Chapter 524: Saoun
Chapter 524: Saoun
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The queen’s thick limbs and neck were held in place with gigantic tungsten chains and its body almost suspended in the air. Under such circumstances, there was not much even a dragon could do to wring itself free, no less an alien.
The reason these dangerous creatures were kept here was to observe their habits. It was clear that these alien forms had an established social structure. Further research could help with future space travel expeditions.
These aliens were the second creatures that humans had discovered so far that could survive at least for a short period in outer space, the first one was the tardigrade. The reason they were unable to survive for an extended period in outer space was not due to the temperature difference nor atmospheric pressure, but for the lack of oxygen.
The parasitic life form born from Earth creatures required oxygen to survive as well.
Apart from that, the aliens were able to survive short-term exposure to temperatures up to three hundred degrees just like the tardigrades. In the third installation of the movie Aliens, an alien was dropped into lead water with a melting point of 327.46 degrees Celsius, but it still crawled out within half a minute.
The alien exoskeleton acted like a sealed protective suit to safeguard the alien’s body, enabling it to withstand extreme temperature and low air pressure.
The observation of these aliens provided a glimpse of what other aliens they may encounter in space could be like.
Chen Chen did not make light of this alien queen that remained motionless in the cell like it was dead. He knew that if they made any mistake and let this thing get to the outside world, it could at least level an entire city before he could stop it.
To be fair, an alien queen alone would not be enough to wipe out all of humanity. After the government got a handle on the situation, all that was needed was a well-fired thermal weapon to teach these monsters a lesson.
After leaving this breeding room, Chen Chen went to the other laboratories. Of all the ongoing projects, the one Chen Chen was most familiar with was the relaunched Tyrant project. The three-meter-tall Tyrants bred from the T-virus were once again injected with the G-358 to create a further enlarged version of Tyrant that stood more than five meters tall with spikes covering its body.
When Chen Chen was injected with the G-358, he was able to wipe out an army all on his own. The strength of a Tyrant injected with the G-virus had reached an unprecedented level that bordered on insanity. Additionally, the Spire had prepared a custom-made combat suit for the Tyrant. The combat suit was an enhanced version of the GS Combat Suit that could deflect bullets fired from sniper rifles.
The combat suit was fitted with a mechanism that automatically injected the G-358 virus when the Tyrant encountered a worthy opponent. The Tyrant was large enough to have nutrient pockets embedded in their bodies and upon receiving an injection of the G-358, the nutrient pockets would be deployed accordingly. In an instant, it would turn the Tyrant into a far more powerful killing machine, set to destroy whatever targets required of it.
The Spire Laboratory gave this G-358 virus injection a very fitting name – liberation.
Another noteworthy subject was the recently acquired C24 chromosome technology.
Chen Chen arrived at the level-five biosafety laboratory located at the top of the Spire.
The level-five biosafety laboratories were designed like a duplex, divided into two floors. The first floor was the experiment hall, which contained several isolation cells and sample rooms while the second floor was the command and control room. The more valued and experienced researchers usually operated on the second floor while the first-floor experiment hall was occupied by apprentice-level researchers and robots.
When Chen Chen arrived at the command room, Li Lei happened to be monitoring the floor.
The trio of Li Lei, Neumann, and Hannibal joined the God’s Forbidden Zone together around seven years ago. Li Lei was now approaching his thirties and was considerably more mature and capable of handling himself.
“Boss.”
Li Lei got up and smiled to greet Chen Chen. He also quickly noted Little X who was trailing closely behind Chen Chen. Even now, nobody knew the real identity of Little X but he still made a point to smile and nod respectfully.
As one of the members of the inner ring, he knew that this little girl that could not be more than ten years old had been sticking by Chen Chen’s side for quite some time. What was terrifying was that she had full authority to dispatch the Black Knights.
Even with Li Lei’s Alpha authorization level, he was only allowed to dispatch a small squad of Black Knights at most. The Alpha level was the highest possible attainable level in the God’s Forbidden Zone. The only ones further up were the members of the Disciple Council or the leader himself, Chen Chen.
Chen Chen returned Li Lei’s greeting with a similar, firm nod. There was not much exchange of small talk between the two. Chen Chen approached the observation window and looked over the experiment hall and asked, “How is it, any findings with the C24 chromosome?”
“There are some discoveries, but nothing major.”
Li Lei replied as he went next to Chen Chen and pointed at several devilish-looking monsters in the isolation cells. “This chromosome technology is only compatible with human DNA so it can only be applied on human subjects. We’ve expended a significant number of Delta-level subjects in this period and unfortunately, most of them had underlying violent tendencies in their DNA and turned into these monstrosities...”
Chen Chen nodded knowingly. It was no surprise considering most of them were vicious criminals. He turned to the isolation cells and most of them contained pale-faced monsters with misshapen faces.
Unlike regular humans, the muscles all over their bodies were swollen and they stood more than three meters tall. Their misshapen faces looked like that of the devil pictured in the Bible. Their mouths were large and bloodied and their noses turned into two tiny ugly pores above their mouths. Finally, the outside edges of their eyes were slanted downward, almost at the same level as their noses.
“Do these... Guys still possess intellectual thoughts?”
Chen Chen was momentarily at a loss for how he should address these things.
“They do.”
Li Lei answered with a sure nod and a solemn look upon his face, “That’s the scary part. Even though they turned into what can only be described as monsters, they still possess intellectual thoughts as regular humans do. The only difference is they have become bloodlust, frenzied psychos.
