[007 Diary Twenty-Three]
[Currently, No. 002 is the most suitable ‘prince’ candidate.
But for the little evil dragon personally, it may not be a good thing.]
·
People filed out of the conference room one by one. The atmosphere wasn’t tense, but it wasn’t relaxed either.
Especially for deviant soldiers, their military identity outweighed being victims of the ‘Dawn’ plan. No matter when, no matter what betrayal they faced, duty on their shoulders was above everything.
Ling Gen patted Huo Yanji’s shoulder and turned to leave.
Others dispersed one after another, no one in the mood for false pleasantries today.
Tang Bai ignored the Court members, nodding to Huo Yanji: “General.”
Huo Yanji understood his former subordinate: “Don’t force yourself.”
Tang Bai shook his head, hands in pockets: “These people are just confidential executors. The real masterminds who drafted ‘Dawn’ are already dead.”
Huo Yanji said: “You have the right to be angry.”
Tang Bai said: “If my wife were still alive, I definitely wouldn’t be able to swallow this humiliation… Right now I just feel somewhat indignant for others, but I don’t feel much myself.”
His indifference wasn’t about the deception, but about the fact that he was destined to die in the near future.
Apart from the responsibility on his shoulders, he had nothing left to let go of.
Tang Bai stopped Huo Yanji just to tease: “You’re finally having your spring too.”
It had been six or seven years since his wife died on a mission, and the initial intense pain had long since faded. Seeing his former superior no longer single, he was quite happy.
Crossing the corridor, they could already faintly see Sang Jue’s figure. Huo Yanji said flatly: “You’re thinking too much. He’s still young.”
“I actually don’t think I’m thinking too much.” Tang Bai raised an eyebrow, looking at the silhouette on the sofa in the distance. “But he seems to be angry at you.”
“…”
Sang Jue really was angry.
Based on their time together, whenever Sang Jue faced him with the back of his head, that meant he was angry.
After saying goodbye to Tang Bai, Huo Yanji walked over and asked: “What’s wrong?”
Sang Jue had heard what Huo Yanji said in the conference room about “becoming a sinner”—007 had relayed it.
He couldn’t say whether he was angry that Huo Yanji wanted to bear the consequences of others’ crimes, or angry that Huo Yanji hadn’t told him these things.
In any case, he was very angry, so angry he didn’t even want to eat.
But he couldn’t tell Huo Yanji the reason, otherwise Huo Yanji would ask him: How do you know?
Then he wouldn’t be able to answer.
Huo Yanji asked: “Why are you angry?”
Sang Jue sulked for a long time, then turned around and said: “You need to cherish life.”
Huo Yanji asked back: “Don’t I cherish it?”
“…You don’t.” Sang Jue tried to hint, “My friend can’t just die casually.”
Huo Yanji brushed aside Sang Jue’s hair: “I won’t.”
Sang Jue: “Swear it.”
Huo Yanji said: “I swear.”
As soon as the words fell, a thunderous roar from outside penetrated the walls, exploding in both their ears.
The two looked at each other for a moment, then Huo Yanji calmly looked away: “It’s raining. Let’s go home.”
Sang Jue hummed.
Huo Yanji extended his hand.
Sang Jue stared for a while, then finally placed his hand on it.
Dozens of minutes ago, the sky above the main city still had gentle sunlight.
Now, stepping out of the administrative building, the weather had become incredibly dark. The clouds weren’t pressing low, but blue-black lightning continuously split through the clouds, deafeningly loud.
The clouds burst, and bean-sized raindrops poured down torrentially, pattering into everyone’s hearts, but the anger still burned, just adding a few more notes of sorrow.
Just having supervisors maintain order was already quite strained, so soldiers also participated in maintaining public security, naturally using more forceful methods.
Many of them were deviants, but they had no time to be angry, no time to digest the truth. A soldier’s duty was to obey orders—they had truly dedicated everything to the eve of dawn.
The broadcast soon announced the city lockdown. Originally, Fu Xi’s idea was not to announce it—not all residents would necessarily notice, which could minimize psychological resistance.
But Huo Yanji coldly rejected this.
Actually, for this world where death could come at any time, the most infuriating part of the “Dawn” plan wasn’t the “100% disorder probability,” but the despicable deception.
This made all sacrifices throughout history meaningless, making the deaths of those deviants worthless.
