Chapter 743.1: Alpha Protozoan
Chapter 743.1: Alpha Protozoan
At the summit of Blood Peak.
Beast King, draped in a white robe, gazed down at the foot of the mountain as the corners of his lips gradually curled into a faint smile.
The outcome had been exactly as expected. Those old relics had fallen into decadence for far too long. Clinging to relics from the Prosperity Era, they immersed themselves in dreams woven from the remnants of the old civilization, forgetting that this was no peaceful pre-war world of song and dance, but a wasteland where survival meant living like beasts.
As long as one completely abandoned moral restraints and fantasies, cast aside everything that could be sacrificed, then even against the decaying old civilization's encirclement, the younger generation still had a chance to fight.
The New Alliance was troublesome, but no more than that.
They simply had not discarded enough. They were not ruthless enough! At the very least, they could not compare to someone like him, who had long since abandoned his humanity.
Just then, a deep voice echoed through the sea of his consciousness, humming like vibrations rising from the depths of the earth. "They've retreated."
The Beast King nodded and replied softly. "I saw."
"They took the intelligence from the cave. My existence has probably been exposed." A trace of hesitation lingered in the heavy voice, as though it harbored some concern.
The Beast King raised an eyebrow with amusement. "Are you afraid?"
"No." The voice paused for a long while before continuing slowly. "But I smell an unpleasant scent. That one is drawing closer and closer to us."
...
At exactly noon, the Alpha Mobile Task Force issued the order to withdraw, recalling the two companies that had been fighting on Blood Peak.
The Academy had committed a total of 300 individual combat drones to the operation. In the end, only 100 were recovered. The losses among the 200 Alpha Mobile Task Force operators were even more severe. Fewer than half returned.
Even among those who did make it back, most had suffered severe infections.
The wounded were admitted to the Second Frontline Hospital, where they were placed under observation and treatment by the New Alliance Biological Research Institution and medical teams from the Scientific Committee.
The composition of the toxic substance, as well as how it had penetrated Alpha Mobile Task Force's individual protection systems, still awaited further investigation.
Although both the coalition’s army and every army outside the Academy had anticipated the outcome of the first assault, the Academy's actual battlefield performance still exceeded everyone's expectations.
How should one put it? It felt like thunder without rain.
"So those fellows from the north are only this capable." Watching the Alpha Mobile Task Force withdraw from the front line, General Babita of the Xilande Empire looked on with undisguised contempt.
He suddenly felt that perhaps his own troops weren't so bad after all.
Not long ago, Duke Garawa, stationed in Dawn City, had expressed dissatisfaction with the Empire's inactivity on the front lines and urged them to devote more effort to the battlefield. Perhaps it was time for them to accomplish something, to win back a little honor for His Majesty the Emperor.
The Xilande Empire's officers weren't the only ones left dumbfounded by the Academy's performance.
Even General Liam, who had only recently begun to revise his opinion of them, found himself disappointed. Who would have thought that after all their flashy displays, they would end up beaten black and blue by the enemy and forced to flee the battlefield?
"... Perhaps I should reconsider my evaluation of these people." Sitting on the bridge of his airship with one leg crossed over the other, Liam wore a thoughtful expression as he tore open an ice cream and stuffed it into his mouth.
Of course, there was another possibility. These swamp-dwelling slugs might be deliberately appearing weak, pretending to be harmless so they could better fish in troubled waters later. After all, no one except themselves knew what they were really planning.
As it happened, Liam was overthinking that particular point. Even the Academy itself was furious with the result. They had prepared thoroughly and meticulously for this campaign, only to lose to a bunch of primitives fighting with rocks and clubs!
At least, that was how Yang Kai saw it.
"What the hell happened? You were equipped with the best gear available, and you couldn't even defeat a bunch of mutants?" In a rare move, Yang Kai landed his research vessel at the Guardian Manor Military Base before seeking out the officer in charge of Alpha Mobile Task Force and berating him.
"My apologies for disappointing you." The man called Alpha Zero lowered his head, appearing to sincerely reflect upon his mistakes. Yet Yang Kai could not sense even the slightest trace of genuine remorse from him.
Shaking his head, Yang Kai knew scolding him further would accomplish nothing. In the end, he simply waved him away without making things any harder.
After reprimanding the commander responsible for the battle plan, he immediately went to find Chu Guang, who was inspecting the Second Frontline Hospital at Guardian Manor Military Base, and briefly explained what Alpha Mobile Task Force had encountered during the operation.
"... There's something wrong with the mutants on Ten Peaks Peak. The evolutionary traits they've displayed are unlike anything we've ever seen. More importantly, based on the samples recovered from the battlefield, we suspect there's a Hive hidden deep within Blood Peak."
After hearing Yang Kai's report, Chu Guang nodded. "We've come to the same conclusion."
