Absolute Secret

Now, the Moon and Mars had both become places humanity could truly set foot on. Spacefaring powers had even built bases there, either independently or through cooperation.

For example, there were two bases on the Moon. One was Guanghan Palace, led by the Zhonghua Family, while the other was Artemis Moon Base, led by the United States. They were both partners and competitors, the only two cooperative bases for scientific research among the nations.

Although Yue Yuan's final destination was Callisto, his first stop would be the Moon. A dual PhD in biology and genetic inheritance was waiting for him at Guanghan Palace.

This was a position allocated to Callisto Base by the higher-ups. As the Base Chief, Yue Yuan naturally would not pass up the chance to select talent.

Knock, knock, knock.

The knocking from outside made Yue Yuan, who had been resting with his eyes closed, open them.

"Come in." His words were brief, as though he already knew who was outside.

The person who opened the door was a tall man standing six feet tall. He wore a white shirt over his upright frame and appeared to be around thirty, though his receding hairline made him look several years older.

The man walked up to Yue Yuan, who was sitting upright on the sofa, handed him the prepared documents, and said, "Chief, these are the materials you requested."

Yue Yuan accepted the documents but did not look at them immediately. Instead, he raised his head and looked at the man. "Pi Te, you came back so late. Did you investigate that young lady just now?"

Though phrased as a question, it sounded like a statement. Before the man could answer, Yue Yuan continued, "She's just an ordinary tourist on the cruise ship. There's no need to be so nervous."

"Just doing my duty."

The man called Pi Te had barely spoken when Yue Yuan waved him off. "All right, all right, I know. Choosing a cruise ship did increase your workload. Go get some rest. This ship docks at noon tomorrow. Go say hello to the Orbital Mass Accelerator Staff first, so we don't end up unable to book a flight."

"Yes!" The man saluted, turned, and left the room, gently closing the door behind him.

The man's surname was Zhu, and his given name was Pi Te. He was Yue Yuan's deputy and assistant. He was quite young and fairly handsome, but hair loss plagued him so badly that he wore a hat except on special occasions. It was said that his greatest wish was for his bald patch to grow back a full head of hair, so he often kept an eye on medical and genetic news.

As for why he had investigated Xu Yanshi, Yue Yuan could understand. After all, his circumstances were indeed rather unusual now.

It was not because of his position. After becoming a Base Chief, having someone protect him was nothing unusual, but there was no need to go this far. The real reason Zhu Pi Te was so cautious was what Yue Yuan had experienced on Callisto.

Yue Yuan still remembered that moment vividly.

At the time, seven people had inhaled the spreading Red Gas. Aside from Yue Yuan, the other six included payload specialists and doctors of genetic inheritance.

They were all members of Callisto Base. However, two of them had now been left in Jingcheng to assist with research on him, which was also one reason Yue Yuan had been able to secure the genetic inheritance PhD position from Guanghan Palace.

And that Red Gas had quite an extraordinary origin.

To explain that, one had to start with Callisto Base.

Callisto Base had been built inside a deep canyon. Such a location defied common sense, since bases were generally built on relatively flat terrain. Guanghan Palace was like that, and so was Yinghuo Base on Mars.

As for why Callisto Base had been built there, that involved the secret buried deep beneath the canyon. There was a damaged alien spacecraft there.

Regarding the unconventional location of the base, the Zhonghua Family had reportedly announced to the public that it was meant to challenge and test greater engineering difficulties, preparing humanity for future expansion into harsher interstellar environments.

As soon as the news reached the media, netizens everywhere rushed to comment. It truly was the Light of Humanity.

Because the Zhonghua Family's reputation as an Infrastructure Demon was already known worldwide, there were few conspiracy theorists stirring up trouble. Of course, it also had something to do with Callisto having only one base, the Zhonghua Family's.

If it had been on the Moon, it probably would not have been so easy to keep hidden.

