Chapter 1965

"It is now the twelfth year of the Great Disaster, and your understanding of ability evolution is still stuck at the research level of the fourth year. Currently, human research results on the Qi and Yi elements and ability evolution have moved up two levels compared to eight years ago."

Zhang San, who liked to discuss professional issues, took a sip of soup to refresh this new human's knowledge base. He wanted to avoid this unmotivated student losing face for him when the Base Commander arrived later to discuss gene editing issues.

"First, using a mirror to describe the Yi element is not appropriate. The Yi element is an enhancer of gene expression—it doesn't change the gene sequence, but changes the frequency and intensity with which genes are read."

Xia Qing nodded, listening carefully.

"Second, the gene sequence in your body is indeed not fundamentally different from that of an ordinary person, but 'no difference' refers to the arrangement order of your gene bases. The reason you were able to become a visual, strength, auditory, and magnetic evolver is because the Yi element activated those genes that were already present in your body but were in a dormant or low-expression state in ordinary people."

"Third, the assertion about the force transmission network of strength evolvers has been updated: when an ordinary person's muscle cells contract, a portion of the energy is lost as heat during the process of converting the chemical energy produced by ATP hydrolysis into mechanical energy. But you—under the influence of the Yi element, the cross-bridge cycle efficiency between the myosin and actin in your cells is higher, the energy coupling is tighter, and there is less ineffective loss. Therefore, with the same muscle volume, you can output greater force."

Then Zhang Shi's daughter, Little Eleven, entered Territory No. 15, and Zhang Shi took Ye Yiyi into Territory No. 3, becoming employee No. 004 who could receive a salary and benefits, and also understood why Zhang San didn't open his mouth, so Zhang Shi waited silently.

Seeing the expression on the new human opposite him, Zhang San knew she hadn't understood much, so he spoke up to comfort her and told her not to be discouraged.

"Your research direction is crop-soil collaborative improvement. What you are doing now is observing phenomena, recording data, and exploring patterns to figure out which crops grow better with which soil microorganisms, and which fertilization node can increase yield. This is at the level of agricultural application, belonging to 'knowing the what.' When your research deepens to a certain degree—for example, when you need to figure out why Crop A has a 40% higher nitrogen utilization rate than Crop C when paired with Mycorrhizal Fungi B—the answer must be sought in the genes. At that time, you will naturally have to learn knowledge about gene breeding."

Xia Qing felt guilty, "Brother San, this gene breeding should be research content for the doctoral level, right? Sister Tao said that after humans entered the Great Disaster years, crop yields decreased sharply because the genes of many seeds from before the Great Disaster had been artificially modified, so the Qi-evolution rate of crops is much higher than that of wild plants. The requirements for gene breeding are now extremely high, because one careless mistake could create high-risk, aggressive, Qi-evolved crops."

The Base Commander was almost here, and Zhang San didn't have time to explain the technical difficulty and risks of gene breeding to her, so he went straight back to the main topic, "The appearance of the Qi and Yi elements changed the technology and principles of gene editing: gene editing before the Great Disaster was about changing the musical score directly—changing 'do' to 're.' After the Great Disaster, we can change both the score and the conductor. The science videos you showed Little Four from before the Great Disaster cannot make it fully understand current gene editing technology."

Xia Qing really understood this time, "Brother San, before the Great Disaster, you could only change one, but now you change both. Old Four hasn't learned knowledge in this area, and I wanted to make it understand how changing the score works, which isn't wrong, right?"

Zhang San took a bite of rice and ignored her.

This meant she was right. Xia Qing continued to think along this line of reasoning, "Brother San, if you don't change the score but only change the conductor—that is, only study how to use the Yi element to activate gene expression—this method is ability evolution stimulation, right?"

"By the same logic, taking Yi element stimulant is a way of 'charging' the body with Yi to enhance the frequency and activity of gene expression, allowing average evolvers to reach the level of high-level evolvers, right?" Xia Qing's train of thought was opened up, and she had the feeling of everything suddenly becoming clear.

"Those modified humans with the surname Huo from the Blazing Fire Team are the ones who undergo gene modification first, and then keep their bodies in a state of being 'charged' with Yi, maintaining a level of ability equivalent to taking Yi element stimulant for a long time. This state causes great consumption and damage to their bodies, so they need to take recovery factors regularly and use large amounts of pollution-free spring water, otherwise their bodies will collapse, right?"

Zhang San took two sips of soup and looked up quietly at the new human opposite him, "Insight is a scarce talent. If you settle down and study and research seriously, there is a high probability that you will achieve breakthrough research results."

Many researchers work very hard to repeat experiments and accumulate data, but they are never able to propose original questions or discover new laws, simply because they lack insight, or what is called creativity.

Xia Qing's eyes lit up, "Brother San, is insight a new type of brain-domain evolution?"

Types of brain-domain evolution abilities previously included five: observation, memory, thinking, emotional capture, and imagination. After Guo Guo Qingbin's ability was exposed, scholars held a special meeting to discuss the mechanism of same-frequency evolution abilities and listed this ability as the sixth type of brain-domain evolution ability.

Could insight be the seventh type of brain-domain evolution ability? Was she now considered a brain-domain evolver too?!

Zhang San drank his soup slowly before explaining, "Insight is the comprehensive application of observation and thinking. You are a high-level visual evolver and can see subtle changes in scenes that ordinary people don't notice, so your observation ability already exceeds the average level, but it hasn't reached the level of Level 1 brain-domain evolution. Your body is recovering, and as the level of Yi element in your body increases, it is possible for you to trigger brain-domain evolution ability and become a five-series evolver."

After visual, strength, auditory, and magnetic, if she triggered brain-domain evolution ability, Xia Qing would be a five-series evolver.

Xia Qing nodded, her eyes sparkling. After becoming a brain-domain evolver, writing her thesis wouldn't be as difficult as it was now, right?

Zhang San reminded the new human opposite him, "Keep your mask on tight."

In the years of the Great Disaster, single-series and dual-series evolvers were the majority, three-series evolvers were the minority, and four-series evolvers were extremely rare. Xia Qing, this five-series evolver, would definitely become an object that evolution ability researchers would scramble to study.

Researchers with moral bottom lines would draw Xia Qing's blood, test her genes, and use her for various experiments to figure out how a five-series evolver came to be; researchers without moral bottom lines would take more extreme measures to test whether five-series abilities could be replicated; and various forces during the Great Disaster would treat Xia Qing as a maternal body to cultivate five-series descendants for their own families.

Xia Qing, who kept her mask on tightly, nodded vigorously, "Brother San, don't worry. No matter what happens, in the eyes of outsiders, I will always be a plain, dual-series high-level evolver. Except for you, I will not let anyone draw my blood or give me a physical examination. Brother San, I hear the sound of a helicopter. You should finish your meal first."

The Base Commander was coming.

?? Shameful. I finished typing last night and set the timer for 8:00 PM tonight. I just found out.