"Rebirth in the Apocalypse" - No Rebirth (Chapter 27)...
Qi Ke finally understood what made Cthulhu novels so terrifying. Sometimes knowing is scarier than not knowing, especially when she was the only one who knew...
After awakening her superpowers, Qi Ke should have been happy, but upon suddenly seeing the new world, she was like a little chick, too afraid to even breathe.
Luan Anchun stroked her head, as if he saw an owl with its claws curled up, and smiled: This child is so timid.
Qi Ke was terrified, but others couldn't see her perspective or understand her fear; they were all celebrating the success of the second-generation potion.
They've graduated!
Most women are taught from a young age that you need to have value to exchange for resources. As for why your brother can do nothing and be supported by us, well we'll scold him too. Why don't you learn the good things and instead learn the bad things? Would you learn from him?
Women educated in this way cannot comfortably stop and enjoy themselves; the atmosphere of the research department, where one can do research without working, makes them very uneasy.
With so many resources from the base and so many people supporting us, if we can't produce anything of substance, we'll really feel like we're letting others down.
With this mindset, everyone in the pharmaceutical department was under a lot of psychological pressure, but now they can finally relax!
He excitedly examined Qi Ke's body and began to continuously observe this batch of test subjects.
The final conclusion was that the second-generation drug was not a failure, but simply manifested in a different form.
The first-generation drug, injected into the embryo, is 100% absorbed by the embryo, and the mother gains superpowers.
The second-generation drug, when injected into the father, has a chance of the embryo surviving, and both the mother and the baby gain superpowers.
This is where the second-generation drug improved: the mother will definitely gain superpowers, the father's genes will be improved, the symptoms of disease will be weakened, the embryo has a chance of not dying, and will also gain superpowers.
Natural gestation takes longer, and the observation period is also longer. It wasn't until the baby was born that the pharmaceutical department determined all the effects of the second-generation drug.
Most of the test subjects in this batch were still in biochemical embryos; they were absorbed by the mother before they reached the point of delivery.
However, there was a woman who was already physically strong and whose superpowers evolved towards physical enhancement; her fetus also survived and continued to grow.
The pregnant mother actually chose to become pregnant because of her superpowers, never expecting that the fetus would actually survive.
Having come this far, everyone certainly still hopes the child can be born, but having experienced the selfless sacrifice of giving birth, they don't want to repeat the same mistake of morally blackmailing a woman.
They promised that the base would raise the child to adulthood and would never take away any of the mother's rights; the child would still be hers, and the base would only be responsible for raising him to adulthood.
Of course, she didn't want children, and everyone understood her. When it comes to childbirth, a woman's will is paramount; it's their agreement.
The woman who had kept the embryo looked at the crowd. If she were facing the group of smirking men from the Giant Shark Base, she might hate the child as well, and would never have had the slightest thought of keeping the child.
But now she is facing her companion who has been taking care of her life and helping her awaken her superpowers. She has indeed awakened powerful superpowers and has the power to control her own destiny. So should she keep the child?
When people's lives become stable, they will seek hope.
When life is no longer threatened, one might wonder if new life could truly bring something different.
...
The baby was born around seven months later. When everyone gathered together to welcome the new life that was crying like a little mouse, no one dared to breathe.
Is this really a child?
The person next to her immediately punched her. What else could this be but a child!
That person: ……
But she looks really scary...
Like a featherless fledgling, its naked body gave off goosebumps, and it twitched and bounced.
Many people have a natural fear of hairless, bare skin, even her mother felt that way, thinking, "What kind of child did she give birth to...?"
Luan Anchun carefully laid out a towel, wrapped the little mouse inside, and smiled: "She's just too small now. When she grows up a bit, she'll look like a human."
After awakening her superpowers, the mother's body became much stronger, and the newborn was very small, making childbirth relatively easy. However, she still needed to take good care of herself during her postpartum period. Before her body recovered, the mother should not do anything else; the child's medical department and pharmaceutical department would take care of that.
Although she was lucky to be the only surviving embryo, the child was still small and weak. Before the apocalypse, she needed to be carefully nurtured in an incubator, but after the apocalypse, there were no such conditions, and she could only rely on herself.
