Alternative Human Immortal Life Forms!

Once the call went through, John's tone on the other end became exceptionally joyful. Upon learning that Chen Jue had actually accepted his invitation, John immediately arranged Chen Jue's itinerary.

He mentioned that as soon as Chen Jue arrived at the Hangzhou High-Speed Railway Station, a dedicated person would be there to meet him.

"Hangzhou?"

"After twisting and turning, I'm returning to that city again?" Chen Jue muttered to himself after hanging up the phone.

Instead of heading straight to Hangzhou, he took advantage of the morning's heavy food intake and the digestive process to observe the cellular operations of various parts of his body once more through his [Internal Vision].

Chen Jue discovered that after awakening the state of [Internal Vision], observing the body at a deep, microscopic level felt like watching a grand documentary on the mysteries of the human body.

From nerve cells, white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets, phagocytes, epithelial cells, myocardial cells, to stem cells and so on, the coordinated operation of each type of cell maintained Chen Jue's body in a stable state.

In addition, Chen Jue could also see the food in his stomach being converted into nutrients under the action of digestion and beginning to be transported throughout his body. That feeling was like watching trucks carrying nutrients rushing rapidly along the various blood vessel highways of the human body.

"Breaking the void allows one to see the divine!"

"This 'divine' actually carries a rather wondrous meaning!" Chen Jue withdrew from the internal vision with a playful amusement. He felt that whenever he had free time in the future, he should practice internal vision more often, along with learning microscopic human anatomy so that he could promptly discover and correct any abnormal changes in his body.

Taking another glance at his attribute panel, the intake of food was accelerating the fading of the negative status [Slight Malnutrition], and his health index was also rapidly recovering.

Because Chen Jue's physical attributes differed from ordinary people, his digestive capacity was also several times stronger than that of average individuals.

If an ordinary person entered a state of malnutrition, it would require a long period of intake and nourishment to recover, but Chen Jue could compress this lengthy process.

...

After studying his body at home for a while, Chen Jue went up to the reservoir dam to practice Tai Chi for a bit. He had learned yesterday that Elder Huang's burial was scheduled for this morning.

Utilizing the Qi-cultivating and mind-calming efficacy of Tai Chi to slightly pacify his fear of facing the barrier between life and death, Chen Jue blended into the funeral procession and paid his respects before Elder Huang's gravestone amidst the bustling crowd.

The moon has its waxing and waning, and humans have birth, aging, illness, and death; this was an immutable reality since ancient times.

Fortunately, Elder Huang had passed away of old age, and there was not an overwhelming sense of sorrow in the burial procession.

Standing before the gravestone, Chen Jue fondly remembered the old man who had taught him boat boxing hand-in-hand. Afterward, he descended the mountain, returned home to wipe away the sweat from his morning exercise, packed his backpack, locked the door, and hailed a rideshare to the Anxian High-Speed Railway Station.

Having returned to Chen Village only yesterday, he had to leave in a hurry today. Chen Jue realized that even after embarking on cultivation, he was still sinking within the mortal world.

"Cultivation... cultivating the heart... and having to face the life-and-death fear of bodily metamorphosis. It seems this mortal world immortal is not so easy to be." Chen Jue bought a ticket, boarded the high-speed train, and while appreciating the scenery along the way, observed the microscopic mysteries of his body through internal vision.

When he arrived in Hangzhou, Chen Jue found a staff member from the Red Bull Group holding a sign waiting for him at the exit.

Chen Jue stepped forward to greet him and stated his identity, whereupon the staff member led him into a luxuriously decorated Alphard commercial vehicle.

...

The car sped all the way from Hangzhou East Railway Station to the Binjiang High-Tech Industrial Park. Looking at the familiar streets nearby and the various commuters, Chen Jue felt as if yesterday was right before his eyes.

If he hadn't embarked on the path of cultivation, perhaps he would still be mingling among those crowds right now.

...

Taking over half an hour, the car turned into a square-shaped, oversized industrial park. The copper statue of Red Bull placed at the entrance of the park was extremely eye-catching.

When the car drove up to the foot of a white, enclosed building, Chen Jue met that long-waiting foreigner, John.

"Mr. Chen Jue! Welcome to our Red Bull Group!"

"This is the production and research base established by our Red Bull Group in the Central Plains. Don't let the ordinary exterior fool you; it has quite a universe hidden within, guaranteed to make your trip worthwhile, Mr. Chen Jue!" John still maintained his gentlemanly demeanor, his face beaming with smiles upon seeing Chen Jue appear.

