by <unknown>
"This is a minecart."
Zhao Xi explained, "The ninth floor doesn't exist for its own sake. We used tunnel boring machines to excavate several underground mines at a depth of more than 3,000 meters. These minecarts connect to those mines. If we want to seal off the base in the future, then our resources will naturally be tapped from the ground.
"Plus, some minecarts even lead to underground lakes and can collect underground freshwater resources…"
Chen Chen was even more amazed when he heard these words. He continued his visit for more than an hour before he returned to the surface.
This visit lasted nearly eight hours and his guides were terribly exhausted by the end. Only Chen Chen's face remained as usual without any change at all.
When Chen Chen was sent off, the few of them exchanged a few casual words, then said goodbye and left.
They were going to report to their higher-ups regarding Chen Chen's reactions throughout his visit to the main base, without leaving out a single detail.
Chapter 563: L Compound |
The following days were relatively peaceful and quiet again.
The reverse research on the time machine would take at least several months. Over this duration, Chen Chen would routinely head over to the other world to see if any problems had arisen. Fortunately, nothing major had ever come up and he would simply return to his slumber shortly after.
Furthermore, Chen Chen took the cryogenic chamber he left at Shais' back to the Blacklight City.
Meanwhile, he continued spending most of his time in the quiet room.
Chen Chen placed the quiet room underneath the Indian Ocean. There was nothing much he did in this remote, isolated place apart from honing his Field. Ever since Field melded with the psionic energy, it had gotten rougher around the edges. Chen Chen once was able to magnify into microscopic view up to a thousand times using Field and this value had declined to only eight hundred times now.
As far as Chen Chen was concerned, the forte of Field was not only in its ability to affect substances but also in its ability to grant him microscopic observation.
If applied correctly, Chen Chen could apply Field to such a fine extent that he could alter the anatomical structure of substances. This way, he could alter the shape and properties of certain objects and perform feats such as reducing a rock back to soil or alter the chemical bonds of specific substances.
Going beyond this, Chen Chen could sharpen his accuracy to attain a level of control over atoms which would make it even more powerful. The electromagnetic force between the atoms could be destroyed with a simple wave of his hands and with that, any form of metal or whatever enemy stood before him would be disintegrated into nothingness almost effortlessly.
Further exemplifying this ability would be to delve into the layer of the cell nucleus, which would allow Chen Chen to achieve far greater things. He could generate nuclear fusion phenomena at will or gain complete control over quantum tides, even alter vacuum spaces. At that point, he would be able to fabricate artificial wormholes to cross the universe at will.
However, such extreme precision would require a microscopic magnification of at least two million times. Chen Chen still had a long way to go before he could achieve it.
"Phew!"
Chen Chen suddenly let out a long, dragged-out sigh and opened his eyes while still in his meditation pose.
The moment his eyelids opened, the eyes underneath them seemed to spark with a jolt of electricity. They emitted bright sparks amid the darkness. His deep concentration seemed to have materialized and took form.
"Looks like it's finally restored to its previous condition..."
Chen Chen shook his head as the spark in his eyes started to dwindle again. He stood up to exercise his joints, then suddenly frowned.
Over this period, the level of his Field had taken a tremendous leap then eventually lost its original momentum again.
It was the same as what he had experienced previously. After Chen Chen's Field reached the plateau, he found himself in a bottleneck phase where it was extremely difficult to develop it any further.
Chen Chen's DNA structure had also become saturated to such a point where any absorption of crystalline would not make a difference at this point.
"It seems like I have to either search for alternatives or take another approach and begin to aim for precise control over Field instead."
Chen Chen shook his head, clearly not satisfied. At his current level, standing up against the Consciousness Stealer would be nigh impossible. After all, the Consciousness Stealer's psionic energy was a culmination of billions of its victim's life force.
Chen Chen left the quiet room still pondering about this and returned to the Spire using the Gantz black sphere.
"Sir Godfather, it looks like you're not in a good mood today."
Little X pointed out almost immediately as soon as she saw Chen Chen.
Chen Chen nodded and remarked, "It's the problem with Field, I'm trying to figure out how I can further develop it so I can face the Consciousness Stealer."
"Hmm..."
Little X pondered for a moment. "I have a good idea, but that will depend on if you're willing to take such an approach."
"Intrigue me."
Chen Chen said, tilting his head to the side.
"If the Consciousness Stealer attained its psionic powers by accumulating the life force of billions of humans, then you should be able to do the same as well."
Little X noted. "You can infect the people in that world using similar methods and then absorb them. That way, your psionic power would improve dramatically. Since your psionic powers had fused with Field, raising one should improve the other simultaneously, wouldn't it?"
Chen Chen chuckled upon hearing this suggestion. "I wouldn't say this cannot be done but it looks like my powers are slightly weaker."
