Book 6 Chapter 21.12 – Soar
Gardner rushed into his own office, and then after inputting a long and tedious string of code, he opened up a strictly sealed safe, producing two frozen fluid loaded syringes from within.
While holding the two syringes, Gardner raised his head to look at the large screen before him. His office room was extremely large, the screen that covered an entire wall continuously displaying the analysis diagram of the gene lock. Presently, three-fourths of the extremely complex gene lock had already been unraveled, now only having a portion that remained locked. Tens of thousands of gene fragments floated about, moreover moving about irregularly. The number that was displayed at the lower right corner of the screen was 65535, this number that represented the amount of already unraveled genetic code fragments. Meanwhile, the amount Gardner truly understood didn’t exceed a thousand. Information didn’t only exist in the genetic code, the mutual movement trajectories and regulations between the various codes stored even more information. However, this was definitely not a mystery their current computing centers could unravel, and there was no way this problem could be solved by the next generation or even the next few generations of computing centers. Gardner even began to doubt if they could unravel the deepest mysteries in the next century, based on the current speed of technological advance.
Gardner understood clearly that until now, all of his achievements were founded on the breakthroughs made through unraveling the genetic code. In addition, aside from the first incident, the remaining parts of the genetic lock actually opened up on their own, having absolutely nothing to do with him. However, even though he couldn’t break the code, he could still reproduce it, even though the amount he could reproduce was only a very small portion. What these two syringes carried were precisely portions of the duplicated genes. As for the concrete results, not even Gardner himself knew what they were.
He pushed open a hidden door on the other wall. Behind the door was a dark prison, a naked man locked within. As soon as he saw Gardner, he immediately revealed an expression of extreme fear, continuously withdrawing into the corner of the room. However, his arms and legs were all locked to the wall, unable to hide at all.
“Doctor, it’s been a while! This time, I’ve prepared a new gift for you, I believe you will definitely like it.” Gardner’s voice was sharp, carrying a deliberately excessive sweetness. Together with his shiny bald head, he looked especially vile and terrifying.
“You…” The one locked in the prison was actually Dr. Connor. This former genius, previously an influential figure of the Blood Parliament, someone who many great figures thought highly of and relied on, now not only became a prisoner, he had clearly been tormented until he lost all willpower and dignity. Aside from hiding and fear, he didn’t even have the courage to shout or curse.
Gardner produced a syringe, placing it on an enormous instrument next to him, and then started it up. Following a muffled rumbling sound, a powerful beam of radiation landed on the syringe, activating the genetic fragments inside. Even though the temperature displayed by the syringe was only negative thirty degrees, the solution began to boil. After the activation was complete, Gardner removed the syringe, walked into the prison, and then aimed the end of the syringe towards Connor’s chest, slowly piercing it in. While watching Connor’s face that was distorting from pain, he slowly said, “I served as your assistant for all those years, fully enjoying your consideration, so no matter what angle we look at it from, I still have to properly repay you. I know the ‘Garden of Eden’ Project is your distinguished self’s lifelong dream, you’ve always wanted to produce apostle level man-made weapons. Look, what’s stored inside of this syringe is precisely a key that has a chance of producing an apostle! It is a replica of the intruder cells after a large portion of the gene lock has been unraveled. There isn’t much of it, only two vials, and there won’t be any more either, because the last of the materials have been used to create them. It’s perfect, one for you, one for me, let’s see which one of us can become a true apostle! Hahaha! As your former assistant, I definitely have to give you a chance. This is your last chance, the chance for you to continue living! How about it, my gift is quite excellent, don’t you think? Hahahaha!”
Connor’s body twitched. The needle of the syringe completely penetrated his heart, the burning liquid slowly pouring inside, flooding his heart. Connor’s entire body suddenly shook, and then his head slowly hung down. Gardner only stopped after injecting all of the drug inside. He didn’t even pull out the syringe, instead producing the second syringe, starting to activate it.
The wait was short, but also extremely long. Gardner looked at the syringe that gradually began to boil, his face brimming with a crazy and distorted smile. Sweat dripped from his bald head drop after drop. When they landed in his eyes, he didn’t even blink, in those pupils that began to dilate only the currently shining drug existed.
The activation process finally finished. Gardner raised the syringe, and then forcefully stabbed it into his own chest! He could even sense the feeling of the needle stabbing into his heart! The boiling drug began to flow into his heart like flames, the burning pain almost making Gardner suffocate. Only by leaning against the metal railing did he prevent himself from falling.
“Connor! I will just… give you one last opportunity! Regardless of which one of us succeeds, we can eat the other party! However, since I could defeat you once, I can definitely defeat you a second time, the one who will live will definitely be me, the one named Gardner! Elin… wait for me, I will kill everyone in this entire world, have them… accompany you!”
Gardner’s voice gradually grew faint, his body also falling limply onto the ground. He didn’t see that precisely in the office behind him, the genome mapping was currently quickly unraveling, the final restrictions currently disappearing. If he saw this scene, perhaps he might change his mind.
—
The night was thick and gloomy, the smell of blood and flames everywhere.
Even though it was already late into the night, Sally and the priest still didn’t sleep. Under a dim lamp light, Sally was currently fully immersed in drawing the new factory’s design blueprint. Energy was the most precious resource, and only the priest and Sally could use lights, but even then, they had to share it. Sally was currently designing a simple artificial food compound factory, the most important parts already completed, now entering the final completion stage. The factory’s special characteristics were its low cost and low energy consumption, and all of the equipment could be made from the raw materials in the wilderness. It could turn the most commonly found plants and mutated creatures into a processed synthetic food. Of course, there was no taste to talk about, and it would still contain large amounts of harmful objects and radiation, to the extent where to get rid of radiation, there were several toxic additives. However, its significance laid in that it could turn things that couldn’t be eaten into things that could be eaten. Even though eating it would decrease one’s lifespan by a few years or even more than ten years, it was still better than not having anything to eat. Moreover, those who lived in the wilderness didn’t live that long anyway.
Sally only slept two or three hours every day, the remaining time all spent on work. Whenever she was working, her face would always be enveloped in a layer of radiance, appearing holy and beautiful.
The priest was currently flipping through ‘Revelation’, and would add some annotations during this process. He would occasionally raise his head to look at Sally who was buried in work, and then reveal a smile. This girl didn’t understand how great her potential was, nor did she know the significance of what she was currently designing.
The faint machine rumbling sound broke the silence. Sally raised her head in confusion, looking into the night sky through the window. She didn’t see anything. After scratching her curly long hair, she asked with puzzlement, “Father, what was that sound just now? Why do I feel like… it is a bit similar to a plane? Am I hearing things?”
The priest placed his hand on the Revelation, thought for a bit, and then said, “No, that is the sound of a new era beginning.”
Sally released an ‘oh’ sound, scratched her head, and then continued working, not paying this much attention. Either way, the priest often spoke like this.
