Chapter 214: Artificial Organs (3)

When Young-Joon flew to Guangdong, he brought three huge containers on the plane with him.

“Is this that...?” Yang Gunyu asked nervously.

“It’s ten million male mosquitoes,” Young-Joon replied through an interpreter.

“...”

Yang Gunyu gulped. He felt like he could hear their buzzing wings through the container.

“This really doesn’t cause any problems in the environment, right...?” Yang Gunyu asked again.

“Yes, don’t worry.”

“But destroying the sex ratio of mosquitoes isn’t exactly natural, so...”

Yang Gunyu seemed anxious.

“It wasn’t natural for the PCBs to leak out either.”

“...”

“And unequal sex ratios are natural,” Young-Joon said.

“It’s natural?”

“In the 1990’s, there was a scientist named Richard Stouthammer. He found a colony of bees that were reproducing asexually. There were only females, and they were reproducing by self-replication. It turned out that it wasn’t a trait of the bees, it was caused by a bacteria called Wolbachia that infected the bees.”

“...”

“When we treated them with antibiotics to get rid of the bacteria, males suddenly appeared and started reproducing sexually.”

“What is that?”

“Wolbachia is a type of sexually transmitted bacteria that can only live in the sperm or eggs of insects. It’s difficult for them to live in the sperm because it is extremely cramped and lacking nutrients, but the egg is quite desirable since it has abundant cytoplasm and space,” Young-Joon said. “That’s why the bacteria chose to eliminate males. Bees infected with Wolbachia only gave birth to females, and the females would self-replicate and produce females without reproducing with males.”

“Wow...”

“There are a lot more crazy things in the natural world than humans realize,” Young-Joon said. “And Wolbachia can infect mosquitoes, and with a little manipulation of the Wolbachia’s genes, they can be tricked into thinking that the sperm is a better living environment.”

“And these are the mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia you tricked?” asked Yang Gunyu, pointing at the container.

“Yes,” Young-Joon said. “Now, if we release these mosquitoes, this STI will spread rapidly among the mosquitoes. It won’t take long since the weather is warm, it’s a perfect area for them to mate and lay eggs, and there are already over one hundred million of them flying around.”

“...”

“The male mosquitoes won’t be affected by the repellent because they don’t have the same olfactory nerves as female mosquitoes. You can still keep using the repellent, and please do so.”

“Can Wolbachia infect people?”

“Of course, not. Wolbachia is just a sexually transmitted infection of several species of insects,” Young-Joon replied. “They are physiologically unable to touch humans, and even if a mosquito sticks its needle into another insect, it won’t be transmitted. It’s like how sexually transmitted infections like syphilis don’t spread just because people eat stew from the same pot; STIs are transmitted through sex.”

“I see...”

Yang Gunyu nodded slightly, as the concept of sexually transmitted infections in mosquitoes was foreign to him.

“Then, let’s go.”

Young-Joon loaded the three containers on a truck and moved to Guangzhou with Yang Gunyu.

Guangzhou was filled with reporters, and there were mosquito carcasses all around them. It was because A-GenBio’s mosquito repellent had been sprayed nearby.

“It’s Ryu Young-Joon!” exclaimed one of the reporters when they saw him.

Click! Click!

A commotion erupted in an instant, with the reporters’ cameras flashing one after another. Yang Gunyu had brought in a solution from Korea to fix the terrible mosquito disaster that had hit Guangdong. He was the best biologist in the world, the scientist who predicted this event early on, and he was a GSC member who advocated for mosquito eradication at the GSC International Conference.

“After discussions with Governor Yang, A-GenBio has decided to release ten million genetically engineered Wolbachia-infected male mosquitoes in Guangzhou, Maoming, and Jieyang cities to solve the situation,” Young-Joon said into the microphone. “First, we will release four million mosquitoes here in Guangzhou.”

Civil servants from Guangzhou nervously moved one of the containers. They carefully began to tear off the top of the steel plate. The lid opened, but the mosquitoes inside remained motionless, glued to the wall.

“They’re not coming out?”

The reporters, who were hoping to get a good shot of the swarm of mosquitoes, seemed disappointed.

Young-Joon chuckled at their expressions.

Crash!

He lightly kicked the container once with his foot, and the surprised mosquitoes inside began to rise.

“Wow...”

The reporters gasped and marveled at the unimaginable spectacle. It looked like a school of sardines in the ocean, migrating in tens of thousands.

A huge, jet-black mass shot up into the sky, emitting a fierce noise.

* * *

Lab Seven of A-GenBio simulated the Mosquito Eradication Project with ABAI once again. This time, it was Director Kim Young-Hoon on YouTube instead of Young-Joon.

—Where is Ryu Young-Joon?

—Who is this man?

—Mosquito eradication channel lol

Looking at the comments that were coming up, Kim Young-Hoon said, “My name is Kim Young-Hoon, the project leader of ABAI development at A-GenBio Laboratory Seven. Nice to meet you.”

He spoke as he started up ABAI.

“Mr. Ryu is in China and is running this simulation in real life right now. There will be articles coming soon.”