Yang Kai blinked in surprise and gave him a suspicious look. "How did you figure that out?"
"We guessed."
Yang Kai’s eyelids twitched once. "..."
Looking at Yang Kai's speechless expression, Chu Guang coughed lightly before he continued, "... Those details aren't the important part. What matters is how we deal with the problem now."
Yang Kai's expression gradually became serious. "What do you suggest?"
"My suggestion is... to wait for the experts' opinion."
As he spoke, Chu Guang shifted his gaze toward the tightly sealed isolation ward nearby.
The Alpha Mobile Task Force members evacuated from the front lines were all lying inside. Some had already regained consciousness, but many remained unconscious. Hyrja was currently inside gathering information, and they expected to have some answers soon.
Meanwhile, inside the isolation ward, Hyrja stared grimly at the tablet in her hands. She was looking at an organic protein molecule unlike anything she had ever seen before.
It resembled a virus, yet it was even smaller than any known virus, measuring less than 7 nanometers in size, with an average diameter of around 5 nanometers.
And that wasn't even the most astonishing part. The truly unbelievable discovery was that, in addition to the RNA carrying its genetic information, the unknown substance also contained a tightly folded, knob-like macromolecular structure capable of storing mechanical potential energy like a wound spring and slowly releasing it through gradual rotation.
At its tail, there were no fewer than four uniquely shaped protein chains.
Driven by the spring-like structures these protein chains could perform simple mechanical movements much like the flagella of protozoa, allowing the substance to slowly propel itself from areas of high concentration toward areas of low concentration.
An imperfect but vivid analogy would be to call the thing a nanoscale missile.
Normally, it resided inside spores, with each spore capable of carrying three to seven of them. Once the spore ruptured, whether actively or passively, they would be released.
The RNA inside served as its warhead while the folded protein macromolecule functioned as its engine. The protein chains at the tail acted as its propulsion system.
Rather than merely drifting while attached to airborne particles, it could actively migrate from one particle to another under its own power.
That unique characteristic was very likely the primary reason it could breach Alpha Mobile Task Force's gas masks.
As was well known, gas masks containing activated carbon and similar materials primarily filtered harmful microscopic particles through electrostatic adsorption. Therefore, smaller particles were not necessarily harder to filter.
Experimental data showed that particles measuring 0.3 micrometers were actually the most difficult to filter. As such, filtration efficiency against 0.3-micrometer particles had become the standard benchmark. For example, N95 meant a filtration efficiency of at least 95% against particles of that size.
Although a diameter of merely 5 nanometers alone was insufficient for the substance to penetrate a gas mask, the addition of self-powered mobility changed the equation entirely.
Clinical experiments showed that those substances left behind a tunnel composed of their own remains as they squeezed through the microscopic pores of gas masks. They seemed capable of calculating the shortest route from entrance to exit, much like slime molds navigating a petri dish in search of food.
Strangely enough, while the organism bore an extraordinary resemblance to a virus in form, its method of attacking hosts was completely different from that of most viruses.
Ordinary viruses inject their nucleic acids into host cells, hijack the host's resources to produce replication enzymes and suppressor proteins, then synthesize viral genomes and structural proteins. In the end, they completely exhaust the host cell before their countless offspring move on to infect the next victim.
The unusual substances, however, carried out a series of processes that inserted their own genetic material directly into the host cell's genome, much like how HIV worked.
Yet unlike HIV, they did not do so to replicate themselves. Their objective was assimilation. They completely transformed the host's cells into something else.
As for what they became, the outcome was entirely random.
At present, there were 97 observed cases. 17 patients had already died. 10 possessed exceptionally strong immune systems and remained unaffected. The remaining 70 exhibited entirely different symptoms, with even the locations of the mutations varying from person to person.
Some experienced a 200% increase in nervous system activity while others regressed mentally to the level of infants. One patient even grew an extra finger from his shoulder, though that was actually one of the easier cases to treat, since simple amputation was sufficient.
The more troublesome cases involved persistent tissue overgrowth, such as limbs that regenerated after amputation or original limbs that had undergone severe pathological mutation. Those required more advanced medical interventions.
It wasn't just the New Alliance researchers who were amazed by what they saw. The researchers from the Among Cloud Province were equally astonished, quietly whispering among themselves with expressions of disbelief.
"Unbelievable..."
"It's composed entirely of proteins and nucleic acids, yet it exhibits characteristics of living organisms... Can this really be classified as a virus?"
"I wouldn't recommend using that term. I've never seen a virus capable of displaying signs of life without relying on living cells. A misleading name will only bias our research."
"Whether that kind of movement truly qualifies as life is still debatable, but I agree with your reasoning. Alpha Protozoan... how does that sound?"
"... I have no objections."
"Agreed."
The thing had been brought back by Alpha Mobile Task Force the hard way, using their bodies, so naming it after their codename seemed perfectly appropriate.
...