Chapter 212: Preventing the Spread of Superhuman Serum

Chapter 212: Preventing the Spread of Superhuman Serum

Lu Heng's memories of the previous life's rampant spread of the Superhuman Serum were still fresh in his mind.

It had been a year since the Abyssal Descent, and the serum was already widespread, with its price relatively low.

During the peak of the serum's popularity, its price was even lower than that of ordinary Crystal Cores.

If one didn't mind the purity and accepted a higher impurity content, the price could drop to as low as 100,000 per vial.

This price was not considered high for Metahumans, as they possessed superhuman abilities and had various means of earning rewards.

Any Metahuman could afford to purchase the serum.

Moreover, the effects of the serum were immediate; within a few hours, one's combat power would surge, and their Origin Energy level could increase within a few days.

The lower their initial Origin Energy level, the more significant the boost.

With such instant results, it was hard for any Metahuman to resist after witnessing others injecting the serum. Thus, in Lu Heng's previous life, the rampant spread of the serum in Great Xia was severe.

It was almost as if every Metahuman had a vial of the serum.

Consequently, the side effects of the serum began to surface within a month.

First, it was highly addictive.

Once injected, no Metahuman could resist the euphoric feeling the serum provided.

Furthermore, the allure of significantly enhancing one's combat power was hard to resist.

Before the side effects became apparent, human Metahumans experienced a period of counterpush against the Mist due to their boosted strength.

With the Metahuman population's overall combat power increased by the serum, more Metahumans ventured into the Mist to hunt down Abyssal creatures and close the rifts.

This led to a brief period where the Mist's no-go zones were pushed back.

During that time, some Metahumans even declared their intention to eradicate the Mist from the continent entirely.

The newfound power gave these Metahumans immense confidence.

However, this golden age was short-lived.

As the side effects of the serum gradually surfaced, those who had injected it discovered their dependence on it, both psychologically and physiologically.

Prolonged deprivation of the serum led to severe withdrawal symptoms.

Some Metahumans went to extreme lengths to obtain the serum, even resorting to unscrupulous methods.

Thus, after the brief period of counterpush against the Mist, the darkest era arrived.

Metahumans fought and killed each other for a single vial of the serum.

Even many once-powerful Metahumans fell during this dark period.

At that time, Lu Heng had just awakened to his abilities when the serum started to spread, and its side effects had not fully manifested.

Upon awakening, his Origin Energy level was too low.

Lu Heng even considered buying a vial of the serum to quickly boost his level.

The serum's price had already dropped to 100,000 per vial, and he could barely afford it.

Fortunately, Lu Heng was cautious, and witnessing the recklessness of Metahumans after injecting the serum made him suspect that something was amiss with the serum.

As expected, half a month later, the side effects began to surface.

Numerous conflicts among Metahumans broke out, all due to the serum.

Lu Heng even witnessed firsthand an agonizing Metahuman rolling on the ground in pain due to serum dependence.

That scene left an indelible mark on Lu Heng's memory.

The Metahuman, in an attempt to alleviate his physical and mental torment, scratched his skin with his nails, letting blood flow freely, as if the physical pain could ease his mental anguish.

Lu Heng saw how the Metahuman tore his skin apart, leaving it bloody and bruised, before grabbing Lu Heng's foot and pleading for a quick end to his suffering.

The sight was so shocking that it haunted Lu Heng's dreams for a long time.

...

Thanks to his memories of the previous life, Lu Heng's understanding of the serum went beyond what others knew.

He even knew the production method of this serum.

Technically, the production of the serum was straightforward, which was why it could spread so widely.

If the production technology was more complex, the output would not be able to keep up, and it wouldn't have become so rampant.

The serum was produced by feeding animals with energy-containing substances, such as Energy Cores, Demonic flesh, and even Abyssal ore.

Any substance that could provide energy was fed to the animals.

After consuming these energy-infused substances, the animals would mutate and generate Origin Energy within their bodies.

Then, the Origin Energy was extracted from the animals and used to create the serum.

The production process was that simple, with a certain level of technical content but not overly complex.

With the current level of human technology, producing the serum was relatively easy.

The serum produced had different grades.

The quality of the serum depended on the energy-containing substances fed to the animal carriers.

If Energy Cores were used, the resulting serum was of the highest grade.

If Demonic flesh was used, the serum was of the second grade.

If garbage substances like Abyssal ore residue were used, the serum produced was of the lowest grade.

Relatively speaking, the higher the grade of the serum, the milder the side effects.

The most widespread serum, however, was of the lowest grade.

After all, with a price of 100,000 per vial, it was the lowest grade.

In fact, Lu Heng also knew of another, even higher-grade serum, which was extracted from the blood of Metahumans.

Alex Austin's superhuman serum was actually derived from this very substance.

As this serum was extracted from the bodies of metahumans, it had milder side effects and better compatibility with the human body.

