From the Abyss Invasion to the Blasting Star.

Chapter 447 Bloodline Crisis

As time entered the third year of the Abyss's descent, in January, rumors of blood-descended demons began to circulate in the human world.

These rumors are not about blood-descended demons coming from the Abyss, but rather about blood-descended individuals beginning to appear among humans.

This timeline is roughly the same as what Lu Heng remembered.

In the previous life, it was indeed from the third year after the abyss descended that bloodline humans began to appear one after another.

The friction between ordinary humans and bloodline humans began at this time and continued until the memory ended.

In Lu Heng's memory, the characteristics of bloodline races are contagious.

As long as one bloodline exists, it will continue to spread.

Like most infectious diseases, it is difficult to eradicate completely.

In terms of transmission characteristics, the simpler the transmission method, the faster the transmission speed.

The lower the mortality rate, the faster the spread.

Infectious viruses have proven this countless times; a high mortality rate will elicit a strong reaction from humans.

Conversely, if the mortality rate is very low, it is usually treated as a minor illness and ignored.

Becoming a bloodline human not only prevents death but also grants power, making the spread of the species highly voluntary.

Lu Heng had already reminded the country about the issue of human bloodlines more than a month ago.

The remaining issues are beyond the capacity of one person to manage.

……

"Commander Lu, the research report on the principles behind the expansion of the bloodline population is out. Would you like to take a look?"

That morning, Lu Heng received a call from Qi Jinghui.

Regarding the spread of bloodline humans, Lu Heng only had a general idea in his memory and had not seen any specific research reports.

So, upon hearing Qi Jinghui say that, she asked him to send over the research report.

Research on bloodline groups is classified, but the level of secrecy is not high.

Qi Jinghui sent the electronic file directly and told him not to leak it.

Of course, the confidentiality does not extend to other team members.

Lu Heng happened to be in the training room at Qionghua Tianlu Lake, where he turned on his computer to read the research report.

According to this research report, the way bloodlines spread is peculiar, somewhat like the spread of a virus, but not exactly the same.

The genetic characteristics of a bloodline race are carried by a peculiar energy sequence, which has a stable triple helix structure.

When the bloodline energy sequence enters an organism, it is transcribed into a similar gene sequence according to the organism's genetic characteristics and then implanted into the organism's DNA.

However, when they appeared in humans, the genetic sequence of bloodline races was not implanted in the DNA of chromosomes, but in the DNA of mitochondria.

The mitochondria of human cells contain DNA, a genetic material.

However, the total number is less than that of chromosomes.

According to the analysis in this research report, the reason why the genetic sequence of bloodline is implanted into mitochondria is related to the energy factory characteristics of mitochondria.

Mitochondria are key organelles for humans to obtain energy. Whether it is the physical strength needed for ordinary people to exercise or the source energy needed for superhumans to use their skills, it is all produced by mitochondria.

The genetic sequence of a bloodline race will be adaptively adjusted according to the energy organelles of different organisms, and the genetic information will be injected into the energy organelles.

The human energy organelle is the mitochondria, so the genetic information of humankind is stored in the mitochondria.

After the genetic information of bloodline is injected, the egg cell contains this information during the reproduction process, so that the offspring born will also be of bloodline.

Moreover, both men and women in the human body have mitochondria in their reproductive cells.

Therefore, the inheritance of bloodline is not gender-specific; if either parent is of bloodline, their child will inherit that bloodline.

After reading this study on the inheritance patterns of bloodlines, Lu Heng felt a chill run down his spine.

If this genetic pattern continues unchecked, one day all of humanity will become blood-borne demons.

The only consolation at the end of the research report is that the transformation process of the first bloodline is not so easy.

Because after the genetic information of bloodline is injected into the mitochondria, it needs to spread to all cells in the body.

The number of cells in the human body is countless, and it is not easy for them to spread to all the cells in the body.

If intervention is made in the early stages of conversion, there is a chance to stop the conversion.

Moreover, any foreign substance will be attacked by the human body's immune system.

An ordinary person's immunity may not be enough to fight the transformation process, but a person with superpowers has a certain degree of resistance.

Therefore, the conversion of first-generation bloodlines requires a relatively long conversion period, and there is an opportunity for intervention in cases that are not voluntary.

