277: Arrived at the laboratory

The plane flew steadily above the clouds. Inside the cabin, it was quite quiet except for the low hum of the engines. Shen Mingyuan looked at the sea of clouds passing by the window and suddenly nudged Wei Ziqing, who was resting with his eyes closed, with his elbow.

"Hey, Wei Ziqing," he whispered, with a hint of speculation from reading too many Detective novels.

"Do you think... this 'air express' of ours might get 'hijacked' halfway? Like... some flying evolved being suddenly popping out of the clouds?"

Wei Ziqing opened his eyes and gave Shen Mingyuan a speechless look.

"I doubt it... The aerial environment is so extreme. Even if something evolved, the probability of a creature being able to fly steadily and have enough size and strength to threaten a plane is too low."

He paused, suddenly remembering something. "Speaking of which, Lawyer Shen, I remember you have a flying form, right? Was it called 'Falcon Fall' or something? If we really encountered an aerial attack, you'd be able to handle it."

Shen Mingyuan froze for a moment, then realized, slapping his forehead. "Oh! Right! I still have that form! I haven't used it in so long—usually I'm either 'shadow' or occasionally 'Deep Sea'—I almost forgot I could take to the skies..." He smiled sheepishly. "Looks like I need to find a chance to brush up, or I'll mess up at the critical moment."

Hearing this, a hint of hard-to-detect envy flickered in Wei Ziqing's eyes as he whispered, "I really envy you guys... having more than one form to use. For me, it's just 'Hero Shadow' from start to finish."

Shen Mingyuan heard the bit of frustration and longing in his tone. Putting away his joking expression, he said seriously, "Well... that depends on the 'opportunity.' Or rather, it depends on how far your inner 'need' has reached." He couldn't explicitly mention 'The Forger' on the plane, so he changed his phrasing.

"Work hard to improve yourself, keep pushing your limits. When you feel that your current strength is truly not enough to deal with the 'enemies' you face or the 'things' you want to protect, perhaps... change will come. You can definitely do it."

Wei Ziqing understood the encouragement and hint in Shen Mingyuan's words and nodded silently. He didn't say anything more, but his gaze became more focused, as if he were deep in thought.

The rest of the flight was calm and peaceful, with none of the aerial ambushes Shen Mingyuan had imagined. Perhaps as he had guessed, since the enemy knew they might be exposed, they would be more cautious and wouldn't choose to strike rashly at high altitudes where control was difficult.

The plane landed smoothly at a heavily guarded private airport in Haichuan City. The cabin door opened, and humid, warm air with a salty sea smell rushed in, a sharp contrast to the dry climate of their departure point.

The handover was swift and orderly. Lu Jianchuan showed his credentials and conducted a brief handover with the GUPA Haichuan Branch personnel who had been waiting.

That vital silver thermostatic box was carefully transferred to a specialized armored transport vehicle under the escort of more local combat personnel, heading toward the city—its destination was precisely that key laboratory located in the Haichuan City Research District.

"We'll stay at the guesthouse here for the next few days. It's not far from the laboratory, which makes it convenient for operations," Lu Jianchuan said to Shen Mingyuan and Wei Ziqing, pointing to an unremarkable but clearly secured grey building nearby.

"OK," Shen Mingyuan and Wei Ziqing replied simultaneously, picking up their luggage.

Cynthia stood a little further away, not following immediately.

She frowned slightly, surveying her surroundings—the modern airport facilities, the city skyline looming in the distance, the unique smell of the maritime climate in the air... none of it matched any place in her memory.

But strangely, an extremely faint yet unignorable sense of familiarity, like an undercurrent beneath the water, quietly washed over her heart.

It wasn't a visual memory, but more like a... déjà vu of the atmosphere? Or perhaps, some instinctual response to a similar environment hidden deep within her genes?

She couldn't say for sure, but breathing the air here and looking at the light and shadows of the clouds gave her an indescribable, contradictory feeling of both closeness and faint repulsion in some corner of her heart.

"Cynthia?" Lu Jianchuan noticed her pause and called out.

"Ah? Oh, coming." Cynthia quickly snapped out of it, suppressing that inexplicable emotion. Her usual, slightly cheerful smile returned to her face as she hurried to catch up with the team.

After storing their belongings, Shen Mingyuan, Lu Jianchuan, Wei Ziqing, and Cynthia gathered in a designated area. Then, led by a serious middle-aged man wearing an Advanced Researcher badge, they passed through layers of identity verification gates and officially entered the inner core of the Haichuan City GUPA Key Laboratory.

The air was filled with a mixture of ozone, special detergents, and an indefinable, extremely faint scent of biological agents. As far as the eye could see was a vast space dominated by highly clean white and metallic silver tones.

