by <unknown>
Chen Chen was currently at an electronic gate by the entrance of the district. All passing trucks transporting goods had to be registered to gain entry. Inside the gate, there was a large storage area where all the goods were unloaded uniformly.
There were plenty of smaller transport vehicles inside as well. These transport vehicles made constant trips delivering all sorts of materials to the gate of the underground garage. it was like a gaping void that could never be filled.
It should be obvious at this point that this was the entrance to the underground base.
There was one last checkpoint located in the inner section of the underground garage. After passing through the final checkpoint, Chen Chen finally saw an enormous cavern in the center of the underground garage.
As it was still an ongoing construction process, the mouth of the depthless cave was left bare and exposed right in the middle of the underground garage. The moment Chen Chen got out of the car, he could feel waves of chilling breeze rising to meet him.
Along the four edges of the top of the cave, there was a large and hectic arrangement of steel beams. These steel beams were fixed from the top of the cave entrance all the way downward, serving as support for the outer structure of the cave, preventing landslides.
There was a gigantic elevator fixed to the top of the underground cavern. The structure was powered by dozens of diesel generators. The diesel generators were laid out in the area and rumbled on and on, producing deafening noises.
"Hey, that one there!"
Qian Wenhuan was leading the way in front when he suddenly shouted. It was a foreman in the section in front who was in the middle of reprimanding other workers. "Come here for a second."
"President Qian, how can I help you?"
The man dressed in foreman attire quickly complied and ran over. "Oh, who are these two with you?"
"This is the boss of our company, Mr. Chen. He's here to take a look at the construction site. Since you're more familiar with the site, why don't you find us a guide," Qian Wenhuan had very little interest in making small talk with the man and went straight to the point.
"So, it's Boss Chen!" The foreman lit up. He quickly made a motion to shake Chen Chen's hands without the slightest hint of awkwardness in his movements. "Pleasure, pleasure!"
Chen Chen did not display much hesitation and shook his hand naturally.
Since the other party was the one extending the courtesy, Chen Chen had no reason to put on a high and mighty attitude regardless of whatever motives there may be. Nobody was owing anybody any favors here anyway.
Upon witnessing the interaction, Qian Wenhuan broke into an awkward smile. He quickly made a note to straighten up his attitude which had been rather erratic recently.
The man's smile grew ever brighter when he saw that Chen Chen did not seem to belittle him. "No need to find a guide. If you don't mind, why don't I be your guide." He offered and looked at Chen Chen expectantly.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Chen Chen nodded. "How may I address you?"
"The name's Hai Sanchuan. Hai from the Chinese letter for the sea, San for the Chinese letters for one, two, three. The Chuan from Sanchuan is…"
Hai Sanchuan offered cigarettes for the three men. Chen Chen casually accepted it but waved his hands when a lighter was presented, implying that he was not planning to smoke now.
"Hai Sanchuan, it's just the same letters written horizontally and vertically..." Qian Wenhuan blurted out a joke but quickly stopped talking when Chen Chen shot him a glare.
"Sigh, I've no idea what my dad was thinking when he named me."
Hai Sanchuan was not bothered and smiled easily. He took the three men to the front of the mouth of the cavern and pointed at it. "This hole we dug up is around five meters. It took us a whole month with the large drilling platform to get it done. This is a really big project we're talking about here."
"Don't be too quick to make an impression now. By the time our work is done, the outer walls will be fitted and fixed with steel plates, it'll look a lot more pleasant then."
During Hai Sanchuan's explanation, the elevator located in the middle of the cavern began wheezing and making mechanical noises. Several thick steel cables began to contract as if it was trying to pull something out of the ground.
"It takes about five minutes to get from the underground section to here."
Hai Sanchuan quickly added as if he was worried about Chen Chen running out of patience. "Don't underestimate its speed. It's considered pretty fast for a freight elevator. It's average descend and ascension speed is above two meters per second."
A freight elevator platform appeared nearing the end of Hai Sanchuan's explanations. Several workers were slightly taken aback upon seeing Chen Chen and the others and made no comments. They began with their task of carrying off the piled up materials.
"You guys can take a short break for ten minutes."
Hai Sanchuan handed three helmets with strapped headlights to Chen Chen and the others and led the way for them while issuing orders to the workers.
Simply put, this platform worked like your regular elevator, the only difference being that its size was greatly exaggerated. For example, the length and width of this platform were measured at four meters and stood more than five meters tall. It had rollers installed all around it which were guided by the rails fixed to the walls of the cavern.
Hai Sanchuan who was well familiarized with the procedure and went to the elevator controls and pressed a button. In an instant, the doors of the elevator platform closed up as it began making its descent.
As the transportation platform began to descend, Chen Chen peeked at the view outside through the mesh window. Under the faint illumination of the miner's lamp, the stark red soil slowly turned into blocks of brown-gray rocks as they descended further.
They were entering the rock layer.
The platform elevator remained in a stable condition without the slightest hint of disturbance. After five minutes, they arrived at the bottom where a gigantic cavern came to view.
What was once countless stalactite pillars were replaced by hundreds of square cement pillars. These cement pillars were more effective at providing support for the structure of the cavern.
