Chapter 803 - 677: Style

"...What can you possibly do?"

Buzzwords like targeting and hemodynamics flew over the Hephaestus Tree-man’s head. However, with such a long string of jargon, maybe, possibly, it wasn’t all made up on the spot?

"No need to worry about infertility, the Star-casting Anvil is here to help. Ace team, expert consultations, to create the miracle of life for you."

Li Cheng waved his hand grandly, "Charm Nurse, assist me!"

"Yes!"

Mei Wenyi, also a professional player, twisted the dressing ring on her index finger, instantly switching into a nurse outfit complete with a nurse’s cap, mask, and gloves,

Then she lowered her voice and whispered, "Uh... do we really have a way? Tree beings and flesh creatures are entirely different, aren’t they?"

"As long as the mind doesn’t slip, solutions are always more than difficulties."

Li Cheng put on a mask and whispered, "Let’s try it first, and then talk."

He took out a cell analyzer, CT machine, and other testing instruments from the three-dimensional warehouse, plugged them in, and busied himself pretentiously by picking branches and leaves from the Hephaestus Tree-man.

"Will this work?"

Don Juan’s eyes widened. Just a moment ago, the irate and resentful Hephaestus giant tree was surprisingly calm now.

"No wonder people say in the FlyNet forums; it’s not scary for a script-world boss to be strong, it’s scary when the boss doesn’t talk. As long as they can speak and communicate, you can sweet-talk them."

Divine Era Rain Prayer murmured thoughtfully, "But what is the ’S.H.I.T’ journal?"

"Science, Humanities, Information, Technology, probably."

Maxwell smacked his lips, "It’s a pity if any of you had brought some of that [Mother and Child River Water], it would have been great.

No, wait, the Mother and Child River is only effective on flesh life, it might not work on trees."

The mystical will yield to higher-level mysteries. Given the life strength of the Hephaestus Tree-man, attempting to break past limitations with

Mother and Child River Water obtained from an ordinary Journey to the West script-world, like the 1993 Japanese TV drama version, definitely won’t work,

It must be from the original Journey to the West script.

And by the standards of the original Journey to the West... Even Level 40 comes with personal risk, you know.

"You all stay here for a bit; I’ll see if I can help."

After thinking for a moment, Maxwell put on a rocket backpack and also flew into the air.

"Hmm... truly is an extraordinary life form."

Li Cheng looked at the results on the scanner and rubbed his chin.

In the real-world Earth, trees mainly transport nutrients through the xylem and phloem of their trunks.

The principle is that leaves lose water vapor creating negative pressure, drawing water up from the base, along with cohesive forces between water molecules, adhesion between water molecules and the pipe walls, and differences in osmotic pressure between cells.

For a 150-meter-tall towering Tree-man, relying solely on negative pressure to draw water up would be exhausting and ineffective.

Thus, its branches and trunk are filled with "blood vessels" made of high-molecular resilient materials,

and pump-like structures grow within its ankles, calves, and thighs, which press water, not draw, pushing a continuous flow upward through the vascular tissues, section by section.

Wearing a pink nurse uniform, Mei Wenyi couldn’t help but ask softly, "What use is knowing all this?"

"To prevent misjudgments."

Maxwell helped explain, "The myriad vascular tissues not only function as main and capillary arteries but also serve a similar role to tendons in carbon-based life forms.

Combined with the layer of hard wood surrounding the main vessels, it allows the Hephaestus Tree-man to move freely, run, and even fight with agility incompatible with its massive size.

Each one is like The Immortal of Colossal Spirit."

It’s fortunate we didn’t choose to rashly attack just now,

In the DND system, an adult dragon averages fifteen meters long. In front of a nimble, 150-meter-tall Hephaestus Tree-man, they are comparable to a Hajimi...

"What are you all saying?"

The Hephaestus Tree-man spoke in a deep voice, its voice like rolling thunder, surpassing the clamor of gongs and drums.

Li Cheng cleared his throat and loudly asked, "Mr. Tree-man, if I may be so bold to ask, how do the male and female Tree-men of your species come together?"

"...Just call me Freya."

The Tree-man who called itself Freya paused for a moment, a reminiscent and sorrowful expression appearing on its face, and said softly, "Our male Tree-men are called Patricia, and female Tree-men are called Regalia,

The males and females, after falling in love, find a place rich with water and full of sunlight, growing next to each other. Over years, they slowly intertwine,

With the touching of the male and female flower parts, among hundreds of thousands of seeds, only one or two might sprout and grow into new Tree-men."

Li Cheng contemplated Freya’s words, "Hmm... is that so..."

Freya furrowed its brows slightly, "Is there any problem?"

Li Cheng took out a thick pile of test reports (actually completed by the Great Swarm’s analysis), "We’ve conducted a whole-genome association analysis for you. The results... are quite complex."

He opened the report and explained, "First, let me clarify, in nature, there exist both monoecious and dioecious plants.

The genome across all cells of monoecious plants is the same, with local regulatory factors determining the gender of the flowers.

