Chapter 744 Alpha Protozoa

  Chapter 744 Alpha Protozoa

  The top of Blood Mountain.

  The beast king in a white robe looked at the foot of the mountain, and a faint smile gradually rose at the corner of his mouth.

  It was an unsurprising result.

  These old guys have been decadent for too long.

  They hold the relics of the prosperous era and immerse themselves in the beautiful dreams woven by the relics of the old civilization, but forget that this is not the pre-war era of singing and dancing, but a wasteland of eating raw meat and drinking blood.

  As long as they completely abandon their bottom line and fantasy, and abandon everything that can be discarded, even if they face the encirclement and suppression of the decadent old civilization, the young people may not be without the power to fight.

  The alliance is a trouble, but that’s all.

  They haven’t given up enough, and they are not brave enough.

  At least not as good as themselves who are not human.

  At this moment, a low voice came into his sea of ​​consciousness, like a hum from the depths of the earth.

  ”Those people retreated.”

  The beast king nodded and responded in a very light voice.

  ”I saw it.”

  ”They took away the information in the cave. I’m afraid my existence has been exposed.” There was a hint of hesitation in the dull voice, as if he was worried about something.

  The Beast King raised his eyebrows slightly with interest.

  ”Are you scared?”

  ”No,” the voice paused for a while, and then said slowly, “but I smell a disgusting smell.”

  ”‘That guy’ is getting closer and closer to us.”

  …

  At 12 noon, the Alpha Task Force issued an order to retreat and withdrew the two squadrons that were fighting on the Blood Mountain.

  The academy invested 300 individual drones, but only 100 were withdrawn in the end. The 200 Alpha Task Force members suffered even more serious losses, and less than half of them were withdrawn.

  Even those who were withdrawn were mostly seriously infected.

  These wounded were placed in the second front-line hospital, and were observed and treated by the Alliance Biological Research Institute and the medical team from the Science and Technology Committee.

  The composition of the toxic substances and how they broke through the individual three-defense system of the Alpha Task Force also need further investigation and research.

  Although both the coalition’s highest command and the armies outside the academy had anticipated the outcome of this first offensive, the academy’s performance in actual combat still exceeded everyone’s expectations.

  How should I put it?

  It felt like a lot of noise but little action.

  ”It seems that those guys in the north are just so-so.”

  Looking at the Alpha Task Force withdrawing from the front line, General Babita from the Empire had a hint of contempt in his eyes.

  He suddenly felt that his people were doing well again.

  Not long ago, the Duke of Galava stationed in Dawn City expressed dissatisfaction with their inaction on the front line and urged them to focus more on the battlefield.

  Perhaps they should do something to save some face for His Majesty the Emperor.

  Not only the officers of the Empire were surprised by the performance of the academy, but also General Lium, who had just changed his opinion of those guys.

  Unexpectedly, these guys made a lot of fancy moves, but were beaten up by the other side and fled from the front line.

  ”…Maybe I should reconsider my evaluation of these guys.”

  Sitting in the bridge of the airship, Lium, with his legs on his knees, had an intriguing expression on his face, and tore open an ice cream and stuffed it into his mouth.

  Of course, another possibility is not ruled out.

  These slugs in the swamp are deliberately showing weakness, so as to show that they are harmless to humans and animals, so as to find an opportunity to fish in troubled waters.

  After all, no one knows what they really think except themselves. In

  fact, Lium thought too much about deliberately showing weakness.

  For such a result, even the academy itself was very angry. For

  this battle, they made full and careful preparations, but they lost to a group of primitive people fighting with stones and sticks-

  at least that’s what Yang Kai thought.

  ”What’s wrong with you? You have the strongest equipment, but you can’t even beat a group of mutants?”

  Yang Kai found the head of the Alpha Mobile Task Force and said in a reprimanding voice after landing the scientific research ship at the Weifu military base, which was rare.

  ”Sorry, I disappoint you.”

  The guy named Alpha Zero lowered his head, looking like he was seriously reflecting on his mistakes, but Yang Kai could not feel any sincerity from him.

  Shaking his head, Yang Kai knew that scolding him was a waste of effort, and finally did not embarrass this guy anymore, and waved his hand to send him away.

  After reprimanding the commander who made the battle plan, he immediately found Chu Guang who was inspecting the Second Hospital of Weifu Military Base, and briefly described the situation encountered by the Alpha Task Force during the operation.

  ”…There is something wrong with the mutants on Shifeng Mountain. The characteristics they showed in their evolution are something we have never seen before. Not only that, based on the samples extracted by the front-line troops from the scene, we suspect that there is a mother nest hidden deep in the blood mountain.”

  After listening to Yang Kai’s statement, Chu Guang nodded.

  ”We think so too.”

