Chapter 173: “Stealing” Genes
The transport plane aligned with the circular metal platform directly below and began to descend.
The platform was not large, barely able to accommodate the 100-meter-long armed transport plane. Fortunately, Chang Kong's piloting skills were superb, with the front and rear landing gear almost touching the edge of the platform.
During the descent, Lu Yuan saw a large number of indigenous people gathering towards them. By the time the transport plane's hatch opened, hundreds of eyes were already watching them.
The sky bridge and building platforms were filled with men, women, and children.
They also had tall, elegant figures and skin that glowed white. They were very curious about the outsiders and whispered continuously.
“Are they really from other planets? Not survivors from other parts of the continent?”
“No mistake! Look at that aircraft; it has no wings, which means it primarily flies outside the atmosphere. It should have interstellar travel capability.”
“Oh, does that mean they can take us away from this cursed place?”
“We don’t know their background yet—”
“Let’s just leave here first.”
“Can we ask them to take us in?”
“Quiet, don’t let the Chief Investigator hear you.”
With Lu Yuan’s current perception attributes, aided by the power armor helmet’s listening function, it was easy to hear these whispers. From these conversations, he deduced that although Emerald Star had also lost its space travel capabilities, the technological decline was probably not as severe as Li Star’s, and knowledge transfer had not been interrupted.
Lu Yuan calmly surveyed his surroundings, noticing about three to four hundred “metal treehouse” buildings of varying sizes, distributed across the canopies of four giant trees. About half of them were smaller, resembling residences, while the other half were likely public buildings.
Estimating from the number of buildings, the population of this settlement would not exceed 500, making it quite vulnerable in this brutal jungle.
Seeing that the guests had not “misbehaved” along the way, the female leader relaxed considerably and approached Lu Yuan with a smile.
“Although it may sound a bit rude, you will need to undergo a gene scan before entering the outpost to confirm that you are indeed—human.”
“No, it’s not rude,” Lu Yuan waved his hand. “This is a normal safety procedure. However, in return, we will also need to scan you.”
After re-establishing a connection with the hibernation pod in the transport plane, Ye Xing’s live stream resumed.
Seeing the Emerald Life Science mutants with their elf-like appearances, a massive flood of bullet comments immediately covered the screen.
Thousands of words condensed into one sentence:
“Even though I haven’t played the game yet, I no longer want to be a pure human.”
“I want to play as a mutant!”
“Of course, that’s fair!” The female leader readily agreed to Lu Yuan’s request for mutual scanning.
“Alright then, why don’t we just scan here.” Ye Xing reached out to take off his helmet.
“Stop!” The other party quickly called out, “The air contains a large number of harmful microorganisms! You’re from outside and definitely lack disease resistance!”
Ye Xing realized he had almost made a fatal mistake, and the people around him also cast disdainful glances at him.
“So unprofessional.”
“And he calls himself a Chief Investigator!”
“Please follow me, there’s a sterile room in the outpost’s medical area.”
The medical area was very large, occupying the entire treetop of one giant tree.
After crossing a long suspended sky bridge, the team entered a circular building, which was a sterile isolation room.
After a chemical spray and UV sterilization, the players removed their helmets. The female leader picked up an instrument and began scanning Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan also took out his scanner, returning the favor.
It was hard to call this fair, because the other party was only scanning genes, while Lu Yuan, in addition to their bodies, would also scan their equipment.
Soon, their results came out, while the other side was more than ten seconds slower, which showed the power of Cangyuan technology.
“This—”
Through a glass pane, Lu Yuan saw several staff members gathered around a computer screen in the adjacent observation room, who then sent a private communication to the female leader.
“Excuse me, are you soldiers? Is the battle outside still ongoing?”
After receiving the communication, the female leader asked Lu Yuan.
“We are not soldiers,” Lu Yuan replied truthfully. “The battle you speak of probably ended three hundred years ago. Humanity did not win.”
“Ah, so that’s how it is. I apologize. Your genes have undergone specialized modification based on pure human genes. The code is very similar to the elite combat teams of the golden age, focusing on the enhancement of six basic attributes and the development of organ capabilities. The algorithm was very rare back then.”
Oh, they’re quite discerning. These people do have some heritage.
“In terms of genetic modification, we indeed inherited some technology from the golden age. It’s just luck,” Lu Yuan said.
“Luck, you say—”
The longing in the other party’s eyes was too obvious; it couldn’t be hidden.
Lu Yuan smiled faintly.
“If you want this gene algorithm, you can trade for it with something of equal value.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
“Then—then please wait for me! I need to confirm with the Chief Scientist!”
“Wait a moment,” Lu Yuan quickly stopped the female leader. “Have our tests passed? Can we find a place to settle down first?”
He knew some of his team members were almost ready to go offline and work like oxen.
To ensure characters got enough rest while offline, they didn’t actually need comfortable rooms; they could simply return to the hibernation pods in the transport plane. Lu Yuan asked this merely to gauge the outpost’s level of acceptance towards them.
“Yes, you’ve passed! Someone will show you the way, but before you leave here, you’ll need to be vaccinated and take medication to resist airborne spores.”
After completing the epidemic prevention work, led by a staff member, the team of nine arrived at a vacant residence.
This house was also circular, with a steel exterior. Inside, the architect had used locally sourced, warm solid wood panels to cover the floor, walls, and ceiling, a style completely different from the barren and arid Li Star.
“You all rest for a bit—I’ll go find the chef—to prepare food for you!”
The young girl leading the way, probably only in her teens, was as light as a bird and a bit shy. She said her piece and then ran off.
“Hmm—”
Lu Yuan’s first impression of the outpost was quite good. The residents here carried an unfeigned “innocence.” Perhaps, as the players said, the simplicity of social relations had led to the degeneration of cunning and malicious intentions.
He sat on the sofa in the room, and the players gathered around him.
“Boss, what did you gain just now?”
“Quite a lot.”
Lu Yuan showed them the results on his pad.
Now, the human mutant gene map of Emerald Life Science had been acquired.
As the closed beta entered its third month, players finally got their second selectable race besides “Earthlings.”
“Emerald Star Mutants”!
Compared to standard humans, Emerald Star people averaged at least 10 centimeters taller, had flexible joints, and their weight remained largely unchanged.
Their template had both advantages and disadvantages compared to standard humans.
In terms of attributes, they were comprehensively superior. The growth coefficients for Agility, Strength, Spirit, Perception, Constitution, and Intelligence were 1.8, 1.6, 1.6, 1.4, 1.2, and 1.1 times that of standard humans, respectively.
Of course, such high attribute growth also came at a cost.
The genetic potential of Emerald Star mutants was severely exploited, making specialized modification more difficult. This resulted in a higher computational cost for adding active and passive skills compared to standard humans; they could obtain one skill point approximately every 9 levels.
Standard humans, however, gained one skill point every 5 levels.
Their slender physique brought some advantages, such as longer tendons leading to increased explosive power, and proportionally increased stride and arm span.
However, correspondingly, their smaller joints led to a decrease in static strength.
Overall, Emerald Star mutants were very suitable for players whose combat style did not rely heavily on skills, or for casual players who wanted to try everything and were not planning to stick to a fixed build.