A few days later, when Chen Chen received the results, he went to the level-five biosafety laboratory again.
At this time, the Black Knight assistants were going through a complicated and tedious process, separating one conical-bottom centrifuge tube after another.
The centrifuge tubes were full of red liquid. This translucent liquid contained many fine and dense sediments.
This was the new substance formed by the combination of black goo and T-virus.
“Click!”
The screen behind Chen Chen turned on automatically, displaying a black and white image. At the same time, the voice of Little X rang out. “The process of combining the T-virus with black goo wasn’t stable as it was affected by the dosage and the culture medium. In general, it’d produce unique variations in three directions.
“Ultimately, we obtained 87 new types of viruses. These are also filoviruses. After destroying those viruses with duplicate functions, I finally selected the three most representative types of viruses.”
Chen Chen looked at the image when he heard this, only to see three pictures displayed side by side on the screen.
Each of the three pictures featured a special filamentous substance. As these were taken from an electron microscope, there was no color. One could only tell that the three filamentous substances were almost indistinguishable, just like three slender, hideous worms.
Nonetheless, these worms were less than one micron in length and less than a hundred nanometers thick. Their entire body was made of simple protein shells and RNA nucleic acids.
As he stared at these three special viruses, even Chen Chen felt a chill run down his spine. The T-virus itself had the power to threaten mankind in the first place. Now that it had been strengthened by the black goo, what sort of strength had it attained?
“After some experiments on animals, I’ve determined the properties of the three viruses.
“Of these three, the first virus has enhanced infectivity and can be transmitted through the air. Organisms that can be infected include almost all carbon-based life. After being infected, the same thing will happen as when one is infected with black goo. When the host dies, a new life will be born in the place of the host. Because there were too few experiments, it’s still uncertain whether there’s an immune group.”
Following Little X’s explanation, a mouse-like monster with a black shell and red eyes appeared on the screen. Ripples of red muscles could be seen in the cracks of the shell, which looked extremely sinister and terrifying.
“The second type isn’t highly infectious and cannot be transmitted through the air, but it strengthens the virus’ ability to mutate the host. After the host is infected, the degree of mutation is far more acute than the other two viruses.”
Immediately afterward, the picture changed again and Chen Chen was greeted with a palm-sized monster with seven or eight pairs of fleshy feet on its abdomen. This monster did not have a black outer shell. Instead, all over its body were large and small eyeballs, meaningless organs, and swarms of tentacles.
It looked just like a pile of monster corpses piled up and fused to form an indescribable thing.
“Besides these two, there’s the last type.”
Little X continued. “The third virus isn’t very capable of mutation nor is it extremely contagious, but it’s indeed the most incredible of the three viruses.”
Chen Chen’s eyes lit up upon hearing these words. “In what way is it incredible?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Little X kept Chen Chen in suspense. Following that, the screen flashed and another peculiar picture appeared.
The screen showed two pictures spliced together. On the left side was an ordinary-looking white mouse with big, shining eyes, looking endearingly at the screen.
On the right, the mouse was still standing, but it had become a monster about the size of a rabbit, with a black outer shell and red muscles.
“This…”
Chen Chen raised his eyebrows and realized what was off at a glance. “The biggest change in this third mouse seems to be its body size?”
“That’s right. What’s surprising is that although this mouse infected with the third virus has also eaten a lot, it only consumed about 50 grams of sustenance. Yet it has grown from 20 grams to a monster weighing 300 grams.”
“You mean, its weight has increased by 260 grams out of thin air?”
Chen Chen looked up sharply as if he could not believe this.
“It’s definitely true!”
Little X quickly explained, “It’s true. I have all the video records here. Like the other experimental mice, it only ate twice its weight. The weight of the first two mice only increased from 20 grams to roughly 40 grams. Only this mouse practically broke the law of conservation of energy. Plus, all this happened within a few hours!”
“Then what’s the reason?”
Chen Chen asked, “What caused it to increase in size?”
“After dissection, I discovered a special organ in the body of this little white mouse.”
Little X replied, “This mouse’s skin has a special absorption mechanism that directly absorbs moisture and even microorganisms from the air to replenish itself. Not only that, I’ve noticed a lot of high-energy covalent bonds in the mouse’s blood. It seems that it’s able to directly react with the nitrogen in the air to create a shell. Its weight could increase out of thin air probably due to these factors.”
After hearing this, Chen Chen could not help looking flabbergasted. “Isn’t this too implausible?”
“Not at all.”
Little X explained, “Perhaps there are many factors we haven’t yet discovered, but what can be confirmed is that the growth rate of the third mouse does exceed the material energy it takes in. This is beyond doubt. I think this holds the secret key to why the alien could grow up rapidly.”
“Then let’s focus on the second and third viruses.”
Chen Chen nodded. “As for the infectiousness of the virus, I don’t think there’s a need for further research. Just seal off the first virus.”
“Understood. I’ll use the most stringent storage technology to seal the first virus.”
Little X agreed. “Even so, should you give these three viruses a name?”
In response, Chen Chen simply pulled up the gene sequence diagrams of the three viruses and thought aloud, “These three viruses can be regarded as different subspecies of the same type of virus. They have an inextricable link to the T-virus, similar to the G-virus in Resident Evil. In that case, let’s just call them G-viruses.”
“Then these three types would be G-001, G-002, and G-003?” Little X asked.
“Nothing wrong with that. I’ll leave that up to you.”
Chen Chen smiled, then turned and left. However, as he reached the door, he suddenly had a very preposterous thought…
G-virus, G-virus… Why was this new type of virus, synthesized from the black goo and T-virus, so similar to the G-virus in the game? No, one could even say that they were identical….
‘Why did I have to name it G-virus? What was going through my head?’
Chen Chen could not help but narrow his eyes.
“Sir Godfather?”
Seeing that Chen Chen had halted in his steps, Little X called out instinctively.
Chen Chen did not answer, but took another step forward and disappeared outside the door of the laborator