Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 198 - 198 118 We Succeeded

198: Chapter 118 We Succeeded 198: Chapter 118 We Succeeded January 2037, Beiping.

The Republic in the north faced an approaching cold front from Siberia.

Though it was nearing springtime, the temperature was still harsh.

Xiang Shan, shivering, shoved his hands into his pockets as he looked out the window.

Fortunately, soon after pressing the doorbell, someone came to open the door.

The door opened to reveal a thin young man, none other than Yawgmoth.

As Xiang Shan felt the rush of warm air from inside the house, he was initially relieved, but within a few seconds, he began to sweat profusely.

It felt as if a blow dryer were pointed directly at his forehead, or perhaps there was a heater working in front of him.

He even had the illusion that his bangs were being curled by the heat.

As he walked inside, he took off the jacket he was wearing.

Xiang Shan complained, “Aren’t you afraid of getting heat stroke?”

Yawgmoth shrugged, “Why do you think I insist on wearing long sleeves in this environment?

It’s to avoid getting burns from the air.

Additionally, I have many cooling patches under my clothes — little props that contain water and can be stuck on the body after freezing to cool down.

I change them every quarter of an hour.”

“Oh, wow,” Xiang Shan applauded.

He then looked Yawgmoth up and down.

His friend was wearing the type of white shirt commonly worn in Indonesia — very reflective of light and heat.

The shirt was balky in some areas, and his hair was still wet.

Clearly, to avoid heatstroke, he had specially doused his head with water.

Xiang Shan sighed, “Do you still have any cooling patches?

Give me ten.

I need ten.”

Yawgmoth walked swiftly inside and soon came back with many cooling patches.

Xiang Shan quickly applied some to his forehead, face, and neck, finally feeling a bit more comfortable.

Just in that brief moment, his back was already drenched with sweat.

It was hard to imagine that just a minute ago, he had been freezing outside, his hands red as he counted the ice ridges under the eaves.

“My goodness…” Xiang Shan sighed and continued applying cooling patches to his lower back.

“You really don’t mind wasting them?

Isn’t the air conditioning on the highest setting enough?”

“All the plugs are being used for heaters,” said Yawgmoth.

Xiang Shan paused and thought for a moment, “Dude, have you tampered with the electric meter?

Illegally altering the circuits can create safety hazards, which is illegal here.”

“What?”

“Don’t overload the house’s circuitry, or it could lead to a fire.”

Yawgmoth shook his head, “No.

This room isn’t for residential use.”

“Sigh.” Xiang Shan shook his head, “If every human eventually needs such strong heaters just to survive…”

“It’s mainly because the large constant temperature equipment we ordered hasn’t been shipped yet,” Yawgmoth shook his head.

“To conduct experiments, we have to heat the room to such high temperatures.”

Xiang Shan didn’t complain about the temperature.

Essentially, the lab’s air conditioning wasn’t meant for the comfort of the researchers, but to ensure the health of the experimental animals.

If the experimental animals really needed this temperature, then naturally the lab’s temperature had to be elevated to this level.

Xiang Shan sighed, “I’m really afraid of catching a cold on the way back because I’m sweating so much.”

As they talked, they walked into the experimental area.

The temperature in the experimental area was even higher than outside.

The entire lab was above fifty degrees, making Xiang Shan feel terribly uncomfortable.

In every part of the experiment area, there were heaters placed all around.

The swirling convective air even gave the illusion that “space itself was distorted.”

At the center of the entire experimental area was an insect net containing several locusts and fruit flies.

Upon closer inspection, these creatures all seemed a bit strange.

For some reason, the fruit flies could only struggle on the ground, unable to fly high.

The locusts were larger, and on closer inspection, their exoskeletons exhibited a bizarre metallic sheen.

“The weight has indeed increased by more than twice, some of the fruit flies have lost the ability to fly for long periods.

The genes related to their flight muscles weren’t modified, so their strength remains the same as before.”

Xiang Shan wiped the sweat from his forehead, “What project is this for?”

“After being introduced to new genetic information, the new organisms underwent visible changes and changes in habits,” Yawgmoth laughed.

“To smuggle these little guys out of the Federation…”

“Fuck,” Xiang Shan quickly silenced Yawgmoth.

“Damn, if word of this gets out, you could be charged with ‘terrorist activities’ and thrown in jail, or even extradited back!

Stop saying you ‘stole’ them!

Say you ‘made’ them!

Here, ‘made’ them!

Understand?”

Yawgmoth rolled his eyes, “Get real.

Anyone who knows anything can tell that this brand-new lab, with so little material, couldn’t possibly produce such cutting-edge results.

And I’m here.

These fruit flies were part of a project I was in charge of at a public institution in the Federation.

