Chapter 9 This base is called the Research Institute, a base named after a research institute. Although…
This base is called the Research Institute, a base named after a research institute.
Although the leader of this base has always emphasized that it is just a research institute, everyone around it tacitly regards it as an entity that should not be provoked, an organization with powerful military force.
In fact, people are very adaptable sometimes, at least a decade or more before this.
This world is still a safe and orderly world.
However, with the deterioration of the environment, the shrinking of living space, and the ever-increasing dangers, the order completely collapsed in just ten years.
In this world, if you want to be an ordinary person, you need to have enough power; if you want to protect a group of ordinary people, that's almost impossible in this era.
Most plants can no longer be grown here; many plants and animals have mutated.
Perhaps this is a good thing, because these plants and animals have mutated, so generally speaking, only one is needed to support the people of a base for a period of time.
To put it bluntly, it all comes down to ability; ordinary people are practically useless in this game.
Even obtaining food requires ability users to plunder it.
So most of them are ordinary people who stay at the base, because he has family members who are ability users.
However, everyone envies that base called the research institute.
When asked why it was called a research institute, their director gave the following answer.
"I'm just a researcher, and this is just an ordinary research institute."
...Of course, no one believed him when he said that.
The research institute had no shortage of food and even maintained a certain level of order. Everyone was dressed in clean clothes and there was laughter and cheerful conversation.
However, there are quite a few people, at least for a base.
Moreover, there are only a handful of people with superpowers.
It seems to be about a major purge of directors; in any case, in the end, there were only a few dozen left.
However, the truth at the time was actually:
Back then, the research institute was dirt poor, so who would come to our institute?
The experimental facility was just beginning, and everyone had a new starting point. Those with superpowers were all arrogant and conceited.
But for some reason, perhaps because there were still people who funded the establishment of laboratories in that era, everyone always felt that he had some ability and that there was value in it.
It's highly likely they've thoroughly researched the revival of spiritual energy, which is why they have this laboratory. Otherwise, why would anyone spend so much money to set up a laboratory at such a crucial moment instead of buying rare and precious treasures for cultivation?
However, in reality, the money was paid out of pocket by the director himself. He said he had no choice; he was just an ordinary person, and for the sake of a dangerous life in the future, he had to live a life of hardship.
It seems they've gone a bit too far with their cover-ups; they've planted several undercover superhumans in almost every organization, big or small.
He accepted all offers without hesitation, and of course, he couldn't refuse them, since he had neither money nor power at the time.
It's fine if he comes. He can do some experiments. He won't lose money, right?
He was waiting for an opportunity to kick out these undercover agents. Finally, that opportunity came. The world order collapsed, and he officially established his own power.
Money is no longer of any use, and connections are not necessarily effective either; just surviving is difficult.
That purge was spared, and most of the victims were ordinary people. However, they lived better than some people with superpowers. Why was that?
As if this had been anticipated, the laboratory had researched many types of food that could survive on just water and nutrients, and that produced a large quantity of food without relying on soil.
His childhood sweetheart, a doctor, complained, "What's the use of these things? Can't we just plant them directly in the ground? Are there any patents available now?"
What did the doctor recall saying about the cottage cheese back then?
“It’s very important. With these, I can make everyone in the entire research institute wholeheartedly loyal to me.”
The doctor said at the time that he felt incredibly weak; had his belated teenage phase arrived?
But when the radiation arrived and the soil could no longer be used to grow food, the doctors realized that it wasn't a joke after all.
Maidanglu recalled that she had suddenly awakened to her chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) and said that sentence, which still makes her feel very embarrassed now.
Now we can leisurely eat fruit and vegetables, and occasionally have meat, which is something that other bases can hardly imagine.
"Director, this is today's workload." The assistant brought over a stack of papers as tall as a person.
To this, he could only say, "Hehe."
It's definitely better to be an ordinary researcher; at least then you won't have to deal with this mountain of data that's taller than you.
