"That is indeed not a crop. We don't know what that thing is either. The colleague who brought back this plant died the day after logging onto the lighthouse."
"The death was identical to the body that was exposed. It was shriveled all over, just like in movies where someone's life force is drained."
"The hospital performed a full examination on that staff member. The results showed all his bodily indicators were normal, yet he was constantly losing weight, and his body was aging at a visible rate. We watched, with our own eyes, as that young man, barely twenty, turned into a dried corpse that looked eighty years old in less than a day."
Xu An listened to the voice on the phone, and an inexplicable anger surged to her scalp. "You dared to plant it on a large scale without even knowing what it was? And that's after someone had already died?!" *Kanshu La*
She knew in her heart that this was not something He Ci could control, but her voice still carried a hint of emotion.
"It wasn't me, or rather, us at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences who decided. That plant was secretly sent to the higher-ups as soon as it was transported to the lighthouse. It was the day after that staff member died that the order came from above to convert the newly built experimental base into a plantation for this unknown plant."
For ease of reference, He Ci and his colleagues named this plant Life No. 1.
Hearing this, Xu An's eyes also showed a look of suspicion. "Were you directly ordered to do this?"
He Ci, on the other end of the phone, nodded desperately. But then, remembering that Xu An couldn't see him, he added into the phone, "Yes."
Now, it was Xu An's turn to fall silent.
"So, does this plant have any effects? Is it worth you planting it at all costs?"
He Ci on the phone seemed hesitant. He wasn't sure if he should tell Xu An this information.
As he hesitated, Xu An seemed to notice He Ci's difficulty. She knew that in his line of work, there might be confidentiality agreements that made it inconvenient to speak.
"If it's inconvenient for you to say, that's fine. It's okay."
Hearing Xu An's words, He Ci felt a slight bitterness in his heart. The moment he saw Zhou Haimei that day, he was indeed stunned by her beauty, but he truly had no other thoughts.
He was a man, and naturally, he would pay more attention to a beautiful woman. But that didn't mean he had fallen for her.
However, He Ci also knew that Xu An might not care at all and didn't want to hear his explanation, which was why she had left so decisively.
Still, remembering that this news would be announced on the lighthouse in a few days, he thought for a moment and decided it was worth doing Xu An a favor by telling her in advance.
"It's not that I can't say it. However, it needs to be kept quiet for a while. This information was originally going to be publicly announced, but it's still in the experimental preparation phase."
"Okay." He Ci's words indeed piqued Xu An's curiosity.
For some reason, in her heart, she intuitively felt that this mutated plant was inextricably linked to the doctor behind Qin Chuan.
As she was thinking, He Ci's voice came from the other end of the phone: "The function of those plants is vitality."
"Vitality?"
Seeing Xu An's confusion, he explained, "You can think of this plant as a type of medicine for extending life and youth. However, it needs to be purified. It might take a hundred kilograms to extract just one drop of 'Life Essence'."
The successive pieces of news made Xu An dizzy. She hadn't yet recovered from the phrase "extending life and youth," and now "Life Essence" dealt her another blow.
Although Xu An herself was a重生者 (reincarnator), she was a firm atheist.
Was this kind of "extending life and youth," "Life Essence" not just a scam operation from the old society targeting the elderly?
Seeing Xu An's disbelieving tone, He Ci began to explain again, "The day after that staff member died, we extracted the DNA of the deceased staff member from the leftover plant samples."
"Ah?"
"You don't believe me, do you? I didn't believe it at first either, but that's what happened."
"We extracted human DNA from the plants, and it belonged to our colleague who had just died in front of us."
"Even if that's true, and the plant really contains human DNA, it only proves that the plant is harmful to the human body and absorbs human essence and blood. Why are you still planting it?"
"In our laboratory, there is a highly respected scientist. He is eighty-six years old this year. He is already frail and can't even distinguish between beakers and test tubes, yet he's still working with us on the front lines of scientific research..."
He Ci kept rambling on the phone, and Xu An listened, feeling bewildered. She didn't know why He Ci was telling her all this.
But she didn't interrupt He Ci and listened patiently to what he was saying.
"Are you curious why I'm saying all this? Xu An, what I'm about to say is the main point."
"At that time, a researcher handed a plant sample to the professor, wanting him to see what was going on."
"But something miraculous happened."
At this point, Xu An's mind already had a guessed answer. Deep down, she was afraid to believe it, but reality was slapping her in the face, telling her it was true.
Xu Yan had not left and was sitting by Xu An's bedside, constantly watching her daughter.
Suddenly, she noticed Xu An's expression change dramatically. It was a look of joy mixed with disbelief.
Xu An's gaze was fixed on her mother, and finally, He Ci's light, dream-like words reached her ears.
"That eighty-six-year-old professor rejuvenated before our eyes..."
As if he was afraid Xu An wouldn't understand what "rejuvenated" meant, he specifically explained it to her over the phone.
First, the professor's graying hair gradually turned black, the wrinkles on his face smoothed out, and even his slightly protruding eyeballs moved back considerably.
His hunched back gradually straightened...
Xu An listened, remaining silent for a long time. She hadn't considered the possibility that there might be a magic elixir for returning to youth in this world. She had been determined to find one for her mother.
She never expected that a "pill" for returning to youth would actually appear now.
"By the time that plant disappeared into the professor's hands, the professor had become at least twenty years younger. Everyone present was shocked. The matter even alerted the lighthouse's high command, and the original plant that had been sent away was returned the next day. Afterward, the order came for us to begin large-scale cultivation."
"Did you perform bone age tests on the professor?" Xu An asked.
"We did. It was the same as what we saw with our eyes. His bone age was only sixty-nine."
Xu An: "..."
This time, she was completely silent.