Scientists in the fields of biology and genetics in Daxia have begun to study the process of bloodline transformation, and may be able to find a way to stop the transformation in the future.

……

This research report clarified the method of injecting genetic material into bloodlines, but it did not provide an answer to one crucial question.

That is the relationship between bloodline and the abyss.

According to this research report, after the genetic material of a bloodline is injected into the human body, the human will gradually transform into a bloodline.

After transformation, the bloodline humans not only do not die, but also gain power.

From this perspective alone, it seems like a good thing.

At least for individuals, the ability to gain power without any effort will lead many to voluntarily convert.

However, Blood Demons belong to the Abyss race.

In other words, after being transformed into a bloodline, they will be recruited by the Abyss to attack other worlds that the Abyss is devouring.

This research report does not explain the connection between bloodlines and the Abyss.

In fact.

The connection between the Abyss and its races is very difficult to understand.

Let alone the abyss, there are many things that humanity still doesn't understand.

For example, why were they drafted?
What exactly is the will to conscript?
What is the relationship between the will to summon and the abyss?
Is the Abyss another form of summoning will, just from a different faction?

If one day humanity can figure out these problems, perhaps we will be able to find a way to purify the abyss.

……

After reading the research report, Lu Heng called Qi Jinghui and asked him directly:

"The report didn't mention the connection between bloodlines and the Abyss. Was it because no research was conducted in this area, or because no conclusions were reached?"

Qi Jinghui smiled and said, "I guessed you would ask that. The research is definitely ongoing, but no conclusions have been reached. In the laboratory, no bloodline individuals can be found to have any connection with the Abyss."

"This situation is similar to why humans are drafted; there's no known reason, only that it's an objective fact." Actually, Lu Heng had guessed this would be the outcome before making the call; he just wanted to have a discussion.

Whether in other worlds or in the human world, bloodlines truly belong to the Abyss race.

Therefore, after humans are transformed into bloodline, they will be summoned by the Abyss to become the opposing race.

For this reason, humans and their bloodlines are inherently hostile, with no room for compromise.

Even if someone wants to live peacefully with humans who have been transformed into bloodlines, when they are conscripted into the Abyss Battlefield, the missions they receive are hostile, leaving them with no choice but to fight.

Qi Jinghui took a deep breath and asked, "Do you think humans will eventually transform into bloodlines?"

Lu Heng shook his head: "I don't know."

Qi Jinghui couldn't see Lu Heng shaking his head, so he exhaled and asked, "The elves should have seen the bloodline transformation process, right?"

Lu Heng nodded: "I've seen it. The Tree of Knowledge mentioned it, but I only know the general idea. Because the larger the population of a civilization, the slower the conversion into bloodline, it may take hundreds of years to complete the conversion."

"So far, the only species that has been completely transformed into a bloodline is the Goat-Headed Monster. The bloodline demons that ability users talk about usually refer to the Goat-Headed Monster bloodline."

The Elves did indeed witness the entire process of the goat-headed people transforming into blood descendants, a process that took two centuries.

These two centuries were a period of internal struggle within the Goat-Headed Civilization.

Initially, the ordinary goat-headed people had the upper hand, but later the bloodline race gained the upper hand.

In the last half-century, the Goat-Headed People established the Last Restoration Council, which withstood the siege of the Bloodline for half a century before finally being wiped out.

The process by which the sheep-headed people transformed into the Bloodline race has been recorded in the Abyss Archives of the Great Xia Dynasty.

If humanity cannot stop the spread of bloodlines, it may very well end up like the sheep-headed people.

Of course, the method of invasion by converting bloodlines is not effective for all civilizations.

The most obvious example is the Sykes civilization.

The Sykes civilization had reached the late stage of transitioning to a mechanical civilization, and almost all Sykes citizens had undergone mechanical modifications.

After being transformed into a mechanical body, the genetic information is a string of data code, and the genetic information of bloodline cannot be injected into the data code.

Therefore, the Sykes civilization is naturally immune to bloodline.

This is also why the Abyss's initial invasion of the Sykes civilization was slow.

