162: Evolutionary choice

Night fell, and Pierpoint entered its shaded side, but the lights in Sector Gamma remained as bright as day.

Lin Mo stood by the floor-to-ceiling window of his temporary residence, gazing at the towering Central Tower in the distance, his mind filled with countless thoughts. Everything he had seen today—the universal quantum computers, anti-gravity fields, warp drives—far exceeded his imagination.

Most importantly, he had reviewed the company's supplementary agreement. The contents made him question whether he was still sane.

The communicator hummed softly, and a holographic projection automatically unfolded, revealing the Premier's stern face in the air.

"Lin Mo, I hear you have an important report?"

"Yes, Premier." Lin Mo took a deep breath. "The technology displayed by the Interstellar Peace Corporation far surpasses our expectations."

The Premier's expression remained unperturbed: "Elaborate."

Lin Mo meticulously reported everything he had seen and heard today, from adaptive nanomaterials to spatial warp technology. When he mentioned that the company already possessed a space fleet, the Premier merely nodded, as if he already knew all of it.

"Premier, you seem... not surprised?" Lin Mo couldn't help but ask.

The Premier was silent for a moment: "Some things, I have told you. But there are still some things that are not yet time to explain." He changed the subject, "What about that agreement?"

Lin Mo placed the specially made tablet on the table. The tablet was pitch black, with a faint blue glow along its edges, and only the Interstellar Peace Corporation's emblem on its front.

"Identity verified, welcome, Director Lin Mo." The tablet's AI emitted a soft female voice. "Detecting that you are about to hold a meeting, do you need to connect to the holographic projection system?"

"Access guest channel," Lin Mo commanded.

Complex holographic projections immediately appeared on the tablet's surface, and the figures of the Premier and six core senior officials gradually became clear.

"Greetings, leaders." Lin Mo stood and saluted.

The Premier nodded slightly: "Begin."

Lin Mo lightly touched the tablet, bringing up the main interface of the "Innate Human Project." A detailed plan unfolded in the holographic projection, graphically displaying detailed information about a 強化血清 (enhanced serum) named "Three-Light Divine Water."

"According to the agreement," Lin Mo explained, "the Interstellar Peace Corporation will provide this enhanced serum to all Eastern Federation citizens participating in the 'Chang'e Palace' project. After injection, various human functions will be significantly improved."

The Minister of Science and Technology pushed up his glasses, carefully reading the data on the screen: "Basic metabolic efficiency increased by 300%, muscle strength increased by 500%, neural reaction speed increased by 450%... Is this data reliable?"

"The company provided empirical videos." Lin Mo slid the interface, bringing up a video recording.

In the footage, a blond young man wielding a long sword was sparring with three warriors clad in ancient-style armor. What was shocking was that the three Cloud Knights, relying solely on their physical strength, were able to fight evenly with the young man who clearly used path power.

"This is... a Pathstrider?" the Minister of Defense exclaimed, "Someone from the company?"

"Yes," Lin Mo nodded, "I asked a company employee, and in the company's internal information database, this young man named Yanqing is one of the company's few Pathstriders. And those he is fighting are just three ordinary soldiers who have been injected with the serum."

In the video, the three Cloud Knights displayed astonishing physical prowess. They moved with beast-like speed, parried Yanqing's sword energy with their bare hands, and could even leap over ten meters high. While it was clear that Yanqing was mostly just practicing, this battle fully demonstrated the effectiveness of the enhanced serum.

"Incredible..." the Minister of Science and Technology murmured, "To reach this level with only physical strength, without path blessings..."

The Premier's gaze remained fixed on the video: "What about side effects?"

Lin Mo brought up another document: "According to the data provided by the company, there are two main side effects: first, fertility will temporarily decrease by 80% in the first year after injection; second, a large amount of nutritional supplementation is required, especially during the adaptation period."

He continued to scroll down, displaying a set of comparison charts: "Fertility will gradually recover after one year, but the upper limit will drop to half its original level. However, in exchange, the offspring's genes will naturally inherit some enhanced characteristics."

The Minister of Security frowned: "This sounds like genetic modification..."

"Roughly so," Lin Mo explained, "according to the information, the serum's mechanism of action is to add a new gene chain outside the DNA through nano-scale biological robots, rather than directly modifying the DNA."

"I asked someone from the R&D department, and his answer was 'Natural selection is stable but inefficient, radiation mutation is efficient but chaotic. Therefore, the company decided to define success with logic.'"

The meeting room fell into a brief silence. The Premier looked around at everyone, finally settling his gaze on Lin Mo: "What do you think?"

