Chapter 179 Laboratory Construction

The door of the basement slowly closed, and when the protective lock fell, only Su Wanqing and Han Xue were left inside.

There was an unused plastic canvas spread out on the table. Su Wanqing rolled up her sleeves and placed the jade bracelet flat on her palm.

She said in a low voice: "Come with me."

Han Xue carried the medicine box on her back and walked silently. The two of them walked towards a deeper underground compartment.

It was damp and cold inside the door. She stopped and found that the end of the wall had been cleaned in advance.

Su Wanqing took out the spare battery and called out the menu in the jade bracelet. She lowered her head and typed a series of commands. A blue light flashed on her wrist, and a large storage box suddenly appeared on the floor.

There was dead silence all around. Han Xue subconsciously moved closer and squinted her eyes to examine it. Su Wanqing held the edge of the box and said, "This batch of equipment will only be used in the most urgent moments. I didn't plan to open it."

As she spoke, she opened the lid, revealing three small analyzers, two pocket-sized gene modification devices, and a complete set of automated reagent pathways.

Han Xue stretched out her hand across the analysis table, and a metal "thumb" reader suddenly lit up, unlocking after recognition.

She saw the model label on the side of the equipment and paused for a moment: "This batch of machines has never been produced in China. Where did you get them from?"

Su Wanqing did not give a direct answer, but whispered: "These are all parts and prototypes collected from previous reserve channels. As long as they can be used, it's fine."

She moved the analyzer to the workbench carefully and gently.

Han Xue was not satisfied, and said forcefully: "Can you make a complete set of this molecular sequencing system? It was only at the conceptual level before the epidemic."

Without even looking up, Su Wanqing plugged the cable into the energy port on the side wall. "Do you have a better idea? I can only ensure that the equipment is not exposed. Whether we can save people depends on your skills."

After saying that, she picked up the test kit and handed it to Han Xue.

The main light deep in the basement was turned on, and the debris in the corners was cleared away one by one.

Su Wanqing summoned out two more sets of precision instruments and placed them on the designated tables.

Han Xue checked the operating status of each device one by one, tapping the operation panel to confirm that nothing was missed.

Soon, Lu Zhao and Xiao Ran came in. When Lu Zhao saw the equipment, his eyelids twitched.

His brother held the mainframe and murmured, "This one alone is worth several research institutes in China. Are you really willing to spend so much money?"

Su Wanqing only handed over the spare battery and squatted on the ground with the tool bag at her feet.

Lu Zhao leaned towards the gene editing equipment, his brows slightly tightened: "This thing looks strange in appearance, but its function is much stronger than known ones. Su Wanqing, where did you get it?" He turned sideways and wanted to ask again.

Su Wanqing only said: "The fewer people who know, the safer it is." She didn't say much and signaled Lu Zhao to connect to the terminal first.

The large instruments were placed in the designated locations. Xiao Ran put on gloves and firmly assembled the air supply duct and the new exhaust vent.

The air flow diversion test was repeated three times to ensure that every part of the filtration system was unobstructed.

He dismantled the inner core of the filter and checked it, and found that all the parts fit together seamlessly.

After straightening out the tangled wires, he installed two sets of escape oxygen cylinders.

Lin Che brought the power diversion module and drew power from the main control box to ensure the energy load of the new instrument.

After the wiring was completed, he discussed the interface of the dashboard with Lu Zhao while checking whether there was any interference signal in the backup battery.

The girl with the childish voice was still resting in the next room, and an electronic monitor was placed next to the small bed.

Several people took turns debugging the instrument. Han Xue focused on watching the instrument, and the data was uploaded to the host computer to quickly form a preliminary sample library.

She asked Su Wanqing with a little vigilance: "If these systems have remote access, we have to set up a separate isolation area. How can you guarantee that the data will not be stolen?"

