Chapter 4 Biological Gene-reforming Machine
"Yes, electromagnetic radiation could work. The amplifier could use electromagnetic radiation to stimulate the secretion of growth hormones from the pituitary gland. However, the pituitary gland of fish is different from humans and the waveband needed to stimulate it is also different. A corresponding waveband needs to be found."
"Professor w.a.n.g, thank you very much!" After getting the answer he wanted, Chen Fan swallowed, thanked the professor, and dashed out of the office.
All he wanted to do now was to reach home as soon as possible so that he could carry out his plan.
Although Chen Fan did not pay much attention during lessons, he still understood the basics and related concepts.
Electromagnetic radiation impacted cells differently, depending on the levels used. If the frequency of electromagnetic radiation corresponded with and excited the cells, cell metabolic activities would increase greatly and its mitotic division would speed up. However, if the frequency exceeded the degree of acceptance by the cells, the cells could degenerate rapidly and die. In the worst case scenario the cells would mutate.
In other words, electromagnetic rays were actually electromagnetic waves. Electricity and magnetic field were like two sides of the same coin, as the electric current generated a magnetic field while the changes in the magnetic field produced an electric current. When electromagnetic rays achieve a certain frequency, it can be freely transmitted about in s.p.a.ce.
Although Chen Fan"s electric eel avatar currently couldn"t let out a freely transmitted electromagnetic ray, releasing electromagnetic rays within its body was still as easy as drinking a mouth of water.
Chen Fan laid on his bed when he got home. After calming down, he switched his thoughts to the body of the electric eel and carefully fixed in his mind the image of the oval-shaped pituitary gland.
Stimulating gill and liver growth would indeed be a long and complicated process. Also, it’s impossible to count the number of fish in the ocean larger than the eel. Chen Fan feared that with the little body of the electric eel, he would be easy prey in the vast ocean.
Chen Fan decided to temporarily ignore this matter. Fumbling the technique for stimulating the pituitary gland to secrete a ma.s.sive amount of growth hormones was a more pressing danger for the moment.
The growth hormones of humans are circular or oval in shape. However, Chen Fan was in the dark when it came to the hormonal cells of an electric eel. An electric eel"s pituitary gland was only a little bigger than a pea, so Chen Fan decided to go layer by layer, making sure he didn’t overload the gland.
The pituitary gland was the most important hormonal secretion gland after all. It could secrete many types of hormones, including growth hormones, thyrotropin, adrenocorticotropin, gonadotropin, oxytocin, prolactin, melanocyte-stimulating hormones, and many more.
Looking at the pea-sized brain of the electric eel, Chen Fan decided to divide it into twenty equal, circular parts and stimulate a different part every three days.
The electricity-producing organs of the electric eel were freaking awesome. They did not just randomly generate electricity.
In his mind, Chen Fan could see the pituitary gland as precisely as if he were looking through a microscope. He took a deep breath and carefully instructed the inactive voltage in his body to stimulate the specific region of the gland that he was working on.
Because it was his first attempt, Chen Fan didn’t know the correct frequency of electromagnetic waves to use. He could only start patiently at the lowest frequency and increase it gradually to prevent any unexpected incidents.
After all, the electric eel was now a part of his body. If the electric eel was damaged, Chen Fan"s consciousness would also receive corresponding damage.
The first attempt: There were almost no changes of the cells on the surface of the pituitary gland.
The second attempt: He began to feel a mild numbness and the rate of cell division increased a little.
The third attempt: The numbness got stronger and the rate of cell division increased significantly.
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The seventh attempt: The numbness turned into a tingling sensation and the rate of cell division increased shockingly to fifteen times the norm.
The eighth attempt: He was unable to continue during the eighth attempt, as the tingling sensation changed into an unbearable burning sensation.
Chen Fan decided to use the electromagnetic frequency he’d used in his seventh try.
He slowly stimulated the endocrine tissue cells under the membrane of the pituitary gland with an extremely weak voltage. The cells started to divide frenziedly and ten times more rapidly, as though they had been injected with stimulants. That being said, the cells only occupied a few square millimeters of area, even though they looked like they were everywhere.
After an hour, all the targeted areas were stimulated. Chen Fan"s taught nerves relaxed instantly and he swam to the water’s surface with his mouth wide open gasping for air.
This was a tedious job, as the slightest mistake would lead to unpredictable consequences. Chen Fan had no choice but to focus all his effort on it.
The upcoming task was much simpler. He just needed to stimulate this area in the following days and feel the changes in the eel’s body.
On the third day of waiting, Chen Fan was depressed because the electric eel did not grow rapidly as he had expected. Instead, there was a baffling big white spot on the lower part of its body.
Although he was quite depressed, Chen Fan would definitely not give up.
He changed his targeted region and tried to stimulate the secretory cells in that region repeatedly for the next three days.
However, the result was still not satisfactory. Although it did not cause the growth of the white spot, he instead felt a strong urge to mate.
May G.o.d have mercy on this poor electric eel that is only a pre-adolescent child!
Without giving up hope, Chen Fan tried another region...
After experiencing more than ten baffling changes, finally, after the fortieth day, something exciting made Chen Fan burst into tears. Since yesterday, the electric eel"s appet.i.te had begun to increase drastically as though a high power grinder was placed in its stomach, digesting all of the food in a split second.
"There"s hope!"
Chen Fan thought about it excitedly while chomping on the meat of poor fish.
Thinking about the previous attempts at stimulating the pituitary gland, it was neither the growth of a baffling white spot on its abdomen nor a strong urge to mate for no reason.
In fact, he did not experience anything weird except that he felt like he couldn’t stop eating. He must have coincidentally stimulated the main secretion spot of the growth hormone. Because of his understanding of the pituitary gland, Chen Fan was able to categorize the hormones that were secreted according to his body symptoms.
Luckily, things continued to be in his favor…
After about ten days, Chen Fan was astonished when he found out that he had grown longer by two meters or so.
"Oh G.o.d, you love me so much!" looking at his suddenly longer body, Chen Fan was extremely excited.
Professor w.a.n.g, who was a biologist, as well as others studying biology would be so envious of him if they knew that he could transform into an electric eel! Chen Fan thought about it happily as he chewed the delicious fish.
After all, no matter how amazing humans were, they still could not generate a high voltage, sense their surroundings by relying on the brain’s special structure to detect electromagnetic radiation, nor decompose water into oxygen gas and hydrogen gas like an electric eel.
In particular, the concept of combining the discharge and induction of electromagnetic waves was just too overwhelming. To a biologist, it was simply a perfect "biological gene-re-forming machine"! Only G.o.d knows what monster exceeding humans’ expectations could be created out of this.
However, the growing body subsequently caused a major problem.
The two-meter fish tank seemed to have difficulty containing an electric eel that was of similar length. On top of that, Chen Fan had to spend at least 20 RMB per day just to buy fishes to feed this electric eel that has a stomach like a black hole.
Chen Fan was not from a wealthy family and his parents were always away from home. He had only 800 RMB for his monthly expenses. It was obvious that he could not afford the extra few hundred RMB he spent daily on food for the electric eel.
Chen Fan had already used up almost all of the money in his piggy bank for this month alone. The expenses would probably increase in the following month.