Chapter 24
It was very difficult for humans to take back spoken words. Thus, it turned out like this.
In the common washroom on the fifth floor, next to a sink covered with traces of brown rust, in front of a row of faucets, An Zhe held a glass of water in one hand and a toothbrush in the other as he carefully washed. He knew the living habits of human beings and imitated them every day. However, today, this attitude was more caution than usual because the colonel was beside him.
After finishing, he carefully gathered his things and looked at Lu Feng. Lu Feng had just washed his face with cold water and his hair was wet with a few crystal droplets of water, like melted snow beads. An Zhe silently handed him a towel.
Lu Feng took it and briefly said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
An Zhe believed that what he did was in line with human etiquette and that sharing was a common human action. He handed his cup over to Lu Feng.
“Do you want to use it?” He wondered. “But there is only one.”
Base supplies were tight and the daily necessities allocated to everyone were limited. If there were any additional needs then they had to go to the black market to buy their own. An Zhe only had one cup and one toothbrush. The black market was no longer there so he had no place to buy them from.
Lu Feng stared at him for five or six seconds before finally moving.
An Zhe bowed his head, the dim yellow light in the bathroom casting a light gold colour on the edge of the cup. Lu Feng’s long fingers held the porcelain white cup handle and took the cup from him. It was the right hand that had held the gun. His fingers had a thin layer of calluses and once An Zhe released his hand, he lightly rubbed his fingers together.
Lu Feng didn’t use his toothbrush. Instead, he used the cup to get water and gargled with liquid toothpaste. Once Lu Feng was finished, he put away the cup and the two of them walked out.
It was currently 11 at night. Normally, the bathroom and corridor would have water and electricity cut off according to the rules of the base. However, today all six districts entered an emergency containment and the restrictions on water and electricity had been lifted. Many people couldn’t sleep due to panic. Thanks to this, there were still other people in the bathroom even in the middle of the night. These people had secretly looked at Lu Feng and An Zhe while washing and An Zhe had found it. He knew that Lu Feng must’ve found it as well but the colonel didn’t seem to care much.
An Zhe walked in front. The bathroom floor was wet and there were a few water stains on the ground. He had to walk looking down to avoid these places. Once he got to the door, he hit a dark shadow in front of him. An Zhe looked up.
“You—” It was Josie’s voice.
An Zhe subconsciously stepped back and bumped into Lu Feng’s chest. He saw Josie looking at him and wanting to say something. Then Josie’s eyes shifted and he stiffened. An Zhe was also in a semi-frozen state. Josie was blocking the door so An Zhe couldn’t go in or out. Just then, his shoulders sank slightly. Lu Feng’s fingers were on it.
Josie’s eyes were wide open and An Zhe could almost see the shaking in his pupils. The next moment, Josie lowered his head and stepped back and to the side, giving way at the door with a respectful gesture.
Lu Feng held An Zhe’s shoulder and exerted a bit of force, taking An Zhe out the door before letting go. All of this happened in a moment. An Zhe’s heart was pounding wildly and his entire body was tense out of fear that Josie would shout ‘An Ze’ in front of the Judge or say ‘He isn’t like An Ze.’ However, they had taken a dozen steps but Josie still hadn’t said a word.
An Zhe turned back to look at Josie. The man’s hands were hanging by his side, tightly clenching his clothes while his lips were tight. An Zhe suddenly realized one thing. In this place, the Judge was in control of everyone’s life and death. Therefore, most of the people in the base didn’t dare to talk to the Judge, including An Zhe.
They walked through the corridor and back to their room. Lu Feng didn’t ask about Josie’s identity or what entanglements he had with Josie. Strictly speaking, the relationship between An Zhe and Lu Feng could only be counted as strangers.
Back in the room, Lu Feng sat at the desk and started to record things in the work manual. He quickly wrote in the 6.18 column: Judgment Day, countless killed.
An Zhe stood by and watched it. He once again had the question, ‘What is the significance of such a work manual?’
He said, “You write very little.”
Lu Feng closed the manual. “It is to cope with the inspection.”
His tone took it for granted.
An muttered, “…Oh.”
Then he said, “I’m going to change my clothes.”
Lu Feng spoke lightly. “Yes.”
An Zhe took off his day time clothes and wore very soft white cotton pyjamas. After changing, he opened the quilt and got into the bed. The base rooms had only a standard single bed but the bed wasn’t narrow. He could even roll around on it. An Zhe guessed it might be because the base had many burly bodies The area filled with mercenaries was relatively large.
After that, he lay down on the bed that was more than enough to hold another person. He lay down and looked at Lu Feng. “I’m ready.”
