Chapter 225: Bloodline Research
Inside the silent laboratory, Aina had already changed back into her black-and-white maid outfit.
Just as Zhou Ming had said, he had not caused her any harm. He had merely drawn one hundred milliliters of blood and conducted a comprehensive physical examination.
However, judging from Aina’s dazed expression, Zhou Ming’s actions had inflicted far greater harm on her spirit.
Perhaps for intelligent beings, the feeling of having life and death beyond one’s control was even harder to accept than death itself.
“I didn’t lie to you, did I? It was only a normal examination. Perhaps you might even gain some benefits from it and advance to a level above Transcendent.”
For the only Catwoman experimental material in his possession, Zhou Ming did not mind spending a bit of effort to soothe her wounded mind.
After all, a lifeless Catwoman might affect the experimental results.
At the Transcendent level, psychological changes could indeed influence the physical body.
“Really?”
Upon hearing the words “above Transcendent,” Aina’s eyes regained a trace of vitality.
The instinct to pursue powerful strength was almost branded into the bloodlines of the Foreign Races.
“Of course.”
“You may go down and rest properly.”
The preliminary examination had been completed, but the research on her bloodline had not yet begun. Thus, Zhou Ming did not keep Aina any longer.
“Yes, my lord.”
Hearing that she could leave, Aina’s voice instantly became lively.
After respectfully bowing to Zhou Ming, she almost fled the laboratory in small, hurried steps, escaping the place that filled her with fear.
Zhou Ming paid little attention to Aina’s reaction. He turned and walked to the experimental table, beginning to process her blood.
Impurity separation, solution preparation, sample preparation, ultrathin slicing …
Zhou Ming’s hands were like mechanical arms. Every step was executed with extreme precision, without the slightest error.
After placing the processed Catwoman blood under the electron microscope, the display screen beside it began showing images of the Catwoman’s genetic structure.
“Forty-two chromosomes?”
Upon observing the Catwoman’s chromosomes through the electron microscope, Zhou Ming began operating the instrument, examining each chromosome carefully.
Cats possessed thirty-eight chromosomes. Shadow Cats had forty chromosomes. Catwomen had two more chromosomes than that. Zhou Ming was extremely interested in this change.
As for the chromosome count of Shadow Cats, Zhou Ming had obtained that result a few days earlier from their blood.
It was precisely because he had discovered that Shadow Cats possessed one extra pair of chromosomes compared to ordinary cats that he wanted to know whether Aina, as a Catwoman, had undergone further chromosomal changes.
After confirming his conjecture, a trace of excitement appeared on Zhou Ming’s usually expressionless face.
Although genes were only a part of bloodline, observable changes at the visible level were already enough to explain many problems.
Only by thoroughly understanding genes could he extend that knowledge into bloodline research.
Zhou Ming knew his limits. He had no intention of studying bloodlines in one step; that would only increase the difficulty for himself.
Afterward, he called the camp and instructed Su Mei to send someone into the Wilderness to capture ordinary mutated wild cats.
After a brief moment of thought, Zhou Ming determined his research method.
He would begin by studying the genes of ordinary feline animals and gradually extend his research to Shadow Cats and then to Catwomen.
His purposes were twofold.
First, to study the cause of the gradual changes in genetic structure.
Second, to compare the differences among them.
It was like a mathematical formula. Using it was simple; one only needed to substitute into the formula to obtain the desired result.
Zhou Ming’s goal, however, was to dismantle the formula into fragments, thereby uncovering its most fundamental logic.
Through that foundational logic, he would deduce how to alter the Ironthread Snake bloodline and thereby achieve a leap in his own bloodline.
However, this process was extremely complex and required immense patience to analyze bit by bit.
Yet for Zhou Ming, this posed no problem. Acquiring knowledge through tedious research was undoubtedly a form of enjoyment for him.
The next day, after the Snake Guards delivered the wild cats required for the experiment, Zhou Ming immersed himself completely in his research.
Beginning with the genes of the most ordinary wild cats, he dissected the genetic structure bit by bit. He did not show the slightest disdain simply because his research subject was an ordinary wild cat. On the contrary, he patiently resolved every issue involved.
Like mathematics—first addition and subtraction, then multiplication and division, gradually involving fractions, and then geometry…
Because even the most complex mathematical problems, when broken down into their most fragmented state, ultimately reduced to addition and subtraction.
The same principle applied. Only by thoroughly understanding genes could he better study changes in bloodline.
It was precisely by maintaining this mindset that Zhou Ming had advanced to his current stage in genetic and bloodline research.
Time passed slowly amid the tedious research. Only Aina felt the monotony intensely.
However, recalling the feeling of entering the second-floor laboratory, she instantly felt that her current life was actually quite good.
Every day, aside from cooking for Zhou Ming, she was responsible for cleaning the Lake-center Small Building, disposing of the experimental waste Zhou Ming sent downstairs, and feeding the Ironthread Snake.
Aina had not yet enjoyed the supreme status of a Catwoman within the Shadow Cat Clan, yet she had already fully adapted to her present life as a maid.
At least in Zhou Ming’s eyes, Aina performed her duties as a maid quite well.
If Lei Yuan did not mind in the future, he could continue keeping her by his side as a maid.
The premise was that Lei Yuan agreed—and that Aina did not die in Zhou Ming’s subsequent experiments.
Alliance Calendar Year 682, December 5th.
Half a year had passed since Zhou Ming returned to the camp.
Benefiting from the Alliance’s private trend of human experimentation, the Alliance’s biological research instruments were extraordinarily advanced, far surpassing those before the Doomsday Era.
With the assistance of the most advanced instruments and Zhou Ming’s exceptional research capabilities, he had completely deciphered the genetic structure maps of Catwomen, Shadow Cats, and ordinary wild cats.
He had fully mastered the knowledge regarding genetic changes.
Of course, this was only at the genetic level and did not involve higher-level bloodline transformations.
As for the specific results, they were stored in a one-meter-tall stack of files placed on the experimental platform.
Originally, these materials could have been stored electronically. However, Zhou Ming considered that such storage methods were easily affected by external factors.
Therefore, he kept a paper copy of every research result.
Inside the laboratory, an ordinary Ironthread Snake appeared in Zhou Ming’s hand. This Ironthread Snake had already been implanted with a Spiritual Seed.
However, it was not used as a contracted beast but rather as experimental material.
Zhou Ming remembered that when he had first obtained Inkband, in his ignorance he had used Spiritual Power to guide its successful mutation. During that process, at the spiritual level, he had glimpsed deeper changes within the genes.
That extremely mysterious scene could now be confirmed by Zhou Ming to have involved bloodline.
Technological instruments were still incapable of detecting bloodline changes. Therefore, he could only resort to this cruel method to test the results of the past six months.
At the same time, in the most direct manner, he would observe what kind of changes the Ironthread Snake bloodline would undergo under external influence.
Moments later, a mysterious scene surfaced within Zhou Ming’s mind.