111: Chapter 111: Professor Guan Uses Quantum Supercomputing to Verify Gods

"???" x9

The room instantly fell silent.

Li Mo looked at Professor Guan with a bewildered expression; they had agreed to go back to the dormitory to sleep, so why were they suddenly running an experiment?

Professor Wu stared blankly for a full two and a half seconds before bursting into laughter: "Old Guan, have you lost your mind? Did you watch that livestream by Jiang Zhe that's been trending among the students at Huaqing University lately?"

"Gods, ancient apes, simulations, children?"

"Are you sure you aren't joking with an old friend like me?"

"You'll know whether to laugh once you finish watching this clip." Professor Guan pulled out his phone and brought up a recording of Jiang Zhe's livestream from tonight.

On screen, Jiang Zhe calmly recounted some secrets—

The Sumerian clay tablets describing the god-created worker Lulu, Nüwa's yellow earth possibly being human eggs rather than mud, the missing transitional states in human fossils, the intertwined Fuxi and Nüwa—the DNA double helix...

Seeing the smile gradually fade from Professor Wu's face, Professor Guan leaned in close to his ear: "The xia nation consciousness from last time..."

Before he could finish, he covered his mouth: "Sorry, non-disclosure agreement."

The smile on Professor Wu's face vanished instantly, replaced by a grave expression.

As a genetic researcher, he understood the subtleties better than most; even if the claims sounded absurd, when pieced together, they gave one an unsettling feeling.

After a long silence, Professor Wu Yongnian took a deep breath: "How do you want to simulate this? And where will the gods' genes come from? Ancient apes... we can get eggs from the Life Sciences Building."

"We aren't using the gods'..." Professor Guan was amused by his own words, "And even if we wanted the gods' DNA, we wouldn't have it!"

"We don't know what the gods look like, but let's assume they have very long lifespans and exceptionally robust bodies."

"We'll just use human sperm—treating it as a simplified or even weakened version of the gods' genes."

"Then, we'll use the supercomputer to enhance the human sperm data, for instance, by pushing the longevity aspect of human genes to the maximum."

"Then, we'll combine the enhanced human sperm with a chimpanzee egg cell model; finally, we'll see how long the [virtual child] calculated by the computer can survive and how it develops. The focus will be on whether the child's brain region gradually expands as it learns new knowledge, eventually becoming a modern Homo sapiens brain model."

"We'll set different lifespans for the sperm—for example, coming from an individual with a lifespan of 500 years, 5,000 years, or even 50,000 years; then we'll see under which setting the hybridization succeeds, and if the resulting [child] can be like us Homo sapiens!"

Professor Guan Jingming's idea was actually a bit outlandish, yet it held a certain mysterious logic!

By extending all the parameters of human DNA and combining them with ape DNA, as long as it succeeds—or even just comes close to succeeding—and the resulting [child] has a 95% similarity in lifespan to Homo sapiens, that would be enough.

At the same time, once successful, it would prove...

The gods really do exist!

If it fails, it doesn't matter.

Professor Wu's eyes lit up; this idea was wild!

It was exactly a guessing game: [If a child were born from the union of a god and an ape, would that child be a Homo sapiens?]

"Now!" Professor Guan's gaze fell upon Li Mo, "We need fresh material, high-quality male material, to serve as the foundation for our life model."

"Something's wrong!" Li Mo's heart skipped a beat, and he subconsciously took a step back.

"Xiao Li, come here." Professor Guan beckoned with a suspicious look, "Hmm? Are you serious about that step back?"

"Ah, this, this..." Li Mo frowned and braced himself as he walked over.

Professor Guan pulled out his phone, tapped a few times casually, and handed it to Li Mo with a straight face:

"Xiao Li, take this and go to the restroom."

Li Mo took the phone and looked at it; his face turned bright red instantly, and his hand felt as if it had been scalded—the paused image on the screen was incredibly eye-searing.

Upon closer inspection, it was a home-filmed, voyeuristic perspective.

"Pro, Professor?" Li Mo's eyes widened.

The students nearby couldn't see exactly what it was, but seeing Li Mo's reaction and Professor Guan's mischievous expression, they immediately understood.

Several boys lowered their heads, suppressing their laughter, while the female graduate students awkwardly turned away—pretending to look at the scenery.

