Chapter 464: Trial
Chapter 464: Trial
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the end, the Black Knight injected with the unknown drug had mutated into a three-meter-tall monster with its skin covered in stratum corneum. Additionally, dozens of thick spikes rose along its back in a vertical line.
Even Chen Chen was visibly intrigued when he saw the Black Knight that was near instantaneously transformed into a ferocious giant.
“After many optimizations, this is the G-virus that has reached a near-perfect form, the G-358.”
Little X took Chen Chen’s hand as she looked at the giant monster downstairs and said softly, “It inherits the power of the G-3 virus and with the guidance of Professor Watson, it has become perfectly compatible with the Black Knight’s DNA. After injections, the Black Knight can instantaneously multiply in size and become an ultimate soldier which is more flexible and also boasts higher defensive and recovery ability than a tyrant. Its physiological structure becomes far beyond that of regular humans!”
“What about ordinary humans?”
Chen Chen asked, “What happens if an ordinary person is injected with this virus?”
“It won’t have any effect.”
Little X turned to look at Chen Chen and informed, “The G-358 perishes instantly when it comes into contact with the outside world, so it can’t spread in an external environment. Even if it enters the human body in a facilitated manner, the protein antigen inside it makes it so that it’s unable to infect humans at all. It’s completely harmless to humans and any other creatures in the world.”
Chen Chen nodded, fully understanding the workings of the virus.
Approaching from a biological point of view, cells are wrapped by cell membranes that are made of phospholipids. There are also many proteins embedded in them, such as insulin receptor protein. Its associated structures made it so that it was bound with insulin very easily and once bound, the components fuse easily. There were certain proteins inside the cell that were used to indicate the identity of the cell. This meant that if the fused protein was detected to be different from the original protein in the body, the antibodies would be triggered and provoked a negative reaction.
The same was true for viruses. Various proteins could also be found on the surface of viruses. These proteins could only bind themselves to a set of specific cell proteins and in the case of successful fusing, the virus would then inject its genetic material into the cell body, thereby infecting the cell.
Since not all creatures carried the same surface protein, there may be cases of certain viruses that were entirely harmless to humans.
There were approximately 1.74 million kinds of viruses currently discovered and only 219 of them were known to infect humans, which was nearly negligible.
The reason this new variant of G-virus was unable to infect humans but could infect Black Knight was that it stemmed from a branch of T-virus. The Black Knights were also a variant of mutant humans that was born from cross-infection with the T-virus.
Under categorization, human beings were biologically classified into the eukaryotic kingdom of the mammal kingdom, which was a metazoan subunit, followed by hundreds of further subcategorizations... Primates, anthropoid suborders, suborder anthropoid apes, humans, Homo, and Homo sapiens. Although people in the world were generally classified into white, yellow, and black-skinned, they were all Homo sapiens on a genetic level. Meanwhile, other classes such as Neanderthals and Denisovans had gone extinct tens of thousands of years ago.
The Black Knights infected by the T-virus were no longer considered as an intelligent human species due to the vast genetic difference, which was why Chen Chen claimed that they were a completely new species of man.
With all that said, this did not necessarily mean that the G-virus could not infect humans. For example, the earliest variant of G-001/002/003 could infect nearly all mammalian species.
Chen Chen looked at the Black Knight transformed into a monstrosity that was no longer human and proceeded to ask, “What are the combative abilities of this new life form like? Is it still susceptible to our control?”
“Of course.”
Little X answered confidently, “We’ve discovered that these changes don’t occur to the neural nerves of the subjects. The nerves inside their body and brain are completely unaltered. The only effect is the remyelination and thickening of the nerve surface, which results in the Black Knight’s reaction speed being multiplied two to three folds.”
Chen Chen was stunned by this relegation.
Chen Chen was aware that the reaction speed of a person was determined by the nerve myelin sheath. The thicker the nerve myelin sheath, the faster the reaction speed of an individual. The Black Knight’s reaction speed was already three to four times that of ordinary people as was. What would it be like if it was yet again multiplied two to three folds?
One could only guess what it would look like.
Little X continued. “This is the fifty-fifth experiment we’ve conducted and we have full confirmation that the Black Knight is perfectly compatible with the G-358. Their combat powers are magnified by more than ten folds.”
As Little X said this, she looked at the other end of the laboratory.
Chen Chen looked over and saw a gigantic steel barred door on the other end. At this time, the flashing warning light beside the door suddenly switched from red to green.
“Warning, experiment is commencing. All researchers are advised to evacuate from the experiment section on the first floor. Warning, experiment is commencing. All researchers are advised to evacuate from the experiment section on the first floor...”
