Epoch of Twilight

Chapter 414: The Mystery Of Life

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The dinner felt merrier with the addition of another big eater joining them to eat.

The mutated woman had not adapted to the normal table manners that were expected and was given a separate space where she had dinner alone. Apparently, she did not mind as she liked eating by herself and immediately squatted down and began to feast.

The portion of the food was too much for her this time around and she was already full after eating only half of it. However, the cruel life in the forest had taught her never to waste food and therefore she continued eating until all the food had finished even though she felt bloated.

When she finished eating, she kept burping in the corner and felt rather lazy. Luo Yan laughed at the sight of her and told Huang Jiahui to reduce her food portion in future. After dinner, Luo Yuan told Chen Jiayi to go into the room alone to continue her daily treatment.

The plant cells inside her blood had decreased after a few days of treatment and the level of red blood cells in her body became more stable. Her blood started to turn back to red color and it was relatively hard to see the light green color unless he paid close attention. Her body had been severely affected by the moss and killing those cells in her blood did not permanently solve the problem. Even though Luo Yuan could normally reduce the amounts of plant cells by as much as 80% through the treatment, the plant cells would regenerate and return to its original amount the very next day. Her condition had undoubtedly gotten worse and if she stopped the treatment for even a few days, the plant cells would continuously regenerate and she would return to her original state prior to any treatment. However, it was different this time around as the plant cells had been completely removed from her body in just a few minutes. Luo Yuan knew that this was because of his upgraded 19-point Will.

Treating the blood was fine as it did not affect the nerves; just like it was not an issue to receive blood from another person if their blood types match. However, treating the other parts of the body was a different case as it could leave severe side effects if something went wrong. He felt that the decision of whether they should continue with the treatment or not was up to him to decide but rather Chen Jiayi as it was her body that was bearing any risk involved.

"I will be conducting some tests later. However, there is a risk that your body may be affected with some severe side effects and therefore I am leaving it to you to decide whether we should continue with the treatment or not", Luo Yuan said.

"It is your call, Brother Luo." Chen Jiayi said though she was very scared.

"It is not a matter of whose call it is but rather you need to be more responsible for your own body!" Luo Yuan said seriously.

Chen Jiayi was afraid of Luo Yuan’s reaction and distanced herself from him. Luo Yuan could see that she was panicking as she began pinching her shirt. She asked him after a while, "Brother Luo, what do you think we should do?"

"I feel that we should give it a shot as there is a chance that we could significantly reduce the effects of the moss if the treatment is successful." Luo Yuan said.

"If that is the case, we should carry on with the treatment." Chen Jiayi responded timidly as she peeped at Luo Yuan.

Luo Yuan felt frustrated and almost lost his temper, however, he reminded himself that she was an introvert and that he should be careful with his words. He gently said to her in an assuring tone, "Let’s try it out. Don’t be nervous as everything is going to be alright. I will be removing the moss in your kidney in no time." He started with her kidneys as he knew that even if one of her kidneys were damaged in the process, it would not affect her health and daily activities as she could still rely on the other one to carry out its functions. If the treatment was successful, he could use the same procedures to remove the plant cells which were affecting the other organs in her body.

"Do I need to remove my shirt?" Chen Jiayi asked shyly.

Luo Yuan was stunned and said, "Yes, please."

Chen Jiayi blushed while she removed her jacket and then proceeded to unbutton her shirt slowly. Luo Yuan took a peep and then shifted his focus towards the opposite direction before saying, "You do not have to remove all your clothes. Put your shirt back on and lie with your chest facing down."

Chen Jiayi’s face grew even rosier as she quickly buttoned back her shirt to cover her naked body before turning around. Luo Yuan felt awkward as he had just recalled that the kidneys were located at the waistline and it was fine for her not to remove her clothes. However, he pretended that he did not forget.

When Luo Yuan looked at Chen Jiayi lying on the bed, he immediately pictured her as an ostrich as part of her buttocks were exposed. In the past, he would have thought of something dirty and his blood would have probably been boiling with lust. However, he was now very calm and was not easily distracted by the sight of her. He moved towards Chen Jiayi and flipped open her shirt before gently placing his palm on her light green skin. Chen Jiayi trembled slightly at the touch of his hand.

Luo Yuan closed his eyes and his Will started entering her body. The kidneys of a normal human were usually dark red in color, however, Chen Jiayi’s kidneys were greenish. This was because the parasitic moss was very good at adapting to its environment. Given time, it would change the structure of its environment. Fortunately for her, the moss was not life threatening but rather co-habituated with her body system. Luo Yuan felt that it was a good transformation for Chen Jiayi if it did not affect her brain or turned her into a plant. After a while, he began to kill the moss.

