Epoch of Twilight

Back at the lab, Luo Yuan gave Huang Jiahui a call to update her on the recent happenings, where he spent most of his days there.

Time went by; bad news had befallen every day. The embryos were neither deformed nor dead. The first batch found faulty were those that were implanted with more than ten types of ability genes.

Perhaps there were too many ability genes present, hence the DNA chain was not able to handle them. Besides, the abilities had clashed with each other too, which caused the gene to mutate before the embryos started to split.

Next were those that were implanted with more than five ability genes – many issues had arisen from there. It then happened to those with four, three and even those with only one ability gene.

As the clone pods were cleared one by one, there were less of them every day.

On day 10, the initial 1,500,000 clone pods were decreased to less than 300,000.

On day 15, there were only 100,000 of them.

By the time day 18 came about, there were only 10,000 left.

The alarming rate had made Luo Yuan nervous. He spent more and more time in the cultivation room. Sometimes, he would even take a look in the middle of the night, so that he could sleep in peace.

Since the apocalypse, there were more than 100,000 evolved humans in the Reconstruction Area. However, most of them had similar powers, while the outstanding ones could only be counted with one’s bare hands. Luo Yuan attempted to look for a breakthrough in the experiment, so failures were expected.

Fortunately, not all of the embryos were faulty. In many of the clones, there was bound to be a miracle.

The remaining 10,000 embryos were not lumps of flesh anymore. They were already in human form, as their internal organs and brains developed.

At this stage, they had already passed a high attrition rate, where the probability of success was high. As long as there were no major accidents, at least one-third of the embryos would survive and grow into a perfect human.

From the initial 1,500,000 embryos to only 3,000 now, the success rate from the data was pathetically low. From the production itself, the project was a total failure. If the pods were meant to clone an ordinary person, it was enough to clone more than ten million of a population in the Reconstruction Area. However, if the clones were meant to be cultivated into a better version of Luo Yuan, its value would be priceless.

The Reconstruction Area needed plenty of ordinary people. At the same time, it needed super evolved humans. Most of the 3,000 super evolved human possessed the ability of a level seven mutated beast. Results-wise, it was comparable with a large-scale military squad. Moreover, through brainwashing, these clones would not be rebellious like the other evolved humans – they would be loyal to the Reconstruction Area.

As Luo Yuan walked down the aisle to check on the fetus floating in the fluid, he felt a sense of connection with them. It was not an exaggeration or a prejudicial illusion, but a true connection. The fetus had his blood; they were from a part of his body.

Though they were not fully formed, he could feel an indistinct emotion that was sent to him whenever he was close to the fetus. To be exact, the emotions felt were reverence and respect!

The growth of the fetus was different; some were fast and some were slow. Usually, the stronger the fetus was, the slower the growth and the higher the concentration of the nutrients were. However, there were exceptions, where some of the cells could provide energy especially those that were implanted with genes that could cause a cold fusion in the mitochondria. When most of the fetus had grown to the size of a fist, the other batch of fetuses was almost formed.

The exceptional batch did not even need the nutrients anymore.

...

On Day 20, the first batch of babies was out of the pods. It was not because they were fully formed, but they were forced to be taken out as they were destroying the pods with their incessant, subconscious kicking.

The first batch that was out was those that were implanted with cold fusion genes. The babies’ skin was soft yet tough; their bones were as strong as a level five mutated beast. All of them were as tough as an evolved human with moderate powers.

Despite that, they were just babies where their bones were still not fully formed and their muscles were still weak. Once they were fully formed, even Luo Yuan could not imagine how powerful they would grow up to be.

As compared to common babies, these super babies were hyperactive. To top their liveliness, regular beds could not contain them. Before their eyes even opened, a slight flip could toss them out of bed. The half a meter fall did not hurt them at all; they were crawling everywhere like nothing happened. What was more frustrating was all the crying heard from the cultivation area which was converted into a nursery. There was no peace in the lab at all when it was filled with babies’ cries. Apart from being stunned, the researchers were irritated by the racket.

There were nurses that were sent from hospitals from the Reconstruction Area to take care of the babies. But after attempts of getting close to the babies and ending up getting hurt in return, they gave up on controlling them. They were crawling freely in the nursery. Apart from sending food, nobody would step inside.

They did not need much food, as they could survive even without feeding for a couple of days. It was not always chaotic, for as soon as Luo Yuan walked into the nursery, the babies would quiet down miraculously.

