"Artificial organs?"
He Ao stared at Coles in front of him, "Is it an animal... or..."
"Human organs," Coles took over from Ho, "to be precise, they are human cloned organs."
He glanced at He Ao and continued to explain,
"We all know that the human body develops from a single cell, a fertilized egg.
“Throughout the entire development process, the fertilized egg continues to divide and multiply.
“The proliferated cells differentiate into different limbs and organs. For example, some differentiate into skin cells and kidney cells, and some differentiate into red blood cells and white blood cells.
"Through these differentiations in adapting to the environment, we finally formed the complex human structure we have now.
"Generally speaking, it is basically impossible for cells that have been highly differentiated to transform into completely different cells with completely different functional properties. For example, it is almost impossible for skin cells to directly transform into kidney cells.
"This is also a means for the body to maintain its own stability. Different cells have different highly specialized functions and cannot be converted casually. They form an organic whole and ultimately maintain the normal operation of the entire body.
"In contrast to this kind of differentiated cells that have differentiated and cannot continue to change their shape freely, there is also a kind of 'stem cell' in our body that has not yet differentiated, or has a relatively low degree of differentiation, and can differentiate again into different cells.
“For example, hematopoietic stem cells present in our bone marrow can differentiate into red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Under certain conditions, hematopoietic stem cells can also differentiate into organ cells.
"The existence of stem cells allows us to 'repair' the injured bodies of some patients to a certain extent. Of course, we can also do some 'more cutting-edge' things, such as 'cloning'."
Having said this, Coles glanced at He Ao again. He seemed to want to see if He Ao understood.
Soon he realized that he had made a mistake in teaching and educating people, and actually began to explain the principles to He Ao in detail.
He shook his head, condensed his words, and continued,
“According to the descending order of differentiation potential, we divide stem cells into totipotent stem cells, pluripotent stem cells and unipotent stem cells.
"The hematopoietic stem cells we just mentioned are pluripotent stem cells. Of course, to meet the requirements for cloning, pluripotent stem cells are not enough, and totipotent stem cells are needed.
“As the name suggests, it can differentiate into all human cells.
"Theoretically, if the body's somatic cells are induced back to totipotent stem cells, and then the totipotent stem cells are stimulated to differentiate, we have the opportunity to 'clone' a person."
"It seems that this technology development has encountered difficulties."
He Ao said calmly.
If the technology of human cloning is successful, it will definitely be explosive news. Even after many years, someone will mention it, but there is no relevant information in the combined memories of his multiple characters.
"The technology to induce somatic cells back into totipotent stem cells is now very mature, but the difficulty lies in how to induce totipotent stem cell differentiation in vitro."
Coles nodded and continued to explain,
"Currently, the academic community has not even attempted to 'clone humans'. The current mainstream 'exploration' is to clone organs, which can help treat many organ diseases and has no moral or ethical obstacles.
"But this step has stuck with federal biologists for hundreds of years. In the process of inducing totipotent stem cells to become specific organs, some strange problems always occur.
"For example, the 'organs' that grow out are not in the shape of an organ at all, or they have a specific 'organ' shape but no corresponding organ function."
"And here, we need to mention a top-secret project that Qunxing Pharmaceutical had to suspend fifty years ago. This project has not been declassified, and I have no access to it."
Coles said with a smile, "But my teacher was one of the last researchers recruited into this project. When I was studying with him, I accidentally heard a few words about these projects.
"Swallowing the Starry Sky: Sign in to Become a God"
“Of course, I didn’t care about it at that time, until I joined the Mars Project and after performing surgery at the institute, I remembered this project that I had only heard some fragments of by chance.
"In those clips, it seems that Stellar Pharmaceuticals has achieved some kind of breakthrough in 'organ cloning', and the project even progressed to the point of 'volunteer' organ transplantation experiments.
"But my teacher signed a confidentiality agreement and he would not tell me the content of this project. However, I followed the clues and found the family members of the 'volunteers' who participated in the project.
