Chapter 428: Evolution of G-Virus
Why was it called a “Security Robot?”
Little X’s initial design philosophy when creating them was for them to be equipped to deal with the most common forms of threats in the world. This included different levels of danger ranging from war, general peacekeeping, and public security.
These robots were also designed to adapt to the most vicious environments. They were able to withstand extreme temperatures and pressures, carry out mining, s.p.a.ce, deep-sea operations, and many such endeavors. They were a cla.s.s of multi-faceted robots with a variety of applications.
Simply put, they could use a gun as well as they could use tools.
“Should we install artificial skin on the outer sh.e.l.ls to disguise their ident.i.ty as robots?”
Little X asked suddenly.
When the Blanc Consortium came to Eco Science City previously, they also met the receptionist on the ground floor of the office building that was an Android. It was an XTN-003 model security robot with the latest bionic skin installation developed by Blacklight Biotechnology. It was designated there for a single purpose and that was to survey people’s reactions to Android so that further modifications could be made based on the collected data.
“No need, bionic skin tends to be very fragile in actual combat.”
Chen Chen turned down the suggestion without a second thought. “If the bionic skin was exposed, it’d give an inadvertent impression of us having bad intentions. After all, why bother installing bionic skin unless we have something to hide from the general public?”
“Alright...”
Little X nodded meekly.
“XTN-003 robots will have to be downgraded slightly as well.”
Chen Chen reminded. “We can also take this opportunity to roll out the ‘Four-phase Era’. You remember what this project is about?”
Little X answered candidly, “Oh, the first era would be the VR era, breaking through the traditional shackles of VR and upgrading its range from merely audio-visual to encapsulating all five senses. The second era is the artificial intelligence era, fully commercializing the use of AI and inducting it into common households...”
“Correct answer!”
Chen Chen noted with pleasure, “If we want to commercialize the use of robots, it should first be inducted for military use. After all, the usual trend of technology tends to be widespread military usage before proper commercialization.
“Which means it’s now the era for a slightly tweaked version of XTN-003 security robot to enter the military field...”
Little X thought that this was a sensible approach as their appearance would not come off as completely left field, seeing that Blacklight Biotechnology already had “Project Xingtian” as a foundation. The rollout of the military-use robots was a natural progression in the grand scheme of things.
As for whether a robot fully fitted with bipedal mobility functions would knock the boots off the current AI realm, that was not something Little X had to concern herself with.
“Also, what’s the situation with the drones?”
Chen Chen asked.
“For the drones, we’re currently at the Mark-005 model, it’s well adapted for offense, defense, and reconnaissance tasks.”
Little X answered, “Currently, our team of engineers headed by Mark Dawson is addressing the problem with the wind tunnels. Once they have come up with a proper solution, I expect us to start constructing manned-aircraft very soon.”
“The window is still too narrow.”
Chen Chen frowned. “From the establishment of Blacklight Biotechnology, we have only had three years to develop our foundation. We still haven’t launched the Gantz satellites to s.p.a.ce and still need to enlist s.p.a.ceX’s help to globalize. Judging by the current situation, it’ll take some time before we can establish s.p.a.ce supremacy.”
Chen Chen decided to phone Qian Wenhuan. “Old Qian, I want you to a.s.semble a small team composed of our boldest members and have them make a trip to the Earth Federation headquarters. I’ll send you an elaborate list later, what this group will need to do is to advertise the products on this list to the partic.i.p.ating countries in the Federation...”
If the goal was to advertise, why not go with regular advertising and making announcements on the official website?
Qian Wenhuan could not help but wonder. However, his years of acc.u.mulated experience up till this point had taught him to not ask unnecessary questions, he accepted the task without any qualms.
Shortly after that, he received a fax of the mentioned list on his office printer.
After going through the list in its entirety, a pool of sweat immediately broke out on Qian Wenhuan’s back. He immediately understood why this list of products could not be advertised using regular methods...
