hotmtlnovel Chapter 67 The Demon Race Hypothesis
Chapter 67 The Demon Race Hypothesis
Li Fulan stood there dumbfounded, watching Yuan Lao jumping and gesticulating wildly like a mad scientist who had just recharged Pikachu. She felt as if she had stumbled into some kind of cult gathering.
"Wait, wait, wait!"
He raised his hands in a pause gesture, his face full of confusion, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the enthusiastic Yuan Lao and the calm Lin An beside him.
"Could someone please explain the 'demon race hypothesis' to me in human language? I feel like I understand every single word you're saying, but when they're put together, I don't understand at all?"
As soon as the words were spoken, a female voice, devoid of any inflection or even emotion, drifted out from the dark corner of the laboratory.
"The demon race hypothesis is a racial inference derived from biological gene comparison."
Li Fulan was startled and turned her head sharply, only then noticing that there was a person "planted" behind the cluster of server racks that were flashing with a ghostly blue light.
It was a young woman wearing thick black-rimmed glasses, who looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six years old. She was slumped in an ergonomic chair, as if she had become one with the electronic devices around her.
She wore a wrinkled white lab coat with a crooked collar, underneath which was a black T-shirt with a faded Evangelion print. Her hair was casually tied back with a ballpoint pen, and a few strands of dry, yellow hair hung down beside her pale cheeks, giving her a sense of decadence from being deprived of the sun for a long time.
She held a cup of coffee that had stopped steaming in her hand, and her heavy dark circles made her look like some kind of nocturnal animal. Only her eyes, hidden behind her reflective glasses, were fixed on the screen with an almost frozen focus.
The woman didn't look at Li Fulan; she simply mechanically pushed up her glasses, tapped a few lines on the keyboard, and began to explain as if reading an instruction manual:
"Simply put, the data model shows that all the 'humans' on Douluo Continent do not belong to the category of Homo sapiens in terms of biological classification."
"Their gene chains exhibit clear chimeric characteristics, making them a completely new species evolved or mutated primarily from animal gene fragments. In layman's terms, they are highly anthropomorphic...demons."
Li Fulan blinked, his mind racing. He felt that these words were even more explosive than Yuan Lao's crazy ramblings, completely overturning his understanding of that world.
"What you're saying... doesn't that mean Tang San, Xiao Wu, and the others are, at their core, monsters?"
"From the objective facts of chromosome maps, yes."
The woman's tone was as flat as if she were stating that the water was wet. "'Demon race' is just a neutral academic term for easy distinction and does not contain any derogatory connotations."
She finally managed to stand up from her chair, her movements as slow as a rusty machine, and slowly moved to the front of the big screen, carrying her cold coffee.
As she pressed the remote control, a complex genetic testing report popped up on the screen, the dense data making her dizzy.
"This is the gene sequencing result of the sample you brought back—the Jade Sky Worm."
The screen split in two: on the left was the familiar double helix structure, and on the right was a more complex, even somewhat violent, genetic chain.
"Homo sapiens on Earth have 46 chromosomes, in 23 pairs. This is basic common knowledge."
The woman's pale finger made a cursory tap on the left, then moved it to the right. "But the number of chromosomes in the Jade Sky Worm is 80."
"80?" Li Fulan frowned. As a modern person, he instinctively felt that the number sounded familiar. "This order of magnitude..."
"This highly overlaps with the chromosome number range of Tyrannosaurid dinosaurs—specifically, Tyrannosaurus Rex—as speculated by paleontologists."
The woman continued expressionlessly, her voice devoid of any boasting, offering only pure data: "The Jade Sky Worm's martial soul is the Blue Lightning Tyrannosaurus Rex. Its phenotype is human, but its genotype is dragon. This indicates that the martial soul is not something external, but rather a dominant expression of their genetic essence."
Li Fulan's expression became subtle. The image of that arrogant and domineering fat man flashed through her mind. So that guy really was a dinosaur in human skin?
"Based on this, I established the 'Demon Race Hypothesis' model: if the Douluo 'humans' are actually transformed demon races, their chromosome number must be consistent with the species that is the prototype of their martial soul."
The woman turned around, her back to Li Fulan, her gaze falling on the heart on the lab table, still being kept in a weak beat by the instruments—the sample that Yuan Lao had just taken out.
"Elder Wang's martial soul is the Azure Phosphorous Serpent Emperor, belonging to the Serpent suborder. Earth's snakes typically have 36 chromosomes. If the model holds true, Elder Wang should also have 36 chromosomes."
She pointed to the monitor screen connected to her heart, where the final analysis results were displayed.
"The current detection count is 36. The model is closed, and the hypothesis is valid."
