Ye Zhongming had already seen Liu Zhenghong studying the monster that might have swallowed him and sent him into that mysterious world. He also knew that whatever Sister Hong said was about to say must be related to that. However, it had only been a few days since then, so he hadn’t been holding out much hope.
If Liu Zhenghong had taken a year or even several years to research this thing, he wouldn’t have been surprised. Compared to the revolutionary achievements of the pre-apocalypse era, which often required investments of hundreds of billions and decades of effort, Cloud Peak’s Gene Life Laboratory was already godlike.
But Liu Zhenghong’s tone and expression now clearly indicated a breakthrough.
“What did you find?” Ye Zhongming was also intrigued.
“A brand-new gene fragment.”
Liu Zhenghong excitedly paced back and forth before continuing, “A space gene!”
Seeing Ye Zhongming’s furrowed brow, Sister Hong made a face that clearly said, “Talking to laymen is such a hassle,” and explained, “Space genes are incredibly mysterious and difficult to capture. Do you know that these genes are almost entirely transparent? In the microscopic world, that’s almost equivalent to being non-existent and impossible to capture. But I got lucky and managed to find some.”
“These genes are amazing. They possess astonishing abilities. Can you imagine? Just a single gene fragment can have independent… thought? No, no, that’s not accurate. It’s not thought.”
Liu Zhenghong paced another circle. “Activity! Yes, activity—intense activity!”
This question left Ye Zhongming utterly frustrated. He wasn’t a biology or medical student. He had studied genes, but that was long forgotten.
“Looks like you didn’t do well in school,” Liu Zhenghong rolled her eyes, ignoring Ye Zhongming’s exasperated expression, and continued, “Genes have two main characteristics. One is faithfully replicating themselves to maintain the basic traits of an organism.”
“For example, the mutated lifeform I created before, although the process was complex and involved genetic hybridization, overall, each gene fragment remained stable after fusion. This way, the created gene lifeforms were generally stable individuals while still needing periodic returns to nutrient solutions for body repairs. As long as they didn’t die in battle, they could survive for a long time.”
Even though Liu Zhenghong had simplified the explanation as much as possible, Ye Zhongming was still utterly confused. Fortunately, Liu Zhenghong wasn’t trying to make him understand.
“The other characteristic of genes is mutation.”
Gene mutation—this term Ye Zhongming had heard of. He wasn’t sure if it was the same as mutation, but he nodded quickly.
“However, most mutations are pathogenic. Only a small portion are non-pathogenic. These non-pathogenic mutations are essentially products of survival laws, allowing life to better adapt to constantly changing environments. In nature, they evolve into the most suitable individuals.”
“This part has always been a challenge. Mutations are unpredictable, with no clear direction. We can only judge based on the environment, and in experiments, this judgment becomes even more difficult. But with these space genes, their mutations are easy and controllable, with excellent compatibility. They can form entirely new, mature, and stable chromosomes in any position. Given some time, I can apply space genes on a large scale to gene lifeform warriors.”
Liu Zhenghong pushed up her non-existent glasses. “You know, Little Ye, you might end up commanding a space lifeform army.”
“I look forward to that day.” Ye Zhongming nodded. He believed Liu Zhenghong could do it.
Liu Zhenghong proudly patted Ye Zhongming’s shoulder, as if to say, “Good, you know what’s up.”
“I called you here not just to tell you this but also to test an idea with you.”
“What idea?”
Ye Zhongming was puzzled. He knew nothing about genetics, heredity, medicine, or human engineering. He couldn’t think of any way he could help Liu Zhenghong in experiments.
“These space genes are highly malleable, and I can’t fully grasp them yet. But they have strong activity. As long as I find a suitable carrier, I can temporarily transplant them.”
As she spoke, Liu Zhenghong removed a specially designed cylindrical culture dish from the refrigeration chamber of a large experimental container. She opened the dish and placed it in front of Ye Zhongming.
Inside were several black eggs, each about the size of a quail egg.
“These are the carriers I found—unhatched eggs that contain life energy.” Liu Zhenghong then took out an equal number of metal syringes, placed them on a machine, and slowly and precisely injected the contents into each egg.
“Now, these eggs carry space genes. Because of their strong activity and compatibility, and since they’re dealing with eggs in an embryonic state, the space genes have become the dominant genetic material.”
Ye Zhongming listened, completely lost. Although they were just a few simple sentences, they likely contained decades of Liu Zhenghong’s academic expertise. He could only wait for her instructions.
“I heard you used a level-nine lifeform’s egg when repairing Sheng Yuan’s traditional shield?”
Liu Zhenghong suddenly changed the subject.
Ye Zhongming nodded, unsure why she was asking.
“Good. Take these eggs. You have two hours before they die to craft equipment. Congratulations—you might just get something with spatial abilities if you succeed!”
With that, she shooed Ye Zhongming out of the lab.
Ye Zhongming stood there momentarily, holding the cold culture dish, before remembering the two-hour deadline. He immediately sprinted back to his room at top speed. Many of the Ying City faction members attending the meeting at Cloud Peak saw this and couldn’t help but tremble. Was the Cloud Peak boss in a bad mood and planning to wipe them all out?
When he repaired the traditional shield, it was because it had a summoning ability, and the level-nine lifeform’s egg had a ‘homologous’ life carrier.
Now, Liu Zhenghong had given him these eggs, and Ye Zhongming decided to try again.
Unable to find equipment similar to the traditional shield on such short notice, Ye Zhongming pinned his hopes on these life eggs ‘contaminated’ by space genes.
He had been researching this area in his spare time over the past few days. Based on his still-immature ideas, Ye Zhongming began his experiments.
With five life eggs, he selected five pieces of equipment most likely to carry life energy and started crafting them individually. The first attempt at crafting armor failed. In the hands of this top-tier smith, the life egg couldn’t fuse and was destroyed.
Next, boots, a shield, and a battle axe all failed, leaving Ye Zhongming with little confidence. Did he really need equipment with summoning abilities? But such equipment was too rare.
Finally, with his last hope, he crafted a ring.
After a flash of light, the originally silver ring turned almost transparent.
Did it work?
Ye Zhongming was stunned and quickly examined the ring. It had only one skill.