After giving the order to Qian Wenhuan, Chen Chen proceeded to leave the military industrial park. Before leaving, he took one last look at the launch tower being built in the aeros.p.a.ce base, the sense of longing in his eyes evident as he did so.
Although he had many enemies lurking around each corner, it was only going to be a temporary issue. Once all five Gantz satellites were launched, there would no longer be any blind spots on Earth!
With this in mind, Chen Chen finally left the military industrial park.
“Are we headed for the Spire now?”
Little X asked.
Chen Chen checked the time and shook his head. “We’re not heading there today. Any new developments in the Spire laboratory?”
“Of course.”
Xiao X replied, “We haven’t made much progress on the conventional weapons end during this period, but we have made good progress for the biological and chemical weapons... Remember the three types of G viruses we have produced?”
Chen Chen nodded firmly as he entered the car.
The three types of G-virus Little X spoke of were the fused product of the black goo from Prometheus and the T-virus from Resident Evil.
The three new forms of viruses were respectively named G-001, G-002, and G-003.
“The initial G-001 virus was an airborne virus that could infect nearly all carbon-based life. After the death of its host, a new life will emerge from the deceased host’s body.”
Little X described, “And now, G-001 has been further enhanced into the G-101. In addition to transmission via air aerosol, it’s also heat-resistant, cold-resistant, and viable in dry and humid conditions. It also can enter a hibernation state in its environment in the event that it cannot find any habitable host, in which case it can survive for more than thirty days. It can be carried across oceans by riding currents...”
Chen Chen felt his heart skip a beat as he listened to Little X’s description, he quickly cut her off. “Isn’t that a little overboard?”
“Hm, you mean...”
Little X turned to look at Chen Chen in a state of confusion.
“Destroy it.”
Chen Chen ordered without the slightest inclination of doubt, “There’s no good reason for such a virus to exist, let’s just preserve the original G-001.”
“Oh.”
Little X did not have much to say about that, she only nodded before continuing. “Then let’s look at the second variant.”
As Little X said this, she made a gesture that pulled up a stack of pictures and a.n.a.lytical data on Chen Chen’s phone.
“The second variant is the G-002. It’s not as infectious and doesn’t possess airborne qualities, but its ability to mutate inside the host is enhanced. This current model is the G-211 which is no longer susceptible to having its mutation effects being reversed, therefore the host will not experience effects of degeneration after being infected. The infected victim will only evolve into a more advanced life form.”
Following Little X’s narration, a video appeared on the screen of Chen Chen’s phone. The video showed a rabbit injected with a tube of red liquid. Immediately after that, the snow-white rabbit began wailing in pain and hopping around in a volatile manner.
As it continued to hop with fiercer momentum every time, its legs suddenly burst open. Large veins of bright red muscles broke through the layer of snow-white fur!
“Squeak....”
The rabbit’s wailing was only growing louder...
This was merely the beginning. The video was sped up at ten times its usual speed. As the rabbit continued to hop around, another foot burst open in a similar fashion, ripping through its thick hair to reveal a large clump of muscle!
Soon after, two jet-black spikes suddenly popped out of the elbow joints of its two forelimbs. These bones grew out of nowhere. When the rabbit’s body could no longer support the rapid changes it was experiencing, its skin slowly melded into a hardened layer of carapace, the tips of its hair turned into needle-point thorns!
Within an hour, the originally docile rabbit turned into a b.l.o.o.d.y-eyed, spike carapace rabbit baring sharp fangs that were considerably larger...
“In addition to the G virus, this injection is also supplemented with a considerable amount of energy for consumption.”
Little X noted.
“This is amusing.”
Chen Chen nodded vehemently. “This injection can be used to produce supersoldiers, how does it affect the conscience though? Will the host preserve its conscience when undergoing this rapid genetic mutation?”
“It will be difficult...”
Little X shook her head. “It’s a complete mutation that affects the brain cells and nerves as well, it won’t be easy to preserve the conscience of the host.”
“That’s a shame, we can continue developing it in this manner still.”
Chen Chen said, feeling slightly disappointed.
“Alright, that brings us to the final and third variant...”