"After my Field fused with the psionic power, I've been sensing some sort of mutation in the ability. I noticed that I cannot infect human consciousness the way the Consciousness Stealer does. To do so, I need to first implant a 'psionic seed' just like what I did with Niuceus Laman."
"I have an alternative for you."
Little X remarked. "If you cannot infect them using psionic powers, there's another way we can approach this."
"Another way?"
Chen Chen was unsure of what to make of this.
"Back when I was performing a blood test on you, I discovered a special element in your blood. The academic name that I have labeled it with is the psionic factor or L factor for short. This new element should be the result of your Field and psionic energy fusing and just like the protoplasmic fluid of the Consciousness Stealer, this L factor has infectious qualities as well!"
"Really?"
Chen Chen was surprised to hear of this. If that was true, would that not essentially make him another Consciousness Stealer as well?
"Well, this infectious quality is mostly dormant and would not impose its effects under usual circumstances. However, I can do something to alter its qualities."
Little X went on. "After I perform a string of complex procedures, I may be able to extract the L factor and further develop it into a virus variant. Although this virus cannot transmit itself telepathically like the Consciousness Stealer's, it can be manually injected which will alter the structure of other human's DNA."
"Must the subject be humans?"
Chen Chen frowned. Though he was not opposed to the idea of sacrificing a small portion of the human population to preserve the rest of mankind in the long run, there was still a certain limit to how far he was willing to go.
"Of course, why else would the Consciousness Stealer choose humans instead of other creatures?"
Little X snickered and said.
Chen Chen chuckled at this silly remark of his as well. It was evident that human beings were the only high-level intelligent life so far. Even ten thousand pigs and dogs combined could not match the level of consciousness possessed by
a single human. Therefore, infecting humans was by far the best choice.
"Human beings living a high-level intelligent life is just one of the deciding factors."
Little X described, "At the end of the day, a similar DNA template would be required for an effective blood infection. The infection rate of other species may be less than 0.1%."
Hmmm...
Chen Chen appeared ruminative upon hearing this. "If this is how it has to be, then I suppose it's worth a shot but something else came to my mind... What you are saying is that the developed virus would be the equivalent of scattering psionic seeds into a Field and allowing others to gain psionic powers, is that it?"
"That's right, that's the idea."
Little X nodded.
A flash appeared in Chen Chen's eyes. "In that case, there are other uses we can come up with for this virus..."
...
The biotechnology advent of Blacklight Biotechnology had reached such unprecedented heights that even the Umbrella Corporation or the Weyland-Yutani Corporation would have to bow down before its greatness. It only took a few days before Chen Chen obtained a tube of the referred virus from Little X.
It was a transparent vial containing the dark-blue substance.
The vial the virus was packed in was the same as the one used to slot the G virus. With a gentle tap, a needle would be summoned at its end and allow for effortless injection directly into a person's veins.
The contents of the vial were none other than the L factor essence extracted from Chen Chen's blood.
"A hundred millimeters of your blood can produce roughly eighty vials of the L factor essence."
Little X tabulated. "For your current physical condition, you can easily afford to have a hundred millimeters of blood drawn out daily without any issues. It's a healthy ratio."
Chen Chen was slightly disturbed by this mention. "X, you're saying this like I'm supposed to be some kind of experiment subject."
With that being said, Chen Chen still silently ran through the numbers in his mind. If he made eighty vials of this virus a day, then it would total to almost two thousand and five hundred a month, and close to thirty thousand a year. It was not a jarring number but a century's accumulated effort would produce three million vials.
At least it was better than the alternative of implanting psionic seed into others directly. At the end of the day, Chen Chen was not the Consciousness Stealer and constantly implanting the psionic seed into others would gradually weaken his Field and cause it to deteriorate eventually.
Chen Chen could also extract larger volumes of blood to increase production, but that would be at the expense of his health.
What came after that was the exciting-as-usual experiment phase. All that planning would amount to nothing if this virus turned out to be ineffective after all.
A felon was escorted into a common laboratory.
As Delta-level subjects in God's Forbidden Zone, these people were accommodated with well-prepared food and supervised training to keep them in the healthiest state at all times. The subjects brought in were always well-built like professional athletes.
With that said, all the muscles in the world would not help them when faced with the Black Knights. The subject was fixed on a stretcher by two Black Knights without any room for resistance. Then, he was forced to wait for what was to come next.
"What are you trying to do?"
There was a distinct tremor in the felon's voice as he exclaimed. He surveyed his surroundings and saw an expressionless person approaching him with an array of instruments. It did not take long before he found himself strapped down with a collection of devices such as an electrocardiograph, electric shock device, ventilator, and so on.
The subject became increasingly anxious.
It was around this point when one of the staff in a large white lab coat approached him with a deep blue vial of something. The subject put up a futile attempt of trying to wring himself out of the stretcher when he saw the vial. His instincts told him that it could not be anything other than bad news.
