Chapter 271 - Biochemical Modification
“No. Spirit Creation has basically stopped drilling holes into spines and injecting medicine or implanting chips there. That technology is out-of-date. This is a method from around twenty years ago. Now, we mainly use molecule infiltration methods and project the medicine into the subject’s organs.”
Xie Xiaolei regained some degree of his elegance and said with a smile, “Come, I’ll let you observe our modification labs.”
On the surface, Spirit Creation was just an inconspicuous seven-floor building, and it was even just an auxiliary.
But it had a large underground lab.
Aside from canine-type and feline-type biochemical pets, Giant Sandworms, which were more than thirty meters long, were also modified here. They had man-made hormone sacs and control chips implanted into them.
“Don’t worry, Giant Sandworms are really gentle guys.” When Xie Xiaolei saw Meng Chao staring at the modification platform and at the rows of sharp teeth covering the Giant Sandworms’ mouths, Xie Xiaolei smiled. “In truth, low grade monsters are also low on the difficulty scale no matter how monstrous and terrifying they appear to be.
“They don’t think, don’t have any consciousness, and don’t even know what they’re doing. In fact, they have a hard time telling the difference between humans, monsters, etherealized plants, stones, and fortresses. They are guided by their instincts and just care about eating, eating, and eating.
“So, as long as we release unique bioelectricity or hormones to stimulate their nerve bundles, we’re able to control them and make them serve us.
“They’re just like machines of flesh and blood. They won’t hurt their owners.”
Meng Chao nodded.
He remembered it now: President Xie was a genius in advertisement and promotions.
When Spirit Creation was just set up, he had personally taken part in a very famous advertisement to prove the safety of the biochemical beasts.
He had stepped into the mouth of a Giant Sandworm with a smile and, in an elegant manner, raised a glass of wine while speaking about the superiority of genetic modifications. Moments later, he even used an electric stick to stimulate the mouth of the Giant Sandworm.
The creature just opened its mouth wider but not once did it try to eat him.
This advertisement stirred up a hot discussion, and it opened up the market for Spirit Creation.
However, Meng Chao’s focus was not on the Giant Sandworms, but on the small and medium-sized biochemical pets kept in houses.
“This way, please. The three biochemical pets that went wild this time were our third generation products. They have a certain degree of fighting strength and great intelligence. Hence, we pay special attention to making sure that they’re safe,” Xie Xiaolei said.
“When we modified this batch, we separated the process into three main steps. First, we used genetically modified nuclei, which are CRISPR, to perform double strand breaks at specific sites in the genetic groups. This would induce the organisms to go through non-homologous end joining or homologous recombination to repair the double strand break.
“It’s very easy for the repairing process to go wrong and cause targeted mutation. This sort of targeted mutation then turns into gene editing.
“Through gene editing, we combine the traits of dozens of canine-type monsters and get rid of the gene segments that control their desires to hunt and kill. Then, we implant the genes of herbivorous monsters that are rather gentle in nature, and through repeated tests, we create biochemical beasts that are like pet dogs. They are loyal to their masters and suited to living in human society.”
“Hmm…” Meng Chao thought about it. “It sounds really complicated. Wouldn’t it be really unstable?”
“No way. This is a very well-developed technology. If even elementary school students have begun conducting gene knockout experiments on Earth, why should we shy away from it while we live in a new world that is filled with spirit energy and is constantly changing? In just a short half a century, our progress in exploring the secrets of genes have become five hundred years more advanced than the genetics on Earth!
“Besides, the genes of the monsters in the Other World are… How should I put this? We discovered a lot of signs of gene tailoring, knockouts, and the sealing of genes in the genetic chains of many wild monsters. They don’t seem like pure wild beasts, but products of a lab. Of course, this happened a long time ago, and it might have come from labs that were around billions of years ago.”
“What?”
Xie Xiaolei shrugged. “The Other World had a very advanced ancient civilization in the past. This isn’t some major secret. If humans can think about using genetic technology to discover the greatest potential of plants, there’s no reason why the ancient civilization couldn’t have thought about this as well.
“We’ll leave the historians and archaeologists to slowly discover the truth about this. I only want to tell you that monsters have always been creatures that were easily modified. Otherwise, how do you think Agricultural University’s monster controller course would have come to creating so many fierce fighting-type biochemical beasts?
“Of course, gene editing is just our first procedure. Next, when the biochemical beasts are conceived in their mothers’ womb, we inject all sorts of hormones and medicines into them to ensure that their brains grow faster. Cranial capacity isn’t our main focus. The problem lies in the sulci.
“Science has proven that cranial capacity is not the key that decides intellect. The number of sulci and neural circuits are what decides intelligence. The canine-type biochemical beasts that have been modified by us have a 300% increase of neural circuits compared to wild canine-type monsters. It’s enough to make them possess the intellect of a seven or eight-year-old child. They can understand simple commands from their masters, and of course, they know to choose to live comfortably in human society.
