Chapter 274 - Mutated Virus
Chapter 274: Mutated Virus
“The three biochemical pets were in a state of high excitement before they died. It’s like they were crystal fighting trucks that were driven at maximum speed. Even their ‘engines’ exploded,” Ning Shewo mumbled. “This doesn’t look like a normal case of going out of control…”
Meng Chao agreed with him.
He could imagine how those three biochemical pets looked before they died.
Their blood must have been boiling, and all of their cells must have been screaming, longing to get even more oxygen, and this longing must have transferred to the mitochondria as they generated energy, which led to them executing incredibly violent power.
What sort of thing could have caused them to lose control like that and make them go berserk… like an erupting volcano?
Sun Yufeng continued dissecting, and soon, he extracted the spines from the three biochemical pets.
Then, he moved upward and reached the brain. He clearly separated the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brainstem.
One of the skulls of the biochemical pets was smashed to pieces by a human’s fist.
But Sun Yufeng moved like a puzzle master. He patiently and meticulously pieced the brain together, and in just five minutes, he managed to mostly return to its original state.
His technique was practically a miracle, and Meng Chao gasped in amazement as he watched. He knew that he still had a very long way to go in the harvester circle.
Sun Yufeng used a ball of gentle spirit energy to envelope the separated cerebellum, medulla oblongata, and cerebrum. It spun around slowly as he showed it to the people.
The hippocampus of the brain was submerged in his spirit energy, and it shone a little, so they were able to see the fine damage on it.
Various parts of the brain showed different degrees of hyperemia, edema, and slight bleeding. There were also deep purple patches traveling in a line down the brain to the spine.
The hyperemia, edema, and slight bleeding were stereotypical pathological changes in the brain due to acute diffuse cerebrospinal meningitis, and the patches should be due to some sort of infection by a virus.
Sun Yufeng extracted samples from the three biochemical pets’ brains, spines, and organs to send them for a bacterial test.
However, before the examination results came out, the experienced harvesters could already vaguely guess what happened due to the pathological changes.
“Mutated rabies?”
On Earth, rabies was a very stable rhabdoviridae. It was shaped like a bullet, while the nucleocapsid was shaped like a spiral. There was a viral envelope on its surface, and inside was a single-strand RNA. There were four types of subtypes, and it was not easy for it to go through mutation.
But as thousands of canines were brought from Earth to the Other World, some viruses were naturally lurking in certain sick dogs, and the rabies on Earth clashed against the zombie virus on the Other World as well as hundreds of other viruses. It also faced interference from the spirit energy magnetic fields, which allowed it to break through the viral envelopes and nucleocapsids and mutate without end.
99% of the mutations resulted in fatal damage to the virus itself.
But the remaining 1% of the possible mutations, such as the fusion of rabies with influenza virus made rabies upgrade continuously, and it became one hundred times more terrifying than the rabies on Earth. It did not just spread among mammals, but reptilian-type monsters and shell-type monsters as well.
“Based on the deep purple patches on the spine and my personal, primary deductions, this is Type-9 Mutated Rabies. This virus mostly exists in glires-type monsters, which makes the monster’s aggressiveness increase by leaps and bounds, and by biting and clawing, it can use saliva and blood as a medium to spread to various types of mammal-type monsters,” Sun Yufeng said expressionlessly.
“Type-9 Mutated Rabies require only a short time to show effect after infecting a being. Usually, its incubation period is no more than 48 hours. Once it breaks out, mammal-type monsters go mad. They twitch neurotically and attack all living beings within their sights. It’s one of the fiercest subtypes of rabies, and it is also known as the Reaper’s Dance. It’s even more dangerous than the zombie virus.”
The people nodded.
When a living being was infected with the zombie virus, it might not be able to cause the mitochondria in the cells to instantly release all the energy in the body.
Many of the zombies moved slowly and just staggered forward. As a lot of viruses propagated in their bodies, they let out whistling sounds as they breathed out, which ensured that the “body” could be used for a longer period of time.
But Type-9 Mutated Rabies would instantly stimulate all of the mitochondria in the cells of the host to release the most violent energy, which turned the host into a biochemical napalm bomb. It would kill the prey while burning its life.
If the biochemical pets were really infected with mutated rabies, then no one could blame Spirit Creations Creature for a flaw in their modification process for the biochemical pets going out of control.
Hence, Xie Xiaolei said happily, “Three days ago, there was indeed a small-scale fog near Blessed Paradise. A wave of rats invaded the place through the space-time rift.
“Even though the rat horde was soon destroyed, it’s inevitable that a few rampaging rats hid underground. Then, through the water pipes, they crawled into Blessed Paradise and transferred the mutated rabies in their bodies to the three biochemical pets.”
This theory was discussed by the people, and they felt that the possibility was high.
But the representative from Heavenly Works Machines still had a frosty look on his face. “Even if it’s really mutated rabies, don’t you inject vaccines into the biochemical pets you modify in your company?”
“Of course we administer the strictest quarantine inspections and administer vaccine shots to my company’s creations. In fact, during the embryo stage, we eradicate the possibility of most virus infections through gene editing.