"This means..." The woman lowered her head, blew on the cold coffee in her hand, seemingly not intending to drink it, but just a habitual action, "The essence of civilization in Douluo Continent is the ecology of the demon realm disguised as human society."
Li Fulan was silent for a moment, the huge amount of information impacting his worldview, but he quickly grasped the key points.
"Wait, if this theory holds true, what about Xiao Wu?"
"The Soft-Boned Enchantress Rabbit?" The woman's voice remained flat. "In my model, she belongs to the category of 'dominant atavism' or 'primitive form maintainer.' Essentially, she is not species-isolated from the Jade Sky Worm; she simply chose a different evolutionary path."
"No," Li Fulan shook her head, her gaze sharpening. "I mean, if the humans of Douluo Continent are essentially all demons, then what is the boundary between them and soul beasts? Soul beasts can produce soul rings, so doesn't that mean... 'humans' can too?"
Upon hearing this, the woman, who had remained expressionless until now, finally reacted.
She paused for a moment, turned her head, and glanced at Li Fulan through her thick glasses. For the first time, a trace of emotion called "approval" appeared in her eyes.
"A very good starting point. This is precisely the core topic of the next phase of the staff group's work—'the theory of homologous mutualism'."
Li Fulan nodded, looking at the woman who was wrapped up like a dumpling, a sense of curiosity rising in her heart.
"By the way, I haven't asked yet, who are you?"
He had barely asked the question when Lin An, who was standing nearby, very perceptively chimed in with his explanation.
"She is the head of the staff group, Zhou Zhibai."
Lin An's tone carried a hint of helplessness, as if he was also quite troubled by his colleague's personality. "She's our base's chief analyst. Those economic sanctions plans against the Haotian Sect, as well as the feasibility report for the reverse engineering of soul tools, were actually all written by her working late into the night. I was just responsible for reading them to you at the meeting."
"Parabolic?"
Li Fulan was somewhat puzzled, looking at Zhou Zhibai who looked like he might faint from overwork at any moment, "Since it's your achievement, why didn't you report it directly to me? Going through an intermediary is too much trouble."
Zhou Zhibai did not answer immediately. She seemed somewhat uncomfortable with this kind of social conversation and subconsciously shrank into the shadows.
After several seconds, she pushed up her glasses, her gaze fixed on the tips of Li Fulan's shoes, her voice so low it was as if she were talking to herself:
"...Face-to-face communication is too inefficient for information transmission, and there are too many uncontrollable variables."
She paused, seemingly organizing her thoughts, but ultimately chose to speak the truth.
"Besides, I'm not good at dealing with people who have too much of a presence. Writing reports is more precise, and also... safer."
Li Fulan was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.
He originally thought that the aloof female team leader was too proud to show her face, but he never expected it was because of—social anxiety.
That's such a hardcore reason. So, in the eyes of this anime-loving otaku girl, he's a BOSS-level monster who brings social pressure?
"Cough cough."
He coughed twice, trying to make his tone sound gentle and harmless, like luring a frightened cat. "Um... Team Leader Zhou, there's no need to be so nervous. I'm not going to eat you. If you have any ideas in the future, you can try sending an email or just slapping the report on my desk. You don't have to go through Lin An. Efficiency comes first."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhibai cautiously raised his eyelids to glance at him, and only after realizing that Li Fulan truly did not intend to blame him did his tense shoulders relax slightly.
"...Oh. I'll consider it."
She struggled for a long time, managing to utter only these few words. Then, as if she had completed some huge social task, she quickly turned around, grabbed her coffee, and fled back to her workstation.
"Unless there are no further instructions, I... will go get the coffee."
After saying that, she quickly put on noise-canceling headphones, shutting herself back into the safe world of code and data, leaving Li Fulan with only a slightly flustered back view that seemed to say "Keep Out".
"..."
Li Fulan stared at her fluid and graceful escape movements, frozen in place, her expression a mixture of amusement and exasperation.
Lin An shrugged and explained in a low voice:
"You'll get used to it, sir. She's not targeting you; she just doesn't want to have any unnecessary interactions with any carbon-based life forms, on an equal footing. Last time, when Yuan Lao wanted to invite her to a dinner party, she locked herself in the lab for three days, claiming she was conducting a completely enclosed photosynthesis experiment."
"Photosynthesis?" Li Fulan raised an eyebrow. "Photosynthesis by drinking coffee?"
"Who knows?" Lin An shrugged. "Anyway, as long as you give her a computer and unlimited refills of coffee, she can figure out everything about Tang San. As for her speech... well, consider it a window that God closed for her."
Li Fulan looked at the thin figure in the corner, who was re-entering "frenzy mode" in front of the screen, and shook her head helplessly.