How are Zerg made?

Chapter 6: Virulent Phages · Chapter 6: Virulent Bacteriophage · Since recovering his consciousness, Professor Hogu had been at a disadvantage, as the single-cell cluster possessed no "vision," leaving him in a highly passive state. · Only when those foreign cells made contact with the single-cell cluster could Professor Hogu become aware of their presence. · If he were still in his original human body, he would have been able to judge the surrounding objects by sensing the direction of fluid flow through the neural network in his skin, even without sight. · However, the problem was that the single-cell cluster Professor Hogu was currently inhabiting was far too rudimentary, making such tasks equally impossible. · To resist external threats, Professor Hogu had no choice but to settle for passive defense, and the key to this passive defense lay in the cell wall. · "The primary attack method of a bacteriophage is infection, followed by 'occupying the magpie's nest.' It replicates its own offspring in massive numbers within the host cell, and once a certain quantity is reached, it destroys the cell membrane and cell wall from the inside out in various ways..." · "Therefore... the key to defending against this enemy lies in the initial infection stage. As long as that link is broken, those guys will be unable to do anything to me for the time being." · Thus, a question stood before Professor Hogu: by what means should he sabotage the infection stage of the bacteriophage? · The key to defending against bacteriophages lay in the cell wall, but this was only a rough idea; he had yet to think through the specific details. · "That mild bacteriophage from before used an injection method, bypassing the protective cell membrane to implant its genes into the single cell..." · "If the cell wall is thick enough and the gaps are small enough, allowing only small molecular clusters to enter and exit, well, in that case, it could serve as an excellent defense." · With a general direction established, supplementing the details went much faster. Professor Hogu did not expend much energy before finalizing the blueprint for the cell wall. · Suddenly, a thought occurred to Professor Hogu. · "Wait! What if it's like certain influenza viruses that deliberately damage their own protein shells to transmit gene segments directly, bypassing the small molecular gaps in the cell wall..." · "Only by specializing can the effect be maximized. If I force the cell wall to also take on the function of filtration, then the protective effect would..." · Professor Hogu’s attention gradually shifted to the position of the cell membrane. · "I will leave the filtration function to the cell membrane and leave the defense work to the cell wall." · "If the cell wall can be breached, the cell membrane's defense won't be of much use anyway, as a 'multi-purpose' design is ultimately inferior to the effect achieved by a 'specialized' one." · To better compare, Professor Hogu uncoiled and replicated the portion of the gene chain containing the bacteriophage protein shell genes. · Before long, that bacteriophage protein shell manifested before Professor Hogu. · "This..." · Upon seeing the bacteriophage's protein shell, Professor Hogu felt stumped. · With a physical comparison now available, he realized that the bacteriophage was incredibly small. If the single cell acting as the host were a skyscraper, then the bacteriophage would be the size of a human or a pet dog. · This indeed differed greatly from what he had imagined. · "In other words, the openings in the cell wall must be designed to only allow the passage of individual small molecules to effectively block the bacteriophage?" · Just then, another Unexpected Visitor encountered the single-cell cluster. · Just as Professor Hogu had feared, this killer in the microbial world was a bacteriophage, and this time, fate did not intend to continue favoring Professor Hogu and this single-cell cluster. · After the gene segment invaded the outermost single cell, the bacteriophage immediately declared sovereignty over the host cell, frantically engaging in Genetic Transcription of its own genes to produce a massive amount of bacteriophage genetic material and those protein shells. · Clearly, this was a virulent bacteriophage. · "Damn it!" · Professor Hogu nearly cursed out loud. The host was a single cell connected to protein structures, which meant it was impossible to immediately detach from the entire cell cluster as he had done before. · Not daring to hesitate further, Professor Hogu immediately commanded the cells to undergo Cell Division to isolate the infected single cell. · It was not the cells directly connected to the host that were dividing, but the cells at the very edge of the entire region, with the host cell as the center. · He did this as a precaution; the rate at which individuals detached within the single-cell cluster was determined by the speed of Cellular Replication. If the speed of Cellular Replication could not keep up with the speed at which this group of bacteriophages was breaking down the host cell, then letting the connected cells divide to isolate it would be a meaningless act. · The result of a failed isolation would be a massive, or even total, infection of the entire single-cell cluster. · Professor Hogu could not afford to take that risk. · The situation developed exactly as Professor Hogu had feared, and was even worse; the virulent bacteriophages had already breached the cell membrane of the host cell and were infecting other cells at a speed faster than he could have imagined. · By now, the uncoiling and Cell Division were only halfway through. · Professor Hogu's heart hung in his throat, his attention focused entirely on the cells undergoing division. · The single cells, which in the past he had considered to have a decent division speed, now seemed to be moving at a snail's pace. · "Faster... faster... faster..." · His attention flickered back and forth between the cells and the bacteriophages; Professor Hogu had unconsciously fallen into a trance, murmuring and urging the dividing single cells. · Time ticked away, second by second. · Whether it was because this obsessive urging had actually been effective, or simply a stroke of good luck, the single cells undergoing division completed the process, detaching and casting the entire section of single-cell tissue into the vast darkness, successfully avoiding a second, large-scale infection of the virulent bacteriophages. · "I cannot let this happen again. I must finish calibrating the cell wall as soon as possible." · Having survived this virulent bacteriophage crisis, Professor Hogu felt lingering fear, but also a more urgent desire to complete a cell wall capable of resisting them. · After replenishing the missing parts of the single-cell cluster, Professor Hogu began to work on the cell wall. · The thickness of the cell wall was not an issue; by repeating the cell wall manufacturing process multiple times, he could create a layered effect to increase its thickness. · The problem now plaguing Professor Hogu was the permeability of the cell wall. The tunnel used for material interaction in this accidentally acquired cell wall could accommodate several bacteriophages entering and exiting. · Clearly, this tunnel was too large; faced with those bacteriophages, this accidentally acquired cell wall offered no defensive resistance whatsoever. · If it were just a single one, it might be fine, and as long as they didn't enter the tunnel, they could be fended off. But when faced with a swarm of bacteriophages, the situation of one entering the tunnel was almost inevitable. · "I have to think of a way to shrink this tunnel." · [END]