The Ultimate War Of The Apocalypse
Chapter 287 - 281 Life

Chapter 287: Chapter 281 Life

To the north lay the road to Afghanistan and it was not far from the national border.

Having to detour was not a first, but this time was different because they had encountered a city completely occupied by alien creatures.

The journey was bound to be fraught with difficulties, and everyone was mentally prepared, but with communications cut off and no way to know what had happened elsewhere, the fact that a small, remote city like Quetta had been completely taken over by aliens suggested that things could only be worse in other parts of the world.

So the only choice was to head to Afghanistan, as there seemed to be no better route at present.

Entering Afghanistan meant first traversing the Dashkii Margosh Desert, also known as the "Desert of Death." According to meteorological data, temperatures in the desert could exceed forty degrees during the day and drop to zero or below at night. Such climate conditions were clearly unsuitable for the insects’ survival.

If they didn’t go through Afghanistan, the only alternative would be to detour through the Indus River basin, the most densely populated area of Pakistan with hot weather and dense waterways, a habitat that seemed much more suitable for the insects.

So, although Afghanistan was a country plagued by perennial warfare, after taking everything into consideration, they had no choice but to go through Afghanistan.

The national border only existed on maps, but actually being at the border, one could hardly discern the limits between two countries, except for a small border town.

Saying farewell to the Pakistani military they had exchanged with, Gao Yuan and his companions left the highway, bypassed the border town, and drove into Afghan territory.

In the vast desert, everywhere was a road, and highways became optional. This terrain lasted until they passed the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak, and only when they entered a mountainous area were Gao Yuan and his team forced to return to the highway.

But by the time they arrived here, there were no signs of human life, and naturally, that also meant there were no large numbers of zombies.

The road was in poor condition, bumpy. The vehicles drove for a half-day and a full night, and before dawn, the convoy left the highway, searched the area, and found rest in a mud house on the side of the road from five in the morning until one in the afternoon.

It had been more than three months now. Time spent in vehicles far outweighed time spent on the ground. Every day consisted of nothing but conversations, and everyone knew each other as well as they possibly could.

The only thing that offered a sense of novelty each day was to look forward to Xinghe sharing the mysteries of the universe.

Now Xinghe had become a treasure trove of a girl—whatever she said, whether they could understand it or not, as long as it was something they had never heard before, it was the importance of newness.

"Xinghe, can you tell me how you all treat diseases?"

As a doctor, Wang Ning had been eager to know from a very early time what heights alien technology could reach in the medical field, but as long as Zhao Qiang was alive, no one had the chance to get close and have unobstructed communication with Xinghe.

Now, with Gao Yuan’s permission and Li Yang’s tacit consent, Xinghe could share everything she knew, provided she was willing.

Without doing so, it was really difficult to maintain the morale of the team. With an uncertain future, no one knew how far they could go. If they could maintain high spirits throughout, it would be truly unrealistic.

"Medical treatment?"

Xinghe looked at the porridge in the bowl, then put down the bowl and said impassively, "After reaching a certain level in genetic technology, getting sick became a very ancient and distant thing for us. All newborns undergo genetic screening before they make a sound. Some undesirable genes are deleted, so genetic diseases do not exist."

Wang Ning immediately said, "I know that after reaching Earth, you stayed in your Mecha for a long time because you needed to adapt to Earth’s environment. During that time, did you establish adaptability to Earth’s microbial environment first?"

Xinghe smiled and said, "Yes, I needed to build an immune system against Earth’s environment. It took some time, and then I had to inject a certain number of robots, true nanobots, into my body. They were about the size of white blood cells and distributed under my skin, acting as a supplement to my immune system. If I were infected by a virus or bacteria, these nanobots would actively attack. More importantly, if I suffered an external injury, these nanobots would repair the damaged parts."

Wang Ning cautiously asked, "So how does a medical pod work? Can you tell me about it?"

Xinghe spread her hands and said, "For you, technology is advancing, but for us, due to two successive technological disruptions, our technological level has been in decline. The medical pods left on Earth are products from the peak period of our technology."

Everyone turned their attention to the Xinghe, and she continued, "Firstly, the medical pod contains a large number of robots that can be reused. These robots can treat human tissue as building material, cutting and transferring healthy cells from other intact areas, and reassemble a new complete organ, and all of this is done automatically."