The announcement echoed repeatedly across the laboratory. Upon hearing this announcement, Watson, Hannibal, and the others immediately retreated from the laboratory and shuffled into the exits positioned around the first floor.
After approximately ten minutes later, Watson and the rest of the crew who had taken off their protective suits appeared in the observation deck on the second floor.
“Mr. Chen.”
“Boss.”
Watson, Hannibal, and the others were not surprised to see Chen Chen making an appearance. Everyone in the laboratory was aware of the attention that Chen Chen paid to the G-virus experiments. This terrifying virus would soon be the catalyst to all sorts of biological weapons. It was one of the most crucial experiments conducted in the Spire laboratory.
They were gathered beside Chen Chen and together, they looked at the hall below them through the observation glass.
Shortly after their arrival, the giant gate still flashing green began to rumble like a beast awakening. The sound of metal screeching against metal rang across their ears as the sealed gate started to lift slowly, revealing the dark space hidden behind it all this time.
There seemed to be the presence of something threatening looming in the air as soon as it was opened. The Black Knight that was transformed into a titan-like beast was still panting at first but immediately shot up when the gate started to open. The Black Knight proceeded to fix an iron gaze at the direction of the gate.
It seemed that the God chip was still working as intended.
It was around this point when the thump of steady footsteps that pounded in the hearts of everyone watching started to come from behind the gate.
“Thump!”
“Thump!”
“Thump!”
Each heavy footstep slamming against the ground seemed to beat in their hearts like a mighty gong being struck. When they heard this vicious thump, the color was quickly drained out of their faces. It was like how the prey in the natural world reacted when they saw the apex predator — it was a completely genetic response to approaching danger.
The corner of Chen Chen’s lip rose to form a smirk. He knew what the source of this footstep was.
Within seconds, a giant standing three and a half meters tall that was covered with swollen muscles stepped out from behind the gate.
The giant was completely unclothed, safe for a pair of black shorts. The tone of its skin was horribly pale and not a single strand of hair could be spotted along its silky smooth skin. The strange texture of its skin made its pale pupils strike out like a sore thumb. As it darted its gaze across its surroundings, everyone present in the observation room apart from Chen Chen felt as if their souls were frozen by this petrifying gaze.
The Tyrant!
Chen Chen took a deep breath. This giant they were looking at was none other than the very first T-virus Tyrant created during Chen Chen’s initial research of the Black Knights.
Strictly speaking, it was impossible for a Black Knight to hold its ground against a Tyrant as the sheer mass difference due to its size made the argument a redundant one. A Tyrant’s height was twice that of a regular Black Knight and weighed more than five times. In terms of strength, the Tyrant was worlds ahead, where even ten Black Knights could barely match up against a single Tyrant.
However, pure muscles alone were useful in this era due to the advent of advanced firearms. In a direct matchup between a Tyrant and ten Black Knights, all the Black Knights had to do was split up and stand on opposite sides in groups of five and focus fire. In this situation, the enormous size of the Tyrant was as good as useless.
This was why Chen Chen never saw the point of mass-producing Tyrants and only kept it at the initial five all this time.
The Tyrant in the laboratory currently was one of them.
When the Tyrant appeared, the Black Knight started to move as well. It promptly took steps toward the Tyrant’s direction to confront it.
Even after the G-358 injection, the Black Knight was still slightly outclassed by the Tyrant in terms of size and strength. Despite that, the aura which the dark-skinned and powerful Black Knight gave off rivaled that of the Tyrant.
Little X proceeded to give the order for the two monsters to attack. The onlookers watched as the two beasts started to accelerate toward each other. When the Tyrant planted its feet into the ground and lurched forward. The metal floor whined and bent under the sheer force generated. The Tyrant propelled itself into the air and fired itself into the Black Knight!
The Black Knight put on a far more agile and nimble display as it accelerated and used its arms and legs to alter its center of gravity. Just as the two beasts were about to collide with each other, it suddenly lurched forward and curled itself into a ball, leaping over the Tyrant!
“Swoosh!”
Everything occurred in a split instant. The two enormous beasts barely avoided a direct collision!
Hannibal, Li Lei, and the rest of the crew held their breaths collectively as they witnessed the enormous monster putting on a fantastical display of agility. The sheer visual impact could not be described with mere words.
This was merely the beginning. The next second, before the Tyrant had time to reset its stance, the Black Knight infected with G-virus flexed its sharp claws and stopped itself from sliding forward by sliding its claws against the wall. A long and narrow scratch immediately formed on the alloy-plated wall.
