Chapter 214: Clinical Trial

The Spire Experimental Base was located at -723 meters below sea level and its temperature was regulated throughout the year. There was no way to distinguish day from night.

However, as a means to not disrupt the Circadian clock, the Spire Experimental Base adopted the same routine as practiced on the surface.

The next morning at 7 o’clock, Chen Chen opened his eyes right on the dot.

Little X’s well-timed message played across the speakers. “Sir Godfather, all subjects have been delivered into the inner section of the laboratory.”

“Tell them I’ll be there after breakfast.”

Chen Chen stretched lazily before quickly getting up to wash up. After he was done, he left the room.

By the time he returned to the laboratory, all of the faculty members were in their position.

“Boss.”

“Mr. Chen.”

Chen Chen nodded and at the same time, looked behind him consciously.

At the present, a wall at the back of the laboratory was withdrawing into the ceiling, revealing a sealed isolation room behind it.

This was a biological safety isolation room, which was equivalent to a plus-sized biological safety cabinet. The entrance was fitted with airtight valves, the structure was used for observation of a selection of large laboratory animals.

For example... People.

There was a hospital bed inside the isolation room. A black man was tied to the bed with belts.

The man was currently in a drugged state. His eyes were closed and he was dressed in a pearly white hospital gown. Another thing that could be noted was that he was physically fit and healthy.

Laid beside the bed was an arsenal of devices such as ventilators, electrocardiographs, cardiac defibrillators, automatic gastric lavage machines, and so on.

If something were to happen to the patient amid the experiment, providing emergency care was a viable option.

“Boss, we have completed the appropriate physical examination and disinfection of the test subjects to ensure that they don’t carry any pathogenic microorganisms. Apart from this experiment subject, there are four others like him waiting in the other room. We can begin the experiment anytime now.”

One of the people in charge relayed the message to Chen Chen.

“Excellent.”

Chen Chen nodded his approval. “How about the rabbits, macaques, and the other animal subjects?”

“In the other laboratory. We didn’t want to mix the subjects,” the person in charge replied.

“In that case, we can conduct the experiments simultaneously on both sides.”

Chen Chen turned to Hannibal and Li Lei who were standing behind him. “Hannibal, you’re in charge of the animal experiment on the other side. Li Lei will take charge of the human experiment over here.”

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

Both of them accepted their tasks. The research staff in the laboratory were then separated into two groups, each group commenced the operation with their respective leaders.

It was rather telling that this was Li Lei’s first time dealing with humans as experiment subjects as his nerves were showing. He held a tube of the drug in hand and appeared to struggle with himself for some time before finally injecting the black man with it.

“There’s no need to give yourself unneeded pressure. These people are all vicious criminals. Think of it as waste management.”

Chen Chen stood outside the isolation room and motioned blankly. “If you can’t do it, you can let your assistants do it.”

“No, I want to do it myself.”

Li Lei took a deep breath, shook his head, and announced hardly, “It was just my nerves acting up just now, I’ll have to face these tasks eventually. This is good for training my mentality.”

With that, he plunged the syringe into the subject’s arm. Using this method of intravenous injection, the chimeric combination of Progenitor virus and leech virus was injected into the body of the subject.

“Start the clock, get ready to provide urgent medical aid for experiment subject number one at any time.”

Li Lei prompted the assistant beside him and made him wipe the sweat off his forehead before realizing that he was wearing a fully enclosed protective suit. He left it at that.

After exiting the isolation room, Li Lei approached Chen Chen and turned to look at the subject through the window with Chen Chen. “There’s no telling if this experiment can succeed...”

“If you’re talking about the modification of organic biological weapons, it’s pretty much a guarantee that it’s going to fail.”

Chen Chen elaborated, “Humans are unable to endure the modification of T-virus and will only end up turning into a zombie. Therefore, if the subject is zombified then we can confirm that this virus is indeed the T-virus.”

With that, Li Lei nodded.

