Chapter 790 - 491: Large-Scale Biological Mutation

Chapter 790: Chapter 491: Large-Scale Biological Mutation

After the triumphant victory, the fleet led by the man in military uniform immediately returned to the base.

Upon bringing back their experiences and findings to the organization, the higher-ups were overjoyed and awarded the highest honors to the two individuals who contributed the most to the mission.

Those individuals were the man in military uniform and Matthew.

At this time, Matthew, having been exposed to radiation in the energy cabin for too long, had developed noticeable redness and swelling on his skin.

He immediately realized that his cells might have already been damaged by nuclear radiation, and the symptoms were likely to worsen.

With current human technology, it’s still impossible to effectively treat the damages caused by nuclear radiation.

Matthew was filled with despair. Was he really going to lose his life because of this mission?

Initially, his primary thought was to save everyone on the submarine, but now, looking back, he felt a bit of regret.

He clearly had more time to prepare for the radiation or could have allowed other professionals to replace the energy source.

But due to negligence and haste, a large amount of nuclear radiation had eroded his body.

This led him to face death now.

While others were celebrating their victory, he was left to await death.

But in the depths of his despair, he thought of those crystal fragments he had collected from the deep sea.

"If those fragments can cause evolution... does that mean they could also cure my nuclear radiation?" A glimmer of hope instantly appeared in Matthew’s heart.

Unfortunately, after bringing the crystal fragments back to the base, the higher-ups had taken them all away.

He had no justification to ask for those fragments back, and the higher-ups wouldn’t care about his life or death.

However...

He wasn’t completely out of crystal fragments.

Matthew slowly pulled a crystal fragment weighing about 50 grams from his right pocket.

This was something he had unintentionally put in his pocket while repairing the energy source.

Little did he expect it to become his life-saving straw at this moment.

Matthew held the crystal fragment tightly, suppressing the fear that surged within him.

The only thing that could save him now was evolution.

And with the limited resources at his disposal, he couldn’t afford to waste resources on experimentation. He could only use himself as a test subject.

As for the consequences, he could only bear them himself.

After reporting the mission details, the higher-ups, seeing that he seemed severely irradiated during the mission and didn’t have much time left, didn’t keep him there and instead instructed him to go home and rest.

Matthew gladly returned to his residence.

Once home, he drove everyone else out,

and locked himself in the house every day, researching how to make himself evolve.

In the eyes of his family, he had undergone a sudden personality change after returning from the mission.

It was as if he had become a completely different person, incredibly volatile and unhinged.

Sometimes, he would even resort to violence.

This led them to suspect that Matthew might have experienced some sort of trauma during the mission.

But only Matthew himself knew he was trying to save himself.

The only person who could save him now was himself.

The only way he could escape death was by evolving.

Matthew sealed all windows and doors, then entered a glass cultivation tank, dissolving the more scattered fragments in water to absorb the energy they released.

While Matthew was engrossed in researching evolution at home, the organization had already started investing a huge amount of manpower and resources into studying these crystals.

Given that the total weight of the crystals they brought back from the mission was over 100 pounds,

they invested significant resources and were quite extravagant in their use of the crystals.

They referenced Matthew’s technique of using crystals as a substitute for energy on the Super Nuclear Submarine. They ground these crystals into powder, soaked them in liquid to release a large amount of energy.

With this energy, they could begin developing massive mechas or high-powered electromagnetic weapons.

At the same time, they were conducting evolutionary experiments, as they found these crystals not only could replace energy but also forced biological evolution. But due to time constraints, they didn’t use other life forms for the experiments, instead, they directly recruited several volunteers for human trials.

The methods of conducting human trials were naturally very crude. They divided the test subjects into several groups.

The first group was exposed to slowly decomposing fog, with the subjects living in the mist to observe their evolution.

The second group had large amounts of ground crystal powder dissolved in liquid, releasing higher concentrations of mist, and made the subjects undergo high-intensity training inside, observing their evolution.

The third group directly consumed the powder as food, with sufficient liquid administered to dilute and decompose the crystal inside their bodies, observing their evolution.

These three groups, from weak to strong, represented three different methods of using the crystals.

If Wang Ye were on Earth witnessing their experimental methods, he would definitely exclaim "impressive." The first two experimental methods were still understandable since the human genetic ceiling is quite high, and short-term exposure in the first two methods could generally withstand the pressure. But the third method was akin to swallowing a nuclear bomb.

One must understand that just one gram of that stuff provides enough energy for a family of four for a lifetime. If all that energy were used as a bomb and detonated, it could flatten a town.

Yet they actually consumed it directly.

You have to admit, the Americans have some real nerve.

Ultimately, the result for the third group was naturally death by explosive disintegration.