Chapter 57

“Line up and don’t make a mess!”

Above was a cloudless, clear sky, the scorching sun glaring, turning everything around white and blinding, making it impossible to look up and pinpoint the sun’s position. Having been locked underground for days, Su Xing still wasn’t used to the hot sunlight wrapping around her. The day she was brought in, the sky was dim and she hadn’t been able to see clearly. Now, looking up, she saw that most of the trees outside the iron net had been destroyed. The view was wide open, and any living thing that approached would be spotted immediately. Mecha patrolled the perimeter in formation, and several tall, sturdy unmanned turrets stood around, automatically opening fire and tracking any living thing that came close.

Such tight security and layout, along with a stronghold hidden underground, meant that even if a swarm of monsters attacked, breaking through from the outside wouldn’t be easy. To say this was just a temporary airport for transferring survivors was really hard to believe.

Under the blazing sun, people rushed to cram into the transport plane. A soldier holding a rifle maintained order and shouted at Su Xing, who stood motionless, “What are you doing? Hurry up and board—it’s dangerous outside!”

Su Xing bit her lip. Under his urging, she hesitantly stepped forward with the crowd.

Her foot had already touched the ramp when a sudden strong gust of wind whipped her long hair.

The roar of helicopter rotors came from above. One landed not far away, and a woman wearing sunglasses stepped out.

“Wait.”

Xu Wei removed her sunglasses, one hand tucked into the pocket of her windbreaker. She walked over to Su Xing and stopped, studying her for a few seconds before turning to the soldier. “Are you certain she can be transferred? No issues at all?”

The soldier seemed surprised by her sudden appearance. He paused, then said, “…Doctor, everyone on the transfer list has passed strict inspection.”

“Oh, I see.” Xu Wei smiled gently and didn’t press the point. She changed the subject, “Since there’s no problem—my lab is short-handed lately. I took a liking to her at first glance. I want her. I’m taking her back.”

The soldier froze, hesitating. “But Doctor, my mission is to safely transfer the people on the list. Without orders from above, isn’t this…inappropriate?”

Xu Wei gave a puzzled “Hm?” and said, “What, does she have a high contribution value to human survival? Is she a key protected person who absolutely must be taken back?”

“Uh…” The soldier glanced at his documents. “Not really. Her value assessment is zero.”

Xu Wei chuckled, her voice soft but brooking no argument. “Then why hesitate? I have the right to select suitable personnel from among the survivors. Go report to Colonel Qin and say that I’m the one who took her.”

With that, she raised her chin and looked up at the much taller Su Xing.

In the apocalypse, especially among survivors who had been wandering outside and barely made it, Su Xing and her tall, fair-skinned, notably toned build stood out far too much in a crowd of generally sallow, emaciated people. Besides wearing no makeup and her long hair being a bit unkempt from lack of care, she showed no sign of having lived outside. Even without makeup, her features were striking. She had a deep, three-dimensionally gorgeous face, with bright eyes and pearly teeth. Her disheveled long hair only added a certain allure. Beautiful as she was, perhaps because she was so tall, she came across as a bit wooden—not very agile.

Xu Wei examined her up close, then tugged on her sleeve and started to turn. She paused and looked back. “Forgot to ask—are you willing to come to my lab?”

“…” Su Xing had been staring at Xu Wei with confusion from the start, but right now, leaving felt less appealing than staying. Since the road ahead was unclear either way, staying close to Wen Ruyao seemed safer.

“Doctor—” the soldier started, but he could only watch helplessly as Xu Wei led her away.

And so, Su Xing once more took the elevator with Xu Wei and returned underground.

This time, though, she was taken to a different place. Unlike the tight security outside, the underground base’s population was denser, but armed personnel were not many. They walked without obstruction, only seeing two armed guards outside the high-risk labs.

After passing through two sets of gates, the innermost door opened, and a wave of noise spilled out. Inside, many researchers in white lab coats were busy at work.

Su Xing’s footsteps faltered involuntarily. None of the instruments here fell within the scope of her knowledge.

Xu Wei pulled her through the crowd and continued deeper. Her gentle voice was soothing. “It’s only because they work day and night that humanity has the confidence to stand firm again.”

After walking through a corridor, a heavy metal door slowly opened, and Su Xing followed her into a dim room.

The cold white light overhead blazed on. Su Xing squinted instinctively and then heard several violent “Bam! Bam!” impacts. She immediately looked toward the noise and saw a row of strange transparent “boxes.” They were more like containers, because each one held a monster.

The banging came from the largest container in the middle. The creature inside, neither human nor beast, was extremely active—especially after seeing Su Xing.

“It’s staring only at you. I’ve never seen it react to a human this way before.” Xu Wei folded her arms, walked to the container, bent slightly, and studied the creature intently.

