In the evening, Yang Ping returned ho. Xiao Su had already prepared dinner, and their son was crawling around on the floor, hugging Yang Ping’s leg and slowly standing up, giggling at him.
Yang Ping picked up his son, and a warmth surged in his heart. He hadn’t spent enough ti with his son, as he’d been imrsed in the laboratory.
"Have you been very tired lately?" Xiao Su asked.
"Not tired," Yang Ping said while playing with his son. "Seeing you and our son makes not tired at all."
Yang Ping sat down for dinner, letting his son sit on his lap.
"Sotis I wonder, if we really find that universal key, if K Therapy really cures many cancers, what would the world beco?"
"There will still be other diseases, but new diseases will erge slower compared to humanity conquering old ones. Although diseases won’t disappear, people will be healthier and live better lives," Xiao Su said.
"Cancer is different. It is life’s self-betrayal. Curing cancer proves life’s order can be restored, mistakes can be corrected, madness can return to clarity."
Xiao Su laughed, "You previously ntioned that dicine is the intersection of science and humanities. Now you’re standing at that intersection."
Yang Ping fell silent for a while, "There are too many expectations and interpretations of my new thod from people. So portray us as saviors, while others criticize us as misleading. The paper is overly cited, and the theory simplified into slogans... I worry the complexity of science will be lost in the dissemination, leaving only the myth of a miraculous cure."
"You have to communicate more actively." Xiao Su said, "Not with the dia, but with peers, students, doctors, and scientists. Teach them your thought process, not just conclusions."
Yang Ping nodded, "Next week, I’ll start writing a book." He suddenly said, "Not an academic monograph, but a book about ’how to think about cancer’. Starting from the first question, docunting the detours we took, serendipitous discoveries, theory building, current hypotheses... demonstrating science’s imperfection and iteration."
"That will be wonderful," Xiao Su smiled, "Real science has more power than perfect legends."
As Yang Ping and Xiao Su chatted, the little one on his lap kept smiling. With big eyes, he looked at dad, then at mom, as if asking: "What are you talking about?"
After finishing dinner, Yang Ping and Xiao Su chatted for a long ti, Yang Ping’s first share of new ideas would always be with Xiao Su.
Late at night, Xiao Su took the child to rest. Yang Ping went into the study, leaning against the chair back to relax, in a semi-awake state he loved.
In the System Space Laboratory, he used replicated global data from eight thousand K Therapy treatnts to search for deep patterns between TIM variants and clinical efficacy.
Preliminary results had co out, showing a puzzling phenonon: In so tumor types, the TIM expression level positively correlates with efficacy; but in other types, those with moderate expression have the best efficacy; and a few types, low TIM expression is sensitive to K Factor instead.
"This doesn’t make sense..." Yang Ping muttered.
Unless TIM is not just "target density," but an indicator of system state. High expression could an the system is deeply hijacked, but it could also an the system is on an unstable edge; low expression might an the hijack isn’t deep, but could also an cancer cells used a completely different survival strategy.
He brought up single-cell data from the System Panel, starting a layered analysis. A new pattern erged: those patients with the best efficacy, their tumors had the highest TIM expression heterogeneity—both high and low expression cells present, forming an internal "dialogue tension."
Yang Ping noted: "Perhaps the diversity of identity states within the tumor determines its sensitivity to identity verification signals. A highly homogeneous tumor might easily form collective resistance; whereas a tumor with internal identity chaos might easily collapse from within..."
Hypotheses grew more detailed and deep, requiring designed experints to verify step by step.
He picked up a pen, and drew a simple diagram on paper: a circle representing the cancer cell system; a key inserted; but after insertion, the connection wasn’t to a lock, but to the complex network within the circle.
He drew a small switch with a red pen.
"Find you," he whispered, "Then, gently press down."
He took one last look at the red dot switch on the paper, stepping out from the System Space and leaving the study.
The corridor’s sensor lights lit up gradually and faded gradually behind him.
Yang Ping walked into the bedroom, lying down softly amidst Xiao Su’s even breathing.
Tomorrow is another new day.
...
Sunlight slanted into the office, casting mottled shadows on Yang Ping’s solid wood desk. He leaned back in his chair.
"Attack... regulation..."
He softly repeated these words, fingers rhythmically tapping on the desktop. Before him was an open "Inner Canon of Huangdi."
In his mind, the sentences from "Inner Canon of Huangdi" began to intertwine strangely with modern cell biology concepts—
"If righteous energy resides within, evil cannot invade."
"Stability of the cell identity system makes abnormal cells unable to take root."
"To cure disease, one must seek its origin."
"The essence of cancer is not uncontrolled cell proliferation, but the logical insurrection of the cell identity system."
"Carefully observe the presence of yin and yang and regulate it, aiming for balance."
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