Chapter 2283 - 1477: Authority

Chapter 2283: Chapter 1477: Authority

The paper had been published for over a month when Yang Ping walked into the institute’s hall and saw a crowd gathered around the bulletin board. As he got closer, he saw it was the notice posted by Tang Shun—"Unified Theory—First Verification Data Conference, next Wednesday at two o’clock, in the main meeting room." But there was another piece of paper next to the notice, handwritten in neat script, in Weber’s handwriting: "Supplement: The receptor X antibody liver damage model second injection experiment has been completed. The repair program is trainable. After the first repair, the speed of the second repair increased by one-third."

Yang Ping stood in front of the bulletin board for a moment, and the people around him automatically made way when they saw him. Someone asked: "Professor, what does trainability mean?"

Yang Ping turned around and saw that the person asking was a young researcher, with "Cell Biology Research Group" written on his name tag, though he didn’t remember his name, the face was familiar. "It means that the body can learn how to repair itself. The first repair is exploratory, the second repair is like a skilled worker. If this conclusion holds, we can train the body by pre-activating the repair program, allowing it to respond faster when truly needed."

The young researcher’s eyes lit up, as if to ask more, but Yang Ping raised his hand in a gesture: "At next Wednesday’s conference, Weber will present the detailed data. You can ask questions then." After saying this, he turned and walked towards the elevator, his steps steady. As the elevator doors closed, he heard low murmurs behind him, though quiet, they carried a sense of anticipation and excitement.

On reaching the fifth floor, he exited the elevator and went directly to Weber’s laboratory. Weber was already there, standing in front of the computer, which displayed a line graph with two parallel curves, one red, one blue. The red line reflected the decline in liver function indicators for the first repair, while the blue one was for the second. The blue curve was notably steeper than the red, declining faster. Hearing footsteps, Weber did not turn his head but just stared at the screen as if verifying something. "Look at this," he said, "the peak of the second repair is twelve hours earlier than the first. It’s not faster by one-third; it’s almost half faster. Yesterday, I said one-third as a conservative estimate."

Yang Ping stood beside him, observing the two curves. The blue arrow was steeper than the red one, and at the same time point, the blue value was lower than the red. "What does this indicate?"

"It indicates that the repair program is not just memorizing but optimizing. During the first repair, the program follows the standard procedure. By the second repair, the program found a shortcut, skipping unnecessary steps and going directly to execution. It’s like running a new road for the first time, every step requires confirming direction; the second time, you know where the turns are and can decelerate or accelerate in advance, thus reducing the total time." Weber finished, stepping back two paces to allow Yang Ping a clearer view of the screen diagram.

Yang Ping gazed at those two curves, silent for a moment. "What carries the memory?"

"Unsure, it could be epigenetic modifications, some state marker in stem cells, or some physical trace left during the repair." Weber paused, "But I have a hypothesis, it might relate to the expression level of receptor X. After the first repair, receptor X’s expression level remained slightly above baseline, not quite returning to its original value. When the second damage occurred, receptor X did not need to express anew from scratch; it was already there, waiting for activation signals."

"This hypothesis needs verification."

"It’s already underway, I’ve set up four groups of mice: one group is just for injury, two groups are for second injections, and one is for pre-overexpression of receptor X. If my hypothesis is correct, the pre-overexpression group should exhibit the rapid repair effects of the second injection group from the first injury."

"When will the results be out?"

"Five days."

Yang Ping nodded: "Once the results are in after five days, inform me immediately."

He turned to leave, but Weber called him again: "One more thing. Professor, Chen Xiao asked me to inform you, he plans to submit the paper today, targeting the journal ’Nature Cell Biology.’ He mentioned that the review cycle is about four weeks, and if all goes well, feedback should be received in a month."

Yang Ping left Weber’s laboratory, returned to his office, booted up the computer, and opened his email. Sure enough, Chen Xiao’s email was in the inbox, sent at six-twelve in the morning. He opened the attachment, and reviewed the paper thoroughly once more. Compared to the last version he had seen, there were few changes, but each alteration was precise. The statistical annotation in Figure 7 had been changed to standard p-value format, the title revised to "Mirror of Development and Repair: Evidence from Five Organs," and a whole paragraph was added to bridge a logical gap in the middle.

Having finished reading, Yang Ping leaned back in his chair and sent a message to Chen Xiao: "I’ve reviewed the final version, no issues. Go ahead and submit, and we’ll wait for feedback."

Chen Xiao did not respond, Yang Ping glanced at the time, it was ten thirty in the morning. He stood up, went to the window for a while, then walked out of his office to visit Lin Xiaoyu. Lin Xiaoyu’s ward door was open, and standing at the entrance, he saw Lin Xiaoyu sitting on a chair beside the bed. She wore a light blue coat, and her hair was a bit longer than last time, now covering her ears. Seeing Yang Ping, she put down the book she was holding and stood up. She rose without holding onto the bedside, standing directly without support.