"And then?" Marcus shouted urgently from behind Dr. Roman before the scientist could even finish speaking. Back in the day, Marcus and this large black dog had shared a strong bond; they were close comrades-in-arms.

However, due to vast genetic differences between species, dogs couldn't utilize human stem cell treatments to extend their lifespans, and the biology department certainly didn't have the resources to develop specific longevity drugs for canines.

After military dogs retired, they were usually adopted by civilian families. Marcus had assumed the dog had died of old age years ago... yet to his absolute astonishment, here it was, completely rejuvenated!

Marcus's question was actually redundant; the experimental results were standing right in front of them, wagging its tail. This trial was undoubtedly a massive success.

But at a time like this, no one cared about redundancy. Everyone was simply holding their breath, anxiously waiting for an explanation.

Dr. Roman spoke in a bewildered tone. "We didn't have any expectations. We just treated it as a routine test of our systems. Previous animal experiments, even when heavily supplemented with willpower-enhancing stimulants, had all ended in catastrophic failure..."

"I never expected it to succeed so inexplicably this time. It's truly unbelievable!" 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"Because it survived, our diagnostic instruments were able to record a massive amount of live data, especially regarding the subject's neurological changes. Our research on the Perfect Element has finally taken a giant leap forward!"

Jason rested his chin on his hand, pondering for a moment before asking, "Did you manage to isolate any useful variables? Why did this specific dog survive? Is it because subjects on the brink of death have a higher success rate? Or perhaps smarter subjects have a better chance?"

"Furthermore... can this successful case be replicated and extended to the entire human population?"

He felt a tight knot of unease in his stomach as he asked. Judging from the grim expressions on the faces of scientists like Roman and Dr. Kelly, the reality wasn't nearly as simple as it seemed.

"...No."

As expected, there was no miracle cure. Dr. Roman shook his head. "It has absolutely nothing to do with being near death. We conducted many human trials in the past involving elderly terminally ill volunteers, and they all failed. However... it does seem to correlate with baseline intelligence."

"Why?" Jason asked curiously.

To explain the concept, Dr. Roman thought carefully before posing a question of his own. "What do you consider to be the most intricate, complex organ in an animal?"

"The brain, obviously," Jason replied without hesitation. This was basic common sense, especially since the human brain was the most sophisticated and sensitive organic structure known to exist.

Roman nodded. "The Perfect Element's modification of a biological organism is absolute and comprehensive. It alters everything, from the brain down to the marrow. It forcefully rewrites the genetic code within every single cell."

"We still don't fully understand the underlying mechanics of this transformation. However, based on our earlier modifications of plant life, the mutations generally trend in a positive direction, optimizing the organism and making it vastly more resilient. So why does it consistently trigger spontaneous brain death in complex animals?"

"The root cause has to be an inherent incompatibility with the brain itself."

Everyone nodded in agreement; it was the most logical deduction through the process of elimination.

"We previously hypothesized that deep cellular modifications at the neurological level were disrupting the delicate interaction between neurons, effectively erasing the subject's self-awareness. So, drawing inspiration from the Martian virus, we synthesized a willpower-paralyzing agent to try and reinforce the subject's consciousness and bypass this fatal flaw."

"However... the results of our subsequent animal trials were still completely unviable."

Jason interrupted Dr. Roman again, pressing the issue. "So what caused all the previous experiments to fail? And why did this dog succeed?"

"Luck! Pure, astronomical luck."

Roman finally spat the words out. His face was a picture of utter helplessness and academic frustration.

It was hard to imagine a top-tier Federation scientist attributing a historic breakthrough to "luck"!

The group exchanged bewildered looks, wondering what Roman meant.

At that moment, Dr. Kelly stepped forward with a stack of thick documents and handed them out. Jason opened his copy and saw the complete data logs from the experiment, detailing the profound structural changes across various tissues and organs.

Taking over for Dr. Roman, Kelly explained, "Individual willpower is only one variable. Previous human trials showed that during the Perfect Element's modification process, the subject experiences agonizing, mind-breaking hallucinations. If they can't withstand that psychological torture, their individual will shatters... We thought our synthesized nerve-dulling agent would solve this. We thought that would be the key to success..."

"But our recent trials, combined with the data from this dog's survival, have proven that willpower supplements alone aren't enough. The real, insurmountable issue is... the architectural structure of the human brain itself is simply too flawed to withstand the modification process!"

Jason was stunned.

The Perfect Element, the miracle substance they had been struggling to unlock for years, turned out to be a technology that humanity was biologically incompatible with!

"It's not just humans. Almost all complex lifeforms originating from Earth possess imperfect brains."

"Other organs in the human body possess a certain degree of biological elasticity. Organs like the stomach, intestines, liver, and kidneys can undergo surgical removal or heavy trauma and still function; they can completely endure the radical mutations triggered by the Perfect Element. But the brain is entirely different. Even the most microscopic structural shifts can cause a catastrophic system failure!"

Dr. Kelly flipped to page seven of the report. "...Our brains are a messy product of natural evolution, carrying a massive amount of evolutionary baggage."

"In evolutionary biology, there is a model known as the 'Triune Brain' theory. It divides the human brain into three distinct evolutionary stages based on when they developed: the 'reptilian brain,' the 'ancient mammalian brain,' and the 'new mammalian brain.'"

"Simply put, the 'new mammalian brain'—the neocortex—handles higher cognitive functions like language, learning, memory, complex reasoning, and planning."

"The 'ancient mammalian brain'—the limbic system—governs behaviors like social interaction, emotional reciprocity, and parenting instincts, which emerged in early mammals."

"The 'reptilian brain'—the basal ganglia—is responsible for primal instincts like territorial aggression, rigid routines, and basic survival drives."

"Therefore, the human brain isn't the product of a single, unified, intelligent design. It's like a computer cobbled together from mismatched parts over millions of years. The CPU is state-of-the-art, but the motherboard is ancient. The old motherboard creates massive compatibility issues, bottlenecking the new CPU's true potential."

"In reality, huge portions of the human brain are running on obsolete hardware!"

Jason and the others nodded slowly; the computer analogy made perfect sense.

"Our advanced cognitive functions constantly have to expend energy suppressing the impulsive, primal drives hardwired into our older brain structures. In software terms, the human brain is full of messy patches and legacy code, leaving it riddled with critical vulnerabilities."

"Some people are highly impulsive, quick to anger, and prone to violence. While environment and upbringing play a huge role, it can also stem from incomplete neural development or lower prefrontal cortex function... In this context, individuals with higher intelligence generally have more 'complete' and efficient brain structures."

"And the Perfect Element acts like an aggressive, hyper-advanced system defragmentation tool. It tries to forcefully optimize these archaic, mismatched biological components. If even one obsolete neural pathway fails during the rewrite, it triggers a cascading failure resulting in total brain death. After all, the Perfect Element is a product of a highly advanced alien civilization; it wasn't tailor-made for primitive Earth biology."

"Of course, there are infinitesimally rare success stories, which we can only attribute to blind luck... like this dog right here."

Kelly cast a fond, exasperated glance at the large black dog happily trotting around the lab. How did this goofy mutt hit the genetic jackpot?

Finally, she sighed helplessly. "Our working theory is this: the higher the baseline intelligence of an individual within a species, the more 'perfect' their brain structure is. Fewer evolutionary flaws equal a slightly higher survival rate during the modification process. But still... the odds are heavily against us."