From the loudspeaker at the street corner, the announcement echoed with the rain: “The city lockdown is not to avoid responsibility or cover up facts, but to prevent conflicts among compatriots from escalating. Those who committed these terrible crimes are the Court, we these self-righteous ‘leaders’—it has nothing to do with deviants, nothing to do with ordinary people…”
Actually, every ordinary person was a potential victim of the “Dawn” plan.
As long as the truth wasn’t revealed, there would still be wave after wave of humans who, upon reaching adulthood, would become the next generation of sacrifices. To end the tragedy, only the truth could be revealed.
Huo Yanji opened a black umbrella, tilting it slightly toward Sang Jue’s side.
Because Huo Yanji was holding the umbrella on the side closer to him, Sang Jue could only grab his sleeve, looking up to ask: “Aren’t we going home?”
He and Huo Yanji really had a significant height difference—the top of his head only reached slightly above Huo Yanji’s shoulder.
Huo Yanji said: “Let’s go to the Supervision Center first. Colin is looking for traces of Old Herman.”
007 suddenly said: [Many ordinary residents have gathered below the Supervision Center. They think General Huo hasn’t been released yet, so they went to protest.]
What a completely different attitude from two days ago—a real slap in the face.
“…” Sang Jue immediately stopped him, “You can’t go.”
If he went and saw those people, he might get another sense of responsibility and work instead of resting.
Huo Yanji said: “Why?”
Sang Jue frowned: “Your remaining time today belongs to me. You can’t see other people.”
Huo Yanji: “…”
After saying this, Sang Jue felt the reason wasn’t sufficient enough: “Because your first priority right now is to rest. Colin will definitely report immediately when he finds someone.”
Huo Yanji: “Sang Jue—”
Sang Jue’s cheeks puffed slightly: “You just swore you’d cherish life. You stayed in the interrogation room for a week, only able to sleep lightly with your chin propped up every day!”
Huo Yanji’s eyebrows raised slightly: “How do you know?”
Sang Jue said without much confidence: “I guessed.”
Huo Yanji wasn’t insistent on going to the Supervision Center, saying flatly: “Then we won’t go.”
Sang Jue was satisfied: “Go home, bathe, sleep.”
In the heavy rain, two figures, one tall and one short, stood together under the umbrella, swaying slowly forward, as if isolated from the surrounding noise and chaos, forming their own little world.
The tall figure in military uniform on the left suddenly crouched down, rolling up the slightly wet trouser cuffs for the fair, beautiful young man beside him.
“Walk properly, don’t kick your legs.” Huo Yanji stood up and said.
“Oh.” Sang Jue mainly didn’t like the wet waistband, which felt like his clothes were trying to escape.
“Is the weather this bad in other safe zones too?”
Huo Yanji said: “The main city’s weather ranks in the top three among all safe zones.”
Sang Jue asked: “Negatively?”
Huo Yanji answered: “Positively.”
“…”
Sang Jue had only been here for over a month and had already experienced three or four thunderstorms, each one quite intense.
They didn’t cause too much damage because the outposts around the main city had lightning rods, otherwise each thunderstorm would have added quite a few more casualties to the city.
In such conditions, it could still rank in the positive top three.
The little evil dragon’s topics always changed quickly: “With the city lockdown, will those deviant soldiers cooperate?”
Huo Yanji said: “They will.”
Sang Jue blinked: “Why?”
Huo Yanji said flatly: “For some people, responsibility and faith are things carved into their bones. No matter how angry they are, their bodies will obey their instincts first.”
Sang Jue made a sound, not quite understanding.
If someone had woven such a big lie to harm him, he definitely wouldn’t forgive them, just like he’d never forgiven Dr. Millie.
Sang Jue was troubled: “Why are you so tall?”
Huo Yanji could barely keep up with the topic jumps: “What’s wrong with it?”
Sang Jue said: “This way we don’t match when walking together. You should be shorter.”
Huo Yanji said flatly: “You might still grow taller, but I’m afraid I can’t get shorter.”
Sang Jue asked: “How can I grow taller?”
His human form was based on the genes of that infant from his childhood, who might not have had tall genes.
Huo Yanji glanced at him: “Friends don’t need to match in height.”
Sang Jue asked: “What relationship does need matching?”
“Spouses.” Huo Yanji said, “But for people who love each other enough, it’s not that important either.”
