RotA – Chapter 49

A defector who had actively fused with a mutated beast had appeared within the Base Research Institute. This was, without a doubt, a scandal that absolutely could not be allowed to get out.

From that day on, the research institute was temporarily sealed. No one besides the military was permitted to enter or leave at will.

In addition to three infection screenings a day, all personnel within the institute were required to attend a daily group psychological counseling session.

It was called psychological counseling, but it was actually more like a form of brainwashing.

The Base needed them to remain tight-lipped, to treat this matter as an ordinary mutated beast intrusion.

Everything humanity had struggled to protect for over fifty years could not be allowed to waver in the slightest because of this. So, even though everyone who knew the truth was on the verge of collapse, their public lies did not cease for a moment.

But you can’t wrap fire in paper.

Despite the Base’s strenuous efforts to conceal it, the truth somehow leaked out.

What spread this time was not just that researcher’s willing descent into depravity, but also crucial information from the classified files on Sample A0027.

That chaotic collection of data was disseminated over a wide area in a short period of time.

The special sample, which had been declared dead fifty years ago, had actually been hidden deep within the Base’s most secret laboratory, unknown to all but the highest-ranking personnel.

The researchers involved in the project had not only failed to find a single shred of useful information from this sample, but they were also the true cause of the recent black vine frenzy.

In an instant, the entire Base was in an uproar.

“We’ve all been deceived!”

“Fifty years with no change, what has the Base been researching? A monster?”

The surface ecology had been continuously worsening, yet the people had been living in a lie, enjoying a peace that had been carefully whitewashed.

They didn’t know the truth that the world had long since begun to collapse.

They attributed everything to that special sample.

“It’s not humanity’s hope at all, it’s what brought this disaster!”

“It all started when that sample went out of control!”

“It lured the new type of mutated beast, it drove the researchers mad!”

A portion of the populace began to march, to shout, to appeal.

They surrounded the protected building of the Base Research Institute in a furious mob, holding up protest signs and flags, unfurling banners covered in slogans of protest, clamoring for the Base Research Institute to hand over or publicly destroy Sample A0027.

In just a few short days, more and more people from both the main city and the outer districts began to strike, joining the ranks of the protestors.

“Human experimentation should never have existed in the first place!”

“Every person who voluntarily underwent human experimentation became a monster!”

“The Base shouldn’t be secretly studying these monsters! We demand a halt to all human experimentation!”

“We demand the Base destroy Sample A0027 and guarantee to us that they will never conduct human experiments again!”

The immense pressure was nearly suffocating the researchers at the institute.

The Base attempted to release more research data to prove that this was not all caused by A0027.

But their voices were completely drowned out by the countless shouts.

Having heard too many lies, the people were no longer willing to accept the truth.

They just wanted to destroy this sample.

In their eyes, it was the source of all calamities. As long as it was eliminated, the Base would return to peace.

This was what they now firmly believed; they wanted to take fate into their own hands.

Chai Yuening leaned against the end of the hallway, gazing through a half-open window at the glaring red characters on the white banners outside the research institute building.

She felt as if she had lost the ability to be angry. At this moment, looking at the scene before her, there was nothing in her heart but desolation.

“Extreme voices are often more likely to attract attention and followers than moderate, neutral ones,” Yi Shuyun said. “When an extreme voice gathers to a certain degree, its originators and followers lose their reason. They believe they are right, and they cannot tolerate any voice different from their own.”

Her words were deeply ironic, yet her tone was calm. “They don’t need the truth, because they hope to become the truth themselves.”

“What will the Base do?” Chai Yuening asked in a low voice.

“The Base naturally understands the sample’s importance better than these people.”

Yi Shuyun paused, a trace of bewilderment appearing in her eyes. “But that’s all they do—understand.”

This was no longer fifty years ago.

The Base Research Institute had invested over fifty years of effort into this sample with nothing to show for it. Under such immense pressure, it was inevitable that the Base would re-evaluate the sample’s value.

Yi Shuyun said, “The Base has no plans to give up on her for now. I will continue to do my best to negotiate.”

Chai Yuening didn’t ask any more questions, only continuing to silently watch the angry crowd.

“The experiment went out of control, causing the vine disaster, and the vine disaster attracted the flying mutated beasts! It brought all these disasters!”

