RotA – Chapter 48

Chai Yuening had fantasized more than once about seeing her again.

The scene she imagined most often was one where she would receive a message to rendezvous with the Floating City’s military. She would arrive at the airport or the lift platform early, waiting for the research institute to deliver Chu Ci to her.

By then, they would surely not have seen each other for a long time. She would hide the surging torrent of longing in her heart and reunite with her as if nothing had happened.

She had so much she wanted to say, but she shouldn’t act too sad, or she would make Chu Ci sad along with her.

Chai Yuening thought, she wouldn’t ask if she was doing well. She didn’t want to hear someone who was so bad at lying choose to lie just to keep her from worrying.

She wanted to tell her of her decision, the decision to stay in the Floating City forever.

She could trade countless long waits for a single day of sharing hardship with her.

Of course, she hoped even more for the day when the research succeeded and humanity no longer feared mutation.

If that day could come, they would both be free.

But…

“How could I be seeing you under these circumstances?” Chai Yuening choked out a soft question. “What do you mean, the human will is disappearing… Are you leaving? I just made up my mind to stay here and wait for you forever, and now you’re leaving?”

No one answered her words.

In the blue tank, the sample that had long ceased to be considered human was so pale it seemed it could dissipate like smoke at any moment.

“That night, when you stood downstairs to see me off, what were you thinking? Were you sad that I chose to leave again?”

“I told you, if there’s something you want to say, I’ll listen. If you don’t, I won’t force you. I thought I had enough time to slowly get to know you, to slowly earn your trust… But you never say anything. You made up your mind to part with me, and you still didn’t say a word.”

“You always make me guess, and I’m not that smart. I’m so slow to figure things out… so slow that by the time I realized, you were already gone.”

Chai Yuening leaned forward slightly, pressing her cheek against the cold glass wall.

“I never even got to tell you. That night, as the car drove away, the moment I couldn’t see you anymore, I already regretted it.”

“I came back. I came back the very next day. Did anyone tell you?”

“I miss you so much. I think about you every day. I wanted to tell you the next time we met, but I was afraid you’d be sad to hear it, so I kept thinking, when I see you, I have to act as if nothing is wrong.”

“But how can I act like nothing is wrong now… Do you want me to watch you mutate, to watch you leave?”

The sample in the glass tank gradually lost its human form, as if making a silent farewell.

Chai Yuening’s voice was very soft, tinged with a sob. Her words seemed to carry a hint of dissatisfaction, yet her tone was so gentle it held not a trace of blame, just the most ordinary kind of outpouring.

“The black vines in the Base are growing so fast. Are they all listening to you?”

“They haven’t hurt anyone, just grown freely outwards. So that’s what you long for, too, right?”

“I saw it. The things you wanted to say, I saw them all…”

A tear slowly slid from the corner of Chai Yuening’s eye.

She closed her eyes. “But I want to hear you say it to me yourself…”

Yi Shuyun stood by the laboratory door, her gaze drifting as she watched the scene before her.

A film of moisture gradually clouded her eyes.

Humanity’s scientific framework had collapsed.

Despite all their efforts, they could not dispel the fog of the new ecosystem.

The appearance of a child had once brought them a sliver of hope, but that hope was perilously close to despair.

More than a decade ago, Yi Shuyun had taken over the care of this child from the previous guardian. From that day on, she shouldered the responsibility that came with the Base’s highest secret.

She had always known that this girl, who looked so young, had already been locked in this laboratory for over fifty years. She had genuinely tried, like everyone else, to treat her as an experimental sample, without a shred of compassion.

For this reason, over the past ten-plus years, her interactions with the girl had always maintained a sufficiently cold distance—not harsh, but never gentle either.

The girl, too, had fulfilled all the duties expected of a sample.

She was quiet and well-behaved, her eyes as placid as an inanimate object. She never made a fuss, never cried out in pain. She did whatever she was told without question, as if she had no thoughts of her own, truly a sample to be manipulated at will.

But then one day, the sample changed.

Those eyes, once as still as an old well, seemed to have fallen into a cold pool, filled with a silent sorrow.

Later, for the first time, she heard the word “pain” from the sample’s mouth.

That day, Yi Shuyun had walked into the laboratory as usual to perform a routine check on Sample A0027’s physical condition.

She saw those reddened eyes looking at her, as if wanting to speak but hesitating.

She asked, “What are you feeling?”

The girl hesitated for a moment before saying softly, “Doctor, yesterday’s experiment hurt a lot. It felt like something was tearing my body apart.”

“Pain?” She looked back at the girl, somewhat astonished.

A flicker of disappointment seemed to cross the girl’s eyes.

In this world, besides that one person, there would never be another who would tell her that it was okay to say when it hurt.

After a brief silence, she lowered her gaze, responding mechanically as she always had.

