Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 590 - 334: Yawgmoth’s "Pregnant Women" and "Babies

Chapter 590: Chapter 334: Yawgmoth’s "Pregnant Women" and "Babies

Inside a greenhouse, Xiang Shan and Niyaguti were wearing padded jackets, sitting at a table.

Yawgmoth was also dressed in similar attire.

However, the difference was that the padded jackets of Xiang Shan and Niyaguti were soaked with water, making them extremely cool.

Padded cotton is warm because it has a fluffy structure that can retain a large amount of air, and air is a poor conductor of heat. But cotton itself is very absorbent and retains water. Water has a huge specific heat capacity and transfers heat quickly. When water evaporates from the cotton jacket, it also absorbs a lot of heat from the human body.

Therefore, every winter, there are pitiful people who freeze to death wearing wet padded jackets.

Yawgmoth looked at them sidelong, "You two ... don’t find it heavy?"

"This clothing’s lining uses the latest fabric provided by our cooperative enterprise, ensuring perspiration and breathability while blocking a lot of moisture penetration," said Xiang Shan, taking a sip of the chilled carbonated drink from the table. "Recently, hasn’t there been a call to explore the ’coexistence models of Benchmark Man in Homo sapiens society’ ... Besides, I think hitting someone while wearing this would hurt more."

Niyaguti nodded, "Hmm, I still exercise regularly."

Their tones clearly carried a hint of hostility.

Yawgmoth felt that if he misspoke this time, he might actually get beaten up.

Although Xiang Shan appeared to be good-tempered, anyone who got to know him well would not find it hard to realize that he was fiery at his core. His amiable side was sometimes a facade, and at other times, it was the principle of "if you’re happy, I’m happy, everyone is happy" in dealing with people.

But once truly angered, he would express his rage in the most direct manner.

Yawgmoth felt getting beaten wasn’t a big deal. More than a decade ago, he and Xiang Shan used to fight at the drop of a hat.

But it was better to avoid a fight today.

He said, "I invited you here because I want to discuss my new proposal ..."

"Listen up, if I hear anything confidential this time, I’ll smash this table over your head right here," Xiang Shan pointed at Yawgmoth with his finger.

"Hmm, then let me talk about two proposals," Yawgmoth said. "Let’s start with option D as my backup plan ..."

"Hold on a second," Xiang Shan raised his hand. "What were you discussing with Mr. Lu the other day about babies, pregnant women ..."

"Oh, right!" Yawgmoth nodded.

"Hmm ... first, is option D about ’babies’ or ’pregnant women’?"

"Pregnant women," Yawgmoth said.

Niyaguti said, "You mean, starting from the mechanism by which the fetus suppresses the mother’s immune system?"

Yawgmoth nodded, "Exactly. For mammalian mothers, the fetus inside is ’a child,’ but also ’a genetically different foreign object.’ Mammalian reproductive behavior is essentially a kind of ’parasitism.’"

Xiang Shan rubbed his face, "I feel like saying this out loud would get me attacked by thousands."

Yawgmoth dismissed it nonchalantly, "There are always some idiots who believe that discovering the ’motherly love gene’ or the ’neural mechanism that generates motherly love’ would diminish the greatness of motherly love..."

Xiang Shan waved his hand, "Okay, continue with your proposal."

"Where was I? Oh, right, ’pregnancy’ is a phenomenon that has ’parasitic’ characteristics. After the fetus enters the mother’s body, it should be attacked by the mother’s immune system. However, the fetus can suppress the mother’s immune function—just like a parasite suppresses its host’s immune function."

"Steroid hormones and alpha-fetoprotein have a significant suppressive effect on lymphocytes. Pregnant zone protein can suppress various immune cells..."

Niyaguti shook her head, "This is difficult. The fetus isn’t rejected by the mother mainly because the mother actively suppresses her own rejection response. Additionally, the fetal blood circulation isn’t directly connected to the mother’s, and a nutritive layer isolates the contact surfaces."

Yawgmoth was somewhat dissatisfied, "I’m not finished yet. The antigens produced by the nutritive layer as immunosuppressive factors, even the mother’s regulation of T cells, I’ve considered all of that. The only thing that cannot be replicated is the glycoprotein on the surface of the nutritive layer."

"The changes in T cell regulation likely start right after the male gamete enters the female body," Niyaguti said, "you mean to say...?"

"Use a virus, just wrap it in a protein shell, and present the Benchmark Man’s antigens to the regulatory T cells," Yawgmoth propped his hands under his chin, "Estrogens, progesterone, androgens, and the like can then cause a significant increase in the concentration of regulatory T cells."

Niyaguti looked at Xiang Shan.

Xiang Shan stroked his chin, "This would cause hormonal imbalance in the Spirit Receivers, wouldn’t it?"

Yawgmoth did not respond.

"In the end, can a male’s body withstand this treatment?"

Yawgmoth said, "A female’s definitely can."

"That thing about the nutritive layer cell’s surface glycoprotein, does it have a large ratio in this mechanism?"

"If it’s broken down by enzymes, the rate of miscarriage in mice becomes very high..."

Xiang Shan rubbed his face, "I guess I understand why it’s an alternative option. Indeed... pregnant women do have some immune capabilities. If they get sick during pregnancy, leading to reactivation of the immune system, the miscarriage rate increases... and maybe you wouldn’t even need a sterile ward? If the hospital infection control is good, a regular ward might suffice? Doesn’t seem very safe. What about the cost?"

"The biosynthetic pathways of steroid hormones, alpha-fetoprotein, and pregnant zone protein are very clear. Estrogens, progesterone, androgens, not to mention, are much cheaper than Plan B."

Xiang Shan nodded, "That’s a plus—so what about your ’baby’?"

Yawgmoth crossed his arms and began to look smug, "Speaking of which, do you know ’chimera’?"

"Chimera? From Greek mythology or Azeroth? Or some science fiction concept in a sci-fi work?"

"It’s a very old biological term, chimera," Niyaguti guessed Yawgmoth was too disdainful to explain, so she chimed in, "In immunological terms, it refers to an organism that has two or more different chromosome sets coexisting in separate cell lines, which can tolerate each other, do not produce rejection reactions, and are in a state of chimerism."

"Scientists discovered long ago that by injecting allogeneic cells into an embryo whose immunity was not yet fully developed, these cells could even continue to grow with the embryo. The two types of cells, fairly distant in relation... I remember there should be chimeras of goats and carrots."

Xiang Shan was astonished, "Can those even live?"

"Ethically, such embryos are destroyed after a certain stage, not allowed to be born. They would probably die if developed to a certain stage, perhaps being born with innate defects. But at the embryonic stage, they live quite well."