Although he was curious to know where exactly Chen Chen found a virus from the movie, he knew better than to ask questions and therefore chose to not pursue the subject.

The clock began ticking. Half an hour later, although the subject was still unconscious, his complexion turned from a faint red tint to a paler tone.

Sweat was starting to swell on his forehead as well. He seemed to be experiencing intense pain.

“His heart rate is increasing. His current heartbeat rate has gone up from 65 beats per minute to 110 beats per minute.”

One of the assistants inside the isolation room reported hastily.

“The subject seems to be experiencing discomfort, should we wake him up to collect data?” the assistant asked.

“We can give it a shot.” Li Lei nodded his approval.

Li Lei entered the isolation room again and instructed, “Ready the flumazenil antagonists, we want to wake the subject up.”

Before he could finish the sentence, another assistant beside him interjected. “Leader Li Lei, the subject seems to have woken up already.”

“What?”

Surprised by the assistant, Li Lei turned to the subject. It was true. The subject had opened his eyes somewhere along the lines. Although he was still slightly drowsy, his eyes were open!

“Impossible, how can he wake from so quickly from the intravenous anesthesia?”

Upon witnessing this scene, Chen Chen, who was standing outside the isolation room, showed a change in expression as well. Needless to say, this was an effect of the virus.

Chen Chen remembered that one of the most distinct effects of the T-virus was the increased metabolism rate. In other words, a subject infected by T-virus should display signs of a multiplied metabolism rate.

This was the leading factor behind the subject waking up in half an hour from intravenous anesthesia which usually should last up to several hours.

“Subject number one is currently experiencing high fever.”

With a thermometer pointed at the subject’s forehead, an assistant noted again. “The current temperature of the experiment subject is 39.7 degrees, which is classified as a high fever stage.”

“Can you hear me?”

Li Lei approached the subject, pried open his eyes to inspect the pupils. Then Li Lei raised his hand and asked in English, “How many fingers do I have raised?”

“Three fingers...”

Seemingly having just woken up from the effects of the anesthesia, the subject answered with a feeble voice.

“Very good.”

Li Lei was pleased. “You have a case of a very serious infectious disease. Tell me, are you experiencing any discomfort anywhere currently?”

“My head hurts, it’s so cold. Wait a second, where am I...”

“You’re in an emergency center. We’re trying to save you now.”

Li Lei answered, “But the way things are looking now, it seems the virus is starting to assault your immune system.”

After that, instead of further recovery, the subject fainted again. This behavior was potentially influenced by his gradually worsening condition.

“He has a fever of 41 degrees now.”

The assistant prompted. “His heart rate has also spiked up to 150 beats per minute, entering critical condition. He might experience cardiac arrest at any given moment now!”

“Get ready to provide emergency aid.”

Two hours later, the man’s face had turned into a blank white sheet, devoid of any signs of blood flow.

“Beep–!”

Suddenly, there was the sound of a prolonged electronic beep, the subject’s heartbeat on the electrocardiogram had turned into a straight line. This indicated that the subject’s heart has stopped beating.

“Gag his mouth, everybody remains on alert of subject number one’s potential sudden aggression!”

Li Lei immediately barked the order upon noting what was going on, “Ready to charge the defibrillation electrode. First attempt 200J, on three. Three, two, one, discharge!”

With the sharp zap of electric current, an assistant placed the defibrillation electrode on the chest of the subject, simultaneously holding down the discharge setting!

“Thump!”

The subject jerked violently.

“No reaction, turn it up to 300J, go!”

“Thump!”

Another electric current zap. The numbing beep suddenly stopped, which was immediately followed by a rapid ticking sound again.

“Subject number one has regained his heartbeat!”

The assistant sighed in relief and instinctively tried to reach for the subject’s eyelids to inspect his pupil.

However, the moment he reached out with his hand, the subject’s eyes opened violently and took a vicious bite at the assistant!

It was then when they all noticed that the black man was no longer human. He had completely become zombified!

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