Chapter 2: Triple-Helix Genes, Infinite Devouring
An indeterminable amount of time passed. Jiang Zhe’s consciousness surfaced from the primordial chaos. Hearing was the first of his senses to return. The faint trickle of liquid flowing through distant pipes, the heavy drumming of his own heart beating like a war drum— thump, thump ... Every sound was magnified to absolute, terrifying clarity. Next came his sight. His vision was no longer blurred; the entire world was terrifyingly sharp! Within the beam of the overhead searchlight, every mote of suspended dust drifted past his eyes in slow motion. He could even see the microscopic ridges and craters on their surfaces! "I'm... not dead?" Jiang Zhe looked down at his own chest. A hideous hole had been torn through his heavy hazmat suit, the edges still bearing the melted scars of acidic corrosion. Yet, the skin exposed beneath the tear was completely intact. It didn't bear so much as a single scar. More than that, the flesh there had grown exceptionally resilient, gleam...