Volume 1 Glacial Relics Chapter 10: Out of Control
However, before they could recover from their shock, this "person" transformed from a piece of meat collapsed right before their eyes.
Yes, it was "collapse". Chunks of flesh and blood peeled off its body. The intestines that lost their support flowed out from the big hole in the abdominal cavity. The shattered organs kept falling to the ground...
The black blood was as thick as boiling asphalt, bubbling continuously. An eyeball was squeezed out of the eye socket and rolled to Ke Lan's feet.
In less than five minutes, this thing completed the process of transforming from a piece of meat into a "person", and then turned into a pool of pus and blood... Only an incomplete skeleton that still vaguely retained some human characteristics was left.
No one has ever seen such a scene. The strong smell of blood and stench in the air makes people feel as if they are in purgatory... No, perhaps even in purgatory there will not be such exciting scenes.
The Hound sat down on the ground with his mouth wide open, unable to speak. He was the most shocked of all the people present - after all, that thing... that "person" had a face exactly like his.
This was like watching "one's own" body crumble before one's eyes. A person with a weaker mental state would have gone crazy right then and there. However, judging from his appearance, he seemed to be on the verge of losing his mind...
"It...it...it...ran...off on its own?" Leighton held it in for a long time before finally squeezing out these few words from between his clenched teeth.
"What the hell is that thing..." the Hound muttered, "Does it...does it have my face...?"
"He does have your face, but he's not a ghost." Ivan suddenly spoke up, staring at the filth , his tone full of excitement that he couldn't suppress. "Do you remember that your finger was scratched before?"
"What... do you mean...?" The hound was stunned. "You mean... this ghost thing sucked my blood and then turned into my appearance?"
"There's nothing wrong with your understanding—" Ivan clapped his hands and said, "That thing isn't a piece of meat... I guess it's actually a large group of undifferentiated primitive stem cells! I've never seen such a large group of active stem cells! And it has a very strong replication ability! It perfectly copied your human genes, and then continued to divide, proliferate, and differentiate... and finally became another you! A miracle... No, it's definitely a miracle!"
Ivan clenched his fists, his face flushed red, and continued : "As long as I can get a little specimen, this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will definitely be mine... No, the Nobel Prize has no meaning anymore. I will change the entire human race... We may even be able to... achieve immortality!"
Everyone thought that the first person to lose his mind would be the hound, but no one expected that Ivan would fall directly into madness...but what made him crazy was not fear, but a huge desire...an endless desire for knowledge and the unknown!
"Doctor, are you okay?" Layton looked at him worriedly. "I don't understand what you mean by immortality, but wasn't the monster already dead? It couldn't even maintain its human form for more than ten seconds..."
"No, no, no!" Ivan shook his head vigorously. "The collapse of the body is entirely due to the overdrawn energy from cell division and differentiation. Look—"
Before everyone could react, Ivan rushed over and picked up a piece of broken bones from the pool of blood.
With just a gentle blow, the broken bones turned into bone powder and scattered from between his fingers.
"Due to the lack of calcium in the bones, the bones are extremely fragile, even worse than those of elderly people with osteoporosis... But what if we provide sufficient calcium when these cells differentiate into bones? The result will be completely different!"
"Miracle...That's not a miracle! Absolutely not! That's a monster! Monster!" The Hound stood up suddenly and pointed the gun in his hand at Ivan. His whole body was shaking, but the hand holding the gun was surprisingly steady.
"Something's wrong... This is not right..." Ke Lan, who had remained silent, shook his head. He always felt that something was wrong in the atmosphere. Although the situation was already tense, this did not seem to be the source of the uneasiness... So what was wrong?
That piece of meat? It didn't seem like it. Although it surprised him, it was far from shocking. He didn't know if it was because he was too nervous or for some other reason... In his subconscious, he seemed to have gradually gotten used to this kind of change...
Is this numb... numb... the antonym of numb is... sensitive? Yes, it is sensitive!
Ke Lan immediately discovered where her strange feeling came from - from the beginning, the hound and Ivan were too sensitive! Whether it was the hound's fear and madness, or Ivan's fanaticism that was completely inconsistent with his calm personality, their emotions seemed to be magnified several times by some invisible factors.
This behavior is exactly the same as a drunk person. Alcohol paralyzes the brain, inhibits the central nervous system, makes it difficult for people to control their own situation, and enters a state of extreme excitement. Is it because Ivan is drunk? Impossible! With his alcoholic personality, let alone just a few sips, even if he drank a whole pot of wine, he would not be drunk. As for the hound, he has never touched a drop of alcohol.
Or is there something wrong with the environment here?
The smell of blood was still strong in the air. Ke Lan subconsciously took a few deep breaths. A barely perceptible but real feeling of heat quietly surged up. But before he could react, the heat had disappeared.
It’s the smell of blood that’s the problem!
The scene of the meat changing just now was too horrifying. Any normal person would inevitably have an accelerated heartbeat and rapid breathing, which would cause them to inhale a large amount of this bloody-smelling gas. It was this gas that made them become like this!
The air quality in the passage was tested when they came in. The oxygen content was sufficient, and no toxic or harmful substances were detected. In addition, the radiation dose in this place was negligible, so they took off the protective masks that greatly affected their vision. They didn't expect to be attacked at this time.
As for why Layton was fine, it was because he was a level 4 cyborg with a strong body resistance to poison. It was understandable that this kind of thing had no effect on him.
"Stop it! Listen to me! Hold your breath, and put on your protective mask. Don't breathe directly into the bloody air in the passage!"
"Why should I listen to you? Who do you think you are?" Before the Hound could even utter the word "what", Ke Lan had already elbowed him in the ribs, snatched his pistol, and then took out his protective mask and put it on his face.
"You mean... this smell of blood is poisonous? Are you sure? How do you know?" Ivan was still sober, and although full of doubts, he still put on the mask.
The hound was still struggling violently at first, but as time passed, his movements gradually slowed down. Finally, he patted Ke Lan who was holding him to the ground and said in a very tired voice: "I'm fine... I'm fine... Oh, this is really weird..."
Ke Lan and Layton helped him up together. Hound rubbed his ribs and said, "I just felt... like there was a stream of blood rushing to my forehead... To be honest, I almost shot him. Damn it!"
"Actually, I also felt that you were not normal just now. Old dog, I have known you for so many years, and I have always known that you are a guy with a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Even if we have a quarrel, you will never point a gun at your own people... But what you did just now made me feel very strange and weird, as if that pool of rotten meat replaced you..." Leighton said with some emotion.
"Don't mention that damn thing." The hound's body trembled slightly. "Um... Ke Lan, how did you find out about this? And why do you seem to be fine? I see you don't have a protective mask on now?"
"I'm fine. Although I had some reaction, it wasn't as obvious as you and Ivan..." Ke Lan replied. In fact, he himself didn't quite understand why he didn't show any symptoms of emotional out-of-control. Logically speaking, the amount he inhaled was not small, but the heat disappeared immediately after it appeared. There was no such feeling of blood rushing as described by the hound.
Could it be that his physique was special? Ke Lan subconsciously glanced at Layton... But, he had never undergone biochemical transformation?