Behind massive transparent observation windows were various dazzling precision instruments: high-speed gene sequencers with flashing indicator lights, fully automated incubators with hundreds of culture dishes arranged in layers, low-temperature cold storage doors frosted over, and even some sealed transparent chambers where strange biological tissue samples could be seen slowly wriggling or remaining still, soaked in unknown solutions.

"Everyone, please stay close to me and watch your step and the equipment around you."

The guiding Researcher spoke in a stiff but clear tone. "This is the core area for biological and paleomicrobiological research. You are only authorized to enter certain non-absolutely sensitive areas. Please be sure to follow these regulations:

Absolutely do not touch any equipment, samples, or switches without permission; do not enter rooms marked with red or black biochemical signs without authorization; do not interfere with any ongoing experimental operations.

Any accidental action on your part could cause unpredictable danger and loss, not only to yourselves but also as a threat to years of research results here."

Shen Mingyuan looked around with interest and nodded, indicating his understanding.

As the Researcher led them slowly along the main corridor, he continued his introduction, his tone carrying the characteristic trait of a scientist hiding great passion behind a calm narrative:

"You may know that we will soon receive a very important vaccine prototype for in-depth research. But the vaccine project is only one of our many research directions.

One of the more core, long-term topics of this laboratory, especially in this area, is the study of ancient life and paleomicrobiology, particularly ancient viruses unearthed and recovered from polar glaciers and permafrost."

"I know!" Shen Mingyuan's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but interject with a 'I'm familiar with this' expression. "That's how it's written in novels—the older something is, the more powerful it often is, harboring lost strength!"

The Researcher stopped, looked back at Shen Mingyuan with a blank expression, but denied it with a very firm tone:

"That statement is incorrect and unscientific. The essence of life is evolution, the constant adaptation to environmental changes. From simple to complex, from inefficient to efficient, the overall trend is toward better survival and reproduction.

Certain ancient organisms might have possessed amazing combat power or unique traits in specific environments, but that doesn't mean they are 'stronger' than modern organisms.

We study the ancient world not to find 'stronger' power, but to understand—to understand the lineage of life's evolution and the history of the interaction between environment and genes."

He pointed to a nearby observation window containing samples sealed in special transparent gel, so tiny they required the aid of an adjacent electron microscope image to see clearly.

"These ancient viruses we focus on lived in an era where the Earth's environment—especially the atmospheric composition and ecosystem—was vastly different from today.

More importantly, that era—which we call the early 'Protogeneic Eon,' or even the earlier 'Unicellular Explosion Period'—"

"Based on our inferences from isotope decay models and residual bio-energy imprints in ancient rock layers, the average concentration of evo particles in the environment back then could have been as high as tens of percent or even more. This is far beyond the current state where everything is generally below 0.01%."

"The unicellular era? The EVO concentration was that high?" Wei Ziqing caught the keyword and asked curiously.

"Correct," the Researcher affirmed, his tone carrying a sense of awe for the ancient era. "That was a great epoch belonging to microscopic life.

The first primitive life forms were born, competed, and evolved in an 'ocean' of ultra-high concentration evo particles.

These ancient viruses were witnesses and participants in that turbulent era.

They were able to coexist and compete with primitive cellular life soaked in high-concentration EVO environments. Their structures, infection mechanisms, and even their ways of interacting with the host's energy and matter all contain precious information codes about that lost era."

Lu Jianchuan asked thoughtfully, "What is the specific purpose of studying these extinct or 'outdated' viruses? Besides understanding history."

"Good question." The Researcher pushed up his glasses. "First, there's scientific value.

They are indispensable 'time capsules' for us to trace the origin and early evolutionary history of life. Second,"

His tone became more serious. "Although most of these viruses have lost their specificity for modern organisms because host cell structures and immune mechanisms have changed drastically over time, it is precisely because modern organisms lack the corresponding immune memory—"

"That if an ancient virus were released due to melting glaciers or other reasons and underwent unpredictable mutations or gene exchange with modern pathogens, the potential risk is unknown.

We must understand them in advance, assess the risks, and develop preparatory response plans if necessary. Finally, and most importantly—"

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone.

"Studying these viruses that can be active in ultra-high EVO concentration environments helps us understand the original modes and boundary conditions of the interaction between evo particles and life from another angle.

This has irreplaceable reference value for our understanding of the essence of the evo factor and for exploring the possibilities of its safe utilization or even regulation. After all, the roots of many supernatural phenomena we face now cannot bypass the evo factor."

He emphasized again, "So, please be sure to stay away from those areas marked with special biochemical warnings. Active samples or high-concentration extracts are stored there.

While theoretically, it is difficult for non-mutated ancient viruses to replicate effectively in modern multicellular organisms and they would be quickly cleared by the immune System, 'theoretically' does not mean 'absolutely safe.'

Working here, we must maintain the utmost vigilance toward ancient life."