Just because Hawking himself is moved doesn't mean that the invitation has been successful - his influence is so great that every move will attract the attention of all parties.

At around four o'clock in the afternoon, in the conference room of Gonville Case College (gonville_and_caius_college), including Cambridge representative Alison ? Richard (Principal), Herzlett? Lawson (Dean of Gonville Case), Mayor of Cambridge, Hammond? Lucius and Steve's daughter Lucy? More than 20 people, including Stephen Hawking, packed the room, and some even brought chairs to sit in the corner — all of whom had come to hear from Mr. Li about his treatment options.

Such a scene of excitement made Trist feel Hawking's influence again, but this was also expected by Li Jie. Since the publication of A Brief History of Time, any of Hawking's developments have garnered the attention of the global media. One time Hawking was staying in Cyprus, and the hotel suddenly had a power outage. The accident even alarmed the country's president, who came directly by helicopter to direct the repairs.

Compared to that time, the current situation can only be regarded as a small battle at best, just now Mayor Hammond? Lucius directly told Li Jie that the British Prime Minister's Office had called and said that he was closely monitoring the progress of the matter.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming. We are all well aware of the importance of Mr. Hawking to humanity and to the academic community. Therefore, I implore you to listen carefully and be careful about what I have to say. Li Jie had already made a detailed argument with Gilbert in advance, and Gilbert himself was better at research than public speaking, so he did not bring the other party with him, but chose to make this speech himself.

"Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is the involvement of upper motor neurons (brain, brainstem, spinal cord). It is also a chronic progressive degenerative disease that affects lower motor neurons (cranial nerve nuclei, anterior horn cells of the spinal cord) and their innervated trunk, limbs, and head and face muscles. Clinically, it often manifests as mixed paralysis of upper and lower motor neurons with impaired lesions. As we all know, the most terrifying thing about this disease is that the damage it causes is irreversible. Even with the right treatment, damaged nerves can be regenerated and repaired, but only a small part of the function can be restored. Fundamental torsion cannot be obtained - the reason is that the repaired nerve signal is incomplete, and it cannot completely control and regulate various functions, so generally speaking, the goal of current treatment to restore the disease is to control the secondary disease and restore part of the function. ”

There was silence in the conference room, and everyone was engrossed in looking at Li Jie and listening to his speech. Of course, Li Jie will not have any nervousness. But he paused for a moment to let everyone digest it, and then glanced at the audience to see that no one objected to his words, and then continued:

"But Mr. Hawking. He had been ill for too long. Frankly, most of the damaged nerves have lost most of their function, and even effective targeted treatment and repair will not lead to significant improvement in his condition - and Corona's Corbister 1 laboratory takes a completely different approach. Through gene editing technology, we will replace the newly bred special artificial genomes with Mr. Hawking's existing genes, and these artificial genomes mainly contain two functions: motor neuron generation and strengthening, and muscle tissue generation. Put simply, a new genome would have a completely different effect. Under the stimulation of the cooperative means, new motor nerve cells gradually grow, which are more powerful and stable than the original ones. Meantime. There are also secondary developments that assist in muscle tissue. ”

Speaking of which, an old man wearing thick glasses slowly raised his hand, that is Rossetti, Hawking's current attending doctor and an authority in British neurology? Walker.

"Mr. Walker." Li Jie motioned for the other party to ask a question.

"Mr. Li, I have a general understanding of the treatment methods in your laboratory, which is indeed feasible in theory, the only question is - can the artificial genome you are talking about really achieve the described effect? I doubt it. ”

Rossetti? Walker objected. It's not that I don't think the treatment method mentioned by Li Jie is meaningless. On the contrary, he thought that the young man's description was too good. It's so good that it's a little unreal. This reminds Rossetti of a previous public statement by an Italian advanced neuromodulation group that claimed to get Hawking back on his feet with a head transplant. It once caused an uproar in public opinion, but in the end it turned out to be pure farce and grandstanding. Of course, Li Jie's plan sounds a little more reliable, but in his opinion, it is only a gap of 50 steps and 100 steps.

Everyone once again turned their attention to Li Jie, Rossetti's question can be said to be to the point, just like the whole world knows that new energy will bring change, but so far no company or research institution can really realize, just empty words are meaningless, they will not vote in favor of this.

"We don't waste everyone's time with false notions, especially for a respectable elder like Mr. Hawking." Li Jie nodded slightly to Hawking, who was sitting in the front wheelchair, and then motioned for Trist to play the expansion he had brought. "We have successfully tested this technology on canines and gorillas. Moreover, there are already volunteers who have received genetic replacement from the institute. ”

The audience was in an uproar, shaking their heads again and again, but they couldn't help but stare firmly at the projection screen behind Li Jie. From the footage, they did see a dramatic change in the test creatures, and more importantly, the volunteer Li Jie was talking about - this is a 30-year-old former rugby player who has become extremely thin and paralyzed, and only his eyes can move, which is typical of peripheral paralysis of the upper limbs and central paralysis of the lower limbs. However, after ten days of genetic replacement, he was able to make expressions normally and even move his fingers!

This seemingly faint transformation is no less than thunder in their eyes! Anyone who cares about ALS will be able to realize what a breakthrough this means!

