EDEH Chapter 36

“July 25th, Year 233 of the Collapse, weekend.

 

It’s been half a year since I volunteered to come to Rift No. 2, and my steps are still stuck at the 2,000-meter underground position. They say they must absolutely guarantee my safety. But this is like making love with a lover—knowing the destination is right ahead, but only being able to go halfway, just lightly rubbing.

 

Hard as hell, extremely uncomfortable.

 

Speaking of lovers, I really miss my precious baby with that incredibly perky ass and huge chest muscles. Will I ever see him again in this lifetime?

 

Why can’t I bring him underground? This boring, dull research life really needs some seasoning.

 

Oh my Jesse… Jenny? When I return to the surface, I hope I won’t be too old to handle you.”

 

…

 

The opened page was forcibly covered by a hand.

 

Sang Jue was like a student reading from a textbook, properly holding the notebook. Even with some inappropriate sentences, he wouldn’t pause, as if he didn’t know what shame was.

 

When the notebook was forcibly closed, he still looked at Huo Yanji with confusion.

 

Those eyes were very pure, innocent but not childish, yet had a kind of unworldly naivety.

 

Huo Yanji calmly asked: “Is that all that’s written?”

 

Sang Jue blinked: “Don’t you like hearing this?”

 

“…” Huo Yanji grasped his tail, “Help me see where Shui Ming and the others went, can you?”

 

Sang Jue said: “They saw the elevator brake button and map at the control panel, so they wanted to try starting the generator—”

 

Huo Yanji paused: “Where is the generator located?”

 

Sang Jue shook his head. He hadn’t looked at the map, only heard Shui Ming mention casually that it was 300 meters away, and the elevator was likely nearby too.

 

“How long have they been gone?”

 

Sang Jue calculated: “Two hours.”

 

Two hours wasn’t too long, after all, this was the depths of the rift, full of dangers and pollutants everywhere. Even if there really was a generator and elevator, after so many years they might be damaged and wouldn’t be fixed quickly.

 

But—

 

“The community people were taken too?”

 

Sang Jue recalled: “He said there weren’t enough hands, and if everyone wanted to get out alive, they all had to contribute.”

 

Without communicators, there was no way to contact them. Three hundred meters wasn’t far on the surface, but the caves around the base were like a maze, winding and twisting. Never mind finding people—not getting lost yourself would be good enough.

 

Huo Yanji asked the soldier nearby: “Before Colonel Shui Ming left, did he formulate a plan for support in case of emergency?”

 

The soldier answered: “No, sir.”

 

Huo Yanji’s face darkened.

 

He wanted to get up, but was pushed back down by an unhappy Sang Jue: “Ah Qin said you need to rest for at least ten hours.”

 

Huo Yanji tried to remove his hand but couldn’t move it.

 

Meeting Sang Jue’s serious gaze, Huo Yanji sat back and leaned against the wall: “Sang Jue.”

 

“Mm?”

 

“Colin told me before that your marksmanship is very good.”

 

“Mm.”

 

“Who taught you?”

 

Sang Jue blinked: “My guardian… and friends.”

 

Why would a descendant of wanderers who grew up in ruins, isolated from the world, use the word ‘guardian’?

 

In fact, since the meteor season ended and humans returned to surface life, the concept of ‘family’ rarely existed. Everyone was born in underground cities, like batches of goods produced at set times, with no concept of parents or siblings, naturally no guardians either.

 

Sang Jue looked somewhat uneasy, staring at him without blinking, like a little puppy wanting to confirm from its owner’s reaction that everything was okay after doing something wrong.

 

This comparison was somewhat offensive, but it was indeed his first thought.

 

Sang Jue’s arms were thin, his wrists could easily be encircled by thumb and forefinger, yet he had strength that ordinary people didn’t have—genetic mutation?

 

That could barely explain it.

 

“Did they find the survivors sending distress signals from the base?”

 

“No…”

 

There were no survivors at all. It was 007 who forcibly invaded the base system, restarted the control panel, and sent distress signals outward.

 

Not only did Shui Ming not find anyone, he also discovered that the base didn’t look like anyone had entered at all—the ground was covered in dust, but not a single footprint could be seen.

 

Sang Jue hesitated: “Are you suspecting again that I’m not human…”

 

“No, Sang Jue.” Huo Yanji’s gaze didn’t waver. “But you have secrets, don’t you?”