“Like Bo Qing and Huo Jiangmin?”
Huo Yanji paused slightly, answering: “They were about the same height back then.”
Sang Jue made a sound: “Can I ask about it?”
Huo Yanji knew what he wanted to ask and didn’t avoid it: “There were many factors that led to the ‘public trial’ situation, but there were only two causes.”
First, Huo Jiangmin wanted to reveal the “Dawn” plan, and the Court planned to use Bo Qing to threaten him.
Second, to easily eliminate the deviant group in the future, they couldn’t be too harmonious with ordinary people—they had to be isolated.
Most importantly, if even one couple of a deviant and an ordinary person appeared, the lie that deviants couldn’t bear offspring would collapse on its own.
They needed an ‘example’ powerful enough to deter everyone.
Huo Jiangmin was a descendant of Huo Feng, and Bo Qing was the most outstanding supervisor of the new generation, even hailed as the most likely to succeed as the highest executive officer.
They were the perfect negative examples.
So the Supreme Court manipulated everyone, with just a wave of their hand they stirred up the rhythm, controlling the residents’ thoughts—
As a descendant of the war god Huo Feng, how could Huo Jiangmin openly violate order and be with an ordinary person, even a supervisor?
Through embellishment and persuasion, dividing the relationship between deviants and ordinary people, the Court easily stirred up the residents’ anger, plunging them into crazy and extreme emotions.
This was a carnival of thugs.
The masses were potential thugs, inherently ignorant. They thought they stood on moral high ground, raising righteous knives to stab viciously into the ‘criminals’ on the platform.
Finally, the ‘criminal’ Bo Qing was exiled.
The masses’ pathological desire for judgment was satisfied, and the authorities’ goal of “making an example” was achieved.
Thereafter, every ordinary person who tried to be with a deviant, or every deviant who tried to be with an ordinary person, would think of that year’s trial—
If even people of Huo Jiangmin and Bo Qing’s status couldn’t escape punishment, what qualification did they have to violate the rules?
Sometimes, those in power weren’t as smart as those below imagined. They were equally ignorant and impulsive, using small tricks that everyone knew, yet could manipulate the masses completely, controlling their thoughts.
Human nature is inherently lazy, unwilling to think independently.
Sang Jue thought for a moment and said: “So, when Bo Qing accidentally entered the governor’s territory, was it because the Court was hunting him?”
Huo Yanji said flatly: “More precisely, they were secretly pursuing him.”
The Court needed Bo Qing alive to use as leverage against Huo Jiangmin.
But Bo Qing would rather die than become Huo Jiangmin’s weakness. When he plunged into the spore zone, he probably had a death wish.
But he didn’t expect there to be another world inside the spore zone. What he thought was a paradise turned out to be just stepping into another abyss.
Sang Jue asked hesitantly: “Why didn’t you become a deviant?”
Based on what Huo Yanji had said at the meeting earlier, he should have been more willing to become a deviant.
Huo Yanji held the umbrella, the rain not disturbing his solemn, cold demeanor, but when mentioning the past, his eyes darkened considerably.
“Two reasons.” Huo Yanji always answered Sang Jue’s questions, “First, the underground city cultivated two descendants of Huo Feng hoping one would guide deviants and one would lead ordinary people. Our paths were already planned out.”
“What about the other reason?”
After a long while, Huo Yanji said flatly: “After learning about the ‘Dawn’ plan, Huo Jiangmin went ahead with gene fusion while I was away on a mission.”
Huo Jiangmin hadn’t wanted to become a deviant before. He and Bo Qing were like that—even if their ideals conflicted, they wouldn’t compromise for each other’s feelings, but would try their best to achieve what they each wanted to do, then work hard to get closer to each other.
After learning about the “Dawn” plan, Bo Qing still didn’t change his mind and wanted to become a deviant, but Huo Jiangmin changed his mind because of Huo Yanji’s existence.
Just like he had said before, he could die for Bo Qing, and he could also die for Huo Yanji.
Bo Qing didn’t stop Huo Jiangmin. They thought it was just right—two deviants, a pair of short-lived lovebirds. This would fulfill everyone: Huo Yanji and Ji Xiao wouldn’t have to be sacrificed to the “Dawn” plan, and they could accompany each other.
