Chapter 531: Han Zizhe
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Protoplasm was the general term for living substances in cells and its main components were a mixture of carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and so on.
At this time, the crystalline substance Chen Chen had obtained was a kind of biological protoplasm, namely, the sap that flowed out after the cell was damaged.
“A biological protoplasm?”
At this point, Chen Chen could not help frowning. Little X handed Chen Chen a thick a.n.a.lysis report. These were the protoplasm test reports.
Chen Chen opened it solemnly and bent over it. It took more than ten minutes for him to go through it.
With his current brainpower, a page of information could be completely printed in his mind in almost two or three seconds. This information made Chen Chen take such a serious look, so it had aroused his vigilance.
“Sure enough, it’s not an Earth life form...”
After reading this report, Chen Chen murmured.
In the report, the components in the biological fluid had been a.n.a.lyzed. Most of them were water, which accounted for 90% of the fluid. The remaining substances contained very complex nucleic acid chains, which were the DNA of this organism.
This DNA was completely different from the living things on Earth, but it was very simple.
Yes, simple.
Compared with the life forms that existed on the earth, the form of this creature would be very simple, just like the most primitive ancient creature on the earth. The DNA that Chen Chen saw at this time had a complexity that was not even a hundredth that of higher animals. Needless to say, it was not on par with human beings at all.
Still, what was intriguing was that, according to the genetic expression, this organism was likely to have round-shaped nerves and a composite cell structure. This structure meant that its body and nerves were completely separated. Even if the body died, its nervous system could survive alone and then regenerate.
This was an almost immortal monster.
“What a magical creature...”
Seeing this, Chen Chen could not help frowning. He paced back and forth in the room. “There have been two similar creatures on the earth, one called Helcionelloida and the other called Acipenser Sinensis Gray. If these ancient life forms were still alive, maybe their form would have something in common with this kind of creature, right?”
With that, Chen Chen turned around and closed the file. Now, the contents of this file had been engraved into his mind, but besides that, he had not learned much.
“Can we try to replicate this creature?”
Little X asked, “Using directional differentiation technology to extract the intact cells inside to induce stem cells and then transfer the nuclei into artificially cultivated egg cells to form embryos?”
“There’s no need for that.”
Chen Chen shook his head. “The probability of success isn’t high. After all, we don’t even have a complete sample of the cell structure of the creature and we don’t know the environment and temperature that this organism would thrive in. The chances of replication aren’t high.”
Still, Little X continued. “By the way, Sir G.o.dfather, it’s three o’clock in the afternoon in Namibia. According to the time calculation, the first batch of meteorites has fallen on the earth.”
“Oh?”
Chen Chen frowned upon hearing this, “So, it’s happening now?”
He did not know why, but he suddenly thought of the weird dream he had just now. He did not know whether that dream was related to these meteorites.
Thus, he asked again, “Is the quantum computer Adam reacting?”
“No, everything is normal at the moment.”
“Then keep an eye on things for the time being. It’d be best if we could retrieve a batch of the fallen meteorites and see if there are new clues in those meteorites...”
“Got it.”
...
At this time, far away on the other side of the earth, it had entered nighttime.
In some places, astronomy enthusiasts began to set up their telescopes. In accordance with the notices given by the news, many people came to the suburbs where they thought there would be less light pollution, waiting for the arrival of the meteor shower.
“Zhang Qi, slow down...”
At a mountain on the outskirts of Shangdu, a car parked on the side of the road near the peak. Then, a fashionably dressed girl got out of the car, huffing angrily, and walked toward the side of the road without thinking.
While the girl got out of the car, a thin young man quickly opened the door from the driver’s seat and ran out of the car, somewhat helplessly chasing after the girl.
“Zhang Qi, slow down, it’s not safe here in the wilderness!”
The young man was a little powerless. He had a bowl-cut, which was the most popular hairstyle on Kuaishou1. Although it was winter, he wore very thin clothes. His jacket was a down jacket, but it was left unzipped and flapping wide open, revealing a small tight-fitting T-shirt inside.
The lower half of his body was clad in very skinny trousers and his feet were shod in a pair of yellow loafers, without socks.
Dressed in all this, the young man chased in the direction of the girl with small steps.
