Chapter 264: Chapter 264: The Research Results Are Out
Downstairs, Aaron Xavier went to tease Hope Sherman.
Miles Sherman stood beside Zoe Pierce.
"Miles, why were you so serious as a child?" Whenever Zoe Pierce looked at Miles Sherman’s face, the image from the photo would pop into her head.
He clearly wasn’t much taller than Hope Sherman, but he looked so much more serious.
Even more serious than when she first met him.
Miles Sherman hadn’t seen the photo, but he could just imagine.
"As a kid, I thought that’s what it meant to be mature."
It couldn’t be helped. Miles Sherman’s personality had been set from a young age.
Under Mr. Sherman’s influence and strict upbringing, he had become that way very early on.
He wasn’t allowed to speak until he could confirm the truth of a matter.
His personality was naturally the reliable type. Compared to other rebellious kids his age, he was always seen as a leader.
Over time, he developed a strong sense of responsibility for others.
The other parents were also happy to let him be the leader of the pack.
Aaron Xavier was a prime example.
Mr. Xavier couldn’t control him, but Miles Sherman could.
Later on, with Hope Sherman and Ewan Sherman, this trait only deepened until it became an integral part of his personality.
Miles Sherman thought Zoe Pierce was going to say something else.
But then he saw Zoe Pierce looking at him with a smile. "Miles, you were so cute as a kid."
This was the first time anyone had ever described him as "cute."
"You still are," Zoe Pierce added with a grin, noticing the tips of Miles Sherman’s ears turning red.
It would have been fine if she hadn’t mentioned it, but now that she had, Miles’s ears became even redder.
"Please..." Miles’s voice was practically a plea for mercy.
The things Zoe Pierce was saying... they made it impossible for him to stay calm.
Zoe Pierce knew to quit while she was ahead and stopped teasing him.
Mimicking Aaron Xavier, she made a gesture of zipping her lips.
Zoe Pierce didn’t tell Miles Sherman that she had secretly taken quite a few photos.
She could tell from the photos.
Miles Sherman, Chase Shaw, and the others had known one another since they were very young.
The earliest photos included other people she didn’t recognize, but gradually, there were fewer and fewer unfamiliar faces, until only group photos of their little circle remained.
When she saw Chase Shaw and the others again, Zoe Pierce found herself subconsciously matching them to their childhood photos.
They had hardly changed; their features had just scaled up.
The only difference was the loss of baby fat on their cheeks.
They had gone from cute to chiseled in an instant.
Nathan Lockwood and the others noticed Zoe Pierce looking at them strangely all day.
She seemed unusually indulgent, as if she were humoring a group of children.
But whenever they asked, she refused to say why.
Hope Sherman, however, just laughed along with Zoe Pierce.
Their faces weren’t very similar, but their cute smiles were identical.
Just looking at them was enough to calm the soul.
’What if I started a family with Zoe Pierce and had a child just like that?’
’Life could be even better than it is now.’
’A child of our own.’
Zoe Pierce had no idea what they were thinking. If she did, she’d probably find it absurd.
Hope Sherman pulled her into taking a ton of photos, claiming they were for friends. There were even requests for personalized autographs. Zoe Pierce had never felt so trendy in her life.
"I promised all of these to my friends," Hope Sherman explained. "They all know Zoe is my brother’s friend."
"They’ve been begging me for ages."
As if afraid Zoe Pierce would be unhappy about it, Hope Sherman explained everything carefully.
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Zoe Pierce patted her cheek. "It’s okay. I don’t find it troublesome at all."
Hope Sherman’s dejected expression immediately vanished, her eyes lighting up.
She declared that Zoe would be her favorite sister from now on.
Zoe Pierce and the others were having a great time at Miles’ residence.
「Meanwhile, on an uncharted planet.」
A hermetically sealed laboratory was built deep within a mountain range. The surrounding area had no roads and was completely covered in moss.
It looked exactly like the entrance to an abandoned cave.
But upon entering the pitch-black cave, one would discover it concealed a hidden world.
A metal door led to an elevator that descended dozens of meters.
All the way at the bottom, the area was brightly lit. As far as the eye could see, there were not only people but also a great deal of equipment.
James Jarvis had already received the tissue sample that Quentin Ford had Justin Lewis deliver.
The separation was now complete, and he even had the results.
The results showed that within Zoe Pierce’s cells, the proportion of a certain type of cell with Alpha-like characteristics far exceeded that of other Omegas.
But there was still one problem.
There were far too few samples for comparative analysis.
James Jarvis immediately placed a video call to Quentin Ford.
On the other end of the video call, it was the middle of the night for Quentin Ford. But upon receiving the call, he still turned on a light, got out of bed, and walked to his study.
"Are the results in, James?"
Normally, Quentin Ford rarely involved himself directly in scientific research matters; there were dedicated personnel for that.
But now, he couldn’t afford to delegate the inquiry and wait for reports to filter up through the chain of command.
He needed to know the latest developments as quickly as possible.
James Jarvis watched as Quentin Ford’s grogginess faded and his expression grew sharper. "They’re in," he said.
He showed him a comparison between several values and the normal range.
Even someone like Quentin Ford, who wasn’t well-versed in scientific research, could see that Zoe Pierce’s various markers were very close to those of an Alpha.
What was more remarkable was that even with this proximity to Alpha traits, Zoe Pierce’s own Omega-specific cells remained unchanged.
They remained perfectly stable, coexisting without interfering with the cells exhibiting near-Alpha characteristics.
"Sir, I need more samples." James Jarvis’s expression was exceptionally serious as he looked at Quentin Ford.
Quentin Ford mulled it over for a moment before asking directly, "How much more? A few more cells, or... the whole person."
The former would be very easy to obtain. The latter, however, would require careful planning.
James Jarvis didn’t hesitate. "I need the whole person for full cooperation, Sir."
James Jarvis had no idea who the donor of the tissue sample was. He was just looking at the data, and compared to that of an average Beta, this data was far too valuable to ignore.
If a simple tissue sample could reveal this much, who knew what else there was to discover.
’What new mutations might arise under stimulation of her spirit sea?’
He felt as if he had suddenly been given the key to a door of hidden technology. He had found the entrance, but he didn’t have the complete key.
And so he was desperate for more.
This presented Quentin Ford with a dilemma.
But his heart began to beat a little faster, thrumming with a long-lost excitement.
"James, just wait. I will find a way to bring the person to you," Quentin Ford said, exhaling slowly, a smile spreading across his face.
Upon hearing this, James Jarvis said, "Sir, the current modification technology has already made another breakthrough. If we can completely master the secrets of these cells, I believe we can develop a brand new 3.0 version of the grafting technology. Its stability and safety would be drastically improved."
