EDEH Chapter 12

[007 Diary Entry 7]

 

[The little evil dragon’s definition of friendship is always different from ordinary people, perhaps because he grew up in a cold laboratory.

 

His new friend is about to lose control, and he wants to try to save him.

 

I didn’t stop his behavior, even though I know the outcome.

 

Subject 002’s words and actions are contradictory—sometimes warm, sometimes cold. I cannot make judgments based on this; more data is needed for observation.

 

The little evil dragon has not yet contacted Subject 001. I look forward to their meeting.]

 

·

 

Huo Yanji showed no expression, his pupils as dark as obsidian, seemingly loaded with too many things.

 

“Can I follow you?” Sang Jue didn’t know he was only one step away from a bullet. “I’m scared.”

 

He said he was scared, but his tone didn’t match.

 

Although he theoretically knew that humans would feel affection for weak creatures, Sang Jue wasn’t a qualified actor and didn’t know how to properly play a weak creature.

 

Huo Yanji released the gun handle and raised his hand to wipe away the bloodstain on Sang Jue’s cheek.

 

“I have a mission. I’ll be leaving the city in three hours.”

 

“Where to?”

 

“District Seven.”

 

007, who had been silent, suddenly said in his ear: [The spacecraft is in the direction of District Seven.]

 

Sang Jue blinked and looked sincerely at Huo Yanji: “I can go with you and protect you.”

 

Zhang Min, who was directing subordinates to clean up the honey-guide corpses, laughed. This was the first time he’d heard someone say they wanted to protect Huo Yanji.

 

“The General doesn’t need protection from others.”

 

“That’s not true. Everyone needs to be protected.” Sang Jue refuted Zhang Min and said to Huo Yanji, “You protect others, I’ll protect you.”

 

Huo Yanji mimicked Sang Jue’s flat tone from earlier, even his teasing was so cold: “Someone just said, ‘Can I follow you? I’m scared.'”

 

“Being scared can still protect you.” Sang Jue added, “I won’t be scared when I’m with you.”

 

Zhang Min couldn’t help but smile.

 

Huo Yanji glanced at the time: “Go home and pack your things. Deputy Zhang will pick you up in three hours.”

 

“I don’t have a home.” Sang Jue was like a little chatterbox, describing last night in detail. “Last night Old Karl mixed me a drink called Dawn. It was very sweet and fragrant, but after drinking it my head was dizzy, so I forgot about renting a house.”

 

Zhang Min thoughtfully helped his superior out: “Would you like to go say goodbye to Mr. Karl?”

 

It was now confirmed that this bird attack was a feint. District Seven’s sonic dispersal device had been destroyed by honey-guides, birds had invaded the city causing chaos, and they had repeatedly requested support from the main city.

 

Huo Yanji was the commander-in-chief of this support mission. In the three hours before departure, he had many things to do.

 

Besides assembling soldiers, he needed to arrange post-disaster cleanup operations for the supervisors remaining in the main city, confirm the list of mercenaries voluntarily joining the support team, tally needed vehicles and weapons, estimate losses and casualties, and strategic plans.

 

Huo Yanji handed Sang Jue a pass card: “Don’t lose it.”

 

“Okay.” Sang Jue picked up his bag and left. When he reached the corridor, he poked his head back through the door: “Don’t forget to bring me.”

 

“I won’t.”

 

After Sang Jue left the residential building, he finally breathed fresh air.

 

He was an evil dragon with very acute senses and didn’t like being soaked in the smell of blood.

 

The honey-guides could no longer be seen in the main city’s sky, but there were quite a few corpses on the streets. Besides honey-guides, there were occasionally some soldiers’ bodies mixed in.

 

The lockdown hadn’t been lifted yet, residents were still forbidden from going out, and the Supervision Bureau was cleaning up the aftermath.

 

With Huo Yanji’s pass card, Sang Jue traveled unobstructed.

 

An hour later, Sang Jue arrived outside the research institute.

 

This building was full of cold technological texture, and entering the lobby made him feel even colder.

 

Sang Jue felt somewhat familiar with it, after all, he was an evil dragon who had grown up in such a place.

 

However, the research institute on his home planet was much larger than this one, almost the size of a district in the main city.

 

Sang Jue walked up to the receptionist and politely asked: “Excuse me, which floor are the infected individuals brought in today?”

 

Seeing Huo Yanji’s pass card, the receptionist quickly answered: “Third floor.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Ding—”

 

“Third floor reached.” The mechanical voice sounded in his ears.

 

As the elevator doors opened, Sang Jue almost bumped into Hill, who was looking down at some documents.

 

“Oh, it’s you. We meet again.” Hill smiled. “Is there something you need?”

 

Sang Jue said: “I came to visit the infected person who was just brought in.”

 

Hill closed the documents in her hands: “The route is a bit winding. I’ll take you there.”

