Orochimaru sat on the ground, his back against the corner of the wall, his head hanging down and his hands dangling at his sides.
Huangwu touched Orochimaru's corpse and found that the latter's body was already stiff.
" Orochimaru died yesterday, and more than 24 hours have passed. Rigor mortis reaches its peak between 12 and 16 hours, and then begins to subside between 24 and 36 hours. It can be confirmed that Orochimaru is truly dead!"
Araki nodded silently. From the surface signs of the corpse, it was clear that Orochimaru had indeed left this world.
At least the body is dead.
As for whether there was any room left in terms of the soul, he wasn't entirely sure, but it wouldn't pose any threat to him in the short term.
"It's time to look at the other rooms here!"
Araki was still somewhat curious about Orochimaru's base. After all, since arriving here, he had only been able to move around in that one laboratory, and he had never been inside any of the other rooms.
Without any hesitation, Araki went straight into the first house on the left.
The doors to these rooms were all damaged, broken off yesterday by the vines. Upon entering, it found the rooms weren't particularly chaotic, but they weren't completely clean either. The glass containers that had originally held experimental equipment were shattered, the rooms reeked of formaldehyde, and the liquid on the floor had gradually dried, with several shriveled corpses lying on it.
These bodies shouldn't have looked like this before.
It is likely that individuals that failed after Hashirama Cells transplantation experiments were stored.
Araki looked at the corpses and found that each of them had many wounds, some as big as a bowl and others as big as a jar.
These bodies must not have originally looked like this.
Araki guessed that it must have been the Hashirama Cells that were absorbed yesterday. He had also absorbed a lot of Hashirama Cells from the vines. These Hashirama Cells all came from Orochimaru's laboratory, including those experimental subjects who had been transplanted with Hashirama Cells. Although these experimental subjects had died, the Hashirama Cells in their bodies had never died.
Araki understood the true meaning of death while playing and learning with the older man.
For a person, it is necessary to experience death twice.
The first instance is the death of the organism.
The second is cell death.
These two processes are gradual but indispensable.
Araki wasn't entirely clear on this point at first, because he had always learned Medical Ninjutsu from Tsunade-sensei, which involved healing others, while Orochimaru was researching cell biology, which involved studying the dead.
According to Orochimaru's theory, as long as the body is alive, the death of some cells will not affect the body's life, and may even lead to regeneration.
It's like an arm being cut off. The severed arm will gradually die because it's separated from the body, and the cells in the arm will all die because they don't get any nutrients.
However, death of the arm does not necessarily lead to the death of the person.
If cell research can be used to regenerate that person's cells, there is theoretically a chance that an arm could be regrown.
Orochimaru devoted a lot of research to this, and even Araki learned a great deal about it.
This means...
Before experiencing bodily death, even if cells die, it will not affect the survival of the group. Collective death is the first step in Orochimaru's theory of death.
But once a person is killed, they are, by common sense, already dead.
However, in the sense of Orochimaru's death, this is only the first step of bodily death, and he has not yet experienced the second step of whole-body cellular death, so it cannot be completely considered death.
This is why Orochimaru never believed that Hashirama Senju was truly dead.
Hashirama Senju only experienced the first step of collective death, meaning he himself died. However, normally, after the body dies, the cells throughout the body will die one after another over a period of time until all the cells in the last step die, and then the person truly dies.
However, Hashirama Senju's cells were still alive.
As long as the cells are alive, it is possible to regenerate from the state of death and rebuild a living body for the deceased, thus returning from the state of death.
Of course, there is a condition, or rather a prerequisite, for this.
That means finding the soul of the person who died in this machine!
Having read Araki's later Araki, I know that Orochimaru found Hashirama Senju's soul through the Impure World Reincarnation technique, but he failed to revive Hashirama Senju using Hashirama Cells. This may be because the subsequent research did not meet expectations, or some deviation occurred.
However, this was a great success for Orochimaru in terms of research, because Orochimaru succeeded in making his body regenerate and come back to life as long as his soul was still alive and his cells were still alive.
This is Orochimaru's understanding of organismal death and cell death.
As long as a person hasn't experienced the complete death of all their cells, then, in Orochimaru's definition, that person hasn't died, or more accurately, still has the possibility or opportunity to be resurrected.
Araki wasn't sure if Orochimaru had any chance of finding an opportunity to stand before her again, but she was thinking about these basic theories, and questions kept popping into her head.
"If Orochimaru's research continues, is it possible for someone Hashirama Senju, whose cells are still alive, to be resurrected before him?"
"This is research that even Orochimaru didn't finish!"
Or perhaps...
Araki suddenly thought of a very strange possibility, his pupils contracted sharply, and a strong shock flashed in his eyes.
"The future Orochimaru has already developed it, but he doesn't want to use this technology on Hashirama Senju, because that would involve too many variables!"
