Gene Compilation

"Shall we find a way in and take a look?"

The two decided to wait until late at night to act.

The night was as dark as ink, enveloping the quiet neighborhood, with almost no movement except for the occasional sound of the wind. Rakien and Young Kahn moved quickly through the darkness, approaching the mysterious building.

They found a hidden ventilation duct, the opening of which was not large, but enough for the two to squeeze into. Kahn used a tool to pry open the protective cover outside, and the two crawled into the narrow duct. The inside of the duct was cold and damp, and they could only crawl with their bodies low, the air mixed with a slight metallic friction sound.

Before long, Rakien stopped.

"Something's up ahead," he whispered.

Young Kahn looked up and saw a large ventilation fan not far ahead, slowly rotating. Although the rotation speed was not fast, the blades were thick and powerful enough to easily tear apart a human body. The two approached to observe and found a maintenance electrical box on the wall next to it, connected to the fan's circuit.

Kahn took out a tool from his bag and carefully pried open the electrical box.

"Let me give it a try," he said, beginning to operate cautiously. As he short-circuited the wires, sparks flashed slightly, and then the fan's rotation gradually slowed down until it completely stopped.

"Done," Kahn exhaled softly, nodding at Rakien. The two quickly crawled past the stopped fan and entered the next section of the ventilation duct.

After crawling for a while, Rakien noticed a gap in the ventilation duct, through which he could vaguely see a room below.

The room was pitch black, with only rows of servers emitting red and green light points. Rakien held his breath and observed carefully. On the ceiling of the room, there was a rotating camera, slowly scanning the entire room.

"We can't go in directly, look at that thing," Rakien whispered, "The camera will spot us immediately."

Kahn glanced and noticed a maintenance hatch next to the duct.

"Let's open this and see," he gestured.

The two quietly approached the maintenance hatch, carefully prying it open with a tool. Due to neglect, the screws had rusted, and when the first screw was bent, it made a slight creaking sound. Rakien held his breath, worried about triggering an alarm. Fortunately, there was no response. They continued prying, and as the last screw fell off, the maintenance hatch was finally pried open a crack.

They shone a small flashlight inside and found a tangle of cables.

"Look at this," Kahn pointed at two thinner wires, "These two wires are thinner, they might be the camera's connection wires."

Rakien looked at him uncertainly, "Shall we unplug the connector and see if the camera stops?"

Kahn nodded and slowly pulled out one of the wires.

The two looked down through the ventilation hole, and sure enough, the camera stopped rotating.

"Success!" Rakien whispered in celebration, a smile appearing on his face.

The two carefully opened the ventilation port, slowly sticking their heads out to confirm that there were no other surveillance devices in the room.

At this point, they noticed that the ventilation port was not too high from the top of the server cabinet below, so they carefully climbed out of the duct and jumped onto the top of the cabinet.

Standing on the cabinet, they finally saw the layout of the room.

In the center of the room were dozens of huge servers, flickering with various data light points. Rakien lay down and carefully examined the display screen of the cabinet with a flashlight. He saw a large number of complex spiral gene sequences displayed on the screen, with temperature, humidity, and other information accurate to two decimal places.

"Look at the gene sequences displayed on the screen, could this be a gene synthesis computing center?" Kahn whispered, his eyes flashing with surprise.

"And," Rakien pointed at the information on the screen, "they seem to be monitoring the status of these gene samples in real-time... so many numbers! There must be tens of thousands of culture dishes!"

The two looked at each other, filled with doubt and unease. Hidden so tightly, such astonishing experiments were being conducted inside.

"This may be more than just a computing center," Kahn said, his tone filled with anger and alertness, "With so many culture dishes, this is likely a biological experiment base, using these gene technologies to create... who knows what."

"And it's right in the city center," Rakien added, lowering his voice, "The most dangerous place is the safest place."

"No matter what it is, this building has that symbol, it must be related to the government's evil plans," Kahn whispered, his voice trembling slightly. His gaze quickly swept across the screen, but the amount of information was too great, and he couldn't make sense of it all at once.