The interior of the cavern was well illuminated. At one glance, Chen Chen could see the very end of the space several hundred meters away. As depicted before, the structure of the cavern took on a perfect dome shape.
Located in the middle of the cavern was a pyramid-shaped structure. The structure, however, took on a closer resemblance to Mayan pyramids than Egyptian pyramids.
What was more astounding was that the structure was entirely constructed of steel. The steel pyramid was erected right in the middle of the cavern, almost scraping the roof of the cavern.
This was the top-grade laboratory Chen Chen had envisioned. Unlike the biosafety laboratories constructed on the surface that were capped off at grade four, Chen Chen was going to build a laboratory that could host aliens and aid with the research of tyrannosauruses. This laboratory was going to reach a never before seen level 5 biosafety protection grading.
[ol][li data-annotation-id="2c236abe-0bd9-842e-b834-121ec5b89367"]The Chinese letters for San (三) and Chuan (川) are very similar[/ol]
Chapter 135: Sit Tight, Let Me Peel You an Orange |
With Hai Sanchuan acting as a guide, Chen Chen took a tour around the underground base.
To his disappointment, the underground base construction was only approaching thirty percent completion after four months. At this rate, it was going to take half a year until its completion.
After giving it some thought, Chen Chen came to realize that this progress was considered rather fast. The underground pyramid laboratory was constructed in a modular manner, meaning that it was with a large number of one-time stamped steel plates through a spliced steel structure.
The stamped steel was made of tungsten steel alloy which ranked among one of the most resilient mat
erials. It possessed extreme hardness and toughness, supreme oxidation resistance, corrosion resistance, and temperature resistance.
Like building a Lego structure, the entire laboratory was built in separate modules.
Matter of fact, this variation of construction technique had begun making its debut around the world some time ago. The earliest application was in 2011 in Mainland China where a skyscraper was built in merely twelve days using this form of modular construction methodology.
As the building process was just like stacking blocks of Lego, it was hence hailed as the building that "rewrote the history of building-construction".
The primary motivation for implementing this sort of design was to serve as a fallback plan in case some catastrophic event occurred in the laboratory. For example, if some creature of extreme destructive capabilities such as the ones from Alien were to escape the laboratory and caused a sort of "Containment Breach" irreversible scenario.
The strength of the laboratory structure laid in its toughness and resilience. Its earthquake resistance was dozens of times stronger than that of traditional reinforced concrete buildings. Even if the surface was obliterated by a nuclear bomb, the research facility seven hundred meters underground would be completely unscathed.
Of course, this meant that the cost of construction of the laboratory was monumental.
The bottom area of the pyramid laboratory was about 10,000 square meters, it was a square surface measuring 100 meters on each side. The structure spanned up to 60 meters in height and was separated into nine floors. With each subsequent floor, the total surface area was reduced by one-third until it brushed against the roof of the cavern. It was like a huge pillar supporting the entire cavern.
Chen Chen was considering filling the entire underground cavern with concrete after the completion of the underground facilities to render it completely foolproof.
The problem was that it would be a great waste of all that wide-open space.
After touring for several hours, Chen Chen finally returned to the surface to head back to the research center.
The first thing he did upon his arrival at the research center was to visit Professor Wang Xi.
At the present moment, Professor Wang Xi had just completed the neural stem cell transplantation for the day and was agonizing from the pain. Still, he smiled proudly upon seeing Chen Chen returning. "You're back?"
"I'm back." Chen Chen nodded in response when he saw the old professor who was distinctly more energetic than previously. "I heard they performed the neural stem cell transplantation on you?"
"Yeah, otherwise, how am I supposed to further honing my craft if I don't make up for all the brain cells I lost?" Professor Wang Xi lifted off the blanket and tried to sit up.
"Sit tight, let me peel an orange for you."
Chen Chen stepped forward to help Professor Wang Xi sit up while enquiring, "Right, how did they perform the neural stem cell transplantation on you?"
"Lumbar puncture and subarachnoid injection transplantation, with another round of intravenous injection transplantation…"
Professor Wang Xi made a weak gesture signaling for Chen Chen to take a seat. "I heard that the plan was to puncture through my ventricle, but they ultimately decided to approach from the spine due to my age."
Chen Chen sat on a chair beside the bed and began peeling an orange for Professor Wang Xi. "True, lumbar puncture transplantation still allows stem cells to circulate into the brain along with the cerebrospinal fluid. The decreased traumatic effect makes it the most ideal transplantation method in your case. The only problem is that there's a greater loss of stem cells since it has to circulate through the blood-brain barrier…"
Professor Wang Xi appeared as if he suddenly recalled something. He took out a stack of papers by the bedside and turned to Chen Chen with a strange look in his eyes. "Lil Chen, I'm going to ask you something and I want you to answer me honestly."
"You have questions regarding the effects of inducing neural stem cells?" Chen Chen already knew what Professor Wang Xi was going to ask before he had time to say it.
"I'm sure you can tell as well."
