EDEH Chapter 7

[007 Diary Entry 5]

 

[During these years drifting in space, I’ve simulated humanity’s future many times. Even without this disaster, humans would ultimately destroy themselves due to their own insatiable greed, sooner or later.

 

But wonderfully, despite humans having many negative traits—greed, selfishness, darkness, cowardice…

 

There are still some humans who defy their base instincts and learn love and sacrifice.

 

Perhaps this is the greatest miracle.]

 

·

 

The umbrella Hill gave him was yellow. Sang Jue liked it very much.

 

“They don’t seem to like using umbrellas.” A pair of clear eyes peeked out from under the umbrella, secretly observing passersby.

 

“Perhaps the only benefit the collapse brought to humanity was physical evolution. History proves that great advances in human civilization all stem from suffering.”

 

007 had obtained some information by infiltrating the network: “Also, after the Meteor Season, summer and winter on this planet became almost negligibly short, while spring and autumn were infinitely extended. In some ways, it became more suitable for life reproduction than before.”

 

But this wasn’t good news for humans. Weather was a natural enemy to many creatures. Shorter hot summers and cold winters were more conducive to the survival of those already mutated beings.

 

No wonder people were still wearing short sleeves in December.

 

Sang Jue guessed another reason they didn’t like umbrellas was that they couldn’t afford them. Even if their bodies could withstand it, who would enjoy the feeling of rain blurring their vision?

 

A man across the street leaned against the wall complaining: “The money earned from one trip isn’t even enough to pay medical fees…”

 

His companion: “Wasn’t it because we lost that bag of snake skin… If we’d brought it back, we would have struck it rich!”

 

“Still thinking about it? With so many red flower snakes, we probably wouldn’t have lived to bring it back.” The man smiled bitterly. “Even now, my legs still go weak thinking about that night.”

 

“Now that you mention it, didn’t Old He wet his pants that night…”

 

“Who told him to drink the last sip of water? I wanted to pee but had nothing to pee with…” The man waved his hand. “Let’s not venture into the red zone anymore. Sure, there are good things there, but not worth our lives.”

 

“We got lucky this time, but I can mock Old He for wetting himself for a whole year hahahaha…”

 

The atmosphere lightened again. Indeed, happiness must be built on others’ pain.

 

The man snorted: “There’s a little brat eavesdropping on us.”

 

Sang Jue had indeed slowed his pace. Experiencing the world firsthand for the first time, he was intensely curious about everything. He apologized and quickened his steps to slip away.

 

The Creation Office wasn’t far, but there were many people. From a distance, he could see a queue like a long dragon.

 

Because of the main city’s regulation requiring everyone to carry identity cards at all times, people would come to get replacements immediately after losing them. Going to jail would be more trouble than it was worth.

 

Sang Jue joined the queue at the back of the crowd, rain pounding on his umbrella, creating a pattering sound overhead.

 

He nervously gripped the umbrella handle. To make himself less conspicuous, he quietly stood on his tiptoes—finally able to see the scenery over the muscular guy’s shoulder in front of him.

 

The little evil dragon wasn’t envious at all.

 

Hmph, not envious.

 

Queuing was boring. He looked around and noticed that the big gray sign across the street seemed to say “Cafeteria.”

 

His stomach growled at just the right moment. Hungry again.

 

As an evil dragon, having a big appetite was normal.

 

Sang Jue was particularly worried. Would he have to go out and do missions like those mercenaries to earn money? Otherwise, how could he support himself…

 

After more than an hour, there was finally no one in front of Sang Jue.

 

The computer facing away from him was a very old model. The staff member didn’t look up: “Name, number.”

 

“I’m not here for a replacement.” Sang Jue said quietly, handing over the certificate personally issued by Huo Yanji.

 

The staff member looked up, somewhat surprised. He had worked here for three years and this was the first time he’d seen a non-main city resident applying for a new identity card.

 

“Name?”

 

“Sang Jue.”

 

“Alright, Sang Jue, male, age?”

 

“18 years old.”

 

“Birthday?”

 

“6.28.”

 

“Are you an Deviant?”

 

Sang Jue hesitated. If he registered as an Deviant, he could show his tail and horns in the future. Being in human form all the time felt somewhat restrictive.

 

007 reminded him in his ear: [Even Deviants who chose genetic contamination usually only have contamination characteristics in one area—either arms, or tail and wings. Moreover, since you weren’t previously a safe zone resident, if you register as an Deviant, someone will definitely investigate how you previously obtained contamination genes.]

 

This was exactly why Sang Jue hesitated. He still remembered the conversation between Huo Yanji and Dr. Eugene in the hospital room.

 

007: [Most importantly, they drew your blood for genetic testing. You’re different from those Deviants. Once they’ve undergone aberration, even in completely human form, they’ll test positive for fused genes. But when you’re in completely human form, you’ll only test as pure human genes.]