"Thank you for the trouble." Chen Jue nodded at him with a smile. If the other party hadn't provided those meteorite fragments, Chen Jue wouldn't have been able to achieve a breakthrough in his [Greater and Lesser Heavenly Cycle Operation].

Reason and sentiment both dictated that Chen Jue should properly thank him.

Moreover, although John was a foreigner, the spiritual imprint he exuded was extremely smooth, clearly demonstrating a style of knowing when to advance and when to retreat.

Stepping out of the car, he followed John into this enclosed building. Along the way, he saw various honors and introductions of the Red Bull Group hanging in the corridors, as well as group photos of extreme sports athletes.

The staff shuttling through mostly wore outer garments bearing the Red Bull logo.

John introduced that this park was mainly engaged in the production of Red Bull functional beverages, while this building was the sole place engaged in the development and research of new products.

Security guards and strict access controls were set up at the entrance, making it difficult for outsiders to enter.

Taking the elevator to the eighth floor, Chen Jue met Linglong, who had arrived earlier and was sitting in the reception room drinking and tasting tea.

"Fellow Daoist Linglong!" Chen Jue stepped forward to greet her.

Seeing him appear, Linglong also responded with a smile, then turned to glance at John. "Mr. John, since the guests have all arrived, could you stop playing guessing games like before? You must know that my time is also very precious."

"Miss Linglong, I am truly sorry! Keeping you waiting for a long time." John bowed to her with a gentlemanly flourish, then led the two of them forward while introducing, stepping into a more concealed elevator.

There was only a single button inside this elevator without any floor numbers displayed. After John pressed it, Chen Jue could clearly sense the elevator moving downward.

As for John, he chattered away inside the elevator, asking, "Mr. Chen Jue, Miss Linglong, do you know what the longest-lived lifeform in this world is?"

Linglong remained silent, standing quietly, while Chen Jue, upon hearing this, replied thoughtfully, "Coral? Glass sponges? Or theoretically the immortal jellyfish, leeches, or water bears?"

"Mr. Chen Jue, you are truly knowledgeable! These lifeforms can indeed theoretically live for a very long time, even achieving theoretical immortality. But do you know what? Actually, there are similar eternal lifeforms among us humans." John looked back at Chen Jue, a hint of smugness flashing across his expression.

...

"Human... eternal... lifeform..." Chen Jue pondered these terms in his mind without answering.

Shortly after, the elevator made a ding sound, and the doors opened to reveal an underground laboratory with a snow-white background and walls covered with high-tech display screens.

Everywhere in the laboratory were staff members wearing white protective suits, their workspaces isolated in individual glass rooms.

Exiting the elevator led to a long corridor. John led Chen Jue and Linglong all the way to a sealed office door at the end of the corridor.

First came palm print recognition, followed by iris scanning, and finally voice-activated response. After passing these three verification methods, John successfully pushed open the office door and invited Chen Jue and Linglong inside.

The office furnishings were very simple: a metal desk, a high-end computer, two light-red velvet sofa chairs, and a circle of one-way perspective glass surrounding the perimeter that offered views of the interior of the research lab.

In addition, two images projected from an instrument overhead displayed two magnified glass containers.

In the images, researchers could be seen using various instruments to observe the contents of the containers. One container held the meteorite fragment previously gifted to Chen Jue.

In the other container rested a piece of biological tissue resembling flesh and blood.

On the side of the display were constantly fluctuating monitoring data and curves, making it look profoundly impressive at a glance.

Chen Jue felt as though he had stepped into a futuristic laboratory from a science fiction movie. He inwardly marveled at the immense financial backing of such large conglomerates, and under John's invitation, he sat on the sofa with Linglong.

As for John, he sat at the desk, tapping away to operate the computer. Soon, the image broadcasting the biological tissue was gradually clarified and magnified.

Chen Jue looked at the mass of tissue on the screen, his brow furrowing slightly, as if he were observing the cells inside his own body through [Internal Vision].

"Mr. John, is this the eternal lifeform you mentioned?" Chen Jue asked. Linglong also had shimmering eyes, silently staring at the biological tissue on the screen.

John smiled faintly and stopped playing coy, explaining straightforwardly, "Yes, Mr. Chen Jue!"

"In January 1951, a black woman born in Virginia discovered a hard lump in her abdomen and went to the hospital at Johns Hopkins University for treatment. From her body, humans extracted a human cell capable of being 'immortal' and proliferating indefinitely."

"Over seventy years have passed, and it is still able to remain active, showing no signs of aging or death whatsoever."

"It is an alternative immortal among us humans, and the benchmark lifeform for our shortcut to human immortality—HeLa cells!"