Wang Ning nodded repeatedly, his face already revealing a look of longing.

"As for systemic diseases that are difficult to solve on Earth, such as metastatic cancer cells, they are nothing in front of the nanobots carried by the medical pod. But this is just the most basic application. The real value of the medical pod lies in the fact that it is not just a medical device but a miniaturized biological laboratory," continued Xinghe.

"Biological laboratory?"

"A biological laboratory, it just requires manual operation. If you want to create a vaccine against a certain virus, all you need to do is put the virus sample into the medical pod. Because we are a civilization that travels through space, we encounter various viruses, so such mini laboratories are essential equipment for every spaceship."

After finishing her explanation, Xinghe paused and said, "Don’t ask me how it’s made; your scientists have already asked, and I can only say that other devices have produced this medical pod and the ultraminiature robots inside it. I don’t understand the rest because..."

"Because you’re an explorer, not a scientist."

Several people finished Xinghe’s sentence for her, as she always ended her topics with that phrase.

However, this time Wang Ning did not want to let the topic go so easily. He pondered and said, "So your medical approach focuses on prevention rather than cure, mainly utilizing mechanical rather than chemical power, right?"

Xinghe smiled and said, "You know nothing about the mysteries of the human body. Any civilization in its early stages tends to develop in bigger directions, like building larger cities, making bigger machinery, flying higher, running faster. But only when it begins to develop in smaller directions can it better understand itself and clearer see the universe. Thus, big and small are not two opposing directions but two parallel paths."

Wang Ning said, "What does that mean? Small, how small can it be? Atoms? Electrons? Protons?"

Wang Ning was the only one capable of engaging Xinghe to this extent, but clearly, he was still out of his depth.

Xinghe uttered a very obscure phrase in her mother tongue and then said with ease, "Earth has no equivalent language for it, so I cannot describe to you the end we’ve discovered. But I want to tell you that there is no limit to the greatness of the universe, and similarly, there is no end to its smallness. You can get close, but there is no ultimate end. Do you understand now?"

Wang Ning thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "I understand, but when you say I know nothing about the human body, what do you mean by that? After all, our current technology is sufficient to allow us..."

Xinghe interrupted Wang Ning without hesitation, her expression serious, "The human lifespan is but a few decades; let’s not claim to have truly comprehended the mysteries of the human body."

Celestials have achieved near immortality, so there was no point in arguing with Xinghe about this.

Wang Ning pondered and questioned, "I have another question then. If your technology has progressed to the point where you can reassemble organs, it seems possible to revive someone after death, right? For example, if someone’s heart was shot, just manufacturing a new heart and making it beat again seems like it would allow for resurrection, wouldn’t it?"

Xinghe shook her head and then said earnestly, "Yes, but that’s not resurrection, because what we have never mastered is thought. We can make a person dead for a few hours breathe again, but his brain has become a blank. It’s not as simple as what you call brain death because even if we maintain oxygen supply to the brain to prevent brain death due to hypoxia, the deceased still cannot recover his consciousness from when he was alive. It remains a mystery to us, a mystery that has yet to be solved."

Wang Ning furrowed his brow and said, "If brain oxygen supply can be maintained to prevent brain death, then this situation shouldn’t occur."

Xinghe smiled and said softly, "So in terms you can understand, we believe in the soul. We don’t believe in God, or maybe we consider ourselves God, but we still believe in the soul because besides the soul, we can’t explain everything."

At this point, Wang Ning could understand, so he said somewhat baffled, "So, after reaching the end of science, does it indeed become a matter of theology?"

Xinghe shook her head and stated, "No, you’re wrong. As I’ve already said before, since science has no end, how can we speak of what comes after the end being theology?"

When the topic of theology came up, it was Lizhizi’s area of expertise, so he perked up, saying, "Humans follow the Earth, Earth follows heaven, heaven follows the Dao, and the Dao follows nature. According to our Daoist belief, if you can attain the unity of man and heaven, then you have found the great Dao."

Wang Ning gave a small smirk, but Xinghe looked at Lizhizi and with a smile, said, "You’re right."

All were surprised that Xinghe agreed with Lizhizi’s statement, especially Wang Ning. But just as Wang Ning was about to argue or discuss further, Li Jingang said from the sidelines, "I don’t want to interrupt your squabble, but we’d better leave quickly, someone’s coming."