Chapter 114 Genetic Disease

“Genetic disease?” Hao Ren frowned slightly. “Does that mean the Demon Hunters will eventually become extinct?”

“It shouldn’t be that extreme, but their continued weakening and reduction in numbers over a long period of time is certain, and it will worsen with each generation," the data terminal paused. "Currently, we don't have enough samples. With only these blood and tissue samples, it's impossible to analyze an entire race, deduce their evolutionary map, or verify whether this is true for all Demon Hunters. What I said earlier is just speculation."

Hao Ren had heard more than one person mention the continuous decline of the Demon Hunters in recent years. He had considered the possibility of genetic deterioration, but he couldn't verify it at the time. No one was sure whether Demon Hunters followed the regular genetic rules of other races, but now this conjecture seemed to be confirmed. Hesperides looked delighted after hearing this news: "Aha, that's good news. I have to promote it when I get back."

"Don't be too optimistic," the data terminal did not forget to pour cold water. "What we analyzed are very early-stage phenomena. It will probably take at least several generations for the genetic deterioration to fully show its power. Considering the lifespan of Demon Hunters, your situation will last for thousands of years. In the current situation, you may become extinct earlier than them in a few thousand years."

The data terminal’s blunt words immediately made Hesperides' face look ugly. Hao Ren quickly smoothed things over: "Ahem, don't mind it, don't mind it. This thing has no malice. Its emotional model is different from ours."

Hesperides didn't say anything. Of course, she knew that she couldn't talk about feelings with such a machine, so she quickly returned to normal. Hao Ren couldn't help but frown and think of another thing: the overall decline of the Demon Hunters might require a more in-depth investigation, and even alarm Crows 12345 in the end.

He couldn't be like the aliens who were just happy to hear that the Demon Hunters were going to be finished. He was an inspector, and he couldn't bring personal feelings into this. If the decline of the Demon Hunters was just a natural phenomenon, then of course, there was no need to interfere, but if this was also related to the imbalance of the Dream Plane...

"What are you thinking about?" Vivian asked curiously when she saw that Hao Ren hadn't spoken for a long time. The latter suddenly woke up and waved his hand with a smile: "Nothing, nothing."

The three of them worked in the research bay until noon, confirming the progress of all the research samples. Then, they focused on studying the Demon Hunters' weapons: those magical crossbows and daggers and short swords with exorcising power. Vivian and Hesperides were of great help. Both of them were professionals who had dealt with Demon Hunters countless times. Even though Vivian's memory was not perfect, she could still tell many secrets about the Demon Hunters. They compared the samples on the test bench and explained the power, characteristics, and even the usage methods of these weapons to Hao Ren. They gained a lot in the morning—although Hao Ren didn't want to fight those lunatics, if he had to fight them again in the future, this knowledge would be quite useful.

After finishing the work in the research bay, the three of them returned home from the teleporter. A burst of white light flashed, and Hao Ren didn't feel dizzy at all. He couldn't help but sigh that setting up such a space gate in the basement was a wise move: this thing was much more comfortable than the data terminal's quick teleportation. Hesperides sighed about the things of the mythological era: in those years, teleportation arrays were common devices in the homes of various powerful aliens. She often used teleportation arrays to travel between Mount Olympus and the Greek city-states. However, with the end of the mythological era, almost all ancient facilities were destroyed by the Demon Hunters and angry humans, and she had rarely seen teleportation arrays set up in homes.

Fortunately, she didn't know that she had just been teleported to the Kuiper Belt, more than forty astronomical units away from Earth, otherwise, she wouldn't know what to sigh about.

Hao Ren looked back at the teleportation station in the basement. After Vivian reminded him, he carefully observed the small compartment built by Lily herself, and finally nodded and admitted: "This thing does look like a toilet..."

Vivian covered her face: "Let's take it apart in a few days. If it doesn't work, I can cover it with a tarpaulin when I sleep..."

Hao Ren returned to the living room and found that Nangong Wuyue and Becky had already returned. Lily was also nestling on the sofa, but Yizaks' conspicuous figure was nowhere to be seen: the great demon probably didn't go home for lunch today, but I don't know which recruitment unit's front desk girl was suffering. He first threw Dou Dou into the bathroom sink, greeted the "Rolling" that had come up to rub against him, told his cat to take good care of his fish, and then suddenly felt that there was something wrong with the atmosphere when he returned to the living room.

