Chapter 1225: Dr-111
Sometimes, w.a.n.g Peng felt like Lu Zhou didn’t take his health seriously.
No matter how interesting the laboratory is, you shouldn’t lose sleep over it, right?
Not to mention you just got back from Shanghai a few hours ago.
Honestly, at this point, even if Lu Zhou stopped doing everything, he still would have made enough contributions to last him 20 lifetimes. His existence itself was like a statue or a painting, just standing there was enough to make the world appreciate him.
In w.a.n.g Peng’s opinion, nothing was more important than health. Not even the series of results Lu Zhou made during the controllable nuclear fusion project or even sending Chinese astronauts to the Moon…
w.a.n.g Peng thought back to Dr. Yan’s instructions on how Academician Lu should pay attention to his own health. He felt like he should be responsible for Lu Zhou’s safety and health.
What should I do?
I can’t persuade him ever.
w.a.n.g Peng took out a cigarette from his bag. He lit up the cigarette and began blowing the smoke out of the car window in a melancholy manner.
Protecting Lu Zhou was probably the longest, most troublesome, and most difficult task he had performed in his career…
…
When Lu Zhou was in the car, he had already booked a biology laboratory.
After reaching the lab, Lu Zhou first went to the sink to wash his hands. He then told Xiao Ai to take over the monitoring for the entire building. This was to make sure that no traces could be left behind. He then took out the metal tube from the system s.p.a.ce.
The surface of the metal tube was glowing with a faint silver glow under the light of the incandescent lamp. This formed a sharp contrast with the viscous dark green liquid inside.
Without wasting any time, Lu Zhou took the metal tube to a white biosafety cabinet, which was about the size of two refrigerators. He carefully placed the tube inside and started the equipment.
This biosafety cabinet was tailor-made by a German medical equipment company for the Jinling Inst.i.tute for Advanced Study. It used air curtain isolation technology and was equipped with ULPA ultra-high efficiency filters. It had a 99.999% interception efficiency for particles >0.12 microns, as well as a double filtration drain.
Coupled with a high-power air pump that could create a vacuum, an ultraviolet killing system, and an acid-base pool used to inactivate special bacterial species… This was h.e.l.l to microorganisms, so theoretically, it was absolutely safe.
Lu Zhou was confident that if Umbrella Corporation were willing to spend as much on safety equipment as him, then the residents of Racc.o.o.n City wouldn’t have died so miserably.
In addition to the two manually operated latex gloves, there were also two electrically driven flexible mechanical arms inside the machine.
In addition to manual operation, researchers using this equipment could also rely on numerically controlled programs to accurately manipulate the samples in the biosafety cabinet.
Most researchers wouldn’t actually use this numerical system. After all, most experiments could be easily done manually. However, for Lu Zhou, who had a smart laboratory a.s.sistant like Xiao Ai, the numerical programming became a trivial matter.
In order to match these powerful features, the cost of this machine was quite expensive. Star Sky Technology purchased two units in total, costing around 10 million yuan each.
However, compared to other biological experimental machines, the cost of 10 million yuan was not a big deal. The cryogenic electron microscope machine had a cost of 30 million yuan.
However, cryogenic electron microscopes were a different beast. Normally, biosafety cabinets were only 20 thousand yuan!
This was the life of a wealthy research inst.i.tute.
The wealth of the Inst.i.tute for Advanced Study was way beyond the imagination of most scholars.
Because the pieces of experimental equipment were too expensive, most scientific researchers began to tremble when they stepped into the laboratory.
One small mistake could cost more than a car.
However, they shouldn’t worry about that at all. In Lu Zhou’s opinion, experimental equipment was a consumable a.s.set. If it breaks, just buy a new one. There was no need to treat it like a precious baby.
He would rather have the researchers in the inst.i.tute boldly experiment with whatever they wanted.
In his opinion, every penny spent on scientific research was worthwhile. Even if it might not be worthwhile right now, it would definitely be worthwhile in the future…
After setting the experimental parameters, Lu Zhou went to the coffee machine and made himself a cup of coffee.
He waited quietly for a while.
Soon after, a series of laboratory data, such as microscope images, toxicity tests, etc, were all listed in an experiment report and presented to him.
Like he had guessed, this dark-green liquid was made up of a special kind of microorganism and was safe in terms of toxicity.
The Observer in the Void did not put biochemical weapons in the metal tube to sabotage him. At least for now, he couldn’t find any danger in this thing.
The microorganisms were shaped like shuttles, pulsing slowly under the microscope at a stable frequency.
In addition to the organelles that most organisms had, there was also a special layer of mucus attached to the surface of these microbial cells. This layer of mucus was like a hydrophobic adhesive, it bound microorganisms closely together and allowed certain special pheromones to be exchanged with one other.
This kind of microorganism also had a peculiar characteristic. Its DNA and RNA had extremely high stability. Generally speaking, in order to ensure a dominant position of their own population, most microorganisms had a certain probability of picking up a certain fragment of other microorganisms’ RNA or DNA after swallowing them. This was to strengthen themselves for survival.