“It’s a monster! Even if it’s temporarily under control, it will go berserk sooner or later!”

“We do not agree to keeping a monster that could lose control at any moment!”

“Destroying Sample A0027 is our reasonable demand!”

“This monster will only bring us endless disaster!”

The loud clamor made one’s ears ache.

Chai Yuening suddenly felt a tightness in her chest that made it hard to breathe.

Yi Shuyun patted her on the shoulder. “Go back and stay with her. Don’t listen to this anymore.”

“How did it come to this…” Chai Yuening murmured in a low voice.

The old doctor’s voice from the Underground City Base still echoed in her ears.

—We still haven’t found a way to resist mutation. It seems humans are simply unable to retain their self-awareness during the fusion process. Compared to the mutated beasts, the human will is too weak.

—But we cannot give up. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, no matter how painful, we must press forward. Press forward tirelessly, by any means necessary.

—Until humanity truly finds its freedom, we are all in a cage.

To help humanity find its freedom, to help people escape the cage, Chu Ci had chosen to return here, to dedicate everything she had to human science for that slim hope.

But the people didn’t care.

She had given up her freedom, endured pain, and buried all the longing in her heart, only to be met with humanity’s bitter hatred.

“She came back for the future of humanity.”

“So what? Aren’t the City Defense officers who execute the infected also protecting humanity, protecting the Base? The relatives of those who died won’t forgive them so easily.”

Yi Shuyun gave a bitter smile. “When destruction descends, humanity can hardly resist its cruel fate and could die at any moment. At a time like this, more and more people tell you that this is all because the gods are angry, and that if you just sacrifice a ‘sinner’ who angered the gods, their wrath will be appeased. What would you do?”

People are always willing to believe the voices that are most beneficial to them. This has been true since ancient times.

When a disaster that people are unwilling to face occurs, they will unite with unparalleled solidarity to find a scapegoat.

This scapegoat could be anyone, anything. It could even be completely innocent.

Because the closer people get to a dead end, the less rational they become.

In the face of despair, what is truth?

When there is no way out, as long as someone says—burn the sinner to appease the gods’ wrath—

Soon, countless people will scramble to find that so-called “sinner.”

And today, Sample A0027 was the scapegoat they had chosen, the “sinner” to be sacrificed to this world to appease the “gods’” anger.

Chai Yuening couldn’t help but think that if Chu Ci was truly guilty of anything, perhaps it was of once giving humanity a glimmer of hope that humanity could never grasp.

Therefore, for this destruction, she could not escape the blame.

It was just too ridiculous.

From the day the great cataclysm destroyed the old world, the surviving humans had struggled every step of the way, exhausting all their strength to reach this day.

Their ancestors probably never imagined that many years later, there would come a day when the world of humanity would be left with nothing but the fear and hatred of those struggling to survive, and the bottomless despair of those seeking the truth.

“Dr. Yi.”

“Hm?”

“I’m a shortsighted person,” Chai Yuening said in a heavy voice. “If one day, the Base chooses to abandon her for the greater good, I will pick up my gun and be the last person in this world to protect her.”

“…”

Her voice was very soft, but every word revealed the conviction in her heart.

She was an insignificant person, one who had never shouldered any unusual responsibilities.

How fortunate that the world would not change because of her choice. If the Floating City truly decided to sacrifice Chu Ci to appease the public’s anger, she could make her own choice without any reservations.

Chai Yuening returned to the dim laboratory.

She gently caressed the thick glass. A slender vine approached, carrying a small flower that had bloomed at some unknown time, as if showing off to her.

“You can even bloom now. You’re recovering quite well.”

The black vine pressed the small flower against the glass wall, dark red light patterns flowing faintly within its body.

“You’re such a strange existence. How did you have the nerve to call me strange before?”

The black vine seemed a little unhappy. It released the glass wall and floated back toward the center of the tank.

Chai Yuening looked up at the wide screen, falling silent in thought for a very long time.

After an unknown amount of time, she came back to her senses. The black vine that had slipped away had returned to her side, half of its length resting quietly against the glass.

“You have no idea what’s happening outside. It’s so annoying and chaotic…”

Chai Yuening pressed her lips together and smiled. “But it’s okay. I’m here.”

No one in this world cared about this little black vine anymore.

But she would protect her.

She would risk her life to protect her.

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The protests outside lasted for a full nine days.

