Chapter 2296 - 1482: New Hope? Or Disaster? (2)

Chapter 2296: Chapter 1482: New Hope? Or Disaster? (2)

"Yesterday, a civilian organization was established in the United States." Tang Shun flicked the screen and switched to another page. "The founder is a former venture capitalist from Silicon Valley. In the video, he said, ’The seal’ is an unjust restriction imposed on humans by nature. Professor Yang Ping’s discovery proves that the seal can be understood, so the next step is to break it. His slogan is ’Unsealing is a basic human right.’ This video has been online for less than twenty-four hours and already has over ten million views."

Yang Ping stared at the face of the man on the screen. The man wore a black turtleneck, with a determined look and forceful gestures, displaying the typical demeanor of a preacher. "Did he quote my article?"

"He did." Tang Shun navigated to a certain segment of the video and pressed play. The man’s voice emerged from the tablet’s speakers: "Professor Yang informs us of the existence of the seal; we acknowledge this contribution. But what is this ’middle road’ he proposes? It’s conservative, it’s timid, it’s an arrogant discipline of the elite on the life rights of ordinary people. We do not accept the middle road. What we want is for it all to be opened. The seal itself is immoral because it restricts everyone’s basic right—the right to live longer. We are not against Yang Ping; we are against his compromise."

Yang Ping pressed the pause button and placed the tablet on the table. "Anything else?"

Tang Shun remained silent for two seconds, then said, "There’s similar activity in Europe. A French bioethics think tank issued a public statement saying that Professor Yang Ping’s comments are ’a typical case of scientific elitism,’ asserting that the role of scientists is to provide tools, not to decide how these tools are used. The decision-making power should be entrusted to democratic procedures. This statement was republished by more than a dozen European media outlets. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, an organization called the ’Infinite Life Foundation’ was just announced yesterday, with initial funding from three technology tycoons. Their first project is ’reverse-engineering Professor Yang Ping’s unified theory to independently develop the complete regulatory scheme for receptor X.’"

Yang Ping leaned back in his chair, looking up at the crack in the ceiling. The crack extended silently under the light, from the corner of the wall to the lamp mount, like a silent mark. "They’re setting me up as a target. Both my supporters and the supporters of breaking the seal are projecting their positions onto me. I’ve become a symbol."

"You’ve been a symbol for a while now," Tang Shun replied. "From the day the ’Seal’ paper was published, you’ve been one. The difference is that since the commentary emerged, the audience has expanded from the academic community to the public domain. The power of the symbol is increasing, but the precision of the symbol is diminishing. Now, the image the public has of you is no longer the one depicted in your paper."

"Does Weber know about this?"

"He knew even earlier than I did. Yesterday, a Chinese student from his laboratory translated the European public statement for him. After reading it, he said one thing—’The pressure on Professor Yang now is far greater than that from the experiment itself.’"

Yang Ping remained silent for a while before taking up the tablet again, gazing at the snapshot of the live broadcast video for a few seconds. The man’s eyes looked directly at the camera, full and indisputable.

"I can’t stop now; the experiments must proceed. Did today’s second phase activation experiment begin?"

"Yes, both the 5% and 10% groups are already in the incubator."

"Good, keep the updates coming. Provide me with a data summary every twenty-four hours."

After Tang Shun left, Yang Ping was alone in the office. He recalled the Silicon Valley investor’s words in the video saying ’The seal itself is immoral,’ suddenly feeling a kind of innocence in the statement that was hard to refute. If you believe that the value of human life is infinite, then any restriction on life’s duration is immoral. This logic is coherent; its problem lies only in the premise, is life’s value truly infinite? If life value is infinite, then why does no one want to spend infinitely long time doing the same thing? Why do all cultures have fears about eternity and praises for finality?

He shook his head, temporarily setting these thoughts aside. He needed to work.

On the fifth day, the first batch of low-intensity activation data came out. Tang Shun entered the office with a printed table: "The results of the 5% and 10%. No significant deviation was detected at either level. The proliferation rate has slightly increased but within the normal fluctuation range. The apoptosis rate remained unchanged. The secretory profile showed a mild inflammatory adjustment tendency, but the magnitude is within twice the standard deviation of the baseline. Everything is normal."

"Continue!" Yang Ping said. "What about the 15% group?"

"Results will be available tomorrow."

That afternoon, Yang Ping encountered Weber in the corridor. Weber came out of the mass spectrometry analysis room, holding a sample tube. Seeing Yang Ping, he stopped. "Did you see the statement from the ’Infinite Life Foundation’?"

"I did."

"They’re saying they’re going to reverse-engineer your theory." Weber’s voice was calm, but Yang Ping noticed his knuckles on the sample tube were slightly white. "This means someone will attempt to replicate our experiments without having our original data. They might try using flawed methods, inadequate controls, or incomplete models to attempt activation of receptor X. If they succeed, if they manage to open high-intensity repair pathways without considering safety boundaries, the consequences are unpredictable. Of course, the likelihood is low, but we’re still concerned."