But what needs to be done still needs to be done. He's not the kind of person who likes to escape reality. Since he's decided to do it, then let's get started.
He kept pressing the cards one by one, and suddenly he took out one that seemed completely unremarkable among them.
"This is..." The director held a piece of paper and fell into deep thought.
The assistant glanced at it and immediately knew which one he had picked up.
"Recently, this plague suddenly broke out in a small base in Nanxi. It seems they asked us for help, but our base is far away, so by the time we arrived, they had already restored order. This is the order they recently requested from us. Please confirm that it's all simple technologies for repairing city walls."
The assistant replied.
“...Reject everything! Quarantine everyone who had contact with that base, including anyone who came into contact with them after they returned.”
The assistant looked completely bewildered. Wasn't it said that everything was resolved?
And they've been back for over half a month now, and everything seems normal.
“They must all be quarantined. This is no joke. I suspect they were infected at the time, and I estimate the infectivity is very high.” The director frowned. This matter was indeed very serious. If they were not careful, the entire base could be infected, and he had no solution.
"But they've been back for over half a month now. I estimate that most of the people in the base have already been in contact with them. If it's a case of infection after infection, then everyone in the base could be infected. Only some high-ranking officials have never been in contact with the people below them."
"What! Why am I only finding out about this now?"
The assistant pursed her lips. "I'm sorry, it was my negligence. I thought this matter was minor, so I kept putting it off until the very end."
She didn't question anything; she trusted all of the commander's judgments.
"All quarantined."
"But if we do that, the lab will be left unguarded. What if someone attacks it at this time..."
The assistant seemed a little anxious.
“It doesn’t matter, just isolate them all. I believe they are too busy taking care of themselves right now.”
The director quickly made a decision, but after the investigation, it turned out that only a few dozen people were not infected; the others had all been in contact with the pathogen or were infected individuals.
This is a truly astonishing number, and the infected people don't even feel a thing.
McDangChe knew what it was, of course; it referred to the plague that had appeared once in the original story.
It's called a "memory parasite," and the key is that the person being parasitized won't know they've been parasitized.
It can't really be called parasitism; it is indeed a plague because it is contagious, but it is still a living organism.
He can stand inside a person's body and make it take root, sprout, and bear fruit in 10 days.
He absorbs a person's memories, begins to grow, and then replaces that person. He only has memories of that person; he has no memories of himself as a seed.
Therefore, his personality, memories, and aesthetic sense are exactly the same as the original owner's, making it impossible for people to tell whether he is real or fake.
The only problem is that after a while they will develop a strong sense of self-disapproval, and then commit mass suicide, spreading their seeds and causing more people to be infected with the plague.
I'm sure it's not just their base that's suffering from this strange disease; there must be many people there.
The task at hand is simple: cultivate the infected, confining them to a single room. Once a strong mother organism emerges, it will emit a unique odor that attracts all these creatures.
What does it take to raise a Gu gu? Others might only have one that gets close.
However, to create a king, you need to add more than ten times the number of "seeds" inside. This will give birth to a mother insect with a strong scent. Then, this mother insect will emit a scent to attract more insects to come and fight again, becoming stronger each time, until the final mother insect is born.
Of course, this doesn't solve the problem completely. Only by killing the mother insect can the matter be put to rest. However, the problem is that most people die before the mother insect even grows up.
And now he has a suitable candidate.
Looking down through the high glass window, the densely packed crowd evokes a sense of dread.
Below are many, many single or multi-person cubicles, and the rooms are completely empty.
Everyone stayed there quietly, trusting in their expertise.
Their director was desperately trying to come up with a solution when suddenly the door opened, and a teenager walked in.
The assistant next to the director suddenly widened her eyes.
Soon the boy arrived at the first glass room.
By touching it with his finger, it was clear that the insect had passed by, and the man quickly fainted. Then the little boy rushed to the next room, and then the next and the next.
The boy's body gradually became swollen and ugly.
There was a constant wriggling under the skin, like something was fighting.
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