The rise of nanometers

California.

Rocky Mountains to the east.

Inside an underground nuclear bunker built in the last century, the underground nuclear bunker underwent a comprehensive modernization two years ago.

The underground base is hidden under hundreds of meters of rock formations. Many nuclear bunkers like this were built in the last century. There are no fewer than dozens in the Rocky Mountains alone.

Many large companies have also launched doomsday shelter business and created a large number of doomsday shelters.

Even if the major consortiums build such defense facilities, they are still adhering to the greed of capitalists and taking the opportunity to harvest the wealth of the middle class and small and medium-sized rich.

However, this underground base numbered 157, after modernization, has become the private residence of large consortiums. Since half a year ago, a large number of materials, equipment and personnel have been stationed here.

The underground base has a cool-toned architectural style and is very quiet. The person in charge of the base is a middle-aged man with blond hair.

He put on protective clothing and passed through the disinfection areas one by one, finally arriving at the underground level minus 18. This place was filled with a slightly pungent smell, which was the smell of special disinfection gas.

The assistant on the side whispered: "Director Holki, Dr. Duke and Dr. Sophia are in the K5 area."

With an expressionless expression, Hall walked through several areas and came to the K5 area on the minus 18th floor.

After entering the K5 area, there are dense "big jars" inside. Large cylindrical jars are erected in the hall. The surface of these jars is made of silver-gray alloy material with several transparent windows. The radius of the jar is 0.8 meters and the height is 1.6 rice.

Various unknown lines and pipes are connected to the large jar. Through the transparent window, you can see that it is filled with translucent light blue liquid.

From time to time, strings of bubbles emerged from the light blue liquid. In the liquid, there seemed to be a hazy figure, which was only the size of a football.

The person Hall wanted to see was in front of a jar. They were a man and a woman. Both of them were wearing white protective clothing and seemed to be arguing in a low voice.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, the middle-aged male researcher turned his head and spotted the two Halls.

"Doctor, how is the situation?"

Dr. Duke is a slightly fat Mediterranean man with only indifference in his eyes: "The first batch of embryos all had genetic defects to varying degrees, so I destroyed them all."

"What about the second batch?" Hall also showed no emotion.

Duke pointed to the hundreds of jars in front of him: "173 unqualified ones have been eliminated, leaving only 127. The specific situation needs to be observed for a while."

After hearing this data, Hall said with some dissatisfaction: "You should cultivate a batch of finished products as soon as possible. Maybe our future will lie with them."

Dr. Sophia, who seemed a little bit resentful, objected: "Director Hallji, we haven't tested the accurate expression of the gene yet. We are cultivating and adjusting babies too hastily. These babies may have many genetic defects!"

"Doctor! Science must be sacrificed!" Hall retorted coldly.

"NO! If this is the case, I refuse..."

Before Sophia could refuse, Hall interrupted the other party rudely: "Doctor, don't forget the contract you signed, you have no choice."

"..." Sophia regretted it very much now. She had previously said that she was invited to come over to do a research project on an artificial womb. She had been working on related projects over the years, so she agreed to the invitation.

But after arriving here, she discovered that the research project here was not just as simple as artificial wombs, but the cultivation of genetically modified babies.

Duke, the chief researcher in charge of the project, is known in the industry as having no bottom line. In 2008, he was arrested by the FBI for illegally researching in vitro fertilization and was sentenced to 57 years in prison.

Sophia didn't expect to meet each other here.

It's just that it's too late now. She knows too much. If she refuses to continue research, she will definitely not be able to leave here alive, and even her family will be implicated.

Sophia underestimated the evil of human nature. She hated her own weakness and incompetence and turned embryos and babies into experimental subjects with her own hands.

Ignoring the remorseful Sophia, Hall asked indifferently: "If the scale is increased, how long will it take for you to detect the specific use of the gene?"

Dr. Duke thought for a while: "Cultivation of three hundred embryos at a time is still too few. It would be best to increase the number 10 times. Previous generations of experimental products will definitely have a large number of genetic defects."

"I will report to the board of directors. You can come up with some results as soon as possible so that everyone can communicate easily." Hall finally reminded.

"Don't worry! As long as there are enough samples, we can quickly screen out the corresponding gene sequence." Duke nodded.

As the person in charge of a scientific research project, Duke naturally understands some unspoken rules. If he cannot produce some results and make major consortiums feel hopeful, then sooner or later the project will go bankrupt.

As for the cultivation of gene-edited babies, the more experimental products the better, so that the specific use of the gene sequence can be locked.

As for the fate of those experimental subjects during the process, Duke didn't care. In his eyes, there was not much difference between humans, pigs, cattle, and sheep.

Now that humans can clone sheep, pigs, and mice through gene editing, they can obtain the customized versions of organisms they need.

Humans themselves can do the same, but the scientific community is still somewhat wary of conducting random gene editing experiments for fear of contaminating the human gene pool.

However, under the pressure of the new Cold War, major financial groups found that their advantages were rapidly losing, and there was a tendency for them to be completely surpassed by the East.

For these superior people, being suppressed by the country bumpkins they looked down on before is definitely something they cannot tolerate.

In order to regain their advantage, the major consortiums in North America had to take the wrong approach and formulate various plans, including seizing the moon and Mars, developing space weapons, super directed viruses, gene editing people, etc.

Among them, the gene editor project, although it cannot affect strategic advantages in a short period of time, will have a huge impact on the future.

At the end of last year, the consortium, major families, and emerging capital reorganized the Freemasons, Skull and Bones, and the Bohemian Club to form the Noah Society.

The strategic think tank of the Noah Society analyzed the current situation and believed that North America has lost the opportunity to fight to the death and is very likely to repeat the long-term confrontation situation of the last century.

Judging from the current situation, the analysis of strategic think tanks is in line with expectations.

Unable to win in a short time, Noah will have to prepare for the future, so developing into outer space and improving its own power have become particularly important.

If gene editing can be used to create a large number of highly intelligent offspring, or gene editing can be used to make adjusters immune to a certain virus, they might be able to turn defeat into victory.

As for the poor experimental subjects in this process, in the eyes of the Noah Society, they are just necessary sacrifices.

They will do whatever it takes to win.

What's more, Noah Club has another worry. If they don't study gene editing, but their opponents are doing so in secret, they will fall even further behind.

The Noah Society, who has delusions of being persecuted, has a very simple idea. I have done this, and my opponents must have done the same.

Therefore, they continue to increase their investment in this area. The large number of gene-edited embryos and babies in this secret base is just the tip of the iceberg.

In North America, there are eight similar human cloning, artificial womb, and artificial organ projects, large and small.

Thank you for your support (ω｀)