Chapter 17.6 – Country
Su and Madeline reached this place through an arduous trek with only two reasons for doing so. The first was because of Pandora’s vague guidance, and the second was because the two of them previously felt a strange calling, as if there was something here that was summoning them.
That was all there was to it. Regardless of whether it was Madeline or Su, neither of them knew exactly what they were looking for in Frozen Throne.
The momentary silence within the lounge left Conier somewhat surprised, as well as somewhat happy. However, he carefully put his happiness away out of fear of alerting the other party. He already discovered that these two young and beautiful individuals possessed a calm and austere nature that did not match their outer appearance. In addition, the reality that these two were able to cross the snowy mountains covered in clouds full of radiation constantly reminded Conier that these two youngsters were definitely not people he could rashly provoke.
Conier took a sip of the red tea to moisten his throat, and then he said, “Frozen Throne in reality only has a single project, a top secret project. The core research of this entire project is a miraculous biological organ…”
Frozen Throne was one of the olden era federation’s top five classified projects. Each year, it would obtain up to a billion in research funds, and a team of over a thousand researchers would work on this project. With ten times the normal amount of security and nearby service personnel, as well as great funds to support the project, Project Frozen Throne’s site quickly became a small town, its scope even broadening as time went on. The day before the war erupted, this was already a city that could accommodate fifty thousand people.
The one responsible for this project was Dr. Rochester, while Conier was, at the time, the doctor’s youngest assistant. Because Rochester simultaneously shouldered the responsibility for two other projects, as well as investing most of his energy on these other projects, the amount of time he would spend in Frozen Throne wouldn’t exceed a month each year. As such, in reality, Conier was the true person in charge of Frozen Throne. Each time Rochester arrived, it was only to inspect the project’s progress, as well as point out a few areas that needed to be improved on.
Project Frozen Throne already began ten years before the war erupted. However, progress on the research was minimal, let alone achieving the end goal of the project: reproducing the original life form through this mysterious organ. Just determining the most fundamental function of this organ already seemed incredibly distant. After ten whole years of research, they couldn’t even completely extract the organ’s genetic sequence.
The mysterious organ’s genes were detailed and varied, formed by a bundle of over a thousand genetic chains, its complexity several orders of magnitude greater than that of known creatures. Moreover, the genetic chains were assembled in some type of secret code, so unless this code was first deciphered, there was no way of analyzing individual genetic fragments. However, the simulations calculated that with the human race’s current level of computing, if they wanted to crack this code, the amount of time they needed was in the hundreds of millions of years.
However, the human race never lacked geniuses. Since a method of quantitative analysis didn’t work, then they would approach it from qualitative means. Under abstract reasoning, brute force, and even directly injecting the organ’s cells into human bodies to observe the reaction, they finally successfully restored a fragment of the genes. This amazing process of reverse engineering, rather than saying it was an accomplishment, it was more accurate to call it a miracle.
After they successfully reconstructed the genetic fragment, Dr. Rochester rushed back and removed the genetic sample. A month later, the doctor held a news conference, declaring the existence of the first magic ability, as well as the first ability of human history, ‘Flame’.
This rapidly evolving era created by the existence of abilities started from this very point in history.
The day after Dr. Rochester announced the existence of abilities, war erupted without any omen. Under the surging mushroom clouds, the olden era thus ended.
“It seems like what we are looking for is precisely that organ. It… what is it like? What type of organ is it?” Su asked.
Conier released a bitter laugh. He unfolded his hands and said, “I have no choice to admit that even though we researched it for ten years, I still have no idea regarding its functions or uses. It doesn’t belong to any known species. In addition, its origins was treated as the highest level of secrecy, something I did not have the authority to learn about. However, Dr. Rochester’s office is inside of the present research base, so perhaps you two can find something there. However, so many years have already passed, so who knows what is left of that place.”
Madeline watched Conier attentively, saying, “Your life is quite long.”
Conier laughed and said, “Indeed, I am already close to a hundred and thirty years of age this year. See, since I can even install a few self-preserving toys, then extending a bit of life isn’t too difficult of a task. Let alone with this new era of abilities, as long as nothing unexpected happens, ability users can live longer than in the past. What a pity, if I was alive in the olden era, I don’t know how many great figures would beg me to carry out a surgery. Based on the thinking of ordinary people, it is the same as turning them into humanoid monsters. In reality, as long as one can live a few decades longer and not lose the ability to enjoy the pleasures of being human, I believe none of them would be disturbed by the issue of whether or not they were still human from a physiological composition standpoint.”
Even though this was an era of ability users, increasing one’s lifespan was still a fatal temptation. However, in the age of turmoil, those that did not encounter accidents were truly pitifully few.
