Chapter 2287 - 1479: Seal

Chapter 2287: Chapter 1479: Seal

Yang Ping sat in the study, the old experiment notebook spread open in front of him. The book had already been turned to the latter half, most of it filled with writing. He flipped to the newest page; there was only one sentence on it, written yesterday: "The seal itself is also part of the program. Very likely, unsealing it is not the hardest part; the hard part is knowing what will happen after it is unsealed, and how to control the changes after unsealing." He stared at this sentence for a long time, then picked up his pen and wrote another line beneath it: "What is the meaning of the seal?"

He had no answer to this question. Or rather, he did have an answer, but that answer made him uneasy.

He thought of the message Sisi had sent: "Why does the human body seal away its repair ability? If lifting the seal can cure so many diseases, why not open it completely?" At the time he had replied, "Because the seal itself is also part of the program." That sentence was correct, but only half correct. The seal is part of the program, but why does the program set this seal? If the repair ability is beneficial to the human body, why not keep it always on? Why did evolution, after billions of years of trial and error, choose to limit the repair ability to an extremely low level? Why not release the ability the way it is in the human embryonic stage.

At nine in the morning, his phone rang; it was Weber. "Professor, the official data from the third injection experiment are out. The repair speed is nearly half again faster than the second time, and the time for liver function indices to return to normal has been compressed from forty-eight hours in the first round to about twenty-four hours now. Behavioral observations in the mice and pathology slice examinations show no abnormal findings."

Yang Ping held the phone without speaking. Twenty-four hours. From forty-eight hours down to twenty-four hours—more than a threefold increase in efficiency.

"Weber, how many groups did you run?"

"Six groups, eight mice in each, and the results of all groups are highly consistent, with very small standard deviations."

"Did the pathology slices show any tumor-like changes?"

"No, the hepatocyte morphology is normal, arranged in an orderly manner, no atypia, no abnormal proliferation."

"Any fibrosis?"

"None. The tissue sections show that the repaired liver tissue has completely fused with the surrounding normal tissue, the boundary has already become blurred. Professor, if we keep doing this kind of training, the next round of repair speed might be compressed to within twelve hours."

The so-called training was in fact a set of methods to suppress the seal’s function as much as possible, allowing the repair ability to be released.

Yang Ping was silent for a few seconds. "Stop all follow-up experiments after the third injection."

On the other end of the line it went quiet, then Weber’s voice came again, carrying a kind of repressed calm: "Professor... you’re worried? You... what are you worried about?"

"I don’t know, but I need time to think."

"What do we do next, then?"

"Replication. Use six different injury models to repeat every experiment we’ve already done. Double the sample size in each group. Each experiment must be repeated at least three times to ensure the results are reliable. Then write a review, compile all the data, but the conclusion section must be written conservatively; use more words like ’possibly’ and ’preliminary’."

Weber was silent for a while, then said something that left a deep impression on Yang Ping: "You’re stepping on the brakes?"

"Yes!" Yang Ping said with absolute certainty. "The deeper the research goes, the more I find how shallow our understanding of it is. If we truly grasp how to open it, but still don’t know how to close it. We’ve learned what it can do, but still don’t know what it cannot do. Before we figure these things out, we can’t move too fast. Once Pandora’s box is opened, I’m not sure what’s inside; for now I also have no way to control the changes that come after it is opened. In short, I’m not ready yet; we can’t be this hasty."

"But..." Weber still wanted to say something.

But! Professor, have you thought about this: although your achievements in Medicine are already distinguished enough, if you continue to make breakthroughs, you will, through perfecting the unified theory, become a figure who shakes the history of Medicine. There would be no one else like you. Are you not moved at all? It’s right there ahead, beckoning to you: Come over!

"Weber, all our research is meant to make humanity healthier, to enable healthy bodies to experience the beauty of this world. If our research might destroy humanity, should our research continue?"

"But... Professor!"

This was Manstein’s voice from the side; clearly they had turned on the speakerphone.

"Professor, we may be on the verge of success. I can even see that glimmer of light. Once this theory is broken through, almost all human diseases could have the hope of being conquered; perhaps we could truly realize immortality—that’s been humanity’s dream all along."

"No, Professor Mainshtan, I—we need to quiet down, we need to settle. We’re too hasty right now; we haven’t prepared anything. Sometimes we haven’t even properly thought through what the true nature of disease is. Why do humans have birth, aging, sickness, and death, why do stars burn out... Right now I feel very afraid, because, because this theory of ours may be too far ahead of its time, it’s something we can’t bear."

"Professor!!!"

It was Weber’s voice; he was doing his utmost to dissuade the Professor from stopping.

"Maybe the Professor is right, Weber. He’s seeing a distant place we can’t see. Let’s stop; he’s always been right."

"All right, I’ll make the arrangements."

Yang Ping hung up and put the phone on the desk. Sunlight leaked through the gap in the curtains and drew a band of light across the Desktop. He sat beside the band of light, neither avoiding it nor moving into it. He thought of a night a few years ago, when he was in the Laboratory and saw the first set of data pop up on the monitor—the relationship between receptor X expression and activation of the repair program. His first reaction then had been excitement; the second, fear. He knew very clearly what was hidden behind that door, but he did not know whether the other side of the door was a way out or an abyss.