of the late Captain Brooke. He looked like his usual handsome, charming, and determined self in the picture, almost like a holy sculpture.
Listed below was the list of accomplishments in Brooke's career.
By this point, York could not bear to read on anymore...
"Stupid April's Fool..."
York uttered a dejected complaint, the mouse in his hand dropped onto the floor.
...
[Tragedy: World famous superhero, BHB Combative Police Force Captain Brooke dies heroically in the line of duty!] - Northern American Associated Press News.
[The world mourns! BHB Combative Police Force Captain Brooke dies at the age of 35!] - Reuters News.
[Be wary of the resurgence of evil factions, the path to the resistance of evil is a long and tedious one. What kind of lesson and reflection can we gain from the death of Captain Brooke?] - Hezhong International News Agency.
[Real-life superheroes have been taken away from us. The real world is not as the stories told, superheroes are not immortal!] - Sina Express.
Within minutes of the announcement on the official website of Blacklight Biotechnology, the news of Brooke's death spread across the public horizon and the world was plunged into a state of grief. Countless media sites in Northern America changed the theme of their websites to black and white to commemorate the death of the hero. There were also countless video game platforms such as Steam who announced a one-day site closure to pay respects to the deceased, beloved hero.
In an instant, the world was plunged into a state of grief and ceaseless mourning...
Chapter 523: Parasitic Spores |
"So, he's dead."
It was the first news Chen Chen received when he woke up the next morning. Such information was not an object of significant importance to him. It was only some mild entertainment to go along with his breakfast at best.
"Lane took him out successfully."
Little X answered, "We've prepared a proper funeral for him too, just a basic gesture of respect to preserving the reputation of our bionic police force."
Chen Chen nodded with feigned interest.
Chen Chen did not know of Brooke's character. However, he knew that ever since Brooke's injury some time ago that caused him to retire from the police force, his personality had become dark and distorted. Within a year after gaining a chance at a new life with the BHB, he divorced his wife and abandoned his children.
For this reason, Brooke was always heavily criticized by some fans. However, the majority of his fans were blind and misled followers. His past wrongdoings were simply ignored by mindless claims such as "the pain of a superhero" and "all men made mistakes at one point or another".
Chen Chen was also informed of Brooke's questionable and disobedient behavior in the company. The silver lining was that he knew how to present himself properly and toned down his behavior after receiving a warning from the company's management.
With that said, that was only what he let show on the surface.
Deep inside, he was still a hateful individual. He was soon recruited by the CIA and became a thorn on Blacklight Biotechnology's side. He took on the role of a spy and regularly fed intel concerning Blacklight Biotechnology to the CIA.
All this time, he was under the impression that nobody knew about his ploys. Little did he know, Little X had been monitoring everything from the get-go. The only reason Chen Chen did not pluck this thorn just yet was to give the Northern American government a false sense of security.
Blacklight Biotechnology had its fair share of spies in the Northern American government and knew that the Central Intelligence Agency had been acting as the "eye" of the government, collecting intel on their enemies. However, it was decided that it was better to not take action on Brooke at the moment since it would be suspicious to immediately dispose of him the moment he began collaborating with the CIA.
Chen Chen only decided to dispose of Brooke later on since he was beginning to push his luck and got on Chen Chen's nerves.
Lane, who had been holding a grudge against Brooke was the perfect candidate for this task. Everything he had been through was perfectly orchestrated, leading up to this moment.
The mastermind behind this exemplary orchestra was none other than Chen Chen.
Little X even took advantage of the noble sacrifice of the hero Brooke as propaganda to further promote BHB Combative Police Force's agenda. The name of BHB had once again ascended to greater heights.
After all, such behavior was not uncommon in the world we lived in. The work of a deceased author was seen as treasures and deceased artists tended to see a surge in popularity...
This was not a baseless observation, but a phenomenon thoroughly studied by researchers. It was noted that whenever a famous artist passed away, people all over the world suddenly began to listen to the late artist's music and their album sales tended to skyrocket...
Stan Renard and Richard Gretz, professors of musicology and marketing at the University of Texas conducted this research based on eighty-one famous artists who passed in the years 2015, 2016, and 2017. This prestigious list included greats such as George Michael, Glenn Frey, Prince, Tom Petty, and David Bowie.