He pulled up Guangdong Province on ABAI and released ten million mosquitoes infected with genetically engineered Wolbachia in three cities: Guangzhou, Maoming, and Jieyang. The number of mosquitoes, which had soared past one hundred fifty million, began to decline at an alarming rate over the next week.

“In the natural world, female mosquitoes usually mate once,” Kim Young-Hoon said. “And they can lay eggs up to seven times, but their lifespan is about a week at most.”

He pointed to the number of mosquitoes decreasing exponentially in a week.

“In other words, even if there were one hundred fifty million mosquitoes in Guangdong right now, they would all die in a week or two,” Kim Young-Hoon said. “We just need to be able to eliminate the new eggs they lay, and that’s how we can control this mosquito outbreak.”

* * *

Kim Young-Hoon’s simulation was coming to life in Guangdong. Young-Joon was sitting in the hotel room Yang Gunyu had arranged for him and watching it in Rosaline’s Simulation Mode.

“No matter how good ABAI is, you’re much better,” Young-Joon said.

—Of course. I’m no match for some machine artificial intelligence.

In just a week, the swarm of mosquitoes that were taking over commercial centers and homes had noticeably reduced. The roadsides were littered with dead mosquitoes, and most of the male mosquitoes were going into the forest, except when they were mating.

—They are going down nicely.

Rosaline watched the mosquitoes die.

“Yeah.”

—At this rate, there won’t be any mosquitoes in Guangdong next summer.

“I think it’s going to affect Southeast Asia as well.”

—Of course. The Asian tiger mosquito will be wiped out in some countries.

“I kind of feel bad for them,” Young-Joon said.

—Really?

“I don’t think mosquitoes were born wanting to be like that. People are trying to save the African black rhino from extinction, but mosquitoes carry diseases and suck blood, so we’re trying to wipe them out...”

—There’s nothing we can do.

Rosaline intervened.

—And a lot of creatures have gone extinct on Earth. It’s not a problem if humans act selfishly for the sake of humans.

“Right?”

—Of course. Humans are one of the descendants of the primordial soup. They have gone through billions of years of evolution, just like mosquitoes. So, humans are competitors of mosquitoes.

Young-Joon tilted his head in confusion.

—The only thing unfortunate for them is that I became an ally of humans.

Rosaline added.

—It’s like an adult intervening in a fight between children, so it’s inevitable that one side will fall to their demise.

“... Oh...”

—Anyway, why did you bring that box?

Rosaline pointed at the large box in the corner near the bed.

“It’s because of that virus,” Young-Joon said.

—The one that Doctor Ref released? It’s no use. It’s based on a lentivirus. It can’t be transmitted to fetuses, and even if it did infect a newborn, it would be difficult to cause symptoms.

Rosaline gave Young-Joon an explanation.

—Developing babies have rapid cell division, but it’s nothing compared to the fetus, which has to differentiate twenty trillion cells in ten months. Then, it differentiates into one hundred trillion cells over the course of twenty years, which is relatively slow.

“...”

—Even if the virus affects children, it can’t cause encephalomyelopathy. I think they were targeting children in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, but they made a mistake.

“But there were a lot of organ transplants in the Xinjiang Uygur region.”

—Yes. If that’s the case, it’s possible that cell division in the surgical region could be accelerated and cause symptoms. But how many cases like that could there be?

“... According to what Secretary Yoo told me, it’s thirty thousand cases since three years ago.”

—But that’s three years of data. According to the data Whittaker brought us, Doctor Ref sent the virus relatively recently. Even if there have been people executed after that, how many could there have been, even if they are doing illegal transplants?

“I hope there aren’t too many.”

Knock knock!

Someone was at Young-Joon’s door. He could hear Yang Gunyu’s voice.

“

Jiaoshou? Shi wo Yang Gunyu

.”

“Doctor Ryu? It’s Governor Yang Gunyu.”

A male interpreter translated what Yang Gunyu was saying. And as Young-Joon reflexively turned towards the door, Rosaline shot up from the bed.

—Don’t go outside.

Rosaline warned Young-Joon.

Young-Joon, who was about to open the door, tilted his head in puzzlement and looked at her.

—There are three more people other than Yang Gunyu. And they have guns.

‘Guns? Are they from the Public Security Bureau?’

—No... I don’t know...

Young-Joon gulped nervously.

—I don’t think they are trying to hurt you because they are all relaxed. But you don’t know what could happen.

“What is it?” Young-Joon asked over the intercom.

What Yang Gunyu and his people said was surprising.

“Please help us... The Minister of Health has asked us to escort you to Zhongnanhai.”

“Zhongnanhai? Where is that?” Young-Joon asked.

“... Um...”

Yang Gunyu hesitated to answer, but the Chief of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau replied instead.

“It’s in Beijing. The President’s office is there, and we’ve been ordered to escort you there. We are not trying to kidnap you. Please come with us. China is in trouble.”

Young-Joon sighed. He picked up the box he brought and opened the door.

“Lead the way,” he said.

Yang Gunyu flinched. Young-Joon’s aura was strangely different from before. No matter how disrespectful and reckless Yang Gunyu had been, from ignoring the mosquito extermination recommendations to disregarding the PCB warnings, Young-Joon had never lost his temper.

But now, things were a little different.

“...”

He was calm and collected, but he was somewhat tense.