 

Sang Jue nodded obediently.

 

After walking just a few steps, he saw a familiar plant through the thick protective glass—the forget-worry vine he had brought back.

 

After two days, this vine had grown a bit larger. As if sensing his arrival, it suddenly became agitated, repeatedly hitting the glass container. The researchers nearby recorded its changes but didn’t notice Sang Jue passing through the corridor.

 

Sang Jue felt like he was a giant cake that all monsters except humanoid contaminants wanted to take a bite of.

 

Hill: “What’s the name of the person you want to visit?”

 

“His name is Karl.”

 

“Surname?”

 

Sang Jue honestly shook his head: “I don’t know.”

 

Hill smiled helplessly: “Well, let’s hope there are no duplicates. Today we have twenty-one former residents who volunteered to become experimental observation subjects.”

 

Sang Jue blinked. He didn’t have any particular feelings about death.

 

Even knowing that these twenty-one people would all die one after another in the coming days, to him they were really just a string of numbers—only Old Karl was slightly different.

 

Hill had Sang Jue put on a disposable isolation suit and reminded him: “Keep your distance from the infected.”

 

A minute later, Sang Jue saw Old Karl lying on the hospital bed—frail, pale… they had only been apart for just over an hour.

 

Seeing him was somewhat unexpected. Old Karl gossiped: “What exactly is your relationship with Huo Yanji?”

 

The fact that Sang Jue could appear here could only mean his relationship with Huo Yanji was unusual. This kind of place wasn’t somewhere just anyone could enter.

 

“He’s my…” Sang Jue said, “friend.”

 

“I doubt that.” Old Karl raised an eyebrow. “You really haven’t slept together?”

 

“Mating?” Sang Jue explained: “No. I’m male, Huo Yanji is also male, and we have species barriers, so we can’t mate.”

 

Old Karl: “Why can’t you? Although the law prohibits deviants and ordinary people from sleeping together, it’s Huo Yanji who’d be doing the penetrating, not you. As long as he wears protection and doesn’t cause bleeding, he won’t be infected by you.”

 

“…”

 

Sang Jue decided not to discuss this matter with Old Karl anymore. They weren’t on the same wavelength.

 

This sample area had many people like Old Karl, all on isolated hospital beds. Research personnel walked back and forth, constantly recording their conditions.

 

The infected person next to Old Karl had almost melted into a puddle of red viscous liquid on the bed, with only half his head still unmelted, his black eyeballs filled with deep terror.

 

Old Karl sighed softly: “This is what happens when contamination fails. Only a ten percent probability.”

 

After being infected by wild contamination genes, the human body could exhibit three possible states—ninety percent probability of becoming a monster, ten percent probability of infection failure and melting into an indescribable mass, and one in a thousand probability of resisting the contamination and evolving while retaining sanity.

 

Processed contamination gene data had much better odds, with the same three states—fifty percent possibility of achieving low-level fusion; forty-nine percent possibility of achieving high-level fusion; one percent possibility of fusion failure, becoming an indescribable mass.

 

Sang Jue murmured: “The consequence of two genes fighting in the body and failing to recombine.”

 

Old Karl was stunned: “The kid knows quite a lot.”

 

“I heard it from someone else.” Sang Jue vaguely remembered that the doctor seemed to have said this.

 

007’s voice sounded in his ear: [Surveillance footage has been replaced. You may begin.]

 

Sang Jue glanced at the camera. His purpose for coming here was certainly not just to visit.

 

Using the partition curtain as cover, he sat by the bedside and scratched his neck under the bandage where the wound hadn’t healed yet: “Lick it off quickly.”

 

“What—”

 

A drop of blood fell on Old Karl’s cracked lips. He was stunned for a moment, then felt a strange thirst, wanting more… like a dying traveler in the desert suddenly encountering an oasis, wishing he could soak in the water.

 

His brain seemed to have some incomprehensible language saying—too little, not enough… far from enough!!

 

Old Karl was startled and snapped back to awareness.

 

“I don’t know if you’ll be able to survive.” Sang Jue said seriously. “But I wish you a full recovery.”

 

Sang Jue knew he was special.

 

Back on his home planet, the doctor would regularly draw his blood for research. Although each blood draw was very uncomfortable, and although the doctor’s expression was always disappointed after each study, he still wanted to try to see if he could save Old Karl.

 

After all, when he was infected by sewer spores before, he didn’t mutate—he just had a fever for one night.

 

If he successfully saved Old Karl, his secret might be discovered, and humans might try every means to capture him—but he had the ability to protect himself, and with 007 around, this planet’s network systems were vulnerable.

 

Besides, the evil dragon’s mission was to save the world, and Old Karl was part of the world.

 

“I have to go.” Sang Jue thought for a moment and said, “Don’t tell anyone I have a tail.”

 

“What exactly are you?”