His Will slowly manifested into her kidney, killing every single micro hair that it had encountered. The moss sensed that it was in danger and began to grow at a rapid speed around her kidneys. Luo Yuan observed this scene. He compressed his Will into a ball of energy that exploded - instantly killing all the moss in her kidney. Her kidney started turning dark red and he could see that a lot of transparent fluid was starting to flow into her kidney. He knew that the transparent fluid was the result of the protein fibers of the moss that were destroyed. The liquid was rich in nutrients and active energy and as the kidney had continuously absorbed the liquid, it started to look healthier.

Luo Yuan’s Will had cleaned up all the moss in her kidney. He removed his Will and tapped Chen Jiayi’s shoulder before he asked, "Alright, how do you feel now?"

"I feel empty. The feeling is like something has just gone missing from my body." Chen Jiayi answered as she got up and sat on the floor. Luo Yuan saw that she was pale.

Luo Yuan pondered about what she said and assumed that it was probably a side effect of the treatment. Throughout the entire process of removing the moss, his Will had been circulating around her body and even now Luo Yuan could still sense her kidneys. He sighed before tapping her shoulders again and spoke, "Do not do any vigorous activities today and let us observe the situation first. There is nothing to worry about as it is just a small problem. You will soon recover."

The cells of the human body constantly regenerate and the old cells are always replaced with new ones. The effect of the moss would gradually disappear and her body will eventually recover if her kidneys were still functioning.

...

Even the kidneys of people who suffered from uremia had a certain chance to recover. Chen Jiayi’s kidney was fine and hence had an even higher chance of recovery.

At night, Luo Yuan began to observe the interstitial environment as he had noticed some major changes in his Will while he was treating Chen Jiayi. It was easy for him to identify the changes but he was too busy to experiment with the power of his Will earlier. His Will quickly penetrated his body and immediately targeted one of his cells. His cell rapidly expanded under the power of his magnifying ability and became a giant cell.

Luo Yuan was amazed by the size of his cell as it looked like a giant peeled egg that was moving slowly in the interstitial fluid. The semi-transparent cell was moving like a wave and there were numerous pores on the surface membrane. Gel type membranes that carried different substances were constantly moving in and out of the pores.

Luo Yuan suddenly spotted a strange molecule that was slowly flowing past the red blood cell. Its size was about 1/1000 of a somatic cell, however, under the influence of his magnifying power, the cell appeared to be about half a meter in diameter and Luo Yuan could clearly see the cell’s molecular structure.

He shifted his attention to the cell and his Will penetrated the cell membrane and entered the nuclei. He saw many different colored chromosomes and realized that he was looking at the 23 pairs of different chromosomes which were found in a normal human.

The size of each chromosome was much bigger than the size of a protein molecule. There was a layer of transparent gel on the surface of the chromosome and he could even see the double helix structure of the DNA. His Will penetrated the layer of gel and a double helix DNA which was about three meters long appeared before him. Every single base of the structure was arranged in a nice order to form what looked like a curvy ladder.

This was the code of the human body; the basic rules of life. Since a baby is born, everything about their life had been destined by their DNA. Even through numerous evolution cycles, Luo Yuan’s genes did not change much and most of it was still like a normal human being’s. However, that might not be the case soon.

Luo Yuan controlled his Will to force the DNA chain to break apart. A crack started to form on the surface of the double helix structure and countless numbers of bases floated on the layer of gel found on the surface of the chromosomes. He then rearranged the bases and quickly formed a new DNA chain. However, the new DNA chain had a very different sequence compared to the original one and its genetic code became totally different from a normal human’s. Even Luo Yuan had no clue what would happen to the new somatic cells after the change. Perhaps it might turn into a cancer cell.

He left the nuclei and kept watch on the cell. To be safe, he used his Will to make the red blood cell explode before removing his Will from his body.

He was delighted with this discovery and thought about modifying the human body since he could see the body’s cells with his Will. His desire grew even stronger when he increased his Will by one point this morning. He never expected that the recent upgrade in his Will would have allowed him to see his cells in such a detailed manner. He used to be able to clearly see objects which were one millimeter in size but now, he could even see objects which were only one nanometer in size and was even able to change the structure of DNA.

He felt that he would soon be able to uncover the mystery of life now that his observation and operational accuracy were no longer a limitation to him.