usenovelonline Chapter 464 - 328: Power Surging Without Limit
Chapter 464 - 328: Power Surging Without Limit
"How did my lungs... disappear?"
Wang Ye quickly introspected his own body.
He discovered that indeed a space had emptied within his body, the area where his lungs were constantly pumping for breathing, now had turned into a seamless piece of flesh.
Realizing this horrifying scene, Wang Ye’s eyes were momentarily dazed. Clearly, yesterday his lungs were still functioning normally, retrieving oxygen for him; how did they suddenly vanish today?
Could it be that the system has evolved him again?
With this thought, a hypothesis emerged in Wang Ye’s mind, "Since the lungs have disappeared, does it mean I don’t need to breathe anymore?"
He opened his mouth, trying to take a few breaths, then breathed a few times through his nose. The function of breathing remained, but the capability of oxygen intake had completely vanished. The oxygen he inhaled would be expelled through his pores, not retained within the body.
Although breathing function was still retained, the disappearance of the lungs made this function somewhat redundant. Strictly speaking, the sole purpose of breathing in the human body is to intake oxygen to decompose nutrients to sustain life.
Normally, the human body must continuously engage in metabolism fundamental for its existence, requiring substantial amounts of oxygen to transform starch, fats, and proteins through a series of chemical reactions into substances directly absorbable by the body.
Simultaneously, this process produces carbon dioxide, water, and other metabolic products. Among them, feces are expelled via the digestive tract, a portion of water is expelled by the kidneys and bladder as urine, and carbon dioxide must urgently be exhaled through the respiratory tract. Without inhaling, hypoxia would occur.
Now, the disappearance of the lungs had concurrently evolved the operational methods of other organ systems, directly leading the entire body to no longer rely on oxygen to decompose nutrients. The metabolic processes no longer produce carbon dioxide, so even if he didn’t breathe for an entire day, he wouldn’t experience any discomfort. The body simply no longer has this need.
Since the body no longer requires it, what’s the use of keeping the function of breathing?
Wang Ye thought of another function reliant on breathing to survive, which is the sense of smell.
Although the sense of smell appears simple, its principles are quite complex. In the process of smelling, various chemicals (odor molecules) are released from objects into the air. These molecules reach the nose, activating electrical signals, which are then transmitted to the brain. Multiple areas within the brain are activated by these signals, enabling humans to distinguish specific odors and precisely identify types of objects.
Although human smell is not exceptional in nature, in daily life many people can use the sense of smell to judge numerous circumstances. For instance, when someone is brewing coffee nearby, most don’t need to turn around to understand what the person behind them is doing.
In nature, many animals with developed sense of smell are much more incredible. For example, canines can accurately sniff out scents even across kilometers. However, all this is based on their functional capability to inhale. Without the ability to inhale, no matter how sensitive a creature’s sense of smell is, it cannot intake odor molecules to activate brain signals for scent judgment.
For ordinary people, the sense of smell might be dispensable, even arguably the least noticeable among the five senses. When the other four senses are impaired, each has corresponding descriptors like blind or deaf; however, there’s no adjective for the impairment of smell.
But for Wang Ye, whose five senses were enhanced, the sense of smell is an extremely important function. When night falls and vision is affected, he relies on smell to judge the surrounding environment.
Therefore, Wang Ye felt quite fortunate that the disappearance of the breathing function did not take away the sense of smell. Clearly, the system’s evolution possesses a certain intelligence, preserving some essential functions according to the existing circumstances, instead of a sweeping cut.
Wang Ye slightly adapted to the feeling of not having lungs. Although he no longer needed oxygen intake, the habit of normal breathing he maintained for the past decades was difficult to break.
He gradually slowed his breathing, holding his breath.
The imagined feeling of suffocation didn’t appear.
Instead, there was a very natural sense of relaxation.
It seemed as if breathing was suffocating, and holding one’s breath became breathing; the sensations of the two actions completely reversed. Though previously his ability to hold his breath was excellent, not breathing always felt a bit odd.
Now with the disappearance of the lungs and evolution of the breathing function, not breathing completely brought no discomfort anymore. If it weren’t for his heart continuing to beat, he would almost think he was dead.
Originally, with his metabolism magnified tens of times beyond an ordinary person, his body would continually metabolize a vast amount of carbon dioxide. If he didn’t exhale, this carbon dioxide would be trapped within his body, causing immense discomfort. However, as his physical fitness gradually increased, his body’s endurance also improved, allowing him to remain in a state of breath holding for more than a day, although within that day he would constantly feel extremely uncomfortable.
But now, holding one’s breath for an entire day, even for a year, wouldn’t cause discomfort.
Nonetheless, this prompted Wang Ye to ponder the principle behind this evolution. According to biological theories, organisms maintain breathing because most require oxygen intake to sustain metabolism. If oxygen is cut off, metabolism quickly stops; thus, most organisms, including humans, must constantly maintain breathing. If breathing ceases, life soon ends.