A crowd gathered around her expectantly, hoping she would be strong. She had already given birth, so let her fight for life again!
Its fragile, tiny body is terrifying to behold, drawing everyone's attention to this little life.
When that hairless little mouse, carefully fed by the medical and pharmaceutical departments, gradually grew round arms, a chubby face, and hair, and even emitted an arc of electricity when it sneezed, everyone cheered with joy—
It's alive!
This miracle of life, like the sun rising again in the apocalypse, gave everyone hope. Everyone immediately took their children to the mother to show their gratitude: Look! Your daughter! We raised her!
The mother has recovered her health these days, and the child has grown up to be good-looking. Motherly love has returned instantly.
Looking at the baby twitching its tiny hands in her arms, Pan Yunxi finally realized that this was her own child.
It's truly hard for a mother to resist this wonderful feeling of blood connection. Pan Yunxi curiously poked the child's little face, and was filled with joy because of the child's response.
After the joy, it's time to name the child. Pan Yunxi is terrible at naming things and wants to find an authoritative person to help her.
She owes her success to the gene serum invented by Ye Xiqing. To express her gratitude and commemorate the occasion, she immediately sought out Ye Xiqing in the crowd and asked her to give her a name.
Ye Xiqing, who was passing by to watch the commotion, was asked, "You want me to get up? Are you sure?"
Pan Yunxi nodded: "Of course, my daughter and I are very grateful to Dr. Luo!"
Ye Xiqing: ...
Thank you for giving me extra work?
Although that's what she thought, Ye Xiqing wasn't one to spoil the fun.
He parted the baby's swaddling clothes with his left hand, looked at the child's face, and then at the mother's face: "Your child is not just a child, but also the hope of the base. If she is hope, what should you call her?"
"Dora, Pandora, the goddess of hope in ancient Greek mythology, sounds nice and stylish, what do you think?"
Pan Yunxi's eyes widened immediately: Pandora?
It really sounds great! You truly deserve to be called a PhD; it's both beautiful and meaningful!
Pan Yunxi happily showed everyone her child and the child's name.
Everyone was happy, except for Qi Ke, who fell silent. When they were alone, she secretly approached Pan Yunxi and asked, "You really don't know the legend of Pandora?"
Pan Yunxi looked up at her: "I don't know. Didn't the professor say it was the god of hope in ancient Greek mythology? What's wrong?"
Qi Ke: ...
It's good that you don't know; it's actually quite promising...
...
The results of the second-generation drug trials were kept under wraps for a long time, until the child was born and survived, at which point they happily announced to the public: Don't be sad, it turns out the second-generation drug didn't fail, it just is still only effective on women, sorry.
Base Man: ...
system:……
Do you think what you're saying sounds like human language?
After the first-generation potion was introduced, the system got a little carried away: "Does your method of acquiring superpowers have to be related to childbirth?"
Ye Xiqing smiled: "That's all because of you."
"What does this have to do with me!"
Ye Xiqing smiled.
"A very simple biological concept."
"The autosomes of men and women are the same; the only difference is the sex chromosomes. The X chromosome has more than a thousand genes, while the Y chromosome, because it cannot recombine and repair, is prone to the accumulation of harmful mutations, resulting in less and less genetic information. Now there are only a few dozen core genes left."
"Of course, it's not true that the more genes are expressed, the better. Too much expression can overload the body, accelerate wear and tear, and speed up aging."
"To maintain dosage balance, women have an extra X chromosome, which means they have twice as many genes as men. This is too much; if all of them are expressed, the body can't handle it, so it has to be reduced by randomly inactivating one of them."
"Men only have one X gene and one Y gene, which is very few and mostly affects male characteristics. So the single X gene is expressed at 20% higher efficiency to achieve the same effect as women."
"But the inactivation of one X chromosome in a woman does not mean the loss of genes. She still has two complete X chromosome gene pools, and because gene recombination is always possible, both of her X chromosomes can remain stable."
"Men are left with only an X that works under heavy load and a Y that is dedicated to male characteristics and no longer regenerates."
