The next day, He Lao took a helicopter to Ma's house. The whole Ma family stood at the intersection to greet them, including two-year-old Liu Ye. After all, fate was merciful, and it gave considerable compensation to Ren Dongmei's previous suffering. After Liu Ye was born, although the mother was not rich in milk as an elderly mother, Liu Ye ate a large amount of food, was not a picky eater, grew extremely strong, her little buttocks were tight, her skin was black and red, and she had never been sick in two years - except for a little abrasive when she was dozing, she could hear her giggling laughter at other times, which added endless fun to this family. At this time, she was hugged by her mother and waved vigorously to He Lao:

"Hello Grandpa He!"

He Lao walked over with Xiao Zhu's support, and first hugged Liu Ye into his arms, "Liu Ye, it is said that you should be called Uncle, but let it be, you can call it whatever you want." This is a gift from grandpa, a bag of chocolates, a stuffed bear. ”

"Thank you, Grandpa He. Ah, so much chocolate. Brother Tianle *** eats, and Sister Leshui also loves to eat. ”

He Lao looked back at Xiaoyu, "How do you call my sister?" It's time to call your sister-in-law. ”

Yu Leshui said with a smile: "I can't correct it, the little thing is quite assertive, maybe she thinks it's closer to her sister." ”

Ma Shiqi said: "He Lao, I have been looking forward to thanking you in person, the helicopter you have equipped for us has played a big role." ”

He Lao waved his hand - it was not worth mentioning. He looked around and said, "There should be a helipad attached to the house, so that it will be more convenient for you to come and go, and I will arrange this later." ”

"No, no, you don't have to worry about this, we can arrange it ourselves. Please come inside. ”

"I'll take a look around the neighborhood and see where Xiaoyu is written in that article. A few of you have difficulty walking, just let Xiaoyu accompany me alone. ”

Yu Leshui accompanied him for more than two hours, visited the observatory, saw the willow leaf fish in the beaded small stone pool, and also saw the crematorium prepared for Tianle. He Lao was also moved by the crematorium, standing by the firewood stack for a long time, caressing the dry pine wood, and staring at the miscellaneous trees growing on the opposite stone wall. Yu Leshui stood silently behind him and did not disturb him. After a while, He Lao turned around and asked:

"How is Xiao Chu's body doing?"

"Not good. Although we tried different treatments as much as we could, the disease was still evolving. At the meeting, you may think that he is in a good state of mind, it is hard, and I always feel that his life force is burning extraordinarily, so ......" she sighed bitterly, and did not continue.

"Child, please take good care of him and prolong his life as long as possible. The impression that his life and brain were too precious was especially strong after today's meeting. He was the first to discover the catastrophe in the path of humanity, and today he is the first to discover light in a dark hole. So, be sure to take good care of him. If there's anything I need to contribute, just ask. ”

"Thank you, Uncle He—no, according to the name of Liu Ye just now, I should also call Grandpa He. It's a mess. Yu Leshui smiled.

He Lao was very pleased. Xiaoyu's psychological quality is good, and he still has the heart to joke about such a heavy topic. He asked, "You've been married for two years and you're not pregnant, are you?" He heard Ma Shiqi vaguely reveal that Xiao Chu's sick body was unable to have sex. Well, the little fish really suffered. "Do you need to take some kind of medical action?"

Yu Leshui shook his head, "I discussed it with Tianle, but he didn't agree to IVF. You know why? You can't think of it. He believes that there is an abominable disease-causing gene in his DNA, and he wants to cut it off so that it will not be passed on. ”

He Lao was taken aback. Man (and all living things) is born with two of the strongest desires: to live and to reproduce. Like Xiao Chu, what courage does it take to use the power of reason purely to fight against innate desires and resolutely cut off one's bloodline. His heart was gloomy, and he didn't know how to comfort Xiaoyu for a while. Yu Leshui smiled:

"Uncle He, don't worry, Tianle and I have already discussed, if we want a child, I will go find another healthy man and receive a good seed. I'm still young at the moment, so there's no rush on this matter. ”

He Lao didn't say any more, and took her into his arms lovingly, "You are a good girl and the bravest woman. ”

By the time they got back, lunch was ready. The driver Xiao Zhu came many times, Liu Ye had already mixed with him, and he was tired of being in his arms, so Xiao Zhu hugged her for lunch. After the meal, He Lao chatted with the whole family for a while and asked Liu Ye about his future education. Ren Dongmei said:

"He Lao, I have to thank you. It was a bit difficult to give birth to willow leaves, and finally it was a caesarean section, and the helicopter you gave us came in handy, maybe it saved my life. ”

"That's what the state has given you, and I just helped with the formalities."

