Chapter 122: Evolution into [Shell Man]
After Su Hao swallowed the flesh and blood, he lay on the bed, and his consciousness immediately entered the ball space.
“Little Light, project the body in real-time, adjust the transparency to 60%.”
The room’s test platform immediately projected Su Hao’s body, gradually becoming semi-transparent.
“Projection successful.”
Su Hao continued to give instructions, targeting the ‘transformation chamber’ and zooming in for observation.
At the moment the flesh and blood entered the stomach, as if a switch had been activated, the entire ‘transformation chamber’ started to twitch excitedly, pulsating like a beating heart, expanding and contracting.
Then it sucked the flesh and blood of [Shell Man] into the ‘transformation chamber’.
Soon, the transformation chamber was filled, changing from the size of an egg to the size of a fist, continuously secreting a liquid containing a large number of Su Hao’s genes to envelop the flesh and blood.
Like digesting food, the flesh and blood enveloped in the gene liquid quickly disintegrated, slowly merging with the gene liquid.
In no time, the flesh and blood had completely dissolved into a liquid and fused with Su Hao’s gene liquid, turning the originally clear liquid murky.
Soon, the transformation chamber became calm.
During this time, it seemed to be the process of comparing Su Hao’s genes with [Shell Man]’s genes, appearing exceptionally lengthy.
After about a dozen minutes, new changes began to emerge.
The once murky liquid gradually changed color, slowly deteriorating, and was transferred to the stomach, becoming nutrients.
Within the transformation chamber, there was still a small, clear liquid mass filled with vitality, constantly moving as if searching for an outlet.
It was the gene modification liquid.
At this moment, the volume of the transformation chamber had significantly decreased.
Just as Su Hao was wondering what would happen next, the fleshy lump in the transformation chamber suddenly shrank, forcefully ejecting the gene modification liquid from it, much stronger than milking a cow.
The compressed gene modification liquid entered various parts of Su Hao’s body through the complex network of secret passages on the exterior wall of the transformation chamber.
In that instant, Su Hao’s body trembled, as if struck by an electric current, and he felt drowsy.
Remaining within the pinball space, Su Hao became increasingly drowsy, unable to concentrate any longer.
“Sleep! There’s a record anyway, I’ll check it after waking up.” Su Hao exited the ball space and, no longer resisting the oncoming sleepiness, drifted into slumber.
…
When Su Hao woke up again, he sensed a new experience in his body.
It was as if he held a switch in his hands, and by pressing it, he could make changes to his body.
However, Su Hao didn’t rush to transform but immediately sensed the basic changes in his body.
“First, the ‘perception’ rune inscribed in the body hasn’t changed; it still operates normally. Secondly, the amount of blood gas consumed is about one-thousandth, which is insignificant. Finally, the blood gas intensity hasn’t reached its full capacity, meaning the body’s blood gas volume has increased.”
The benefits of evolution weren’t limited to gaining [Shell Man]’s defensive capabilities. For Su Hao, the increased blood gas intensity would give him a significant boost.
“Indeed, blood gas intensity is somewhat related to genetics.”
Su Hao moved around and found no abnormalities. He immediately activated the new switch he had obtained.
The next moment, Su Hao’s entire body rapidly grew taller, his skin darkened, and from head to toe, except for his face, numerous gray scales began to grow densely.
At the same time, blood gas began to replenish every corner of the body, gradually being consumed.
In no time, Su Hao completed his transformation, becoming a genuine [Shell Man].
Su Hao fiercely hit himself twice with his fists, then observed, nodding in satisfaction, “Not bad at all, the defensive power is comparable to a suit of armor. However, the face is uncovered, becoming a weak point. Well… not only that, the groin is also a vulnerability.”
Within the inner layer of the scale armor, there was a special cushioning structure capable of defending against heavy blunt impacts, dispersing the tremendous force throughout the body to protect the vulnerable internal organs.
Overall, it was very good, at least resistant to ordinary cutting and stabbing.
Now, a new problem emerged: What is the control switch for transformation?
Su Hao once again consumed blood gas, returning to his original appearance, and entered the ball space to examine what had happened in the past hour.
He needed to analyze everything, both macro and micro, in order to find a breakthrough in his research.
Su Hao arrived at the moment before the body projection and set the playback time to just before the transformation.
“Let’s first figure out how the transformation is controlled!”
Half an hour later, Su Hao heaved a sigh of relief and said, “I see! The principle isn’t that complex; it’s a clever design.”
Controlling transformation is much like how the brain controls the limbs.
How does the brain control the limbs?
The process is exceptionally simple. The brain sends a signal, muscle cells generate action potentials, undergo a series of changes, muscles contract, and the limbs move.
Transformation is somewhat similar. After the brain sends a special signal, it immediately activates cells lurking in the subcutaneous tissue. With a large supply of blood gas, a series of chain reactions occur. Numerous cells rapidly change, transforming into a unique cellular structure, ultimately completing the transformation.
At the same time, Su Hao also discovered that although it appeared he had already completed the evolution on the surface, he hadn’t. This was merely the first stage of evolution, which allowed him to quickly acquire the [Shell Man] scale structure. He was currently in the second stage of evolution, which would gradually modify the genes of all his cells, a process expected to take about a month.
“Next, let’s examine the differences in the same cell before and after transformation into [Shell Man].”
After a dozen minutes, Su Hao obtained the answer he was looking for. The difference between the cells before and after transformation wasn’t significant. In essence, after evolving into [Shell Man], the structure of his epidermal cells had already become different from other cells. They had become more vital and resilient, expanding and dehydrating immediately when blood gas stimulated them, turning into another structure, but exceptionally rigid.
Su Hao couldn’t help but admire, “This way of evolution is amazing!”
He then focused his attention on the body projection on the test platform, saying, “Next, let’s fully decipher the secrets of Cas9!”
“Little Light, lock onto the gene modification liquid.”
The next moment, the body projection disappeared, replaced by a colorless liquid suspended on the test platform.
“Lock completed.”
Su Hao then issued further instructions, “Color the base pairs A, T, C, G in red, yellow, blue, and green, respectively, magnify it a thousand times, not enough, magnify it ten thousand times… continue to enlarge.”
Genes are too small to be observed with the naked eye, but by using Little Light to extract information and magnify it, then labeling it with corresponding colors, Su Hao could observe precise gene information.
Soon, strands of color-coded DNA sequences appeared before Su Hao’s eyes like ribbons.
Su Hao took a deep breath, concentrating his attention because he knew that the upcoming work would take a long time and be exceptionally complex.
There were so many gene fragments; finding his answers wouldn’t be easy.
Su Hao continued his instructions, “Lock onto any DNA sequence, and then start playing what happened to this DNA before and after evolution at normal playback speed.”
“Little Light, received.”
(End of this chapter)