After that, the Black Knight leaped in the air and landed on the Tyrant’s back in a split instant, and started dicing away at its back!
Chunks of flesh and skin scattered across the hall!
“Roar!”
The Tyrant howled furiously and twisted its body endlessly in an attempt to grab the monkey on its back. However, the Black Knight evaded the Tyrant’s futile attempts at lightning speed. Left without a choice, the Tyrant decided to land flat on its back to crush its opponents using its weight!
Again, the Black Knight got out of the way by leaping away from the Tyrant’s back, freeing itself from danger!
From the second floor, they had a clear and ceiling view on the Tyrant’s back that revealed a series of shocking wounds. Rows upon rows of slices along its back highlighted by hints of its spine prodding out from the flesh. Within seconds, they spotted tiny red bugs squirming inside the open wound as they fused themselves into the exposed flesh at a rate that was visible to the naked eye.
The bloodworms were none other than the muscle fibers of the Tyrant. It only took a few minutes for these gruesome wounds to regenerate on their own as if nothing had ever happened in the first place.
This was the terrific regenerative ability which the Tyrant was equipped with.
The Tyrant had not given up on the fight just yet. It seemed to have learned a lesson from the previous confrontation and understood that it could not rely on speed and athleticism against this opponent. It took slow and calculated steps against its opponent, attempting to force the Black Knight into a disadvantageous corner.
Naturally, the Black Knight would not allow itself to be caged foolishly. As the Tyrant drew closer, it suddenly planted its feet into the ground and took a tremendous jump that shot itself into the air, over the head of the Tyrant!
Just as the Black Knight hovered over the airspace above the Tyrant, the Tyrant jumped as well. Despite the Tyrant not possessing the tremendous leaping ability of the Black Knight, the height of the ceiling made it so that there was a limit to the Black Knight’s wiggle space. The Tyrant managed to grab its opponent’s ankles!
The Tyrant immediately flung the Black Knight the other way around like he was handling a sandbag before borrowing the momentum and slamming the Black Knight into the ground ferociously!
“Bang!”
A deafening impact that filled the hall followed immediately. The surface of the floor that was made with metal could not handle the sheer force of the impact and caved inward!
It was nowhere near over just yet. After smashing the Black Knight into the ground, the Tyrant had not had enough yet. It strengthened its grip and continued smashing the Black Knight against the ground again and again!
“Bang bang bang bang bang!”
The terrain of the ground that was once flat had been transformed into a pit by then. Even the walls were not safe from the Tyrant’s vicious assault had holes smashed into them. It looked as if a bomb had been set off in the hall. Even from the second floor, the crew of researchers could feel the floor quaking underneath them.
Under this constant barrage, the Black Knight had been crushed into something that resembled meat cotton. By the time the Tyrant had enough and flung it away, it had turned into an unrecognizable chunk of flesh!
“Bang!”
The body of the Black Knight landed lifelessly against the floor like a sack of flesh. There were no further movements after that.
“Is it over?”
They all turned to look at the sack of flesh with a hint of doubt. Soon, they noticed that the sack of flesh was squirming in place and they heard the sounds of structural snapping.
It was the sound of bones growing...
“It could still regenerate after getting to this point?”
Watson muttered.
“Of course, the regenerative of the Black Knight injected with G-358 triumphs even that of the Tyrant.”
Little X turned and rolled her eyes at Watson.
By the time Little X had finished her sentence, the chunk of flesh had regenerated itself into a humanoid form again. Despite this observation, the Tyrant stood in place and chose not to attack while it still could. After all, this was not an all-out duel to the death, merely a trial run.
After half a minute had elapsed, the Black Knight got up on its feet again. This time, the stratum corneum layer seemed more fortified and its overall structure seemed more skeletal than its previous rendition.
“Exoskeleton?”
Watson and Hannibal remarked together in astonishment. The G-358 infected Black Knight was displaying signs of evolution!
When the Tyrant saw its opponent standing up again, it unleashed yet another ferocious roar. It did not wait any longer for its opponent to gather itself and immediately charged forward!
This time, the Black Knight did not try to avoid a confrontation. It got into a bent position and charged at the Tyrant as well at full speed. The two beasts had chosen the same approach to settle this fight once and for all!
“Bang!”
An enormous amount of blood splattered everywhere the instant both sides made contact. The Black Knight was sent flying a great distance away by the Tyrant that was larger than itself. Meanwhile, the Tyrant stumbled several paces forward before collapsing onto the ground.
Somewhere along the line, its head was sliced off cleanly...