Cell Activity, 300%!

Wu Ming's home was in a large residential compound, not far from the Southwest Military Region's old station. The house had been assigned by the military to his father, Wu Zhanguo.

However, the military later changed its station. Since his father needed to remain stationed at the military region, he moved away as well, leaving Wu Ming to continue living here because it was close to his school.

The compound's environment was fairly decent. It had all the basic facilities and even a public gym. Other than the buildings being old, it had no other drawbacks.

Thud, thud, thud. Wu Ming quickly climbed to the fourth floor and returned to his ninety-square-meter home.

The place was not large, but since he lived alone now, it was more than enough.

Wu Ming hurried into the study, placed the bag in his hand on the computer desk, and opened it. Inside were densely packed medicine bottles, more than twenty in total.

After opening the Equipment Bar, Wu Ming picked up a bottle of Vitamin B4.

The moment his hand touched the medicine bottle, several lines of text appeared on the screen before him.

[Consumable detected: Vitamin B4 (one bottle)]

[Unique Talent: Cell Activity +20% (consumable, solidifies after 6 hours)]

[Load?]

After all, it was merely a common medicine found everywhere. Its effect was far inferior to that of the fountain pen.

Still, Wu Ming let out a sigh of relief. As long as it worked, that was enough. Consumable talents could stack, after all.

"Mom really didn't lie to me. B4 can actually increase cell activity."

He nodded inwardly. "All that research and all that time I spent steering her in the right direction weren't for nothing."

He then chose to load it, replacing the fountain pen's talent with the Vitamin B4 before him.

After finishing, he relaxed slightly and subconsciously looked toward the computer screen, which was still lit on the desk.

He had left in too much of a hurry that morning and had not even closed the webpage.

The search engine still displayed his recent search history. Looking closely, every entry was related to radiation sickness.

It was precisely because he had researched the relevant information beforehand that Wu Ming had been able to guide his mother step by step toward the idea of "Gene Collapse."

"But I was lucky too. I actually guessed the RR Virus's symptoms correctly... Luckily, I remembered the original novel's contents."

After more than a decade of living in this transmigrated world, those insignificant memories from his previous life had long been faded by time. If not for the memory boost brought by the fountain pen, it would not have been so easy for him to recall them.

Of course, the original novel had not actually described the true nature of the RR Virus. Wu Ming had only come up with these speculations by working backward from the outcome.

"According to the original text, after those epidemic survivors lived through it, their bodies underwent an all-around transformation. Even an ordinary person who had never trained could easily shatter every world record from the past."

"But... what normal virus has an effect like that?"

Wu Ming sneered inwardly.

Don't forget, he had lived through an era of pandemics in his previous life as well. How could a real virus improve its host's physical condition? It would already be fortunate if it did not leave behind lasting complications!

For a virus to enhance a survivor's physical abilities so comprehensively, it was highly likely that the genes within the body had transformed.

Then there was the fact that the power cultivated by humans on Earth in the future was called Genetic Energy... Working backward from that result, Wu Ming naturally connected the RR Virus with genes.

That was why he had repeatedly probed around the subject during the call. After confirming his conjecture concerning genes, he had gradually guided his mother deeper in the direction of Gene Collapse.

"I hope my speculation can save the World Epidemic Prevention Department some time."

Wu Ming breathed out softly. As a person of Earth, he naturally did not wish to see the tragic scenes from the original novel, so he would help as much as he could.

Of course, he would not take all responsibility for the RR Virus upon himself. It was enough to do what he could.

Do one's best and leave the rest to fate.

He was not some savior. Right now, he was merely an ordinary person with a few selfish motives.

"No matter what, this operation went smoothly."

"I not only pointed them toward the right direction for researching the virus, but also got the information I wanted from Mom."

Wu Ming relaxed slightly. He actually knew nothing about pharmacology. Even if he knew the virus was related to genes, he had no idea how to prevent it or what medicine to take.

Fortunately, Shen Xinglan was an expert in this field, which was how he had successfully purchased the relevant medicine.

Although Vitamin B4 might not have any miraculous effect against the virus based on a normal person's digestive capacity, with the Equipment Bar, he could perfectly achieve the result he wanted.

From that perspective, Shen Xinglan's guidance was extremely important and could save him quite a bit of time.

