SWNOVELXO Chapter 634: Doomsday Vault
Snow.
Thick snow.
Ice frost covered the vault door at the end of the corridor, and Bi Fang reached out to touch the wall, feeling the snowflakes that had crystallized into ice. An astonishing chill traveled from his fingertips to the palm of his hand as if it intended to freeze his blood.
When Bi Fang pulled his hand away, his fingertips had frozen to the frost, leaving behind remnants of fractured ice crystals, a layer of white cold frost.
The temperature here was even lower than the outside.
Behind this frost-covered iron door lay the real seed warehouse.
A series of checkpoints had made everyone realize what true layered defense was.
The iron door swung open, and visible cold frost drifted out. The cold wind poured into the tunnel, causing Bi Fang to squint his eyes. After a moment, when the light and shadows became clear, he could finally see the true scene within this Noah's Ark.
Vast.
Incredibly vast.
Like a giant warehouse.
A room the size of a huge conference hall was filled with supermarket-like shelves, each shelf with boxes holding seed samples from various countries.
Bi Fang walked past row after row, from Europe to Asia, from Norway to Huaxia, each seed packet filled with information.
"Each country's seeds are distributed in a few large boxes. International seed samples are flown to the island, some in wooden boxes, some in cardboard, and upon arrival, the box samples are examined with X-ray. They are not opened."
Barrett, guiding Bi Fang, weaved among the "shelves," introducing each one.
"Most of the sample packaging is made of tin foil bags, each containing 200-300 seeds."
"The seed vault stores backup samples. Each institution has physical samples preserved locally, these institutions are seed vaults constructed by various nations. However, due to natural disasters and man-made calamities, backups are needed in the Doomsday Seed Vault."
[Have these seeds ever been used?]
[Are you stupid? This is the Doomsday Seed Vault. When have you encountered the apocalypse?]
An audience member raised a doubt, but was immediately contradicted by others.
Bi Fang relayed this question to Barrett, who surprisingly confirmed it.
The seeds had been used once since the vault was established.
The audience fell silent for a while.
[Damn, is the incident of '99 no longer a secret?]
[Stop the broadcast, hurry up!! Do you want to become a criminal against humanity?]
[Forget it, the meme contamination is about to start]
[Shut up, you signed a confidentiality agreement, don't talk anymore!]
"This Doomsday Vault only began construction in 2005 and wasn't completed and in operation until 2008. It definitely wasn't used in the year '99," Bi Fang said soberly.
Barrett was a bit bewildered; he looked at the streaming comments, which were in both Chinese and English, but even in English, he didn't recognize the combination of words. What happened in '99?
Wasn't he just nine years old at the time?
"What are you talking about?"
"Just a joke," Bi Fang said, quite embarrassed.
"Alright," Barrett shrugged, unconcerned, and continued, "The seeds that were taken were from Ruyuliqa, which was still in the midst of a civil war."
"During the civil war in Ruyuliqa in September 2015, hundreds of thousands died and about 11 million were forced to become refugees; amidst the war, the main seed vault located in Aleppo in the Middle Eastern region was destroyed and rendered unusable."
"The war forced Aqionghan to withdraw seeds from the 'Doomsday Seed Vault' for the first time. Their researchers applied to us, requesting to retrieve nearly 130 boxes out of the 325 boxes, a total of 116,000 agricultural crop seed 'backups' stored here, for planting and agricultural restoration," he said.
"It was the first and, so far, the only time since the establishment of the world seed bank."
The online audience was shocked, Aqionghan, of all places?
"This seed vault holds varieties from the 2,000-year history of human agricultural civilization, the hard-earned results and crystallization of the labor of farmers over several millennia, linking our past and future agricultural development."
The situation in Aqionghan made everyone realize the necessity of establishing a seed vault.
"Each vault can store 1.5 million samples. Currently, only one vault is open for use while the rest remain sealed."
"In addition to food crops, there are also backups of many rare plant seeds,"
"Our goal is to provide a safety net to prevent the accidental loss of species diversity in the event of major global or regional incidents."
"Its function is like a safe deposit box in a bank, allowing specific organizations or governments to 'deposit' seeds for preservation, and only they have the right to access them."
"So, in theory, this place is off-limits to any visitors, and historically, only one journalist has ever been allowed to tour here. Mr. Fang can be considered the second,"
Barrett looked up at the drone in mid-air, smiling as he spoke.
[Boss Fang sure has a lot of clout!]
[Envious. When can I get this kind of treatment...]
[First, you have to have some universally recognized, meaningful, and widely known 'world's first' title, then hold a significant political status, and also have symbolic significance in some way, having made several groundbreaking actions that shocked the world. That should do it.]
[Damn...]
[Slowly typing out a question mark.]
[What political position does Master Fang hold?]
[Old Fang is a military school officer!]
As time went by, even though Bi Fang had never deliberately exploited this for publicity, his status in this regard had long since become known.
By going through security checks for boarding, gradually, everyone knew about it, and it was clear that things were such.
[Almost forgot, Old Fang is a military officer...]
[Damn it, look at his twenty-five years, and then look at mine. No more talk, time to sleep some more. Dreams have it all.]
The entire vault was huge and very cold.
Almost ten degrees colder than outside.
The seed bank was also equipped with various sensors and cameras for remote real-time monitoring.
Bi Fang saw a camera closely following their movement.
"In fact, there are over 1,700 gene banks worldwide, but many have safety concerns. For instance, the seed banks in Aqionghan and Iraq were completely destroyed, and Feral Ice was damaged by natural disasters like typhoons," he said.
"Natural and man-made disasters can all lead to the destruction of rare collections, akin to the extinction of dinosaurs—once gone, they are gone forever. It is due to the recognition of the vulnerability of gene banks around the world that we had the idea to create the Svalbard Global Seed Vault."
Confidence was evident in Barrett's words.
Despite the naturally low indoor temperature, the 'Doomsday Seed Vault' is still equipped with cooling systems, ensuring the seed vault's temperature remains at minus 18 degrees Celsius so the seeds can be preserved for the long term, theoretically for thousands of years.
"From a functional design perspective, the seed vault can withstand most natural and man-made disasters, including the impact of asteroid collisions or nuclear war."
"Also, its remote location contributes significantly to its safety. It's the closest archipelago to the Arctic, with no place more desolate and isolated than this,"
As Barrett walked and talked, the audience in the live broadcast had their horizons broadened.