Chapter 215: Biological Organic Weaponry
Since the subject’s mouth was gagged, the bite failed to land.
The a.s.sistant jerked up in shock and immediately retracted his hand, visibly traumatized by what had happened.
“I already told you to be careful,” Li Lei expressed with a frown, “we don’t have a detoxifying agent yet!”
“I’m very sorry, sir.” The a.s.sistant immediately apologized profusely.
The heart of the subject who was recently deceased suddenly began beating again. Apart from that, his complexion had turned snow-white. His pupils were also enlarged and no longer reacted to exposure of light. He clenched his teeth and drooled continuously, all while screeching violently at the people surrounding him.
Becoming like a beast infected with rabies.
“How is this possible...”
It was then when an a.s.sistant inspected the brainwave meter and announced in a surprised tone, “The brainwaves of the subject have completely dissipated just now, but now they appear to be resurfacing again!”
According to the reading shown on the display, the brainwaves of the subject which was originally a straight line was starting to go up. However, it did not revert to a regular human state. It was all but a mild brainwave, roughly equivalent to the brain activity displayed in humans when in a state of deep sleep.
“The heartbeat rate of the subject maintains at 20 beats per minute!” Another a.s.sistant pointed out.
“Looks like the virus reactivated the subject, leaving the subject in an extreme energy conservation state.”
Li Lei was baffled. “So, the so-called zombies are humans eternally trapped in a sleepwalk state that expends energy at a minimal rate?”
After a series of tests, a sheet of the research report was very quickly produced and found its way to Chen Chen’s hands.
On the other side, Hannibal had concluded the experiment on his end as well.
The final findings were that macaques and chimpanzees could also be infected by the virus. However, the virus was lethal and did not reanimate them into zombified animals.
Other species that could not be zombified included birds and cats. Only canine species could become zombified after being infected by the virus.
Hannibal even conducted an additional experiment. He first acquired the carca.s.s of a wolfhound that had been deceased for several hours and injected the virus into it.
Unsurprisingly, the wolfhound came back to life.
“I don’t quite understand.”
Hannibal handed the data acquired from the experiment to Chen Chen. “As per the conclusion devised from the experiments, the T-virus is likely to have the ability to restart terminated brain cells. But doesn’t this violate the common laws of nature?”
“That’s true, this does defy common knowledge.”
Li Lei, who was standing beside chimed in as well. “I’ve seen a living person transform into a zombie, but will a person who has been dead for several hours be reanimated? In other words, does this imply that the T-virus can reactivate terminated brain cells? But how is this possible...”
“Actually, this doesn’t go against common sense.”
Chen Chen flipped through the data in his hand and began his explanation, “There’s a thesis published in Nature that describes a similar scenario.”
The two of them were caught by surprise and turned to Chen Chen in amus.e.m.e.nt.
“If memory serves me correctly, it was an article from April 2019 t.i.tled Restoration of Brain Circulation and Cellular Functions Hours Post-mortem...
“The content of the article is as follows – Professor Nenad, a neurologist at Yale University developed a system called extracorporeal pulse perfusion system or simply known as BrainEx. This is an extracorporeal artificial circulation machine that operates similar to a dialysis machine. It’s a combination of a pump, a heater, and a filter.
“To test the functionalities of the device, Professor Nenad went to the slaughterhouse and took the heads of thirty-two pigs. Although the pigs have been slaughtered for more than four hours, Professor Nenad had no qualms with it and took them all back to the laboratory.”
Chen Chen went on. “After bringing the heads back to the laboratory, he extracted the brains of the pigs from their skull and connected them to the BrainEx system. Using this device, artificial blood was pumped into the pig’s brains, supplementing the brain cells with nutrition and oxygen. The entire perfusion process took six hours.”
“What was the outcome?” the two of them asked.
“The result was very surprising as a portion of the pig’s brain cells were ‘reanimated’. The neurons of the pig brain displayed spontaneous synaptic activity and some brain cells have reactivated their metabolic functions. Even the immune system started operating again.”
Chen Chen spread his arms apart. “It’s a common belief in the medical field that asphyxiation exceeding four minutes will kill a large amount of diffused brain cells. If exceeding ten minutes, all of the brain cells will die. However, this experiment proves that the brain can still be salvaged even four hours after its death.
“Of course, this doesn’t have anything to do with so-called ‘reanimation’.”
Chen Chen pondered for a moment before further backing up his point. “This phenomenon only proves that the brain’s tissues stay alive for longer than we initially believed. We may have underestimated the restorative abilities of the brain. In practice, dead brain cells can be reactivated again through a certain set of methods.”
“In that case, did the brain of the pigs emit brain waves?” Hannibal asked.
“No, the experiment commenced after six hours.”
Chen Chen shook his head. “Over the course of the experiment, the brains of the pigs didn ‘t emit high-order neural electrical signals which may indicate consciousness. This suggests that even if their brains were salvaged, the only thing that may come out of it were vegetative pigs devoid of conscience.”
“Maybe the professor can try simulating the brain using an electric current to trigger the brain’s consciousness synapses,” Li Lei suggested eagerly.
“Maybe he did try that secretly but cannot publicize the information.”
Chen Chen snickered. “Because just the publication of this experimental paper alone was met with a great amount of objection. Some people were concerned that this experiment would spark ethical issues while others were concerned about its implications on the practice of organ donation. After all, most organ donors donate their organs after their brain is p.r.o.nounced as dead, but if brain death could be reversed, n.o.body would want to donate their organs and whatnot.
“Sometimes, I want to beat up these ethic freaks.”
Li Lei said helplessly, “Mr. Chen Chen, I get what you mean now. The T-virus doesn’t reanimate the deceased. The reason they can achieve that effect is that the brain cells aren’t completely dead yet. In this sense, the T-virus operates similarly to the BrainEx system, capable of reviving a part of the brain cells.”
“Yes, but this is where the magic of the T-virus truly shines.”
Hannibal summarized. “For the BrainEx system to work, the brain has to be removed from its skull to perform its perfusion cycle. However, the T-virus can directly salvage brain cells that are on the brink of death. With the correct application, this virus can be used to remedy brain damage and brain death...
“If we can get rid of the toxin in the virus, we may be able to unleash its potential.”
Chen Chen nodded in agreement. “The true potential of the T-virus lies in its application in the military. Reanimating people into zombies is only its side effect. The real functionality of the T-virus lies in its ability to reprogram the genetics of its host...”
With that, Chen Chen rose suddenly and took a marker pen to write down three letters on the whiteboard —
B.O.W.
“This is the true application of the T-virus”
Chen Chen explained, “To create highly destructive ‘Biological Organic Weaponry’ via genetic recombination...”