They found that the day after Prince passed in 2016, his album sales soared by a whopping 16000 percent. The
day after Tom Petty died in 2017, his album sales also saw a rise of 6800 percent. Within a week after Soundgarden's lead singer Chris Cornell passed, the band saw a 550 percent increase in their record sales.
It seemed as if their very deaths served as the most efficient marketing tool for their careers...
This observation was dubbed by researchers as "the Prince effect".
"Let's hope Lane can handle this role..."
Chen Chen chewed on an energy bar and swept past the article...
After finishing breakfast, Little X suddenly brought up. "Oh yeah, Sir Godfather, the expedition team on Mars has compiled a fairly detailed archive of the preliminary explorations of Mars. It's attached with a collection of biological samples which the Ares is ready to transport back at any time. However, there seems to be a rise of different opinions in the scientific community."
"I'm aware of that. It's about the objections of bringing samples from Mars back to Earth."
Chen Chen smiled and mentioned quickly.
"Yes."
Little X stood by his side and expressed helplessly, "Several reputable scientists in the scientific community issued a joint statement declaring their opposition to bringing life on Mars back to Earth. They believe that these samples may contain infectious microbes that are unique to conditions on Mars, which may cause a deadly plague when brought to Earth."
"I take it that these scientists don't belong to any of the four major continents."
Chen Chen scoffed at the idea of it. They truly believe that a simple joint statement could oppose the tens of billions of dollars of investment Blacklight Biotechnology and the four major continents had poured into this expedition? Nothing but a fool's errand.
This group must have set out with the idea that if they could not have it, then nobody could. They must have thought that since the project was not led by their countries, there was no harm in causing large controversies to spite the involved parties.
Concerns of Mars microbes infiltrating Earth's atmosphere were completely unwarranted. After all, this was not Blacklight Biotechnology's first day on the job. Proper level-five bioprotection laboratories had been set up a long time ago for this exact purpose. Chances of a breakout were next to null.
Still, there would inevitably be some who claimed that even a one in a million chance was too much risk for mankind. These people had forgotten that mankind had to take the next step forward one way or another and these ventures were necessary to achieve that. If mankind would not strive to advance to the next level, then it was eventually going to face extinction anyway.
Progress could only be made by advancing forward, not by taking a step back.
"There's no need for us to be concerned with these affairs. A simple statement is more than enough. Just leave the rest for the four major continents to handle."
Chen Chen simply brushed off the matter and left the dining table.
After breakfast, Chen Chen went back to his routine of patrolling around the Spire Experimental Base. He used the black sphere to teleport to the Spire, then began making his rounds down each level of the Spire.
The number of research projects in the Spire laboratory had been cut down significantly since many projects had been completed. The only ongoing projects were the daily research concerning the black goo, T-virus, and the C24 chromosome.
The black goo which was a catalyst instantiated from an alien dimension was an extremely prized treasure. It could merge itself with any life form to perform a wide range of unexpected results. The Spire Laboratory had utilized this specimen to create dozens of biological weapons as well as unique drugs.
The G-358 virus that turned Chen Chen into a three-meter tall giant was one of the many drugs procured from the black goo. The string of G-virus specimens was formed from a fusion of T-virus and black goo.
Led by James Watson, the father of DNA, the biological research team of the Spire had developed many kinds of biological weapons, one of which was called "parasitic spore". It was a form of plant-based biological weapon with far more devastating effects than the T-virus. Once the spores were spread to the outside world, they would grow into a special fungus plant.
This strange hybrid specimen was a partially sentient plant. Upon detecting living creatures nearby, it actively released spores that would find their way into the eyes, ears, mouth, and nose of the passing creature. The spores infiltrated the internal organs of their victims and began their parasitizing process.
After that, the parasitic spores would use the host's body as a nutrient source and used the host's DNA as a template to create a monster that could similarly adapt to the host's environment and bore great resemblance to the host itself.
Since this created monster was based on the host's DNA, it managed to bypass the host's immune system and camouflaged itself as a common limp. After approaching the twenty-hour mark, it would burst out of the body of the host and its only living purpose was to kill everything in sight. It would not stop until it had completely eradicated the group of hosts...
