EDEH Chapter 35

“In three more months we can get genetic testing and choose whether to continue being ordinary people or deviants…”

 

“Assuming we can get out of here alive.”

 

Flames soared skyward, thick smoke billowed—

 

What was burning wasn’t a house, not a community, not even a city, but an endless ancient forest stretching as far as the eye could see.

 

Huo Yanji walked through the forest, his leg wound throbbing.

 

Scattered conversation came from a small cave not far away. He slowly walked over, ashes dancing with thick smoke behind him, charred dead wood constantly falling.

 

He paid no attention, completely indifferent.

 

Three young people hid in the cave, back to back, covering their mouths and noses with wet clothes to avoid the wildfire.

 

The thin, small girl on the left whispered, “This is the last flare.”

 

Huo Yanji bent down and entered the cave expressionlessly, quietly watching the three young people, reading their names in his mind.

 

Ji Zhen, Huo Jiangmin… and Bo Qing.

 

They seemed unable to see the uninvited guest at the cave entrance, talking among themselves.

 

“Hold on a little longer. If no one comes to rescue us, then we’ll use it.” Bo Qing patted Ji Zhen’s head and sighed, “I should have known better than to bring you out.”

 

Huo Jiangmin laughed, “Without Ji Zhen’s flare, no one would find us even if we burned to ash.”

 

Ji Zhen smiled, “If we make it back alive, do you want to evolve or stay ordinary people?”

 

Bo Qing chuckled, “That depends on whether I pass the genetic test.”

 

“What if you do pass?” Huo Jiangmin put his arm around Bo Qing’s shoulder, hooking his palm with a light laugh, “I want to know too.”

 

Bo Qing said, “Then of course I’d be a deviant. Being born in this era, it would be such a shame not to leave your name in the history books.”

 

Huo Jiangmin sighed, “We’re doomed. Looks like we’ll have to break up—I want to be a supervisor.”

 

Bo Qing clicked his tongue, “You’re just bored out of your mind, insisting on doing thankless work. This is how history will judge us: the infamous Huo Jiangmin and the renowned Fu Bo Qing.”

 

Huo Jiangmin laughed quietly, “Then they’ll start studying this history and discover that these two people were outwardly opposed but secretly colluding.”

 

“Idiot, can’t you use better words?”

 

The three laughed together, showing no despair despite being near death.

 

Ji Zhen smiled brightly, suddenly looking at Huo Yanji who had been standing at the cave entrance for a long time, asking, “What about Yanji?”

 

“…Deviant.” Huo Yanji gave the same answer as back then, along with the same question in return, “What about you?”

 

“I don’t know…” As smoke spread, Ji Zhen coughed a few times, “Sometimes I think maybe we can’t decide our own future.”

 

“If we can’t decide for ourselves, who can?” Huo Jiangmin switched the cloth covering his nose with Bo Qing’s—his was wetter.

 

“Probably decided by the era, social structure, and that small group of people who control humanity’s lifeline,” Ji Zhen said seriously. “But if I could choose, I wouldn’t want to ‘evolve’ or be a supervisor. I’d want to work in a hospital or research institute, like Hill.”

 

Huo Jiangmin, leaning on Bo Qing’s shoulder, flicked her forehead, “Our Ji Zhen is too good-natured, doesn’t want to kill or watch others die.”

 

Ji Zhen protested, “Nonsense, don’t people die in hospitals every day?”

 

“They won’t,” Huo Yanji said, looking down. “People who are truly going to die can’t get into hospitals.”

 

Huo Yanji’s tall figure blocked the light source at the cave entrance, casting the three people in shadow.

 

The smile on Ji Zhen’s face suddenly faded. She sighed and complained abruptly, “Yes, you killed so many people, I couldn’t save them all.”

 

Bo Qing also suddenly turned his head, his hand still around Huo Jiangmin’s waist, looking at him and saying, “Yanji lied to us… you didn’t become a deviant.”

 

“None of us got what we wanted.”

 

That’s how he answered.

 

Suddenly, everything before him scattered like sand in the wind. First the cave disappeared, exposing them to the raging wildfire, with the “crackling” sound of burning trees filling their ears.

 

Ji Zhen turned to ash, dancing in the sky, followed by Huo Jiangmin, who looked at him without saying a word, and finally Bo Qing.

 

Bo Qing stood up, and with each step toward him, part of his body would crumble in the wind.

 

He smiled and asked, “Our Yanji must be very lonely now.”

 

“Not too bad.”

 

As soon as the words fell, everything before him completely shattered.

 

What came into view was a humanoid creature on the stone cliff two thousand meters underground in Rift No. 2, stretching its limbs and growing facial features, becoming Bo Qing’s likeness.

 

He stood at the edge of the abyss, looking back at him.

 

In his ears was a conversation that had appeared at some unknown time, Ji Zhen asking, “If my brother and your brother both fell into the water, who would you save first?”