Professor Guan glanced at Li Mo, "Hurry to the restroom. I need fresh samples. The high-quality sperm in the Life Sciences Building are all frozen; I don't want those. I have study materials on my phone to help you increase efficiency."

"Oh, right, use this to collect it!"

He pulled a white test tube from his pocket and quietly slipped it to Li Mo.

Li Mo took the phone and the test tube, standing there frozen, completely numb.

In front of so many people, what kind of magical scientific research was this?

"What are you still standing there for? This is a serious scientific research requirement—to verify the earth-shattering hypothesis of human origins, what's the harm in you contributing a sample?" Professor Guan urged.

"But..."

"There are no 'buts'."

Li Mo looked down at the screen on the phone again; a slightly chubby, naked middle-aged man and...

He gathered his courage and stepped up to Professor Guan to say, "Professor Guan, but this is of you and the professor's wife."

"Huh? Ah? Oh, oh, oh!" Professor Guan quickly snatched the phone back, and upon seeing the content on the screen, his old face turned even redder, "Ahem! Wrong one, wrong one."

He scrambled to tap a few times, switching to other "study materials" that young people like to watch.

At the same time, he set a password lock on the original video—without deleting it.

"Go study this material."

Li Mo gritted his teeth, hung his head, and walked awkwardly toward the restroom at the end.

Seeing Xiao Li leave, Professor Guan felt so embarrassed he could curl his toes, but he immediately regained his serious expression and pointed to another boy: "Xiao Wang, you go to the freezer in the Life Sciences Building, use my professor card for authorization, and retrieve a healthy chimpanzee egg cell. Quick, immediately, right now!"

"Yes!" Student Wang turned and jogged out.

Professor Wu Yongnian looked at Guan Jingming speechlessly and whispered: "Old Guan, this is just too..."

"Stop right there. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures." Professor Guan sat back at the console and began retrieving the genetic data for humans and chimpanzees, "If what Jiang Zhe said is true, even if there's just a sliver of possibility that it's true, then what we're doing right now might be uncovering the greatest secret of humanity!"

Professor Wu shook his head speechlessly, said nothing, and turned his head back to stare at the data on the screen.

About twenty-five minutes later, Li Mo returned.

His face was flushed, his eyes darting around desperately. He quietly handed the tube to Professor Guan, then quickly hid in a corner, pretending to look at the night scenery outside the window.

Professor Guan took the sample, his expression becoming focused, and placed it into the scanner.

The scanner hummed, reading the genetic information of the sperm cell sample.

Twenty-five seconds later, Student Wang also came jogging back, holding a small liquid nitrogen canister, "Professor, I've got it!"

Inside the canister was a frozen chimpanzee egg.

Taking the canister, the chimpanzee's genetic information was also quickly scanned into the computer.

"Step one: establish the baseline model." Professor Guan operated the computer excitedly, "Let the supercomputer simulate the natural fertilization process between standard human sperm and a chimpanzee egg, and then predict the embryo development success rate and potential lifespan. This will serve as our control group."

The supercomputer began running at full power, the sound of the fans increasing noticeably.

On the massive screen, data streams cascaded like a waterfall; complex protein interactions, chromosome pairing, gene expression, and network construction and simulation began—this process involved hundreds of millions of calculations!

A few minutes later, the initial results appeared.

A red warning box popped up on the screen.

[Simulation result: Extremely high genome incompatibility; embryonic development stalled with severe deformities. Unable to continue supporting subsequent life process simulation. Predicted natural lifespan: Meaningless—embryonic stage has already terminated.]

"Hmm, perfectly normal." Professor Wu was not surprised at all, "Although the genetic difference between modern Homo sapiens and chimpanzees is only about one percent, the differences in key regulatory genes are fatal. Reproductive isolation between humans and chimpanzees has always existed; it is impossible to produce viable offspring under natural conditions."

"No problem, the control group is now established." Professor Guan was not disappointed and continued operating: "Now, let's start the experimental group—we will enhance the gene clusters in the human sperm genome that may be related to longevity, stability, cold resistance, and so on."

He brought up a list on the host screen—

It listed a series of gene names: telomerase reverse transcriptase, deacetylase...

"Since we don't know exactly what the gods' genes are like, we can assume a few more dimensions of enhancement on Xiao Li's genes."

Professor Guan explained while manually adjusting the parameters,

"First, we can assume the natural lifespan information provided by Xiao Li's sperm is: 500 years."