"Old He is in good health, I think you are a crane with a childish face."

"It's ok. People say that the old man comes to the Three Treasures, the wife, children and grandchildren and the good body, I have all these things. He suddenly remembered the two patients in front of him, and in order not to irritate them, he hurriedly turned the conversation, "No matter how good my body is, I can't compare to your mother and daughter, especially Xiao Liuye, it's like don't blame me for speaking rudely - a 'old donkey' in the field!" ”

The old donkey is a kind of wild grass in the north, which grows extremely vigorously, can grow into a thick canopy, and has deep roots, "the old donkey that eats grass can't move". Ma Shiqi laughed out loud and said, "Where can you be rude?" Liu Ye was born to be a wild baby in the mountains, and every day she was in a hurry to run into the field, and a small flower and a drop of dew could stare at it for a long time. ”

Over there, Liu Ye heard that she was talking about her, her black eyes looked at this side, and she whispered to Xiao Zhu: "Uncle Xiao Zhu, I don't like the old donkey dragging, how ugly this name is." It made the adults laugh. Ma Shiqi said to He Lao: "You see how good the air in the mountains is, and it is quiet, why don't I build another house next to it, and you can live here to support your old age." He Lao said implicitly:

"That's a good idea. Maybe I'll be here for a few years. ”

At this time, he had decided to continue to make that suggestion when he returned to Beijing, and he wanted to nominate himself as the first liaison. Ji Renrui's whip worked, George handed in the papers on time, and three days later held a professional meeting at the headquarters. This time, Ji Renrui presided over and made the necessary arrangements for the venue for the first time. In the past, none of the "Friends of Music" cared about the rules of these scenes, but Ji Renrui said that the minimum program was still necessary, just like the rituals in religion, which can create a solemn atmosphere. On the projection screen:

Respond to cataclysm

Pre-Action Plan Workshop

Speaker: George Jacoby

He Lao also participated, and was arranged by Ji Renrui next to the chairman's seat, and other members of the "Friends of Music" all participated. Ji Renrui said simply:

"George, let's get started."

George, who was well prepared, cleared his throat and began his argument:

"First of all, I want to thank Chu. He flapped his sick and disabled wings and brought an olive branch of hope to this land of calamity. I think that an incomparably magnificent human escape, or interstellar migration, can begin. Standing here and now, we can already see the tide of civilization that will soon take place and rush into the depths of the starry sky. Of course, there are many specific things to be done to truly realize it, such as the breakthrough of nuclear fusion technology, the design and manufacture of giant spaceships, the study of the 100,000-year-old spacecraft ecosystem, the study of the psychological stability and self-repair ability of small closed societies on spacecraft, the selection of the first batch of crew members and the maintenance of social stability, and so on. Anyway, it's hundreds of years later. But before that, Mr. Ji's contingency plan could have been implemented in advance. Of course, with Chu's theoretical breakthrough, the contingency plan is not just a placebo, it should be as effective as possible. Mr. Ji's proposed cosmic tombstone plan is too negative, and it is recommended to eliminate it - Mr. Ji, don't be disappointed, I will analyze it in detail below. ”

Ji Ren urged him: "I'm not disappointed at all, I wish you could come up with a better plan, say it quickly." ”

"Let's make a hypothetical, if a century-old manor is on fire, and there are valuable artifacts and a baby who has just fallen to the ground, which one should you rescue first? Babies, of course, the message that the living are more important than the dead. That's exactly what we need to do right now – to get the living information out of humanity, and all living things. He smiled and said, "I want to pull the conversation away first, please listen patiently." The birth of the universe is nothing more than a process of self-organization, a wrestling force between self-organization and entropy increase. Everything in the universe comes from self-organization, like quarks, baryons, nebulae, stars, lithospheres, atmospheres, mineral deposits, geysers, and so on. Biology, including humans, including man's proudest intellect, comes from self-organization. The difference is that abiotic self-organization does not require special templates, such as three quarks naturally combining into a baryon, a proton and an electron naturally combining into a hydrogen atom, water vapor condensing into hexagonal snowflakes, salt and gypsum crystallizing into square and hexagonal crystals, and so on. In terms of associative morphology, these structures are the most achievable low-energy states in nature, so the same structure will occur under the same physical conditions, whether it is on Earth or in a galaxy a billion light-years away. However, the self-organization of living things is different from the self-organization described above, and it requires a special template, which is generated by rare chance over hundreds of millions of years. Therefore, life on all planets is unique, in other words, the DNA of terrestrial organisms cannot be replicated in the biological evolution of alien planets, and aliens may have civilizations similar to ours, but they will never have the same DNA. Therefore, it would be the most valuable work to send the DNA of the earth's organisms out of the cataclysmic area and preserve it. This is the core secret of God, the most precious treasure in the universe, and the highest level of information. ”