 

“Neither,” Huo Jiangmin had scoffed. “I’d go assassinate whoever asked that question first.”

 

“Oh, I was just asking for fun.” Ji Zhen asked again, “What if the world and my brother were on opposite sides? Which side would you choose?”

 

“What, is your brother going to become some kind of ultimate villain?”

 

“That’s impossible. If my brother and the world were on opposite sides, then this world must be broken.”

 

The tall, slender figure of the young man leaned against the ruins, smiling sideways. “What else can you do with a broken world? Destroy it.”

 

There were playful, chattering sounds in his ears, muffled as if through a layer of gauze, buzzing. Before his eyes was only the fake Bo Qing standing at the edge of the rift—that face bore no carefree smile.

 

A beam of light shone down, illuminating half of Bo Qing’s eyes. His lips, hidden in shadow, opened and closed, silently saying a few words.

 

“The world isn’t broken. What’s broken is you… is everyone.”

 

He closed his eyes and fell backward, abandoning the faint light, freely plummeting into the endless abyss.

 

Huo Yanji reached out and grasped nothing.

 

Once again, he failed to catch Bo Qing. No one caught Bo Qing.

 

He didn’t know when he had also come to stand at the edge of the rift, with no light at all. Just one more step forward and he would fall, finding eternal rest here.

 

Eternal rest was the most luxurious gift of this era.

 

The falling Bo Qing laughed softly, “Are you coming to keep me company?”

 

Before he could say “no,” it seemed someone was calling in his ear: “Ji Ji…”

 

Bo Qing’s teasing voice came to his ear: “Ji Ji? Who gave you that nickname? How interesting.”

 

…

 

“He’s responding! He’s responding!” Shui Ming said excitedly. “Keep calling!”

 

In the human base two thousand meters underground in Rift No. 2, Huo Yanji lay on a dust-covered bed, eyes tightly closed, brow slightly furrowed. Even the oxygen mask couldn’t save his weak breathing.

 

The little evil dragon rarely felt what shame was.

 

Especially after someone explained to him what “Ji Ji” was a homophone for, calling this nickname in front of so many people… felt so strange.

 

He leaned close to Huo Yanji’s ear and whispered, “Ji Ji.”

 

“If you die too, I won’t want to make friends anymore.” Sang Jue selectively ignored Colin. “I know why you don’t like this nickname. When you wake up, I’ll change it.”

 

He asked for opinions: “How about Huo Huo?”

 

“Mm… Ji Ji still seems to roll off the tongue better.”

 

“Why aren’t you waking up yet?”

 

Sang Jue stared at Huo Yanji’s handsome sleeping face, suddenly reached out, grabbed his long black eyelashes, and threatened fiercely: “I’ll eat you.”

 

Huo Yanji’s breathing suddenly became rapid, the oxygen mask filled with fog. He suddenly opened his eyes, his chest heaving violently.

 

“Ji Ji!”

 

“Mm…” Huo Yanji said hoarsely, “You’re pressing on… the oxygen tube.”

 

Sang Jue looked at his arm blankly, belatedly stood up, hands behind his back, like a child who had done something wrong.

 

He said quietly, “Sorry.”

 

Huo Yanji’s voice was very light, as if it would scatter with the wind: “It’s okay.”

 

Shui Ming’s heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally relaxed halfway. He spoke rapidly: “Your condition is very dangerous right now. We must perform emergency surgery on you. The good news is the wound is far from the major artery. The bad news is we haven’t found any usable anesthetic.”

 

Huo Yanji closed his eyes and said, “Do it.”

 

His breathing was still somewhat rapid, but his heartbeat had returned, reaching the safe threshold for emergency treatment.

 

“We don’t have clean clothes for you to…”

 

“No need.”

 

Sang Jue roughly knew what they were going to do. He knelt beside Huo Yanji and offered his arm to Huo Yanji’s face: “If it hurts a lot, you can temporarily take off the oxygen mask and bite my arm—it’s very clean.”

 

Huo Yanji tilted his head slightly: “Aren’t you afraid of pain?”

 

Shui Ming just wanted to sound the alarm.

 

This wasn’t about whether Sang Jue was afraid of pain! Sang Jue was a deviant—could he bite that!?

 

He said tactfully, “Just hold the general’s hand. Biting the arm is really dangerous.”

 

Sang Jue made an “oh” sound and grasped Huo Yanji’s slender fingers, holding them tightly: “You can pinch me if it hurts too much.”

 

“…” Shui Ming said, “Let’s begin.”

 

A Qin took a deep breath, unwrapped the hemostatic bandage on Huo Yanji’s leg, and after simple treatment, picked up broken flint and used its scalding interior to directly cauterize Huo Yanji’s wound.