“We don’t just inject the drug once, though. Instead, during the entire process of the modification, we inject the drugs nineteen times. Aside from promoting the growth of their brains, there is also an inhibiting hormone in it that will maximize our capability for limiting its practically non-existent violence. After this, the biochemical beasts are even more harmless than pet dogs.”
After saying that, Xie Xiaolei paused for a moment.
Clearly, he had been working himself down to the bone over the past two days, and his mood was not as good as his expression showed.
When he saw that the people, who were from Agricultural University and thus, stood on his side, were beside him, he could not help but make a sarcastic remark. “Honestly, I’m going to say something that someone in my position shouldn’t say. Even the pet dogs on Earth have injured people a lot of times, but there has never been cases of people wanting all dogs to be killed just because of one case of a dog going out of control, right?”
Meng Chao narrowed his eyes. “President Xie, are you saying that there is still a possibility that a creation of Spirit Creation would have gone out of control?”
Xie Xiaolei’s face turned red, and he quickly defended himself by saying, “No, I’m just saying that we can’t give up on biochemical pets because of fear. Biochemical technology is the key in us colonizing the Other World. After all, the failure rate of machines is too high in this world, and as our main source of energy, spirit energy is still too unstable. I think we’re making an arbitrary decision if we get rid of all hope to modify monsters just because of one accident.
“Besides, it’s not as if there have never been accidents with runic symbol machines either. When we built Subway No.6, the explosion caused a cave in, and a building above it collapsed entirely, leading to hundreds of casualties.
“In the end, investigation showed that the manufacturers of the construction machines didn’t check the power hidden in an ancient runic symbol properly, which resulted in two different spirit energy magnetic fields clashing against each other. It then led to the tragedy. We didn’t seize the chance to cause trouble and said that runic symbol technology is a dangerous product that can threaten the whole civilization!
“… I’m sorry, I’ve gone off topic. Meng Chao, please look, this is the third modification in the procedure, and it’s the last safety measure. We implant a chip into the central nervous system of the biochemical pet that can constantly monitor its hormone levels.
“When the chip detects that the biochemical pet’s hormone level is rising to abnormal levels and it’s about to go berserk, it will automatically release a very strong bioelectricity current that will deliver a shock to the biochemical pet, causing it great pain.
“If it still won’t calm down, the current will continue increasing, and in the end, it might even burn their central nervous system.
“Please come to this lab. We will personally witness the power of the control chip.”
As Xie Xiaolei spoke, he brought Meng Chao and Ning Shewo before a French window.
Behind the window was a dog kennel. Locked in it was a biochemical pet that was of the same species as the biochemical pets that went out of control.
This biochemical pet had an internal codename, and it was Contest Tiger. It did indeed have an appearance of a beautiful tiger cub and looked incredibly mighty.
It had a long and streamlined body. Its golden pelt was glossy and shone. Even so, it could not hide the feeling of explosive power when it bulged up its muscles. It usually hid its fangs and claws, but when it fought, they would reveal themselves like daggers.
If the biochemical pet faced normal monsters, it could fight against them for a while, and if its master was stuck under rubble, it could dig them out as quickly as a drilling machine.
On Earth, when humans chose their pet dogs, they usually picked small ones, since they were exquisite and charming.
But Dragon City was alone in a foreign land. They had fought hundreds of battles, and all the citizens had lived through a war. Their future also held only endless fighting.
In this ruthless society where fighting ruled, when people kept pets, they preferred large dogs. They were mighty, cool, and had a certain level of fighting power.
There were also some people who did not like fighting dogs, so they reared carnivorous reptile-type monsters, which were even fiercer. This was lately becoming the trend.
Contest Tiger was a hot-selling creature from Spirit Creations. Meng Chao had seen a lot of them on the streets, and all of them looked honest and dumb. They gave off a feeling of safety.
But the Contest Tiger in front of them had bloodshot eyes and was drooling. Its head was spasming as if it had gone mad. Its fangs and claws were retracting and extending, which made it look incredibly fierce.
Xie Xiaolei told Meng Chao that to test the danger level of the Contest Tiger, they had been conducting a lot of experiments over the past two days. The biochemical pet before their eyes had already absorbed a lot of stimulating gas and had been injected with virus-laced drugs that would stir up its violent tendencies. It was about to regain the violent tendencies of a monster.
“If you inject violence-inducing drugs, you can make originally docile biochemical beasts regain their violent tendencies?” Meng Chao fell into deep thought.
“Of course. No matter what, it’s just a beast,” Xie Xiaolei said. “Forget about biochemical pets. Even when humans are injected with zombie-virus-laced drugs, they will turn into zombies who will bare their teeth and won’t recognize their family. This has nothing to do with the safety of our creations.”
As he spoke, a bloody piece of raw meat was thrown into the room.
A fierce light shone in the biochemical pet’s eyes, and it immediately pounced on the meat.