Ji Renrui urged him unceremoniously: "It's far away, it's far away." No one is against doing this, so there's no need to fuss about necessity, just say what you can do. ”

"First of all, we must try to collect the DNA of all living beings on Earth, of course, first of all human DNA, and build a large spaceship, which can only be chemically driven for now. These biological cells are then frozen and sent into space in spacecraft until they are sent out of the cataclysmic area. Fortunately, space is an infinite refrigerator that does not consume energy, and these cells can remain frozen during a long journey of 500,000 years or after reaching a safe area. So that they can be preserved almost permanently until they are discovered by a civilization. Then humanity will be resurrected at the hands of aliens. "Of course, the chances of a DNA specimen being found by aliens are small, but at least it's not zero." I guess this should be more useful than building a cosmic tombstone, which has an equally low chance of being discovered. ”

"Being able to preserve the DNA of the earth's creatures is certainly useful, no one can doubt that. But......" Ji Renrui looked at him suspiciously, "You're done?" ”

"That's the overall context, and here's the specific technical scenario."

"Let's not go into the details. Don't you have a follow-up plan, such as how to make the escape ship automatically find a suitable planet where the DNA can multiply? ”

"That's good, of course, but unfortunately, it can't be done with predictable human technology. If the seeds of lower organisms and plants, such as microorganisms, are simply sown on a planet with the right environment, it is indeed possible for them to evolve rapidly and survive tenaciously. If you want humans to reproduce – it's too hard. Make some artificial ** to hatch human fertilized eggs? There is no guarantee that they will work after half a million years. Even if a human baby could be born, how would it survive? Make some more robot nurses? And then the machine keepers? That would be a complex systems project. The point is that time is too long for existing technology to keep a complex system under control after half a million years. But if you only let the lower beings live, you will not achieve your main goal - to reach the hearts of ordinary people. ”

"Then what you're talking about is still just dead information, not a living life." Ji Renrui shook his head, "My nerdy buddy, do you want to use this plan to arouse the enthusiasm of ordinary people?" There are no doors. It's not as intuitive as the Cosmic Tombstone Project. No, it must be to send alive life beyond the cataclysmic zone. ”

George smiled wryly, "Mr. Whip of God, why wouldn't I?" It's just that it's not possible at the moment. ”

"The cataclysm we are facing is also theoretically impossible, a piece of space does not collapse for no reason – but it happens. So, put away the word 'impossible', and don't say it in the future. You have to squeeze out the last drop of potential in your brain and devise a new plan that will give away 'living life', at least theoretically. ”

George reluctantly said, "Then I'll try." ”

"It's not about trying, it's about doing it! Who made you easily veto my Cosmic Tombstone project? He teased, "That's why I'm up to you!" As for the time – I know this next step is difficult, so I'll give you ten days. ”

George smiled wryly, "You're so generous. ”

Ji Renrui turned sideways to He Lao, "He Lao, I really want you to see a more certain result before you leave." Can you stay here for another ten days? ”

He Lao smiled: "What do I have to do as a retired old man? I wish I could have stayed here longer. ”

"Is there anything else anyone else would like to say?"

Everyone agrees with Ji Renrui's opinion, thinking that George's plan is not complete and there should be a follow-up plan. Chu Tianle didn't speak, and kept looking at George thoughtfully. After the adjournment of the meeting. Chu Tianle called George and whispered a few words. He spoke very briefly and slowly, and George understood it without the need for a translation. After hearing this, he was stunned for a moment, then he shook his head slowly, and said euphemistically:

"Chu, your idea is too sci-fi."

Chu Tianle smiled and whispered a few words, and George reluctantly said, "Okay, I will seriously consider it when I go back." But everyone can see that this statement is just a courtesy.

Ji Renrui didn't expect that only five days later, George would ask for a meeting. Ji Renrui was so excited that he immediately convened a second discussion. George was very excited today and said emotionally:

"At the last meeting, Chu Tianle provided me with an idea on the spot. Frankly, my first reaction was that this was a layman's overhead, and it was impossible. Such a stinky idea came from the mouth of this genius, and even made me feel sorry for him. Maybe you noticed the look on my face at the time. ”

Ji Renrui said: "I noticed, but you don't say these light words, let's talk about the main thing." ”

"But after I thought about it, I thought it was a stinky idea!"