  Yang Kai was stunned when he heard this, and stared at him suspiciously.

  ”How did you know?”

  Chu Guang: “Guessed.”

  Yang Kai: “…”

  Looking at Yang Kai who was speechless, Chu Guang coughed lightly and continued.

  ”…These minor issues are not the key point. The key is how we deal with this problem now.”

  Yang Kai’s expression gradually became serious.

  ”What is your opinion?”

  ”My opinion is…wait for the expert’s opinion.”

  As he said, Chu Guang cast his eyes on the closed isolation ward.

  The members of the Alpha Task Force Mobile Team who were withdrawn from the front line were lying there. Some of them have woken up, but many have not yet woken up. At present, He Ya is in there to understand the situation. I believe that there will be results after waiting for a while. At the

  same time, He Ya, who was standing in the ward, had a solemn expression on her face, staring at the tablet in her hand.

  This is an organic protein molecule she has never seen before. It is like a virus, but it is smaller than the known viruses, even less than 7 nanometers, and the average individual is about 5 nanometers.

  And this is not the most surprising thing.

  The most incredible thing is that in addition to the RNA that stores genetic information, this “unnamed substance” also has a highly folded knob-shaped macromolecular structure that can store mechanical potential energy like a spring and release it to the tail through slow rotation.

  At the tail of the substance, there are at least four protein chains with special shapes. They can perform simple mechanical movements driven by the “spring” like the flagella of protozoa, thereby pushing the substance to slowly diffuse from high-concentration areas to low-concentration areas!

  To make an inappropriate but vivid metaphor, this thing is like a nano-scale missile! Usually living in spores, a spore can carry 3 to 7 of these things, and the spore will release them after it is actively or passively ruptured.

  The internal RNA is its “warhead”, the folded macromolecular protein is its engine, and the tail end protein chain is its “thruster”.

  In addition to drifting on the particles, it can also complete the “migration” from particle a to particle b in an active way.

  This characteristic is most likely the most direct reason why the substance can break through the gas masks of the Alpha Task Force.

  After all, it is well known that gas masks containing substances such as activated carbon mainly use the electrostatic adsorption effect to filter “tiny particles carrying harmful substances”, so the smaller the particles, the more difficult it is to filter.

  According to experimental statistics, particles of 0.3 microns are the most difficult to filter, so in many cases, “the filtration efficiency of particles of 0.3 microns” is used as an indicator to measure the filtration effect. For example, N95 means “the filtration efficiency of particles of 0.3 microns reaches more than 95%”.

  Although the characteristic of “5nm diameter” itself is not enough for the substance to penetrate the gas mask, it is not easy to say if “it can rely on endogenous power to complete free migration” is added.

  According to the performance in clinical experiments, these substances left a channel constructed by debris between the pores of the gas mask.

  They seem to be able to calculate the shortest path from the entrance to the exit, just like slime mold looking for food in a petri dish.

  But the weird thing is that although this thing is extremely similar to the virus in form, it is completely different from most viruses in the offensive strategy it adopts against the host.

  After a general virus injects nucleic acid into a host cell, it usually uses the host cell’s material to first synthesize the replication enzymes and some inhibitory proteins necessary for its own replication, and then synthesizes the nucleic acid and structural proteins of the progeny virus. The final result is usually to completely drain the host’s somatic cells, and then a group of disciples will go to harm the next target.

  However, these special substances write their own genetic material into the genetic material of the host cell through a series of operations, just like the HIV virus.

  However, their purpose of doing so is not to replicate themselves, but to assimilate the host and completely transform the host’s cells into another appearance.

  As for what the specific transformation is, it is a completely random event.

  There are currently 97 observations, of which 17 have died, 10 have superior immune levels and are therefore not affected, and the remaining 70 affected cases have different manifestations, and even the location of the lesions is different.

  For example, some people’s nervous system activity suddenly increased by 200%, while some people’s minds have degenerated to the level of infants. Some people have grown a finger from their shoulders – but this is actually easier to solve, just amputation will be fine.

  As for more stubborn tissue hyperplasia, such as amputated limbs that have grown back, or serious lesions in the original limbs, other medical methods must be used.

  Not only the researchers from the Alliance were amazed at this situation, but the researchers from Yunjian Province were also the same. They all had the same surprise on their faces and whispered to other researchers beside them.

  ”Unbelievable…”

  ”It is completely composed of proteins and nucleic acids, but it also shows the characteristics of life activities… Can this thing be considered a virus?”

  ”I don’t recommend using this name… I have never seen a virus that can show the characteristics of life without the help of living cells. Misleading names will interfere with our research by subjective cognition.”

  ”Whether that kind of movement can be considered a life activity is still controversial, but I agree with you. Alpha protozoa… How about this name?”