"That's why I say the mutated apocalypse is a woman's advantage. It has nothing to do with anything else; it's purely because two X's and smooth gene recombination demonstrate high fault tolerance."
"Not only during the embryonic stage, but also after adulthood, women have a pregnancy stage where they can receive foreign genes and undergo genetic information recombination."
"Do you know what this means? It means your idea is untenable from the start."
"If women, who are most capable of adapting to mutations, are wasted on having children, this world simply cannot continue."
"But you're telling me this is a wish-fulfillment story, and wish-fulfillment stories usually don't end with the extinction of humanity, so you have to make a design where superpowers are heritable."
"Women are far more receptive to mutations than men, so how can they be put at a disadvantage to make the plot work?"
"Then let the children use genetics to take away the mother's superior abilities, so that some mothers die from childbirth and some are replaced by their children, right?"
"As a result, many women die in childbirth before they can even awaken their superpowers, making it impossible for them to gain a position in the power structure and protect their children."
“When children grow up, they will be alienated by the power structure and become its new supporters. Those who don’t want to become them can’t escape a system that has already been established.”
"In this way, your deformed and inefficient system continues to be passed down from generation to generation by using children to coerce mothers."
"So you must have designed a plot where superpowers are hereditary, and even if the mother dies during childbirth, it doesn't affect her child's ability to inherit superpowers, right?"
system:……
This world does indeed have the concept of heritable superpowers, but is it really that rare for genes to be inherited?
Ye Xiqing used a normal statement to connect with a conspiracy theory, and her conspiracy theory sounded so logical that even normal biological genetics seemed like a conspiracy.
The system's mental liver was aching with anger: "Host, you're so good at biology, don't you know that genetic information is naturally inherited? How could this be something I specially designed!"
Ye Xiqing looked up at it and said in surprise, "Really? Or did I misunderstand you?"
It's good that it wasn't designed by you; if it were, I'd be worried you'd tweaked it.
Superpowers can be inherited—what a wonderful concept! After worrying about one generation, there's no need to worry about the next; the next generation will automatically inherit the mutation.
However, before that, the awakening of a generation of women's superpowers still depends on the efforts of men.
They had always wanted to make sacrifices to have children, but had never had the opportunity. Now, the opportunity has finally come.
...
The people at the base were overjoyed once again, celebrating the birth of the second-generation potion.
The men remained silent: what were they celebrating?
They are used to test drugs, but they don't benefit from it. Instead, the women and children who give birth to their children gain superpowers, and the children don't even take their surnames. Why should they?
Although the men had objections before, they did not resist because the first-generation drug could only be injected by pregnant women, and ordinary women could not be injected, so they could tolerate it.
But now that the second-generation potion has appeared, it is completely biased towards women, and the men are in an uproar.
The male staff at the base staged a strike and refused to donate, threatening the pharmaceutical department's emphasis on men.
Ye Xiqing was very adept at dealing with this kind of situation. She summoned Principal Lin and said, "Go and talk to the male colleagues. What time is it now? They're still only thinking about their own interests. What harm would it do to the female colleagues gaining superpowers?"
"With more and stronger superhuman warriors, the base will be better able to cope with the dangers of the apocalypse, and they can live in the base with more peace of mind. Isn't that a good thing?"
"Women can't gain superpowers or fight, so they're happy to go on field missions, right?"
The words that men used to love to say were uttered exactly the same as before, and Principal Lin fell silent.
He said cautiously, "But given the current situation, the base also needs men. Wouldn't it be bad to escalate the conflict..."
Ye Xiqing smiled and put down what she was holding: "What's the conflict? Aren't we all contributing to humanity?"
"Women gaining superpowers to fight is a contribution, and men focusing on sacrificing their children in the rear is also a contribution."
"In the apocalypse, we should maximize our value. Why should the base support those who don't want to contribute and only want to enjoy a life of leisure?"
"Stop wasting your breath on me. Use the same energy you had when you were persuading women to focus on having children, and persuade men to focus on giving birth."
"If you can't do that, then I don't really need to support you."
Principal Lin: ...
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