"Most of these volunteers came from poor families and could not afford expensive medical expenses, so they came to be volunteers. The confidentiality agreement was optional for them, so it was easy for me to find out about the project."
Speaking of this, Coles sounded a little emotional,
"First of all, I learned from the mouths of the family members of these 'volunteers' that almost all the volunteers who participated in the 'experiment' died, and the longest surviving ones did not exceed one year.
“I found some agreements signed by the original volunteers, as well as some of the situations described by the volunteers’ families, which roughly restored the original events.
"About fifty years ago, Qunxing Pharmaceutical most likely induced the differentiation of organs with normal shapes and functions. This was an epoch-making achievement. The group quickly advanced the project to human trials.
“But reality quickly poured cold water on the entire project.
"This kind of induced organ is prone to failure, and its lifespan is much shorter than that of normal organs. After transplantation into the patient's body, the patient can live normally for a few months at most before dying due to rapid organ failure. Most patients do not survive more than a year. .
“The group should have also conducted research on this aspect, but they ultimately failed to solve this problem, and the poor clinical results forced the group to suspend the entire project.
"But the group has not given up on the project completely."
Having said this, Coles's meaning is already very clear.
He Ao looked up at him, "So you think that the 'Clone Organ' project and the Mars Project are integrated, and part of the results of the Mars Project have solved the problem of organ failure in the 'Clone Organ' project?"
Then why does the institute put cloned organs into the bodies of those 'volunteers'?
Obviously, those organs were not cloned for these volunteers.
At this time, He Ao's thoughts paused, and an idea appeared in his mind.
"I don't know how they solved this problem,"
Coles said slowly, "But they should have used the bodies of those 'patients'. The silver metal box and the medicine given to the 'patients' should contain some kind of key that I don't know."
really,
He Ao looked out the window and saw weak patients slowly walking towards the hospital with a huge mouth under the night.
The 'volunteers' recruited by the institute are actually 'living petri dishes'.
Judging from Coles' description, 'cultivating' those cloned organs in the body will cause great damage to the body and shorten life span.
In other words, the institute's high "volunteer subsidies" are "life-saving money" paid to those who volunteer and are short of money.
He Ao recalled Pate's memory of the endless flow of people he saw when he first entered the institute.
There are many people in this city, like Pat, who have lost their source of income due to unemployment, but are still burdened with high loans and huge life pressure.
"As for the use and origin of those cloned organs, I don't know. These are the ones I have access to. This is all I know."
Coles, who was sitting opposite, said hoarsely. Saying so many words in a short time seemed to be a burden on his body. He picked up the milk and took a sip.
He Ao came back to his senses and continued to focus on Coles. This question and answer should come to an end.
He took out a transparent test tube filled with milky white liquid from his arms, which was what he got from the 'Shadow'.
"Do you recognize this?"
he asked softly.
"This is the 'Elixir of Life',"
Coles took a closer look at the test tube, "This is a potion traded by the institute that can quickly restore vitality. According to Reid, even people who are seriously injured and dying can quickly recover from their injuries after drinking this potion. This potion seems to be a by-product of the Mars Project, but it cannot extend life."
"Does the institute have many such potions?"
Ho asked.
"Not much," Coles shook his head. "This kind of potion is very rare and basically has no market price. The research institute usually uses it to pay some powerful people, or to barter on the underground black market."
"Is that so?"
He Ao glanced at the potion in his hand and put it away.
Judging from the damage done to the body by the 'Nightcrawler' talent sequence, this life potion should be very useful for 'Shadow', so he has been reluctant to use it and only took it out before he died.
After the potion was completely put back, He Ao raised his head again and asked, "Where is this kind of 'life potion' usually hidden in the institute?"
"In the 'safe' at the bottom of the institute," Coles answered little by little, then he paused and added, "All the data in the institute are also in that safe."
"Thank you for informing me."
He Ao stood up with a smile.