 

If Huo Yanji discovered his genetic report showed ordinary human, then saw him reveal a tail or horns… he would definitely be more suspicious.

 

Sang Jue had to give up and told the staff member: “I’m not an Deviant.”

 

“Alright, you still need to test your contamination index as proof.”

 

Sang Jue went to the testing window. There weren’t many people here, and the results came out in ten minutes.

 

He returned to the card collection window, took a photo, and successfully obtained a slightly warm new identity card.

 

[Name: Sang Jue]

 

[Gender: Male]

 

[Number: A2987091]

 

007 said: “Deviants’ identity numbers start with B.”

 

The main city’s numbering system actually represented population—however many people there were, that’s how high the numbers went. Numbers of deceased owners would be filled by newborns or people transferred from other areas.

 

In other words, the main city currently had fewer than three million ordinary people. The number of Deviants was unknown for now.

 

Sang Jue held up his identity card, admiring it with delight, really wanting to let his tail out to swish it.

 

Now he should go to the trading hall, just two streets away from the Creation Office.

 

007 explained the main city’s common knowledge: “No one is allowed to bring contaminated items into the city, so materials obtained by mercenaries outside are confiscated when entering the city, then they take mission completion certificates to the mission building to exchange for rewards.”

 

The mission building was packed with people, bustling with crowds. Some had just returned to the city, others were searching for suitable missions to leave the city.

 

Sang Jue came to the reward exchange window and waited in line for over half an hour before his turn.

 

The staff member said: “Identity card, certificate.”

 

Sang Jue passed both through the window.

 

“Assisted military team in bringing experimental specimen ‘forget-worry vine’ back to the city. Reward is one-fifth of the original mission reward. Any questions?”

 

“No.”

 

Sang Jue had thought one-fifth wouldn’t be much, until he watched his previously zero balance jump to four digits—a full 1,200.

 

1,200 wasn’t much money on his home planet, but this was an apocalyptic civilization in a period of low material desire, where a bowl of potato strips only cost one coin.

 

He was now a wealthy dragon too!

 

Sang Jue was in a good mood and decided to make another trip. As Dr. Hill had said, he would help deliver the deceased Wu Ke’s maple leaf badge to the lighthouse.

 

Though he didn’t know what significance it had.

 

The main city was large, with interconnected streets and countless narrow, cramped alleys. Fortunately, the lighthouse was easy to find—

 

It was the tallest building in the main city, standing in the city center, its peak light shrouded in thin rain mist.

 

Sang Jue came to the nearest rail station. The route sign showed the line to the lighthouse was also rail car 45-2.

 

With two “beep-woo” sounds, the rail car arrived and stopped. He followed the crowd to queue up and board. Using his identity card for the first time, Sang Jue swiped it very solemnly, appearing somewhat slow.

 

The person behind him shouted: “Hurry up! Taking a shit here or what?”

 

“…” Sang Jue decided not to say sorry to him.

 

The rail car didn’t have windows, and rain pattered against the metal exterior. It was inconvenient to use umbrellas on the vehicle, so Sang Jue had to sit further into the aisle, where the seats inside were all wet.

 

The seats were also hard and uncomfortable. Sang Jue could only look at the scenery outside to distract himself.

 

Actually, there wasn’t much scenery to see—just people and monotonous, repetitive buildings.

 

However, for Sang Jue, who hadn’t seen much of the world, everything was novel.

 

Half an hour later, a gentle broadcast announced: “Lighthouse Station has arrived. Please exit the vehicle in an orderly manner.”

 

Sang Jue walked into the rain. He looked up at the towering lighthouse, but being too close, he couldn’t see the light at the top.

 

The lighthouse was circular, becoming more pointed toward the top. Countless maple leaf badges hung on the exterior walls, gleaming with golden light.

 

The little evil dragon swallowed.

 

Wasn’t this pure temptation?

 

What evil dragon could resist the allure of so much gold? It was practically a golden legend!

 

Sang Jue was already contemplating the likelihood of successfully stealing all these badges on a dark and stormy night.

 

—Sleeping in a pile of sparkling gold would definitely be comfortable.

 

“Hello, I’m here to register.” He imitated others and spoke to the registration staff.

 

“What was your relationship to the deceased?” A man with fish scales covering his neck inquired. He was a low-level fusion Deviant, with a name tag on his chest reading—Yu Ren.

 

The strange name didn’t catch Sang Jue’s attention at all. His entire focus was captured by the light-reflecting fish scales.

 

Deep blue fish scales covered Yu Ren’s neck area, reflecting blue light—absolutely beautiful.

 

Sang Jue couldn’t resist shiny temptations: “So beautiful…”

 

Yu Ren was stunned: “Thank you?”