Ji Renrui patted Chu Tianle's shoulder on the left, and then patted George's shoulder on the right, and praised him: "Good!" This is the talent, courage and work rhythm that the 'Friends of Music' should have. Go on! ”

"Let's talk about the preliminary work of this project. That is to develop a spacecraft that can automatically find a planet with suitable conditions after escaping from the cataclysmic area and enter the orbit of the planet on autopilot. This is a simple system that, with the current or foreseeable state of technology, is sure to remain in a controllable state after 500,000 years, and only needs to develop a supporting isotope energy source that can be used for 500,000 years. I consulted Alex and he assured me that the energy problem could be solved. The ship then drops seeds of lower creatures and plants, such as microorganisms, on the planet, allowing them to evolve and multiply in their new home. Thanks to the sowing of a well-established biological template – which I said last time is the best quality information in the universe, and which can be used to accelerate the process of nature 10,000 times over the course of nature – this 'terraforming process' is expected to take place within tens of thousands of years. Then it was Xiao Chu's turn to say to me. It's time for humanity to shine. ”

"Go on, I'm in a hurry!"

"Xiao Chu was inspired by an animal, the Australian platypus. This is a mammal, but unlike the average mammal, its mode of reproduction is oviparous. To reverse the view of this fact, "he deliberately paused for a moment before he came to the astonishing conclusion that "the anatomy of human beings, who are also mammals, is not incomparably different from the way they are oviparous." ”

The participants were all quick-witted, and they had roughly guessed the main thread of this plan, and they couldn't help but be shocked in their hearts - this idea was indeed too bold and simply whimsical. Only He Lao didn't react, and looked at Xiao Chu in confusion, and then looked at George. George continued:

"We can make a slight modification to the human genet, that is, replace the human 'viviparous driver' with the platypus 'oviparous driver'. Of course, the first generation of 'human eggs' was made using biomimetic technology, in which a human fertilized egg was placed. Human egg, this is a brand new term, please keep it firmly in mind from today onwards. The egg is still a normal egg white and an oversized yolk, but it is necessary to manage to maintain its biological activity after the process of blast freezing, long-term freezing, and natural thawing. When the frozen human eggs are thawed naturally and the ambient temperature reaches the incubation temperature, the driver starts automatically, and it is a natural process of biological incubation. The eggs would need to be large enough, weighing at least five kilograms, to ensure that the human fetus would be strong enough to eat at birth – provided that the planet's 'terraform' process is complete enough to provide food for humans to eat. As for how these ignorant toddlers survived - difficult, of course, but at least the ancestors of the platypus had already succeeded once. ”

He paused to let everyone digest what he had said. After a pause, he continued: "This plan may seem whimsical, but it is actually quite feasible, and its greatest advantage is to replace the program designed by humans with God's program. As I said, human technology cannot keep a complex system under control after 500,000 years, but God can do it, because the development of all living things on Earth has been subjected to hundreds of millions of years of rigorous testing and optimization of the most effective processes. Of course, Chu is not a biologist and does not consider the specific difficulties of this technique. In fact, platypus is very far from human DNA, for example, they have five pairs of sex chromosomes for males and females, while humans have only two pairs. Also, the oviparous mode of platypus cannot be completely detached from **, in fact, its eggs must stay in ** for 28 days, and incubate in vitro for only 10 days. So, it is quite difficult to transplant the oviparous driver of the platypus into human DNA. But it doesn't matter, it's all something that can be overcome for me. What is valuable is the big idea that Chu first proposed, that is: to make small repairs and small repairs to God's original program to replace the artificial technical program developed from scratch, so that you can get twice the result with half the effort. ”

There was silence in the conference room, and everyone was thinking seriously about the plan. After a pause, George said:

"One of the seemingly difficult aspects of this plan is to ensure that human eggs remain biologically viable after a long period of freezing and natural thawing. Actually, this is not too difficult, because time is stagnant in ultra-low temperature freezing, and 500,000 years is not much different from 50 years. To sum it up, it can be said that this plan does not require a revolutionary breakthrough in technology. And," he smiled and turned to Ji Renrui, "it fully meets the criteria that Mr. Ji has been shouting about – it can arouse the enthusiasm of the people to the greatest extent." Who doesn't want their descendants to continue for a long time, think of thousands of bare-ass villains breaking out of their shells in a foreign land, how touching this scene is! It is undoubtedly more effective than the Cosmic Tombstone Project. ”

Ji Renrui smiled and nodded, "I didn't say it, this is a good plan, I have been moved by this scene." I am very satisfied. ”

"I want to name it the 'Condor Egg' Project."

