The reason why many evolved humans were unknown was not because they were not strong enough. Some of them were weak and lacked practice. Most of them were unlucky and died in the middle of their journey.
For example, there was a group of cultivation cabins that Luo Yuan paid special attention to. The embryo inside had been implanted with a special gene. The gene came from an evolved human who had unfortunately died during the purge. If he had lived until now, he would have been a super evolved human even if his strength had not improved.
According to the records, this evolved human was extremely strong, just like the reincarnation of Hercules. He could lift a heavy tank that weighed forty to fifty tons and throw it at it. He could also easily jump hundreds of meters high.
If the records were not exaggerating, his strength was incredible. Even with Luo Yuan's 17 points of Strength, he could only lift a ton. For a small mammal like a human, lifting 200 to 300 times its own weight was something only insects could do.
There was no record of how he died. However, from the few words in the records, the military must have paid a hefty price.
However, even though he was dead, his corpse was preserved.
His body structure was the same as an ordinary human. Although his muscles were compact and strong, they were not as developed as an ordinary human's. What was special about his body was his cells. To be precise, it was the mitochondria inside his cells.
Luo Yuan found that his mitochondria were completely different from normal organisms. Not only was its internal structure complicated, but it also contained a few mysterious enzymes that allowed him to carry out a certain cold fusion reaction.
When water molecules entered the mitochondria, they would be decomposed into ions. A small portion of H atoms would be fused into elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. These elements, oxygen, and hydrogen would be converted into various amino acids that the body needed. The energy produced from the fusion was used to supply the body's daily needs.
Although the fusion reaction was slow, each mitochondria could only produce one or two hydrogen atoms per second to be converted into elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. Even if the human body had a total of 50 trillion cells, the amount of hydrogen that could be fused was only about 1/10,000 of a gram.
However, fusion was still fusion. The energy produced by the biochemical reaction of normal organisms could not be compared to it. Moreover, the cold fusion reaction was more advanced and efficient than the fusion reaction of a hydrogen bomb. The energy produced by 1/10,000 of a gram of hydrogen was equivalent to the value of burning a few tons of standard coal. It was equivalent to 7,000 to 8,000 times the energy needed by an ordinary person and 20 to 30 times the energy needed by Luo Yuan.
At the same time, the existence of the mitochondria meant that his need for food had been reduced to its limit. He only needed to replenish some water and regular elements to survive. He did not need to breathe anymore.
It was a natural interstellar organism. When Luo Yuan saw it for the first time, he was pleasantly surprised. Once he had such mitochondria in his body, his strength would increase exponentially. Just his Strength and Stamina alone would be increased tenfold.
...
At that moment, Professor Guan ran over with a few assistants following behind him.
"Minister Luo, there's bad news. Groups A1 to A- 10000 oocytes have all died." He ran to Luo Yuan and said in a panic. He knew that these were the nutrition pods that Luo Yuan valued, but he did not expect that none of them survived.
"What happened? The embryos have not even started to divide. How could this happen? " Luo Yuan said in a deep voice. This had never happened before. Usually, as long as the embryo was still active, it would not be unable to divide. In the previous experiments, no matter how the genes were changed, the first division would always proceed normally. The death of the embryo usually happened when the embryo was about to form.
He did not suspect that the assistants had made a mistake as the possibility was too low to be ignored.
After all, it was not the first or second time that the laboratory had cloned. Nowadays, the cloning technology in the laboratory was very mature. The various steps of cloning had been specially compiled into a manual. Following the steps, it was like an assembly line. Even an ordinary worker could skillfully operate it after some training. Needless to say, the ones working here were highly educated and experienced lab assistants.
"According to the operation records, the egg cells are active and the nutrient content is normal. All the hormones have been added according to the rules. However, the embryos are still not dividing," Professor Guan said while walking.
"What do you think?" Luo Yuan asked.
"Excluding other possibilities, I suspect that there is something wrong with the chromosomes. That is why the embryos are still not dividing," Professor Guan looked at Luo Yuan and said hesitantly.
The genes of all the embryos had been edited by Luo Yuan himself. If there was no problem with the operation, then there must be a problem with the editing.
Although with the help of Luo Yuan's large-scale genetic engineering, the Reconstruction Area's knowledge of genes had improved tremendously. However, there was still no progress in the methods of genetic modification. It was like entering a mountain of treasures but there was no digging tool. They could observe it and know how to modify it, but they could not directly edit it like Luo Yuan did.
Luo Yuan did not mind Professor Guan's bluntness. He stopped walking and thought for a while. He then continued walking, "Let's take a look first."
There were 10 incubation cabins in each group. All the 10000 groups from A1 to A. were dead, which meant that the genetic modification of 100,000 embryos had failed.
The egg cell was the largest cell in the human body. It was the most common way to clone an egg cell by removing its nucleus and transplanting it into a recipient cell.
