"Yes."
Facing Mortarion, Samuel Young nodded slightly, and after the gate closed, he habitually raised his hand and placed it on his son's shoulder armor, smiling lightly.
"These past days, you've been accompanying the Biotech Division, carrying out various experiments and tests. It's been tough on you."
"Don't worry, it won't be long before you and Corax can head to the frontlines and slaughter the alien scum to your heart's content."
Hearing this, perhaps because Ap and Halsey were also in the observation room, Mortarion seemed a bit uncomfortable.
However, this Primarch, who could be described as a hulking giant, still slightly bowed his head and respectfully said, "Serving the company and being loyal to you is my honor."
"Hehe, don't always be so tense," Samuel Young chuckled, but didn't say much more.
Setting aside Leman, Samuel knew that whether it was his eldest son Sanguinius, Guilliman, or the rising stars like Horus and Dorn, all of his sons wanted to prove that they were the "most useful" and "strongest" Primarch.
The seven cadet corps stationed at Abundant Star and 0459 were already showing signs of competition.
Even if there were verbal and physical conflicts, as long as the emotions involved didn't include hatred, jealousy, or other excessively negative feelings, Samuel typically chose to ignore them.
A healthy level of competition helps the Legion grow.
Besides, Samuel wouldn't directly interfere with the Legion's affairs, especially once the Astartes reached full maturity, when the Legion would be fully under the control of the Primarchs.
After all, in terms of "blood relations," the gene-Primarchs were his sons, and the Astartes were the "descendants" of the gene-Primarchs, making him effectively the grandfather of the Astartes.
After ending his conversation with Mortarion, Samuel walked towards the front of the observation room.
Though this area also had quarantine rooms, disinfection chambers, and a large one-way window at the front, there were no Flood samples or D-class personnel infected with the Flood on the other side of the window.
According to the Biotech Division's regulations, any staff or researchers wishing to conduct experiments on the Flood, even its spores, had to go to the surface testing center. They were forbidden from bringing it into the core world, which had never been contaminated.
This is because the danger of the Flood far exceeded expectations.
If an accident were to occur on the surface, leading to a Flood outbreak, the Templar Defenders and Thunder Warriors would be capable of suppressing it.
In the worst-case scenario, they could resort to nuclear methods for complete sterilization.
However, if such an incident occurred in the core world, it would disrupt ongoing construction projects and potentially jeopardize the safety of all of 0459.
At this moment, Alexia and Halsey saw Samuel enter the observation room, ending their surface-level pleasantries, and said in unison, "Boss."
Samuel waved them off, indicating there was no need for formalities, and directly asked, "I heard from Ap that you've made some progress on the vaccine project, so?"
"I'm overseeing it, but the specific work is being handled by Dr. Halsey," Alexia first looked up at Samuel, then turned to face Halsey and said, "So, let Dr. Halsey update the boss on the Biotech Division's recent achievements."
"Of course." Halsey took the lead.
She operated the holographic panel, pulling up relevant Flood data while explaining to Samuel.
"Boss, based on the Forerunner research data stored at the Serenity Bank and the experiments conducted by our Biotech Division, we've learned that the cellular structure of the Flood is unlike any known type.
Thus, we've adopted a straightforward, layman's term to describe this type of cell—'supercell.'
Its structure is similar to neurons and glial cells, yet the way it grows and reproduces is incompatible with any natural ecosystem.
Moreover, it can parasitize and infect nearly all calcium-based organic life forms.
The Forerunner records mention that after consuming and digesting enough biomass, it can even parasitize and infect electronic devices, assimilating artificial intelligences with self-awareness."
At this point, Halsey paused, glancing at the holographic image of the infection form, and continued.
"The Flood infection form pierces the victim's skin, burrows inside, and uses tendrils to take control of the spine and nervous system, forcing the victim's brain to generate specific neural signals for 'matching.'