Ji Renrui smiled and asked, "Why did you get the Condor?" ”

"These human eggs are huge, and I'm going to send them to the surface in a larger egg-shaped landing pod. The mythology of One Thousand and One Nights has a story about the Condor Dome. George said with a smile.

"Okay, good. The name is loud enough. Regarding the bioethical aspects of this plan," Ji Renrui looked at everyone, "what do you have to say?" I mean, will there be a strong opposition to this being an alienation of humanity? ”

The people at the meeting unanimously turned their attention to He Lao, perhaps thinking that the opinion of this old-school figure was the most representative on this issue. He Lao groaned slightly and asked:

"If these new humans survive, will they always be oviparous?"

George keenly guessed the meaning of the words—He Lao didn't like such a prospect. But he frankly said, "That's right." Perhaps the new humans will gradually abandon the backward oviparity in their evolution and return to viviparity, but at least at the current stage, they will follow the oviparous program in their genes. ”

He Lao really didn't like such a prospect, but he thought for a while and said cautiously, "In my opinion, there won't be too strong objections. After all, this is an extraordinary moment, and many human nations have oviparous myths, such as Tibetan mythology says that human ancestors are oviparous, and the Shang Dynasty says that their ancestors swallowed bird eggs and became pregnant. In fact, the Pangu myth of the Han nationality is also an oviparous myth, except that it does not say that human beings, but that the entire universe is born in eggs. It can be said that 'oviparous' is an underground lake that secretly leads to the feelings of the human subconscious. So, I don't think there will be a strong opposition. ”

"Since He Lao agreed, I am relieved. What else do you have to say? ”

Ms. Wang Qingyin asked, "Is it possible to configure robot guardians to teach human civilization to future humans?" ”

George looked at the mathematician James Gleick, "Absolutely, that's one of our options." But to do this, the Condor Egg project will be much more difficult. And, both James and I argue, it's another system that is too complex to guarantee that it will remain manageable after half a million years. ”

Wang Qingyin smiled bitterly and said, "That also means that the human DNA that was bred on the new planet is not human. I'm not referring to their oviparous ways, but rather to say that they have no relationship with human civilization. They don't speak English, they can't write Chinese characters, they don't know that the third star of the solar system is their ancestral garden, and they don't even have the joys, sorrows, sorrows, and sorrows of human beings. After thinking about it, she added, "If they get strong quickly, and the Earth still exists then, maybe they'll send back a bloody invasion." ”

George said calmly, "Is this weird? Isn't that the path humanity has taken? You see, human beings originated in East Africa, but the mainstream of mankind today has long abandoned the ancient East African culture, does not speak East African languages, does not know for a long time that they are the descendants of those 'barbarian blacks', and even ungrateful against their ancestors and launched bloody slave wars. Wang Qingyin and the others couldn't help but be awe-struck. That's right, these are the most conclusive historical facts, and everyone knows them. It's just that people can often only see the details of history but fail to see the overall context of history, and they often let emotions drown out reason. George continued: "But in spite of this, mankind calls this evolutionary path progress, not reaction, not degeneration. Now, why should we find fault with the new round of 'progress'? ”

Such a conclusion is rather cold and psychologically difficult to accept. The room fell silent. After a while, George said:

"Moreover, even if Ms. Wang's proposal for robots to spread human civilization to these ignorant people can be realized, I am afraid that it will not be human beings like us, it will only be the tamed people of some robot God. Therefore - it is better for them to break out of obscurantism by their own efforts. The survival of living things is never rosy, and there is a lot of cruelty mixed with it, but 'living' is naturally right. ”

Ji Renrui said: "George is right! The history of human evolution is by no means an idyll in the Garden of Eden, it is full of ugliness, blood, ingratitude, and good for evil. But this is the history of life, and we don't have to be sentimental, just go forward. He turned sideways and said to He Lao: "He Lao, this plan is decided, and the Friends of Joy Engineering Institute will officially leave." It is believed that within a year or two, the 'Condor Egg' project will win the attention of hundreds of millions of people." ”

He Lao reminded him: "If Xiao Chu's new hypothesis can be confirmed, please report it to the SCAC as soon as possible." I'm sure this will push them to take a big step forward. ”