Rossetti, an authority on neurology? Walker's mouth was wide enough to swallow a whole egg, and he even took off his glasses and wiped the lenses vigorously, putting them back on and standing up unconsciously, approaching the projection screen, as if trying to see the volunteer's facial muscles: "Unbelievable...... Unbelievable ......"

After repeating it a dozen times. Rossetti finally remembered Li Jie who was standing beside him, turned around and grabbed his arm excitedly: "Mr. Li, is this true?" What is your artificial genome based on? What kind of atlas can produce such amazing results!? ”

Li Jie pressed the urge to break the neck of this shriveled old man, smiled lightly and patted his arm: "Let's focus on the present first, shall we?" Mr. Walker? ”

"Oh! Oh! Yes, sorry. Mr. Lee. Rossetti Walker realized that his actions were a little overstepping, laughed dryly, turned around three times, and sat back reluctantly. Of course, he understood that this was a secret of Li Jie's laboratory, and it was impossible to reveal it casually, but the irrepressible curiosity was really unbearable, which made him scratch his ears and cheeks a little.

By this time, the people who had come to listen to the report were completely in a mess. Begin to move back and forth and engage in heated arguments. Li Jie coughed heavily: "I would like to solemnly remind you that the invitation to Mr. Hawking to participate in this artificial genome project, which is still in the experimental stage, is only for one reason - the great contribution to Mr. Hawking, we do not want to see him endure this kind of pain again." And this research, Corona is still in absolute secrecy. It is not open to any of them. That is to say, you are among the first outsiders to learn of this information, and you want to keep it secret for us, and not to reveal it to any party - believing this will also help to reassure you, and we are by no means a utilitarian institution that wants to win attention. ”

Alison? Richard, Herzlett? Lawson and Hammond? Lucius and the others all showed surprised and solemn expressions, and after some exchanges, they all made statements. Promised not to reveal the news before the corona company.

"I have one more question." Rossetti? Walker didn't bother with that, and spoke again, but this time he was obviously much more polite. There was a bit of melancholy on his face. "After all, Mr. Li's experiment has not been verified by enough human cases, that athlete's physical function and age are still in their golden age, and he can withstand the changes in gene replacement and produce a benign reaction, which does not mean that Steve can also ...... it."

Although the rest of the words were not finished. But everyone immediately understood what he meant, and Hawking's age and physical condition were already too bad to be worse. Will he survive the substitution phase, and will he be able to produce the same positive effect? It's really an unknown.

At this time, Hawking, who had been watching Li Jie speak silently and intently, finally spoke: "I am very grateful for everyone's concern for me, I really didn't expect that there would be such an opportunity in my lifetime." Many years have passed, and it seems like a long time, sometimes fleeting, so long that I can't remember how I was able to move freely. At any point in my life, it seemed like I was facing the possibility of dying young, which made me realize that life is incomparably precious, and there are so many important things waiting for me to do. ”

His daughter Lucy stepped forward a little anxiously and stroked his shoulder, worried that he would not be able to support such a long talk, but was quickly interrupted by Steve: "It's okay, Lucy, I've always wanted to touch your face with my own hands again." ”

His eyeballs and facial muscles are constantly moving, organizing new language to come out through the vocalizer: "Life is unfair, but that doesn't mean we should go along with it." On the contrary, I think that no matter what your situation is, you can only go all out. Bruce was already the biggest surprise I've ever encountered, and in fact I was worried at first that he was too young. But now I don't think so, and I'm glad he proved my point once again - common sense is important, but it can also easily shackle our minds and often become synonymous with prejudice. I couldn't help but think that if he succeeded, then I would be able to fulfill my long-held wish: to swim in the water and play with my children. ”

Lucy burst into tears, leaning down on his knees, burying her head deeply, and from her constant shrugging of her shoulders, you could imagine the excitement of this daughter. The others also stood up and leaned over, looking at Hawking with all kinds of eyes.

Steve continued: "Even if we fail this time, we won't have nothing to gain. Then I have fulfilled at least one other last wish - to contribute to the patients, which is much better than my previous intention to be a research specimen. Bruce, you're an outstanding person, you shouldn't fall in the same place twice, right? ”

Li Jie smiled without hesitation: "I never fall." ”

Then he glanced at the audience again, looked at everyone and said, word by word, "Guys, Steve is a real genius, he_deserves_r." (He deserved better)"

I don't know if it was Li Jie's last sentence that touched everyone present, or because they were all interested in Steve? Hawking knew all too well that he knew he had made a decision. At this point, they were all silent, and there were no more objections.

Mayor Hammond? After consulting with Mr. Lee, Lucius made a 10-minute phone call to the prime minister's office. When he walked back to the conference room, he walked straight up to Steve, leaned down and patted him lightly on the shoulder, "Bless you, sir." ”

After he made this move, all the people stepped forward and lined up, putting their hands on his shoulders to send the same blessings in turn, an almost religious ritual ritual procedure that was apparently not rehearsed or planned in advance, but was entirely spontaneous by the people. The meaning contained in this made Trace's eyes moisten again, and she found that she didn't know why, after meeting Li Jie, her tear glands seemed to have developed a lot.

In the end, the only ones left in the conference room were Judith and Lucy, Li Jie stepped forward and squatted in front of Steve, and gently patted the back of his hand, which was a little swollen because of the long-term infusion: "Steve, I have a very nice pool in my house in Los Angeles, do you want to try it?" ”

Steve? Hawking blinked: "I'm a strong swimmer." (To be continued)