EDEH Chapter 5

[007 Diary Entry 3]

 

[Have collected information on 41 observation subjects from the human network domain. For convenience of recording, these observation subjects are numbered sequentially from 001 to 041.

 

The numbering order has no evaluative value, only arranged by their popularity in the network domain.

 

The little evil dragon first contacted subject 002… a very contradictory person.

 

There are many negative rumors about him, requiring further observation.]

 

·

 

Hospital.

 

Hard-soled military boots stepped on the cold floor tiles, making “tap” “tap” sounds.

 

Hearing footsteps, the doctor turned around and was stunned upon seeing who it was: “General, why are you here?”

 

“How is he?”

 

Huo Yanji’s voice remained cold.

 

“His fever has broken. As you said, his fever wasn’t caused by infection. Perhaps it was from being in the rain too long—his body is rather fragile.”

 

Fragile.

 

If not for the scene of Sang Jue tearing apart the humanoid creature with his bare hands, Huo Yanji might have agreed with this assessment.

 

The youth lying on the hospital bed hadn’t awakened yet. Whether from discomfort or dreaming, his long black eyelashes would tremble from time to time, like a delicate butterfly with damaged wing membranes—temporarily unable to fly, only able to stay and heal.

 

Humanity had entered the collapse era for over a hundred years.

 

Especially after the Meteor Season, massive ground radiation made it difficult for people to maintain fair, delicate skin.

 

Yet Sang Jue’s skin was not only fair and beautiful, but also healthy—unlike a child who had grown up living on the surface.

 

…

 

Sang Jue’s fingertips moved slightly. In his ears was the drip-drop sound of an IV.

 

Very familiar.

 

Sang Jue had grown up in the laboratory on his home planet and wasn’t unfamiliar with such sounds. Almost every month, a tube of blood would be drawn from him for research, and each time after blood was drawn he would be very weak, requiring IV drips to supplement nutrition.

 

Had he returned to his home planet?

 

“Doctor…”

 

The scene before his eyes was blurry. Nearby were some medical machines that didn’t look as advanced as those on his home planet.

 

Two people stood by the bed, conversing about something.

 

One was a bald man in a white coat who said: “You really can’t stop for a moment. Just finished your last mission and ran off to Crack #2 to get white moth egg sacs. Agricultural forestry issues tasks for these things to mercenary teams every year—you really don’t need to do it yourself.”

 

“I killed all the mother moths at the end of Crack #2. If I don’t bring back the egg sacs, they’ll have to find new white moth nests as resource supply.”

 

“Huh? Why did you kill the mother moths? Wouldn’t it be nice to keep them as agricultural beneficial insects?”

 

“It was on the way.”

 

“…And on the way you brought back a strange little guy?”

 

This person’s head… so shiny.

 

He had a work badge on his chest: Research Institute… Dr. Eugene.

 

The person talking to him was Huo Yanji: “Do you have a lot of time? Get to the point.”

 

“I checked—he has no identity, and he’s not a child just sent up from the underground city. You know, to help children adapt to the harsh survival environment on the surface, they couldn’t possibly wait until adulthood to send them up. The oldest would only be twelve years old.”

 

Eugene pushed his glasses, half-jokingly saying: “Maybe he’s a child who grew up freely in the ruins. His combat ability is good—perhaps because he bought leaked contamination genes on the black market.”

 

Huo Yanji: “Contamination gene export control has always been very strict. Everyone needs to wait in isolation zones until contamination succeeds. It’s impossible for them to leak out.”

 

“With you in the main city, control is naturally strict, but what about the safe zones below? Can you guarantee that all supervisors aren’t driven by greed? I’d bet there’s definitely this stuff on the black market—it’s just not openly sold.”

 

Eugene said helplessly: “Besides, what do you mean by ‘contamination succeeds’? Deviants don’t like hearing this. They think it’s evolution. Why do you insist on being contrary?”

 

Sang Jue’s body felt weak and he couldn’t move much, but he heard their entire conversation.

 

“The little guy seems to be awake.”

 

Eugene noticed Sang Jue’s moving eyeballs and stopped continuing the previous topic: “Anyway, I think you’re overthinking it. I’ve never seen humanoid creatures attack humanoid creatures. At most, he’s a wild Deviant.”

 

Huo Yanji remained noncommittal: “Did you apply for genetic testing?”

 

Eugene: “I drew a tube of blood and submitted it. Results in a day or two.”

 

Sang Jue, who had finally opened his eyes, glared at Eugene.

 

No wonder he felt so weak now.

 

Eugene innocently touched his nose. The genetic testing was Huo Yanji’s suggestion—how could he dare not comply?

 

“I’m leaving. Need to check on Lu Tiancong next door.”

 

Eugene meeting Huo Yanji here was just coincidental—he came to see other patients: “Team Eight just returned from the waste water zone. Lu Tiancong broke a leg, and his teammates were wiped out.”

 

“Not infected?”

 

“Very lucky. His leg wasn’t bitten off by something alien, but crushed by a steel door.” The doctor smoothed the wrinkles on his gloves. “The waste water situation seems more serious. Want to come listen?”

 

“No, I’ll read the mission report.”

 

“Are you a robot?” Eugene clicked his tongue and pushed the door to leave.

 

After Eugene left, Sang Jue finally spoke, his voice light and hoarse: “Thirsty.”

 

Huo Yanji poured him a glass of water.

 

Sang Jue: “No strength…”

 

Although his fever had broken, his body was still somewhat weak.

 

Sang Jue guessed it was related to the spore infection. Afterall, he wasn’t human and never got fevers.

 

Huo Yanji pressed a button, and the upper part of the bed slowly rose.

 

Sang Jue stated: “You suspect I’m not human.”

