662: DNA Mutation

DNA Mutation

Just looking at Dr. Feng's reaction, Lu Yizhou could more or less guess the answer to his question. Perhaps it was because he had been through so many simulations with various weird scenarios, he discovered that his heart was very tranquil right now. It was as if he could accept whatever these two people would throw at him.0

But if Zeke was not a real human… then what was he? 

Unexpectedly, the gentle and amicable Dr. Xiao suddenly lost his temper at Dr. Feng. "What do you mean by that?! He is human. He is very much a human!" She took one imposing step after another toward Dr. Feng and jabbed her long manicured nail on the other's chest. "If you dare to say something like that again in the future, I will tell the system to ban you here!" With the mask covering half of her face, she actually looked quite scary when she stared at someone with her round and huge expressionless eyes like that.

Dr. Feng was rendered speechless by her sudden outburst. It took him a while to react, "Wait– I didn't even say anything! Why are you—"

"Stop!" Dr. Xiao put up a hand to cut him off. "I don't want to hear your voice right now. Go to the corner to squat down or something, don't let me see your face lest I will get angry again."

Dr. Feng was fuming in hot anger. How could someone be so unreasonable? In this place, who dared to be so straightforward in front of him other than this person?! "I am the head administrator!"

Dr. Xiao rolled her eyes. "And I am Zachary's attending doctor."

It was apparent whose position was more important, at least in this room. Looking at these two supposedly working and capable adults bickering at each other like children, Lu Yizhou was at an utter loss of words. He cleared his throat to draw their attention. He had a hunch that if he did not stop them now, they were going to argue until an indefinite time in the future.

Dr. Feng clicked his jaws shut and swallowed his words back down. He was boiling in rage, yet at the same time, he also felt guilty when he recalled his earlier reaction. "I just…" he heaved out a frustrated sigh. "Alright, I apologize. That is very inconsiderate of me."

Dr. Xiao deadpanned, "Apology accepted." Then she turned to Lu Yizhou, measuring him with a gaze full of interest. "But how are you supposed to know something like that? That is confidential information that not even five people in this whole world knows about."

"I learned it from Zeke himself." Lu Yizhou said curtly. Instead of being surprised, Dr. Xiao immediately accepted his explanation like it was the most natural thing to do. The questions in Lu Yizhou's mind were increasing at a staggering rate, and he simply lost the patience to beat around the bush. "Tell me. I want to know everything about him, no matter how trifling it is."

Dr. Xiao shot him an admiring look. Letting out a light sigh, she started to speak. "It will be easier for us to start from the beginning. If I have to pinpoint when it started, it should be when the former royal family was still in power. You should have known that… the King's health was not good."

Lu Yizhou nodded with a somber look. 

'Not good' was a complete understatement. The King – now deceased – was riddled with so many ailments that he might as well have one leg inside the coffin.

That was also the main reason why the King was so anxious to keep a firm grip on his sovereignty. The news of his fragile health was not something which could be covered, not with their current technology where a single information could circulate all around the planet in less than five seconds. 

He was afraid, almost paranoid, that his enemies would strike him while he was down and hence, he started to reign in a tyrannical manner. He would rather get rid of an innocent party than letting his enemies walk away scot-free. And unfortunately, one of the innocent parties that was wrongfully implicated by the King's insanity was his grandfather, one of the King's ministers, Elder Lu.

As a result… his planet was ravaged and everyone was brutally massacred, leaving only him — a terrified three-year-old toddler who was firmly protected under his sister's body.

Lu Yizhou's memory of that year had actually become blurred. After all, he was still so young. All he could remember was the blood trickling down his sister's face, the haggard smile on her face, as well as the heartrending desperation that almost consumed him whole as he begged her to take him along with her. Though blurry, the tragic memory was still capable of setting a brief storm in his heart. Lu Yizhou closed his eyes, fists clenching firmly by his side.

When he opened his eyes again, there was nothing left in his eyes but unwavering resolution and composure. "What about him?"

"Well, truth to be told, I used to work as a royal doctor." Dr. Xiao shrugged as she dropped that bomb out of nowhere. "To be exact, I was one of the doctors who diagnosed the King's illness at that time. He almost went mad in search of a cure. Alas… it was not a simple illness, not one that could be cured with technology at that time." Slowly, she finally unraveled the truth of that year.

Actually, the source of the King's illness was just one — DNA mutation. 

However, no one could pinpoint for certain when the mutation started or how to stop it. It might have something to do with his olden days. Perhaps he had been exposed to far too much radiation, or perhaps it was a new variety of illness which had just appeared. The illness turned the King's body extremely fragile. Just one cough could make him vomit blood. Just a slight breeze could make him get a high fever for days. It was as if his body was the perfect vessel for all the viruses in the world to coexist with each other.

The royal doctors were extremely helpless. They had not seen something like this before and hence, they did not even know where to begin solving this complicated problem. They could only try to alleviate the King's symptoms, but not the main source of the illness.

It was alright if the illness ended with the King, yet on the day the Crown Prince was born, they were met with more devastating news.

—The same mutation could be discovered in the Crown Prince's body.

In the future… he would also live a life like his father. Burdened with tons of diseases; never could he take a few steps outside without collapsing on his feet. Speaking bluntly, the royal bloodline could be considered doomed. Even if the Crown Prince was lucky to survive long enough to sire an heir, they would still inherit this damn mutation! 

The King almost had a cardiac arrest when he heard this. How could he accept this kind of calamity?!

When there was a will, there would be a way. The King started to seek alternatives when he found out about the Crown Prince's mutation. For months, he formulated a grand plan with his royal doctors. And thus, a secret project was formed. 

They would take the Crown Prince's DNA to create another baby, one that would still inherit the royal bloodline, but without a single illness on his body.

"And that baby is Zachary," Dr. Xiao said with sadness in her tone. "That year, our technology gained a groundbreaking advance. The public is totally unaware of this, but due to the King's illness, many secret research institutes had been built to seek a way on how to create a clone. At first, the King wanted to clone himself, but his illness was already too severe. Even if we succeeded, there was a 50% possibility that the clone would become a carrier. And hence, we focused our research on the young Crown Prince."

"The Crown Prince's existence has always been secretive in the eye of the public. He seldom made an appearance, and he did not attend any official banquets either. Nobody knew that… there were actually two identical Crown Princes in the Imperial Palace. And the worst thing was…" Dr. Xiao suddenly trailed off, the rims of her eyes reddening.

"The King always treated them as one person. They were given the same name — Crown Prince Zachary. Do you understand?" She raised her head to stare at Lu Yizhou, tears sliding down her cheeks. "They were clearly two people, yet they were treated as one. It means that one must always stay in the shadow, while the other is out in the light."

"The two Crown Princes were not familiar with each other because they were not raised in the same place. It was because the King was afraid that the sickly Crown Prince's mutation would be infectious to the healthy Crown Prince. Then each of them were told by the King that… they were the real Crown Prince while the other was a fake in order to induce their competitive spirit."

Lu Yizhou shut his eyes, his complexion nearly ashen. He could already picture what was going on. "It was a bloody competition to see who would survive in the end," he sneered coldly.

He could not be more familiar with this process. It was just like raising a Gu where many venomous creatures would be sealed in a container where they devoured one another and allegedly concentrated their toxins into a single survivor. Only the strongest one would live until the end. 

After all, it was also in this manner that Lu Yizhou started his path as an assassin.

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