Lin Mo took a deep breath: "From a technical perspective, this is indeed a huge leap in human evolution. Considering the environment faced during interstellar migration, this enhancement is almost necessary."

The air in the meeting room seemed to solidify. The Premier's gaze moved back and forth between the holographic projection and Lin Mo, finally settling on the detailed "Innate Human Project" document.

"Lin Mo," the Premier's voice was deep and firm, "what do you think of the Interstellar Peace Corporation's sincerity in this matter?"

Lin Mo did not answer immediately. He slid the tablet, bringing up an encrypted file: "Premier, here is a personal message signed by Amber King."

A blurry figure appeared in the holographic projection. Although his figure and appearance were unclear, from his calm and powerful voice, it could be heard that this was an excessively young person.

"Premier, human enhancement, or evolution, is a crucial step for civilization to leave the surface and enter the interstellar age. Amphibians can survive on land, but fish are doomed. I believe that under your leadership, the Eastern Federation will become the first truly interstellar civilization."

The video ended, and the Premier's lips curved slightly: "That's quite direct."

The Minister of Science and Technology couldn't help but ask: "Premier, is there a problem?"

"No. That child doesn't seem like someone who would joke about his parents." The Premier did not elaborate, turning instead to Lin Mo, "What about the other terms of the agreement?"

Lin Mo continued to slide the tablet: "Most of it is standard content. Technology sharing, resource allocation, construction timeline..." His finger suddenly stopped. "Wait, there's an additional clause here."

The holographic projection switched to a new page, with the title prominently displayed as "Enhanced Serum Usage Restrictions."

"What is this?" the Minister of Defense leaned closer to the screen.

Everyone quickly scanned the content, their expressions turning a bit strange.

"One essential condition for injecting the serum is that the human body must not have or have ever had any mechanical prosthetics installed. Otherwise, the enhanced nerves and brain will experience systemic shock due to conflict with the modulated bio-electrical patterns."

The Minister of Science and Technology suddenly chuckled: "Isn't this exactly what we wanted?"

Zhou Zhenguo also realized: "No wonder the company employees' attitude was so strange back when mechanical soldiers were popular worldwide. It seems that even if company employees haven't been injected, they at least know about the existence of the enhanced serum within the company."

The Premier's expression, however, remained serious: "This is playing a big game."

Only then did Lin Mo realize. Eight years ago, it was the information he gathered from company employees and Jade that led the Eastern Federation to secretly control the use of mechanical prosthetics within its borders. Now, within the Eastern Federation, only a very small number of rebellious groups pursuing Western trends have mechanical prosthetics installed.

"So..." Lin Mo pondered, "this restriction clause is actually aimed at Western countries?"

"Precisely!" the Minister of Defense exclaimed, slamming his hand down. "This is a truly ruthless move! It completely blocks their path. Now, even if they get a serum sample, they won't be able to use it."

The Minister of Science and Technology nodded repeatedly: "According to intelligence, the penetration rate of mechanical prosthetics in Western countries has exceeded 30%, and in the military, it's as high as 80%. If they want to use the enhanced serum, they'll have to remove all their prosthetics first."

"But that's almost impossible," Zhou Zhenguo interjected. "Their social structure is already deeply reliant on mechanical prosthetic technology. A complete removal would be equivalent to setting their entire society back twenty years."

"Especially after the nuclear disaster, survivors in Europa and North Roma couldn't survive without mechanical prosthetics. And for the Oceania City-States, they had no choice but to install prosthetics to enhance their competitiveness in a society controlled by those super-corporations."

Finally, the Premier made a decision: "Accept the agreement, but prepare for both eventualities. On one hand, advance the analysis of serum technology, and on the other hand, strengthen research into mechanical prosthetics."

"What about the minority who have prosthetics installed?" Lin Mo asked.

"The Eastern Federation will not change its overall strategy because of the choices of a very small number of people," the Premier said decisively. "We have already advised, warned, and punished."

"The state has introduced various policies; even for physical disabilities requiring treatment, the state will reimburse a large proportion of the treatment costs for biological organ transplants."

"We have done our utmost; now, they must bear the consequences themselves."

After the meeting, Lin Mo stood by the window, still gazing at the Central Tower in the distance. At this moment, he suddenly felt incredibly insignificant.

"Zhou Ping," he dialed his old friend's communicator, "I need to see Yang Tai. There are some things I must ask him in person."

As Lin Mo walked out of the meeting room, moonlight streamed onto him. In the shadow of this colossal space structure, a grand game concerning the fate of humanity was unfolding.