Chapter 207: Solution
Chapter 207: Solution
There was something called the “Red Queen” hypothesis in western biology.
This hypothesis posited that in the evolution of the biological world, all creatures had to constantly compete with the other species around them. If a species stopped evolving, it would be eliminated mercilessly.
The entire evolutionary process could be described by the saying, “If you’re moving forward, you’re moving backward”. Foreigners might not have heard this before, but in the story of Alice in Wonderland, the Red Queen said this to Alice, “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”
Therefore, scientists named this Red Queen hypothesis.
When it came to evolution, one must mention viruses too.
In the 1990s, biological sequencing technology was relatively mature. Scientists began to study the nucleotide sequences in human chromosomes to decipher the secrets of human genetic code.
The researchers found that about 8% of the human genome was confirmed to be composed of viruses that once invaded our ancestors while an additional 40% to 50% were suspected to be likewise composed of viruses that invaded our ancestors.
In simple terms, a virus was like a robot mainly composed of nucleic acid. When attacking humans, it would embed itself in the nucleotide chain of human cells like a parasite, then secretly tear down the nucleic acid of the cell to create something identical to itself, thus making a large number of copies of itself.
Nonetheless, during replication, it was easy to leave part of itself in the human DNA chain. For example, the production of the placenta was the result of a virus infection. This virus could synthesize syncytin and vivipary only occurred in mammals after they were infected by this virus.
These viruses were called “endogenous retroviruses.” Some of them were the most significant enemies of humans in all of history, but they had become an indispensable part of human evolution.
Therefore, it was very common for humans to evolve through a virus.
Currently, Chen Chen analyzed the BE-006 virus while comparing it to the data of the Progenitor virus that was deciphered in the Hive.
Through all kinds of high-end equipment in the Hive’s laboratory, along with the intelligence of X-112, the various purposes of BE-006’s gene were detected bit by bit at a speed that would have been incomprehensible to the real world.
The genetic sequence of BE-006 contained 1467 genes and 50 genetic codes. Although the calculation capability of X-112, combined with the equipment in the laboratory, was extremely fast, it would still take several days.
Thus, Chen Chen simply left the remaining Black Knight to stand guard before the passage so that he would still have an escape route. Meanwhile, Chen Chen followed the railroad tracks to head up to the ground for a look.
The tracks on which the tram traveled were not too long, only about five kilometers, and Chen Chen came to the end in less than an hour.
Near the end, there was a tram marred with scratches and a sealed gate.
“X-112, open the gate.”
Chen Chen used a radio communication device to send the command to X-112, who now controlled the Hive. At once, the gate slowly rose.
Chen Chen remembered that at the end of the first movie, Alice and Matthew escaped by tram and were attacked by a Licker on the way.
Even so, in the end, the two of them killed the Licker and closed the gate of the Hive. They had just gotten out of the frying pan, so to speak, but they were captured by personnel from the Umbrella Corporation again, who then opened the doors and allowed the zombies to spread to Raccoon City.
After the gate was completely opened, the once-dark passage was finally penetrated by a ray of light that shone in.
Chen Chen squinted and raised one hand to block the glaring light. Only then did he discover that the building beyond the gate seemed to have collapsed.
After Chen Chen allowed his eyes to slowly adjust to the light, he walked out of the gate. The ruins of a villa that was near collapse instantly appeared in front of him and it was among these ruins that Chen Chen emerged.
Here was where the story of Resident Evil began: the mansion villa.
There were endless weeds that reached up to one’s waist. A large swathe of creeper plants enveloped the entire ruin, turning it into a green wasteland.
Chen Chen looked around casually, but other than a few corpses that had decomposed beyond recognition, there was only a never-ending stretch of greenery.
Chen Chen walked out of the ruins and immediately saw the dilapidated walls in the distance. That was Raccoon City, a small city hit by a nuclear power that was equivalent to five kilotons.
Strictly speaking, the equivalent of five kilotons was not too large. Looking at it now, after the nuclear bomb exploded in mid-air, it had flattened buildings within a radius of five square kilometers. In addition, a circular crater about one kilometer in diameter was left in the center of Raccoon City.
Even so, fortunately, the impact was not considered large, so the Hive that was located three hundred meters underground in the city center could withstand the attack without being affected much.
Besides that, Chen Chen did not see any zombies nor any signs of humans.
After he walked around Raccoon City, Chen Chen did not find anything of value. When the explosion destroyed Raccoon City, it also eliminated almost all the zombies here.
As for those zombies who survived by chance, they had no choice but to waste away because they had no water and energy to replenish themselves with.
Chen Chen entered a fairly intact house in the suburbs, only to see that countless vines had crept in. Even the room was blanketed with plants. Moreover, several bodies were lying on the ground that were fully decomposed.
These bodies had become skeletons and it was not clear whether they had been humans or zombies when they were alive.
After making a round, it was almost night. Out of caution, Chen Chen returned to the Hive and asked X-112 to close the door again, thus sealing the place.
There would be time to explore this world in the future, but not now.
Chen Chen still had many important tasks this time around.
In the next two days, Chen Chen did not head out but instead read through all the biological information in the Hive. These data gave Chen Chen plenty of inspiration.
Two days later, when Chen Chen was about to finish the food he had brought with him, the genetic analysis of the BE-006 virus was finally completed.
After analyzing the role of each base pair in BE-006, the next step was simple — all Chen Chen had to do was use the adenine base editor to edit the corresponding genes of the BE-006 virus, thus transforming BE-006 into a noncontagious, non-toxic virus.
This was a new virus obtained through gene editing engineering. It was almost identical to the original BE-006 and it was also a vaccine.
When this new virus was implanted into the human body, the human body would have enough time to produce antibodies because it was not toxic. As long as the antibodies could be produced, the human body would naturally become immune to BE-006.
This method was attained through an understanding of the BE-006 gene. In addition to analyzing all the genes of the virus, the difficulty also lay in being able to accurately edit the genes.
The virus that Chen Chen would need to create through editing was only possible when both these requirements were met.
It was immensely difficult for real-world biotechnology to achieve this. This was even harder than manufacturing viral protein vaccines, so this could only be easily achieved in Resident Evil’s dimension.
Chen Chen was right to come here.