 

The sizzling sound rang in everyone’s ears. Although A Qin was used to it, she was still a bit nervous—this was the first time treating a wound for such an important person.

 

But her hands were steady as she carefully cleaned the wound. This was a long-neglected base with no usable tools or medicine, so they could only use the most primitive methods.

 

The wound was a bloody mess, the scalding flint burning the fascia and flesh with a sizzling sound.

 

It looked very painful.

 

Huo Yanji showed no reaction yet, but Sang Jue had already frowned.

 

Huo Yanji’s face was pale, a bead of sweat sliding down his forehead. Even with his eyes closed, he seemed to sense Sang Jue’s discomfort and said, “If you can’t handle it, turn your head and look at my face.”

 

“It’s not that.” Sang Jue was conflicted. “You’re a little bit cooked, there’s a meaty aroma.”

 

Huo Yanji: “…”

 

Shui Ming didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “What, do you want to take a bite?”

 

Sang Jue thought privately that such a small amount wouldn’t even fill the gaps between his teeth—and he didn’t have the habit of eating human flesh to satisfy hunger, after all, he’d grown up among humans.

 

A Qin finally let out a long breath much later, wiping the sweat from her face: “Now we begin suturing.”

 

After a long hour, all of Huo Yanji’s external injuries were finally treated. After injecting an antibiotic, he closed his eyes again, but this time it wasn’t unconsciousness—he fell into deep sleep.

 

Sang Jue knew he could do many things, like exploring this base that had been sealed for years—there must be many interesting things, or reading that leather notebook.

 

But he couldn’t muster any interest. He lay bored by the bedside, asking for the seventh time: “Why isn’t he waking up yet?”

 

“Maybe he’s too tired.” Shui Ming sighed. “If your body is healthy, you can hold on, but once you’re seriously injured or ill, all the pressure gets released at once.”

 

Sang Jue lay by the bedside, pursing his lips: “But I don’t like him sleeping all the time.”

 

Shui Ming asked, “Why?”

 

Sang Jue said, “Because he doesn’t respond to what I say, and he can’t touch my tail.”

 

Although he had always thought about “eating” Huo Yanji before returning to his home planet, so he could transform into his appearance whenever he wanted to find Huo Yanji… he suddenly realized that wouldn’t be the real Huo Yanji.

 

In human terms, he could simulate Huo Yanji’s body, but couldn’t simulate his soul.

 

The tip of Sang Jue’s tail gently rested in Huo Yanji’s palm, occasionally patting it lightly.

 

Shui Ming’s heart raced watching this. Logic told him he couldn’t allow a deviant to be so close to the general—but this was the general’s precious darling.

 

Damn.

 

The worst part was that the other fifteen survivors had all seen Sang Jue’s tail and knew he was a deviant.

 

Shui Ming wasn’t worried about the soldiers betraying them, but he was concerned about those ignorant and cowardly community residents.

 

—After realizing that Huo Yanji truly didn’t care whether they stayed or left, they had sheepishly remained.

 

*

 

Huo Yanji opened his eyes to see a gray steel ceiling—this was a large base warehouse.

 

All the surrounding shelves were covered with black cloth, but judging from their shapes, there should be large artillery shells underneath.

 

The hollow staircase on the right led to an indoor walkway, with a row of control panels on the inner side of the walkway, densely packed with buttons of various colors.

 

Most people weren’t in the warehouse; only two soldiers stood guard three meters away. There was a very light breathing sound by his ear.

 

Huo Yanji turned his head and looked down to see a fluffy head on his shoulder—

 

It was Sang Jue, who had fallen asleep waiting, still holding an old notebook in his arms.

 

After watching for a while, he raised his hand to brush Sang Jue’s messy hair behind his ear.

 

Sang Jue immediately opened his eyes: “You’re awake?”

 

Huo Yanji said, “If you’re tired, you can sleep a bit more.”

 

Sang Jue shook his head: “I’m not tired.”

 

Happy as he was, his tail unconsciously clung to him, draping around Huo Yanji’s neck like a scarf.

 

If Shui Ming saw this, he’d probably suffocate again.

 

Huo Yanji showed no particular reaction: “Did you find food?”

 

“We did,” Sang Jue said, “but all the nutrient solutions in the base have expired long ago. Only some specially made compressed crackers are edible.”

 

Huo Yanji had expected this and wasn’t surprised: “Bear with it, it’ll be better once we get out.”

 

Sang Jue hummed: “I didn’t mean to finish all the sandwiches. I didn’t know you hadn’t eaten.”

 

“It’s fine, I don’t like the taste of sandwiches.” Huo Yanji looked at Sang Jue calmly. “I didn’t faint because I didn’t eat the sandwich.”

 

“I know, Ah Qin explained it to me—your wound got infected.”

 

Sang Jue had pre-soaked some compressed crackers and fed them to Huo Yanji’s mouth: “It tastes strange, but Ah Qin said you need to take in fluids.”