There’s no escaping that connection.”

“So keep it down, keep it low!” Xiang Shan clenched his teeth.

“Damn it, just a few months, equipment in place, potion in place, find a skilled accountant to play the numbers, make our expenses look bigger than they are, and we can launder all this stuff!

You already pulled it off there, repeating it here shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

This was why the laboratory had to use such methods to maintain high temperatures.

Yawgmoth had arrived a bit early, Xiang Shan’s equipment hadn’t arrived yet, but the experimental animals couldn’t wait.

It was really unavoidable.

After leaving the United Nations university research institute, Yawgmoth worked in a state-backed lab in the Federation, and along the same lines as back then, he created two incredible new lifeforms.

Let’s call them the metal-based fruit flies and metal-based locusts.

All these things were smuggled by Yawgmoth from the Federation to Xiang Shan’s hands.

Among them, the origin of these fruit flies was the most mysterious.

Yawgmoth first coated fruit fly eggs on a cotton swab, then pretended to dig his ears in front of this, smuggling the eggs inside his body to avoid the disinfection process each time he entered and exited the laboratory.

The human body temperature is only 37 degrees Celsius.

The active temperature of the metal-based organisms is over fifty degrees.

So Yawgmoth wasn’t worried about these little creatures hatching.

Back at home, he collected these things and hid them in various places.

Until he came to the Republic.

Only, the earliest batch of eggs couldn’t delay hatching any longer.

To avoid wasting these precious experimental animals, Yawgmoth and Xiang Shan had no choice but to set up the laboratory this way.

“Oh, this thing?” Yawgmoth shrugged his shoulders.

“I refuse to pay a licensing fee when using my own results.

And…”

The young man rolled his eyes at Xiang Shan.

“Are you sure the method you just mentioned isn’t the same one bureaucrats use to line their pockets with the budget?”

“We need magic to beat magic!” Xiang Shan emphasized.

“When you’re under the roof, you have to bow your head, understand?”

“Tch.

If I was willing to bow, I’d still be in the Federation,” Yawgmoth said lazily.

“Remember what you used to say, ‘Director’.”

“I’m not a director anymore,” Xiang Shan tore off the cooling patch on his forehead.

“Get me another one.”

“In the fridge, get it yourself.”

Xiang Shan casually threw the cooling patch into the trash and then picked up a few more, sticking them on himself.

“So, what’s the latest update?”

“Due to an abnormal increase in body density, most bugs can no longer move normally.

Their innate instincts can’t adjust to this,” Yawgmoth shook his head.

“That’s not good news.

Of course, there’s also good news.

They can still absorb glucose.

The ATP oxidation process still exists in their cells, with a portion of the energy now being replaceable by electrical energy.

Proteins and such are also absorbed normally.

If I were still over there, I might have gotten this news by now.”

“Aha, sounds not too bad.” Xiang Shan nodded.

“What else?”

“I’m trying to get them to mate,” Yawgmoth shrugged his shoulders.

“Theoretically speaking, the gametes of native organisms and those altered by metal-based gene modification surgery still share most of the genetic information within the nucleus.

From the nucleus’s perspective, they could produce viable offspring.

However, the gametes of metal-based organisms lose activity at room temperature, while those of native organisms lose activity at high temperatures.

So these two can never merge.”

“I’ve discussed this with my colleagues back there before.

Biologists modified by metal-based gene modification are debating whether to classify them as a subspecies of the original species or a completely new, independent species—even considering creating a new kingdom for them like the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom.

It’s because they have some genetic information that’s not from Earth.”

Xiang Shan nodded.

“You’re off topic, bro, off-topic.

Come back, back to mating.”

“Ah, right,” Yawgmoth nodded.

“Mating.

Actually, it might be because the technology isn’t mature enough, and we accidentally tampered with other genes of the fruit flies.

Many of them don’t release the correct pheromones after reaching sexual maturity—or maybe those pheromones are quickly destroyed at high temperatures?”

“Anyway, these little guys just can’t learn to have sex.”

“And even if there’s an occasional incident, no one knows how it happened.”

Xiang Shan rolled his eyes.

“Does this mean humans have to enter an era where everyone has abnormal sexual preferences?

Most people refuse to have sex normally, so we’ll need to develop artificial wombs and promote state-rearing?

Now that we’ve finally found hope, I don’t want the human population to plummet after one generation.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Yawgmoth revealed a proud expression.

He picked up a petri dish from the lab bench and held it up to Xiang Shan.

“Take a good look at the small things on this sugar-agar block.”

Xiang Shan focused and noticed some tiny black dots inside the transparent substance of the petri dish…moving?

Yawgmoth laughed heartily, “I knew it, we succeeded!”