"Naturally, we would love to work with SCAC. It's all for one goal, Mr. He, right? ”

2

After Chu Tianle's new hypothesis was notified to the SCAC, the scientists there happily accepted it, because Chu's hypothesis was both intuitive and logical. Now, the new hypothesis is used to reinterpret the observational facts, and the two fit more smoothly. Although the cataclysmic region is reaching outward at the speed of light, there is hope for humanity's escape as long as there is no reverse turbulence that collapses at the speed of one hundredth of light. George's "Condor Egg" project was unveiled to the public, causing it to see a glimmer of hope for the first time in three years of desperate suffering. With these two points, "Friends of Music" quickly stepped to the center of the world stage.

Two months later, He Laolai called to report two incidents. First, China has decided to send an official liaison at the level of ambassador here, and he will be the first one. Of course, for the sake of political considerations, it is inconvenient to name it the "Liaison Office of the People's Republic of China in 'Friends of Le'", it will simply be called "He Guoji Office", and this name will not change after he leaves office. In addition, he will bring a considerable amount of money when he takes office, and whether such financial support will become the norm will be determined later. Second, Admiral Martin Haley, one of the five executive committees of the UN SCAC and this year's annual president of the SCAC, will visit the headquarters of "Friends of Music" in the future, which he took the initiative to propose during his working visit to China.

The next day, Mr. He accompanied Admiral Hailey to the headquarters of "Friends of Music" in a light car. Ji Renrui and Yu Leshui greeted them at the door. Hailey, like He Lao, is also a thin old man, with silver hair and a tough body. He is wearing civilian clothes, and his appearance is not amazing, but he is also the same as He Lao, there is something invisible on his body, which will make you definitely look twice. After the host and guest shook hands and greeted each other, He Lao asked the driver to take out a delicate bronze plaque from the car, on which were written the words "He Guoji Office". He handed the bronze medal to Ji Renrui:

"Xiao Ji, is my office vacant? Hang this bronze plaque, even if it has been unveiled. He Lao said.

Ji Renrui originally wanted to say that he had prepared a grand ceremony, but he thought about it and said happily: "Okay! It is better to be respectful than to obey fate. For He Lao, we don't engage in those showmanship. ”

"How is General Haley's visit arranged?"

"It's up to Xiaoyu to take him to the mountains for a tour, and then come back here to listen to a discussion among the 'Friends of Joy', this time on the topic of discussing the details of the Condor Egg Project. Other itineraries are subject to the opinions of guests. ”

He Lao discussed with Hailey, "Okay, the guest has no opinion, so be it." ”

Yu Leshui first accompanied General Haili to the helicopter, led him to visit Bao Tianman, saw the willow leaf fish in the beaded stone pool, saw the observatory in Chuma, and saw the cremation firewood stack prepared for Chu Tianle. These are already must-see attractions for foreign guests, which shows the influence of the interview in Yuleshui. At the crematorium, Martin Hay stroked the pine wood of the tic-tac-toe stack with his hand, his eyes beating with amazement and emotion. He said to his master:

"Fish, good news for you. A team of researchers in the United States has just made a breakthrough in this terminal disease, using a gene therapy that has no cure but can stop the progression of the disease. I have made arrangements and two doctors from the team will come here later to treat Chu at the expense of SCAC. He added, "By the way, the moderator of the research group happened to be of Chinese descent. ”

Yu Leshui was inexplicably surprised, "Really?" That's great, that's great! Is it a Chinese American surnamed Duan at the University of Missouri? We've been following his research, but we don't know he's made a breakthrough yet. ”

"Yes, the surname is Duan, Mr. Duan Tongsheng. The breakthrough was just made. ”

"Mr. Haley, no, I should call Uncle Martin, I really don't know how to thank you."

Haley smiled and said, "Your surprise is the best thank you for me." Besides, we would like to thank Chu, Ma and you first. In your efforts to deal with this cataclysm, you have done beyond the ordinary. ”

They also visited the family's mountain home. Yu Leshui first reported the good news to her mother-in-law, and her mother-in-law was naturally so happy that she didn't know how high or low. Yu Leshui was a little worried, afraid that Tianle's mother would repeat the scene of "kowtowing to her benefactor", which would be too embarrassing, so she was ready to intervene quickly. But in the past ten years, Tianle's mother's mentality and temperament have been very different after all, although she is grateful, but she didn't expect to kowtow to thank her, Yu Leshui put her heart at ease, and thought self-deprecatingly, but she is behind the times.