However, not long ago, the Abyss evolved a branch called "Mechanical Demons," making it increasingly difficult for the Sykes civilization to resist the Abyss.

Besides the Sykes civilization, there was another civilization that was immune to bloodline invasions: the Elves.

To be precise, the Elven race is not completely immune to bloodline invasions, but rather their racial characteristics result in extremely low bloodline conversion efficiency.

The Elven race is characterized by its long lifespan but low reproductive rate.

Humans typically reproduce every twenty years or so, while elves take at least two hundred years, or even longer.

Since the efficiency of bloodline transformation into adult individuals is very low, the best way to completely erode a population is to have that population reproduce bloodline children.

For the genetic information of a bloodline to be transformed into an adult individual, it needs to be injected into countless cells.

However, transforming a baby only requires injecting genetic information into a fertilized egg, or even just a single germ cell.

Then just wait for the embryo to grow.

In other words, the faster the population reproduces, the faster it transforms into offspring.

The ram-headed people reproduced at a rate similar to that of humans, and it took them two hundred years to fully transform into the bloodline race.

The Elven race reproduces much more slowly. Even if the Elven race did not stop it, it would take at least two thousand years to convert all the Elves into their bloodline.

Of course, there are no blood-line elves among the elves, because the elves possess magic to purify the corruption of bloodlines.

The combination of these two factors ensures that the Elven race will not be affected by the invasion of the Bloodline.

As for which path humanity will take, Lu Heng doesn't know.

Because the memories of rebirth only last for three years, no one knows what will happen after three years.

Based on existing memories, the conflict between humans and bloodlines will begin in the third year and continue until the very last moment.

……

Long ago, Lu Heng had wondered if it was possible to eradicate the bloodline that first appeared among humans, thus freeing humanity from the calamity of bloodline invasion.

However, this idea is not feasible.

Even if Lu Heng knew who the earliest bloodline humans were, it wouldn't matter.

Kill the first batch, and when the Bloodline race reappears on Earth, a second batch will appear.

As long as the abyss exists, blood descendants will continue to emerge in the human world.

To prevent humans from transforming into a bloodline race, the only solution is to address the underlying mechanisms and technology. Violence can only provide temporary relief and cannot provide a permanent solution.

Of course, the bloodline that has appeared among humans cannot be ignored and must be suppressed as soon as possible.

If we don't suppress them, it will become difficult to suppress them once the number of bloodlines among humans expands.

Therefore, Lu Heng had previously proposed suppressing the bloodline.

The war zone has begun collecting intelligence and conducting research.

Currently, the only known force associated with the Bloodline Clan is the Berg family.

If the Berg family and the superpowered organizations they control were to convert to the Bloodline race, the situation would be very critical.

Although Lu Heng knew that a bloodline invasion would occur, he did not know which force had first acquired the bloodline bloodline.

Because the Bloodline Clan was summoned to Blue Star by the Abyss for the first time, the Berg family blocked the news, and no information came out.

This has resulted in the bloodline invasion having been underway in secret for two months, and it is difficult to estimate the extent of its progress.

The theater intelligence has been gathering intelligence on the Berg family in an attempt to locate Will Berg.

Finding one person out of seven billion, especially one who is consciously hiding their whereabouts, is not an easy task.

Of course, if the goal is simply to deal with the superpowered organizations under the Berg family, action can be taken now.

However, dealing with a few henchmen is useless; it might even alert the enemy, making it even more difficult to catch the key target behind the scenes.

Therefore, Lu Heng laid the trap more than half a month ago, having Xie Shi'en pretend to have the [Death Agent] class, with the aim of getting the high-ranking bloodline behind the Inberg family to come out.

So far, however, no fish have taken the bait.

……

Lu Heng and Qi Jinghui had a rather in-depth conversation, and Lu Heng added a final reminder: "The Bloodline Clan is a race with a strict hierarchical system, where higher-ranking Bloodlines have absolute control over lower-ranking Bloodlines."

"In other words, if a superior is transformed into a bloodline, they will immediately become a puppet of the bloodline race."

Qi Jinghui added: "Yes, our staff has already discussed this point. Therefore, we believe that the first bloodline to emerge among humans will choose to control a country first and then radiate their influence outwards."

(End of this chapter)