 

Old Karl took a deep breath, his hand hanging by the bed trembling slightly. What was Sang Jue’s purpose? Why was he hiding his deviant identity to infiltrate the main city?

 

“I’m your friend.” Sang Jue didn’t understand why he was asking this. He looked down at the time and said, “I’m going on a mission with General Huo. Goodbye.”

 

Old Karl smirked and watched Sang Jue walk away.

 

The little guy had no idea what he was doing. Every deviant’s blood was contaminated, yet Sang Jue had actually fed his own blood to another dying person.

 

He even wondered if Sang Jue was desperately trying anything in his panic, just fooling around.

 

But… whether dying sooner or later, it was still death. Dying with good intentions might be more peaceful.

 

…

 

Beep beep—the communicator rang.

 

Sang Jue pressed answer: “Are you coming to pick me up?”

 

“Go to the research institute’s rooftop. Zhang Min will pick you up.” Huo Yanji’s voice came through. “I’m at the outpost outside the city.”

 

Each floor of the elevator required a pass card, but fortunately Huo Yanji’s pass card had extensive privileges.

 

Sang Jue successfully reached the top floor and saw a helicopter circling overhead. The fuselage was sleek, though the exterior looked somewhat old with many metal scratches.

 

“…”

 

Sang Jue instinctively took a step back.

 

He had a secret—he was an evil dragon afraid of heights.

 

Although he could fly, he could only fly at low altitudes.

 

Zhang Min said gently: “The shell is recycled materials, but the internal configuration is all top-quality. Don’t worry about crashing.”

 

Sang Jue hesitantly got on and fastened his seatbelt: “This is my first time on a helicopter.”

 

“Are you scared?”

 

As the altitude increased, his body gradually felt out of control.

 

Sang Jue gripped his seatbelt, his fear of heights slowly affecting him: “I’m okay.”

 

Zhang Min smiled—he had clearly wrinkled the seatbelt from gripping it so tightly.

 

Sang Jue asked: “When we go to District Seven later, will we also take a helicopter?”

 

Zhang Min: “No, helicopters in the wilderness would be attacked by flying creatures.”

 

After reaching high altitude, he discovered the main city wasn’t actually that large. Those cramped, oppressive high-rises gradually shrank, while the lighthouse’s peak grew closer and closer.

 

The helicopter passed by the lighthouse, and Sang Jue saw a honeycomb-shaped device spreading outward. Looking down from above, it resembled ripples spreading through water.

 

“Is this the sonic dispersal device?”

 

“Yes, it’s protected us from deviant bird attacks for many years. It’s existed for a very long time.”

 

“Won’t it be attacked by bird flocks since it’s exposed outside?”

 

“Supervisors won’t let that happen.”

 

“Isn’t the supervisors’ job to supervise deviants?”

 

“How could that be?” Zhang Min discovered the innocent kid really had many questions, but he still patiently answered. “Though it’s normal—many people have this misunderstanding. But the reason the General became a lieutenant general certainly isn’t because he’s done well supervising deviants all these years.”

 

Supervising deviants was just one of their tasks. Protecting humanity’s genetic bloodline and continuing human civilization was the top priority.

 

They had no fewer responsibilities than deviants. In fact, supervisors controlled more than half of the important positions in the main city.

 

Sang Jue: “Then he’s really amazing.”

 

Zhang Min chuckled: “The General is indeed amazing. He bears many responsibilities.”

 

“Deputy Zhang.” Sang Jue blinked. “You have the scent of spring about you.”

 

Zhang Min didn’t react immediately: “What?”

 

But Sang Jue said nothing more. The doctor had said that seeing through things but not speaking them was gentlemanly behavior—he wanted to be a gentleman dragon.

 

The helicopter landed at the outpost’s airfield. Within a three-kilometer radius outside the main city were many such outposts, convenient for monitoring enemy movements at the first opportunity.

 

Huo Yanji was below, talking with other officers about something.

 

Sang Jue jumped down from the helicopter, finally feeling less nervous. He looked back and saw that Deputy Zhang had no intention of getting off.

 

Sang Jue asked puzzledly: “Aren’t you going?”

 

Zhang Min said: “With the General away, there’s still a lot of cleanup work in the main city that I need to handle.”

 

Sang Jue said: “Alright, take care of yourself.”

 

Zhang Min smiled softly: “I will.”

 

Not far away, Huo Yanji, having finished his tactical deployment, glanced over and beckoned: “Come here.”

 

Sang Jue obediently walked over and placed his backpack in Huo Yanji’s hands.

 

Huo Yanji: “…”

 

Sang Jue tilted his head: “Weren’t you going to help me carry my backpack?”

 

Huo Yanji: “…We’re about to depart.”

 

Carrying Sang Jue’s small backpack, the two walked side by side—no, in parallel—toward the main force.

 

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