Su Wanqing shook her head slightly: "All devices are physically disconnected from the Internet, and data backup is only on the local disk. If I want to take it out, I am the only one who has the authority." Her tone was flat, and she never let her guard down.

Lu Zhao called up the algorithm script and wrote the data preprocessing module according to the technical plan.

There were two piles of code notes beside him, and he used two handheld terminals to switch host permissions.

He reminded Han Xue: "Once you detect any distorted data, you cannot save it privately, but back it up directly to the mirror disk. All processes must be traceable."

Han Xue didn't object, but she stared at Lu Zhao. She reached out and knocked on the host, sighing, "Do you think I'm a counterintelligence agent?"

Lu Zhao didn't respond, but handed her a set of new bridge connections.

After the first day of continuous high-intensity work, the most hidden area underground in the villa has become an independent space, with the main engine, instruments, sample storage and refrigerated areas all in place.

Xiao Ran installed a total of three layers of insulation panels towards the passage, and also dragged a set of heavy steel doors from the equipment room and installed them on the outside. Each door lock was set up in layers, leaving only one set of mechanical keys in Su Wanqing's hands.

The next morning, Lin Che installed two sets of super batteries for the backup power system. Sweat flowed down his neck while debugging the power supply.

He posted the electronic shunt diagram on the wall, sometimes whispering to Lu Zhao to confirm whether a certain port label was correct, and sometimes turning back to pay attention to the condition of the girl with the childlike voice.

Xiao Ran reinforced all the ventilation pipes with special sealants, fearing that any gas leakage would cause infection risks.

He arranged the filter changes into a shift schedule and asked a few trusted survivors to help move the spare parts into the warehouse.

After all the infrastructure was debugged, Su Wanqing began to assign daily work tasks: Lu Zhao and Han Xue were responsible for the overall operation of the analytical instrument and the tuning of the gene modification module; Lin Che maintained the main control power supply and external energy interface; small process failures were shared by the three of them.

She herself coordinates the processes and security mechanisms, and all key passwords are authorized by her personally.

Just as the laboratory installation work was completed, Han Xue came over and directly proposed to Su Wanqing: “Before starting, we need to collect blood samples from Lin Che and the girl for sequence comparison.

These two sets of data must be used to establish a standard curve as soon as possible." Her eyes fell on Lin Che and the girl with a childlike voice.

The room suddenly went quiet. Lin Che stood still, his sleeves clenched into strips. Xiao Ran squatted down to tie his shoelaces, his movements were a little slow.

Lu Zhao threw the sample collector back on the table without saying anything.

Su Wanqing said softly: "You can collect it, but it must be under the supervision of everyone in the team, and the amount collected must be kept to a minimum. It is not allowed to be kept separately."

She looked at Lu Zhao, "Keep an eye on the system. Any experimental records must be backed up in real time."

Han Xue nodded, as if it was a matter of course. She picked up the blood collection tube and operated the temperature control of the refrigeration device.

Lu Zhao frowned and turned on all monitoring settings to ensure that every sample appeared in the main mirror data link.

Lin Che stood beside the operating table and drew two tubes of blood from his arm. After collecting the blood, Han Xue flipped the samples and sealed them, following the standard procedures step by step.

The girl with childish voice dodged when blood was being drawn, but Su Wanqing was beside her and spoke to her in a slightly noisy tone to distract her, so the girl reluctantly stretched out her hand.

The samples were successfully obtained, and Han Xue reconfirmed the labels and put them into an encrypted storage warehouse.

Half an hour later, everyone spread out the day's schedule in the center of the laboratory.

Su Wanqing assigned each person the next stage goal: Lu Zhao accelerated the preliminary modeling of sample data, Lin Che tested all energy interfaces, Xiao Ran inspected the safety door at any time, and Han Xue was responsible for the initial inspection of samples and synchronization of process flows.

At the same time, Xiao Ran pretended to be unintentional in the inspection and checked every door lock, camera, and spare gate in the laboratory.