For example, at the top of maize, the ratio of cytokinin/gibberellin is higher, which activates the program for stamens,

In the upper-middle leaves’ axils, auxin accumulates, stopping the stamen program, resulting in female flowers.

They can complete pollination and selfing just on their own.

This point can be understood, right?"

"Yes."

Freya nodded slowly. In his homeland world, Hephaestus Tree-men are the only high-level wisdom life forms on the planet. They tend the flowers, grass, and trees like gardeners and live a pastoral idyllic life.

So they completely understand the concept of plant gender.

"According to the human botanical system, the Hephaestus Tree-men are dioecious,"

Li Cheng said: "On Earth, in dioecious plants, most autosomal genes are the same between female and male plants, with differences concentrated in a small sex-determining region of the sex chromosomes.

Their gender is often determined by a single gene. By activating, inhibiting, or knocking out a specific gene, sex conversion can be achieved.

For instance, using ethylene and silver thiosulfate can turn male cannabis into female plants;

using gibberellin, stamens in spinach can be converted into pistils;

using CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to knock out the popARR17 sex switch in poplar trees can turn female poplars into males;

these types of operations are extremely mature and simple, and have been widely applied a long time ago."

Mei Wenyi didn’t quite understand, while Maxwell did and was dumbfounded.

Freya opened his eyes, surprisingly quickly, "Are you saying... sex change?"

Wonderful, wonderful.

If the occasion were right, Maxwell would have wanted to slap his thigh hard.

Indeed, sex conversion in dioecious plants is already quite mature in laboratory environments. Cannabis, spinach, yangmei, and others can reverse their sex phenotypes using auxin, gibberellin inhibitors, or cytokinin.

"This, this..."

Freya Tree-man paused for a while. There is a significant difference in size, appearance, and flowers between male and female tree-men. "Do you mean to turn some of the male flowers of the Patricia male tree-man into female flowers?

As to achieve cross-pollination or self-pollination?"

Li Cheng shook his head and said, "It would be great if it were that simple.

The current situation is that the species life level of the Hephaestus Tree-men is too high, with a genome complexity ten times that of humans,

unlike lungfish or krill, which are full of repetitive code and junk code.

The specific gender is controlled by a complex multigenic network, unable to achieve flower conversion into female plants through activating or inhibiting specific genes."

Indeed, as Maxwell calmed down,

the higher the level in the food chain, the longer the life, the larger the size of the being, the more difficult the reproduction.

This is an underlying law of nature, and Hephaestus Tree-men are no exception— Broken Land occasionally sees researchers trapped in it.

If it was so easy to convert to female flowers, they would have helped long ago to maintain the alliance with the Hephaestus Tree-men.

The hope that had just risen was extinguished again,

Freya remained silent, his dense canopy trembling, shedding numerous branches.

"But it’s not hopeless."

Li Cheng turned his words, "It requires the use of DNA methyltransferase inhibitors and the Yang Tree."

Maxwell’s pupils trembled gigantically, while Freya and Mei Wenyi simultaneously asked, "What’s that?"

"DNA methyltransferase inhibitors are drugs that reduce DNA methylation levels by inhibiting DNA methyltransferase activity, thereby reactivating silent genes.

They are usually used in cancer treatment and also in cell reprogramming.

Using 5-azacytidine to treat male plants among dioecious plants can relieve the epigenetic suppression of the female developmental pathway, inducing about 21% of individuals to undergo sex reversal and produce hermaphroditic flowers.

Indeed, the genome of the Hephaestus Tree-men is too complex to produce a complete female tree-man.

Can’t produce female tree-men, but can’t produce female flowers?

By targeting specific hormone molecules and DNA methyltransferase inhibitors into the meristem and reproductive organ target cells of male tree-men, male tree-men can be made to produce bisexual flowers,

thereby giving birth to the next generation of tree-man babies."

Li Cheng rubbed his hands, smiling, "Considering that Hephaestus Tree-men, as dioecious deciduous trees, almost covers the genome of the Yang Tree, it will not cause a rejection reaction,

we can just use the Yang Tree as a conduit, responsible for transporting the DNA methyltransferase inhibitors.

Rather than giving a man a fish, it’s better to teach a man to fish. I happen to have two spherical organic compound synthesis devices, capable of continuously producing specific DNA methyltransferase inhibitors."

Saying that, he took out a 12-meter-high poplar, and two 2-meter-diameter flesh spheres provided by the Great Swarm from the three-dimensional warehouse—

each sphere is equivalent to a complete set of organic compound synthesis equipment.

Crack, crack.

Under the bewildered eyes of the crowd, Li Cheng used the Assembly Puppet to connect the two flesh balls to the base of an impressive tall poplar.

Since the poplar had not yet been trimmed, its base still had messy roots and rootlets.

Li Cheng patted the flesh ball, turned around, and seriously explained, "With this device, or organ, the Tree-man race can continue to reproduce. Do you need me to install it for you now?"

Oh, how magnificent, is this the Armstrong Oscillating Accelerating Jet Armstrong Cannon... not at all!

Is this style?

This is definitely style, isn’t it?!