Lu Wanqing thought, her right hand unconsciously raised, gently stroking Xiao Yu Shu’s head, and said to Wei Xingzhou’s projection, “I heard people say your family is in charge of the Federation’s gene bank?”
Wei Xingzhou: “???”
Lu Wanqing lowered her eyes to look at Xiao Yu Shu, then explained the matter of honeysuckle to Wei Xingzhou, and what Yu Nong had been doing recently, cultivating honeysuckle using gene editing technology.
“Does your family have suitable technology, that is, gene editing technology, that can re-edit the genes of mutated plants and cultivate honeysuckle?” Lu Wanqing asked.
Wei Xingzhou finally understood, and his attitude became serious, “There is some gene editing technology, but as you said, re-editing already mutated genes to cultivate ancient Earth plants that have not undergone gene mutation is very difficult… Well, there are very few successful cases.”
Lu Wanqing was surprised, “Is it that difficult?”
She remembered that as early as the 21st century of ancient Earth, gene editing technology already existed. However, because the technology was not mature at that time, and due to many other complex reasons, this technology was universally banned by all countries. She didn’t expect that after more than three thousand years, gene editing technology was still not very effective?
But on second thought, it seemed reasonable. In the interstellar era, the problem that troubled humans the most was likely gene mutation. If gene editing were really easy, the first thing they would probably do would be to modify human genes, clearing out all the bad mutated genes in everyone’s bodies, leaving only the better ones.
“The edited genes are very unstable and can easily induce multiple mutations, making the final effect worse than without gene editing. Moreover, even if successful, the lifespan of those who survive is very short, most not exceeding thirty years old,” Wei Xingzhou added.
“What about editing plant genes then?” Lu Wanqing couldn’t help but ask.
“This is much better. There have been many successful cases before, but it’s not 100% successful, and there is still a high failure rate,” Wei Xingzhou said.
After speaking, Wei Xingzhou looked at Lu Wanqing and asked, “You said that bookworm Yu Nong is also researching cultivating honeysuckle this way?”
Lu Wanqing nodded, “Yes.”
Wei Xingzhou smiled, looking somewhat curious, “Then that’s very interesting, but when it comes to gene editing, our Wei family is still the best!” His voice became clearly proud towards the end.
Lu Wanqing’s eyes lit up, and she quickly asked, “So, do you have a way to cultivate honeysuckle?”
Wei Xingzhou froze at her words. He looked at Lu Wanqing, feeling a bit awkward.
Xiao Cui Cui snorted coldly, revealing his secret, “He can’t cultivate it. If he could, he would have done it long ago.”
Lu Wanqing was stunned by the little one’s words, then gave a wry smile. That was true. Cultivating ancient Earth plants was a significant achievement in the interstellar era. If the Wei family could really cultivate ancient Earth honeysuckle, they would have done it long ago and wouldn’t have waited until now when honeysuckle was extinct.
“Hey, that’s not entirely impossible. We have a lot of data at home. If we study hard, maybe we can cultivate it soon!!!” Wei Xingzhou quickly said.
Lu Wanqing was taken aback, then thought it made sense. Her eyes lit up again, and she thanked him, “Yes, thank you, Wei Xingzhou.”
She had almost lost hope just now, but Wei Xingzhou’s words reminded her that even if no one could do it now, it didn’t mean it couldn’t be done in the future.
Having said all that needed to be said, Lu Wanqing didn’t know what else to talk about. She chatted with Cui Cui for a few more words, then ended the communication.
After the communication ended, Lu Wanqing lowered her eyes to look at Xiao Yu Shu.
Xiao Yu Shu’s crisp voice comforted her, “Mommy, we can work hard ourselves.”
Lu Wanqing nodded, “Yes, we’ll work hard ourselves.”
Night fell quickly. Lu Wanqing ordered the household robot to prepare dinner, then took Xiao Yu Shu upstairs.
“Let’s play on the Star Net for a while, and by the way, learn some knowledge about mutated plants.” Once upstairs, Lu Wanqing watched Xiao Yu Shu put down her schoolbag and said with a smile, “Let’s go play on the Star Net for a while and learn about mutated plants.”
Xiao Yu Shu looked at her mother and nodded, “Okay.”
Lu Wanqing said it was for learning, but she was a bit absent-minded today on the Star Net. Fortunately, Shu Shu was a very well-behaved child and wouldn’t run around, so taking care of Shu Shu wasn’t too difficult.
Before, when Yu Nong was around, he always took them to learn about mutated plants in safe zones. Safe zones were areas where, although the plants had mutated, they were actually harmless.
Lu Wanqing led Xiao Yu Shu, and subconsciously wanted to teleport to the familiar safe zone. However, as soon as her hand reached the teleport button for mutated plants in the safe zone, she stopped.
Madam Yu’s condition was very strange. She had never seen other types of mutated plants, such as aggressive ones or poisonous ones…
“Mommy, what’s wrong?” As Lu Wanqing was thinking, Xiao Yu Shu’s crisp voice came from beside her.
Lu Wanqing instantly snapped back to attention. She lowered her eyes to look at the child. Her gaze met Xiao Yu Shu’s innocent eyes, and she immediately sobered up. What was she thinking just now? She was with her child now, and mutated plants might be dangerous, so she couldn’t take her child.
She pressed the teleport button for the safe zone, and Lu Wanqing smiled and said, “Let’s go!”
Lu Wanqing and Xiao Yu Shu studied on the Star Net for half an hour before coming down. After all, it was late when they got home. After getting off the Star Net, they had dinner together, then sent the child upstairs, bathed her, told her a story, and coaxed her to sleep.
That night, after coaxing her child to sleep, Lu Wanqing did not lie down to sleep. She thought for a while, then got out of bed, reopened the Star Net pod, and logged into the Star Net.
This time, Lu Wanqing did not hesitate. She directly pressed the teleport button for the poisonous mutated plant zone.
The teleportation only took a second. The next second, the environment around Lu Wanqing changed. She found herself in a new place, surrounded by unfamiliar plants. They weren’t entirely unfamiliar, though. Although she hadn’t seen these mutated plants in reality, she had been reading books and materials during this time, and she had seen many of these poisonous plants in books before.
Lu Wanqing looked at the plants in front of her and walked forward cautiously. She examined the characteristics of these poisonous mutated plants one by one, what kind of toxins they contained, and what kind of harm they could cause to humans.
After searching for a while, Lu Wanqing began to search with a specific goal. Yu Nong had privately told her that the plant that had caused them to be infected with the mutated virus years ago was Purple Orchid Vine.
Lu Wanqing remembered the Purple Orchid Vine. It was a very beautiful plant, and in ancient Earth times, it was a famous ornamental plant, found in many parks and tourist attractions.