Seeing this, Chen Chen's eyes flashed with a solemn glint. In the movie, David only took a small drop of it and put it in a glass of wine. It infected an adult, causing the adult to transform into a humanoid monster within ten hours.
From this, it could be seen that the black goo was not a bacterium or a virus but a relatively stable polymer compound. Otherwise, it would not have easily resisted the destructive effects of alcohol.
At this time, the Black Knight imitated David's operation in the movie. He directly broke off the tip of the popsicle, then inserted a syringe from the side and extracted an extremely small amount of the black goo liquid from the popsicle.
In this black goo liquid, some of the Black Knight was directly placed under a microscope for analysis and observation, while the rest was injected into the bodies of the mice that had been prepared in advance.
Soon, Chen Chen saw that the mice injected with the black goo began to show symptoms of fever and convulsions.
Soon, the hair on this little white mouse began to fall off, and the pink skin under the hair was exposed to the air. However, at this moment, the other mice on the side seemed to notice something unusual and they all gathered around this sick white mouse.
However, this heartwarming scene was immediately reversed. The sick white mouse suddenly leaped up and pounced on one of the white mice, tearing it apart with its mouth wide open!
In an instant, the little white mouse was bitten until it bled profusely!
"After being infected with the black goo, it will lose its rationality and become extremely aggressive."
Chen Chen observed silently. Soon, the sick white mouse easily killed the other mice in the same cage. He continued to record. "After being infected with the black goo, the host's own strength will suddenly increase greatly, and it can easily kill its own kind of similar size, consistent with what was shown in the movie..."
After recording all these changes, Chen Chen only saw that the body of the little white mouse in the cage began to turn from red to gray. At the same time, it began to eat the flesh and blood of its own kind, as if to accumulate energy for the next mutation.
Soon, the body of this little white mouse gradually grew a layer of cuticle, which began to turn black. At the same time, under the black color, there was a dark red flesh.
In the end, a layer of fine, dense, but steel needle-like spikes emerged from its body, replacing the original white hair. What was even more strange was that these spikes were constantly going in and out, looking extremely bizarre...
"This is already a new species."
Chen Chen was astounded. He called out to a Black Knight and the Black Knight immediately came forward and put on a pair of thick protective gloves. At the same time, he inserted a syringe into the cage and gently held the mutated mouse in his hand. He began to draw a blood sample from it.
After being caught, the little white mouse began to struggle violently. At the same time, it let out an extremely strange shriek.
This kind of sound had already exceeded the scope of sound that a mouse could make. It was incomparably mournful and ferocious. Obviously, regardless of whether it was the genes or the body structure of this mouse, it had already undergone a qualitative change.
However, although this little white mouse had mutated to an extremely terrifying degree, the difference in their sizes was still there. No matter how hard it struggled, it was unable to break free from the Dark Knight's grasp.
However, before the blood of the mutated mice could be analyzed, Black Water had done it first.
When the composition of the black goo was analyzed, Chen Chen was taken aback.
"Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
Looking at the test report in his hand, Chen Chen wore a very strange expression. "You mean, this black goo is a protein composed of more than 20 amino acids?"
"Yes, it's a protein molecule that can infect a variety of carbon-based life forms."
Little X replied, "If it weren't for the fact that it's right in front of me, I'm afraid even I wouldn't believe that there's such a strange protein molecule in the world."
"In other words, this is something similar to a prion?"
Chen Chen took a deep breath. "Then what about its method of infection? Is it the same as a prion? "
"Yes, according to the blood test of the mice, we've roughly gotten the answer."
Little X said again, "But unlike other prions, this protein doesn't deposit in the brain and damage the brain of creatures. Instead, it directly changes the human gene chain."
After hearing this, Chen Chen completely understood.
The so-called prion was not actually a virus because in international textbooks, viruses could be classified as organisms. However, prions were not considered organisms. They were a self-replicating and infectious factor composed only of proteins.
However, prions were the same as conventional viruses. They were filterable, infectious, and pathogenic, but they were much smaller than the smallest known conventional virus. The structure of the virus particles could not be observed under the electron microscope and they did not show an immune effect.
Chen Chen continued to read and suddenly understood why the black goo was a prion.
This was because after the prion protein of the black goo entered the host's body, the normal PRP protein of the human body would be easily assimilated by the prion protein of the black goo, changing the protein quality of the normal configuration into the molecular structure of the black goo, which increased geometrically and expanded rapidly.
However, if that was all, it would be fine. At most, the black goo was a new prion with rapid and strong infectivity. What was even more surprising was that the prion protein of the black goo not only had the ability to assimilate the protein in the host's body but also had the ability to disassemble the nucleic acid in the host's body!
When the prion protein of the black goo encountered the host's nucleic acid chain, it seemed to trigger a certain program that began to disassemble the host's DNA nucleic acid chain and recombine it into a new form.
After the nucleic acid chain was recombined, the prion protein of the black goo would also wrap this new nucleic acid chain, forming a new viral structure.
At this point, the prion of the black goo had successfully evolved into a complete virus by plundering the DNA in the organism's body. This virus would work together with the black goo to carry out a second transformation of the host's body.
Thus, the scene that appeared in the little white mouse's body just now had completely happened...
After reading the report in his hand, Chen Chen's expression became even more strange. "No wonder it can be extracted by the USB drive. I didn't expect the black goo to be a substance similar to a prion. But in this report, the prion protein of the black goo is more like an artificial protein robot..."
"I feel the same way."
Little X echoed. "The black goo is hundreds or thousands of times more magical than prions. It's not something that can be defined by a prion at all."
"After all, it's the supreme creation of the engineer civilization."
Chen Chen nodded and said with emotion, "But now that I'm here, I finally understand the value of the black goo. Compared with the black goo, the T-virus is like a shoddy toy. Most creatures infected by the T-virus are unstable. For example, zombies. Only products infected from the fertilized egg stage can become healthy mutant creatures.
"But the black goo is different. It can be directly used on adult life. Any creature that comes into contact with the black goo can directly mutate into a new species. What's more precious is that this new species has the ability to reproduce and can completely form a new population independently, unlike the T-virus which can only mutate and can't continue."
"Doesn't that mean that the black goo can accelerate the evolution of life?"
Little X asked.
"No, there's still a gap from evolution."
However, Chen Chen paused and shook his head. "What's evolution? The evolution of constantly adapting to the environment can be called evolution, but the black goo isn't like this at all. From the fate of that little white mouse, we can see that the changes caused by this black goo should be called uncontrollable mutation.
"And the direction of this mutation is uncertain. It may be in a good direction or a bad direction. Even humans are likely to lose the characteristics and thoughts of higher creatures after infection, just like in the movies..."
"Ah, if the black goo is so dangerous, then why are you still studying it?" Little X was a little puzzled.
"Although the black goo is dangerous, there are two sides to everything."
Chen Chen smiled. "After all, it's a biological weapon dozens or even hundreds of times more powerful than the T-virus. It's definitely of great use. Besides... The engineer race can live for more than 300,000 years and humans are the combination of the engineers and the black goo. So, is there a possibility that we can find out the secret of the engineers' longevity from the black goo?"
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