 

Huo Yanji pulled over a chair, sat by the bed, and slowly, steadily fed Sang Jue water.

 

Sang Jue’s displeasure was barely alleviated.

 

He knew that for Huo Yanji, he was just a stranger met by chance, so having suspicions was normal.

 

But he was still unhappy.

 

The evil dragon was throwing a little tantrum.

 

Huo Yanji glanced at him: “This is my duty.”

 

His first impression of Sang Jue was of a contaminant wearing human skin—a judgment based on years of experience and intuition.

 

Although during the three-plus hours returning to the city, Sang Jue had shown no intention of contaminating him, humanoid monsters never targeted individual humans.

 

They possessed relatively high intelligence. As long as they consumed a human’s cells, they would learn that human’s genetic sequence, mimicking their behavior and body temperature. They also had relatively high ambitions, preferring to deceive people along the way to take them to human settlements, causing large-scale contamination.

 

They emerged from the cracks and wouldn’t leave until they had ‘eaten their fill.’

 

However, despite possessing intelligence, they still lacked thinking ability. All their behaviors were driven by contamination instincts carved into their genes.

 

Currently, Sang Jue did appear to be human—he was a bit smarter than those humanoid creatures, but not by much.

 

Huo Yanji thought his suspicions weren’t Sang Jue’s fault, but his own mistake caused by stereotypical impressions of high-level contaminants.

 

Sang Jue keenly sensed this and asked: “Are you badmouthing me in your head?”

 

Huo Yanji’s tone was cold: “No.”

 

“Knock knock—” The hospital room door was knocked, and a blonde man in uniform appeared at the doorway.

 

Sang Jue didn’t like the smell on him—stinky.

 

The blonde man said: “Report, sir. The humanoid creature from the city gate has been safely delivered to the laboratory.”

 

Huo Yanji made an “mm” sound: “Issue him a certificate to apply for an identity card.”

 

The blonde man was stunned: “This… this isn’t according to regulations. There are so many people queuing outside the city gate…”

 

Huo Yanji continued in his calm tone: “People who have made significant contributions to humanity can receive certain privileges. He killed that humanoid creature and saved everyone outside the city who might have been infected.”

 

“…” The blonde man felt somewhat jealous. Actually, with Huo Yanji there at the time, even if Sang Jue hadn’t acted, no one would have been hurt.

 

But he didn’t dare disobey, so he turned and left to follow orders.

 

Sang Jue, lying on the hospital bed, blinked: “…Who did I kill?”

 

Huo Yanji: “Don’t remember?”

 

Sang Jue vaguely made an “ah” sound. He only remembered sitting on the back seat of the off-road motorcycle last night, lying against Huo Yanji’s back. Huo Yanji smelled particularly good, making him want to take a bite.

 

Then they seemed to arrive at the main city gate, he grabbed a tentacle, and then… then he forgot everything.

 

007 repeated what happened last night in a voice only he could hear: [You tore apart the contaminant disguised as Wu Ke with your bare hands in front of everyone at the city gate.]

 

Sang Jue: “…”

 

He had originally wanted to pretend to be weak, but this exposure was too fast.

 

007 added: [The good news is, you’re now only two hundred kilometers from the spacecraft.]

 

His unhappiness about being suspected immediately vanished.

 

Although two hundred kilometers was still very far, it was much better than the several hundred kilometers before.

 

Sang Jue suddenly remembered something: “Where’s my backpack?”

 

Huo Yanji: “On the chair.”

 

Sang Jue breathed a sigh of relief. When he rolled down the slope, he hadn’t had time to grab his backpack, so it stayed on that armored vehicle all the way to the main city.

 

After all, it was the mission objective that Si Fu’s team had guarded for two months, with everyone sacrificing their lives to capture. If it was lost because of him, it would make the dragon feel too guilty.

 

“The woman called A-Ruan in the car was also infected.” Sang Jue completely didn’t remember having said this last night.

 

“She’s already dead.”

 

“What about the other two?”

 

“One was imprisoned for attacking soldiers, the other safely entered the city.”

 

“I didn’t intentionally let an infected person on the vehicle. Her friend should have known she was infected, so he didn’t expose it.”

 

Sang Jue added: “I can’t drive, so I needed their help.”

 

“Don’t take risks in the future.”

 

Sang Jue obediently agreed and asked: “Are you a supervisor?”

 

Huo Yanji made an “mm” sound.

 

Sang Jue: “Is your position high?”

 

Huo Yanji: “Not bad.”

 

Sang Jue thought about it. Huo Yanji smelled good, so he should be a good person.

 

He told everything about Si Fu: “…Finally, Si Fu ignited himself and burned those fluttering moths to death—is that forget-worry vine okay?”

 

“It’s already in the research institute’s cultivation room.” Huo Yanji said flatly, “You can go to the research institute, get a certificate from the front desk, then go to the mission building to collect the corresponding reward.”

 

Sang Jue didn’t understand: “I didn’t find it.”

 

Huo Yanji: “Results matter more than process.”

 

Sang Jue didn’t refuse. He was new here and needed money for many things.

 

“By the way, the person who killed Si Fu’s team was also a supervisor.”

 

“Name?”

 

“I think it was called Terrell.”

 

Huo Yanji glanced in the direction where the blonde man had just left.

 

He put down the water cup: “Don’t leave the main city before the genetic test results come out.”

 

Sang Jue: “Are you leaving?”

 

“Anything else?”

 

The little evil dragon was very practical: “Have you paid the medical fees?”

 

“…Already paid.”

 

“Then nothing else. Goodbye.”

 

Sang Jue’s indifferent appearance was as if he wasn’t the one who desperately burrowed into someone’s embrace last night, just wanting to snuggle.

 

##

---