However, this microorganism was different. After they swallowed other smaller microorganisms, they did not take on the DNA or RNA fragments as their own. Instead, they destroyed them and directly converted them into energy for use.
They were also united together. They rejected foreign mutations, as well as their own mutations.
If an individual was mutated, then the exchange of the special pheromone could not be completed. This microbe would quickly be swallowed and decomposed by other microbial individuals… Similar to cleaning up cancer cells.
This community composed of microorganisms repelled all forms of mutation and maintained the purity of the community’s genes.
It was difficult to imagine that such a “stubborn” microorganism could survive the elimination of natural selection.
Most of the treasures that the Void Civilization gave to Lu Zhou were “cultural relics” left by civilizations that had died out. Lu Zhou speculated that these microorganisms were probably a masterpiece from a civilization with advanced biotechnology.
In order to observe its consuming process, Lu Zhou told Xiao Ai to add 1 g of bread crumbs with a diameter of about 0.3 mm to the petri dish. He then observed the reaction of these microorganisms under an electron microscope.
When the bread crumbs came into contact with the mucus on the surface of the microorganisms, these crumbs were gradually broken down into smaller pieces of organic matter, before finally transported to the inside of the cells.
After a special respiration reaction, these organic matter fragments were converted into energy and carbon dioxide, as well as a special ketone substance.
This ketone was kind of like a synthetic intermediate of trans fats, but Lu Zhou did not observe further reactions.
Through toxicity testing, this ketone substance seemed to be harmless to other organisms. However, it inhibited the division and proliferation of this microorganism itself.
“A special kind of decomposer?
“This should be good for treating domestic sewage and urban feces, but the reproduction speed seems to be a bit too slow.
“The secretion is a single composition. There is also no allergen that might induce an allergic reaction to the human body. It should be able to be eaten as food… But the taste won’t be good.
“It might be good as a face mask or something?”
A strange look appeared on Lu Zhou’s face.
Honestly speaking, he did not want to believe this.
After all, this was a gift from the Void.
If the only two purposes were for sewage cleaning and a facial mask, he would be disappointed.
Even though it would have economic value, it would be worthless for him.
Time quickly pa.s.sed by; the sky outside the window gradually became brighter.
Lu Zhou spent the entire night doing countless experiments. He looked at the experiment report and rubbed his nose.
Roughly speaking, he learned a lot.
Unfortunately, this mysterious microbe did not seem to show any useful properties.
Not just that, but its growth rate was quite slow. After the volume grew to the size of a fist, it did not continue to proliferate.
The pheromone circulating in the microbial matter seemed to automatically adjust the number of the population, keeping its overall size within a limited range.
If he wanted to make it continue to reproduce, he had to take the initiative to physically separate microbe individuals and block the exchange of pheromones.
If this was only used for sewage cleaning, it wouldn’t be much more effective than other similar microbial groups, simply because of its slow reproduction.
As for making a face mask…
He really didn’t want to sell this as a face mask for a couple of dollars each.
This is ridiculous!
Xiao Ai: [Master, do you want to end the experiment? ( ́v`)]
Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Yeah, that’s it for today… Remember to clean up.”
Xiao Ai: [No problem! Also, also, Master, you still haven’t named this microorganism yet, do you need Xiao Ai to help? (๑•̀ᄇ•́)و✧]
“It’s fine…”
Of course I’m going to name it, I’m not going to let an artificially r.e.t.a.r.ded program to name it.
After thinking for a few seconds, Lu Zhou glanced at the experimental report in his hand. He picked up a pen and wrote the name [Dr-111] on it.
“We’ll call it this.”
Xiao Ai: [Does… does this name have any special meaning?? (•̀∀•́)]
Lu Zhou: “Does it have to?”
Xiao Ai: [Of course not, but Xiao Ai thinks that Xiao Ai should name it next time… |○゚ω゚)っ]
Lu Zhou: “…”
What nonsense is this…
After Lu Zhou registered an entry regarding [Dr-111] in the database, he collected all of the experimental data from the computers. Xiao Ai then began to operate the biosafety cabinet and sterilize the residues inside.
The metal tube was ejected from the biosafety cabinet. The air pump then evacuated the air in the biosafety cabinet. After the ultraviolet sterilization, the inside of the entire cabinet was filled with dead microorganisms.
However, something went wrong.
The dark green mucus lying in the petri dish evaporated and shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye. However, it was able to maintain its form.
It was like a slug covered in salt…
“Turn off the UV killing system!”
Xiao Ai: [What? 0.0]
Even though Xiao Ai was confused by Lu Zhou’s order, it still turned off the UV sterilization system as told.
The ultraviolet radiation gradually weakened. Lu Zhou suddenly had a flash of thought in his mind.
I think I know why…
The extinct civilization created this “stubborn” microbe.
He finally knew what this tough microbe could be used on…