Lin Feng turned his head aside, his expression grave:
"What? So editing one’s own genes can trigger unknown dangers?"
Ling Yi’s eyes were fixed on the genetic modification procedure in the operating room, a faint golden light glinting within them.
The cold smile on her lips vanished as she continued:
"You’re the one who brought it up."
"You can see the price of Superpowers just by looking at that little girl, Jiang Chengcheng..."
"For those experimental subjects artificially engineered with multiple Superpowers, the strain of using their abilities is dozens of times greater than for others of the same tier. This not only means their growth potential will be drained dry, but frequent combat will also consume their Life Force entirely!"
"The individuals capable of withstanding the genetic modification surgery are the hope of all humanity, yet now they are all being forced onto the battlefield, frantically overdrawing their own lives..."
"These talented youths, who could have grown to become Tier Three or even Tier Four, have instead been transformed into tools for the Research Institute, forced to shoulder a mission that was never theirs to begin with."
Lin Feng let out a low sigh. He knew all too well that they were digging their own grave, but the Mother Empresses everywhere were coming on strong, and the Tier Three King Spine Zergs were about to step onto the battlefield...
Humanity’s future was already completely dark.
If they didn’t find a way to survive now, they wouldn’t even have a chance to resist later.
If they could really do as Ling Shuyan said and artificially create Tier Three genetically engineered Supermen with multiple Superpowers, they would at least have some ability to resist and fight back against the Zerg Race invasion.
"Compared to all this, I’m more curious if they can directly create Tier Three Life Forms?"
Lin Feng asked slowly, voicing the doubt in his mind.
Ling Yi nodded.
"Theoretically, it’s entirely possible."
"Even with a Tier Four Cosmic Life, as long as there’s enough Energy and you have the somatic cells of a Tier Four Life Form as a template, you can quickly cultivate a batch of low-intelligence Tier Four Corpse Slaves..."
"However, this technology is cheaper than Genetic Fusion. The life forms created are like walking dead, incapable of thought, which is why they’re called Corpse Slaves. Naturally, they also haven’t mastered Tier Four Realm Power; they’ve only reached a Tier Four level of physical strength."
"In the eyes of a true Tier Four Life Form, they’re just lumps of moving flesh, posing a minimal threat."
"But to a primitive civilization on a planet that hasn’t yet given birth to a Cosmic Life, even if they have a group of Tier Three Life Forms, a single Tier Four Corpse Slave is enough to deliver a completely overwhelming, dimension-crushing blow."
"That’s why many colonial expeditions from Alien Stars go to the Interstellar Trading Area to buy these kinds of biological weapons to suppress native resistance on colonized planets. They’re cheap, effective, and work every time."
"As for comprehensively raising the power of hatched offspring, that would require editing the genes of the entire population for evolution. Take the Zerg Race, for example. Every individual is a Tier One Life Form from the moment of its birth, which greatly reduces the resource cost of starting from zero."
"Even so, completing such a grand, species-wide genetic Ascension still requires hundreds or thousands of years of effort."
"As for the method Director Ling just mentioned, while the thinking is similar, it’s much cruder and simpler. They’ll start with a cluster of cloned pluripotent stem cells, use the Life Force of Tier Two Zerg Eggs, and expend vast resources to force the growth of Tier Two cells. Then, they induce those cells to undergo specific mutations, ultimately forming the corresponding Superpower Cells, which are then implanted back into the original host."
"The multiple Superpower Cells will dramatically increase the strength of these youths. It’s like stuffing several Awakeners into a single physical shell."
"By my overall assessment, their strength could likely reach the Early Tier Three stage. But because the Superpowers in their bodies are so mixed and impure, their potential for growth is drastically reduced, making it very difficult to coalesce their own Mental Realm."
"Though it’s not like they have the lifespan to spare for that."
Ling Yi remarked with a sigh. Then, as if she’d thought of something, her tone shifted:
"But just in case, it’s best not to let these pathological experimental subjects reach Tier Four..."
Hearing this final warning, Lin Feng frowned.
"Is it because their mental State is unstable, causing the Spiritual Realm they coalesce to be incapable of being stably passed down through the race’s genes?"
Ling Yi snorted.
"Of course. Not only that, their own chaotic Spirit World will have a fatal impact on their descendants."
"This is quite common in the Cosmos. The demise of a considerable number of Cosmic Civilizations was caused by their race’s supreme being falling into madness, which led to their genetic inheritance suffering severe contamination..."
"And a civilization like that has no value for scientific study."
"In the future, any descendants who reach Tier Three will enter a Mental Realm filled with madness and chaos. Even if they manage to escape it, they will be affected for the rest of their lives..."
Lin Feng’s eyes narrowed. ’It seems the Superman Plan is even more dangerous than I imagined.’
’But if I become a Tier Four Life Form first, I can prevent this from happening.’
Ling Yi looked at the pensive Lin Feng and continued:
"That being said, your human evolutionary potential is actually immense. Many Superpowers have the potential to evolve into a Mental Realm. The Tier Four Beings you produce in the future will be able to easily suppress others of the same tier."
"So, once you successfully reach Tier Three, you can start collecting special Superpower Genes to build a Genetic Library."
"While they are still in desperate need of Tier Two Zerg Eggs, demand that they share those Superpower Cells."
Lin Feng’s eyes narrowed, and he nodded.
He knew the "they" she was referring to was the Federation Biological Research Institute—that band of mad scientists with their wild ideas and unscrupulous methods.
Ling Yi had once said that the requirement for ascending to Tier Four was to collect more than half of one’s own race’s genetic sequences, thereby stepping onto another biological plane.