However, even the largest cell in the human body was only 0.1 millimeters, which was the thickness of a hair. It was suspended in the nutrient solution and could not be seen by ordinary people without the help of equipment. Luo Yuan was not one of them.
He took a closer look. The cells were damaged and shriveled. A large amount of cell fluid had flowed out. Apparently, they were dead. There was no need to look at the rest.
He could feel that all the embryos in the area were dead.
Each of the cells had Luo Yuan's Will imprinted on them, and they had a faint connection with him. Even if they were separated from his body, they would still be a part of his body, as if they were never separated at all. However, the connection in this area had disappeared.
"Other than the problem here, are the other embryos developing well?" Luo Yuan asked Professor Guan as he was not in a hurry to check with his Will.
"There are no problems. The fastest one has already started the tenth round of division. The slowest one has already gone through the first round."
Luo Yuan had some speculations in his mind.
Some of the embryos in the incubation cabins from A1 to A- 10000 had been edited with one ability gene while some had two or three abilities. The highest number of embryos in A- 10000 had been edited with 12 abilities. However, no matter how many genes were transplanted, they all had one thing in common. All of them had been edited with Xu Zhiqiang's ability gene.
Xu Zhiqiang was the closest life form to the fourth dimension. Naturally, his genes contained the secrets of the fourth dimension. From the sequence of the numbers starting from A, Luo Yuan could tell how much he valued these genes.
Unfortunately, the secrets of the fourth dimension were not that easy to detect. Xu Zhiqiang's genes seemed to be no different from those of ordinary evolved humans. The editing was rather smooth but the result was completely different.
All the embryos that had been edited with Xu Zhiqiang's genes died one by one. They could not divide at all. Luo Yuan could vaguely guess that he might have missed something during the gene editing.
"Fourth dimension!"
He suddenly had an idea. Could it be that a part of Xu Zhiqiang's genes did not exist in this dimension and could not be observed in the third dimension?
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was possible. The genes of a four-dimensional life form could not be the same as in the third dimension. This was an evolution in all aspects. Even if Xu Zhiqiang was not a true four-dimensional life form, just like Luo Yuan who only had a part of the fourth dimension, there should be some changes in the genes.
As he thought about it, Luo Yuan told Professor Guan, "Clean up all the dead embryos and get someone to clone the cell labeled S- 36778. Make it a hundred copies and send a sample to my office."
Serial number S- 36778 was Xu Zhiqiang's gene. He wanted to see if the cell could be cloned.
"Alright!" Professor Guan immediately replied.
After that, Luo Yuan rushed to his office. After closing the door, he untied his belt and activated his four-dimensional vision. He then used his Will to look into his body.
His four-dimensional Will allowed him to look at his surroundings from a bird's eye view. Luo Yuan realized that dark energy was everywhere in his four-dimensional vision. It was as if the entire world was floating in an ocean of dark energy. Even his body had dark energy flowing slowly within it.
The energy seemed to be illusory. It could easily pass through his body without leaving any trace.
Luo Yuan used his Will to move the energy. It seemed like it could be controlled by his Will but Luo Yuan did not know how to use it. He only moved a few times and stopped trying.
He could feel that this energy seemed to be quiet and harmless, like calm flowing water, but it gave him a faint feeling of palpitation. If he continued to experiment recklessly, who knew what kind of disastrous consequences would occur, not to mention that he was experimenting with it inside his body.
He shifted his attention away from the dark energy and quickly selected a somatic cell.
The next moment, the cell expanded in his eyes. His Will then broke through the cell nucleus and entered the chromosomes.
The genes of the brain were distributed on several chromosomes. Luo Yuan searched through all the chromosomes but he could not find any trace of his genes in the fourth dimension.
Luo Yuan frowned and was puzzled. "Could it be that I guessed wrong?"
He could not figure it out. It all depended on Xu Zhiqiang's cells. He hoped that he was wrong.
Not long after, Xu Zhiqiang's cell sample was sent to Luo Yuan. He waited for the assistant to leave the office and closed the door gently. He then opened the cover glass and used his Will to investigate.
However, in Xu Zhiqiang's cells, he soon found traces of the fourth dimension in a pair of chromosomes that were confirmed to be the source of his ability. It was a four-dimensional genome that was connected to a three-dimensional gene to form a Klein bottle structure. From a three-dimensional perspective, the four-dimensional genome could not be seen. However, from a four-dimensional perspective, they were a whole. Once the four-dimensional gene was removed, the entire genome could not be expressed.
Luo Yuan exited the state of Will. The two different results made him confused. There was nothing wrong with Xu Zhiqiang's genes. Just as he had guessed, they matched the characteristics of a four-dimensional creature. The problem was with his genes.
Could it be that only his brain cells had undergone genetic mutation and the other parts of his body had yet to undergo a chain reaction? Or could it be that his genes did not enter the fourth dimension and only some of his brain cells had entered the fourth dimension by chance? "
…
On the fourth day, there was another piece of bad news. Xu Zhiqiang's cell cloning failed and all the embryos died of natural causes.
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