Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 967: Ulrich's Revenge
"How did you survive?" Soap asked immediately.
"I ran for a long time... I don't know how long..." Ulrich recalled, "I collected the dry food and water left by other people, and it lasted for about five days... No, maybe six days.
"Later, I remember that I got sick... a very serious disease that almost killed me. At that time, I felt as if every organ in my body was melting, and my skin was burning with pain. If I rubbed it gently, the skin and the bloody flesh underneath would be rubbed off... I can't remember it clearly, anyway, that feeling was more painful than death..."
"What happened next?" Soap asked again.
This is obviously a symptom of acute radiation sickness, and it is the severe late stage... Generally, people who have reached this stage can already prepare for their funeral. Even if the Ark Civilization is provided with the most advanced medical means at this stage, there is no way to snatch the person back from the King of Hell - full-body cyborg prosthesis can certainly replace those tissues and organs that have died due to radiation, but the human brain is the only part of the cyborg prosthesis that cannot be replaced.
Although the brain is the most resistant part of the human body to electromagnetic radiation, in the late stage of acute radiation sickness, the body's lymphocytes and hematopoietic system are severely damaged. Even if the brain cells themselves are not harmed by radiation, they will still be affected by other damaged systems. In the case of complete loss of self-immunity and hematopoietic ability, the invasion of viruses and bacteria, lack of oxygen supply, etc. will pose a fatal threat to the brain... In mild cases, symptoms of cerebral infarction will appear, and in severe cases, direct brain death will occur.
"I don't know... I can't remember how many days it took for these painful symptoms to gradually disappear... When I regained consciousness, my strength returned... My original skin turned into a dry, hard, and brittle shell, which took a long time to completely shed." Ulrich stretched out his hands, "My nails fell off and never grew back."
Soap lowered his head and looked carefully at Ulrich's hands. Although his ten fingers had no nails, the fingertips were covered with a layer of hard cuticle, just like the claws of a wild animal.
"You... you don't even know how you survived?" Noir muttered, "Acute radiation sickness, you just recovered on your own?"
"Indeed, there is such a possibility." The Joker nodded. "The human gene sequence has infinite evolutionary possibilities. These evolutionary branches cannot be written even by the most advanced genetic engineering technology. They will only be unlocked automatically when certain conditions are met... The institute conducted this experiment to allow these D-level personnel put into the test to evolve, or mutate, under the stimulation of extreme environments. As long as a successful sample appears, they can find a breakthrough point from the genetic changes of this sample and expand the scope of gene editing technology."
The existing genetic engineering technology of the Ark Civilization is not as simple as inserting a few key characters directly into the code like computer programming... Every existing gene editing technology is a valuable experience gained through countless trials and errors... There are countless ways to change genes, and 99.9% of them end in death. Only the one with a probability infinitely close to zero is feasible. The experiment of the Institute is to constantly drive the "experimental subjects" into these "forks in the road" and observe their subsequent changes.
Most of the forks in the road lead to cliffs or traps, but as long as there are enough paths to choose from, there will always be one or two that can be passed... and these "paths" that can be passed will become the focus of research in the next gene editing project.
For example, in the old era, there was a rare disease with a 100% mortality rate. All those who contracted the disease died without exception. But one day, a special patient miraculously recovered. Doctors conducted a detailed examination of the patient and found that there were some obvious special features in the patient's genes.
But the doctors don’t know which special place leads to the cure of the terminal illness, so they can only choose to try, using the most common "control variable method" in science to try little by little... This is a very stupid method, but it is the most reliable method.
Once it is determined that a certain gene mutation can make a person immune to the disease, gene therapy for this rare disease will officially appear... But in this process, countless patients undergoing clinical trials will die, and only a very small number of "lucky ones" will be able to choose the right "path" and survive.
Ulrich is such a lucky man who is one in a million...or even one in a billion.
"No... I don't think the key is the self-healing of radiation sickness..." Soap glanced at the Joker intentionally or unintentionally, "Radiation is not the key. The key is how you have survived in this place for five years without being discovered by the Ark's detection robots? To be honest, even if there is no radiation in this place, I don't think I can stay here for five years. How did you avoid those mutant creatures, and how did you identify the direction here? The structure of the underground maze is changing every second, I don't believe you can remember all these changes - not even the Joker can do it!"
"W-what?" Soap's series of questions confused Ulrich. He had not communicated with humans for a long time, and even his language ability was still slowly recovering. His brain had not yet switched from its previous beast-like way of thinking. Soap's rapid-fire questions made him unable to cope and almost caused Ulrich's brain to crash.
"Answer the questions one by one, don't be impatient." Noir patted Ulrich's shoulder comfortingly, took out a diluted military stimulant and stuffed it into his pocket. "First, tell us how you identify the direction in this place?"
"Direction... I, I don't know either." Ulrich shook his head, "I just... walked around based on my feelings..."
"Have you ever been lost?"
"I don't know..." Ulrich still shook his head, "But if I want to go to a place, I can always get there... For example, here, I know that the big bug up there is very quiet and it poses no threat to me, but other monsters never approach here because of the existence of this big bug. So, every time I capture prey, I will come here to eat."
