"Rebirth in the Apocalypse" - No Rebirth (18)...
"Have I not told you about viruses yet?"
Gan Man's brain had stopped thinking; she only knew to mechanically reply, "I've mentioned it a little."
Ye Xiqing felt relieved: "Then you should be able to understand what I'm about to say."
"The world is different now. The post-apocalyptic environment cannot revert to the pre-apocalyptic state in a short time. To survive in such an environment, humans can only rely on mutation, whether it's becoming a zombie or a mutant with superpowers."
"So I don't recommend that you die prematurely in order to have a child, because the miracle has already happened halfway."
"At the beginning of the apocalypse, the first group of people who awakened their supernatural abilities in the face of the violent impact were the luckiest and the most visible miracles."
"You who have not awakened your superpowers, are plagued by serious illnesses, and live a difficult life, yet you have not died, is also a miracle. You are those who await awakening."
“I don’t understand the base’s encouragement of ordinary women to have more children, or your idea that you are willing to sacrifice your life to have children.”
"Survival time in the apocalypse is precious. Every extra minute you live could lead to mutation, awakening of superpowers, and the acquisition of a strong physique suitable for living in the apocalypse."
"Giving birth directly robs women of half their life force, causing women who could have lived long enough to awaken their superpowers to die prematurely."
"What a bargain! Who taught you this calculation formula?"
Gan Man:......
Ye Xiqing glanced at her, then looked away and continued to show her her experimental results and process.
"Relying on natural awakening is too slow. In this world, people are more efficient at harming each other than nature is. Women that nature has not killed are expected to sacrifice themselves by human society. Women have really been fooled to death."
"So I'm going to develop a drug that can shorten the mutation process, which is the one I'm showing you."
"To control something, you have to know why it was formed."
"The reason for the zombie mutation is simple: the zombie virus."
"The reason for the mutation of superhumans is very mysterious. I have not found the exact reason yet. I can only simply attribute it to the mutation of the human body's own genes induced by external factors, which is why there is such a complicated process and manifestation."
"It's very difficult to induce such a mutation out of thin air. The reason why each person awakens their superpower is different. We don't know if it's radiation, a virus, or something they ate."
“It is easy to take what is readily available. The human body is very large and complex, but at its root, it can be summed up in just two words: genes.”
"All complex human structures are controlled and differentiated by the smallest genes. As long as the mutated gene fragment that produces the superpowers of the superhuman is extracted and replaced on the target body, theoretically, targeted gene mutation can be achieved, thereby producing the same superpowers as the donor superhuman."
"But you should know the dangers of genetically modified people. Before the end of the world, you might not even dare to eat genetically modified vegetables and fruits."
"Currently, the only vehicles that can precisely target gene fragments to specific cells are various viruses, including zombie viruses."
"Can you imagine how dangerous this drug is?"
Gan Man nodded immediately.
Before the apocalypse, her biology was very poor because she didn't need to study it. Now, forced by the environment, her biological knowledge has improved rapidly and she can now surpass many biology practitioners before the apocalypse.
Ye Xiqing continued, "But even though we know it's poisonous, we can't remove its toxicity. The virus will indeed not harm the body if it is deactivated, but it also won't serve as a transmission tool."
"The principle of gene therapy is exactly the opposite of that of vaccines. Vaccines need to inactivate the virus, so that the virus loses its replication ability and only produces antibodies. Gene therapy, on the other hand, needs to keep the virus alive to reach the predetermined target and use its natural replication characteristics to change the original gene fragments."
"This leads to the possibility that a targeted mutation may be successfully induced, resulting in superpowers, or the body may be damaged by the virus first, leading to a faster death, and the mortality rate may not be lower than that of childbirth."
"Of course, it's not all bad news; there's good news too."
Ye Xiqing picked up a measuring cup filled with water from the lab table. Under Gan Man's watchful gaze, the water in the measuring cup gradually froze into ice.
Turning to Gan Man, he said, "The good news is that if you successfully receive the drug, the probability of gaining superpowers is very high. It's not just theoretical; you really can gain superpowers."
Gan Man was completely stunned by what Ye Xiqing had said.
Everyone knows that Ye Xiqing lost her crystal core and her superpowers disappeared. But now she has superpowers again, and they are completely different from the ones she had before!
It's unbelievable that there really is a gene serum. Even if there's only a 5% survival rate, what is there for her not to try!
But recalling what Ye Xiqing had said before, Gan Man had a new question: "Doctor, then why does the mortality rate for pregnant women drop to 50%?"
Ye Xiqing couldn't help but chuckle: "This brings us to the wonders of the human body."
"Although gene therapy drugs work on the opposite principle to vaccines, they have one thing in common: whether they produce superpowers or antibodies, they rely on the human body to change itself. Gene therapy drugs can only induce mutations in a targeted manner and cannot produce superpowers out of thin air."
"What truly gives people superpowers is their own body, which can spontaneously mutate."
"With the advancement of technology, humans have created many sophisticated instruments and even made breakthroughs in gene editing technology, but the human body will always be the best masterpiece created by nature, and the woman's body is even more exquisite."
"A woman's body is like the tide, ever-changing and exhibiting different characteristics at different times. During pregnancy, in order to cope with the great undertaking of nurturing life, all the functions of the body will be fully coordinated."
"This kind of adjustment is not simply about making it stronger or weaker, but rather a very flexible and targeted adjustment."
"The human body will reject foreign genes. Under normal circumstances, a fetus carrying half of a foreign gene will be attacked by the human immune system."
"But when a woman becomes pregnant, her body will automatically weaken the immune system in that direction, so that the fetus will not be attacked and can survive."