But the emotion monitor on the large screen betrayed her outward calm.

A sample had acquired human emotions.

It seemed to be from that moment on that the sample’s various data points lost their former absolute stability.

In a daze, Yi Shuyun felt as if she had touched the edge of the truth.

Human emotion was perhaps the greatest obstacle to humanity integrating into the new ecosystem.

But the very reason humans were called human, the reason they would go to any lengths to perpetuate human civilization, was precisely because of this innate emotion.

They could not abandon it; they had to hold fast to it.

Every piece of data on the large screen indicated that the sample was about to completely lose all human characteristics.

Yi Shuyun couldn’t help but think that if this unavoidable human “weakness” could lead Sample A0027 to its demise, then humanity’s future was no longer worth even a shred of expectation.

Boundless despair encroached, inch by inch, upon Yi Shuyun’s remaining sanity.

She leaned back against the cold wall, inhaling the faint, sweet fragrance of the black vines, her seemingly calm gaze reflecting the slender figure in the deep blue solution.

It was like a hopeless person drowning in the deep sea, carrying all hope with them as they were buried in a deathly silence.

In that instant, Yi Shuyun couldn’t even tell if hope had abandoned humanity, or if humanity had killed hope.

She slowly closed her eyes, letting a wave of desolation wash over her heart.

Inside the laboratory, someone was still whispering, as if unwilling to accept their fate.

Yi Shuyun listened quietly for a long time, ultimately deciding to tell the person before her the cruel truth displayed by the data on the screen.

But when she opened her eyes, what she saw in the experimental tank were slender vine branches, suspended in the water, consciously approaching Chai Yuening. Through the thick glass, they gently touched the human fingers.

Someone knocked on the laboratory door.

She turned and pressed the switch. Ye Qing was standing there, holding the communicator she had left in her office, her eyes shining with joy.

“Doctor, all the black vines have stopped their rampant growth!”

After a moment of stunned silence, Yi Shuyun asked, “Do you believe that once mutation begins, there’s still a chance of reversing it?”

“According to common sense, once mutation begins, it can only be forcibly terminated at the cost of death. There is no possibility of reversal,” Ye Qing answered earnestly.

“Yes,” Yi Shuyun said. “But our common sense is collapsing along with the world.”

As she spoke, Yi Shuyun subconsciously glanced at the large screen.

Sample emotion: Stable.

Degree of mutation: Halted at 84.41%.

System preliminary judgment: Has departed from the human category, but still retains a portion of human will.

“This is a miracle.”

---

After that day, Chai Yuening stayed at the Base Research Institute.

The main city didn’t trust her, afraid she would be loose-lipped, so they restricted her personal freedom.

She had no objection to this; in fact, she was very happy about it.

To keep her team, who had followed her from so far away, from worrying, she had Ye Qing help pass a few words back to them.

Although the black vines had stopped their abnormal growth, the sample that had caused and ended this strange phenomenon had not returned to normal as everyone had imagined.

To prevent another accident from occurring and causing irreversible consequences, the institute suspended the fusion experiments on Sample A0027, only taking samples periodically for routine analysis.

With no more experiments being conducted, Chai Yuening stayed by Chu Ci’s side day and night, unwilling to leave for even a single step.

The Base quickly cleaned up the black vines that had grown wildly out of bounds and concocted a reason for their abnormal growth that seemed absurd, yet sounded far more reasonable than the truth.

They publicized the life story of the old woman and attributed the mutation to a sample collection trip to the surface more than twenty years ago.

“Since the outbreak of the Great Cataclysm, our human scholars have firmly believed that the black vines cannot infect any living creature. But in fact, as everyone knows, even before the Great Cataclysm, the humans of the old world could already extract energy from the black vines and inject it into living organisms, causing a kind of terrifying mutation.”

“Base scholars believe that this researcher must have encountered some kind of accident on the surface, thereby inadvertently acquiring the black vine’s energy form. Because it was difficult to absorb and impossible to release, it resulted in a mutation incubation period of over twenty years.”

“Fortunately, although this mutation incident caused some damage to Base property, it did not lead to any infections, mutations, or casualties. The black vines are still the black vines that will not harm humans.”

Listening to this solemn nonsense on the broadcast, Chai Yuening couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Hey,” she curled her index finger and tapped lightly on the glass wall. “I used to be the one fooled by these tactics. This time, I’m finally at the center of the lie, seeing how those people frantically spin their tales.”

The slender black vine, like a small black fish glowing with a red light, swam in the blue glass tank.

Hearing the sound, it leisurely turned and bumped into the tank wall with a “thump,” then went limp and clung to the glass, as if it were in pain.

It was strange. There had clearly been a full tank of it before.

But in the past few days, it had suddenly become so small, as if it had shrunk. Curled up, it wasn’t even half an arm’s length.

