The First Order

Chapter 191 Look at how big and round this cauldron is

Actually, Qing Zhen was not wrong. If they were to debate this subject, neither Qing Zhen nor Yang Xiaojin could convince the other. Both parties were coming from a different standpoint, and there was no way to distinguish who was right or wrong. This was because “right” and “wrong” were just judgments imposed by others.

But be it the matter of nuclear technology or nanorobotics, Ren Xiaosu felt that there was indeed no right or wrong regarding these two matters. However, what motives did those who wanted to use them have?

While they were deadlocked, Ren Xiaosu suddenly raised his own doubts. “I have a question. Are those nanomachines really that great?”

“They weren’t in the past.” Luo Lan gave a simple explanation. “They used to only be deployed for angioplasty through some basic programming, but it’d totally be different if they could directly interface with neurons in the brain and be put to military

use.”

Ren Xiaosu was taken aback. “Different in what way?”

“Just think about what if those tiny yet extremely tough nanomachines could become your new skeletal structure and muscles? What’s more, after interfacing with your neurons, they’ll fully be under your control like how you control your fingers. There wouldn’t be a need to give them any specific instructions. Just use them like how you would use your hands,” Luo Lan said.

“It still sounds rather normal to me,” Ren Xiaosu said.

“Forget it, you won’t understand!” Luo Lan scorned, “There’s no way to communicate with an uneducated person.”

Ren Xiaosu grew unhappy. “I scored 560 points on my final exams, so who are you calling uneducated? How much did you score on your exams?”.

Luo Lan was embarrassed. “Hahaha, why would you bring that up!”

Yang Xiaojin calmly lwatched Ren Xiaosu and felt he was really thick-skinned. He could even deceive himself like that?

At this moment, Qing Zhen laughed and said, “No matter what, we’re still brothers in arms today. Whatever happens in the future, let time be the judge. We don’t have any use for the hard drive, so feel free to take it back with you.”

Yang Xiaojin suddenly asked, “The Experimentals you people caught, are the results of the study you did on it out yet? Just what are those things?”

Qing Zhen thought for a moment before saying, “You might not believe it even if we tell you. Those things are full of cancer cells. No, to be more precise, they’re full of cancer cells that seemed to have reached a state of equilibrium.

“It’s common knowledge that cancer cells are a heterogeneous population, with giant nucleated, binucleated, and heteromorphic nucleated cells. However, the cancer cells found in the Experimentals comprise only of a single binuclei[1] population, and they’re even uniformly divided as normal human cells are.

“I suspect the Pyro Company attempted to search for a way to live forever. There was once a woman who, after her death, had her cancer cells taken and cultured. Later, those cancer cells were used to propagate into tens of thousands of generations of cancer cells became known as the HeLa cell line[2].”

Ren Xiaosu suddenly asked, “Has that already been verified, or was it just your guess?”

“Oh,” Qing Zhen laughed and said, “it was just my guess. After all, we haven’t started our research on the Experimentals for long, so don’t take it too seriously.”

Ren Xiaosu thought, ‘If you were only guessing, please don’t sound so certain when you are relating it to us.’

“Wait.” Yang Xiaojin suddenly also conjectured, “They were selectively injecting drugs into humans, so does that mean they’re selecting people with cancer cells?”

Qing Zhen said, “But I think, since cancer cells are derived from a mutation in normal cells, if you’re trying to define it, you can also say it’s uncontrolled evolution. But in my opinion, such evolution will always be an inferior product.”

Today, Ren Xiaosu came into contact with various kinds of speculations, and some of these speculations were not even ideas he knew before. For a moment, Ren Xiaosu felt a little envious of these people for having received a complete education. It meant that these people were able to have a complete understanding of the previous world.

“Let’s part ways here.” Qing Zhen smiled and said, “Speaking of which, I’m still under house arrest.”

“Aren’t you worried about the threat that they pose to this world?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

Qing Zhen waved it off as he stepped into an armored vehicle. “They’re not enough to cause me any worry yet. It’s only the kids who find them scary.”

Ren Xiaosu glanced at Yang Xiaojin and thought that it was no wonder she wanted to shoot him with her rifle. What a pity it was to not shoot a show-off like him.

However, his relationship with the Qing Consortium had suddenly turned from enemies into something much more ambiguous. At least when he encountered Luo Lan next time, they wouldn’t have to immediately fight it out to decide a victor.

Actually, there wasn’t really a conflict between Ren Xiaosu and the Qing Consortium. He was just a typical supernatural being who wanted to survive in this post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Ren Xiaosu watched as the armored vehicles drove off. He then summoned the shadow clone to carry him and Yang Xiaojin on its shoulders, before getting it to start running. The Experimentals had only retreated because they were afraid of the armored vehicles’ firepower. Now that they had driven off, Ren Xiaosu would have to quickly get them both out of here.

“What plans do you have now?” Ren Xiaosu asked during the bumpy ride on the shadow clone’s shoulder.

“I’m going back to Stronghold 88,” Yang Xiaojin said.

“Stronghold 88? That sounds really far,” Ren Xiaosu said with a sigh, as there was such a big difference between the strongholds’ numbers.

“It’s not exactly that far.” Yang Xiaojin said, “It’s only two strongholds away.”

“Eh? Then why is its number so distant?” Ren Xiaosu wondered.

“It used to be called Stronghold 101,” Yang Xiaojin explained, “but the consortium thought it’d be luckier to call it Stronghold 88, so they changed it. The previous Stronghold 88 has been renamed to Stronghold 101.”

Ren Xiaosu was stunned for such a long time that he could not say anything. It could even be done that way? Wasn’t that such a feudal form of superstition?

“How about you, what plans do you have?” Yang Xiaojin asked.

“I’ll have to find Yan Liuyuan and the others first. I told them to head north.”

At this time, the sky was just starting to turn bright. The two of them were being carried on the left and right shoulders of the shadow clone and chatting without a care as it ran into the distance. The eerie stronghold city behind them that had been destroyed got further and further away from their sights.

If anyone came here in the future, they would probably not expect this place to have a glorious past.

Meanwhile, Xu Xianchu was trekking in the wilderness. As he was already very far away from any Qing Consortium-controlled territory, he was no longer worried they could do anything to him anymore.

When he passed by the Zong Consortium’s town yesterday, he even used the money Ren Xiaosu had given to him to purchase quite a few supplies. As a matter of fact, the Qing Consortium’s banknotes were really quite useful out here. Other than having to pay some administrative fees, there was no need to worry about it not being accepted.

In this era, people who often traveled between strongholds would always have to bring along different corporation-issued currencies, which made it very inconvenient.

The further northwest Xu Xianchu traveled, the more desolate the scenery became. Sometimes when a gust of wind blew, yellow dust and sand would get swirled up into the air.

All of a sudden, Xu Xianchu stopped in his tracks. He was surprised to see a group of people on motorcycles speeding towards him. Sensing danger, Xu Xianchu immediately summoned his shadow clone.

The refugees at the Zong Consortium’s town had cautioned him beforehand to be careful of bandits when he headed further north.

But in the instant he summoned his shadow clone out, he froze. For some reason, a large black cauldron floated in front of him before his shadow clone came out.

The incoming group of people started indiscriminately shooting at Xu Xianchu from afar. But the bullets did not even leave any marks on the black cauldron as they hit it!

Xu Xianchu was very happy. Could his superpower have evolved to become even better?

As for these bandits, would a supernatural being need to be afraid of them? Xu Xianchu grinned. He would have to test out his new power on someone!