 

It seemed no one had ever complimented him like this. Many ordinary people disliked Deviants, finding their appearance strange, believing they had betrayed their human identity and were outcasts.

 

Sang Jue really wanted to collect one of those fish scales, but having shed scales himself, he knew it was painful. Such a request would be too unreasonable.

 

So he reluctantly withdrew his gaze: “I don’t know him. Someone just asked me to bring his badge here.”

 

Yu Ren looked at the side of the badge: “Which two characters is ‘wuke’?”

 

Every Deviant soldier had their own unique maple leaf badge. Unlike ordinary mercenary teams, they followed orders and obeyed commands, even death orders and suicide missions.

 

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

 

He could only write in his home planet’s script. With the language conversion function, every character he saw on this planet appeared as his home planet’s characters, so he wasn’t clear how to write Wu Ke’s name.

 

Yu Ren didn’t show any surprise: “Alright, then we’ll register it as ‘wuke.'”

 

Sang Jue saw the registration book. Many deceased Deviants had only a few letters representing their names, because it wasn’t necessarily familiar people who brought back their badges. It might be years later when someone on a new mission passed by their place of death, found their badge, and brought their wandering, lost faith back to rest at the lighthouse.

 

If only he hadn’t run so fast in the forest ruins—he could have looked around for Si Fu’s badge and secured him a place at the lighthouse.

 

His final words were so devout; he deserved divine mercy.

 

Sang Jue had just turned around when he bumped into a familiar face.

 

He happily called out the person’s name: “Huo Yanji.”

 

Huo Yanji nodded, then said to Yu Ren: “Register Karen.”

 

Sang Jue immediately realized that Karen was the person Huo Yanji had cut from the mother moth’s belly and killed.

 

Perhaps it hadn’t been necessary to kill the mother moths by cutting them open, but to find the devoured soldier, Huo Yanji had killed all the mother moths in that area.

 

“…Alright, which two characters is ‘Karen’?”

 

Yu Ren hadn’t expected Huo Yanji, the highest executive officer of supervisors, to appear here.

 

He used to admire Huo Yanji greatly. How could an unevolved pure human be so powerful?

 

Until a few years ago, when Huo Yanji had publicly made some unfriendly statements: he wasn’t optimistic about Deviants and believed that so-called genetic evolution was merely contaminating humanity’s pure bloodline.

 

His actual words had been even harsher, causing a huge uproar at the time.

 

Countless Deviants were indignant. Discrimination from ordinary people was one thing, but if even those in high positions said such things, where did that leave those who chose aberration to protect the main city?

 

Reportedly, Huo Yanji had been disciplined for this incident, and his easily attainable general rank had never been confirmed, which barely calmed people’s anger.

 

Huo Yanji picked up a pen and not only wrote Karen’s name but also wrote out Wu Ke’s name.

 

The sharp handwriting of the highest executive officer of supervisors appeared in the registration book. Yu Ren’s feelings were complicated.

 

He didn’t know what Huo Yanji’s purpose was in appearing here. To salvage his image among Deviants?

 

But to this day, Huo Yanji still refused to apologize for his past words. What was the point of such superficial gestures?

 

Huo Yanji didn’t linger. After writing the names, he prepared to leave.

 

The little evil dragon followed behind with nothing to do: “Are you going to be busy?”

 

“No.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Why are you following me?”

 

Sang Jue didn’t know either.

 

But thinking about it, he seemed to have nothing else to do.

 

“Did you get your identity card sorted out?”

 

“Yes, it’s done. Thank you.”

 

Sang Jue’s stomach growled. He was hungry.

 

The potato strips had been hours ago, and it was already noon.

 

“If you’re hungry, go to the cafeteria.”

 

“I don’t know how to get to the nearest cafeteria.”

 

Huo Yanji pivoted on his toes and changed direction: “Follow me.”

 

Sang Jue obediently caught up and grabbed Huo Yanji’s clothing.

 

Huo Yanji lifted his lips: “No one here will eat you.”

 

Sang Jue felt a bit embarrassed.

 

When they first met, he had told Huo Yanji he was afraid and would be eaten by monsters if he didn’t hold onto his clothing. Yet shortly after, he had torn apart that humanoid creature with his bare hands right in front of Huo Yanji.

 

Lying wasn’t shameful, but lies that were exposed were.

 

“They always look at me with those stinky eyes.” By “they” he meant the passing residents. Holding onto fragrant Huo Yanji made Sang Jue happier.

 

In the past, when he missed the doctor but she was too busy to accompany him, he would grab onto the doctor’s clothing and obediently follow behind.

 

So the doctor always laughingly called him her little tail.

 

Sang Jue didn’t understand why Huo Yanji wouldn’t let him hold onto his clothing: “Don’t you like me?”

 

He was a popular evil dragon.

 

Back at the laboratory on his home planet, ninety-nine percent of people liked him.

 

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