Xiao Liuye didn't recognize life at all, and was already sitting on the knee of the "foreign grandfather" at this time. Tianle's mother wanted to leave the guests for lunch before leaving, but Mr. Haley had limited time, so he had to say a hurried farewell to the family. Back at the headquarters of "Friends of Joy", where the "Condor Egg" plan was being discussed, Wu Zheng and Ge Qihong had just proposed that this time it was best to eliminate the vicious pathogens and hateful parasites in advance, so as to leave a "clean world" for the new humans in the future. As Haley and Fish took their seats, George was speaking:

"It's not right to do that, we're not God, and we don't have the right to decide which creatures live and which ones should go extinct."

Ge Qihong retorted with a grin: "But we are already sowing life in God's place." ”

Everyone laughed. George was a little embarrassed and said sarcastically, "Yes, I was wrong, I forgot my new honorable identity." However, whether we are God or not, my opinion itself is not bad. The biosphere is an incomparably complex network of organisms that interact with each other, and no one is absolutely 'beneficial' and which is absolutely 'pest'. The way to be safe is to try to keep it as it is, for obvious reasons, because such an evolutionary process has been successful at least once. Of course, it is unrealistic to completely follow the evolutionary path of the Earth in a completely new environment, and we can only do our best. But in any case, the general direction of 'trying to keep the status quo' is certainly safer and easier to achieve than the general direction of 'deliberately pure'. ”

"I agree with George. At this point, an ancient Chinese saying applies: it is rare to be confused. ”

Wang Qingyin also said: "Yes, the so-called idea of keeping future human beings away from the virus is just a beautiful but unrealizable dream. ”

At the meeting, everyone had a heated discussion and quickly reached a consensus: not to deliberately eliminate any "pests". During the discussion, Yu Leshui walked up to her husband and whispered the good news about the treatment of the disease. Chu Tianle immediately turned his head to stare at General Hailey, a spark of joy shining in his eyes.

After the discussion, Ji Renrui invited He Lao and General Hailey to speak. He Lao waved his hand, "I am already the liaison officer stationed in the headquarters of 'Friends of Music', and I will have more time to stir rice spoons together in the future." I would like to invite you from afar to speak. ”

Martin Haley did not refuse, and gave an emotional speech: "I am ashamed. I don't know how many times more resources SCAC has at its disposal than it does here, but at least two things give you a head start. First of all, Mr. Chu denied the reverse turbulence on the road of human escape in the future, laying hope for the efforts of all mankind in the future. Then there was the 'Condor Egg' project, which Mr. Ji forced out with the 'Whip of God', which attracted the attention of people all over the world and aroused unprecedented enthusiasm in just two months after it was announced. Visiting here today has allowed me to reaffirm the truth that private institutions are more efficient than official institutions, even if they are under the leadership of military personnel. He said half-jokingly.

Alex also smiled and said, "That's right, what you said is indeed the truth, we realized it two or three years ago, so we took the initiative to go here." ”

"To be honest, I had a little ambition before I came here, which was to incorporate the 'Friends of Joy' into SCAC. But after I came to visit, and under the persuasion of He Lao, my mind changed - let's let this brilliant wildflower grow in the wilderness, because maybe after the adoption will invisibly stifle its vitality, then I will be responsible for it. However, we will continue to vigorously promote the cooperation between SCAC and Friends of Joy. Be honest about what you need me to do. ”

Ji Renrui immediately signaled to Ge Qihong, vice president of the foundation, who was very alert and immediately said with a smile: "Of course, the first thing is financial support. The activities of the 'Friends of Joy' rely on donations from the private sector, but the cost of the 'Condor Egg' project is 100 billion yuan after it really enters the implementation stage. It would be very beneficial for our work if the SCAC could allocate some funds so that we have a small but constant flow of water. For that we will be grateful. ”

Ji Renrui said: "The financial fundamentals of 'Friends of Le' depend on private donations, which will not be ambiguous, and we must always adhere to it." Of course, if the SCAC can fund some of it, as Vice Chairman Ge said, "a small but relatively constant spring water", we would also welcome it. ”

"As far as I know, your country** has promised to provide a constant spring water."

Ji Renrui glanced at He Lao. The reality is that China** provided the first funding, but it is not certain whether it is "constant spring water". But he lied a little to Haley: "Yes, but we'd rather have two springs and a double insurance." He turned to a joking tone, "If you can give it, you have to hurry, you won't need it if it's late." Looking at the current situation, donations to Friends of Joy will definitely come in waves. ”

"Okay, I'll finalize this matter as soon as I go back, so as not to catch up with the trend as Mr. Ji said." He laughs.