  ”… I have no objection.”

  ”Agree.”

  This thing was brought back by the Alpha Task Force, so there is nothing wrong with naming it with their code name.

  …

  After a brief discussion, the clinical analysis report was finally taken out of the laboratory.

  Heya handed the report to Chu Guang, who was waiting at the door of the laboratory, and briefly described the contents of the report in terms that he could understand.

  ”… In summary, it is currently known that Alpha protozoa has a high degree of permeability and will tamper with the genetic material of the infected. According to the calculation results, at least the physical attribute must reach 20 points to be completely immune to infection.”

  ”20 points of physical fitness?” Yang Kai, who was standing next to Chu Guang, frowned and asked in confusion, “What is that?”

  Instead of answering the question directly, Heya cast her eyes on Chu Guang, asking him if he wanted to reveal it.

  There is nothing to hide about this kind of thing.

  Chu Guang said concisely.

  ”It is the physical examination indicator of the alliance. We set the baseline value of each body function to 5. 20 points of physical fitness means about 4 times the baseline metabolism and immune system working efficiency… By the way, this is not a very rigorous indicator, it is only for reference.” However,

  20 points of physical fitness can completely exempt the influence of Alpha protozoa…

  To be honest, the offensive ability of this thing is a bit weak.

  In addition, the mutants’ physique obviously exceeded 20 points. The physical fitness of those guys started at level 20 or 30, so they would not be affected even if they were immersed in the environment of Alpha protozoa. However, there are still a large number of mutants on the Blood Mountain, and these mutants have extremely strong combat power and recovery ability. It seems that the Torch has helped them find other ways to evolve stably.

  For example, take a big gulp of soup soaked in protozoa.

  After listening to Chu Guang’s explanation, Yang Kai roughly understood what 20 points of physique meant, and nodded thoughtfully.

  ”I see.”

  Most of the Alpha Task Force were ordinary people. According to his understanding, although those guys were equipped with some prostheses, they did not strengthen their immune systems unnecessarily.

  Realizing this, his face changed slightly.

  Good guy…

  Isn’t this being suppressed to death? !

  Not knowing what Yang Kai was thinking, He Ya saw that the two had no questions, so she continued.

  ”In addition, after tracing the origin of the Alpha protozoa, we speculate that they are the product of a mutant slime mold mother nest. It is not yet certain whether their actions are controlled by the mother nest’s consciousness… But I personally tend to believe that they, like spores, spread more unconsciously, and their macroscopic actions are not affected by a unified consciousness.” After

  a pause, she continued.

  ”In order to facilitate research, we plan to name the suspected mother nest in the Blood Mountain as the Alpha Mother Nest, and combine the Alpha Protozoa project with it for research.”

  ”It’s up to you, do whatever is convenient for you,” Chu Guang nodded without asking the college’s opinion, and then asked the question he was most concerned about, “How transmissible is this virus? Is there a risk of spread?”

  ”Don’t worry about this for the time being. After all, they are not real viruses and will not replicate themselves like viruses. You can think of it as a bullet installed on a small missile like spores.”

  As if she felt that this statement was not rigorous enough, Heya paused for a moment and added another sentence.

  ”Of course, the premise is that there are no new mutations. After all, the mother nest will also evolve by itself, not to mention that there are a group of lunatics helping it.”

  After hearing the metaphor of missiles and missile heads, Chu Guang, who was still a little confused in his heart, immediately understood the difference between Alpha Protozoa and spores.

  Sure enough, such professional reports must be interpreted by professionals.

  ”What about the cure?”

  Heya said solemnly.

  ”If it is only a mild infection, the infected person can rely on his own immunity to eliminate it after leaving the infected area. But if the immune system is conquered and most stem cells are also eroded, the infection will become irreversible. At that level, the host will undergo macroscopic mutations. Normal cells carrying the original DNA are the errors that need to be eliminated, while the diseased cells that have integrated the genetic material of the Alpha protozoa become normal… You can roughly understand it this way.”

  ”In other words… are those guys completely hopeless?” Yang Kai looked at the door behind her with a complicated expression, and he didn’t know what he was thinking in his heart.

  ”That can’t be said.”

  He Ya’s expression was slightly hesitant. She glanced at the researcher of the academy, then at Chu Guang, hesitated for a moment and continued.

  ”According to our analysis, the biological prosthesis produced by Xiaoyu can play the role of fighting poison with poison. In theory, as long as there is a little bit of original cells in the host, it can use it as a blueprint to create corresponding mimicry replicas to replace the diseased limbs, but the mimicry body will still be quite different from the original body… So whether to use this treatment method, we still have to ask their opinions.”