But who could have predicted that Bo Qing would fail the genetic test.
Fate played tricks on people.
And the Court didn’t want both of Huo Feng’s descendants to become deviants. After Huo Jiangmin’s ‘evolution,’ they fabricated a false ‘genetic test failure’ report for Huo Yanji, taking away his choice.
Sang Jue pursed his lips: “Can’t you not become a deviant? I don’t want you to only live thirty years… maybe even shorter.”
Huo Yanji looked at Sang Jue’s soft hair and suddenly said: “You’re also a deviant.”
Sang Jue hesitated, then said: “It’s okay. If I disappear someday, I’ll still think of you from somewhere else.”
Sang Jue suddenly felt the deviant identity was quite useful—because in the future he wouldn’t need to explain why he had to leave. He could just fake his death, though he probably wouldn’t need thirty years.
Thirty years was too long. He definitely had to return to his home planet before the doctor died of old age.
The two walked quietly for a while, then Huo Yanji said flatly: “I’ve passed the suitable age for ‘evolution.’ There’s no chance now.”
After thirty, with each passing year, the probability of fusion failure increased because the body’s cells were gradually aging.
Sang Jue stated: “You’re getting old.”
Huo Yanji: “…”
Sang Jue didn’t notice Huo Yanji’s silence and suddenly felt a little anxious.
In a few more decades, Ji Ji would be gone. But if he returned to his home planet, he wouldn’t be able to see it, and not seeing it would be like him living forever.
The rain grew heavier, and residents were basically driven back home. The thick curtain of rain blurred the silhouettes of Huo Yanji and Sang Jue.
Closing the black umbrella, Huo Yanji entered the elevator and looked back at the hesitant Sang Jue: “What’s wrong?”
Sang Jue blinked: “Nothing.”
…
“You betrayed our agreement.”
On the rooftop, Old He watched those two figures disappear into the apartment building, slowly turned around, and looked at the uninvited guest behind him.
The woman held an umbrella, her shoulder-length hair flying in the wind, her pale green eyes particularly cold.
Rain pounded on the rooftop with a rushing sound.
“Blindly hoping others will keep agreements is inherently foolish behavior.” Old Herman said hoarsely, “Besides, I didn’t violate the agreement—wasn’t the ‘Dawn’ plan revealed?”
The woman scoffed: “Don’t play dumb. I’m talking about Huo Yanji. Wasn’t the original plan to make him despised by everyone, then draw him into our camp?”
“Do you think the Huo Yanji you know would take revenge on everyone just because he was betrayed?” Old Herman looked up, the dry skin around his mouth twitching. “He and Bo Qing are essentially the same type of person.”
“Really? If he experienced everything Huo Jiangmin experienced back then, lost his beloved to the masses’ carnival, could he really maintain his current passionate disposition?”
Old Herman didn’t speak.
They stood on the rooftop, the heavy rain intensifying the atmosphere of turbulent undercurrents.
After a long while, Old Herman forced out an aged smile: “That child is strange, with an indescribable quality. But do you really want Huo Yanji to experience everything Huo Jiangmin experienced? Between you two… is there really no affection left?”
“Sang Jue is a deviant.”
“…” Old Herman suddenly became sharp, but after just two seconds, returned to cloudiness. “He’s more rational than anyone, knowing what should and shouldn’t be done.
“The path I wanted to pave is finished. Everything that follows is up to fate.”
After a long stare, a pistol slid from her sleeve into Ji Xiao’s palm.
She threw it at Old Herman’s feet: “There’s one bullet inside.”
Old Herman said quietly: “Ji Xiao, don’t be too stubborn.”
“Ji Xiao died long ago.”
She held the umbrella and left without looking back, seemingly not worried at all about Old Herman shooting her in the back.
Only after Ji Xiao’s figure disappeared did Old Herman look down at the pistol and slowly pick it up.
He walked to the edge of the rooftop, looking at this city he had guarded for forty years.
Due to the lockdown and heavy rain, apart from the uniformly dressed supervisors and soldiers, not a single extra resident could be seen on the streets.
Surrounded by gray high-rises, with lightning-filled skies overhead, Old Herman stood in the torrential rain.
After a long while, with a “boom” of thunder, the black pistol slid from its owner’s palm and fell from the high building.