“They feel fear, they lie, and know how to communicate. To a certain extent, they still have their past memories preserved but I can guarantee you that if you present their beloved ones before them, they’ll kill their beloved ones without blinking an eye.
“They are solely driven by a desire to murder or you can describe it as they have their perceptions distorted. As far as they are concerned, killing someone is the best gift they can offer...”
Chen Chen seemed awed by this observation and noted. “Could you find any pure individuals without any violent tendencies in their genes?”
“I’ve already performed a blood sampling test.”
Li Lei said, “Such individuals are extremely rare, probably one in nearly fifty. I only managed to find one such individual among the Delete-level subjects.”
“Oh?”
Chen Chen was delighted to hear this. “Haven’t you begun experimentations yet?”
“This subject is too valuable so I wouldn’t dare risk it. Right now, I’m making preparations for the experiment and we’re ready to begin soon.”
Li Lei mentioned, “Boss, if you want to see it, we can begin within half an hour.”
“Then let’s begin.”
Chen Chen immediately made himself comfortable on a couch and waited eagerly with his legs folded.
With that, Li Lei immediately gave the instructions to his crew to begin the experiment. The laboratory was set into motion.
“Sir Godfather.”
Little X served a cup of coffee on the coffee table, then stood behind Chen Chen to give him a shoulder massage.
When Chen Chen made a gesture with his hands, a virtual display immediately appeared in front of him. He began to navigate the panel using brain-control technology to look up information on the only Delta-level subject that did not have any violent tendencies detected in his genes.
The Delta-level subject was a male subject named Pendo Saoun. He was an Owambo tribesman who was 2.15 meters tall and weighed 140 kilograms.
This immediately stood out to Chen Chen. This subject was already built like a human equivalent of a Tyrant.
The picture of Saoun was even more surprising as he had surprisingly gentle and pure eyes for someone built as large as he was. Chen Chen had almost never seen someone with such bright clarity in his eyes. This person was almost as innocent as a newborn baby.
He was a citizen of Windhoek, Namibia. Six months ago, he was found at the scene of a murder where he was performing indecent acts on two dead girls laying in a pool of blood.
The final verdict of the Windhoek court was that Saoun was guilty and sentenced to death.
In a surprising turn of events, after Namibian officials provided false evidence of his death sentence, he was secretly shipped to the Spire Laboratory.
After going through Saoun’s files, Chen Chen seemed to have spotted an interesting bit. He went to the Namibian police internal network and started to look into the murder case that took place six months ago.
The justice system in Namibia was heavily flawed even after a lengthy investigation, they only collected accounts from several eyewitnesses. There was not even a single picture of the murder that took place.
There were three transcripts. In the first two transcripts, Saoun claimed that he was performing CPR on the victims. However, he suddenly changed his story in the final transcript and admitted to murdering them.
Chen Chen suddenly realized something.
However, he decided that these details were irrelevant to him. He was merely curious as to how someone who did not have violent tendencies in his genes came to become a murderer.
While Chen Chen was going through the records, the man named Pendo Saoun was brought to the laboratory on the first floor.
“Boss, the research subject is here.”
Li Lei approached Chen Chen to inform him.
Chen Chen responded with a brisk nod. Then he got up and approached the observation window to get a clear view of the subject below.
The subject was dressed in common prisoner attire and he was truly huge, weighing 140 kilograms which was almost as much as Shaquille O’Neal weighed. He was obediently following the guards and seemed rather anxious as his eyes darted around the laboratory.
He was visibly horrified when he saw the monsters locked in the isolation cells next to him.
From where Chen Chen stood, he could see the pureness in Saoun’s eyes. There was nothing resembling aggression or any similar emotions in his eyes, only a vivid fear for the unknown.
“So, this is the person without any violent genetics?”
Chen Chen muttered.
“Word is during his time in the prison, he never used his size to bully anyone.”
Li Lei thought that Chen Chen was talking to him and so he mentioned, “I took a look at his background, he’s never known for being confrontational in his entire life. His parents passed away when he was fifteen and he worked in a car workshop to support himself. At the time of his arrest, he didn’t have any criminal records. I suspect that the Namibian police made a mistake somewhere.”
Chen Chen nodded, it was a valid suspicion.
Li Lei took the walkie-talkie and announced, “Get ready to begin the experiment.”
“Prepare for the experiment!”
The research crew below immediately relayed Li Lei’s orders to the others. One of the crew turned to Saoun. “You, lie down on this bed!”
Saoun nodded and did as he was told although he was terrified.
After he lay down, he immediately closed his eyes as he was afraid of the pack of monsters in the isolation cells nearby.
After that, several researchers approached him and fixed metal loops around Saoun’s neck and limbs, bounding him to the experiment table.
Throughout the entire process, Saoun did not resist at all.
After that, another researcher took a thick syringe from a tray of sterilized water while another researcher brought over a tiny sealed vial. The vial was filled with a transparent, colorless liquid. One would have to pay attention to notice there was anything in the vial at all.
The liquid contained within this vial was the C24 brought back from the DOOM dimension.
After drawing out the liquid in the vial with the syringe, the researcher stepped forward and injected the C24 into Saoun’s arm via an intravenous injection...
Saoun seemed to have surrendered to his fate during the process of the injection. He kept his eyes clenched tightly the entire time and only shuddered slightly the moment the syringe was pulled away from his flesh.
As soon as the C24 was injected, the monitor positioned beside the table immediately provided feedback. Saoun’s heartbeat and blood pressure were gradually rising and he was slowly falling into a deep coma.