Surgery

First, it had to unravel the mess and untangle the core of that tangled knot.

Very soon, the single cell's DNA chain was laid completely bare before Huo Gu.

Next came "extraction"—cutting out the gene chain responsible for expressing bacteriophages. This was an extremely delicate task, especially for Huo Gu, who did not even have hands or feet.

It carefully controlled the output of restriction enzymes to ensure that no other parts of the gene chain were damaged. At the same time, it remotely directed the single cell, using the flow of cytoplasm to confine the restriction enzymes to the gene segment that needed to be removed.

This was no different from writing with saliva—on the surface of water, no less.

"Damn it!"

As Huo Gu's frustration surfaced, the restriction enzymes malfunctioned and cut straight across. Other gene segments were sliced away as well, and before long, the single cell's core had shrunk by nearly half, only stopping once the restriction enzymes were exhausted.

Afterward, under the ligase instinctively secreted by the single cell, those scattered gene fragments joined together and formed a complete gene chain once more.

However, Huo Gu knew that this drastically altered gene chain could no longer replicate the original single cell.

Huo Gu selected another cell from the single-cell cluster as its new "surgery" subject.

The earlier failure did not deal much of a blow to Huo Gu's confidence. It had never considered itself a genius. It even felt that it was a little slower than the average person; it had merely read a few more books than others.

The surgery began again.

This time, having learned from its previous mistake, Huo Gu used the restriction enzymes within the single cell far more cautiously. It greatly reduced the amount of restriction enzymes used and focused most of its attention on the movement of the cytoplasm.

It used the cytoplasmic flow to guide the restriction enzymes, cutting out the designated gene segment while ensuring that the enzymes were fully depleted once the cutting was finished.

Failure...

Failure...

Failure...

Failure...

Success!

"Very good."

Just as Huo Gu had believed, it succeeded. After losing nearly a hundred cells, it had cut out that bacteriophage gene segment.

The next step was joining, which was much simpler. Huo Gu remotely controlled the cell and used the flow of cytoplasm to confine the gene segment responsible for expressing bacteriophages within a certain area.

Then, with ligase, it rejoined the DNA that had been split into two during the surgery, forming an entirely new gene chain.

"Begin division."

At Huo Gu's command, the successfully operated replicator cell gradually began dividing into new individuals.

Very soon, a new individual appeared within the single-cell cluster. However, this new individual displayed something Huo Gu had not anticipated.

A "cell wall."

The replicator cell was wrapped in an outer shell. Compared with the cell membrane, this shell was sturdier and somewhat elastic, providing the cell with ample protection and room to grow.

This...

Why?

Huo Gu thought for a moment, then wondered uncertainly.

Could it be the result of that incomplete bacteriophage gene segment being expressed?

That surgery had not completely removed the bacteriophage genes. Huo Gu had only cut out the gene segment it had previously identified as expressing toxic bacteriophages.

In any case, incomplete gene expression would be incomplete. It could not possibly transcribe bacteriophages again.

Risking the reappearance of toxic bacteriophages just to achieve a perfect removal?

After considering it at the time, Huo Gu decided against it. It was not a perfectionist, so there was no need to risk its life over something like that.

It had not expected this to happen...

A cell wall was certainly necessary, because its primary function was to protect the cell.

To put it simply, it was like a commoner in cloth armor putting on steel plate. Its defensive power was now in a completely different league from before.

Originally, Huo Gu had planned to begin constructing cell walls after resolving the bacteriophage problem, but now...

Huo Gu fell into a dilemma.

It was not that it disliked such a pleasant surprise, but this cell wall had been obtained by "accident." Whether it could meet its requirements was hard to say.

"I've decided. I'll observe it for a while first."

Having made up its mind, Huo Gu shifted its attention to the other single cells and began operating on them.

With a first successful case, there would naturally be a second and a third. After some more time, Huo Gu became increasingly proficient, stabilizing the success rate of gene-segment cutting at over eighty percent.

During this period, Huo Gu came up with a way to break apart the protein structures linking the cells: through division. It would create new replicators between two connected single cells and squeeze out the old cells.

It was somewhat similar to the Ship of Theseus: gradually replacing those aged single cells without affecting normal thought.

Thinking this, Huo Gu did exactly that.

As the last infected single cell was replaced, its sense of crisis vanished, replaced by an immense feeling of relief. After all, nothing capable of threatening it remained for the time being.

Once it had settled its emotions, Huo Gu did not forget that its current vessel for thought was merely an insignificant cluster of single cells—a life-form even lower than plants at the bottom of the food chain.

Huo Gu recalled that, when it had still been human, it had possessed at least a hundred million ways to wipe out its current single-cell cluster. The thought sent a chill down its spine.

"Too fragile. I still need to keep optimizing these single cells."

Having established its goal, Huo Gu began analyzing the unexpected "surprise" it had obtained. If these cell walls did not perform satisfactorily, it would need to operate again, completely remove the bacteriophage gene segments, and then rebuild cell walls capable of meeting its needs.

The first requirement was appropriate permeability. If permeability was too high, the protective effect would be negligible. If it was too low, the cell would receive fewer materials from the outside world and gradually die off.

The second requirement was appropriate flexibility. The cell wall could be neither too hard nor too soft, and it had to possess a certain degree of extensibility. If it was too hard, it would restrict the cell's growth. If it was too soft, it would provide no cushioning or protection. Without extensibility, its plasticity would also be extremely poor, which was unfavorable for clustering together in the current environment.

The third requirement was also what Huo Gu needed most urgently: the ability to defend against attacks from the bacteriophages, aggressive bacteria, and fungi lurking in the darkness.

The first and second requirements were easy to test. It only needed to place a single cell by itself at the outermost edge. The remaining task was simply observation—seeing whether the experimental single cell changed and to what extent.

The real difficulty was the third.

(OwO If you're someone who likes to stockpile chapters and feel the updates are too slow, please consider voting with recommendation tickets while keeping the book. New books and young seedlings need these as a foundation. Think of it as doing a small favor. Thank you, everyone!)