"Also," Ulrich continued, "this big bug releases a strange smell. To me it smells like... like..."
Ulrich repeated the word "like" several times, as if he couldn't find a suitable adjective no matter how hard he tried, or as if he had forgotten the things in human society that could be used as metaphors. He paused for a while before saying, "I don't know what kind of smell it is, but it's a smell. It doesn't feel like anything to me, but it will attract some other small creatures to pounce on it, and then I can catch a lot of prey."
Ulrich picked up the flying squirrel's body as if to show off, and said to Soap and the others, "This is what I caught here... It flies very fast, but as long as you seize the opportunity to pounce on it, you will have meat to eat!"
"From this point of view, this guy doesn't seem to be lost." Soap and Noir looked at each other, "No matter where he goes, he can always come back to this place... Obviously, he has regarded this place as a 'safe zone'."
"Could it be the biological instinct?" Nouval wanted to reach out to support his chin, but found nothing - the front chest and helmet of the protective suit were connected together. From the front, it looked like an iron barrel divided into two parts. A person wearing this thing couldn't .
“I heard that in the past, there was a kind of creature called migratory birds on Earth. They would travel back and forth between two fixed habitats every time the seasons changed. Some of the distant habitats even spanned half the globe, but these migratory birds never lost their way,” Noir continued.
"This guy is a human, and so are we. Why don't we have this instinct?" Soap said, "Even a cyborg with a positioning device installed in his head can't move freely in this underground maze."
The structure of the underground maze is very complicated, with many floors. It is a constantly changing three-dimensional space, rather than a two-dimensional plane area that can be described by a map. Even if Soap and the others were given a functioning navigation device, they would not be able to get out of this maze.
"He's different from us." Noir shook his head vigorously. "Have you ever seen an ordinary person who can recover from acute radiation sickness without any treatment? Just based on this point, he is different from us."
Just when Soap was about to argue with Noir, the Joker spoke up: "I don't think you have to dwell on this kind of thing... We only need to pursue the result now. As for the process, I don't care, and as for the reason, I care even less."
"Uh...what you said seems to make sense. So how do you plan to achieve the result?" Soap was stunned for a moment and asked.
"Ulrich Nowitzki, do you want to seek revenge on the people in the research institute and let those people in white coats experience what you have experienced in the past five years?" The Joker looked at Ulrich and said in a shocked voice.
"Yes! I want them to die! No, a simple death would be too easy for them! I want to make them live a life worse than death and suffer torture... I want to return to them what I have experienced, tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousandfold!" Ulrich, who had originally calmed down, became excited again. He waved his skinny arms vigorously, and did not even care that the prey in his hands was thrown to the ground.
"We have a plan, do you want to join?" the clown asked again.
"What's the plan?"
"You should know that there are many very powerful monsters in this place, right?"
"I know...some of those monsters are even more terrifying than thunder beasts...I dare not even approach the edge of their territory..." When Ulrich mentioned those monsters, he shuddered involuntarily and his voice became much lower.
"Can you sense those powerful monsters in the underground maze?" Soap asked with his eyes wide open and a hint of surprise in his tone.
Ulrich nodded: "Yes...but I never go near those places."
"Then if I ask you to take us to find those monsters, can you find them?" the clown asked again.
"No! I will die, and you will all die too! You don't know how terrifying those monsters are! Anyone who sees them will be killed! Don't ever get close to those places!"
"Strange, since you have been close to these places and have never seen those monsters, how do you know they are scary?" Soap asked puzzledly.
"I... I can't explain it, but anyway, I just know it!" Ulrich showed a hysterical look on his face, "If you want to go, go by yourself. Anyway, I will never go near those places even if I die!"
"But you can determine the approximate location of those monsters, right?" asked the Joker.
Ulrich was slightly startled and nodded hesitantly.
"If we plan to put these monsters on the ground and let those white coats in the research institute deal with them, are you willing to help us? This plan is very risky, but it is feasible... As long as you can help us solve two problems."
"Put these monsters on the ground and let them slaughter those damn white coats..." Ulrich stared at the clown in a trance, and after several seconds he asked, "Are you sure...you can do it?"
"As long as you are willing to help us, there is a high probability that we can do it." The clown nodded solemnly.
"How do you want me to help?"
"First, you have to help us locate these powerful monsters so that we can find them." The clown said, "Second, you have to help us find an exit to the ground, and it has to be large enough for those monsters to pass through. Third, you have to tell us the route between those monsters and the exit... As for the most risky task of leading the monsters to the exit, you are not required to participate."
"It's over. I think the second point is a no-go." Soap said to Noir, "If this guy knew the exit to the ground, he would have run out long ago. How could he stay in this damn place for five years?"
But Soap never expected that he would be slapped in the face the next second——
"I know the exit. There are many exits leading to the ground...some of them are very large." Ulrich said confidently.
"Since you know the exit, why don't you leave here? Are you a masochist?" Soap felt a little embarrassed and asked back.
"There are those white coats on the ground... If I get caught by them... It will be worse than staying in this place." A very real fear flashed in Ulrich's eyes - in addition to hatred for those people in the research institute, he felt more fear.