Chen Chen's original intention with this powerful biological weapon was to serve as a precautionary measure against whatever threat he may face when accessing alternate dimensions. It was better to be prepared than not.
After Chen Chen came to this laboratory, he approached a row of glass tanks of specimens, all taken care of by one lab personnel. They were the corpses of a group of monsters produced by the parasitic spores inhabiting themselves in living forms on Earth.
Inside the first tank was a monster about the size of a calf. Its body was jet black and wrapped in a tough layer of exoskeletons. The alignment of its limbs was inverted and pushed outward, its skull was elongated and shaped like a large water droplet or better described as spindle-shaped.
The most threatening part of its appearance was its limbs' razor-sharp claws and rows upon rows of sharp teeth inside its mouth. Its claws and teeth were not the usual marble-white color but silver-white instead that appeared to be of a tougher quality.
Hmmm...
Chen Chen gazed at the monster specimen in front of him, clearly pleased with the results. Anyone familiar with the infamous, Hollywood-classic movie "Aliens" should know that this was a near-replica of the alien in the movie.
Apart from the size difference, the monster inside the tank held an uncanny resemblance to the alien in the movie.
The original host of this monster was a Doberman.
After that, Chen Chen inspected the remaining tanks and saw more monsters mutated from chickens, ducks, rabbits, pigeons, cats, and other small domestic animals. There were also specimens mutated from chimpanzees, monkeys, and even other primate species such as humans. The monsters derived from primate species especially were almost completely identical to the aliens in the movie.
This was the power of the black goo.
The Spire Laboratory had conducted further research on these "aliens".
Chen Chen continued touring the laboratory. Before long, he arrived at another laboratory section that looked like a breeding room.
This was the laboratory used to hold the living specimen.
These aliens were held in a bulletproof glass room with up to forty centimeters of fortification. Extremely resilient building materials immune to acid corrosion were used to build these cells to prevent the monsters from ever escaping the laboratory.
Upon Chen Chen's arrival, he saw rows upon rows of such cells, all with black-skinned aliens held within them. Since the aliens were based on a variety of genetic templates, they took on different forms where some of them had large, blocky teeth while others had intimidating sharp teeth.
Regardless of whether these specimens were derived from primate species or other mammalian species, they were able to walk either on all fours or on their back hinds alone. This seemed to be an inherent characteristic of the aliens.
When Chen Chen approached one of the isolation cells, the alien inside seemed to have spotted him and came to the glass curiously.
It quickly established eye contact with him.
Chen Chen could even spot his reflection on the alien's dark and smooth forehead.
After staring into Chen Chen's eyes for a moment, the alien seemed to have become provoked. It opened its mouth to reveal a row of teeth sharper than polished metal and hissed menacingly.
It produced a cloud of steam from its mouth as it hissed. It was accompanied by a vast amount of what seemed like drool dripping out of its mouth. Most people would not regard this as a novel sight to be admired, but Chen Chen seemed to think otherwise.
Chen Chen eagerly stuck his face to the glass and tried to mirror what the alien did. He grinned with his mouth wide open, baring his teeth in front of the alien.
"Hiss..."
The alien seemed to feel challenged by this and opened its mouth wider than before, rows of inner nested teeth were visible now.
The alien was covered in deadly weapons all over - claws sharp enough to tear through steel panels and a jaw so powerful that it was able to tear through carbon steel. However, all of these weapons paled in comparison to the inner nested teeth.
Its inner nested teeth allowed it to make light of fortified steel panels.
After having his fill of fun, Chen Chen drew away, then followed down the corridor with Little X and mentioned, "That seems to be an alien with a primate host..."
Little X quickly explained, "We discovered that even if these aliens have different hosts, they seem to be able to distinctly recognize each other. Not only that, they seem to possess some sort of telepathic ability where even if they are isolated from each other, they can still receive instructions from a "queen" they've never seen before..."
"Queen?"
Chen Chen raised his head at this suggestion.
"Yes."
Little X answered, "They seem to share the social structure of ants and bee colonies. Ordinary members of the colonies take on the role of worker bees while the queen is equivalent to the queen bee. The worker bees hunt and bring food to the queen bee, who is responsible for breeding and expanding the colony..."
