Release that Man

“I wish you wouldn’t, but if it’s necessary.” Ye Shuang felt like cursing because she had just come back from fighting for her life, and she had actually been greeted with such heart-chilling words. If not for the fact that she had gotten used to Han Chu’s usual way of speech, he would have been scolded until his ears fell off.

“Yes, I also think it’s too much work. Plus, with your condition, we don’t know if you’ll have a complete body left behind.” Han Chu glanced at Ye Shuang. “Was this half a month not enough for you to come up with a solution?”

Ye Shuang struggled to sit up on the sofa, changing from a lying position to a sitting position. Then she pushed her bangs that were soaked with sweat back and sighed. “It’s because of this genetic breakdown that my memory is in a bit of a mess. Furthermore, this kind of genetic breakdown didn’t happen to the original owner of the genes. If there’s any incompatibility, it is due to the fact that I am an earthling, so…”

Even though he had made out most of the goings on from Ye Shuang in the past half month, when the earthling Han Chu heard that, he still felt that the whole thing seemed a bit too surreal. Sighing silently and skipping over the points that made him quite speechless, Han Chu turned his attention back to the clues that he had gathered on his laptop. “If you have no brilliant idea, how about listeingn to my opinion?”

“Tell me. After all, it’s not like I have a better choice.” Ye Shuang surrendered.

“The basic life-related phenomena of a biological lifeform have everything to do with genetics. One’s birth, growth, deterioration, illness, aging and death… genes decide the basic status and appearance of a lifeform. Just viewing it from the standpoint of genetic numbers, human genes are actually not much different from the genetic numbers of a lowly worm.” Han Chu pushed the glasses that perched on his nose and concluded calmly. “Therefore, working from this premise, the amplified genes can be seen as a kind of program and software development. The evolutionary changes are due to the combinational formatting of the genes and has nothing to do with the alien gene itself.”

The windows and information on the laptop were changing quickly. Han Chu picked out the key information and continued his explanation. “To use a computer as an example, what is the biggest deciding factor between computers from a decade ago and now? One is hardware, and the other’s software.

“I don’t think I need go into details regarding hardware. With greater technological advancement comes better hardware. A chip of the same size now can contain more information compared to a chip from ten years ago. In the human DNA genome, there are many that have been considered to be necessary but later have been proven to be a part of a copied chain. These DNA strands are probably used to enhance the working strength of the mitosis. The important part is the difference created caused by the different arrangements of this DNA. And from there, one can understand the difference in the programming of various lifeforms.”

“I remember Tony saying something like that. The more high-tech and electronic the product, the more bugs it will actually come with.” Ye Shuang scratched her chin thoughtfully. “He used cars to explain it to me. For example, an old car and a new car with GPS. The latter was completely transparent to Tony, but the former would be harder to read…”

“Yes, it’s something like that.” Han Chu thought about it and felt like this was a better analogy, so he nodded in agreement. “Your current situation is equivalent to having too many bugs due to an overly fast upgrade of the system. The implanted genes are definitely not perfect, but the race that owned the genes slowly developed them over time. If there’s a bug, they can adjust it on their own. Even if there’s a problem, it can be slowly solved through the long process of evolution. But you accepted everything in one go… Not only was there incomplete assimilation or the so-called incompatibility issue, more importantly, when you absorbed the mutated genes into your body, you absorbed the gene’s natural bugs.”

“You mean I should find a way to figure out a patch?” Ye Shuang was speechless.

“Patching might not be the best solution.” Han Chu looked at Ye Shuang. “Have you noticed that when you first purchase a computer, it is at its most efficient? But after you use it for some time, a good hardware might not be more efficient than a new old computer. That is because there is additional trash information during the upgrading process, and the best cleaning tool cannot solve this problem.”

Furthermore, with current technology, who on Earth could come up with a ‘patch’ for Ye Shuang?

“Illness, deterioration, aging, and thoughts… The exhaustion of the physical body is due to this ‘trash information’, or you could say that they are the side effects after using the hardware for a certain period of time. That is the law of biology and the law of nature,” Han Chu said calmly. “There is nothing that is permanent. If there is an analogy to your genetic breakdown, it’s like someone has pressed a fast forward button on your life process. The effect brought upon you by the quick evolution is that, for problems that most people experience intermittently throughout their lives, you will experience all at once.”

“…” Ye Shuang.

Han Chu removed his glasses and stared straight at Ye Shuang. “If there is no new ‘life’ to reconstruct these genes, your life is almost at its end.”

“Well, f*ck me. It sure is fun to hear that you’re going to die soon.” After a long silence, Ye Shuang slowly let out the sigh that had gathered in her chest. Her emotions were so complicated they could not be put into words.

Han Chu closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He appeared to be collecting his thoughts.

Ye Shuang also collected her emotions and suddenly felt like something was not right. “Wait a minute, didn’t you tell me you have an idea? How come it sounds like what you’re giving me is just a death sentence?”

“It’s not a death sentence.” Han Chu opened his eyes and sighed. “That was just an explanation of your current situation, and now I’m going to share my thoughts. Of course, because what I said earlier is just speculation, it’s hard to say whether this will work or not.”

Ye Shuang sighed. “Tell me. I will try anything. After all, I’m going to die soon.”

Han Chu looked at the information that he had compiled again and continued speaking with a cool expression. “In a lifeform’s normal lifespan, the chance of having a genetic change is very small, aside from being influenced by external factors like drugs, the environment, and electricity. There is only one situation where a person’s genetic situation might experience a spontaneous change.”

“When is it?” Ye Shuang could not wait to find out.

“During pregnancy.” Han Chu kept his eyes on the computer, and his expression was as cool as cucumber.

“…” Ye Shuang. If you dare, look at me and repeat that again!