Chapter 134: Protection Fee
The process of cultivating gene scissors and selecting gene fragments has continued for a long time.
Meanwhile, Su Hao remained focused on the gibberish provided by Little Light, which put tremendous mental pressure on him.
‘Concentration’ was nothing for Su Hao, who had been practicing martial arts for years, but prolonged focus was somewhat taxing.
By the evening, Su Hao couldn’t hold on any longer.
His mind involuntarily became distracted, and he exited the state of precise blood manipulation.
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and lay down on the bed, clearing his mind.
This was somewhat akin to driving long distances on the highway; not everyone could do it.
After a while, Su Hao opened his eyes, sat up, and took a homemade tube. He carefully pierced a hole in his left arm’s skin with a knife and inserted the tube.
The liquid, mixed with shredded flesh, instantly flowed into a small cup through the tube.
Once the liquid had drained, Su Hao removed the tube and placed it aside. The wound on his arm was soon covered with a layer of bone, and when it receded, his arm was as good as new.
This was the formidable regenerative ability of the “Bone Demon.”
This was why Su Hao used his own flesh and blood as a culture dish; as long as he could regenerate, it didn’t matter.
Su Hao picked up the cup, gazing at the liquid inside with a smile. This was the homemade “Gene Modification Solution” he had long anticipated, and it was the key to his invincibility in the future.
“So much ‘Gene Modification Solution.’ It’s enough to modify a small round mouse. However, I need to remove the impurities first.”
Su Hao took his homemade filtering equipment and expertly filtered the “Gene Modification Solution” containing impurities, obtaining about one milliliter of pure liquid.
This tiny amount of liquid was not simple at all; it was the result of his considerable effort and time.
It contained a large number of “gene scissors” and “extraordinary gene fragments.” By injecting a sufficient amount of “Gene Modification Solution” into the body of a small round mouse, they would automatically act, identify specific gene fragments, cut them out, and splice the “extraordinary gene fragments” into the gaps.
All that was left was to wait for some time for the genes to repair automatically.
“Well… let’s give it a try!”
Su Hao sucked the gene modification solution into a rudimentary wooden syringe and pulled back the fur on the small round mouse.
This little mouse had no idea what awaited it, but it seemed full of anticipation, thinking that Su Hao was going to give it another full-body massage!
Insert the needle!
“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”
Injection complete!
Now, it was time to wait for the small round mouse’s reaction, which would take approximately an hour.
Actually, Su Hao had considered directly injecting a large amount of his blood into the small round mouse to obtain its evolutionary information. However, he was concerned that his blood might disrupt the small round mouse’s bodily balance, thus disturbing its normal evolution. So, he temporarily abandoned this plan and decided to attempt it in future experiments.
During the waiting process, Su Hao sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes, and relaxed.
An hour later, Su Hao sensed some activity from the small round mouse and immediately opened his eyes.
At this point, the small round mouse had fallen into a deep slumber.
Black scales began to sporadically appear on its body, indicating a semblance of scales, but they were scattered and not forming a coherent whole.
After a little while, the small round mouse ceased to breathe.
Su Hao: “Did it have to die so cleanly…”
After injecting the mouse with saturated blood and collecting its information, Su Hao entered the virtual space.
After a long time, he withdrew and muttered, “The gene modification was successful, but there were issues during transcription.”
After dealing with the small round mouse that had already given its life for science, Su Hao lay back on the bed and said, “I’m tired. I’ll make adjustments tomorrow and try again.”
Soon, Su Hao drifted into slumber.
…
The next day, another small round mouse suffered the same fate.
The result was even more tragic than the first one, with blood flowing from its mouth, nose, and ears, and its fur deteriorating.
On the third day, the small round mouse’s body shriveled, and its organs were in chaos, leading to its demise.
On the fourth day…
And then, one day, Taini suddenly discovered that many of the small round mice she was raising had inexplicably gone missing, but she didn’t mention her detective work.
After a month of continuous trials, Su Hao finally discovered the key to Zhu Huo People’s smooth evolution. It was due to the screening function of the “Conversion Chamber.” During the gene looting and fusion stage, it had already eliminated the possibilities that would lead to gene expression failure or collapse. This left a very high probability of successful expression.
“So, I need to establish a gene simulation transcription system first to test the feasibility of the genes. Otherwise, no matter how many small round mice I have, it won’t be enough for me to play with!”
With the plan confirmed, Su Hao returned to the pinball space to observe his own evolution process.
Another month later, Little Light gained a new feature, recording gene selection mechanisms and simulating them.
Su Hao quickly captured dozens of small round mice and brought them into the laboratory, nearly making Taini cry in frustration.
Then Su Hao said to Taini, “Go feed the small round mice some CHUN medicine and breed more of them; we’ll need them soon.”
Taini, looking bewildered, asked, “Where do I get CHUN medicine?”
“Ask Yashan.”
…
Ignoring Taini, Su Hao began to feed the small round mice with “Shell People’s” flesh and blood, allowing the small round mice to evolve on their own. He then saturated them with blood and recorded the gene selection mechanism.
Almost every time he fed one, it ended up dead. There wasn’t a single lucky small round mouse that successfully evolved.
It’s unclear whether the small round mice were naturally weak or if Taini had neglected them.
Only after the last small round mouse was fed to death did Su Hao conclude the data collection phase. The next step was to analyze the principles behind it.
Once he understood the principles, he could quickly develop gene selection software to replicate the functionality of the “Conversion Chamber.”
In the future, he wouldn’t have to worry about dying due to injecting gene modification liquid.
…
While Su Hao was engrossed in his work, Yashan approached him with a somber face. “Boss Wei, a group of people has arrived in the city, one level-4 Mutant and three level-3 Mutants. They claim to be here from Linyuan City to collect protection fees.”
Su Hao was momentarily surprised. “Protection fees? Why haven’t I heard of this before?”
Yashan explained, “According to them, it’s a long-standing tradition that cities near Linyuan City must pay an annual protection fee. We haven’t paid for six years, so this time we need to make up for the missed payments.”
Su Hao chuckled. “The old Temple Forest City was too poor, and no one bothered when there was no money. Now that we’re making a bit of progress, someone wants a piece of the pie.”
Yashan nodded. “That’s right. Meng Chuan mentioned something similar, saying there is indeed such a practice, but they stopped caring when Temple Forest City ran dry.”
Su Hao asked, “How much do they want?”
Yashan replied, “They’re calculating it at one million per year, so they’re asking for six million.”
Su Hao smirked.
Yashan continued, “It’s said that Linyuan City has many major factions, each controlling their own territory. Each faction has smaller cities under its jurisdiction that provide protection fees annually. The old Temple Forest City used to belong to a faction called the ‘Tiansha Gang,’ but this affiliation isn’t set in stone. Basically, the one with the biggest fist calls the shots.”
“According to them, if we can’t pay, they’ll send people down to collect it in person. Essentially, it means they’ll come down to clean us out and take it directly from the residents of Temple Forest City.”
Su Hao put down his work and clapped his hands. He stood up and said, “Let’s go meet them! We’re currently lacking some level-4 experimental data.”
(End of this chapter)
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