Alien Knights

Let the heterogeneous assistants who jointly operate the "Discoverer" take their positions, and Todd himself assumes the role of "Successor of the Investigation Department".

The samples of the spring water were dyed and put into the observation chamber. After the "wind pressure" vacuum treatment, Rachel fine-tuned the position of "Tesla" under Todd's instructions, and gradually increased the voltage intensity, and the "concentrating" aliens collected and magnified the photons emitted by the electron beam and burned them on the white paper.

Todd looked at the white paper that was finally imaged, and could barely see the general situation in the sample, but it was still too blurry.

After a dozen more tries, Todd picked the one that looked the clearest.

The paper showed a strange thing attached to the surface of the giant bacteria. It looks a bit like the surface of the moon with pits and pits, and an "space lunar module" is placed.

Looking at this thing with four legs and a spherical body, Todd became more and more familiar with it. This thing seemed to be the most common virus in the previous life-"bacteriophage".

Speaking of phages, they are the most common and most diverse viruses in the microcosm of previous lives. It is no exaggeration to say that one liter of water may contain trillions of bacteriophages, more than all the stars in the universe combined. No wonder some biologists say that compared with the world of viruses, the universe is just a speck of dust.

The principle of phage lysing bacteria can be summarized in a few simple sentences. In the first step, "landing on bacteria", the tail of the phage attaches to the cell wall of the bacteria; in the second step, "laying eggs", the phage penetrates the tail axis into the cell wall, like a syringe, and injects DNA into the bacteria; in the third step, "incubation", the phage will use the "nutrients" in the bacterial cells to replicate a large number of DNA and proteins of the progeny phage, and finally, like an alien erupting from the host body, the daughters eat up the bacteria and drill out in large numbers to find the next victim.

But in general, phages as viruses are different from broad-spectrum antibiotics such as penicillin. A single phage can only lyse one type of bacteria. This sounds a bit useless, but compared with antibiotics, they have many benefits.

for example:

1. Low hazard. Most phages only attack specific bacteria and will not harm normal cells and beneficial bacteria in the human body.

Second, less antibodies. It is difficult for bacteria to develop antibodies against phages, but they have a considerable chance of developing immunity to antibiotics and may convert into superbugs.

Three, no residue. Phages are host-dependent and will die with the disappearance of the bacterial host, and will not remain in the human body to trigger a series of toxic reactions.

Four, easy to use. The development cycle of phage is short and the cost is low. Bacterial fragments can be purified and separated by simple centrifugation. They can be stored at room temperature for a long time, and are convenient for transportation and application.

Of course, in addition to this, phages have many other uses, so I won’t introduce them one by one here. (For heterogeneous bacteria, there is a very important role, which will be mentioned later)

After figuring out the truth that spring water can "cure" heterogeneous species, Todd began to further study these phages, but discovered two interesting things: most of the phages in the spring water only target heterogeneous bacteria, and have no effect on other bacteria; almost every species of heterogeneous bacteria in Muxi Town's ability pool can find specific phage natural enemies in the spring water.

There is one more important thing.

Bacteriophages in spring water have no effect on 'Sutherland archaea'.

Todd was unbelievable about this at first, but after repeated experiments, he verified the result. When the phages land on the "Sutherland Archaea", after a period of time, they lose their viability and eventually fail. What is the reason, with this primitive electron microscope, it is impossible to find out.

All in all, phages can "cure" alien species, but they are ineffective against "successors".

After getting this result, Todd finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The next step is to conduct a toxicological test on the spring water.

Todd took five experimental mice as a group and fed spring water according to the tolerance ratio. After a week of observation, he found that the five mice had different degrees of high fever, erythema, and dehydration, which were exactly the same symptoms as those of the dead children in the Valkyrie village.

After further dissection and testing, Todd finally found the crux of the problem.

Although most of the spring water containing high-density phage viruses are harmless phages, there are still a small number of phages that are toxic. The latter destroyed the immune system of the experimental subject, causing concurrent infections caused by low immune function. Especially for those babies, whose bodies are not yet fully developed, their own immune function is not complete, coupled with the lack of food and water in the villages, feeding them with this kind of spring water is tantamount to instilling chronic poison into the babies every day.

As for those Valkyries, why didn't they show symptoms of infection?

According to Todd's speculation, they should have obtained a large amount of "Sutherland archaea" from some channel and stored them in their bodies. When the phages invaded, the archaea became a barrier for their bodies and saved their lives.

Knowing this result, Todd immediately found Huggins and asked him to send his subordinates to go to Claw Island as quickly as possible to find the Valkyries, and told them to stop using the spring water in the village immediately and use other fresh water sources instead.

As soon as Huggins left, Cumberland came to the door to find him.

The old knight was dressed in military uniform, and the first thing he said when he saw Todd was: "Chief, do you have time?"

The latter thought that the experiment on spring water had just come to an end, so he planned to hear what Cumberland wanted to say.

The two came to the chief commander's room at the headquarters of the knight order. Cumberland didn't intend to take a seat at all, and said straight to the point: "Chief commander, the expedition to the northern quarry is planned to start in three days. I hope you will be the commander."

Todd said in surprise: "What? Do you have other things? Can't participate in this battle?"

The old knight shook his head: "I will participate in this expedition..."

"Then why should I be the commander?"

Cumberland's eyebrows looked a little angry: "Chief, forgive me for being a talkative old man, you spend too much time in the laboratory!"

Hearing Cumberland's sudden and thoughtless remark, Todd was completely stunned.

Cumberland looked at the "Umbrella" banner in the chief's office, and said in a calm tone: "In the past, you were the chief of the Muxi Knights and the spiritual leader of the entire knights. You could indeed hand over matters of war to the head priest and the head of the legion. But in the future, everything will be different. If we successfully occupy the northern quarry this time, it means that the "Kingdom of the Muxi Knights" will be formally established, and you will shoulder the dual responsibilities of the leader of the knights and the secular king at the same time. .”

Cumberland paused, and turned his gaze to Todd: "A lamb grazing in the sheepfold with its head bowed will never be able to lead a group of hungry wolves! Lord Todd, believe me, as a king, you need to get out of that damned "Babel Tower" and let your people and soldiers see your majestic victory on the battlefield!"