Chapter 24: Purifying "Dullness" |
It was nine o'clock at night in his cramped, shabby apartment.
Piles of fungal cultivation materials were strewn across the room, making it even more congested than usual.
Lino sat in his chair without a word, deeply immersed in the work of simulating the domestication of the Dull Mushroom.
[Day 8: All samples have been contaminated by foreign bacteria. Simulation failed.]
Another failure.
Damn it.
Were the foreign bacteria in the Warhammer world really this resilient?
Neither alcohol nor sunlight could kill the foreign bacteria on the Dull Mushroom. This was getting ridiculous.
What was even more ridiculous was the Dull Mushroom itself.
It was beyond absurd.
Lino pulled out a Milk Mushroom and munched on it to soothe his frustration.
It seemed he had to try a different domestication method.
He had a decent amount of money on hand right now. He might as well spend some to buy the sterile tools needed for the dilution and spread-plate method.
Lino crawled under his bed, pulled out a large stack of ration cards, tucked them securely under his clothes, and headed out.
It was eleven o'clock by the time he returned.
Lino's face showed not only the exhaustion of a busy day but also a faint grimace of financial pain.
He was now holding a black leather suitcase equipped with a mechanical combination lock.
The contents of the suitcase had cost him nearly three hundred ration cards. It was an absolute hemorrhage of his funds.
He could only hope this simulation would be a success.
Setting the suitcase down, he unlocked it to reveal a glass container inside.
The container held sterile test tubes, sterile droppers, a sterile Erlenmeyer flask, a sterile spreader, sterile agar plates, and a pair of built-in gloves for handling items inside without breaking the sterile environment.
This setup was known as a portable sterile chamber. It was designed for simplicity, lacking any built-in UV lights or ventilation fans.
Lino had scavenged it secondhand from the market. Its previous owner was an unlicensed, back-alley pharmacist.
That pharmacist had recently invented a highly effective trauma medicine, made a fortune, and upgraded all his equipment. Lino was only able to score this bargain because the man was selling off his old gear at a heavy discount.
A portable sterile chamber was far from ideal.
What Lino truly wanted was a clean bench.
Such a workstation could maintain positive pressure and use ultraviolet lights for sterilization, creating a perfect sterile environment.
However, clean benches were simply too expensive. Lino had to settle for the next best thing and use the portable sterile chamber as a substitute.
Normally, before using a sterile chamber, one had to first ensure that the surrounding environment was free of foreign bacteria.
Otherwise, the moment a sample was placed inside, the chamber itself would be contaminated by airborne bacteria.
His current apartment obviously did not meet these requirements.
But that didn't matter.
The system was a huge help in this regard.
Lino pressed his hand against the sterile chamber, and the system interface popped up.
[Portable sterile chamber discovered.]
[Absorbing this item will permanently upgrade the Fungal Simulation function.]
[Do you wish to absorb it?]
Lino silently commanded, 'Absorb.'
With an ethereal whoosh, the sterile chamber vanished into thin air, leaving the suitcase completely empty.
[Fungal Simulation function successfully upgraded.]
[New simulation container added: Portable sterile chamber.]
[From now on, you may select this container for simulations without needing to prepare an additional physical container.]
Lino sat up straight.
"Begin simulating the removal of foreign bacterial contamination."
[Simulation is about to begin.]
[Please select the experimental subject.]
"Spores of the Dull Mushroom."
[Experimental subject set.]
[Please select the container.]
"Use the sterile chamber and its accompanying sterile tools."
[Container set.]
[Please select the culture medium and nutrient solution.]
Lino gestured toward the table where his raw materials were laid out.
"Use the formulas I employed in previous simulations to create the culture medium and nutrient solution for this run."
[Please set the simulation parameters.]
"Use the dilution and spread-plate method to separate and purify the contaminated spores. Match the temperature, humidity, lighting, and other parameters to my previous simulation records."
[Settings complete.]
[Beginning simulation.]
[Day 1: You use the spores of the Dull Mushroom and an Erlenmeyer flask filled with sterile water to create a 10-fold bacterial suspension.]