"fine."
Coles felt relieved and quickly stood up. He just wanted to leave here quickly.
But soon, He Ao's next words made him feel excited again.
"I still have two small favors that I need your help with."
——
Under the stars at night, Zhimei Hospital still has bright lights on.
Even late at night, many departments in this hospital are still operating normally.
He Ao and Coles walked together, slowly walking on the road in front of Qunxing Zhimei Hospital.
The roads at night were crowded with various vendors.
These vendors are lined up under dim street lights.
"Orange juice, freshly squeezed orange juice that is sour, sweet and nutritious."
There were shouts from the road ahead.
Some people in simple clothes who seemed to be family members of patients were gathering in front of the stall to buy orange juice.
These orange juices are very cheap, a large can costs less than 2 federal coins.
There are also several fresh oranges and a small juicer on the stall, which seems to indicate that the juice of these oranges is squeezed from fresh oranges.
But in fact, the stall owner never touched the oranges and the juicer. He just continued to squeeze out orange juice from the large bucket on the side.
The customers tacitly did not ask whether the orange juice was freshly squeezed.
The fruits of the Federation are natural fruits and are very expensive. Most people buy fruits in one or two quantities.
Most of the vitamins needed by the human body, as well as people's demand for fruits, rely on purchasing blended juices.
The nutritional content of these juices is almost the same as that of fruits, and even the taste is similar to freshly squeezed juices.
The only difference is that they are industrially blended products, where various ingredients and water are mixed together, and no fruit is involved in the entire juice production process.
But these 'juices' are cheap, much cheaper than fruits.
Orange juice is also the cheapest among these 'juices'.
The juice sellers along the way are basically orange juice sellers, and there are many people buying them.
He Ao bought a glass of orange juice when passing by.
He took a sip and it was very sour.
The taste is basically a bit different from freshly squeezed juice. You can clearly tell whether it is industrially blended juice or the cheapest kind.
Coles and Ho Ao walked together, silently all the way.
After returning to the hospital, Coles got a doctor's clothes for He Ao, and then lent his access card to He Ao.
This is the first request He Ao just made.
The access control of Qunxing Zhimei Hospital is basically intelligent. There are many places that require an appointment to enter, and some places do not allow ordinary people to enter and exit.
But this cannot stop Coles, who is already a 'professor'.
With Coles' access card, He Ao could enter most parts of the hospital.
There must be something special about this hospital. There must be some kind of secret behind those corpses without souls.
Ho Ao needs to see it for himself.
He did not return to the outpatient building but went to the emergency room first.
In the night, the door sign of the emergency room lit up in red.
The eyes of some people around fell on He Ao, but He Ao pretended not to see it and walked in directly.
The emergency building I went to tonight was very quiet, there were not many patients, most of them were injured in accidents, and the injuries were not serious.
After searching around the emergency room and not finding anything obviously special, He Ao went to the intensive care unit next to the emergency room.
There are not many patients in the intensive care unit, and most of them have stable vital signs.
He Ao searched around and found nothing, so he quickly left here and went to the next stop, the hospitalization building.
The inpatient building is one of the most crowded places in Qunxing Zimei Hospital, and the people coming and going are like running water.
······
"Bitter...so bitter..."
The old man receiving an infusion in the ward opened his mouth, his voice hoarse and chaotic.
"Ma, drink some orange juice. If you drink something sour, it won't be so bitter."
The son on the side quickly took out the orange juice he bought and fed it to the old man.
The red indicator light on the bedside of the old man lights up faintly, which is to remind the patient that
'Time to pay'.
······
He Ao left this ward and went to the next ward.
In this ward, an old man fell into eternal sleep.
His children surrounded him, looks of pain and relief lingering on their cheeks.
He Ao turned on his super memory and stared at the old man's body.
The languid shadow-like soul has begun to dissipate.
At this time, a strange force acted on the old man's soul, and it began to 'suck' the old man's soul like a thread.