General Hailey left after a simple working lunch, and Ji Renrui and the Chu couple went to see him off. Chu Tianle shook hands with Haili and said simply:

"Thank you from the bottom of my heart, you are still concerned about my illness in the midst of your heavy work."

"You're welcome, that's what I'm supposed to do. The doctor will be there soon. He handed a check to Yu Leshui, "Fish, this is my personal donation to the 'Friends of Joy'. As for the SCAC appropriation, if it can be approved by the Executive Committee, I will have the clerk transfer it as soon as possible. Chu, you have to take care of your body, your health is not only your personal business, but also the world's and all mankind's. ”

The three of them bid farewell to General Haley and watched the car disappear on the winding road.

Subsequently, Ji Renrui immediately organized the construction and built a helipad on the top of the wall adjacent to the Ma family, and in the center of the apron was a big red cross. The road from the apron to Ma's house was also repaired. At the same time, construction was also started on a three-bedroom simple house, which was built for He Lao. Five days later, $200 million from the SCAC was remitted to the Foundation's account.

A week later, Dr. Duan Tongsheng from the University of Missouri and his assistant Moder Larsson arrived to examine Chu Tianle carefully and formulate a treatment plan for him. Duan, a Chinese who came to the United States from Chinese mainland to study three decades ago, has been engaged in research on this terminal disease, and has just recently made a breakthrough. He uses adeno-associated virus AAV as a vector to deliver a normal exogenous gene (dystrophin gene) into the patient's nucleus. The virus is relatively safe and does not cause other diseases. However, the virus is too small to carry the large molecular weight dystrophin gene. It is in this difficult problem that Dr. Duan has come up with a unique creation: he takes the target protein gene into two, transports it with two viruses, and then automatically assembles it in the correct order after reaching the patient's nucleus. This "two-to-two" approach is key to the success of the new treatment.

"We've been doing animal experiments for years to make sure this method is safe. So don't worry. Doctor Duan, who had snow-white hair, said cordially to the Chu couple. He had been a native speaker for more than 30 years, did not speak very well, and had slow syllables, but he insisted on speaking in Chinese after coming to China. "As for efficacy, I don't want to talk too much about it, after all, we have just moved to the clinical stage. But at the very least, this approach can certainly slow down the progression of the disease. ”

Chu Tianle said with a smile: "I don't worry, there is an old saying in China, a dead horse should be a live horse doctor." I'm basically a dead horse, so I'll hand over this hundred and eighty pounds to you. He sighed, "Frankly, I've been numb to death for years, but the arrival of you two has aroused my desire to live. I wish I had a few more years to live, and I still have so much to do. ”

This greed for life has always been buried deep in his heart, and this is the only time it has been expressed in words. Yu Leshui held his hand and said softly, "The two doctors will definitely cure you." Don't forget, you said you would live for a hundred years, and then write a memoir, "A Hundred Years of Shellfish". ”

"Okay, we'll do our best to help you fulfill that wish." Dr. Duan said.

After the examination, they arranged for Chu Tianle to go to Peking Union Medical College Hospital for surgery a month later to inject vector virus into heart muscle and skeletal muscle cells, where the operating conditions were good. Ten months after surgery, a follow-up examination is performed to determine whether the foreign gene has survived in the patient's body. The two doctors are gone, and they have sown hope into this home.

The "Friends of Joy" project was broken down into a number of sub-projects, transformed into a specific and detailed work plan, and then fully rolled out, including the design and manufacture of spaceships, the design and manufacture of human eggs, and the freezing and thawing technology, the adaptation and transplantation technology of oviparous drivers, the collection and classification of biological DNA, the selective collection of human DNA, and so on. The total budget of the entire operation is in the unit of 100 billion, but the account of the foundation is currently less than 3 billion, but Ji Renrui is not worried about this at all. He said that as long as they spread out the stalls and put what they have already done into the spotlight, donations from the people will come flooding in. The headquarters of "Friends of Music" resounded everywhere with the whistling of "God's Whip", and Ji Renrui was the first to whip himself. Miao Qi heard her husband's hoarse voice on the phone, and said distressedly:

"Ren Rui, why don't I quit my job here and rush over to take care of you. I know that your side is on track, and the reputation of 'Friends of Music' has spread among the people. Yesterday, Lao Lu was still laughing, saying that he didn't expect that you would be able to make such a big cloud as a wild dragon. ”