The scholars at the research institute, who had initially firmly believed that Sample A0027 was humanity’s last hope, now found their will gradually crushed by the sheer force of the protestors. When facing inquiries from the main city, their attitudes were no longer firm.

As A0027’s new guardian, Yi Shuyun received countless communications every day asking for her opinion.

Her voice was always hoarse as she gave a similar response.

“Killing one sample will not change the reality of ecological deterioration. It will only completely block the only path to survival that humanity can currently see.”

But no matter how firm her tone was, it was drowned out time and again by the loud shouts of the protestors.

The Base was still hesitating.

Just as Yi Shuyun had said, the Base understood the importance of Sample A0027 better than the enraged protestors.

But her other statement was also undeniably true.

The Base understood, but that was all they did—understand.

More and more people were striking and protesting, and even many military personnel were beginning to waver.

If the Floating City Base was a clock suspended over the apocalypse, ticking away second by second, leading people through difficult times, then at this moment, this clock, having lost countless “gears,” was on the verge of stopping.

On one side was the hope for the future; on the other was the immediate crisis.

The Base didn’t know how to choose. Everything had fallen into a delicate but inevitably unsustainable stalemate.

And what broke this stalemate was not a decision made by any person, but an invasion by a swarm of beasts.

For the first time, those mutated creatures capable of high-altitude flight came in swarms, charging into the face of human gunfire.

The first to be hit was the outer city’s Fourth District.

Falling in succession were the adjacent Third and Fifth Districts.

The sudden beast swarm caught the Base, already overwhelmed by the protestors, completely off guard.

The flying mutated beasts were difficult to stop. Some people died, others were infected and mutated.

The tragic scenes captured by the drones seemed to bear a startling resemblance to everything the Underground City Base had encountered.

People scrambled to flee to other districts by vehicle. The long, not-so-wide bridges in the sea of clouds were clogged with escaping vehicles.

And above those vehicles, large, highly aggressive flying insects circled constantly.

The Base’s main city immediately activated its electric defense mode.

A huge, semi-circular transparent barrier enveloped the entire main city.

Blue-purple artificial electricity flowed within the barrier. Every mutated beast that crashed into it would plummet thousands of feet into the abyss.

Only the main city possessed such a defense system, and its energy consumption was enormous. It could not be maintained for long.

“They’re attacking us! They’re organized and have a target!”

“It’s that monster, the monster in the research institute! It can control the black vines, so it must be able to guide these monsters to attack us!”

“We have to kill it, or we’re all going to be finished!”

The frenzied protestors were no longer just shouting and demonstrating.

They picked up anything that could be used as a weapon and, despite the military’s attempts to block them, charged toward the Base Research Institute.

The desperate people had rioted.

The research institute personnel were in chaos. The military defended the institute building to the death, but they couldn’t stop the crowd that came from all directions, wielding hammers, wrenches, clubs, or any hard object they could find, frantically smashing the institute’s glass windows.

This time, the sound of gunfire not only failed to intimidate them but completely enraged them.

The moment the research institute’s alarm sounded,

Chai Yuening walked toward the huge display screen, picked up a long-legged stool made of sturdy material, and turned back to the glass tank.

With a series of deafening crashes, the thick glass shattered, and the dark blue solution poured out.

Red lights flashed in the laboratory, a new alarm mingling with the old amidst the cacophony of human voices.

The slender black vine flowed with the water onto the floor. Chai Yuening bent down and extended her left hand. “Let’s go. I’m taking you away from here.”

The black vine seemed to hesitate for a moment, then wrapped itself around her arm.

Chai Yuening casually grabbed a white lab coat, covered her left arm, keyed in the password to open the lab door, and walked toward the emergency exit without a backward glance.

The enraged crowd couldn’t find the secret laboratory. They stormed into every lab they could, smashing every experimental tank that held black vines or other dead mutated beast samples.

The researchers scattered in panic, while the military tried desperately to stop the mob.

Chai Yuening’s right hand remained on the gun at her waist as she warily brushed past the chaotic crowd.

Suddenly, a woman with a slender figure blocked her path.

Their eyes met for a brief moment, causing her to tighten her grip on the gun at her waist.

Yi Shuyun frowned and pressed her lips together, then walked past her as if she hadn’t seen a thing.

“Follow me.”

A soft voice reached her ears amidst the deafening clamor all around.