However, any external source of Origin Energy would eventually lead to addiction and irreversibly inhibit the body's ability to synthesize Origin Energy.

...

In his previous life, Lu Heng's in-depth understanding of the principles of Origin Energy production in the human body, he had a profound knowledge of why superhuman serums caused addiction.

Origin Energy is a type of energy substance produced by the human body, and it only appeared after the Abyssal Descent.

In terms of its production principles and methods, Origin Energy is very similar to another substance in the human body—endorphins.

Endorphins are a type of opioid biochemical synthetic hormone secreted by the pituitary gland.

When endorphins bind to opioid receptors, they can produce pain relief and euphoria similar to taking banned substances.

By injecting endorphins, humans can easily experience euphoria.

With such easy access to pleasure, why would humans prohibit the abuse of this drug? Because injecting endorphin-like substances leads to a decrease in the body's natural endorphin production.

This means that after injecting endorphin-like substances, if one doesn't continue the injections, they will experience a decrease in endorphins in their body, resulting in an inability to feel pleasure.

To maintain the high, one would need to continue injecting endorphin-like substances, and the more they inject, the less endorphins the body naturally produces.

In this vicious cycle, humans eventually become dependent on endorphin-like substances, and if they don't inject, they will constantly be in a state of agony.

...

Interestingly, Origin Energy also has similar properties.

When injured, guiding Origin Energy to gather at the wound can produce a pain-relieving effect similar to endorphins.

Origin Energy is synthesized in the energy factories within human cells.

These energy factories within cells are called mitochondria.

Not only humans but also most animals on Blue Planet have mitochondria in their cells.

After humans awaken and become metahumans, activities such as absorbing energy, exercising, and eating will synthesize Origin Energy in the mitochondria.

In other words, only the Origin Energy converted by mitochondria is the body's own energy.

The conversion of Origin Energy by mitochondria follows a mechanism that meets the body's needs.

For low-level metahumans, the speed and total amount of Origin Energy conversion by mitochondria are naturally lower.

As the level increases, the efficiency of Origin Energy conversion by mitochondria will continuously improve.

In other words, the amount of Origin Energy converted by mitochondria is controlled by a set of human body mechanisms.

Changing this Origin Energy conversion mechanism will trigger a chain reaction.

What effect will injecting the superhuman serum have? When the Origin Energy in the serum enters the human body, the body's mechanism will sense a high level of Origin Energy within.

With a high concentration of Origin Energy in the blood, the body's mechanism will believe there's no need to continue converting Origin Energy, causing the mitochondria to stop working.

Over time, the efficiency of Origin Energy conversion by mitochondria will decrease.

This results in a decrease in the Origin Energy content of metahumans who inject the serum if they don't continue the injections, leading to a significant decline in their combat power.

Combined with the addictive nature of the superhuman serum, it naturally causes metahumans to become dependent on it.

Eventually, metahumans will fight over the serum, leading to violent conflicts.

...

Lu Heng didn't need to explain this principle of Origin Energy synthesis to the scientific experts at the Academy of Sciences.

Since the appearance of metahumans, scientists have never stopped researching them and Origin Energy.

This principle of Origin Energy synthesis is not a difficult research topic for the scientists at the Academy.

By the end of September, after the Abyssal Descent, they had already thoroughly researched the theory of Origin Energy synthesis.

Now, Lu Heng reported the information about the addictive nature of the superhuman serum.

With this information combined, it wasn't difficult to analyze the truth behind the serum.

The next steps were beyond Lu Heng's control.

To stop the proliferation of the superhuman serum, action was required at the national level.

One person's efforts were not enough.

Lu Heng had done what he could, and now it was time to witness the unfolding changes.

...

As the tenth month after the Abyssal Descent began, Lu Heng received a piece of news.

Some corporations had started investing in Great Xia to set up factories for large-scale production of the superhuman serum.

Lu Heng received this news because Lin Ze Yu had received a collaboration invitation from a multinational corporation.

After all, Great Xia was the largest industrial nation on Blue Planet, and investing in the country to build factories was a common strategy for mass production.

Since the superhuman serum had already spread among the upper echelons, the price of a single dose had skyrocketed to tens of millions, even more expensive than gold.

As a result, many domestic companies, accepting investments from multinational corporations, started pouring money into building factories to produce the serum.

However, just as these cross-border collaborations were beginning, the Great Xia government suddenly issued a red-header document prohibiting domestic companies from producing or selling the superhuman serum in any form.

The government officially classified the superhuman serum as a controlled substance.

After seeing this news, Lu Heng felt a sense of relief. The ban on the superhuman serum came nearly two months earlier than in his previous life.

Perhaps this would prevent that dark era from happening again.

However, listing the superhuman serum as a controlled substance caused concern among certain upper-class groups, as many who had access to old-era capital had already injected the serum.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end