 

Sang Jue nodded hesitantly.

 

Huo Yanji said: “Everyone has secrets. Not all secrets can be shared with others, even with friends.”

 

Sang Jue poked his fingers together.

 

Huo Yanji watched his reaction and said flatly: “I won’t press you about your secrets, but if anything touches on privacy in the future, you can tell me directly ‘I don’t want to say.’ Try not to make up lies if possible. Can you do that?”

 

Sang Jue agreed.

 

As his number one best friend, maybe he should be more honest.

 

Huo Yanji continued: “But if it’s to protect yourself, then any number of lies are fine.”

 

“Okay.” Sang Jue asked obediently, “Do you still want to continue listening to the notebook?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Sang Jue continued reading Ivan’s diary: “The elevator is completely finished. This is a great project lasting twenty years, full of miracles, reaching directly to 8,000 meters underground. 8,000 meters isn’t the elevator’s limit, but the rift’s limit.

 

We’re one step closer to the truth. What destroyed us? Maybe in the near future, we’ll be able to control pollution.”

 

…

 

“Dr. Luce seems to have discovered something. He wants me to stay at the base while he leads the team to 8,000 meters underground to explore the source of pollution. This is unacceptable to me.

 

I’m a scientist. I’ve devoted my life to pursuing the truth about rifts and pollution. The reason I abandoned my incredibly perky-assed Jenny to stay in this boring 2,000-meter underground where I have to take a breath of oxygen every so often or suffocate is for today… but Dr. Luce shut me out.

 

All the passion in my body has grown cold.

 

Damn it.”

 

…

 

“Three days have passed, and I received the first sonic signal from the depths. The gist was that they found nothing and were disappointed. They only discovered a type of underground plant that doesn’t need photosynthesis. Other than that, the underground is very dark and silent. The magnetic field there is different—it doesn’t interfere with our signals but swallows sound.

 

Dr. Luce described it like this: ‘You have to get close to someone’s ear and shout loudly to hear each other speak. Once you’re more than a meter apart, breathing, footsteps, words—everything becomes inaudible, as if they’ve arrived in a silent hell. The only jarring thing is your own pounding heartbeat.’

 

They had no results, and I actually felt a bit gleeful. Jenny said I’m very jealous, and maybe that’s true.

 

I want to be the first person to face the truth. I’m a scientist, and solving the puzzle of pollution is the highest honor I can give myself.”

 

…

 

“Ten days now, and they still haven’t returned. There was only one sonic transmission in between. Dr. Luce said Lyle disappeared, silently, but they didn’t find any monsters.

 

No, there was one monster, one he’d never seen before, beyond existing knowledge. It wasn’t bound by flesh and blood, standing quietly in the darkness, watching them.

 

It kept following them.”

 

…

 

“A month has passed, and I jerked off to a photo of Jesse’s? No, Jenny’s perky ass. They still haven’t come back, nor sent any messages.

 

Did the food and water they carried last this long? I’m puzzled. Maybe they discovered something long ago but don’t want to share it with me.

 

I wait with jealous rage, hoping my baby will appear before me immediately and stick out his ass for me to vent on.”

 

…

 

“Instead of waiting for Dr. Luce to return, I received information from headquarters telling us to prepare for evacuation—they’ll send someone to pick us up immediately. When I asked why, they only sent a satellite image.

 

It was the brilliant, boundless space, each planet with its own character. But at this moment, countless meteors are heading straight for our planet at an indescribable speed.

 

We’re finished.

 

This meteor swarm was predicted sixty years ago, but they clearly said it would enter our planet in a hundred years. Those old guys miscalculated!!

 

The underground city isn’t fully completed yet. Currently, it’s not even as big as a B-level city on the surface. How many people can it hold?”

 

…

 

“I frantically contacted Dr. Luce. I’m jealous of his talent, but he should be alive. But no matter how many sonic signals I send, he never responds to me. No one responds to me. The 26 people who went down seem to have collectively disappeared, completely lost contact.”

 

“Maybe it’s fate. Just as I was preparing to evacuate alone, I received a message from Dr. Luce—a sonic audio clip.

 

It was indeed too quiet there, as if in a vacuum environment, with only his rapid breathing and pounding heartbeat. Maybe he put the recording device on his chest, which is why I could hear it so clearly.

 

I wrote down every word he said, but I didn’t understand it.

