Leng Zhiyuan, at this moment, had put on a proper spacesuit. This isolation chamber was a vacuum environment, so anyone entering had to wear an astronaut suit.
The isolation chamber had a total area of about 300 square meters. It was completely designed to replicate the lunar environment, even using soil brought back from the moon, with the purpose of cultivating these space bacteria.
After entering the isolation chamber, Leng Zhiyuan immediately lay down on the ground and began to collect the lunar soil bit by bit using various fine tools. As she collected, she meticulously explained the key points and details of the soil collection process to the researchers outside. After all, she couldn't do this laborious work all the time; she needed to train people who could handle these tough tasks.
Leng Zhiyuan only collected one test tube of soil, but it took her a full hour before she withdrew from the isolation chamber. When she took off her spacesuit, her entire body was flushed red.
"Hurry and take it for centrifugation. The entire process must not exceed 30 minutes, otherwise, you'll be doing janitorial work for your entire life!" Leng Zhiyuan instructed a researcher, who immediately scurried away.
"What is centrifugation for?" Huang He asked curiously.
"To extract the Taiyin Lingji, centrifugation is necessary to quickly break down the cytoplasm of these bacteria. Otherwise, once the window period passes, these Taiyin Lingji will be decomposed by the bacteria themselves!"
Half an hour later, the panting staff member handed a test tube to Leng Zhiyuan. The test tube, which had been full of soil earlier, now contained only a small amount, less than half a fingernail's worth.
Next, it was Leng Zhiyuan's turn to operate. She moved through the laboratory at an extremely rapid pace, performing various operations. This tiny amount of material, the size of a fingernail clipping, was continuously purified.
Boss Huang stayed there for a full two days before he finally saw the legendary Taiyin Lingji – a test tube of liquid that looked no different from pure water.
"I've always wanted to ask, who came up with the name Taiyin Lingji!" Boss Huang asked with a grin.
"Zhi Meng thought of it!" Leng Zhiyuan replied.
"That certainly fits her personality!" Huang He said with a hint of peculiarity. "But why did you let her have such an important naming opportunity? Shouldn't you, the discoverer, have named it?"
"Because she's the one who discovered it!" Leng Zhiyuan said. "That day, I had just finished my research and went to see her. She took one look and said she smelled a strange odor on me, similar to the Taiyin Lingji she felt when meditating under the moon."
"Then I took the clothes I was wearing to do some research and found the miraculous substance on the cuff. So, following her suggestion, it was named Taiyin Lingji!"
"This is truly not cultivating immortality!" Huang He muttered, then carefully examined the small bottle of liquid again and couldn't help but ask, "Can this thing really allow a 90-year-old to have a child?"
"Approximately," Leng Zhiyuan said lightly.
Cough, cough, don't misunderstand. Leng Zhiyuan wasn't cruel enough to use a 90-year-old human woman for experiments. Instead, she selected a very old gorilla, equivalent to a 90-year-old human.
Upon obtaining the Taiyin Lingji, Leng Zhiyuan conducted many experiments and concluded that the Taiyin Lingji was a substance within lunar bacteria. It was this substance that enabled the lunar bacteria to survive in the lunar environment; in other words, it was essential for their survival on the moon.
This substance seemed to be generated through various high-energy rays and certain unique components in the lunar soil. Once separated from the lunar environment, even in a vacuum, the lunar bacteria would continuously consume the Taiyin Lingji within their bodies, depleting it within three hours at most.
Therefore, researchers had not found the Taiyin Lingji before. It was only when Leng Zhiyuan was experimenting that she carelessly got some bacteria on her cuff. Then, with quite a few flicking movements of her sleeves, she unexpectedly isolated a portion of the Taiyin Lingji.
Then, the smell of this Taiyin Lingji was actually detected by Leng Zhi Meng, which was simply miraculous.
Afterward, Leng Zhiyuan began researching this substance. She discovered that it was an extremely complex macromolecular compound, naturally containing radioactive reactions within. Artificial synthesis was almost impossible; it could only be synthesized by the lunar bacteria themselves.
Subsequently, Leng Zhiyuan began studying the various properties of this Taiyin Lingji. However, when she tried to add this substance to cells, she found that the cell division speed increased by more than a hundredfold. This so frightened Leng Zhiyuan that she broke out in a cold sweat and underwent a full body check-up to ensure none of her body parts had developed any pathological changes. After all, if the cell division speed increased a hundredfold, it would essentially be the most severe malignant tumor in the world.
However, Leng Zhiyuan basically concluded that this was a substance that promoted cell division, a potent carcinogen, and normal people should absolutely not come into contact with it.
