Chapter 3: Black Snake and Gene Recombination
"Hiss... hiss..."
The Black Snake flicked its tongue, coiled tightly around the Dark Green Toad, its black body constricting continuously.
*Splurt, splurt*, sounds of bursting echoed – the sound of the bumps on the Dark Green Toad's back exploding.
Streams of viscous venom splattered onto the Black Snake's body, corroding pits into its fine-scaled body. Through the pits, one could even see the Black Snake's pink internal organs.
"Gurgle~~"
With the bumps on its back bursting one by one, the Dark Green Toad was coiled tightly. Its belly weakly pulsed, with only two toad legs exposed, twitching occasionally.
It seemed the winner was decided! Tang Song watched the two mutated insects determine the victor. The outcome wasn't entirely unexpected.
This snake was an exotic beast captured by Oscorp's animal hunters from the primeval jungle of Borneo.
Animal hunters refer to hunters who roam remote mountains and deep forests where few people tread, capturing rare birds and exotic beasts.
In the past, high officials and noble lords, wealthy merchants and financial magnates purchased these rare birds and exotic beasts for novelty and showing off.
Later, with the advancement of modern biotechnology, some rare animals attracted the attention of many scientists. These animals often contained a lot of valuable treasures within their bodies, such as their genes.
Just like the Chameleon's color-changing ability, the Lizard's regeneration ability, and the Electric Eel's electric discharge ability – for biological research, they are excellent research material.
The rarer the animal, the more popular it naturally became. A group of animal hunters went to Borneo to search for a legendary giant python, but instead brought back a strange Black Snake, which was eventually auctioned off by Oscorp at a high price of two hundred thousand US dollars.
Oscorp, as the world's leading biotechnology company, naturally invested heavily in this area and supported many animal hunters.
...
"Tang, it looks like this arena-style fight was won by the Black Snake, *crunch, crunch*."
Bob said indistinctly, chewing on potato chips, "When does the experiment start? Do we need to wait for this Black Snake to recover from its injuries?"
"No need!" Tang Song gazed towards the Black Snake, raising an eyebrow as he looked at the wounds covering its body. "Professor Connors needs this laboratory the day after tomorrow. We don't have much time left. Let's proceed with the Genetic Transcription Experiment now!"
Genetic Transcription Experiment, as the name suggests, involves the transcription and grafting of genes.
A Chinese-American professor named Wu at Harvard University once recombined some frog genes and crocodile gene fragments, cloning a crocodile with astonishing jumping ability.
It is said that Dr. Wu subsequently joined a multinational biotechnology company and became a chief researcher. According to unofficial sources, this multinational company has been dedicated to paleontology research.
Professor Connors, Bob, and Tang Song's research directions are largely similar to Professor Wu's.
However, Professor Connors took interest in the Lizard's limb regeneration ability, attempting to fuse this ability into humans.
Tang Song and Bob's research direction is gene fusion between animals, cultivating new species with significant economic value.
"Which gene modification should we attempt first? Chameleon, or Electric Eel? Or how about these Lizards? These are Professor Connors' treasures!"
Bob opened the door of a cold storage room on one side and pushed out a small cart. On the reagent rack were rows of gene reagents of various colors.
They were covered with labels: King Chameleon, Black Widow Spider, Mangshan Pit Viper, Bamboo Leaf Green Snake, Blue-Ringed Octopus...
Common and rare, a wide variety – most of these animals possess a unique skill, or rather, are outstanding among their kind.
Tang Song walked to the reagent rack, his back to Bob, and his fingers brushed over a row of reagents. A green light entered that row of reagents.
"Let's try fusing the electric eel gene first!"
Tang Song casually picked up a reagent tube and placed it in the compartment below the incubation chamber. "Tang, I hope what you said about the Ancient Secret Art of Cultivating Gu Insects is really effective. This is inter-species gene recombination!"
Bob put down the potato chips, walked to the computer and sat down, moving the mouse and clicking twice on the computer screen.
*Hiss, hiss, hiss*...
As the spraying procedure inside the incubation chamber started, this time it sprayed out white mist.
As soon as this drug, which has a strong anesthetic effect and can knock out an elephant in three seconds, was sprayed out, the Black Snake, which was diligently devouring the Dark Green Toad's corpse, immediately went limp.
"Come on, little guy!"
Bob controlled the mechanical arm with the computer, holding a syringe and stabbing it towards the Black Snake.
Tang Song stood in front of the incubation chamber's one-way glass, observing the muscles tense beneath the Black Snake's seemingly relaxed body. A hint of a smile flashed in his eyes.
This Black Snake had considerable intelligence. Being able to fight its way out among a hundred mutated insects, it could indeed be called an "exotic beast"! Just don't know if it will be useful after gene recombination! Tang Song watched as the needle pierced into the Black Snake's body. As the gene serum was pushed in, the Black Snake's body twisted wildly.
*Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap*, the Black Snake's tail thrashed wildly, its upper body coiled together, almost twisted into a pretzel.
The bushes inside the incubation chamber were whipped with cracking sounds by it. Fine scales covered in blood splattered everywhere. The entire incubation chamber immediately became a mess. After a long time, the Black Snake stopped struggling and floated on the water surface.
"It's dead!" Bob looked at the motionless Black Snake and the values displayed on the life monitoring equipment, staring at Han Li in astonishment.
"Tang, are you kidding? We spent so much time using what you called the Ancient Secret Art of Cultivating Gu Insects, and the result is, shit!"
Bob couldn't help but curse angrily, "We spent millions in experimental funds, and got no results at all! We'll be fired!"
"Continue injecting. Use the Mangshan Pit Viper gene!"
Tang Song's face was calm, and the eyes behind his glasses were unusually calm.
Bob looked into Tang Song's eyes, as if seeing that deep pool in his hometown farm – calm, deep, and awe-inspiring.
A jolt went through Bob's mind, and he immediately lowered his head and operated. "Okay, since you want to do this, but this Black Snake is clearly stone cold, oh!"
The instant the mechanical arm approached, the Black Snake inside the incubation chamber instantly shot up. Its snake head bit down hard on the mechanical arm's clamp. Its sharp fangs hissed as they sprayed out transparent venom.
Seeing the obvious corrosive spots appearing on the alloy mechanical arm, Bob swallowed hard in fright and cried out in surprise.
"Shit! This snake was playing dead!"
Bob's face was pale, and cold sweat instantly flowed down his temples. Just now, seeing that the Black Snake had no signs of life, he had wanted to clamp it out and dispose of it.
Luckily he didn't do that. If he wasn't careful and got bitten by this snake, looking at the potency of this snake's venom, the antivenom serum in the laboratory would definitely not be useful.
"Tang, should the experiment continue?"
Bob was somewhat hesitant, turning his gaze towards Tang Song.
This snake's intelligence, and the potency of the venom it sprayed out, had clearly already surpassed ordinary snakes.
If gene recombination really succeeded, what kind of monster would that be?
"Continue!"
(End of this chapter)