Professor Wang Xi continued in a serious tone. "I'm very familiar with Shinya Yamanaka, the founder of induced pluripotent stem cells. Sure, his patented iPS technology managed to score him the Nobel Prize ten years ago, but can you name anyone in our ranks who aren't aware of the flaws of iPS technology? The induced neural stem cells shouldn't be able to produce the sort of effect I'm currently experiencing."
Professor Wang Xi flipped open the documents as he went on. "Also, I could already tell something was off the very first time I looked at these documents. Sure, I could understand most of the sections, but the Induced Neural Stem Cell Technology section has me stumped. Don't make a senile old fool out of me now."
Chen Chen nodded as a response. This was not all too surprising to him. After all, this man would not be Professor Wang Xi if he still could not tell something was off after all this time expended.
"I never expected to be able to fool you. In truth, the practice applied wasn't neural stem cells induced by iPS technology, but neural stem cells extracted from your cloned embryos instead."
"I knew it." Professor Wang Xi sighed, displaying a look of relief.
After a short while had passed and Chen Chen did not receive the reprimanding as he thought he would, he asked, "You're not upset with me?"
"Why would I be upset with you?"
Professor Wang Xi turned to him wide-eyed with anger at the notion. "Do you see me as such a close-minded person? You're the one painstakingly attempting to treat me and I'm supposed to be upset with you because of a cloned embryo? Am I such a scoundrel to you now? I'm only asking you this because of concerns that you're using some sort of unreliable method to treat me which is going to get me killed!"
"You're absolutely correct!" Chen Chen chuckled as he nodded. "That's right, everyone knows that you of all people aren't that kind of person!"
Chen Chen only took his leave after jesting with Professor Wang Xi for a little while longer.
Somewhere along the lines, a bottle of medicine emitting a faint blue glow appeared in his hands.
AD-001.
This was the drug Chen Chen extracted from the movie he had invested in.
Chen Chen only needed to hand this drug over to Hannibal and the crew to quickly verify the effects of this drug. After ensuring that it posed no harmful effect to the human body and could effectively cure Alzheimer's, he could begin to have them analyze it and figure out a way to reverse-engineer it.
It should not be an issue even if it could not be reverse-engineered. Since the USB drive was able to generate energy at a remarkable pace currently, as long as the AD-001 was not leaked to the outside world, it should be very manageable to only provide it for a few selected individuals.
After two or three years, a means of producing it should surface at one point or another.
In all honesty, reverse-engineering the NZT-48 would be a far wiser move. That way, Chen Chen could have a top-tier research team composed of members rivaling the likes of Einstein and Niels Bohr.
The only reason Chen Chen still had not assembled a team dedicated to researching NZT-48 was that he was well aware of the dangers of the drug.
A stranger acquiring an NZT-48 pill may not pose as much trouble as someone close to Chen Chen acquiring one since that might lead to all his secrets being exposed.
The power of NZT-48 was nothing short of groundbreaking. Someone who managed to acquire an NZT-48 pill from Chen Chen might be able to instantly piece together the clues in the movie and quickly figure out what the drug was. Perhaps even piecing together the puzzle pieces and figuring out how an ordinary university student like Chen Chen was able to undergo such a drastic transformation in a short period. Eventually figuring out why Chen Chen needed so much energy, discovering the existence of the USB drive…
This was the reason Chen Chen could never allo
w a completed version of NZT-48 to fall into anyone's hands.
Chapter 136: Recovery |
Two months later.
"This is truly unbelievable…"
Professor Evans turned toward Professor Wang Xi upon reviewing the readings on the CT. At last, he exclaimed with amusement, "You know, the 'age spots' in your brain have vanished entirely. On top of that, 90% of all neuron contractions have recovered with no signs of recurrence. Thanks to the neural stem cells transplantation during this period, your brain appears to be younger than your actual age…
"Only because we addressed it early on. Things might have turned out differently if it was the middle stages of the disease."
Professor Wang Xi carefully inspected the extracted data and asked with profound interest, "How much does my treatment cost? Would it be possible to publicize this form of treatment globally?"
"Uh…"
Evans showed a strange expression. "Sure you want to find out?"
"Alright, I get it," Professor Wang Xi suddenly appeared slightly apologetic. "Another question. What are the general odds of achieving the degree of recovery that I displayed, how high is it?"
"It's not exactly very high."
Evans expressed with a shadow of doubt, "To be honest with you, I find it strange as well. The general consensus was that this procedure is only able to contain the condition but isn't able to completely eradicate it. However, since half a month ago, your condition seems to be vanishing without a trace…"
"That's because there's a saying where I came from, 'The noble ones are favored by the heavens'."
Chen Chen pushed open the door and broke into the conversation. "Thanks to the favor of the heavens, Professor Wang Xi's condition has only been getting better."
"Hm, when you folks from the Mainland speak of 'Heaven', are you referring to God?" Evans asked curiously.
"I see you guys going on about the heavens."
Professor Wang Xi exchanged a glance with Chen Chen before explaining, "No, my friend. We don't believe in God, you can think of the 'Heavens' referred to in Chinese culture as 'God of Spinoza' which refers to the world's laws of physics.