Old Herman’s gray, cloudy pupils were level with the ground. Rain mixed with blood flowed toward the drainage pipes as he watched peacefully, his eyes gradually losing focus.
In the apocalypse, sacrifice was inevitable, but the Supreme Court’s mistake was that they shouldn’t have deceived others into dying.
Survivors could sacrifice themselves, but not because of despicable lies. Dawn was red, that was correct, but stained with too much blood, it would only get darker.
Having served as the highest executive officer for so many years, no one understood human baseness better than Old Herman, and no one understood human nobility better than him.
This world was sick.
Whether it could be cured—that was left to the younger generation.
Huo Yanji’s increasingly poor reputation over the years had his significant contribution, as he had been cooperating with the Court, sharing the same surface goal.
The Court wanted public opinion to become a knife to kill Huo Yanji when necessary, while Old Herman just wanted to use the long years to give Huo Yanji one final lesson—
No one is worth your complete trust, especially the masses.
The people are ignorant grass that bends with the wind, not forever believing in and loving someone just because of their sincere dedication.
They have no patience to explore the essence of a person or matter.
Only by falling hard enough could one finally be lifted high enough. Only then would the people respect him, love him, support him, and the guilt from past bad words and actions would reach its peak, following him toward that idealistic dawn.
…
Huo Yanji entered the password and opened the door to his long-unseen home, still the same empty appearance.
Sang Jue behind him, seeing him motionless, blinked several times and asked quietly: “What’s wrong?”
Huo Yanji looked around once, his eyes flickering slightly. He bent down to get slippers for Sang Jue, picked up decontamination spray, and said flatly: “Nothing, come here.”
Sang Jue quietly breathed a sigh of relief, opened his arms and let Huo Yanji strip off his coat and spray him. Then he stepped into the slippers and nimbly released his tail.
Sang Jue urged: “You go bathe and sleep quickly.”
Huo Yanji said: “Thirsty, let me drink some water first.”
“…”
The sound of rushing water came from the sink. Slender fingers turned off the faucet, picked up a glass and placed it on the table, pausing for a moment—
A question came from the living room: “Where are the other three gems?”
Sang Jue answered instantly: “Hidden them.”
“Why is there only one of my glasses left?”
“I… I don’t know.”
While saying he didn’t know, Sang Jue moved toward the door like a crab, staring at Huo Yanji without blinking.
Huo Yanji began pouring water.
In just two seconds, Sang Jue’s heart pounded wildly—fortunately, nothing happened.
Just as Sang Jue relaxed, the table collapsed with a “boom,” startling him so much that his tail scales bristled.
The little evil dragon quickly took the initiative: “You’re so rough, you broke the table!”
“…” Huo Yanji narrowed his eyes, “I broke it?”
“Isn’t that right?…”
Huo Yanji’s pants were soaked halfway by the water from the glass. He bent down to pick up the broken table leg, touching the fractured surface which had a slightly sticky texture.
He smelled it and said: “Glue made from killer bee syrup, the same brand as the glue that stuck those two supervisors’ fingers together in the middle finger gesture.”
Seeing he couldn’t hide it anymore, Sang Jue tried to run by turning the door handle, but was caught back by a strong arm around his waist.
His body suddenly suspended in air, Huo Yanji tucked Sang Jue under his arm and strode toward the sofa.
He sat down, pressed the person onto his lap, and said coldly: “Confess your mistakes now and it’s still—”
“Pffft.”
“…” Huo Yanji glanced toward the source of the sound. There was a huge tear on the side of the sofa, and the suture thread had burst again from the pulling, forming centipede-like stitches going back and forth.
Huo Yanji pinched Sang Jue’s chin with a half-smile: “You went to such trouble, even finding thread the same color as the sofa.”
The little evil dragon mumbled: “It was so hard to find.”
Huo Yanji said: “I can’t tell—you know how to sew.”
Sang Jue said quietly: “I learned it temporarily…”
007 taught with difficulty, and he learned with difficulty.
Huo Yanji’s tone was flat, with no discernible emotion: “Very impressive.”
Sang Jue bit his lip: “Don’t be too mean.”
Huo Yanji ignored his pleading gaze and slapped the soft area beneath the fabric with a “smack.” With the waistband pressed below his tail, his pale upper buttocks were faintly visible, quickly turning pink.
Whether from pain or something else, the long tail instantly curled into a large coil of mosquito incense.
**
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