Little X continued. “The G-003. Its original trait enabled its host to grow more than ten times in size with just a small amount of energy. The reason for this phenomenon is that upon being infected with G-003, a unique organ grows along the skin of its host that allows it to replenish itself by absorbing moisture and microorganisms from the air.
“Moreover, a large number of high-energy covalent bonds are generated in the host’s blood, which directly reacts with the nitrogen in the air to expand its outer sh.e.l.l. All of these factors lead to a rapid gain in ma.s.s.
“Currently, G-003 has been improved and optimized which results in the newer rendition of G-322. Its absorption rate is further optimized and allows the growth of its host within minutes, isn’t that astounding?”
Little X chuckled as another footage appeared on Chen Chen’s phone.
Just like with the previous footage, the subject was a lab rabbit.
Just like the previous rabbit, this rabbit was injected with a dark red syringe of liquid.
Unlike the previous rabbit that transformed into an unrecognizable monstrosity, the body of this rabbit started to emit clouds of white mist following the injection. When the mist scattered, the skin of the rabbit had turned into jet-black scales. It also grew sharp fangs and had a viciousness in its eyes that was never present there before.
What was more notable was that it had become several times larger, nearly the size of a basketball...
However, upon closer inspection, one could still recognize that it was a rabbit.
A muscular ma.s.s of rabbit!
“Hiss...”
Chen Chen could not resist holding his breath upon witnessing this sight although this was not his first time seeing something like this. If not for his thorough understanding of the underlying principle, he might have believed that this was fake.
After all, reality was unlike what was usually depicted in movies. Movies always showed humans instantly growing from the size of an ordinary human to a giant three meters tall and weighing more than a thousand pounds. Something like this was impossible in reality. It would violate the law of conservation of ma.s.s and energy.
What happened to this rabbit seemed to have defied this law as well.
However, if this rabbit was put into an enclosed environment for detailed reading to be conducted, it should be quickly noted that despite the sharp increase of the rabbit’s ma.s.s, the total ma.s.s of the enclosed s.p.a.ce remains completely unaltered.
“This isn’t the most astounding part. There’s another added quality to the modified G-322...”
Little X suddenly noted.
“What quality?”
Chen Chen asked as he continued to pay close attention to the footage. He saw that the footage was being fast-forwarded and after nearly an hour pa.s.sed, the enlarged rabbit began to emit a cloud of white mist again. While this was happening, it started to shed off its sh.e.l.l!
Under Chen Chen’s watchful gaze, the giant ma.s.s of rabbit looked like it was deflating. It started to shed layers of skin along with its new sharp teeth. After half an hour of this tedious process, the monster rabbit had returned to its original form.
What was distinctly different about the rabbit that had returned to its regular size was that it was now incredibly skinny and frail. It had shed off nearly all of its hair. All that remained was a thin film of silky skin like that of a newborn...
Chen Chen was deeply amused by what he had witnessed.
“This has surpa.s.sed all biological knowledge currently known to mankind.”
Little X said, “I suspect that this is because this type of G-virus may have produced a specific set of collective conscience that manages to combine itself with the host’s conscience. This in turn grants the host an ability to revert to its original form...”
Chen Chen squinted his eyes and noted. “I wouldn’t know about this collective conscience but what I can tell is that from the beginning until the end, the aggressiveness displayed by this rabbit hardly compares to the previous one.”
“That’s right.”
Little X noted enthusiastically. “I was initially concerned that this was an outlier so I made sure to conduct several other experiments on other animals, which includes lab rats and gorillas. The results were the same every time, wherein they became giants and reverted to their original shape within an hour...
“However, the animals that revert to their original form become very sluggish. Their entire body seemed hollowed out, losing up to 90% of the fats and energy content. Their skin was reformed as well.
“Most notably, after dissecting their brains, I noticed that the condition of their brain was flawlessly preserved to a point where it was almost unbelievable. This G-322 variant virus is like the transformation drugs you see depicted in movies, it has wondrous qualities...”