[You employ a 10-fold serial dilution method to obtain a highly diluted bacterial suspension.]
[You use the sterile spreader to apply the diluted bacterial suspension onto the sterile solid agar plates.]
[You yield 10 experimental samples.]
[You set the samples aside for observation.]
[Day 2 to Day 5: The microbes on the agar plates grow and multiply, forming colonies.]
[You use the Fungal Analysis function to determine the types of microbes present in the colonies.]
[You discover that all 10 experimental samples are contaminated with foreign bacteria.]
[The least contaminated sample consists of colonies that are 33% foreign bacteria and 67% Dull Mushroom mycelium.]
[At this point, you decide to?]
The principle behind the dilution and spread-plate method was very easy to understand.
Imagine a group of 100 microbes, containing 99 foreign bacteria and 1 desired fungus.
By utilizing the dilution method, these 100 microbes would be mixed with a large amount of sterile water to create a bacterial suspension.
This suspension would then be evenly divided into 100 separate suspensions with much lower microbial concentrations.
With any luck, one of those portions would be completely free of foreign bacteria.
By isolating that specific portion and focusing purely on cultivating it, one could obtain a fungus entirely free of contamination.
That was the general process of the dilution and spread-plate method.
So what happened if every single portion of the suspension still contained foreign bacteria?
There was no need to panic.
You simply continued diluting, dividing, and repeating the spread-plate method until a suspension perfectly free of contamination emerged.
This method of removing contaminants was incredibly tedious, often taking researchers months to complete.
Yet it was undeniably effective. As long as one persevered, obtaining an uncontaminated suspension was a certainty.
Lino instructed the system without hesitation, "I choose the least contaminated sample as the new experimental subject. Use the dilution and spread-plate method to separate and purify it once again."
[Day 5: You use the dilution and spread-plate method on the new experimental subject and obtain 10 experimental samples.]
[Day 10: You use Fungal Analysis on the samples and discover that the least contaminated sample contains approximately 30% foreign bacteria, with the rest being Dull Mushroom mycelium.]
[At this point, you decide to?]
'Not bad. The contamination dropped from 33% to 30%. That's good news.'
"I decide to repeat the previous action. Continue separating and purifying the least contaminated sample."
[Day 10: You obtain 10 new experimental samples.]
[Day 15: The least contaminated sample contains approximately 28% foreign bacteria. At this point, you decide to?]
"Continue."
[Day 20: The least contaminated sample contains 26% foreign bacteria.]
"Continue."
[Day 25...]
[Day 30...]
[Day 35...]
The number of simulation days skyrocketed.
Lino sat in his chair, repeating his instructions over and over again.
Soon, it was midnight in the real world, yet there was still 2% of foreign bacteria remaining in the simulation.
Lino held his breath and refused to give up.
[Day 160.]
[Day 380.]
[Day 620.]
The remaining contaminants were incredibly stubborn. The system had performed no fewer than a hundred purification cycles, yet the sample still contained just under 0.02% foreign bacteria.
The foreign bacteria of the Warhammer world were simply too resilient!
Finally, when the simulated time reached a terrifying 1,200 days, Lino at last got the result he wanted.
[Day 1,200: You have obtained a sample completely free of foreign bacterial contamination.]
[You discover the mycelium of the Dull Mushroom within the sample and proceed to cultivate it.]
[Day 1,208: You harvest the sample, obtaining 15 domesticated Dull Mushrooms.]
[Congratulations!]
[This simulation has been successful!]
[Simulation plan recorded.]
[Do you wish to consume the simulation materials to obtain 15 domesticated Dull Mushrooms?]
"It finally worked! If this had been back before I crossed over, my hair would've turned white from the stress!"
Overwhelmed with excitement, Lino quickly confirmed the prompt in his mind.
Fifteen Dull Mushrooms appeared in the Fungal Storage. They were entirely snow-white without a single blemish or discoloration.
Lino glanced at the clock on the wall.
It was two in the morning.
He needed to test the effects of Brain Paralysis right away and then get some sleep.
Otherwise, he might end up passing out at the excavation site during the day.