Upon considering this possibility, Araki suddenly felt a sense of dread. After all, judging from the subsequent results, as long as there was even a tiny bit of Orochimaru's soul and the Chakra he had left behind, Orochimaru could be resurrected.
Moreover, Orochimaru can regenerate even after his body is severed, a level of abnormality comparable to Hashirama Senju.
etc...
Araki became increasingly uneasy. Hashirama Senju's technique of continuously healing wounds—wasn't that essentially the regeneration of the body's surviving cells?
Did Orochimaru eventually figure out how to use Hashirama Cells?
In an instant.
Araki's mind started racing after seeing just a few corpses, and it took him a while to come to his senses.
"The answer to this kind of thing may only be known in the future. If Orochimaru already possesses such an ability, then the seeds must have been sown long ago; it's just a matter of when they will take root and sprout."
Araki looked at the few corpses on the ground. These corpses, soaked in formalin, had turned brown and seemed unlikely to decompose anytime soon. But to him, keeping such things was of no use.
Let's just clean it all up at once!
He will need to use these laboratories in the future.
If these things get dirty, they become harder to clean up over time.
Thinking of this, Araki reached out and his palm suddenly transformed into vines, which wrapped around the corpses and effortlessly pulled them all out of the laboratory.
Araki threw the corpses directly into the room where Orochimaru's corpse was located, intending to pile them up and then dispose of them all at once.
In this way...
This lab doesn't have any of those unsettling things.
After moving the body out, Araki re-examined the laboratory and discovered that it contained many experimental instruments that were not found in the laboratory he had previously worked in.
However, he was not yet clear on how to use these instruments. The smell of formaldehyde in the room was too strong, making it impossible for him to concentrate on examining them carefully.
"That's enough!"
Araki immediately made a decision: all he could do today was dispose of the corpses; he could figure out the rest when he came back another time.
Immediately afterwards.
Araki began to collect the corpses scattered on the ground in each room and pile them up where Orochimaru's body was.
After working for several tens of minutes, all the bodies in the laboratory had been cleaned up, and it was confirmed that there were no survivors; they were all bodies that had been soaked in formalin.
From these signs, Araki realized that Orochimaru wanted to preserve Hashirama Cells through these dead people; they were specimens, not culture vessels.
Chapter 9: Mikoto killed members of the Uchiha Clan!
After piling up all the corpses, Araki took out a bottle containing the Corpse-Dissolving Water.
During that year and a half, he studied under Orochimaru, not only learning a great deal about biochemistry, but also gaining a deeper understanding of corpses than ever before.
This is a strange feeling about knowledge.
This is also a major reason why Araki was willing to stay in the laboratory.
During this time, he learned many things that he could not learn from Tsunade-sensei. To some extent, the Medical Ninjutsu that Tsunade-sensei studied was all about healing and saving lives, while Orochimaru studied more about the dead. These are two different things.
in.
Corpse-Dissolving Water is something developed specifically for the dead.
It can effectively destroy the protein tissue of the human body, completely dissolve human cells into gas, and even leave no bones behind. Its effect is excellent, making it an essential item for destroying evidence of a corpse.
Ever since Araki learned how to concoct Corpse-Dissolving Water -Corpse-Dissolving Water, he has always carried it with him for emergencies. Now that he has come across it, he can dissolve all the corpses here.
Instantly.
Araki opened the bottle of the Corpse-Dissolving Water.
Pour out some of the liquid and gently sprinkle it on the corpses, being very careful to avoid splashing the liquid on yourself.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle...
Almost instantly, wisps of white steam rose from the corpses, filled with the smell of corroded protein, much like the smell of tissues after rewarding oneself.
"It's too stuffy in here; we need to air it out first, otherwise it's unbearable to stay here."
Araki wrinkled his nose, then clasped his hands together abruptly. Terrifying Chakra surged from his body, traveling down his feet to the ground.
" Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
Araki's voice rang out softly, and then flowers bloomed all over the base, and green plants grew everywhere.
These plants aren't tall; their main purpose here is to purify the air. After all, the spilled formalin has flowed onto the ground, constantly emitting a pungent odor. Essentially, that's formaldehyde, which is quite harmful to the body.
Not only that...
After the Corpse-Dissolving Water dissolves the proteins, the resulting vapors are not a good thing to keep in there for too long.
Orochimaru's base was located deep underground, and its ventilation was not good. Araki had noticed this when he conducted experiments there before, but he could tolerate it at the time, as it was not considered a particularly serious matter.
but...
Now there's a mixture of various smells here.
The plants here still need to purify it, but after confirming the situation, the weight on his heart was lifted.
After Araki finished arranging all the trees here, he crawled back up through the tree hole and returned to his usual training place under the cover of night.
He hasn't been practicing much lately, spending most of his evenings resting, but he's now getting back into training mode.
Obtaining Hashirama Cells gave him a substantial boost in strength, which was no easy feat, considering that he had been training continuously for so long with slow progress. But now, he was making rapid and steady progress.
Gradually...