Chapter 142: Morals_1

Jiang Yu was startled, "With today's methods, we should be able to avoid some hereditary diseases, right?"

"Yes," Bo Xiangdong replied, "but his heart and lung disease is not hereditary, it's because he's too tall, which puts too much pressure on his heart and lung organs."

Jiang Yu looked at the giant who had slumped to the ground and said after a long time, "Try not to make him suffer too much."

Bo Xiangdong nodded, "I know, although the experiments here are still unethical, we still uphold basic humanitarian principles.

"Subject Two is quite special, please come this way."

Jiang Yu entered the second room and through the glass window of the iron door, he saw a boy about ten years old with a pair of small wings on his back!

The feathers on the wings were pristine white, just a bit small, almost like an ornament.

However, like the boy's limbs, they moved naturally on occasion, or flapped a bit, as if to prove they were really a part of the boy.

Jiang Yu looked at Subject Two and remarked, "I heard the Trisolarans once created some humans with animal organs at their scientific research base using gene splicing. Have you reached that stage too?"

Bo Xiangdong replied, "I asked Jiang Shiliu about it once, but unfortunately, he doesn't know much about the Trisolarans' experiments.

"And those who were part of the experiments all died in the conflict at the research base, so there's no one left to give us answers.

"We can only refer to the Genetic Technologies from the Poison Apple Project for our experiments."

He took a deep breath, "And as I said before, we are still far from achieving the results of the Trisolaran experiments. We haven't yet unlocked the shackles of human genetics!"

Jiang Yu seemed to realize something unbelievable and asked, "Clarify that!"

"The wings are in human genes!" Bo Xiangdong declared, "Humanity truly seems to be the darling of nature, capable of venturing anywhere—land, sea, and air!"

This outcome was something Jiang Yu had never anticipated, "If there is such a gene, there should be a small chance of genetic mutation, and newborns should occasionally be born with wings!"

Bo Xiangdong shook his head, "Before conducting these experiments, we also believed that genes would easily mutate.

"But to our surprise, genetic power is stronger than we anticipated; it only makes mistakes in some minor, peripheral areas.

"Unless influenced by external forces, its core may never make a mistake!"

He paused and then said, "Not sure if you've heard of a hypothesis about ancient civilizations, which suggests that there were actually two types of humans then—one capable of flight, the other Homo sapiens.

"They were of the same species, like double eyelids and single eyelids are today, some inherited wings, others did not.

"Homo sapiens were considered second-class citizens at that time, subordinate to the 'flyers' from birth.

"The technology of the flying human civilization was more advanced than today's, but because they soared the skies every day, they had no desire for the sky or space, nor did they delve into space exploration.

"They predicted a huge, unavoidable disaster for Earth and decided to leave behind seeds of various life forms using their genetic methods.

"After their left-behind intelligent computers detected Earth's ecological recovery, they began to hatch various plants and animals using the stored DNA.

"However, 'flyers' did not appear in the new generation, and so Homo sapiens became the protagonists of Earth.

"Our yearning for the skies is precisely because we carry genes for flight!"

After hearing this hypothesis, Jiang Yu was silent for a long time, "It sounds like a myth!"

Then he asked, "Why didn't 'flyers' appear?"

"Oxygen content!" Bo Xiangdong said, "Compared to tens of millions, even millions, or hundreds of thousands of years ago, the current oxygen content has decreased.

"The fact that biological forms are getting smaller is the best proof.

"If it were still the oxygen levels from the dinosaur era, Subject One's cardiopulmonary organs wouldn't be under such great pressure, and his size would be perfectly normal."

Jiang Yu looked at the wings on the back of Subject Two for several seconds before saying, "That's a very rigorous hypothesis, but it still sounds like a myth."

Bo Xiangdong nodded, "I am more inclined to believe that wings once existed during the evolutionary process of humanity.

"But flight consumes a tremendous amount of oxygen, so from a certain era onwards, wings became useless and gradually disappeared from the human body.

"Just like the tailbone, perhaps once the wings were gone, the tail grew for balance.

"Another few tens of thousands of years, and I reckon the tailbone will also be gone."

Jiang Yu pointed at Subject Two: "Can he fly?"

Bo Xiangdong shook his head, "His wings are too small."

While they were talking, dozens of researchers wearing white lab coats walked towards them in a line.

Jiang Yu sensed that something was amiss with the emotions of these people, and the two armed police officers protecting him immediately chambered rounds in their semi-automatic rifles.

Bo Xiangdong quickly stepped forward, "Back to your workstations!"

The researchers seemed not to fear the guns in the hands of the armed police much, with one female scientist saying to Jiang Yu, "We demand an immediate halt to the inhumane experiments being conducted here!"

The others stood a few meters away, shouting in agreement, "Yes, stop immediately!" "Defend the moral baseline of humanity!"

Taking the opportunity, Bo Xiangdong said to Jiang Yu, "Many scientists think our experiments with clones are inhumane, many have already gone on strike, and even more are working passively!"

Jiang Yu nodded, "I anticipated this might be the case when I came here."

Having said that, he gestured for everyone to quiet down, and after the voices subsided, Jiang Yu continued, "I understand your feelings, please calm down for a moment and come with me to the conference room. There's something I'd like you to see."

He then said to Bo Xiangdong, "Get the rest of the researchers who aren't here, I have something important to tell everyone."

Some of the researchers speculated that Jiang Yu might have come to cancel the Super Soldier program.

They discussed quietly among themselves while following Bo Xiangdong to the conference room.

Once everyone had arrived, Jiang Yu showed them a video of Baluo failing to penetrate the wall.

Some had already guessed what was going on, and the noise in the conference room gradually decreased.

After the video ended, Jiang Yu said to everyone, "Even the ETO understood the purpose of the Super Soldier program, and yet you all have no awareness in this respect!"

Bo Xiangdong was startled, "Is this, is this really your...

Jiang Yu said, "This is a mission passed down through the Star Warrior program from the higher-ups, I am only the person in charge of this program, not the creator of the plan."

Bo Xiangdong let out a long sigh of relief.

Jiang Yu continued to address everyone, "To tell you the truth, when I saw the experimental subjects, I too felt some discomfort.

"But what choice do we have? We are about to be stripped even of our right to survive! Where do we have the privilege to speak of morality?"