Homo Sapiens

Research Base, Zone A6.

This area was located on the first basement level.

Of the ten large iron cages prepared for holding lab animals, seven were already in use.

Except, the cages didn’t contain chimpanzees or the like, but seven human beings.

Bafate regained consciousness in a daze. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a gray-white wall. Then he realized his hands and feet were bound by cuffs and shackles, and he had a ball gag in his mouth.

All he could manage were muffled sounds: ”Mmph... mmph...”

The other lowlifes in the cages also began to wake up one by one. They were just as securely bound, able only to make muffled noises.

Of course, even if they could scream, it would be useless. There was no one else in Zones A and B of the research base, and the basement was soundproofed.

Across Kalaqua Island, some of the Chinese employees were starting their New Year’s holiday. The local employees, however, were mostly Christian; their holiday had been Christmas, so they were now back at work.

Meanwhile, inside the research base, Li Qingye had already tested the effects of CRISPR-JM on domestic pigs and white mice, isolating a portion of the gene sequence related to the prefrontal cortex.

However, human genes were still different from those of other animals. Success in animals didn’t guarantee success in humans.

With all the experimental equipment prepared, he began his first human trial.

Bafate was terrified. He realized he wasn’t in a prison but in some kind of high-tech facility. Having seen so many movies, his mind immediately jumped to plots involving evil scientists.

The moment he saw a figure in a white lab coat appear before his cage, Bafate’s fear reached its peak.

Li Qingye had no intention of having a heart-to-heart with this lowlife. He administered a shot of anesthetic, and the man collapsed into a comatose heap. Li Qingye moved the test subject onto a hospital bed, secured the cuffs and shackles, and pushed him toward the elevator.

Seeing this, the other lowlifes in their cages began to tremble in fear.

The hospital bed was wheeled into the laboratory. Li Qingye expertly stripped the test subject’s clothes, attached various monitoring devices, and inserted a urinary catheter, an IV drip for nutrients, and an oxygen mask. Finally, he set up the cardiopulmonary resuscitation equipment.

’This guy is actually quite a bit luckier than I was during my own modification.’

Soon, a specially formulated CRISPR-JM factor solution began to flow continuously into the test subject’s body.

Unlike his own modification, which had removed his genetic limiters, the procedure for this test subject had only a few specific goals.

First, to turn the prefrontal cortex gene sequence into a pseudogene.

Second, to turn the reproductive gene sequence into a pseudogene.

Third, to remove the limiter gene sequences related to physical fitness.

These three goals were very straightforward: one was to make the test subject lose his humanity; another was to strip him of his ability to reproduce, preventing him from polluting the human gene pool; the last was to make the test subject physically strong.

Under the effects of the anesthetic, Bafate only twitched occasionally, or experienced arrhythmia and fluctuating blood pressure, but his life was never in danger.

The modification process lasted for ten days.

After Li Qingye confirmed that the test subject’s vital signs were stable, he checked his chromosome telomeres. They too had shortened significantly, estimating that the subject had at most thirty years left to live.

’Compared to my own life expectancy of less than twenty years, this is actually an improvement.’

The awakened Bafate was silent, his expression dull and wooden.

Li Qingye grabbed a tablet, casually pulled up a romance movie, and placed it in front of Bafate for him to watch.

Meanwhile, he continued to monitor the data from the diagnostic equipment.

Even when extremely suggestive scenes appeared on screen, Bafate showed no physiological reaction whatsoever, as if he were a wooden doll.

He then tested him with comedies, tearjerkers, and horror films. These tests essentially confirmed that the subject had lost all capacity for joy, anger, and sorrow.

Next, by injecting a measured dose of dopamine to create a pathway dependence, he successfully made Bafate recount his memories. This confirmed for Li Qingye that hormonal and pheromonal stimuli could indeed make the test subjects extremely obedient.

However, these individuals were like robots. He had to constantly train them and issue commands for them to complete even simple tasks.

Li Qingye wasn’t too disappointed by this.

The test subject was like a computer with a partially damaged processor; it was a miracle it hadn’t crashed completely.

What he needed to do now was use the artificial Photon Biological Chip to replace the test subject’s damaged prefrontal cortex.

To replace ”natural” emotions and desires with ”artificial” ones.

Although the test subject behaved very robotically, Li Qingye proceeded to modify the remaining subjects. After all, the modified subjects were completely obedient to him, the master of their hormones.

Even if they couldn’t perform delicate tasks, they could at least feed and bathe themselves without his help.

To facilitate future genetic modifications, Li Qingye even renovated the entire laboratory. From now on, he could push someone in, and ten days later, their genetic modification would be complete.

Between modifying the test subjects, renovating the lab and its equipment, and developing the biological chip, he spent over three months in total.

In the blink of an eye, it was May of ’18.

During this time, the Homo Sapiens Company had generated another 570 million US Dollars in revenue. However, to avoid attracting unwanted attention, he had Li Jinglan suspend the sale of eel fry.

All previous sales of eel fry had been done through shell corporations. Although Li Jinglan was very confused by this, he obediently carried out the order in the face of Li Qingye’s assertiveness.

It might just seem like eel breeding technology, but it was actually tied to an industry worth tens of billions of US Dollars.

He didn’t know if others would be jealous, but the people of East Japan definitely would be.

After all, East Japan had been researching eel breeding technology for over a decade and was also the world’s largest consumer of eels. They certainly wouldn’t want to give up this slice of the pie easily.

Until he had adequate security, Li Qingye didn’t want to attract attention.

He now had over a billion US Dollars on hand. He wouldn’t be short on funds for the time being, so there was no need to expand sales.

Besides, scarcity creates value. Selling too many eel fry would cause the market price to drop, reducing the net profit per unit. Controlling supply and using scarcity marketing was the way to go.

At the same time, the Homo Sapiens Company’s recent business focus shifted to increasing investment in the areas surrounding Dart Port, with plans to build 30 large-scale farms along the coast.

Li Jinglan, Kang Nan, Zhaxi, and others were all busy with this matter.

This was also one of Li Qingye’s strategies: keep everyone feeling extremely busy with their work, as if there was an endless amount to do, to prevent them from stopping to think.

When people have too much free time, their minds tend to wander.

’Once I’ve finished my stealthy development and have enough Soldiers, that will be the time for the Homo Sapiens Company to expand its territory.’

’Right now, I can’t even guarantee the loyalty of my subordinates. Unless I want to follow my father’s old path or collude with the capitalists, I can only bide my time for now.’

Meanwhile, the Photon Biological Chip that Li Qingye had been obsessing over had become much more mature after more than three months of research and experimentation.

Although it was still a ways off from his ideal vision, the second-generation technology was now marginally usable.

The manpower problem plaguing Li Qingye left him no time to wait for the technology to be perfected. Rather than aiming for a perfect one-step solution, it was better to use it and improve it along the way.