Chapter 140: Chapter 131 Surprises from Conners (Reward Debt 1/7)

ctOS is a true double-edged sword for society, a double-edged sword.

At this age in his previous life, Lille would’ve taken control without hesitation, instinctively enjoying the feeling of molding and shaping everything, or what could be called a lust for power.

But with the lessons from his past life, he hoped people would be able to express their demands more and that their voices wouldn’t be diluted by the intervening processes.

Since 2030 in his past life, his leisure activities had almost exclusively become working out or studying a new subject—

The so-called leisure activities became increasingly luxurious.

So the function of guiding social consciousness and shaping social subconsciousness could be cut.

However, holding so much data, it still felt somewhat hot to the touch with this mindset, and sooner or later, Lille would have to make a decision—

How to let such technology play a more positive role.

Whether it’s the Chicago with ctOS or the Cyberpunk World, neither is the future he desires.

But what exactly is a "better world" then?

That’s a tough question to answer.

Lille pondered while eating, and his mother kept quiet, just feeling somewhat embarrassed as she watched Skye and the others busily moving about.

Unable to hold back, his mother asked, "Lille, what are they doing?"

"Oh, nothing much. A machine burned out, and they are clearing out the broken machinery."

"You look like a heartless capitalist right now, your employees toil and you just sit there eating."

"Mom—I’m a conscientious boss. Who else besides me could offer such good treatment in Hell’s Kitchen?"

Lille didn’t really mind, as his mother was just joking.

As they talked, Lille remembered something else: he still hadn’t found a financial manager for the company.

So he asked with a try-and-see attitude, "Mom, do you know any unemployed financial workers, the reliable kind?"

Maya was taken aback and shook her head.

"Around me, there are quite a few former nursing colleagues who are unemployed, but financial workers... I don’t know anyone in that field."

That was to be expected.

Maya’s relocation from Latovia to New York and finding a job was already inspiring enough; it was a bit presumptuous to expect her to find a financial manager here.

If he really couldn’t find a suitable financial manager, Lille would rather rely on information technology.

After a while, Maya hesitantly said, "Lille, I was thinking, since you are so capable now, could you help our compatriots?

You don’t know, when your grandfather took me away from Latovia, many people supported us, otherwise we could never have made it."

Lille asked curiously, "Speaking of that, how did grandfather leave back then?"

Maya fell silent for a moment, "It’s said he took part in some experiments, in laboratories set up by other countries in Eastern Europe, human experiments.

I arrived in New York, and he went to the lab and never came back.

You might not know, but in Latovia, although we nominally had a country, most of the time, we were nomads.

Back then, a few of our people said they wanted to resist the King’s rule, and resistance required support which they didn’t have.

I don’t know how they made contact with the outside world, but they got such an opportunity.

Your grandfather was old and unwell at that time, so he volunteered for the experiment, with the condition that I leave for New York—he was the first, and thus got this condition."

Upon hearing this, Lille’s eyebrows raised—

A nomadic Tribe, accepting experimental conditions in exchange for support—why does this script sound so familiar?

Perhaps there was another reason Maya said this: she wanted to know what happened to her father.

After listening, Lille nodded, "I’ll look into it—Mom, I’m going to Dr. Conners later."

"Alright—be careful on the way, and remember I will always love you. I can’t help you much, just make you some food."

Lille pinched his nose, "You might not realize it, but this is my spiritual nourishment, a big help.

...

"Lille—you’ve really given me so many surprises!"

Dr. Conners, with dark circles under his eyes, was in an extremely excited state.

Ever since he received a huge amount of data from Lille, he had been engrossed in research—

It must be said, Conners, who was supposed to be a supervillain, did have some substance.

He wasn’t blinded by the Lizard Serum, instead he immediately used the remaining Cutting Proteins and guide RNA to process the viruses recorded in the data.

They were all very common viruses.

The viruses with modified DNA would transcribe Cutting Proteins identical to those in biotechnology, and their guide RNA would need to be harvested using similar methods from many other different types of viruses.

But regardless, Conners had mastered this process, completely mastered the technology.

Looking at the newly remodeled DNA splicing equipment and Conners’ revised schematic, Lille knew that he now possessed biotechnology equipment with equivalent functionality.

Biotechnology could never have imagined that within those brief twenty minutes, someone had copied this technology from mere hints and clues.

And from their perspective, they hadn’t even lost a milliliter of biological material.

In the Cyberpunk World, literacy rates among the population were very low, anyone with a bit of education would be absorbed into the corporate system, and they were happy to do so—

After all, streetwise knowledge didn’t come from books; it came from fists.

Even if they wanted to turn knowledge into fists—this was what the corporations were good at, so there was no reason to mix with the illiterate.

And Lille wasn’t just a misfit among mercenaries; he had the support of high-tech talents behind him.

He stroked his chin, very pleased with this—Conners was surprised by him, and wasn’t he surprised as well?

And then came the animal testing phase.

"I’ve already submitted a purchase request to the Natural Resources Management Agency, and the school and Government approval processes are also in place—

Fortuitously, two zoos in New York just happen to have a batch of such spiny lizards, and they’re willing to sell!

Now we just wait for you to pay up, big boss!"

Lille dug into his ear—Conners’ excited voice was causing him a painful ringing.

But how much money are we talking about?

The Lesser Antilles spiny lizard is an endangered species...

"Uh...so Professor, how much is it going to cost?"

"Oh, sorry, I got a little too excited—here are the purchase terms, Peter is at the zoo right now,"

Lille took a document and said to Conners with some concern, "Professor, you should take a rest, we can’t have any mistakes during the experiment later."

"Right...right—you have a point."

Conners seemed to exhale in relief and plopped down on his chair, falling asleep within ten seconds.

Lille sat down and began reading the document; the first zoo seemed to have just been established, its name being...

Jurassic Park?

Lille’s mouth twitched in amusement—this might be the brainchild of an enthusiastic rich kid or an aspiring entrepreneur.

Didn’t he know that name could be a copyright issue?

In summary, the price was a hundred thousand US Dollars; they needed to ensure that the spiny lizards were properly treated upon arrival at the experimental site, with comfortable accommodations.

During the experiment, they had to strictly maintain the lizards’ physical and mental health and provide timely feedback to the zoo.

If the spiny lizards died during experiments, a penalty five times the contract price—which was five hundred thousand US Dollars—would need to be paid...

Lille’s mouth twitched—this was expensive. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

However, spiny lizards were indeed endangered, and their value truly couldn’t be measured in money.

Yet, there were still a plethora of additional clauses, such as putting the genetically modified lizards on display at the zoo.

All in all, the demands were many, but it was clear a real desire for collaboration existed.

The second zoo had simpler terms, from New York’s largest wildlife zoo, the Bronx Zoo.

The price was much more affordable, a rental fee of five thousand US Dollars a month, with a compensation of a hundred thousand US Dollars in case a lizard died accidentally.

Apart from the usual assurances of conserving conditions for endangered species, they also added several clauses—

The Bronx wanted to purchase the genetically modified spiny lizard as well as its breeding techniques.

A zoo stepping into genetic research?

Lille immediately connected to the internet using his prosthetics, starting to search for any related information.

And then he found information on shareholdings and news of financial donations by institutions under the Osborne Group...

Their ties with both zoos were not trivial.

Lille held his forehead: this now left him with no choice but to opt for that Jurassic Park first.