"Disaster,"

Alphonse seemed lost in thought. He lowered his head and said somberly, "Have the people on the ground already forgotten the truth about that event…?

"Heh, it's understandable. After all, even I've forgotten how long it's been—twenty years, or thirty years…"

Without waiting for the player to urge him, Alphonse took a deep breath, looked up, and said, "Where should I begin…?

"I am Alphonse Anderson: a billionaire, the 21st century's most outstanding biochemist, a philanthropist, and the owner of the Libra Company.

"When I took over from my father, the Libra Company was just an obscure local juice factory in Boston. But by the turn of the second millennium, it had grown into a global monopoly, providing chemical euphoria to all of humanity."

As he spoke of these things, Alphonse's tone became animated. He glanced at the silent player in the heavy protective suit and sighed softly.

"You may have forgotten the company's name, but back then, the Libra Company symbolized wealth, symbolized hope.

"The Libra Company built its fortune on functional drinks. Countless people attributed my success to my talent in biochemistry.

"But they didn't know that while my talent in biochemistry was outstanding, it wasn't truly top-tier.

"Most of my achievements were thanks to the 'Origin of Life.'"

The Stonemason frowned. "Origin of Life?"

"To be precise, the Origin of Life," Alphonse said heavily. "After my father died, I was despondent for a long time. On a friend's advice, I traveled to the Keweenaw Peninsula in northern Michigan.

"There, within a fractured shale layer in the wilderness, I unearthed a plate-like object. It was composed of chitin, hair, and lamellar structures, resembling a computer motherboard.

"I brought it back to Boston. While preparing to take it to a university laboratory for analysis, I accidentally cut my finger, and a drop of my blood fell onto the Origin of Life…" Uploaded by the *) team.

Alphonse Anderson paused, seemingly caught in unpleasant memories.

"Before my very eyes, it absorbed the blood like a sponge and quickly transformed it into some kind of powder.

"I had the powder analyzed and found its components were similar to methylphenidate, a psychiatric drug that regulates dopamine.

"Through continuous experiments, I discovered that if the Origin of Life came into contact with organic materials like dead skin cells, hair, chitin, or enamel,

"it would absorb them and convert them into random compounds.

"Some of these compounds were already known to humanity; others had never been discovered…"

Alphonse Anderson gave a bitter smile. "At the time, the Libra Company was struggling, on the verge of bankruptcy.

"So, I used the gifts from the Origin of Life, pretended I had invented new compounds, and incorporated them into our functional drinks.

"The new drinks were immensely popular, and the company was saved from collapse. Though I was always worried about the Origin of Life being discovered, I gradually grew bolder.

"I spent money to build a secret laboratory and continued to explore the Origin of Life's functions.

"Over a dozen years or so, using the Origin of Life, I 'invented' harmless cigarettes, highly efficient and non-polluting insecticides, new biological fertilizers, chemical patches… and amassed a vast fortune.

"I invested in charities, fighting against hunger, ignorance, and disease.

"People revered and respected me passionately, hailing me as the most outstanding scholar, the most conscientious businessman…"

Li Ang raised an eyebrow. It seemed Mr. Alphonse Anderson's early life story was much like those in web novels focused on academic geniuses.

Top Scholar's Biological Chemistry System, I Just Want to Be a Quiet Boston Scholar, Rebirth of a Boston Scholar…

"But, heh heh… a perfect story, once you add 'but' to it, signals the arrival of tragedy."

Alphonse Anderson smiled wretchedly. "All gifts of fate are secretly marked with a price.

"In November of the second millennium, the autopsy report of a Libra Company employee who died suddenly from overwork caught my attention.

"His brain contained an extremely small quantity of structurally abnormal DNA, similar to that induced by prions."

Prions were discovered in the 1950s by the American biochemist Stanley Prusiner, among the Fore people, a cannibalistic tribe in Papua New Guinea. Although called a virus, a prion is not actually a virus; it contains no DNA or RNA. Strictly speaking, it doesn't even qualify as a living organism. It is merely an abnormally structured protein without nucleic acids.

It cannot replicate itself. Instead, it aggregates with normal proteins, converting them into more prions. These then accumulate in human central nervous system cells, eventually damaging the brain, causing it to become sponge-like and hollowed out.

Alphonse continued, "Since prions typically accumulate in the central nervous system, the most common transmission method is by eating brains. So, apart from cannibalism, large-scale spreading is difficult.

"I checked the employee's residential and travel records but found no history of cannibalism.

"Feeling uneasy, I immediately arranged for a company-wide medical examination. I discovered that all employees, including myself, had small amounts of these structurally abnormal proteins in their bodies.

"I was terrified. I immediately collected samples from all over the world, only to find that people everywhere had been 'infected' with these structurally abnormal proteins."

The Dusk Knight couldn't help but ask, "How is that possible?"

"Yes, how could it be possible? Every time I used compounds provided by the Origin of Life, I was extremely careful, testing them repeatedly to ensure they were harmless to humans.

"After a thorough investigation, I found that these structurally abnormal proteins originated from a biological fertilizer our Libra Company produced in the early 1990s.

"This new fertilizer was acclaimed for its high efficiency, environmental friendliness, and low cost. It was produced and sold worldwide, contaminating fodder. When cattle and sheep consumed this fodder, a minuscule amount of their proteins would misfold, creating these prion-like structurally abnormal proteins.

"This new type of structurally abnormal protein was rare and had no 'species barrier,' allowing it to be transmitted from beef and lamb to humans.

"Because the abnormal proteins were scarce and had a long incubation period, they appeared harmless and went undetected by the public for over a decade.

"By the time I noticed it, at least forty percent of the world's population had been infected."

"Wait a moment," Li Ang interrupted. "What do you mean by 'appeared harmless'?"

Alphonse Anderson said gravely, "This new type of structurally abnormal protein is very similar in structure to a normal protein in the human body, so it doesn't trigger an immune response. And indeed, it seemed truly harmless.

"It only replicates itself in the human body at an extremely slow rate. At its accumulation speed, it would take at least two to three hundred years to reach and damage the human central nervous system.

"However, just as I suspected, the Origin of Life had been deceiving me from the very beginning.

"This was all a scheme by the Origin of Life."