He found Lu Feng looking at the supply station assessment manual on his desk.
Lu Feng inquired, “Do you want to go to the supply statiom?”
“En.”
It was a pity he could never go. The outer city had been occupied by bugs.
“Go to the city affairs office tomorrow,” Lu Feng told him. “In recent years, there are many newborns and the main city doesn’t have enough staff. The city affairs office is entrusted to recruit people from the outer city.”
With that, he got up from the chair, took off his coat and put it over the back of the chair. Then he walked toward An Zhe. An Zhe knew that those green eyes were watching him.
He heard Lu Feng continue to say, “You are useless but you can take care of children.”
An Zhe tried to refute his previous remark but found himself unable to refute them. He felt humiliated and covered himself with the quilt. He heard Lu Feng laugh and then the side of the bed sank as Lu Feng lay down. The cold air was so close that he could hear Lu Feng’s breathing. The things that happened today were like a dream. As a heterogenous species, he was going to spend the night with the Judge.
“So…” An Zhe exposed his eyes above the quilt as he whispered, “Are you still doubting if I’m objectively a human?”
“You passed the genetic test and the 30 day observation period.” Lu Feng was expressionless. “You are objectively a human.”
“What is the observation period?”
“After being infected, within 30 days, the infected person will surely lose their human intelligence. The probability is infinitely close to 1.”
“Then… will there be those who don’t lose their sanity?” An Zhe tentatively asked, “Although they are heterogenous, they still maintain a human appearance and thoughts. They just have more abilities and can become other creatures.”
He knew he was a heterogenous but he also kept his mind.
“Do you think the human will is strong?” Lu Feng questioned.
An Zhe didn’t know how to answer but Lu Feng didn’t seem to need it.
“In fact, it isn’t worth mentioning. The Lighthouse has done many experiments.” Lu Feng spoke lightly. “Human will can’t overcome the survival instincts of a heterogeneous. Instead, the heterogeneous species will gradually digest the thinking ability of the human and use it for their own survival. For example, the Lighthouse’s report on today’s insect tide hasn’t come out yet but I think they conspired to attack.”
An Zhe slightly widened his eyes. This was the first time that Lu Feng had spoken so much and the weight of his words was also very heavy. He said that the human will unique to humans wasn’t worth mentioning in the face of genetic fusion. Humans were such weak creatures.
“I don’t think so.” After being subjectively and objectively judged as a human, An Zhe was relieved and dared to say a few more words to Lu Feng. “If the willpower is strong…”
“It isn’t about strength. There are no ifs.”
An Zhe frowned and thought seriously. “For example, if you are infected—”
Lu Feng directly covered him with the quilt.
“I’ll kill myself straight away,” Lu Feng declared coldly. “Sleep.”
An Zhe felt that the colonel might be sleepy and unwilling to speak any more nonsense with him. In fact, An Zhe was also sleepy. He calculated that Lu Feng had gone 40 hours without rest while he himself only slept for two or three hours in Lu Feng’s room early yesterday morning. He fell asleep almost the moment he closed his eyes.
Once he woke up again, An Zhe didn’t know what time it was. He sat up on the bed and the whole room seemed like it was still night time. Only a faint glimmer of light shone through a gap in the curtains, like faint sunlight shining through the plant branches and leaves in the Abyss. After opening the curtains, the room was still dark and it was cloudy outside.
He took out the communicator and glanced at it. It was 11 in the morning. Suddenly, An Zhe felt that he had forgotten something. He was agitated and completely woke up. The first thing he did was to look at the bed. There was nothing. Only he was present and it was the same for the room.
Then he found the paper on the table with a ballpoint pen next to it. An Zhe got out of bed and came to the table, picking it up. It was the poster protesting the atrocities of the judges. He turned it over and saw a few words in black writing on the back.
Gone.
If there is something then call me.
Lu Feng.
An Zhe didn’t know why but he smiled. He thought that Lu Feng’s note was as simple as his work manual. He put down the note and went to the closest to choose clothes to go to the city affairs office. He thought for a long time before finally taking out a grey sweater.
Grey—An Zhe looked up. The sky was grey and hung very low above the buildings. Thick grey clouds were gathered and spread from the city to the horizon, like it was going to rain heavily.
An Zhe was very happy. Mushrooms like rainy days not to mention Lu Feng gave him news yesterday. If he could be recruited at the city affairs office then he could go to the main city. The Lighthouse was in the main city and he would be one step closer to recovering his spore.
He decided not to care about the matter of Lu Feng taking away his spore.
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