Chapter 2286 - 1478: Uncertainty

Chapter 2286: Chapter 1478: Uncertainty

The day after the presentation concluded, Yang Ping’s inbox spiraled out of control.

Starting in the early hours, the influx of emails increased from several per hour to dozens per hour, and by noon, nearly four hundred unread emails lay in the inbox. The senders were from all over the world, most unfamiliar names, but each email pointed in the same direction—they had seen the reports, read his paper, and responded accordingly. Some shared experimental data, others offered new research ideas, while some came from individuals whose destinies he had altered, providing evidence.

Yang Ping sat at his desk, processing these emails one by one. He didn’t open them all, but he did open a few, then paused.

The first email was from a neuroscientist at Cambridge University, titled, "Your unified theory explains a phenomenon I have been unable to understand." In the email, he wrote about a rare disease he had been studying, where the patient’s nervous system gradually degenerates, but the cause remains elusive. According to the unified perspective, this is actually due to a critical point in the repair program being incorrectly shut down, causing the entire organ’s maintenance mechanism to fail. He followed this approach to re-analyze data accumulated over a decade, discovering that in the tissue samples of these patients, receptor X expression levels were significantly lower compared to healthy control groups. He is redesigning experiments using this framework.

An oncologist from the University of California, San Francisco sent an email titled, "Your theory redefines the current targeted drug strategies we use." He mentioned his laboratory had been researching a targeted drug for years, encountering inconsistent effects without clear reasons. After reading the unified theory, he re-evaluated his data and found that those patients responding well to treatment had high expression of repair program-related genes within their tumor tissues. This was not coincidental but proof that the patients’ bodies were effectively cooperating with the treatment. Rather than killing the tumor with the drug, he was using the medication to reactivate the repair program, allowing the tumor cells to be self-cleared. He is using this approach to rescreen existing targeted drugs.

Yang Ping did not reply to any of these emails. He just finished reading them and then closed the inbox.

At ten a.m., Tang Shun knocked and entered, holding a folder. He placed the folder on the table, opened it, and inside was a printed statistical report. "In the past three days, our paper has been cited over seven hundred times. Most are citations on preprint platforms and references in news reports. Formal academic citations account for about two-thirds. At this rate of growth, citation numbers might surpass two thousand by the end of the month."

Yang Ping leaned back in his chair, flipped through the report, "Besides citations, what else?"

"There are also collaboration invitations. So far, I have received twelve collaboration intentions from laboratories including Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, Tokyo University, and the Max Planck Institute. They all want to send people here to visit or invite us to give lectures at their locations."

"Don’t rush to arrange anything yet. Let those collaboration intentions sit for now; wait until our experiments wrap up before proceeding."

Tang Shun nodded, noted it in his notebook, closed it, and turned to leave.

Yang Ping sat at his desk for a while, picked up the folder, flipped through the statistical report Tang Shun left, and stopped on a certain page. It wasn’t citation statistics or collaboration invitations; it was a forwarded email from the sender, Sisi.

"Professor Yang, I saw the report about your unified theory in the school library. News says your paper has been cited numerous times, with many top research institutions worldwide following up on validation. I saw discussions on social media calling this a ’watershed moment in medicine.’ I remember what you said back then: ’The body has always been repairing itself.’ I finally understand what it means."

Yang Ping finished reading the email and then picked up his phone to send Sisi a brief message, just one sentence: "Study well, after graduation come to the Institute." He pressed send and placed the phone back on the desk. The phone screen dimmed and then lit up again showing Sisi’s reply: "I will!"

At two p.m., Yang Ping went to Weber’s laboratory. Weber was at the bench, in front of a row of culture plates. When he saw Yang Ping enter, he put down the pipette and removed his protective goggles. "You came at the right time. I’ve been meaning to ask you about the potential ceiling of repair program training effects. If the training effect is universal, will the repair program reach a limit after repeated training? A bit like muscles, reaching a point where they no longer progress?"

"Have you conducted multiple training experiments?"

"Not yet, we’ve only done two injections. The third injection is still in the design stage."

"Then wait until the third one is done before we discuss it. If the third one is faster than the second, it means there is no limit to the training effect. If the third is about the same as the second, it suggests there’s some sort of speed limiting mechanism." Weber listened and didn’t answer immediately. He turned back to the bench, picked up the pipette, then put it down again. "I’ve already arranged it. The animal model for the third injection is ready, starting the experiment the day after tomorrow."

"Once completed, organize the data and present it at next month’s report meeting."

Weber nodded, Yang Ping turned and left the cell laboratory.

The next morning, as Yang Ping walked into the Institute’s lobby, he saw a circle of people around the bulletin board once more. When he approached and looked, a new sheet of paper was posted, it bore Weber’s handwriting, more scribbled than the previous time, like it was hastily written: "Addendum: Preliminary results of the third injection experiment; repair speed improved again. Approximately one-third faster than the second, nearly twice as fast as the first. Training effect not reaching a limit." At the paper’s lower right corner, a small line was added by Manstein: "Furthermore, the second injection experiment for the kidney injury model has concluded, results consistent with the liver injury model, repair speed enhanced by about one-third. The training effect pattern is consistent between different organs."

Yang Ping stood by the bulletin board for a while. The surrounding younger researchers automatically gave way to him, no one asked questions, only watched him stand in front of the paper. He looked for about ten seconds then turned and headed towards the elevator. As the elevator door closed, he heard whispered discussions behind him: "Training effect has no limit, the third time is faster than the second, that’s critical."

"Does that mean there can be infinite training? Theoretically infinite improvement in repair speed?"

"If the theory holds, theoretically, yes."

"Yet a lot of verification is needed, from three times to five, to ten times to confirm."

"Indeed, multiple verifications are needed."

"But last time Professor Yang mentioned that pure training makes it difficult to significantly enhance repair effects because the body intentionally limits repair capabilities; one, enlarged repair capability triggers side effects, like mutations or loss of control in cells used for repair. Two, if repair is significantly enhanced, lifespan renewal cycles extend, disbalancing certain genetic rules."

"Yes, the professor did express his concerns; if forcibly altered without limit over a long time, would it bring disaster to humanity."

"He means humans seal this ability, limiting its function for certain reasons, perhaps to maintain a balance we’re yet to discover."

"So how to develop repair abilities, to what extent, is a huge topic, affecting human destiny, it’s not just as simple as treating diseases."

Yang Ping listened to these discussions, nodding with satisfaction; these students are genuinely diligent.

He is pondering this issue, but it’s still immature, which is why it has not been publicly disclosed on a large scale—just mentioned fragmentarily in lectures within the Institute.

The discovery of the unified theory is definitely not a simple research problem; Yang Ping is considering, once this ability is released, if humanity will be able to handle it. For now, he has no confidence in his heart.