Chapter 49 The Blood Orchid—A Divine Medicine of Longevity

A gigantic python and an unbelievable miracle drug?

The moment Ethan thought of that combination, he couldn’t help remembering a movie he’d watched in his previous life— Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid.

So he immediately asked Ophelia, “This miracle plant you’re talking about…” “Is it something the locals call the Blood Orchid?” “That’s right.” Ophelia nodded.

“That’s what the locals seemed to call it.” “We didn’t just recover the corpse of one giant python.” “We also found remnants of the Blood Orchid inside its stomach contents.” “This strange plant possesses enormous medicinal value.” “It appears capable of increasing the number of times human mitochondria can divide while also restoring vitality to aging cells.” Hearing Ophelia confirm it, even Ethan felt his heart begin to race.

So it really was the Blood Orchid.

Ethan couldn’t help sighing.

“A miracle drug that can theoretically grant humans extreme longevity…” “That’s certainly valuable.” Ophelia nodded in agreement.

“According to our analysis of the remaining sample, it probably can’t truly make someone immortal.” “But extending the human lifespan by more than a thousand years may be possible.” “Although it isn’t quite as miraculous as the legends suggest, that alone would be enough to drive the entire world insane.” “We’d need an intact living specimen before we could determine its exact effects.” Extreme longevity without aging.

That was something almost every human being desired.

Simply living for a long time while continuing to decay might become torture.

But remaining young while living for centuries or even millennia?

For ordinary people—and especially for the wealthy and powerful—the temptation would be almost impossible to resist.

Even Ethan wanted the Blood Orchid now that he knew such a thing existed.

True, he might eventually obtain longevity through anomaly containment or system rewards.

But those methods depended heavily on luck.

Now there was something practically guaranteed to extend his lifespan by at least a thousand years sitting there waiting to be collected.

Why wouldn’t he take it?

More importantly, the Blood Orchid could apparently stabilize the T-virus and potentially allow it to become a beneficial enhancement agent.

If that worked…

The Foundation might eventually mass-produce genetically enhanced soldiers comparable to the heroine of the Resident Evil films.

And with a researcher as capable as William Birkin overseeing the project, perhaps even his G-virus research could achieve a major breakthrough.

After all, the G-virus William had developed suffered from an enormous problem— Its evolutionary mutations were simply far too uncontrollable.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t yet a truly qualified biological enhancement virus.

Ethan looked toward William with a serious expression.

“Dr.

Birkin.” “If I bring you the Blood Orchid, are you confident you can use it to produce a more stable and effective T-virus enhancement agent?” “Perhaps even a G-virus enhancement agent?” Hearing his boss’s question, William immediately gave a confident guarantee.

“If its effects are really as extraordinary as she claims…” “Then I guarantee I can do it.” After considering the Blood Orchid’s enormous value, Ethan immediately turned toward Ophelia.

“I want all the specific intelligence your organization has on it.” “Once the Foundation obtains the Blood Orchid, we’ll share the resulting technology with you.” Ophelia agreed without the slightest hesitation.

“No problem, Commander.” “I’ll have the intelligence compiled and delivered to you immediately.” “In that case…” Ethan smiled.

“I think Madame Ophelia should remain at the Foundation base for a little longer.” “After all, you wouldn’t want us using incomplete technology to solve the hidden problem inside your body, would you?” Ophelia readily agreed.

“Naturally.” As for whether they could actually obtain the Blood Orchid— Neither Ethan nor Ophelia had the slightest doubt.

Ethan had watched the movie and knew roughly what awaited them.

So he wasn’t worried at all.

Ophelia, meanwhile, simply believed that with the Foundation’s overwhelming military strength, acquiring a few plants from the Amazon couldn’t possibly be difficult.

Neither of them took the giant pythons protecting the Blood Orchid seriously.

From Ethan’s perspective, just look at the people who had searched for the Blood Orchid in the movie.

A handful of scientists.

A mercenary escort team.

And that was basically it.

How could that possibly compare with the Foundation?

Forget the Foundation— Even the Chaos Insurgency, S.H.I.E.L.D., or HYDRA would have little trouble dealing with those giant snakes.

The Foundation could probably send a single squad into the rainforest and capture every python alive without killing a single one.

Activate thermal imaging and, even in a subtropical primeval jungle, practically every large creature would stand out clearly.

And if the Foundation actually wanted to exterminate them?

Send in an AH-99 attack helicopter.

Autocannon fire.

Rocket barrages.

Sweep the entire area.

What giant pythons?

They’d end up as roasted snake meat.

Of course, S.H.I.E.L.D.

and HYDRA might possess the ability to retrieve the Blood Orchid as well.

But unfortunately for them— They didn’t have the intelligence.

Information like this was kept under extremely strict secrecy.

After all, longevity only retained its greatest value when access to it was controlled.

If everyone could live forever, then its value would decline enormously.

If the Chaos Insurgency hadn’t already submitted to the Foundation, Ophelia would never have surrendered intelligence this valuable so easily.

There was another reason she was willing to cooperate.

Ophelia had already concluded that the Foundation’s scientific capabilities were vastly superior to those of the Chaos Insurgency.

The Foundation had somehow developed a T-virus without even possessing the mutated SCP-008 Zombie Plague strain that her organization had relied upon.

And the resulting virus had effects almost identical to the Chaos Insurgency’s own T-virus.

That level of scientific capability was frightening.

More importantly— While the Chaos Insurgency was still spending huge amounts of money producing individual Hunter B.O.W.s…

The Foundation was already developing Tyrants.

Ophelia hadn’t even seen one in person yet.

But merely reading the project documentation had been enough to shock her.

Almost as though she wanted to confirm her conclusions, Ophelia asked with clear anticipation, “Commander…” “Would it be possible for me to visit some of the B.O.W.s you’re currently researching?” “For example…” “The Tyrant?” Having just received the Blood Orchid intelligence from her, Ethan had no reason to refuse.

He turned toward William.

“Small matter.” “Dr.

Birkin, arrange it.” “No problem, Boss.” William looked toward Ophelia.

“Branch Director…” “Our Research Department would be more than happy to show you some of our technological achievements.”