Su Xing was equally startled by the monster’s reaction. Her scalp prickled as she met those bulging eyes, but her heart jolted.

Although it could no longer be called human, through the bald head and the face where features were still vaguely discernible, Su Xing felt a strange sense of familiarity.

She felt like she’d seen this face somewhere before. It was… Zheng Xingjun’s face!

Maybe not by the face alone, but that instant of certainty, along with the monster’s intense reaction inside the container, confirmed it.

“You know it?”

Snapping out of her shock, Su Xing met Xu Wei’s direct stare.

She pursed her lips, thought for a moment, and nodded. “Yes, I know him.”

Shan Mingxin knew that variants could sense each other. As a researcher, Xu Wei surely knew as well. Now that she’d already noticed something strange, forcibly denying it would only raise more suspicion.

“It was in the city mall. At the time, he was the leader of that survivor squad. We were rescued by him. You know how it is in that kind of situation; most people would choose… to help each other.”

“Help each other?” Xu Wei laughed softly. “Based on its current state, the early signs of mutation must have been very obvious long ago. When did you split up?”

Su Xing blinked. She wasn’t a good liar. “A few days ago, I can’t remember clearly. Out there, you’re always on edge—time is the least important thing.”

“Then why did you leave it? You had a companion too, right? How did you end up here?”

The questions came rapid-fire. Su Xing secretly clenched her palm, paused for two seconds, and said, “…Just as you said, his mutation symptoms were obvious. His emotions grew more and more unstable, and he liked consuming human flesh and blood. We couldn’t stand it and escaped. Then… someone rescued us along the way, and we ended up here.”

Her explanation was vague, and if scrutinized, holes could be found. But Xu Wei didn’t seem to care about the details. She just stared fixedly at the fully mutated Zheng Xingjun in the container, the gentle smile still on her lips. “You know? Studying it is my only project now.”

Su Xing froze, glancing sideways at Zheng Xingjun crawling back and forth in the container.

“I don’t think this is the end of the world for humanity. On the contrary, it’s another new opportunity.” Xu Wei’s voice was very faint, as if talking to herself, but each word dropped clearly into Su Xing’s ears. “An opportunity for humanity to once again leap and become gods.”

“…”

Su Xing stood there dumbfounded.

Xu Wei didn’t care about her reaction. She pointed at Zheng Xingjun through the transparent container. “It’s the most stable Gen-2 Variant I’ve found that has completed the entire mutation process. If I could have gotten hold of it sooner, the experiment might have succeeded.”

“I’ve been researching ways to help humans safely resist the negative effects of the Evolution Virus, but so far, not a single success…” Xu Wei paused and corrected herself, “No, there was one near success once, it’s just a pity…”

“Evolution Virus?” Su Xing had never heard this term. The experiment log mentioned Alpha Life Form.

“Yes, I call it a virus. An alien virus. But if we can successfully overcome it, all that remains is evolution.” Xu Wei turned around to face Su Xing, shrugged with a helpless smile. “But most people don’t agree with my view.”

Su Xing silently gazed at the inhuman, ghastly Zheng Xingjun in the container. After a long while, she asked in a deep voice, “Are humans forced to mutate ultimately only able to become… like him?”

Xu Wei didn’t answer. She just looked at her with interest for a few moments before turning to open the glass door of a small side compartment, gesturing for her to follow.

It was a room full of shelves of medicinal vials and test tubes, with transparent glass walls on all four sides. The coded lock beeped twice, and the door closed heavily again. Su Xing scanned the bottles and jars, not understanding her intent. She asked, “Why did you choose to bring me here? If you truly need an assistant, my undergraduate major was literature—I can’t help you with anything.”

Xu Wei answered with a soft laugh. She sat down on a padded chair against the wall, and with her left hand hooked around the silver Bluetooth earpiece on her ear, she was clearly not speaking to Su Xing: “Clear all personnel from the front hall of Lab 1. The target will be released in thirty seconds.”

Su Xing frowned, a sense of foreboding rising. “What are you doing?”

Xu Wei stood up and activated a touch-screen panel on the wall. Her moist almond-shaped eyes looked as harmless as a pool of spring water. “Weren’t you asking whether human variants are all doomed to end up as monsters? What I’m doing is to give you a good answer. But to succeed at anything, some cost must be paid.”

In the increasingly eerie curl of Xu Wei’s lips, Su Xing faintly heard the crisp click of an electronic lock opening.

Outside the medicine room, in the container holding Zheng Xingjun, the square transparent door slowly lifted, finally opening completely. The originally irritable monster paused, crouching motionless inside.

A few seconds later, a black shadow shot out of the narrow cage like lightning. Freed from the specialized container, it was as if reborn—its powerful body crashing wildly through the room like a bullet.