 

‘Listen to me, Ivan… approaching, the source… don’t come down, don’t come down! They’re all dead… no, not dead… immortal, no no no… this is far beyond what I can comprehend… I, I… contempt…

 

Not all truth should be pursued.’

 

Only the last sentence was crystal clear.

 

What was he trying to say?

 

I can’t figure it out. I sent this audio to headquarters, then immediately rushed to the elevator, wanting to bring them back, but I was shocked to discover that the elevator had been remotely shut down by someone using a program… this could only be done by the engineer who went with Dr. Luce. I don’t know the code and can’t reopen the elevator.

 

Why? What’s down there? What does immortality mean? Did I hear wrong?”

 

…

 

“I stayed behind.

 

The underground city can only hold 30 million people, and the current global population is still over a billion. Most people will be abandoned. The real apocalypse is coming, and there’s no room for useless people.

 

Let me give my spot to others—women, children, or workers who worked hard to build the underground city…

 

Actually, after headquarters discovered that Dr. Luce and his team couldn’t return, they gave up on coming to get me. My value isn’t worth their trouble. I’m terrified. I don’t want to die yet. I still want to fuck Jenny’s ass once more, like two bouncy, moist peaches, very tempting.

 

But even if we enter the underground city, can our civilization really continue?

 

Humans are too fragile. Outstanding technology made us arrogant and complacent. Even the pollution from the rifts couldn’t teach us humility. We even despise this disaster, thinking we have the right to face the source of pollution and solve it.

 

Contempt… contempt! I understand now. Dr. Luce was saying that the ‘rift’ holds us in contempt—no, no, it’s the source at the bottom that holds us in contempt.

 

What is It?

 

An incomprehensible energy field, or an ancient virus? Only at this moment do I admit my own impoverished imagination.

 

But maybe there’s nothing at all, and Dr. Luce just went mad.”

 

…

 

“The base has plenty of food. As long as the meteors don’t crash in, it’s enough for me to live several hundred lifetimes.

 

In the 2,000-meter depths that never see sunlight, at the moment the meteor swarm broke through the atmosphere, a ray of red light somehow penetrated—you might think it symbolizes hope, but it actually represents the despair of destruction.

 

I’m filled with fear, fear of death, fear of humanity’s future…

 

I want to reminisce about my Jenny one last time before I die. I kissed his photo… on the ass.

 

The moment the meteors struck the ground, I sat at the base entrance, freely jerking off.

 

But they came back.

 

They emerged from the caves one by one, surrounding me in my dazed state. They walked up from 8,000 meters underground… I can’t believe it. I forgot to pull up my pants, counted again and again—26… exactly 26.

 

So… so this is what ‘immortality’ means.

 

I will die amid the ultimate absurdity, never able to know the truth.”

 

…

 

Sang Jue recognized each word individually, but couldn’t understand a single sentence when put together.

 

He didn’t quite understand: “What’s really down there?”

 

Huo Yanji said flatly: “Actually, Dr. Luce also sent an audio message to headquarters before he died.”

 

Sang Jue asked: “What did he say?”

 

“He said there’s nothing down there, humans must stay away from the depths, accept the new world, and stop investigating the so-called source and truth.”

 

If there’s nothing down there, why must they stay away?

 

This statement was very contradictory.

 

At the time, no one had the energy to understand what he meant, because the surface was about to be destroyed by the meteor season. They were busy organizing data and retreating to the underground city. All scientists at the time reached a unanimous conclusion that it would take at least a hundred years before the surface radiation brought by the meteor season would decrease to a range humans could adapt to.

 

Huo Yanji’s eyes were dark and unclear: “But less than twenty years after the meteor season ended, the ancestors in the underground city returned to the surface. The radiation on the ground had indeed increased compared to before, but it wasn’t fatal.”

 

Sang Jue didn’t understand: “Why?”

 

“At that time, someone dug up the audio Dr. Luce had transmitted back then. The most supported theory was that there really was something under the rift that absorbed more than 99.9% of the surface radiation.”

 

This theory was well-founded—

 

During the years when humans took refuge in the underground city, a detector left on the surface captured anomalies in Rift No. 9. The rift showed aurora-like colorful storms, as if the thirsty rift was devouring energy.

 

The year the anomaly disappeared, the radiation level on the surface miraculously returned to safe values.

 

**

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