Originally, things would have stopped here, as it was extremely dangerous. But Leng Zhiyuan, inexplicably, found a gorilla and wanted to determine the carcinogenic effect of this substance through experimentation.
As a result, this adult gorilla not only did not develop cancer but also underwent secondary development. In just three months, it grew a head taller than gorillas of the same age. It also became extremely active and its fighting power was fierce, capable of overpowering two to three of its peers simultaneously. It also replaced the alpha male in the troop and began to reproduce in large numbers. Soon, all the female gorillas in the entire troop became pregnant within the same week.
This outcome greatly surprised Leng Zhiyuan, and she then began to conduct more in-depth experiments. She set up different control groups and experimented on many gorillas in varying states, obtaining an astonishing result.
Firstly, Leng Zhiyuan divided the gorillas into control groups based on age and physical condition. The lifespan of gorillas is about half that of humans; a 50-year-old gorilla is comparable to a 100-year-old human. Therefore, a control group was set up approximately every five years, from newborns to 45-year-old elder gorillas. Two gorillas were selected for each group, one male and one female, and they were continuously injected with Taiyin Lingji for half a year.
What? You ask why a 50-year-old gorilla wasn't chosen? Because at that time, there wasn't a single 50-year-old gorilla to be found worldwide. It's like finding centenarians among six billion humans; they are extremely rare. And among the research gorillas, whose population did not exceed 100,000, finding a 50-year-old was indeed very difficult, so the oldest was only a 45-year-old gorilla, equivalent to a 90-year-old human.
The results were as follows: For the newborn gorilla cubs, after the third day of injection, both cubs died, even with meticulous care from humans. Autopsies concluded that they died of heart failure. Further examination revealed, to their horror, that these cubs had already exhibited symptoms of sexual characteristic development. It was precisely because of this abnormal development that their tender hearts and bodies could not support the energy supply, leading to their untimely demise.
The 5-year-old gorilla cubs, equivalent to human toddlers of around 10 years old, began to develop rapidly, with a huge increase in their demand for food and energy. Moreover, they, who were supposed to take another five years to mature, became adults in just half a year and then exhibited intense mating behavior, even showing some reproductive capabilities.
Then, they also died, between one to two years after injection, succumbing to various complications caused by endocrine disorders.
From the above two control groups, it appeared that the Taiyin Lingji was undoubtedly a harmful substance, somewhat similar to the evil demonic drugs in martial arts and cultivation novels. However, this was actually due to the fact that the bodies of these experimental subjects had not yet fully matured. From the age of 10 onwards, there were no more deaths due to physical reasons.
On the contrary, gorillas up to 40 years old, regardless of gender, showed greatly enhanced reproductive capabilities, began secondary development, and their strength and physical fitness continuously improved. Most importantly, for older gorillas, it seemed to have a certain rejuvenating effect. For instance, the most astonishing case was the 45-year-old gorilla couple. The male gorilla, after injection, had all signs of aging disappear from his body, eventually returning to a state resembling that of a 20-year-old. This was akin to an 80-year-old man returning to the appearance of someone around 40 years old. The 45-year-old female gorilla, after injection, had her physiological functions almost completely restored to a 25-year-old state. She also exhibited very strong mating behavior and successfully conceived with a male gorilla, giving birth to a perfectly normal child. This was what Huang He referred to as allowing a 90-year-old to have a child. As for the 45-year-old male gorilla, he already had seven or eight children.
"A year ago, we stopped injecting half of the control groups with Taiyin Lingji, and we found that their bodies quickly reverted to their previous state, and their bodies endured immense suffering."
"The two 45-year-old gorillas died on the 12th day after stopping the injection."
"The 40-year-old gorillas only lasted for 21 days."
"The 35-year-old gorillas lasted for a month and a half."
"The 30-year-old gorillas lasted for three months."
"The 25-year-old gorillas are still alive, but their physical state is now similar to that of 45-year-olds, and they exhibit extremely violent behavior. Every time they see staff members in white coats passing by, they display immense aggression, presumably trying to snatch the injection medicine from their hands!"
"The 15-year-old and 20-year-old gorillas have generally aged 10 to 20 years more than their original ages."
"The other half of the gorillas who did not stop the injection showed no difference from before, remaining in a state of full combat readiness," Leng Zhiyuan said. "These are all the experimental results we have obtained so far! This is a very terrifying substance, and whether it is a blessing or a curse for humans, we can only know the outcome through long-term experimentation!"
"What about that human case?" Huang He suddenly asked.