At first, Chai Yuening was especially worried it would shrink until it disappeared, but now it seemed there was a minimum size, so it wouldn’t actually shrink away to nothing.

There was just one thing, it seemed to have gotten a bit clumsy…

“Don’t bump into the glass, it’ll hurt.”

The black vine curled up, pressing itself entirely against the glass wall, looking like it was being petulant.

When Chai Yuening’s finger moved to the left, it followed to the left. When her finger moved to the right, it followed to the right.

The laboratory door was pushed open from the outside.

Yi Shuyun walked in carrying a lunch box. “Your lunch.”

After speaking, she looked up at the wide data display screen.

The degree of mutation was slowly decreasing. Over the past few days, it had dropped from eighty-four percent to eighty-one percent.

Yi Shuyun: “She’s very happy.”

Chai Yuening: “When will she be able to recover?”

Yi Shuyun shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen a case of reverse mutation before.”

She thought for a moment, then explained, “I only know that if an ordinary human mutates, when the degree of mutation reaches thirty percent, the body will exhibit minor abnormalities, and emotions will become easily uncontrollable. After reaching fifty percent, varying degrees of physical changes will occur, self-awareness will become chaotic, reason will regress, and primal instincts will reawaken. When the degree of mutation exceeds seventy percent, they have essentially lost all human characteristics and emotions. Human memories and will then completely disappear during the final thirty percent of the mutation process.”

“So… in most cases, when a newly mutated person starts hurting people, they still retain some memories?”

“At least, that’s what the research indicates,” Yi Shuyun said. “They often remember everything, but they can no longer control their bodies.”

Chai Yuening was momentarily speechless.

Yi Shuyun picked up her lunch box and ate a few bites, then looked up and said, “Your Base certainly hasn’t publicized this data either. Because if they did, people would suffer even more when killing mutants, especially when facing someone they know. It’s not conducive to law enforcement in the Base… However, given the current situation, it doesn’t make much difference whether it’s publicized or not. Anyone showing signs of infection is killed immediately anyway.”

Chai Yuening tightened her grip on her chopsticks and asked in a low voice, “Even high-ranking military officials wouldn’t know?”

Yi Shuyun: “Not necessarily. In the Floating City, at least, officers at the rank of colonel and above all know.”

Chai Yuening couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh.

“There’s still a lot you don’t know,” Yi Shuyun said flatly. “The new ecosystem brought by the black vines is constantly evolving. As those mutated beasts grow stronger, their ability to absorb genes will also increase. It’s only a matter of time before humanoid, highly intelligent mutated beasts appear on the surface. If humanity can’t break through the limitations of our fragile bodies and integrate into this new ecosystem, then the complete disappearance of human civilization from this planet is also just a matter of time.”

“Dr. Ge told me something similar,” Chai Yuening said in a low voice.

“For him to tell you that, it seems you are indeed highly valued in the Underground City,” Yi Shuyun added. “But you definitely don’t know that through our research on various surface samples, we’ve preliminarily determined that if the surface ecosystem continues to evolve at this rate, in less than a year, perhaps even sooner, mutated beasts capable of sustained high-altitude flight will appear at the Base.”

As Yi Shuyun spoke, she smiled. “The Floating City wasn’t this high in the beginning. To avoid the altitudes that flying mutated beasts could reach, we ascended to the most energy-consuming height.”

Her tone as she said this was as calm as if she had long since accepted her fate. “Now we can’t go any higher, but they are still evolving.”

Chai Yuening silently shoveled a few mouthfuls of rice.

She glanced at the black vine in the tank, which was eagerly facing her, and couldn’t help but ask, “You’ve taken many samples already. Have you analyzed anything?”

Yi Shuyun shook her head helplessly. “She’s as disappointing as ever. Even though she’s lost her absolute stability, she’s still as impenetrable as if she’s surrounded by bronze walls and iron ramparts.”

Chai Yuening: “…”

Yi Shuyun: “I really don’t want to study her anymore. But I’m sorry, unless she dies, the Base won’t allow us to give up the research.”

Chai Yuening: “I understand.”

Yi Shuyun: “Perhaps with you here, she won’t be in so much pain.”

Chai Yuening: “I will always be with her.”

Her tone was firm. She believed Chu Ci could understand.

“Dr. Yi.”

“Hm?”

“If the end of the world really comes, will the Base give her one day of freedom?”

“…”

“Or will you still guard her until the very last moment, hoping to see humanity’s future in her?”

“I don’t know.”

Yi Shuyun spoke softly, her words suppressing a deep sense of confusion and helplessness.

---

For Chai Yuening, the days of watching over the little black vine passed much faster than waiting idly outside.

She made a pallet on the floor of the laboratory and slept right next to the glass tank every day. Whenever she woke from her dreams, she would always glance at the large display screen glowing with a faint green light.

