1106: Shackles

Shackles

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Jiang Chen's last sentence touched the most sensitive part in Wu Changfeng's mind.

Yes, this is my power. Why should I gift it to you?

I'm the one making the sacrifice; I'm the one standing in front of mankind. What do you have to offer to make me give my "life" to you?

No longer hesitant, he pushed out all the thoughts of giving it to the country. He picked up the needle and directed it at his vein. Pushing away all of his distractions, he made up his mind and injected the needle with his eyes closed.

As the serum was injected into his body, his heartbeat gradually returned to normal.

He quietly waited for the onset of the drug as he leaned back into the sofa.

The second hand of the clock ticked, but the expected pain didn't arrive. He frowned and looked at the spot where he injected the serum.

"Is there no response?"

Just as he was talking to himself, a sharp pain diffused out from his arm.

He sweated profusely.

As a soldier, Wu Changfeng's face turned into a pale white. He gritted his teeth, but he somehow endured the pain without saying a word.

Boiled blood spread through his veins, surged freely in his blood vessels, the pain also diffused throughout his body.

"Is this the price of life? That's too easy then." Wu Changfeng gasped for cold air, and he barely squeezed out his words before he slowly laid down on the sofa.

The pain began to spread out from his blood vessels, deep into his internal organs, and out to his skin.

Suddenly, all the pain disappeared in an instant.

"This is the... end?"

He quietly murmured, then he closed his eyes and drifted asleep.

He made a choice without realizing it.

The choice of loyalty.

In his sleep, he had a dream.

He dreamed that his wife, son, and grandson turned old. He watched them being lowered into their graves, but he remained so young. At the end of the dream, he saw a fire. Flames engulfed Earth, swallowed up all the cities, immersed the battleship of the Earth Fleet, and incinerated everything...

Wu Changfeng woke up from the nightmare and suddenly popped up from the sofa.

After he realized that everything was just a dream, his rapidly pumping heart gradually calmed down.

"Is it already noon?"

The guard had obeyed his order from last night and didn't wake him up.

As he panted, he looked away from the clock on the wall. He rubbed his forehead, and slowly sat up from the sofa. He now just realized that he was drenched in sweat and he started to feel cold.

After he took his clothes off, he went to the bathroom to take a shower.

However, when he passed the mirror, he suddenly stopped.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but he realized that he seemed to be at least five years younger than yesterday...

"Everyone chose to inject."

"Excellent, keep an eye on them until they leave the city."

"Roger."

Jiang Chen hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair. He looked at the blue planet outside the floor-to-ceiling window and regained a sense of certainty.

Not surprisingly, everyone eventually chose to use the 20ml of serum on themselves instead of bringing it back to their countries.

From the beginning, Jiang Chen knew that once this serum appeared on the market, regardless of the impact on Celestial Trade, its existence would have an unimaginable impact on the existing social order.

Although he didn't clearly state it, he would never allow them to bring it to Earth and wouldn't allow them to gift this to a "powerful individual" for superficial reasons.

As a simple example, civilians wouldn't be able afford this life-extending vaccine. Once it appeared on the market, the lives of the rich and powerful would be much longer than that of ordinary people. Wealth would be more and more concentrated. It wouldn't be long before the world's wealth was concentrated in the hands of the 0.1% or even less.

By that time, it would be the end of the civilization.

However, everything had two sides.

As long as it was done properly, the positive effects of "longevity serum" could be far greater than its negative effects.

For example, it could be used to win over people's allegiance.

The twenty members of the Earth Defense Alliance were regarded as the elites of the elites in their respective countries. Jiang Chen didn't naïvely think that money or power could make them abandon the concept of country and dedicate their lives to the Earth Defense Alliance.

However, people always had weaknesses.

The more successful people were and the more powerful people were, the more people feared death because once they died, they would lose far more than the average person.

Life was a good option to allure them.

As early as the sphere of influence of NAC had expanded to Hongcheng, Jiang Chen learned the secret of eternal life from Dr. Sun and received 100ml of serum. From this 100ml serum, Lin Lin extracted the anti-aging fragments from the DNA and the anti-aging substances dissolved in the serum for further research.

Although eternal life wouldn't be possible, it was easy to extend a life span by tens to hundreds of years without side effects. The serum also wouldn't cover up the original hidden genetic code. Now with more than 2,000 sisters, her research ability had drastically increased. Perhaps in a few more years, she could really invent an eternal potion.

But for those committee members, this would be enough.

Although extending their lifespans would benefit the Earth Defense Alliance, it would also be troublesome if they lived forever. In the future, the Earth Defense Alliance would become stronger and stronger under the oppression of external factors, even to a point where it would replace all countries and evolve into the Earth Federation.

By that time, if a bunch of old hags occupied the committee seats, there would be rigidity in the decision making abilities of the committee.

There must be hope for the young.

Immortality was only an option for himself.

And also his closest relatives, of course.

His finger tapped on the touchpad. He raised his hand, made a few strokes against the holographic screen, and called out the meeting minutes from yesterday. He started to scan the summary sections line by line.

"Project Trench, Project Starship... Although only four words, it's certainly difficult."

He shook his head, then leaned back with a headache.

Building a planet fortress or a space fleet would require an astronomical amount of steel and production capability. The current Mars Colony was essentially a planted seed. It would take a long time for it to grow into a towering tree.

"It seems we must speed up."

With a long sigh, Jiang Chen closed the summary and connected to the database of the Mars Colonization Project Department.

Just as he planned to inspect the development of the colony, a report uploaded ten minutes ago that was unread caught his attention...3

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