"This weakening is not holistic; while the immune system against the fetus is weakened, the immune system against invading foreign bacteria and viruses is strengthened to ensure the mother's safety."
"In addition to flexible immune changes, most of the mother's cells will reach their peak activity because they are supplying the fetus."
"Do you know what this means? High cell activity means that the body is at its best able to perform various functions at this moment, including mutations."
"Flexible immune regulation means that at this time, the body can most easily accept foreign genes."
"By now, you probably already know what method I'm talking about."
"That's right, it's about injecting this medicine into the embryo."
"During pregnancy, the body's immune response to the embryo is less sensitive, allowing foreign genes to enter the body smoothly."
"High immunity in other systems of the body can also ensure that viruses entering the body will not destroy the body instantly, giving the body time to mutate and survive."
"Most importantly, when the body finds that it cannot withstand this 'attack from the fetus,' it will cause you to miscarry rather than kill you."
"Humans prefer to prioritize the safety of the mother and the pregnancy, but your body doesn't have this concept. It only knows that if there is danger, it should abandon the child to save you first."
"So I don't know why people always say that women lack love. A woman's body always loves itself unconditionally."
"But if you don't see its love for you, you don't listen to what it says, and you insist on keeping the pregnancy even when it doesn't want you to, then who can you blame for the suffering and pain you endure?"
Gan Man:......
Who would have thought that the method to reduce the mortality rate would be like this...
Ye Xiqing explained everything to her, from the principles of the drug to the body's mechanisms of action. She understood the entire process of how the drug worked in her body and had no doubts whatsoever; she simply felt it was a miracle.
But the price of this miracle was her child.
When she decided to sacrifice her life for her child, to give birth to the child before dying, all her thoughts were so clear, so firm, as if unshakable.
But when it's the other way around, why don't we even dare to think about it?
It seems that dying for the sake of the unborn child is a perfectly reasonable and noble thing.
But conversely, her first thought was that it was sinful, cruel, and perverse. How could a mother sacrifice the life inside her womb just to save her own life?
Gan Man's tears welled up again, but this time it wasn't out of fear of death, but out of horror at the indescribable thoughts in her mind.
Her world collapsed once again, her order was thrown into chaos once more, yet Ye Xiqing smiled at her like a demon in a story who always managed to seduce her.
"Make a choice; that's what it means to voluntarily choose life or death."
"If the option of giving birth isn't even presented, how can it be considered voluntary?"
"Of course, both answers should be presented on the table for a fair choice."
...
Tick-tock, tick-tock, something keeps ringing in my ears.
Gan Man felt like she had been crying for a long time. She didn't know if it was from the pain or from the sadness, but she just couldn't stop her tears.
After an unknown amount of time, Gan Man suddenly woke up from the darkness, feeling completely exhausted as if she had just been pulled out of the water—no, it seemed like there really was water!
She got up in a daze and realized that everything around her was different from before she lost consciousness.
The laboratory floor looked like it had been through a disaster, with broken pieces everywhere and water up to ankle-deep.
Ye Xiqing sat motionless in the laboratory where fish could be raised, legs crossed.
Her body was dry, but her heavy cloak was completely soaked, and she was slowly wiping the water off it. Why wasn't she wringing it out? She didn't have hands.
Gan Man stared at this miraculous scene in silence: "Doctor, what just happened..."
Hearing the noise, Ye Xiqing put down what she was holding and looked up at her: "It's obvious that you have successfully awakened your superpower, but it's also obvious that you didn't control your power and blew up the floor heating and water pipes in my laboratory."
Gan Man:......
"I did all of this..."
"Otherwise, was it done by an innocent disabled person like me?"
Gan Man:......
Shocked by the mess on the ground, she suddenly realized that the pain that had been plaguing her seemed to have disappeared. Her body felt lighter than ever before, as if she had returned to the pre-apocalyptic world, no, even stronger than before the apocalypse!
She closed her eyes and focused on feeling her "new body." The water element in the air suddenly seemed to embrace her like another body, making her feel incredibly comfortable.
Something was constantly gathering and swirling within her body, finally condensing into a blue crystal core. Gan Man suddenly opened her eyes: she had awakened her water-based superpower!
What does awakening superpowers mean?
This means that she will never again struggle with illness on the brink of life and death, never again suffer day and night, and never again worry about dying suddenly one day.
She was given a new life!
Gan Man burst into tears of joy, kneeling down and weeping bitterly, thanking Ye Xiqing for giving her a second life.
But as she recovered from the joy of rebirth, she was plunged into another kind of sorrow: "The child in my belly..."
"It was absorbed."
Gan Man was waiting to hear Ye Xiqing announce the bad news, but she was caught off guard by this news: "What?"
Ye Xiqing looked at her with a smile: "I was also worried that you might have a sudden miscarriage, which would have a negative impact on your body, but something strange happened while you were absorbing the medicine."
"The embryo in your womb neither survived nor was expelled; it was completely absorbed by your body, as if it had never been conceived."
"In nature, animals also exhibit this behavior of terminating pregnancy and reabsorbing the embryo in extreme environments, but humans have not yet demonstrated this behavior."
"That's not quite right either. It seems that it's more difficult for people with superpowers to conceive. I used to think that their genes had mutated, which made it difficult for them to give birth."
"Now that I think about it, it's possible that their bodies have the ability to select embryos on their own. Even if an embryo is formed, it can be reabsorbed. So, before conception, they can certainly refuse to conceive."
"When animals in nature voluntarily terminate their pregnancies, it is either because the external environment is not suitable for reproduction or because the mother's body is not suitable. Either way, it is a smart choice."
"So congratulations, you've evolved."
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