“But the Other World is incredibly unstable and everything is mutating and evolving at crazy speeds. Rabies alone has mutated into dozens of different subtypes, and these are the ones that humans have managed to find. Many of the vaccines lose their effects after they’re used for some time, so no one can be certain that once they receive a vaccine, they’ll be able to resist all forms of infections from that virus.
“Even humans face the possibility of getting infected by the zombie virus and turning into human-shaped monsters. Were we supposed to stay locked in our houses and be unable to live normally before the zombie virus vaccine was developed?”
“Well…” The representative was rendered momentarily speechless.
While both of them were busy arguing, Ning Shewo quietly tugged Meng Chao to a corner.
“Meng Chao, did you see any signs of a needle hole on the three biochemical pets?” Ning Shewo asked in a whisper.
Meng Chao’s mind raced, and he said, “Elder Ning, are you suspecting that someone intentionally injected the mutated rabies into the three biochemical pets and caused them to lose control and become violent?”
Ning Shewo nodded. “Since we’re here, we have to naturally consider all possibilities. Gao Ye insisted that this is a scheme, so we should investigate it so that can give him an answer.”
“Makes sense. Elder Ning, you should have told Elder Sun about it just now. I’m just here to learn, so I’m fine with whatever.”
Ning Shewo coughed. “So… go and tell him.”
“What?” Meng Chao asked,
“No matter what, I’m highly reputable in the circle, and if I do anything, I’ll be involving all sorts of factions, understand?”
“Got it. So I’m here to offend people and say the stuff that you or Spirit Creations can’t say. If necessary, I need to argue with people as well. I was wondering about it. With you and Elder Sun around, why would you need a pipsqueak like me as an observer?”
Ning Shewo’s face turned red, but he couldn’t say anything.
But Meng Chao was just making a quip. In truth, he really wanted to know the truth behind the biochemical pets losing control. He thought about it and took two steps forward. “Elder Sun, if the virus had really spread from the biochemical pets from rodent-type monsters, then there should be fine cites and claw marks on the carcasses of the three biochemical pets, right?
“After all, the rat horde invasion happened three days ago. The incubation period for Type-9 Mutated Rabies is less than 48 hours as well, and the wounds wouldn’t heal so fast.”
Sun Yufeng cast a deep glance at Meng Chao, as if he saw through what he really wanted to ask.
“I noticed more than one hundred tears on the three biochemical pets,” Sun Yufeng said expressionlessly. “It was either caused by them using too much force or humans. I didn’t find any signs of glires-type monsters’ bites or claw marks.
“But due to the three biochemical pets being beaten heavily, quite a number of their body parts are mangled or missing. I can’t guarantee whether those parts contain any signs of bites or claw marks.
He paused for a moment, then added. “Of course, I didn’t find any signs of marks left by injections either.”
His last sentence made the discussions become even more heated.
Many gazes landed on Meng Chao as if they could hear the underlying meaning behind his words.
Meng Chao’s face turned a little red, but since he had already asked the question, he did not mind what the other seniors in the field thought. He took another half a step forward and looked at Sun Yafeng before he asked seriously, “Elder Sun, did you… inspect the deepest part of their ear canal?”
Sun Yufeng was slightly stunned.
Meng Chao pointed at his own ear and said, “If you use a material with incredibly good flexibility to create a long needle that is as fine as hair, you can push it down the winding ear canal until it reaches the deepest part of the ear, which is near the eardrum. You only need a slight amount of drugs, and they will take effect straight on the central nervous system. The wound would be very small, and you’d have a difficult time discovering it even with the most advanced instruments.”
This was based on Meng Chao’s memories from his previous life. It was one of the assassination techniques of Bizarre Stab, which was taught by the black skull instructor.
It allowed them to kill without leaving any trace, and of course, it could help them make a biochemical pet lose control and become violent.
After his words, the gazes trained on Meng Chao turned cold or intense.
Sun Yufeng frowned deeply, as if he was not very pleased with him doubting his injury examination skills, but he said nothing and just examined the ear canals of the three biochemical pets.
The ear canals were winding tunnels. They were covered by fur and blocked by blood, so it was not easy to perform injury examination on them.
But Sun Yufeng had his own method. His spirit energy threads looked as if they possessed their own lives as they rushed inside.
He closed his eyes and focused. All his senses seemed to have been trained on the spirit energy threads as they crawled into the ears of the three biochemical pets.
Sweat drops the size of beads broke out on his forehead. It was clear that this operation, which could practically be said to be the same as turning himself into a human-shaped microscope, was incredibly draining to his mind.
Even after inspecting the ear canals for three full minutes, he did not open his eyes, but his expression turned grave.
It made the atmosphere in the room become stern. Gradually, no one made any noise, and all of them stared at his expression.
Five minutes later, Sun Yufeng finally opened his eyes, and with an extremely strange look, he observed Meng Chao for a long time.
Then, he said, “Two of the biochemical pets… do indeed have two incredibly small needle-shaped marks in the depths of their left ears.”