After staying here for so long, she hadn’t learned much else, but she had learned how to read the degree of mutation and the emotion index.

Every day, Chai Yuening would pour nutrient solution into the tank. Yi Shuyun said once a day was enough, but she insisted on dividing the daily amount into three portions, pouring it in according to the standard of three meals a day.

Three meals a day was a ritual unique to humans.

She refused to be like the researchers in the institute, treating Chu Ci as an experimental sample that was fine as long as it didn’t die.

The little black vine had grown a bit recently. It didn’t like to bump into the glass as much as before, and its mutation level had slowly dropped to the sixty-percent range, which made Chai Yuening feel very gratified.

One afternoon in late June, she was leaning against the tank as usual, teasing the vine, which could now spread its branches out to the sides.

Suddenly, a piece of news came from the radio beside her.

“This afternoon, Outer City District Three was attacked by a flying mutated beast of an unknown class. The sudden attack caused some casualties. The military has now killed it, and the residents of the area are currently undergoing infection screening. Now, let’s interview the District Three City Defense Office for their take on the matter.”

“Please remain calm and do not panic,” a strange, powerful voice said firmly on the radio. “This is the only instance in over fifty years of a mutated beast capable of flying to the Base’s floating altitude. The Base Research Institute will analyze it as soon as possible to find its weaknesses and implement targeted defensive measures.”

As he spoke, several gunshots seemed to ring out behind him.

The merciless gunshots were the most piercing irony to his words.

Chai Yuening remarked softly, “If I didn’t know the truth, in a little while, when the end comes, I’d probably die in a daze just like many others, wouldn’t I?”

“Do you think humanity will reach its end?” Chai Yuening asked. “If humanity is at a dead end, does that mean you’ll be free?”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she froze, unconsciously pursing her lips. She placed her palm gently on the cold glass, a trace of conflict flashing in her eyes.

“On the day you’re free, where will I be? Will I already be gone? Before that day comes, can you still talk to me like you used to?”

The black vine in the tank didn’t respond, just clung quietly to the glass wall, instinctively moving closer to her palm.

“Actually, this is good too. They won’t hurt you like this…” Chai Yuening sighed and gave a bitter smile. “If only I could take you away someday.”

Unfortunately, she didn’t have the ability to sneak away with the Floating City’s most important sample.

So she could only stay in this place, accompanying this sample day after day.

Time flew by, and in a flash, it was August.

Chu Ci’s mutation level had dropped to forty-seven percent, but she was still a vine. Other than being a bit bigger and more lively, there were no other changes.

Ever since the Floating City was first attacked by a flying mutated beast, the frequency of their appearances had gradually increased.

These beasts sometimes attacked alone, sometimes in groups of three or five.

Whether it was the outer city or the main city, any attack by a mutated beast was destined to end an extraordinary day amidst the sound of gunshots aimed at their own people.

Yi Shuyun said that this was all still within a controllable range for now, but no one could say for sure how long this “for now” would last.

On a drizzly afternoon, the usually quiet research institute was suddenly filled with countless cries of alarm.

Chai Yuening stood up and ran toward the source of the commotion. Before she even reached the scene, she heard a series of gunshots silence the crowd.

A researcher had mutated. Before the mutation occurred, she had run to the institute’s rooftop. The mutation process was captured by a drone on patrol, and the military arrived in time, so there were no casualties.

Chai Yuening had seen her before; she also had clearance to enter the secret laboratory.

It was clear that this researcher hadn’t had time to complete her mutation.

On her twisted, inhuman body, a pair of featherless, fleshy wings had grown, clearly an infection from the flying mutated beasts that had recently appeared at the Base.

But many people could testify that in recent days, she had never been near any place that had been attacked by a mutated beast.

To find out the cause of her mutation, the military searched her assigned housing, as well as the office and laboratory she frequented.

Ironically, in the researcher’s private laboratory, they found a well-hidden syringe that still contained residual injectate.

After analysis by the institute, the residue in the syringe was a gene fusion agent extracted from a flying mutated beast.

This place was too desperate. The more you knew, the more desperate you became.

Unfortunately, the wings born of despair had not been able to carry her out of this cage.

Chai Yuening stared at the surveillance footage on the screen, a bitter feeling in her heart. “Maybe before she lost consciousness, she just wanted to leave this place…”

“After losing consciousness, that’s not so certain,” Yi Shuyun said. “Hunting humans is the instinct of every mutated beast.”

With that, she turned and left the dimly lit monitoring room.

Chai Yuening was silent for a long time before following in her footsteps.

This world seemed to have rotted away. Everyone was waiting for the final judgment of doomsday.

Perhaps, only her wait was different from everyone else’s.

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Huge thanks to drago for the support!

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