Although the spacecraft under secrecy was damaged, it was still possible to determine that the alien civilization it belonged to was technologically far beyond humanity's current level. It took people a full five years to successfully enter the ship through a damaged section.

That Red Gas had emerged from an unidentified chamber within the damaged spacecraft. More precisely, it had not emerged on its own. A cabinet-like container that had never been opened, whose purpose was unknown, and which could not be removed, had suddenly opened automatically for some unknown reason.

Ordinarily, no one should have inhaled any gas during exploration, because everyone wore Spacesuits in that environment. But the problem was that section of the ship had already been explored and connected to Callisto Base long before Yue Yuan became Base Chief.

As a result, when the group of seven passed through that section, they had not worn Spacesuits, just as they did within Callisto Base. So they inhaled every last bit of it.

Fortunately, the gas was not poisonous. Otherwise, Yue Yuan and the other six would have long since perished. On the contrary, aside from temporary discomfort such as dizziness after inhaling it, the seven experienced no negative effects.

Naturally, after such an accident, Yue Yuan and the other six underwent a series of physical examinations, but no abnormalities were found. It was not until deeper genetic testing was conducted that they discovered the seven's Aging Genes had been effectively suppressed, while related anti-aging factors such as Telomerase, along with other genes of similar function, had become unusually active.

After repeated tests and research, the Expert Group concluded that the seven might live four to six times longer than ordinary people. They had practically borrowed another five hundred years from heaven.

Furthermore, their P53 Tumor Suppressor Gene pairs had increased from one pair to five pairs, reaching one-quarter of an elephant's level. Tests also showed that the LIF6 Gene on Chromosome 20 had been activated.

Elephants possessed twenty pairs of P53 genes, giving them an exceptionally strong ability to resist cancerous mutations. In other words, not only had the seven gained longer lifespans, but their cancer resistance had reached one-quarter of an elephant's. Given the vast difference in size between humans and elephants, possessing one-quarter as many P53 genes as an elephant practically meant humans would almost never get cancer.

Moreover, calcium loss in a Microgravity Environment had been greatly reduced. Other than that, no further discoveries were made.

At the time, the results left all the staff involved in testing and research immensely excited. Four to six times the lifespan—based on humanity's current average lifespan of ninety years, that meant at least over three hundred years. Combined with improved cancer resistance, it was enough to ensure they would not die before their time.

Excitement. Madness.

Faced with such a monumental discovery, Yue Yuan immediately ordered the news sealed and made every informed person involved in the examinations sign strict Non-Disclosure Agreements. Then, without hesitation, he used Quantum Secure Communication to report the news to the capital.

When the news crossed seven hundred million kilometers through Quantum Satellites at various Relay Stations and reached Earth, one could imagine how inspiring it was after repeated confirmation.

Although humanity could now build bases on nearby planets and moons within the Solar System, the time required for round trips was still immense. Even with current mature Fission Rocket propulsion, traveling back and forth to places within the Solar System such as Uranus, Neptune, or the more distant Kuiper Belt still required a very long time.

After all, the timing of space travel could not simply be calculated by dividing distance by speed. One also had to account for orbital routes and the time required for spacecraft acceleration and deceleration.

And humanity would not be satisfied with merely developing the Solar System. Extended lifespans were simply too important for future expansion into deep space. Combined with Hibernation Pods already in use, the true Sea of Stars was within reach.

But the bad news was that no other similar substance had been found within the spacecraft. That spreading Red Gas was likely the result of the last dose of an unknown substance escaping.

Under those circumstances, Yue Yuan began his journey back to Earth.

However, after receiving his military rank, he was assigned back to Callisto Base to continue leading the alien spacecraft exploration project. Of the other six, five remained on Earth to assist with research, while one had stayed on Callisto.

Obviously, the research concerned the mechanisms behind the six people's longevity genes and related matters. But they could hardly be called lab rats, since as far as Yue Yuan knew, the project was personally led by one of the other genetic inheritance specialists.