"Tss!"
All the subject heard was the sound of air pressure produced by a syringe being held down. There was not much pain in the arm. He only felt a slight chill where he felt the needle plunged inside that made him shiver.
The blue substance was subsequently pumped into the subject's body through his veins.
The subject witnessed all this with great agitation, his heart thumping violently against his chest and he asked, "What is this, what did you people inject into me? Is this a human experiment?"
For all the questions that he threw at them, not a single personnel in the laboratory bothered with entertaining him and continued along with their tasks.
Unbeknownst to the subject, they were all Androids. The expendable positions in the Spire had long been replaced by Androids at this point.
Meanwhile, Chen Chen resided in the command room on the second floor and looked at the data feed of the experiment subject. There was a visible increase in the subject's blood pressure following the injection.
The life force of the subject was being exhausted at a rapid pace.
Meanwhile, the subject's body temperature began to soar sky-high as well. His breathing became frantic and within ten minutes, his body had become stark red like a boiled lobster!
"The nutrients in the subject's body are dissolving rapidly!"
Little X turned to look at Chen Chen. "Sir Godfather, should we inject nutrients for him?"
"No need to rush."
Chen Chen waved his hand and said decisively, "I need to see if it can be supported by the human body without any external assistance. This drug has to be circulated in large volumes in the future and if each injection requires facilitation, then this virus is effectively useless."
"Oh…"
Having understood Chen Chen's angle, Little X nodded.
The subject's body temperature continued to rise. From what was regular temperature at the beginning, it had gradually risen to forty-one degrees. At this temperature, his vitals were at a critical state and his heart thumped violently like a dysfunctional piston. He was fading in and out at this point and the muscles of his entire body twitched uncontrollably.
Still, Chen Chen merely observed this without the slightest intention of helping.
What was strange was that despite these exaggerated physiological changes in the subject's body, his heart and lung functions were preserved all the same. In addition, they had only grown stronger throughout the process. His heart was thumping with frightful strength at this point.
"Here's the turning point!"
Little X sensed the same as well and she glowed up as she exclaimed, "It seems the L factor is working and is beginning to infiltrate his DNA structure. This kind of mutation is similar to that of a virus infection..."
The subject's breathing and heartbeat slowly reverted to normal as Little X said this. His body temperature soon decreased as well, along with his blood pressure.
"Looks like it's successful?"
Chen Chen rose from his seat and approached the observation window to peer at the floor below. The felon subject was now in a comatose state.
An Android stepped forward and drew a fresh blood sample from the subject and injected it into a nearby device for inspection.
"As expected, there's been a change in his DNA!'
Little X remarked in awe, "I've detected many shifts in his DNA that weren't there originally, but I haven't detected the L factor in his blood. This means that you don't have to worry because although the subject is a carrier of the L factor, it's not contagious in any manner."
"Now, let's hope that he displays the symptoms I hope for."
After saying that, Chen Chen shut his eyes.
The moment he shut his eyes, Chen Chen sensed something in a faint corner of his mind. He leaned in closer to get a better impression of what it was and sensed that it was an unfamiliar source of conscience. He realized that all he ha
d to do was reach in closer to absorb this conscience and render it as feed for himself to grow stronger.
This was not the first time he had sensed something like this. The first time was when he had granted the Duke of Laman a psionic seed.
More importantly, this injection was the direct equivalent to Chen Chen having planted the psionic seed in this subject. With this, the subject had also attained a supernatural source of power...
Chen Chen slowly opened his eyes and glanced at the expectant Little X.
"Good work."
Chen Chen praised. "I can feel his presence from here. I can't believe it only took you one try to obtain a complete product."
"In that case, we shall perform another batch of experiments to obtain further experimental data."
Little X smiled sweetly. "We should also name this substance."
"Name?"
Chen Chen considered for a moment and soon snapped his fingers. "Since it contains the L factor extracted from my blood, how about we name it the 'L compound'?"
...
Chapter 564: Superpower Emergence |
Chen Chen only came up with this name because he thought of a TV series he once watched called The Boys.
The backdrop of the TV series was that it was a world where humans and superhumans coexisted in the same society. The civilization of the world was identical to the real world and humans with superpowers were treated just the same as any other commoners would be.
In a world where superpowers were commonplace, there existed individuals with superpowers but did not possess any proper skills to make a proper living and afford rent at all.
There was a financial company known as Vought International that specialized in making celebrities out of people with superpowers. They would dedicate their efforts to branding selected individuals into international stars.
With the influence of Vought International, superhumans no longer had to be reclusive hermits bound to the downtown area, but international celebrities boasting millions of fans. They would participate in business activities arranged by the company and star in reality shows and talk shows, and even in their TV dramas. They were in an entirely separate category of celebrities.