  Moreover, Xiaoyu’s biological prosthesis is currently only used in a small range within Shelter No. 404. On the one hand, it is convenient to observe side effects, and on the other hand, it is to control risks and prevent widespread social controversy.

  Whether it is used outside the residents of Shelter No. 404 requires the approval of Chu Guang himself, the manager of Shelter No. 404.

  Understanding the inquiry in Heya’s eyes, Chu Guang thought for a moment and said.

  ”I have no opinion, but Xiaoyu’s biological prosthesis is still in the experimental stage, and all the consequences can only be borne by the experimenter himself.”

  Before the establishment of the slime community, the contracting parties had already exchanged limited data on topics related to slime mold research. Because the relevant data was made public, the academy also had some understanding of Xiaoyu’s characteristics, otherwise it would not have left such a large nest alone.

  Therefore, there was no question of whether the secrets were leaked or not. The harmless treatment plan for slime molds was the premise for the establishment of the slime mold research community and its headquarters in Qingquan City.

  Faced with the options thrown by Chu Guang, Yang Kai only thought for a moment and agreed without hesitation.

  ”… We have no objection. As long as it can play a positive role in the attack on the Alpha nest on the Blood Mountain, just try it.”

  He did not need to bear any psychological burden to make such a decision. After all, the survivors under the Science and Technology Committee were just tools for the academy to achieve its goals.

  They had never concealed this point, and the survivors who joined the Alpha Task Force had long been aware of their own destiny.

  Knowing that they had no chance to become researchers, they made the most rational choice. They deleted the part of their brain tissue about themselves very early, and voluntarily dedicated themselves to become the “fruiting entity” under the huge collection of the Alpha Task Force, in exchange for a more decent standard of living for themselves and their families compared to “hard living”.

  This is just a deal, and the price is clearly marked.

  After becoming a member of the Alpha Task Force, their bodies no longer belong to themselves. The will of their superiors is their will. Even if they die like worker bees, they will not have any complaints. At most, they will show biological instinctive fear when they die, but they will not have too many complaints and hesitations.

  However, Heya did not know the inside story of the academy, and she could not help but feel a little hesitant about Yang Kai’s decisive decision.

  In her understanding, at least the opinions of the patients and their families should be sought.

  But seeing Chu Guang nod, she didn’t say anything else.

  After all, this is also the result she expected, and it may not be a bad thing for those patients participating in the experiment…

  Watching Heya return to the isolation ward, Chu Guang looked at Yang Kai.

  ”You also heard that the situation on the Blood Mountain will be very tricky for your Alpha Task Force. I guess you will not use physical fitness as an important assessment criterion when selecting team members.”

  Yang Kai’s brows twitched and he coughed.

  ”It’s not a difficult task. Just replace the three-defense system with a full-defense system. As long as you don’t inhale the outside air, you won’t be infiltrated by that… Alpha protozoan.”

  ”Are you talking about bringing an oxygen tank?” Chu Guang said with a strange expression, “Won’t that be too bloated?”

  Moreover, this thing can’t be immediately produced from the front line when you want it. It also takes time to transport the equipment from the rear. And if the academy doesn’t have similar equipment, it still has to solve the problem of equipment research and development and production.

  Chu Guang’s original intention was to change someone to attack the Blood Mountain position. Whether it was handed over to the Alliance or the Legion, it would be better than letting the Alpha Task Force fight the opponent in a place they are not good at with the “terrain penalty”.

  However, Yang Kai had no intention of giving up.

  If he retreated at this time, it would undoubtedly mean admitting that the academy was not good at it.

  Even if the friendly forces could understand their difficulties, it would not change the fact that the academy’s prestige in the Sticky Community was damaged.

  According to his understanding, the Chief Technology Officer paid a lot of attention to the Sticky Community, even not less than Shelter No. 0. In other words, this was not a small problem that could be fooled.

  Rather than giving up, he would rather let the Alpha Task Force try again.

  Anyway, those people were not his students, and he didn’t even know their names. If these guys couldn’t take down the position even after trying their best, it was because of their lack of ability, and he couldn’t blame himself.

  After weighing the pros and cons, Yang Kai suddenly raised his head and said something that stunned Chu Guang.

  ”…If all members are vaccinated with that biological prosthesis, will there be no problem of being infected by Alpha protozoa?”

  ”In theory…I don’t know.” Chu Guang looked at him in surprise, as if he was looking at a madman.

  Even if the players can be resurrected, he never encouraged them to try to install a tentacle on themselves. After all, that thing is not without side effects, such as the wound being healed will become Xiaoyu’s fruiting body, etc.

  However, this guy doesn’t care.

  ”Then give it a try!”

  Turning his eyes to the closed isolation ward, Yang Kai said indifferently, as if to comfort himself.

  ”Anyway, they have nothing to lose.”

  (End of this chapter)