Han Xue walked behind him, but did not notice that above the filing cabinets in each cold zone, two extremely small micro cameras had been connected to form a hidden circuit.

The backup power-off switch of the access control system is only controlled by Xiao Ran and Su Wanqing.

Before dark, Xiao Ran took an engineering shovel and moved a pile of iron plates from the pile of debris on the east side.

He surveyed the perimeter of the base several times and used the terrain to dig three small evacuation passages leading to different directions on the south wall.

There are simple alarms every ten meters in the passage, with only an ascending opening left at the end.

At night, several trusted survivors took turns patrolling and observing the traces of the "scavenger" team.

Although everyone seemed to be busy setting up experimental facilities, they never relaxed their vigilance and layout.

In the early morning of the third day, all systems of the underground laboratory were fully accepted.

Ventilation, electricity, data security, and emergency medicines are all checked.

When the last test was over, Lu Zhao slumped in the collection chair, with a faint blue circle under his eyes.

Su Wanqing leaned back on the chair and said to Han Xue, "It's your turn now."

Han Xue lightly flipped the switch of the instrument, and the first set of sample data slowly flowed out on the screen.

After Han Xue adjusted the last set of instrument parameters, she raised her hand and touched the stopwatch.

Su Wanqing glanced at their respective posts and saw that Lu Zhao and Xiao Ran were ready.

The atmosphere in the laboratory became tense again.

Lin Che stood beside the operating table with his sleeves rolled up. He twisted the blood-collecting belt himself with very skilled movements.

Han Xue handed over the sterile cotton and needle and glanced at Lin Che's face: "Are you ready?"

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Lin Che nodded and lowered his voice: “Come on, pick as many as you need.”

After he said that, he frowned, lowered his head and swallowed his saliva.

Han Xue checked the sample label and stuck the needle into his forearm. "Collect three tubes of blood. We'll also do a spinal puncture later. I need your cooperation."

Su Wanqing had been watching from the side. Seeing that Lin Che was a little nervous, she asked calmly, "How is your health? If you feel there is any problem, stop at any time."

Lin Che smiled and said, "It's okay. It's much safer than the previous experiments."

His hand trembled noticeably as he spoke, but when the needle was withdrawn, he simply twitched his fingers.

Han Xue quickly handed the collected blood to Lu Zhao for sealing, and then glanced at Lin Che, "Next, we will prepare the cerebrospinal fluid. It may be painful, so just lie down."

Lin Che held onto the edge of the bed and lay down on the experimental bed. Xiao Ran helped him adjust his posture and handed him a rubber grip ball.

Lin Che held it in her hand and closed her eyes.

Han Xue operated the needle quickly. Lin Che gritted his teeth and held back.

Just as the puncture was finished, he suddenly opened his eyes and his voice suddenly became calm: "Take another blood sample, now."

Han Xue paused, frowned, and asked, "Why do you need to draw twice?"

Lin Che's face changed, and that change made Lu Zhao stunned for a moment. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling blankly: "I am Ye, now you need two sets of samples in different states." His voice was cold, without a trace of warmth.

Su Wanqing was a beat slower and squatted to look at him: "Can you control yourself to switch?"

Lin Che shook her head, but still spoke in Ye's tone: "Not completely, but I can tell the difference now. Since we want to fight the virus, we have to use the most extreme situation."

Han Xue didn't say anything else, and the blood collection started again. This time, Lin Che, who was in the night state, had no expression on his face, and gritted his teeth without making a sound.

He remained motionless as the needle was inserted and withdrawn.

The two sets of blood samples and cerebrospinal fluid were numbered and placed in the sample cabinet. Han Xue encrypted and entered the labels at the front desk.

Lu Zhao looked at the sample size and lowered his head to copy down the data table.

Han Xue put all the test tubes into the automatic analyzer one by one, and the instrument screen began to jump.

