Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 591 - 335: Changde Never Departs, Returning to the Infant State

Chapter 591: Chapter 335: Changde Never Departs, Returning to the Infant State

Xiang Shan was extremely shocked as he looked at Niyaguti, "You mean, such an embryo can survive? One that’s a mix of animals and plants?"

"At the embryonic stage, an organism is just a clump of cells; tissues have only just started to differentiate," said Niyaguti, spreading her hands. "Because the size is small enough, relying on the cells’ passive absorption of nutrients around them is sufficient, even without differentiated organs for survival. However, as organ differentiation progresses, chimeras from species that are too distantly related usually encounter problems."

Xiang Shan slapped his forehead, "This is... quite sci-fi, isn’t it?"

"Sci-fi my ass," Yawgmoth said disdainfully, "The research that started decades before we were born, and you’re telling me it’s sci-fi? What is this, steampunk?"

"Strictly speaking... well," Niyaguti continued, "Since the 1970s, scientists around the world have been researching xenogeneic chimeras, such as sheep-goat chimeras, rat-mouse chimeras. The early 21st century mainly focused on human-animal chimeras, hoping to create animals that could provide organs for transplantation. The institute we collaborate with on that ’monkey’ project... that Primate Transformation Medical Research Institute in Central Yunnan, is quite famous for its research on primate chimeras."

Once again, Xiang Shan was shocked, "Do we actually have such talent hidden in our partner institutions? No... has this research been conducted so early..."

He truly felt that this kind of stuff, which seemed very sci-fi, was only possible after Yawgmoth had made significant breakthroughs in basic theory.

"Grafted plants are a kind of chimera. Actually, this phenomenon was first documented by horticulturists," Niyaguti shook her head, "Let’s not talk about plants, in the animal kingdom, natural chimeras also exist— including humans. Inside the mother’s womb, fertilized eggs can occasionally develop into different embryos, and these embryos might recombine before a certain stage. Many people are natural chimeras; it’s just that they will never know in their lifetimes."

"Of course, there are also more unusual cases— for instance, some people’s reproductive organs come precisely from their fraternal twin brother or sister. Such individuals, when they undergo paternity tests, will always get a result that reads ’this child’s biological father is my sibling from the same mother.’"

"Compared to me, such research is practically devoid of technical content." Yawgmoth sneered, "Actually, chimera research just takes advantage of the fact that the immune system has not yet come online. If I remember correctly, human-monkey chimeric embryos have to be destroyed within twenty days in vitro, right? And then studies have shown that dendritic cells’ traces are detectable in first twelve weeks of a fetus."

"Moreover, at this stage, the fetus’s dendritic cells aren’t used to defend against the outside but to suppress the generation of their own immune cells, to avoid the mother’s and fetus’s immune mechanisms attacking each other."

Dendritic cells, a type of immune cell responsible for antigen presentation, can efficiently ingest, process, and present antigens, tasked with activating naive T cells and playing a central role in initiating, regulating, and sustaining immune responses.

"Simply put, to avoid miscarriage, the immune system of the developing embryo is in a ’grace period,’" Yawgmoth continued, "Anything they come into contact with during this time almost never triggers an alarm. That’s how these so-called chimeras survive. In fact, this ’weak alarm’ condition continues to some extent even after the infant is born. There’s a theory that some people are prone to allergies precisely because this period was too clean, and their immune system ’whitelist’ was not extended long enough."

Xiang Shan felt his entire notion of hygiene was being overturned, "So ’a little dirt cleans out the illness’ actually has scientific basis?"

Niyaguti cautioned, "Only applicable to infants and toddlers... and it also means that they are prone to enlist genuinely dangerous pathogens into the whitelist, resulting in a potentially sickly childhood."

At this point, Xiang Shan roughly understood what Yawgmoth meant.

"You’re saying..."

"This is the optimal Plan C," Yawgmoth said, "Finding a way to reverse the life cycle of the immune system, allowing it to temporarily revert to the ’embryonic stage’. The drugs needed for this technology are various de-differentiation inducing signal molecules that target immune cells. They are responsible for hammering in the Command—re-invoking the ’state of embryonic development’."

Niyaguti pondered for a moment, "The feasibility should be fairly high?"

Xiang Shan asked, "What about the timing?"

"The production of immune cells involves very vigorous cellular division and lively life activities, so the transformation will be very quick," Yawgmoth said. "We haven’t done any experiments, so I cannot provide a precise number. But it will most likely be completed within fourteen days—seven days is not impossible either."

Xiang Shan held his head, "That’s too fast..."

"And there’s another benefit," Yawgmoth continued. "The reversal of the immune system lifecycle is a process. During this process, the memory cells will gradually erase the antigens they have recorded. The production of non-specific immune cells will slow down. Their immunity will return to the embryonic stage after a period of time. During the early stages of this reversal, there’s no need to use a sterile ward, and it might not even be necessary to be hospitalized."

"Then these friends will find that the dietary allergies that have plagued them for years have disappeared. But at the same time, past vaccinations will be rendered pointless."

"The drug..."

"Just a few signal molecules," Yawgmoth was very confident. "After completing the research on the basic theory, this will be the easiest drug to find a synthesis method for."

Xiang Shan clasped his hands over his head, "My goodness... Could it actually be a perfect solution?"

He almost wanted to stand up and give Yawgmoth a high five.

But the memory of having been thoroughly tricked just before made him instinctively remain cautious.

Xiang Shan said, "Yawgmoth, let me confirm again... This drug wouldn’t cause the life cycle of other tissues to reverse, would it? Like, uh, the nervous system? If the nervous system were reversed back to infancy, no, even just to adolescence, that would be horrifying enough."

"Theoretically, different factors should be used for ’Command’ delivery to different tissue cells. Experience from the past also demonstrates one thing. To trigger this function, a single Command is not sufficient," Yawgmoth pondered. "Could a Command set that acts on the whole body... possibly exist?"

Xiang Shan said, "What about ’aging’?"

"It’s only a partial reversal to a previous state at the cellular function level of certain tissues. On the microscopic level, the telomeres that control cell lifespan haven’t been replaced, and the marks of the years still exist. On a more macroscopic level, there won’t be any changes to the body as a whole. The elderly receiving this treatment would at most become ’old people with the partial cell functions of a fetus’."