At the same time, the infection form injects a large number of supercells into the victim's body to quickly decode all of the victim's genetic information, making it easier to modify and 'use' the body.
It's worth noting that if even a single supercell exists in the body of a human or other sentient life form, they will gradually become a puppet of the Flood, though the transformation process is relatively slow.
Once the body begins to transform, it's an irreversible process, and all medical treatments are futile attempts."
"One more thing."
At this moment, Alexia took over, raising her right hand and pointing her slender, pale finger toward the image of a D-class personnel infected by the Flood.
"The infection forms active on Shield World 0459 have existed for tens of thousands of years. Although we can't verify their exact lifespan, we do know that their physiological functions show signs of weakening and illness over time.
Employee number D-019923, after being parasitized by a weakened infection form, went through the usual infection process: releasing specific neural signals to complete the matching, and transforming the body into a combat-ready form.
But during further investigation, we found that D-019923 retained self-awareness.
Especially when we used electroshock to further weaken his body, this D-class personnel could even intermittently say a few indistinct words using his original human head.
Boss, please listen."
As Alexia spoke, she lightly touched the "play" button on the panel in front of her.
Soon, the room's speakers broadcast D-019923's words:
"k-cough. Me! ... pi-li-hiss!!! Cough... me!!!"
The playback ended.
Alexia frowned slightly and said, "Based on our assessment, D-019923 was trying to tell us to kill him and end his suffering.
Although D-019923 was a heinous criminal, out of humanitarian considerations, we physically terminated him as soon as we collected enough data."
"This aligns with your predictions from six months ago," Halsey looked up and said to Samuel.
"If we manipulate the neural signals in the brain, we might be able to make the Flood resist or reject infection.
Or, after a human host is infected and parasitized, the human host could still retain self-awareness."
What Halsey mentioned as "boss's predictions" was actually something Samuel had deduced based on his experience playing Halo and reading official novels, prompting Alexia, Halsey, and the core Biotech Division team to attempt developing a "vaccine" that could fool the Flood's judgment.
In the official novel Halo: The Flood, a Marine named Wallace A. Jenkins was mentioned.
This Jenkins also appeared in Halo: Combat Evolved.
It was during the scene where Captain Keyes and Sergeant Johnson led a squad to investigate the "weapons cache" on Halo, only to lose contact, and it was the player-controlled Master Chief who found Jenkins' helmet.
By accessing the helmet's embedded chip, Master Chief "saw" how Captain Keyes, Jenkins, and the others were overwhelmed by Flood infection forms.
However, in the novel, Jenkins retained self-awareness after being forcibly converted into a combat form by an aged infection form with diminished vitality.
Yet, he could only watch helplessly as "he" joined the Flood swarm to attack and harm his former comrades, until he was eventually captured by a group of elite ODSTs.
Later, Jenkins managed to regain partial control over his body and used hand gestures to warn the ODSTs to "watch their step."
When the ODSTs attempted to seize the CCS-class cruiser Truth and Reconciliation to return to human space via slipstream, Jenkins realized that if the Flood escaped Halo, his people would be inevitably consumed by the Flood.
Thus, Jenkins used sheer willpower to try to sabotage Truth and Reconciliation's engines with his ravaged body.
Although his attempt failed, an ODST lieutenant noticed Jenkins' actions and, realizing the Flood's potential consequences, successfully destroyed the ship's engines in his stead.
Then, there was Jenkins' superior, Sergeant Avery Johnson.
Thanks to ONI modifications, Sergeant Johnson, a first-generation Spartan under the Orion Project, was immune to Flood infection.
ONI officially claimed that Johnson had developed "Berlin Syndrome" due to prolonged exposure to radiation from plasma grenades, which indirectly led to his immunity.
But in truth, Berlin Syndrome was a common side effect among first-generation soldiers, causing the infection forms to attempt to extract biomass from Johnson, rather than infect and modify him.