After thinking for a long time, he realized what was wrong: Lily was usually in a state of excitement when she came back from outside, especially when she saw other people coming home, she was even more uncontrollably excited. A jump and a greeting often scared people, but today he walked past Lily and she didn't make a sound. The husky, who was always full of energy, was sitting on the sofa in a daze like she had taken the wrong medicine, staring blankly at the coffee table in front of her.

Hao Ren went over and patted Lily on the shoulder: "What's wrong?"

Lily, contrary to her usual self, actually let out a sigh: "Alas... life is so troubled."

Lily's sigh scared Vivian. The latter was about to go to the kitchen to cook, but staggered when she heard this: "Big Dog, what did you eat on the road again?"

Becky was looking down at a movie on her mp5 not far away. She looked up and whispered: "She's been like this since she came back, with low pressure all over her... Wuyue and I don't dare to ask what's going on."

Hao Ren immediately became nervous, but before he could ask, Lily said quietly: "I went to see the golden retriever on Daqian Street this morning. That unlucky guy rolls around in the garbage all day and got a skin disease. A large patch of hair on his back has fallen out."

Hao Ren looked at Lily, who had a sad face, inexplicably: "Then what are you feeling down about?"

Lily sighed and transformed her tail, hugging it sadly: "We are both fallen from the sky... Wuwuwu, my tail seems to be unable to grow back! The burnt hair on it hasn't recovered at all!"

Hao Ren almost choked on his own saliva when he heard this. After all this time, Lily was sad because she thought of her own tail. However, just as he was about to casually comfort the husky girl, he also realized that the situation was not right: Lily's tail was burned by the energy storm a few days ago. With the special physique of this husky spirit, she could usually recover from such burns in half a day, but it had been so long, and a third of her tail was still in a scorched yellow and frizzy state.

"I've tried accelerating regeneration, but it's useless," Lily hugged her tail and sobbed. "After accelerating regeneration, the hair on other parts of my tail has even been replaced twice, but there's no change at all on the tip of my tail. Could it be that the hair roots have been burned?"

Hao Ren felt curious and a little amused. He estimated that no one in the world had ever studied the physiological characteristics of a husky spirit. God knows what was going on with this girl. He sat down next to Lily and pulled her tail over: "Let me see."

Lily subconsciously shrank back, but then she thought that it was okay for Hao Ren to touch it, so she didn't object. Hao Ren curiously pinched the fluffy tail. He usually pinched Lily's tail and ears occasionally, but this was the first time he had studied it so carefully. He saw that the tail was as white as snow, soft and smooth, and felt like satin in his hand, but only the tip was scorched yellow and felt rough. He pulled it casually, and several dry and curly scorched hairs were pulled down. Lily immediately exclaimed: "Don't pull it! It's not growing new ones anymore. If you pull them all out, won't I be bald?"

At this time, Vivian also came over curiously: "...I don't think there's anything wrong with the hair roots. The fluff is broken from the middle. It should just be skin damage... By the way, why don't we try hair restorer to see if it works?"

Lily was stunned: "Will this work?"

"Let's try it first and then talk about it!" Hao Ren felt that Vivian's suggestion was very creative. "Don't underestimate the creativity of human beings. The Shadow Demon was still taught a lesson by the aerial bombs and RPGs invented by humans—do we have hair restorer at home?"

Of course, there was no hair restorer at home, and there was no place to sell this thing nearby, but Vivian's tens of thousands of years had not been lived on a dog like Lily. She immediately remembered a lot of folk remedies and ran to the kitchen excitedly: "You guys wait! I'll get some ointment..."

Hao Ren and Lily waited for a while. A dozen minutes later, Vivian ran out with a small bowl of steaming things. Hao Ren smelled a pungent smell of ginger mixed with various strange smells from a distance. Lily's nose was even more sensitive, and she immediately shrank her neck and hid behind Hao Ren: "Bat, are you here for revenge?!"

"Don't make trouble, this is a folk remedy!" Vivian moved the small bowl of sticky things forward. "Ginger and herbs mashed and boiled, and I even added my blood, don't be ungrateful."

When Lily heard that Vivian had even contributed her own blood, she stretched her head out: "But this is too smelly, right?"

Vivian just gave Hao Ren a wink, and Lily immediately noticed this scene. She screamed and wanted to run, but Vivian grabbed her without saying a word and called Hao Ren to help: "Landlord, hold her tail! Apply the medicine to this big dog!"