 

Huo Yanji ate everything Sang Jue fed him without changing expression.

 

How could anyone like soggy compressed crackers but not fresh sandwiches?

 

Sang Jue was a bit suspicious of his own taste buds and tried another piece with half-belief.

 

“…”

 

Sang Jue forced himself to swallow it, his delicate eyebrows knitting together, feeling much like when he’d eaten that super cilantro paste before.

 

Huo Yanji’s lips curved slightly: “You don’t have to force yourself.”

 

“…” He was being mocked.

 

Sang Jue tried to change the subject: “Were you and Bo Qing friends?”

 

Huo Yanji: “Why do you ask?”

 

Sang Jue was a bit unhappy: “Because when you were unconscious earlier, you called his name twice, but you never called mine once—is he your best friend?”

 

Huo Yanji paused: “He used to be.”

 

Sang Jue asked, “Not anymore?”

 

“He’s already dead.”

 

Sang Jue made a sound: “Then who is Ji Zhen?”

 

Huo Yanji answered: “Bo Qing’s sister.”

 

The tip of Sang Jue’s tail curled up questioningly, brushing across Huo Yanji’s chin: “Why don’t they have the same surname?”

 

“Because it wasn’t allowed.”

 

Huo Yanji couldn’t remember what he had dreamed about before, but Sang Jue’s questions reminded him of some things from long ago.

 

Bo Qing and Ji Zhen were twins, but children born in the underground city weren’t supposed to have bonds. Surnames and blood relations were both types of bonds.

 

They weren’t children—they were solitary sparks, the teachers always said.

 

Only Huo Jiangmin and Huo Yanji were exceptions, because they possessed that person’s genes. The surname “Huo” was a stabilizing agent.

 

Young Ji Zhen was very envious, because she wasn’t allowed to call Bo Qing “brother”—she could only pretend to be strangers in public while secretly clinging to him in private.

 

To make Ji Zhen happy, Bo Qing invented the same surname for both of them—Fu, after their favorite teacher’s surname.

 

Fu Bo Qing and Fu Ji Zhen, just like Huo Jiangmin and Huo Yanji.

 

They were intimate yet distant, in an inseparable symbiotic relationship.

 

But that was all before they were twelve, when they still had childish innocence. When they came to the surface, they had to quickly adapt, enter military academy life, and shoulder responsibilities they couldn’t yet fully understand, each developing their own concerns and secrets.

 

Especially for Huo Jiangmin and Huo Yanji—they bore the surname Huo, so everyone’s expectations of them were completely different. They had to be the most excellent, without any flaws.

 

The first time they went on a solo mission, they were accidentally trapped in a cave by a terrible wildfire. Though the four of them were helpless in the face of death, they could still boldly and freely imagine their futures.

 

Later, as they gradually became capable of handling things independently and traveled farther and farther, the fire in their hearts was extinguished instead.

 

The future didn’t unfold as they had planned, and the world wasn’t what they had imagined.

 

Especially when they learned… that everyone was living in a monstrous lie.

 

The terrifying thing was that even those who told the lies hadn’t thought about what kind of backlash would come if the lies were exposed in the future.

 

They developed disagreements and conflicts, each going their separate ways—

 

Huo Jiangmin was assigned to guard the Eye of Paradise, Ji Zhen went to support District 19 thousands of miles away, and Huo Yanji was leading a team to build the underground drainage system for the seventh safe zone.

 

Only Bo Qing remained in the main city, waiting for them to return.

 

But all he waited for were accusations and judgment.

 

…

 

Sang Jue pursed his lips: “You’re unhappy.”

 

Huo Yanji: “Am I?”

 

Sang Jue nodded: “Yes. I won’t compete with them for the best friend position, but can I rank third?”

 

“Does ranking matter?”

 

Sang Jue said seriously: “Of course it matters. Your ranking in my heart depends on my ranking in yours.”

 

He had already been a licking dragon once and didn’t want to do it a second time.

 

Huo Yanji pinched away the tail tip that was brushing back and forth under his chin, saying flatly: “You can rank first.”

 

“Really?”

 

Sang Jue withdrew his sensitive tail tip and continued to serve as Huo Yanji’s scarf, completely oblivious to how ‘suffocating’ this friendship was.

 

Huo Yanji hummed: “Really.”

 

Sang Jue happily swished his tail. Leaning against Huo Yanji’s waist, he tilted his head and asked: “Then would you like your number one best friend to read you the notebook?”

 

Huo Yanji agreed.

 

“Mm—” Sang Jue finally opened the notebook he had found and said, “Page one: ‘Ivan’s Bored-Out-of-His-Mind Underground Work Diary,’ parentheses, my balls really do hurt a bit, probably because I changed into new underwear today, close parentheses.”

 

**

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