Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 966: Beginning and End of the SE Virus Incident

Chapter 966: Chapter 966: Beginning and End of the SE Virus Incident

"You speak so pitifully that anyone would be moved with compassion," Xu Huo implied.

Gao Zhen didn’t care much about his opinion. Today, as he walked into this office, the players from the Law Enforcement Team had all witnessed it. How he left or whether he could leave was no longer important—a corpse was the best proof.

"The SE Virus incident isn’t complex, it’s just that I don’t know what insider details you want to know."

The old lady pulled out a chair, sat down, and began a detailed narration of the incident.

It, of course, started with Luo Changren.

Originating from W01 Base City, although Luo Changren had moved around several labs, he had always been dedicated to developing a better Evolution Potion. While this subject seemed difficult, human desire is endless. Knowing that the game’s Evolution Potion wasn’t all that great, the Base Station was, of course, more urgently in need of a good Evolution Potion than any other gaming district, even if Luo Changren was a latecomer, there were still people willing to fund him.

Especially after he proposed the development of the Gene Optimization Evolver, although officially all Base Cities opposed it, in reality, Base City 01 was secretly supporting him. Otherwise, he couldn’t have departed so smoothly from W37 Base Station. Officially, it was "escape", but actually, it was the money from the tickets gifted by Base City 01, letting him go to a better gaming district for research.

Of course, Luo Changren didn’t let them down and soon brought back the Potion.

But whether the Potion was effective had yet to be tested, so Base City 01 naturally handed this task to him and sent him along with a group of researchers to Base City 06. Shortly afterward, the SE Virus erupted from a child.

Base City 06 quickly fell, and Luo Changren escaped back to Base City 01.

Of course, things wouldn’t end there. In Base City 06, many people involved in the experimental project had fled, but eventually, they couldn’t escape capture, and they were punished as they should have been. As for the source of these events, Luo Changren and the Base City 01 that had shielded him eventually became the targets of criticism.

Base City 01 originally wanted to hold out, but being outnumbered, they eventually had to compromise.

As for the flow of original samples in the meantime, it’s unclear whether it happened in 06 or 01, or perhaps both.

Luo Changren also didn’t know everything as he thought he did; he was actually taking the fall for Base City 01.

Base City 01 had long been planning to weaken other Base Cities, and they had been researching related potions and viruses until Luo Changren brought back an Evolution Potion specifically targeted at W37 Base Station. Behind his back, Base City 01 conducted experiments, successfully merging the lab’s virus and Potion under development, meaning the modified Evolution Potion from Base 01 had effectively become a virus. Whether this virus could affect human genes was unassessable, and it didn’t relate to Base City 01, as they didn’t plan to use it on themselves.

A gene-targeted Evolution Potion is difficult for anyone to refuse, so Base City 01 chose Base City 06 as the first location.

The result was that the virus mutated faster than imagined, and Base City 01’s original plan to kill players from other Base Cities instead resulted mostly in the deaths of ordinary people.

As the virus outbreak neared its end, other Base Cities finally published the results of their assessment on the Gene Evolution Agent. The truth was that the agent Luo Changren had brought back wasn’t any Gene Optimization Evolver targeted at the people of W37 Base Station, but rather a genetic destruction Potion. Using this Potion would cause an individual’s evolutionary genes to mutate, making them unsuitable for evolution, and it could be passed on to descendants.

This Potion needed to be directly ingested or injected to be effective. Whether the SE Virus had this effect was unclear because there was too little time. Therefore, Gao Zhen let Luo Changren leave to find a way to save the future of W37 Base Station, and different Base Cities built Bird Towers to spread the antivirus.

But afterwards, the Bird Tower wasn’t used because the SE Virus had little effect on players, and those ordinary individuals who seemed talentless were dispensable.

"Two years ago, my laboratory had already confirmed from those surviving infected that the SE Virus does not affect the offspring," Gao Zhen finally said.

"Luo Changren doesn’t know about this? Why not tell him directly?" Xu Huo asked.

Gao Zhen’s smile was ambiguous, "One must always leave some hope."

Xu Huo fell silent briefly, then said, "Since the SE Virus isn’t that powerful, where did Luo Changren get his vaccine?"

"After several years, I only just saw him today," Gao Zhen stated, indicating his minimal interest in this matter, even though the developer of the gene evolution Potion was the cause of the current situation at W37 Base Station. Clearly, he shouldn’t have anything to do with Base W37 City, let alone the possibility of ancestral genes being controlled by others... but he was powerless.

"Didn’t Luo Changren mention who gave him the Evolution Potion after the last outbreak of the SE Virus?" With a half-trained Pharmacist developing a gene-targeted Evolution Potion within a year was quite challenging, and besides, he later went out to search for a vaccine, clearly with specific targets in mind.

"Only Luo Changren has seen him," Gao Zhen’s voice grew fainter, "I heard his surname is Zhang, a doctor – presumably a very formidable person..."

As he spoke his last words, the old lady sitting in the chair bowed her head slightly and permanently closed her eyes, while her detector lit up.

Using a Muffler Artifact before the machine could emit an alarm, Xu Huo called Xiao Yan on the Communicator, first warning her, "Find a spot where no one can see you to answer the phone."

Xiao Yan hesitated momentarily, "Did something happen to her?"

"Don’t rush over," Xu Huo said, "I recorded Mayor Gao’s conversation with Luo Changren and mine with you. Your play has just started; you wouldn’t want it to abort prematurely."

"Mayor Gao did not mention Ren Man just now."

Xiao Yan clenched her teeth and growled low, "What are you trying to do?"

"At this point, I haven’t done anything to harm W37, and between you and me, you broke the agreement first by killing the live sample at the training base, which wouldn’t have led to the subsequent events."

Xu Huo had a rough target for the person who killed the live sample. Xiao Yan didn’t pursue him aggressively when she was at the training base, which was proof, and now probing Gao Zhen confirmed the conclusion: she knew the inside story of this event and couldn’t just watch the virus enter the Base City. However, forced by the circumstances, she had passively resisted when he forcibly took away the Alien corpse.

Xu Huo believed her conflict was not just because of a guilty conscience but also due to her obedience to Gao Zhen; from Gao Zhen’s attitude towards Ren Man, it’s clear she wouldn’t stop the plan over a few disappearances—Xiao Yan should clearly understand this.

Xiao Yan seemed to agree, "During the pursuit, I’ll try to go easy."

Xu Huo refused, "That won’t be necessary. Give me a map of the government office buildings and mark Luo Changren’s location."