Son of the Stars

Chapter 102 Ingenuity
Traditional thriller literature and some science fiction works like to regard "brainwashing" and "hypnosis" as sources of motivation that completely change a person's entire inner self and even create impossible actions without any warning or evidence.

But real life is not fiction. If brainwashing and hypnosis were so effective, psychotherapists would already rule the world.

If you want to temporarily replace a person's identity, relying on today's highly advanced targeted training and surgical techniques is the best way.As long as the recipient is willing to bear the pain of implantation and subsequent removal of the filler, in theory, multiple surgeries in a short period of time can even achieve the same facial appearance as that of the person being replaced after the recovery period.

The kind that ordinary facial recognition cannot detect at all.

However, this method takes a long time because it requires waiting for the patient's facial swelling to subside and the implant site to heal.At the same time, many surgery recipients require a second or even third surgery to achieve "complete replacement" due to abnormal scar tissue growth after the recovery period.

In short, there are too many things that are uncontrollable.The practicality is too poor, and the possibility of exposure is very high - the prostheses and plastic bodies filled into the human body do not grow and change with the normal metabolism of the human body, and the prostheses usually have to be taken out in half a year at most.

Otherwise...the fat and human tissue around the prosthesis will be metabolized due to inflammatory reactions, and the original prosthesis will appear particularly awkward.

In general, until new surgical materials and immunosuppressive technologies emerge that can completely reverse many of the disadvantages, it is unlikely that identity replacement can be accomplished by face-changing alone.

But cultists are different.

At present, it seems that at least two of these successful people who suddenly joined the cult showed very obvious symptoms such as full moon face and buffalo back.To outsiders, this change may mean that they have suddenly gained weight recently.But in the eyes of rheumatologists, if this characteristic occurs in one of their patients, it basically means "all your bonuses will be deducted."

This is a manifestation of Cushing's syndrome.

Cushing's syndrome is a typical clinical syndrome caused by long-term excessive secretion of glucocorticoids from the adrenal cortex.It mainly has two types: endogenous and exogenous or drug-induced.

Central obesity, buffalo hump, moon face, and sanguine appearance are some of the typical appearance symptoms of Cushing's syndrome.And this symptom suddenly happened to two successful people who clearly deserved excellent medical care, and they both became devout believers for no reason.

Regardless of whether these successful people have endogenous Cushing's or exogenous Cushing's-like disease, good medical protection should prevent them from suffering.But it is obvious that they did not receive the medical services they deserved.

In this case, let’s make a bold guess—under what circumstances would it be necessary to bypass the formal medical system and use glucocorticoids at doses that can be called rough or even reckless?What kind of situation can cause an ordinary person's personality to change drastically, and even become a fanatical follower of a cult?
Two rheumatologists and immunologists believe that organ transplantation is the most likely suspect.Moreover, the transplanted organ is the brain itself.

"It's actually very simple to confirm the guess. Just invite these people to the hospital and do a CT scan." Lu Chen found a way to verify his guess. "You don't even need to alert them, just say it was drawn by the district. Just a physical examination.”

It is a routine process for the district to draw lots for physical examination, and every citizen may be listed as a subject for physical examination. This is the content of a study commissioned by the National Mental Health Center and conducted by the district control team.Since the research project is about the Great Collapse, and the system was established very early, there is always something outrageous.

For example, the draw is not public, and the time of the draw is not certain.Another example is that the citizens who are drawn must cooperate unconditionally unless there is a danger to their lives. "Please ask the staff of the Comprehensive Investigation Bureau to study the feasibility - don't alert the snake." Yuan Siping made the final decision, "Next, let's see how the National Aeronautics and Space Administration reviews and accepts the samples."

The armored door slowly rose, and two sweaty staff members quickly walked into the review hall carrying a suitcase that was obviously "stronger" than a normal suitcase.

In addition to holding the handle of the box with their hands, the two of them also locked their wrists with the box tightly with handcuffs.

"This is the original sample we have retained." After verifying the encryption code on the box, the staff of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said to Yuan Siping, "This sample was submitted by the invited bidding company when bidding. In the box next to it is Materials actually installed on the exterior of the spacecraft—samples from random inspections during installation. You can unlock the samples with your commissioner password."

Yuan Siping nodded, took off his glasses from his face, gently twisted the right temple, and then pulled out a metal wire about five centimeters long.

Put the metal wire in the hole at the lock of the suitcase and pull it out, and the suitcase will open.

The two rolls of material placed in the suitcase look exactly the same - they are two rolls of white, soft material with a slightly metallic color.

"This layer of material is mainly used to block galactic cosmic radiation. When we placed the order, the requirements were that the weight of the material per square meter should not exceed 132 kilograms, and the half-loss thickness for 1MeV gamma rays should be less than 1 centimeter." The staff of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration turned sideways, allowing the two Comprehensive Investigation Bureau officers who came up to get a better observation position, "If pure elements are used, the half-life thickness of lead is 1.06 centimeters, and the thickness of silver is about 0.97 centimeters. But they all weigh far more than we require—material properties can only be enhanced through micromachining.”

Two officers from the General Investigation Bureau got closer and began to analyze the materials. After about 5 minutes, they gave a preliminary conclusion.

“If you analyze it solely based on weight, appearance, feel and thickness, you cannot tell the difference between the two materials.”

An engineer from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said to Yuan Siping, "We did a comparative experiment on the two materials when we came here. The half-life thickness of the original material on the left is 0.94 cm, and the one on the right is 0.44 cm. While the performance has been improved, the weight has also improved. But there is almost no difference. After we dismantled the external fixing materials, we conducted an atomic analysis of the internal metal structure, and the proportions of the constituent elements are also consistent. They all contain gold, silver, tungsten, zirconium and iridium."

"In other words, these cultists have more than doubled the radiation isolation performance of a material without changing the formula, increasing the thickness, or increasing the weight." Yuan Siping looked at himself with a half-smile. The material academician next to him asked, "Mr. Chang Xu, you are an expert in this field. How do you think they did it?"

Academician Chang, who was called, stood up, walked to Yuan Siping and observed the two materials in front of him.After observing for a moment, Academician Chang Xu frowned and said, "Although they are all radiation-proof layers made of metal wires, the preparation methods are different - the metal wires themselves look the same, but among the materials actually installed, the metal wires feel It’s a little rougher up.”

"I think the problem should be here - but you have to ask Mr. Mary." Academician Chang scratched his bald head and said, "The processing technology of the material should have been changed. It turns out that they used annealing and wire drawing. But during actual installation, the material was changed to a product of powder metallurgy.”

(End of this chapter)