“Zhang Qi, Zhang Qi!”
He kept calling her name. When he grabbed her arm, the girl immediately flung him aside and shouted, “Han Zizhe, don’t touch me. Why don’t you go talk to your female confidantes!”
Hearing these words, the youth suddenly showed a painful expression. He choked out. “Oh, it’s my fault? And didn’t you get acquainted with three random ‘brothers’ on the Internet? Going “dear, muaks muaks” all day long, flirting so heavily, yet did I say anything?”
“I’m a girl, so what if I know a few brothers?”
The girl became even more worked up. “Can’t you let me do that? Just because I know a few brothers, you have to start flirting with another girl?”
“Since when?”
The youth inquired.
“I saw your phone, there’s that ‘Night Vibes’ chatting app. It says ‘meet in one swipe’, humph, I hope you’ll meet a ghost in one swipe!”
The girl huffed in fury and then she made to walk away.
“Alright, I’ve deleted that app, surely that’ll do?”
The young man finally compromised. He said helplessly, “But I have a request, you must block those friends on QQ. We’ll both cut them off, okay?”
“No way!”
The girl shook her head with an extremely determined att.i.tude. “I finally got to know a few brothers after so much effort. Why should I block them for your sake?”
“You!”
Seeing this, the young man gritted his teeth. “Are you going to be reasonable!”
“I’m only dating you, it doesn’t mean I have to be reasonable.”
The girl did not back down. She pointed with one finger at the sky. “Originally I said that I’d watch the meteor shower with you. Now the meteors are here, go and watch it yourself!”
The young man involuntarily looked into the sky after hearing these words. Sure enough, several streams of light had appeared in the sky at some point. These glowing streaks continued to fall and then quickly disappeared.
When he saw this, for some reason. the youth felt a hint of disappointment...
Just when he was feeling discouraged and was preparing to say something final, he suddenly saw that one of the streams of light had not been extinguished like the rest, but instead became bigger and brighter.
“Huh?”
Both the youth and the girl were a little puzzled. They blinked, only to find that the light seemed to be streaking toward them.
The speed of the meteor was so fast. In less than a few seconds, the streak of light flew over the heads of the two with a whistle and then they only heard a “bang”, and a blazing light burst out from the top of the mountain!
The meteor had fallen?
Seeing this scene, the two looked at each other in unison. Both of them noticed the shocked expressions in the other’s eyes. Then, the young man ignored the girl and he ran toward the site of impact without thinking!
As an astronomy enthusiast, he knew that ordinary people would never witness this kind of scene, not even once in their lives. How could he pa.s.s up this opportunity?
“Han Zizhe, Han Zizhe!”
Behind him, the girl shouted anxiously, but the young man still did not stop because, in his opinion, the blaze of fire was not far, only about three to four hundred meters away. This distance was short enough for him to be the first to reach the scene.
Sure enough, the young man only ran for two or three minutes before he reached the place where the meteor had fallen. He first smelled a pungent burnt stench, but in this smell, there was a barbecue-like aroma.
“Huff, huff!”
He ran to the front in one breath and finally saw a shallow pit, half a meter in diameter, in the ground. Even the soil in the pit was being scorched!
There was blue smoke in the pit and in the center of the crater, there was a fist-sized, irregular-shaped meteorite quietly resting there.
Illuminated by the light of his mobile phone, the meteorite was spindle-shaped and its color was pure black. He did not know if it was burned black when it fell into the atmosphere or if that was the original color. Other than that, he could not make out anything else.
About four or five minutes later, the girl named Zhang Qi finally rushed over. She looked at the young man by the crater. “Han Zizhe, I called you so many times, why did you pretend not to hear me?”
The youth looked back at the girl and replied indifferently, “I thought you weren’t going to watch the meteors with me anymore, then why are you calling for me? Just go by yourself.”
“So, you just left me there alone?”
The girl asked incredulously, “What happens if I’m in danger?”
“Heh heh.”
The young man sneered and did not answer. He ignored the girl’s nattering. He saw that there was no more smoke in the crater and it had probably cooled down. Then, he stepped into the crater and gingerly reached out toward the meteorite.
“Han Zizhe, I’ll have this meteorite!”