Those who were crying would stop crying, while those who were in the midst of making a mess would stop too. There was complete silence in the nursery!

However, for some reason, Luo Yuan was hardly in the nursery.

He noticed that the conscience of the clones were the derivatives of his Will when the cells were implanted. The babies were like his clones; he could even control these babies, as long as he wanted to.

...

Time flew by. On day 28, the remaining babies were out too. On day 32, the last batch was out of the pods. There were more survivors than expected – 4,100 of them categorized into 450 groups.

Although some of the embryos were deformed or dead, there were some lucky cases. Some of the unstable genes were gotten rid of by Luo Yuan, as he did not want any unforeseen accidents to happen.

Within the 450 groups, there were only two groups that were implanted with three ability genes, 28 groups with two ability genes, while the rest were implanted with only one ability gene. What Luo Yuan noticed was that those with two ability genes and above were also those that were implanted with the cold fusion gene.

He guessed the failure of those that were implanted with many genes were not merely caused by the clash, but the ability that resonated from the bodies.

After a week of patience, the medical reports of the clones were out.

Luo Yuan used his ability to scan through the reports multiple times and tested some samples. After verification and getting rid of those with congenital gene defects, there were 321 groups left.

He was relieved as the preliminary work was completed. What was left was the gene modification. He carefully placed each and every cell sample in his backpack and left the lab.

Just when he was out of the tunnel, a heat wave struck him.

He had been in the lab for more than a month. It was January when he first came in and it was now already March. As winter was ending, the temperature was rising.

Luo Yuan looked up at the scorching sun and walked slowly out of New Capital City. As he was out of the area, he started to fly without heading to Hope City.

He was flying into the wild. Although he was not flying via the Space-Time bubble, his speed was tremendously fast. He was more than thousands of kilometers away from the Reconstruction Area surrounded by mountains and lush. To be more cautious, he flew via the arc to pass through the mountain.

As the Space-Time bubble faded, he was in an enclosed cave about ten meters wide. He put down his backpack, took out the cell samples and opened each and every one of them. He picked carefully as the weakest one could give him an extra evolved ability. However, all the hard work was not merely for his personal gain.

The first that he eliminated were the weaker ones. There were only 80 groups left from the 321 samples. He eliminated those that were implanted with three abilities as he was afraid of possible instability in the genes, while those that were with only one gene were eliminated too, as they were not deemed valuable.

Soon there were only 12 samples left. He picked again until there were only three.

One was a cold fusion substance dissociation, the other was a cold fusion plasma defense and the last was a cold fusion space shift.

Looking at the three samples, Luo Yuan was indecisive. Choices can be a pain at times. Among the three samples, cold fusion aside, the was one ability that was powerful – the substance dissociation. According to documentations, an evolved person could use his finger to shoot a laser to gasify substances.

However, such ability was buried deep in the evolved human instead of being fully utilized due to weak physical strength. A single shot of laser would drain his strength for half a day and the effect was nothing to shout about. Apart from a scratch on the surface, it could now kill a low-level mutated beast.

However, if the ability was utilized by Luo Yuan with the help of cold fusion, the effect would be a thousand times more. By then, even a level eight mutated beast would not be able to endure it.

Another one would be plasma defense. Luo Yuan was familiar with such an ability as his undergarments were made of plasma. If not for that, he would have been overwhelmed by the four-dimensional vision.

Such ability would produce a high-temperature plasma field with a high functioning plasma state, where it was able to absorb energy and physical attacks, as well as the detection of electromagnetic waves. It was similar to a sci-fi energy shield.

The last one needed no explanation – this ability came from the crazy Mr. Wang from the Firearms Bureau in Hope City. Luo Yuan had been envious of the ability since the beginning. As soon as he had the ability, with the help his two-second Prediction, his ability to survive would be increased.

However, he could only choose one of the three. After much consideration, he chose the space shift. What he could benefit from the substance dissociation was the extra attack power which he did not need, especially with the Zhanmadao. The only thing his saber could not do was to attack long-distance.

As for the plasma defense, it could work on mutated beasts, but encountering a high-energy laser from the extraterrestrial civilization’s spaceship was nothing to him. Even with the cold fusion from the mitochondria, it was incomparable with the spaceship.

He lifted the cell sample up and took a deep breath. Will began to fill his body as he took in the basic foundations of the cell.