What happened? What occurred?
Xu Ruina asked hurriedly.
But she didn't receive a reply.
Immediately after, alarms blared throughout the entire laboratory.
Alert: Biochemical leak in Observation Room One. Emergency containment in progress!
All personnel are to remain in their rooms. Within 30 seconds, all life forms appearing in the corridor will be classified as threats and completely eliminated!
After the mechanical warning repeated three times.
The laboratory door and windows began to close slowly.
A layer of metal plating sealed all entrances and exits.
The video feed immediately turned to black.
Zhang Chen fast-forwarded.
About a minute later, the video feed resumed.
Xu Ruina sat in her original position, her face pale.
He then switched the footage to the observation area of Laboratory One.
Originally, there were twenty experimental cages for white mice here.
Now, all the cages were destroyed.
It was as if something had used immense force from the outside to completely break the iron mesh.
Traces of flesh and blood still clung to the mesh.
A giant creature, one person tall, lay on the floor of the observation room.
From its detailed features, it appeared to be a mutated rat.
That's right... this was the first experimental subject...
The energy contained within one nanogram of the meteorite had transformed a mouse into this monstrous form!
If it continued to affect the ecosystem of Water Blue Star... no one knew what the final outcome would be...
I need to dissect the carcass of the giant rat. I hope to find the operating principles of how the meteorite's energy affects living organisms from within it...
The first video ended here.
The mutated state of this mouse was remarkably similar to Er Pang's mutation.
However, the mutation magnitude of the mouse was far greater than Er Pang's.
Furthermore, the mouse exhibited homicidal behavior towards its own kind.
The source of this world's catastrophe must be inextricably linked to that meteorite!
Perhaps destroying the meteorite could allow the world to gradually return to its original state.
But...
This was all Zhang Chen's conjecture, and he wasn't entirely certain.
Let alone whether the meteorite could be destroyed...
It was also unknown if the meteorite still remained in its original location after so long.
Zhang Chen played the next video.
This video was shot the following day.
Xu Ruina looked haggard, as if she hadn't slept all night. Sweat beaded on her forehead, sticking a few strands of hair.
All physiological functions are normal. Muscle and bone density have significantly increased. Incisors and molars have fallen out, replaced by sharp canines!
Strong aggression, especially towards its own kind... Currently, there are no surviving counterparts after being bitten; subsequent effects cannot be assessed!
The blood and hair contain large amounts of biological energy...
It seems the meteorite's energy has combined with the organism itself and replicated more energy bodies...
However, this violates the law of conservation of energy... I can't explain why...
But during the dissection, I discovered a green crystal inside the giant rat...
I believe the secret lies within this crystal core!
I've had the equipment analyze the crystal's composition, and the results will be available in six hours!
I need to get some sleep, I'm so tired...
Xu Ruina finished speaking and turned off the video.
Energy Crystal?
The moment Zhang Chen saw the green crystal, he called out its name.
This thing was identical to the Energy Crystal collected from the zombies!
As expected, organisms infected by the meteorite's energy develop Energy Crystals!
All clues pointed to the meteorite!
And fortunately... Zhang Chen had obtained a map of the meteorite's impact site from Uesugi, the Carefully Preserved Map!
Zhang Chen cross-referenced the coordinates on the map with the latitudes and longitudes.
He then checked the latitudes and longitudes for the entire Jingzhou region that he could currently preview...
Unfortunately, it wasn't within Jingzhou.
However, by observing the trend of latitude and longitude changes within Jingzhou, he could roughly infer the location of the meteorite's impact marked on the map.
It should be northwest of Shannan City, a city in western Jingzhou.
According to the map's scale, it was about 50-80 kilometers away.
He should go there to take a look before the thirtieth day, perhaps he would find something new!
Zhang Chen continued to play the third video.
This video was entirely from a chemical and biological perspective, explaining the composition of the Energy Crystal.
The complex terminology and ridiculously long molecular formulas were pure theoretical content that made Zhang Chen's head ache.
Perhaps someone who had studied biochemistry or organic chemistry would understand some of this.
Flipping through four or five more videos.
They were all research and analysis of the Energy Crystal.
It wasn't until the sixth video, when Xu Ruina was summarizing the research results, that Zhang Chen finally understood some of it.
Based on my research, I speculate... note, this is only a speculation... all the evidence points here, but I have no direct experiment to prove my point!
The meteorite's energy can resonate with organisms, thus enabling rapid energy replication!
I have named this green crystal the Energy Crystal!
This thing can form within organisms and gradually grow, transitioning from a mere change in energy content to a qualitative leap!
As for its energy source and how it grows... I have no way of knowing...
Its existence has broken the shackles of the law of conservation of energy and defied the rules of current physics.
Since it exists... it means... it's very likely that our theorems and laws are wrong...
At this point, Xu Ruina rested her hands on the table with some dejection.
To negate the most fundamental, basic, and pillar of physics, the law of conservation of energy, through a single entity...
Xu Ruina felt her words might be an exaggeration.
Because once this law is broken.
Then all physical rules of reality would be reshaped.
This was the most terrifying aspect.
It was equivalent to directly negating the vast majority of human achievements in physics!
Never mind that, I need to start with the second phase of experiments!
Currently, some laboratories have surpassed our research progress. They have discovered that meteorite energy can even attach itself to viruses and bacteria... and they have even found samples of naturally meteorite-energy-attached viruses...
This is likely not good news for humanity... which also means I need to prepare countermeasures in advance!
The progress of animal experiments must be accelerated significantly!