As a result, Samuel encouraged Alexia and Halsey to use these characteristics to develop an effective vaccine against the Flood.
Even if it couldn't entirely block the supercells, at least it would prevent the Flood from parasitizing vaccinated humans, avoiding a situation where the Flood gained more combat strength during battles.
It's worth noting that Sergeant Johnson and Private Jenkins first appeared in Halo: The Fall of Reach.
In other words, these two distinguished warriors had been fighting on the frontlines for over two decades since the beginning of the Human-Covenant War, deserving much admiration.
Fortunately, Sergeant Johnson, who survived the Flood outbreak
, was publicly commended by Admiral Terrence Hood in the opening scene of Halo 2.
At this point;
"So..."
After listening to Alexia and Halsey's reports and sensing their emotional shifts, Samuel asked, "From what you're saying, do we now have a working method?"
"Yes, boss," the two doctors nodded in unison.
Alexia, as Halsey's superior, continued explaining to Samuel, "Dr. Halsey has reviewed ONI's Orion Project data, which includes a drug that enhances reaction times.
The drug stimulates the diencephalon, brainstem, and motor cortex, speeding up soldiers' reflexes but also making their brains more prone to exhaustion and overload due to the heightened excitability.
So, we've programmed corresponding nanobots, designed to attach to the implant recipient's brain.
This way, when the recipient's eyes detect an approaching Flood, the nanobots will stimulate the brain to emit a specific signal, mimicking 'brain damage.'"
As Alexia spoke, she operated the holographic panel, showing footage of over a hundred D-class personnel in a simulated town on the surface, using hardlight weapons to fight against infection forms.
She fast-forwarded to the point where only six survivors remained, fighting back-to-back against the Flood's onslaught.
Finally, Mortarion appeared, completely crushing the Flood and clearing the surrounding area.
Alexia ended the footage and said, "Our Biotech Division implanted these nanobots into a batch of genetically selected D-class personnel.
The surface trials showed that only six of them achieved the desired effect, remaining uninfected by the Flood."
"Once the tissue and blood samples from those six D-class personnel are transported to the core base's research center, we'll conduct a more detailed analysis," Halsey added.
"Additionally, Dr. Ashford and I will make time to go to the surface and perform modification surgeries on those six personnel.
We'll aim to make their brains permanently emit the disguise signal without needing nanobots, then reintroduce them into simulated tests to see the final results."
"That's fine."
Seeing that the vaccine project was progressing smoothly, Samuel had no desire to interfere further.
However, he did offer a few suggestions.
"These six D-class personnel are valuable assets. Use them as prototypes for cloning soldiers to prepare for future Flood-related warfare.
Also, try to reduce the cost of the nanobot vaccine. If possible, I hope by June next year, we can produce at least 300,000 doses to provide extra protection for the company's elite combat units.
Lastly, after we've perfected the human vaccine, we can use the blood and tissue samples provided by the Elites to clone Elite soldiers for testing."
"Mortarion," Samuel slightly turned toward his silent son and instructed, "During this period, continue to assist the two doctors with their work and learn from them. You excel in the fields of chemistry and biology compared to your brothers."
"Yes, Father," Mortarion replied respectfully.
"Understood, boss~" Alexia said playfully.
"Got it," Halsey responded more calmly.
Seeing this, Samuel didn't say much more, only leaving behind a simple "Thank you for your hard work" before departing the observation room with Ap.
Swoosh—
"Boss," hearing the automatic door close behind them, Ap furrowed his brow slightly and said to Samuel, "Relying on only Serene, a single smart AI, to manage Universe 2077 puts her under some pressure. How about we send Melissa, who's just completed her teaching assignment, to assist?"
"Hmm," hearing this, Samuel nodded thoughtfully, briefly considering it before replying, "That's a good idea. The Arkla facility is currently testing the first batch of synthetic humans, and Universe 09 would indeed be an excellent testing ground."
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