Now that they faced the threat of the RR Virus, every minute and every second was precious.

Over the next few days, Wu Ming barely stepped outside.

The bottle of Vitamin B4 in the Equipment Bar had long since been fully consumed. Once all the pills in reality had disappeared, the twenty percent increase in cell activity immediately manifested in his body.

Wu Ming did not waste any time. Timing it precisely for the end of the six hours, he immediately added a second bottle, then a third, a fourth...

To that end, he specifically set alarms. Even if the effect ended in the middle of the night, he would replace the consumable at once.

When the fourth day arrived, he finally squeezed this route to its limit. The disappearance of fifteen full bottles of Vitamin B4 gave him a whopping three hundred percent increase in cell activity!

"That's the limit."

Glancing at the record on the panel, Wu Ming was in an excellent mood. "Cell activity four times that of an ordinary person. Now I should be able to survive the virus's invasion, right?"

Just then, his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and immediately answered.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"Ah Ming." Shen Xinglan's voice carried a trace of exhaustion, but her tone was extraordinarily excited. "The Epidemic Prevention Department has results regarding that conjecture you mentioned last time."

Hearing this, Wu Ming instinctively sat up straight. "What did they find?"

"The World Epidemic Prevention Department retrieved a batch of infected corpses for deep autopsies. The report came out yesterday."

Shen Xinglan said, "Your guess was correct. These virus-infected people did indeed die from symptoms of Gene Collapse, and the Epidemic Prevention Department also made a new discovery."

"That is, the body cells of nearly all the deceased underwent Autophagy. This means that before these infected people died, all the energy stored in their bodies was consumed by their cells."

Energy?

Wu Ming's heart stirred slightly. "Mom, are you saying that during the infection, the RR Virus continuously consumes the body's energy reserves?"

"That's right!" Shen Xinglan's voice was slightly excited. "And after comparing them with survivors, we discovered that most of those who lived were either physically robust or obese, with abundant fat reserves."

"That was how they were able to safely endure the virus's assault and survive."

A flash of delight appeared in Wu Ming's eyes. "So, as long as the body has enough energy stored up, it can survive?"

"You could put it that way, but it isn't absolute. There were also some obese patients among the dead, while there were very few examples of physically robust people dying."

Shen Xinglan said, "But there's too little time to start working out now. It may already be too late. The entire United States is infected now, and I estimate it won't be long before it reaches our country."

"So, Ah Ming, stock up on food at home. Preferably high-energy foods, like chocolate and nuts. Glucose solution would work too. I left several boxes at home back then, so look around in my bedroom."

"Compared to pills like Vitamin B4, these high-energy foods are more effective."

"Got it." Wu Ming nodded. "Thanks, Mom. I'll go buy food later."

"Mm, I'm very busy here, so I won't say more."

"Oh, right. You should notify Qingzhu's family. I really can't spare the time. I'm only making this call during a brief break, so that's it."

"Beep... beep..."

Listening to the busy tone on the phone, Wu Ming shook his head and could not help looking toward the corner of the room.

Several boxes of food had already been piled there, precisely the high-energy items Shen Xinglan had mentioned.

It was not because he had predicted the future. Over the past few days, as the Equipment Bar solidified the Vitamin B4 and his cell activity increased dramatically, he had become hungry much more often.

After all, enhanced cell activity naturally consumed more energy, which also indirectly increased Wu Ming's ability to digest food.

As a result, he discovered that ordinary food was becoming less and less filling. His body needed more energy.

So, as early as two days ago, Wu Ming had gone out to shop. He had bought several large boxes of assorted nuts, chocolate energy bars, and similar items, keeping them around to eat whenever he felt hungry.

"Who would've thought I'd stumble onto the right answer by accident."

A smile appeared at the corner of Wu Ming's lips. "Of course genetic evolution needs energy. I actually forgot about that. Good thing the Epidemic Prevention Department's experts were competent enough to discover this information."

He was in a very good mood.

With all this food as an energy supplement, combined with cell activity four times that of an ordinary person, it would be absurd if he still could not survive the virus's invasion.

After calling Ruan Qingzhu, Wu Ming gnawed on an energy bar while checking the latest news about the virus.

Just then, he suddenly remembered something. "Right, Mom said there were several boxes of glucose in the room. Let's go see what effect they have."