"Then, we will increase the gene expression, protein stability, and repair precision parameters in the model by 50% to 100%, simulating that they might be the genes of the gods."

He adjusted the parameters and clicked run.

Everyone watched the screen curiously.

This data simulation went further and lasted a bit longer.

The virtual embryo even developed a few more steps, but soon a red warning box appeared again:

[Warning. The enhanced individual's genes conflict too much with the chimpanzee's; when the virtual embryo grew halfway—it caused cascading organ failure, and the child is estimated to not live past 1 year old.]

"500 years is still not enough!" Professor Guan frowned, "500 years is still too little."

He rested his chin on his hand, pondered for a moment, then looked up at Li Mo by the window: "Xiao Li, come over here for a second."

Li Mo felt something was wrong, a chill running down his back as he walked over slowly.

"Xiao Li, this parameter combination isn't working well. We need to change our approach; we might need to try a few more plans." Professor Guan looked at Xiao Li, then his gaze traveled downward, finally landing on Xiao Li's 'unbearable weight of life' area, "Hmm, the sample might not be enough; we need to try a few more times."

Li Mo's face turned pale in an instant, "Pro, Professor, what do you mean?"

Professor Guan said earnestly: "For the sake of science, Xiao Li, contribute a little more. I'll take you wherever I go from now on, and your name will be listed before mine on the paper. Be a good lad, take my phone, and go to the restroom again. This time, we'll try a different method of enhancement."

Li Mo: "!!!"

Looking at the phone and the new tube Professor Guan was handing him again, he felt his legs go weak.

Amidst the gazes of everyone, especially Professor Wu who was suppressing laughter, he turned and marched toward the restroom again, with a tragic air.

In this moment, he seemed to have made up his mind, and he didn't look back at the others even once.

Twenty-five minutes later, Li Mo walked over with somewhat unsteady steps and handed over the tube.

The new simulation began.

Professor Guan changed the focus of the enhancement, emphasizing the rewriting of genetic information for damage repair and stress resistance.

The result was, without a doubt, a failure.

In the later stages of the virtual embryo's development, the nervous system went haywire, and the metabolism collapsed on the spot.

"The direction is still wrong." Professor Guan stared at the screen, his brows furrowed, "Perhaps it's not simple enhancement, but deeper editing or adaptation. Xiao Li!"

Li Mo shuddered, his eyes full of pleading: "Professor, I, I can't do it anymore. Can you, can you switch to Junior Brother Wang and the others?"

Student Wang and the other graduate students nearby instantly took a tactical step back, pretending to look at the scenery elsewhere.

Professor Guan looked at Li Mo's pale face and hesitated for two and a half seconds, "Their genetic data hasn't been entered into this model, and switching people at the last minute isn't right; it would affect the subsequent comparisons. Besides, we need continuous samples. Xiao Li, just overcome this, one last time!"

"I guarantee this is the last time!"

Li Mo wanted to cry but had no tears.

Speechless, he tremblingly took the phone and the tube and walked toward the restroom.

This time, he was gone for a very long time!

When he returned, his face was ashen, and he practically drifted over while leaning against the wall; he put down the tube and collapsed into the chair on the spot, his eyes vacant, as if his body had been hollowed out.

Professor Guan pulled a bottle of Shenbao tablets from his left pocket, "Don't be shy with your professor!"

Li Mo took the Shenbao tablets, again wanting to cry but having no tears, "Professor, you did this on purpose. You even brought Shenbao tablets with you!"

"Ahem!"

Professor Guan didn't answer him; after getting the new sample, he scanned it again.

This time, he adjusted the parameters even more aggressively: 5,000 years of lifespan!

"The previous two failures might be because the god's lifespan setting wasn't long enough, not enough to cross the species barrier."

Professor Guan's voice was a bit excited, "This time we'll jump to a large number; let's assume Xiao Li's sperm comes from an individual that can live for 5,000 years, and the relevant genes are enhanced to 300%..."

Once the data was set, the simulation started.

The data streams scrolled rapidly.

This time, the virtual embryo developed more smoothly, breaking through all the previous obstacles!!!

Just as it was about to succeed, a red warning popped up again.

[Warning: Hybrid individual growth is uncoordinated, showing signs of rapid aging... Energy disorder, free radicals skyrocketing; estimated lifespan: 10~15 years.]