She put on gloves and operated the interface to retrieve the comparison plan. Soon, Han Xue stared at the scan results and her breathing slowed down.

A set of dynamic curves popped up on the computer and the instrument speakers beeped.

She glanced at the results and pursed her lips: "This group of serum proteins is very active and does not belong to any known class of immunoglobulins."

Lu Zhao stared at the screen from the side: "Are you sure there is no pollution?"

Han Xue gently pressed the check button and put another sample into the second instrument.

After a moment, she tilted her body to look at Su Wanqing, "This is not contamination. The active protein can directly bind to the surface structure of the virus. There are several peaks, showing that it can bind to the virus at the molecular level and even inactivate it."

Xiao Ran came over and asked in a low voice: "Have you seen a similar situation before?"

Han Xue shook her head, "Never. We must track it down to the end."

She quickly switched the analysis interface and pulled out the comparison curves of the two groups of samples, the Night Personality and Lin Che's normal state.

Han Xue's brows were still furrowed. "The protein activity in blood and cerebrospinal fluid at night is much higher, but it will all be degraded after three minutes, and the stability is very poor.

Although the activity is low in the normal Lin Che state, it may last for nearly two hours without rapid degradation. "

Lu Zhao imported this set of data into the encrypted image disk and asked, "How do I use it?"

Han Xue bit her upper lip and paused before saying, "If there is a way to combine the high activity of the Night Personality with the stability of the Master Personality, theoretically, we can make a serum specifically for early-stage infection.

It’s enough to block the virus in the early stages of infection—not in the later stages.”

Xiao Ran tapped the tabletop. "How do you combine them? Can you really extract the advantages of both states?"

Han Xue tried the high-pass filter of the instrument and paused: "The theory is feasible, but I need more samples for further purification and structural analysis."

She tugged at her sleeves and said, "With only one or two sets of samples, it's impossible to mass-produce serum. You'd better think of a plan in advance."

Su Wanqing didn't say anything, but took out a notebook and wrote down the key experimental points.

Lu Zhao closed the terminal and subconsciously looked at Han Xue. The data page she was browsing stopped at a genetic sequence.

Lu Zhao thought for a while. He moved closer to Su Wanqing and lowered his voice: "Did you notice? The gene Han Xue saw in Lin Che's blood sample is exactly the same as the special gene in the girl with the child's voice."

Su Wanqing looked through the experimental records and said in a low voice: "What do you suspect?"

Lu Zhao slid his arm over a page of data, "I don't think Han Xue is just here for the ordinary serum.

She basically only focuses on that section of the genetic structure, which is different from the common virus fighting plan.”

Su Wanqing clenched her pen and asked in a low voice, "Are you worried that she has other plans?"

Lu Zhao nodded. "She is looking for the key to activate the other subjects of the Eden Project. Normal serum is enough, and she won't spend so much time disassembling the sequence. You see, when she was sampling just now, she picked out those in that range."

Su Wanqing didn't reply. She frowned for a moment and stared at the data stream in the laboratory.

Han Xue continued to test, but Lu Zhao just kept an eye on her every move.

Han Xue was in deep thought in front of the terminal, marking symbols next to the data from time to time.

She occasionally recorded something, but never let others see it. Next door, Xiao Ran was sorting samples in the cold zone. He didn't say anything, just glanced at the laboratory table.

Lin Che lay back in the chair, wearing a sterile mask, "If you have anything else to continue, just say it." He spoke with a hoarse voice, but it was no longer so cold and hard.

Han Xue quickly closed the port. "That's all for today. We'll do a second collection tomorrow. You'd better get enough rest."

Su Wanqing glanced at everyone and quickly backed up the entire sampling process for today and stored the permissions into her own storage chip.

Xiao Ran was standing at the door, preparing to change hands and ring the doorbell to remind everyone that the medication record had not been updated at night.

The atmosphere in the laboratory fell silent again. Everyone was thinking about their own things, and no one said a word.