228: Chapter 228 Solution: Complex Virus

"Of course. Genetic editing is our specialty," Isaac said with a smile. "After the analysis, I immediately had a vaccine produced and began human trials."

Lin Fang breathed a sigh of relief. With a vaccine, at least future infections could be prevented.

But...

Just as Lin Fang was about to continue speaking, Isaac, as if anticipating him, said, "Commander, following your directive to reverse the petrification of organisms, my repeated experiments show conventional methods are ineffective. The composition of that silicon-based reverse transcriptase is too complex."

"Therefore, I've decided on another approach: using a virus to fight a virus."

Isaac's eyes gleamed with intensity.

"What virus?" Lin Fang asked, intrigued. He had no reservations about this; as long as the goal was achieved, what did the method matter?

"The C-Virus. It was developed from the characteristics of the Veronica and G-Viruses, capable of airborne transmission and targeted infection of specific genes."

"We've tested it. It can perfectly carry the reverse-coded silicon-based reverse transcriptase gene," Isaac explained excitedly. "It invades petrified cells. Even though silicified, these cells remain intact and offer no resistance to this special C-Virus. Results appear very quickly."

Isaac played a video for Lin Fang. The footage showed a completely petrified middle-aged man, who appeared to have been struggling desperately before succumbing to the Medusa Virus.

"Injection of MSV-C composite virus commencing."

MSV, the abbreviation for Medusa Virus. Following the researcher's voice in the recording, a faint purple mist was injected into the isolation chamber, containing countless dangerous C-Virus particles.

The C-Virus began attacking the sole target in the chamber, attaching and infiltrating.

An astonishing scene unfolded. The moment the purple made contact, the grey color on the man's body rapidly receded, revealing healthy, flesh-toned skin—he appeared to be Caucasian.

Starting from the head, in less than five minutes, the petrification had completely vanished. The faint rise and fall of his chest indicated life was returning.

The video was only halfway through; clearly, there was more to the story.

The middle-aged man slowly opened his eyes, confusion from just awakening in his gaze. He looked around, then a flash of joy crossed his face as he murmured a sentence.

"I'm okay... that's great, I'm okay..."

But a sudden mutation occurred. The man's eyes began to turn crimson, his body undergoing some change as he collapsed to the floor, writhing in agony and howling in pain.

Strange purple patterns began to surface under his skin, as if something alive was moving beneath.

In moments, a freshly minted zombie appeared, roaring as it clawed at the surrounding glass, snarling and baring its teeth at the researchers outside.

The researcher shook his head and said,

"Test Subject 13 has zombified. Useless. Incinerate it."

Inside the isolation chamber, concealed ceiling nozzles instantly opened, spraying plasma flames exceeding 6,000 degrees Celsius. The flames, like an angry white dragon, instantly filled the entire space.

After the flames dissipated, the test subject, along with the C-Virus inside, had vanished completely.

The researcher in the protective suit brought in another petrified statue...

The video playback ended there.

After watching, Lin Fang felt a bit speechless. He had almost forgotten—the C-Virus itself had the ability to turn people into zombies, even surpassing the T-Virus in that regard.

Well, now the world's infected population faced two choices: remain a cold, lifeless stone statue, or become a lively, hopping zombie.

What a difficult choice...

Lin Fang frowned. "Can we find a way to deactivate the virus in advance, so after recovery, there's no risk of zombification?"

"My thoughts exactly, Commander,"

Isaac laughed heartily. "The core of this method is limiting its replication cycles after entering a host organism. So, in the next version of the MSV-C virus, I modified twelve key base pairs. Once it replicates a certain number of times, it triggers a decay sequence in its genes, leading to irreversible deactivation. Afterwards, it's simply metabolized and expelled by the body."

"I had the researchers implement this yesterday. Results should be coming soon. Would you like to see, Commander?"

This guy really knows how to work miracles with viruses, Lin Fang thought, looking at Isaac's invitation. He felt it necessary to have Isaac serve as a teacher a few times, holding classes for the scientists in his company to learn properly.

See what 'old but vigorous' truly means.

Lin Fang accompanied Isaac to another laboratory. Happily, the optimized MSV-C virus had achieved excellent results.

The test subject in the isolation chamber was in good condition, with all bodily functions restored to normal levels, and was drinking water heartily from a cup.

This trip was certainly worthwhile.

——

Two days later, Lin Fang returned from resident evil to reality. The young man's figure abruptly appeared in his office.

"Xiao Hei, what's the current situation?"

Lin Fang asked.

[Boss, the situation isn't good. So far, 530 million people have been infected with the Medusa Virus. Many countries are already existing in name only. The World Health Organization raised the highest alert this morning. Everyone is fearing for their own safety...]

Xiao Hei projected a holographic map in front of Lin Fang. It was covered in large swathes of red areas, some already turning black.

Lin Fang browsed through and found the Medusa Virus had spread globally, even though Third-Party Technology had publicly released the virus inhibitor data, and the final published cost had been significantly reduced.

Thanks to Third-Party Technology's efforts, the scientific name 'Medusa Virus' was also recognized by various sectors. After all, without this company, they might have all turned to stone.

As for the joint research teams established by various countries, they had made progress, but it was far behind Lin Fang's company, let alone achieving a solution.

Consequently, many people in various countries, braving the virus, launched large-scale protest demonstrations, protesting their governments' inaction, unable to even match a single company.

Lin Fang thought this wasn't entirely their fault; this virus was simply beyond the norm.

[Boss, have you found a method?]

"Mm-hmm,"

Lin Fang nodded, then dialed Xu Anqing's number:

"Anqing, contact the World Health Organization and arrange a press conference. Announce that we have found a vaccine against the virus and a reversal treatment for the petrification. We need to enact emergency policies to proceed directly with human clinical trials and recruit volunteers globally."

"If they don't agree, we'll just proceed in our Civilization Science City."