However, before he touched the meteorite, there was a sudden burst of footsteps and the girl went straight past him and took the meteorite before his eyes.
“You!”
The young man frowned. “This meteorite is worth nothing. What will you do with it? You know I’m an astronomy enthusiast, so you want to s.n.a.t.c.h what’s mine?”
“What’s yours? This thing dropped from the sky!”
The girl instantly yelled defiantly, but at this moment, she felt a stream of heat flowing to the back of her hand and arm.
She reached out, only to realize that her hand was full of a sticky substance by now.
“What the h*ll?”
As it was dark, neither of them could see exactly what was on the meteorite. The girl moved her phone to the meteorite, only to see a lot of liquid leaking out of the meteorite like black oil. Some of the liquid had permeated the ground as well.
She turned her head and looked at the meteorite, but saw that there were a few small cracks in the meteorite. This liquid was flowing out of these cracks.
“Ugh, how disgusting!”
The girl hurriedly threw the meteorite on the ground, and then quickly took out the paper towel from her handbag and constantly wiped her hands.
“See? I told you not to touch this thing, but you just wouldn’t listen.”
The young man snorted, then he picked up the meteorite at once, turned, and walked down the mountain.
“Where are you going?”
The girl hurriedly shouted.
“Let’s go, I’ll take you home!”
...
After a twisting drive, by the time Han Zizhe had sent Zhang Qi to the door of her house, the two had reconciled as before.
When the girl had left the car, Han Zizhe turned his head again to look at the meteorite in the front pa.s.senger seat.
At this time, the meteorite had soaked the entire underside of the front pa.s.senger seat. He did not know how much liquid was in it, but it was not drained yet.
Could it be that this meteorite was a piece of meteoric ice?
Han Zizhe shook his head. He stepped on the accelerator and the vehicle returned to his rented residence.
He wrapped the meteorite in a piece of paper and moved the meteorite back to his home. Then, Han Zizhe excitedly turned on the light and looked at the meteorite carefully.
This meteorite was not big, only slightly larger than an ordinary person’s fist, and it was all covered with cracks. Up to this point, there was still a trace of liquid seeping out, which looked dark and incomparably sticky.
“It doesn’t look like water. Surely this thing isn’t radioactive...”
Seeing this, the young man suddenly became a little nervous. He looked at his hand. This liquid did not seem to be anything special and was easily washed away with water. It was not as difficult to clean as oil.
Thinking of this, he leaned forward toward the meteorite again and sniffed it lightly.
Immediately, he noticed that there was an odd smell from the meteorite, besides the burnt smell and barbecue aroma.
The burnt smell and barbecue aroma came from the outer sh.e.l.l of the meteorite, but this odd smell came from the liquid within.
“F*ck, it’s quite disgusting...:
Han Zizhe murmured. He had not heard of any meteorite that turned out to be smelly.
Thinking of this, he quickly turned on the computer, logged in to the “Meteorite Home” website, about to make a post on the forum to see what this meteorite was.
However, he had just opened the webpage when he saw that there were already several posts published there —
[Newbie here, would like to ask you guys what kind of meteorite this is cla.s.sified as? Is it an iron meteorite or a stone meteorite?]
[I just bought this from a layman, now I present it to you. It fell during the meteor shower tonight...]
[The scale of the meteor shower tonight is so big, I didn’t expect that quite a few of you would have obtained a meteorite?]
There were pictures under the t.i.tles of these posts and the pictures were all the same. They were not very different from the meteorite he got. Some of them still had sticky liquid flowing out of them, which looked a bit disgusting.
Han Zizhe casually clicked into a post, and sure enough, the replies below were complaining about these questions.
[F*ck, what the h*ll is this, it’s not like a meteorite at all, okay? Why is there goo on it?]
[Hey, it’s real. The sh.e.l.l has the burnt marks formed when it pa.s.sed through the atmosphere. It doesn’t look fake. As for the oozing liquid, probably it’s because the meteorite contains ice?]
[Will this liquid cause any problems? I advise the OP to go to the hospital for a checkup tomorrow.]
[So gross...]
[OP, I’m from the relevant department. This meteorite of yours belongs to the country. Please hand it over to the government tomorrow and claim your reward of a small red flag and 50,000 yuan.]