Rakien frowned and pointed to a corner of the screen, "These data... seem to be some kind of advanced gene editing technology. Look at these annotations, it seems they are manipulating gene expression, possibly related to humans or other organisms."

Kahn immediately realized the seriousness of the issue, "If these are gene synthesis experiment data, it means they are not just conducting research, but creating something, perhaps a new form of life?"

"These gene data can't just be theoretical research."

"We need to find out what they're really up to," Rakien lowered his voice, his heart beating faster, feeling a sense of unease.

The two continued to move stealthily, carefully avoiding cameras and ground sensors, gradually making their way deeper into the core area of the building. After passing through a thick fire door, they came to a large laboratory, with dozens of high-tech culture dishes lined up around the walls, filled with some translucent liquid.

"Look at these culture dishes!" Kahn whispered in surprise, "The equipment here is even more advanced than I imagined. These cell structures have already begun to divide... these culture dishes are creating some kind of creature!"

Rakien approached a culture dish and carefully observed the slowly dividing cells inside and the information displayed on the small screen, "This! This has racial information, this, this is... human cells?"

Kahn nodded, "It's likely gene-edited human cells, or even more complex. This liquid looks like some kind of special nutrient solution that can accelerate cell growth."

He quickly opened his tool bag, took out a small scanner, and activated its reading function. Scanning a series of complex data on the screen, Kahn's expression became increasingly serious.

"These gene sequences have indeed been edited," Young Kahn whispered, "They seem to be trying to enhance certain specific gene functions, such as immunity, cell regeneration, or even some functions of the brain. The scale of the experiments here is definitely not a simple research project."

"So, who's controlling all this?" Rakien asked, his voice filled with anger and confusion.

Kahn didn't answer but turned his attention to a row of large cabinets behind the culture dishes. They quietly approached and found a button on the cabinet that was flashing red, next to an iris recognizer for identity verification.

"It looks like we can't easily proceed to the next step," Young Kahn calmly analyzed the situation, "To delve into these systems, advanced permissions are needed. But we don't have those permissions."

Rakien frowned, "How about trying to hack the system and directly obtain the records and purpose of these experiments?"

Kahn shook his head, "The protection mechanisms here are too strong. If we act rashly, we're likely to trigger an alarm. However..." he paused, a glimmer of hope in his eyes, "Maybe we can create a brief power outage. When the system restarts, the protection system will pause briefly, enough for us to get some data."

Rakien nodded, "It's worth a try. But this requires precise operation, be careful, once the alarm is triggered, it will be hard for us to escape."

"I know," Kahn took out some equipment from his tool bag, "This is the only way."

The two carefully installed the equipment, and Kahn adjusted several cable connections. The screen displayed the building's internal power system. He quickly operated, creating a voltage fluctuation at a critical point.

After a moment, the lights in the laboratory flickered briefly, then returned to normal.

"Done!" Kahn whispered, "We only have a few minutes."

He quickly connected to the system and began downloading key experimental data. Rakien nervously watched the surroundings, fearing the alarm would suddenly sound.

"Hurry up!" he urged, time flying by in their tense atmosphere.

Finally, Kahn pressed the last key, and the data download was complete. The two exchanged glances, quickly removed the equipment, and prepared to retreat.

Just as they were about to leave, a faint mechanical sound came from outside the laboratory. Rakien immediately tensed up, whispering, "Someone's coming!"

The two quickly hid in the gaps between the machines in the corner. Rakien carefully observed the outside situation from the gap. The laboratory door slowly opened, and several security guards in black uniforms entered the room.

"Damn it," Kahn cursed softly, "They must have detected the power fluctuation."

"Don't move," Rakien whispered, his heart racing.

The security guards circled the room and didn't find anything unusual. After a moment, they left the laboratory, and the door closed again.

The two breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's get out of here," Kahn said, and Rakien nodded in agreement.

They quietly returned to the ventilation duct and retreated along the original path.