A moment of hesitation, lasting less than a second, was cut short by the sound of military gunfire.

“The sample… is gone!”

“Damn it, take them down! Take them all down! No one leaves!”

She saw someone get shot in the leg, someone else turn back to snatch a soldier’s gun.

In the chaos, the military no longer even distinguished between rioters and researchers. Anyone they could catch, they handcuffed first.

Chai Yuening gritted her teeth, pushed through the chaotic crowd, and chased after Yi Shuyun.

Yi Shuyun walked quickly ahead, avoiding the disorderly crowds as much as possible. Along the way, she encountered numerous soldiers arresting rioters, but they all politely moved around her.

She led Chai Yuening to an inconspicuous, remote side door of the research institute.

The iron door had been smashed, but there were no rioters in sight now.

Chai Yuening saw an unfamiliar armored vehicle parked by the door. Ye Qing stood beside it, gazing at her with a complicated expression.

She walked forward, somewhat surprised, only to see a familiar face poke out from the vehicle’s window.

“Captain!” Lu Qi waved his arm at her.

Yi Shuyun stuffed two things into her hand. “Go. Take these and head to the elevator platform.”

One was a permit from the main city military to descend to the surface, the other was a Floating City communicator.

“Dr. Yi…”

“You’re still not going? You want to wait for them to come and arrest you?”

Chai Yuening took a deep breath and ran toward the armored vehicle.

Lu Qi: “Captain, you were locked up for quite a while!”

Lao Xiang, in the driver’s seat, glanced back. “Where’s Chu Ci?”

Chai Yuening pulled off the lab coat covering her, and an instant later, a “Holy shit!” sounded in her ear.

The next second, the armored vehicle’s accelerator was floored, and it sped toward the main city’s elevator platform.

The black vine wrapped around her arm was like a dead thing, quiet and incredibly cold.

Chai Yuening looked out the window at the skyscrapers flashing by, at the boundless sea of clouds in the distance, at the glaring sun in the sky, and at the swarm of beasts hovering outside the defense barrier.

Finally, she looked back behind her, at the tall Base Research Institute, which was growing smaller and smaller in her vision.

She could hardly believe it. She had actually run off with the Floating City’s most important sample.

After she left with this sample, what would happen to the research institute, what would happen to the Floating City, and what would happen to the world of humanity?

She couldn’t imagine…

But she knew that leaving this place meant losing the protection of her people.

She could selfishly choose to leave, unafraid of life or death, but what about the others? They had no reason to follow her to the surface, where survival was a near-impossibility.

Chai Yuening’s brow furrowed tightly as she asked in a low voice, “You guys… you’re going to follow me through this too?”

“Of course! Who else would we follow?” Lao Xiang laughed. “Go protest with those rioters?”

Lu Qi: “I could never shout those slogans.”

Ren Dong: “Chu Ci would never hurt anyone. They’re all talking nonsense.”

Chai Yuening: “Don’t you know how dangerous the surface is now?”

Du Xia: “That’s exactly why we can’t let you go alone.”

Chai Yuening was at a loss for words.

She was silent for a long time, a mist unavoidably clouding her eyes.

Her teammates beside her spoke cheerfully about the future.

“Dr. Yi gave us a communicator. She said she’ll find a way to remotely connect our frequency to the Underground City. The Underground City will send people to pick us up,” Ren Dong said. “We’re going back. That’s our home.”

Chai Yuening was stunned for a moment, then asked softly, “Du Xia, your grandmother…”

“She’s not going back,” Du Xia said. “She said she’s old and just wants to die in a place where she can see the light.”

Perhaps, for an old woman of Du Xia’s grandmother’s age, the Floating City was like the old world they had once lived in.

In this world, everyone had their own aspirations and choices.

The cleared armored vehicle drove onto the elevator platform and slowly descended toward the surface.

Through the tempered glass surrounding the platform, they gazed at the buoyancy pillars gleaming with golden light in the distance, once again bidding farewell to this human base from the depths of their hearts.

Chai Yuening looked down at the black vine wrapped tightly around her arm, the corners of her eyes curving into a smile of relief.

Humanity no longer wanted this sample. She would take her to freedom, far away.

This was her aspiration and her choice.

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Author’s Notes:

I can wander with you, even though I know the outcome won’t be good (just kidding).

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