Chapter 47: “Cheng Ming, don’t go.”
July 7th, 12:00 PM.
211th floor.
The smooth and mirror-like floor reflected a faint, cold light. Pushing a laboratory cart with a tank of unknown liquid, Zhou Jia walked through the corridor, her entire body covered tightly.
“Teacher Zhou—”
Someone called her from behind.
She turned her head abruptly and saw the half-familiar face that was approaching her. She subconsciously ruled out the candidates she had received in the past six months and searched her mind for more distant memories.
Ten seconds later, Zhou Jia’s eyes widened.
“Cheng Ming?” She looked left and right. “How did you come up here alone! Does Group Leader Jiang know?”
The rules of the level four experimental area were strict. Even if one did not enter the P4 laboratory, anyone who wanted to come in had to go through an approval system. The team leader had to be informed, and an application had to be submitted to the management department.
Moreover, Cheng Ming was a deputy researcher.
Seeing this devil examiner’s vigilance and her intention to press the alarm button, Cheng Ming hurriedly showed the temporary pass and record sheet in her hand. “I’m here to register the strains, not to illegally infiltrate.”
The 211th floor of the research institute was shared, and it was the only floor that could be connected to other research centers. No wonder the structure was so intricate and different from the others. Cheng Ming had only figured this out after coming here a few times.
Zhou Jia stared at her magnetic card. Her expression was hidden by her mask, but her body language showed that she was somewhat skeptical.
Cheng Ming did not give her a chance to ask more questions.
“Did you go the wrong way?” She freed her hand and pointed to the dark passage behind her. “Isn’t the laboratory here abandoned?”
“It was abandoned,” Zhou Jia answered subconsciously. “But isn’t it a waste to leave it idle? It’s been repaired and is being used again.”
…
“Ms. Chu, I’m sorry to ask directly, but why did you give her the authority to the level four experimental area?”
Jiang Dexin stood in front of the window in her office. The blazing summer light made her vision a dazzling white. “She just became a deputy researcher…”
“Isn’t it because you want her to grow up as soon as possible and take over your position?”
On the other end of the phone, a woman’s voice had a faint smile.
Jiang Dexin pressed one hand on the windowsill, and ding, a bracelet slid out from her sleeve and hit the metal frame.
She lowered her head and tightened her other hand, holding the cold smart device.
“She asked me about laboratory 40… This child is too smart and too stubborn. I’m very worried—”
Remembering the corridor on the 211th floor at that time, Cheng Ming had suddenly pointed out the corner that even she had almost forgotten. She was surprised by her sharpness, and she couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat every time she thought about it.
“What are you worried about?” Chu Lanying interrupted abruptly. “Are you worried that she will hate you because of her mother?”
…
Thump. Cheng Ming fell backward and lay on the bed.
The soft quilt was indented into a human shape. She covered her eyes with her forearm, so tired that she wanted to just sleep.
It was ten o’clock at night, and she hadn’t had time to turn on the lights, but the curtains were open, and the streetlights shone in.
After counting the seconds for a minute, she sat up again.
Although she was very tired, she couldn’t be idle when she returned to her apartment. She turned on the desk lamp, picked up a pen and paper, and continued to sort out the key points from her previous notes.
“What have you been doing these past few days?”
“Increasing the chances of success.”
Cheng Ming buried her head and wrote more words.
“No, you’re making a bigger bet on your own adventure,” Xiao Ming’s words were filled with dissatisfaction.
The more you invest, the harder it is to get out.
Others discovered problems with caution, but she was matching problems with a preconceived answer, and then capturing loopholes with expectations.
Asking one person too much would arouse suspicion, so Cheng Ming would inquire with different people at different times and places, and would also go to the 211th floor to stake out from time to time… these were the things she did during the day.
At night, she would turn into a sewer bug again and again. It took her seven days to crawl through all the pipes she could.
But the more confidential the place, the stronger the protection. It was impossible to leave such a big loophole for people to exploit. What she was exploring was the relatively safe material transfer channel, and there were several times when she almost triggered the alarm. When the power grid swept over, she could only comfort herself that she was a stone and endure it.
Fortunately, Xiao Ming’s scale armor was hard enough, and its own repair ability was strong enough. After soaking in the bathtub for a night, even if she had almost been turned into a charred and fragrant roasted fish the day before, she could still go to work the next day as if nothing had happened.
She couldn’t get any useful information from the outside, but if she were to escape from the inside of the level four experimental area through the pipes, she felt that she was basically ready to do so now.
The only bad thing was that Xiao Ming’s sanity was also about to be roasted dry.
Its small brain couldn’t figure out why its host was so good at courting death.
“Don’t you think someone is deliberately luring you?”
“I know,” Cheng Ming’s tone was very calm.
But the bait was Cheng Ran.
Even if it might pierce her flesh and tear her throat, she had to take the risk to taste it.
“I always thought you were a rational person.”
However, when she faced her mother, she always seemed to be reckless, completely disregarding the consequences and leaving no way out.
“Boldly assume, carefully verify,” Cheng Ming said.
Exploration required a bit of “recklessness.”
And the facts also proved that her direction was not wrong.
By classifying and coordinating the information she had obtained, processing and organizing it, and verifying its authenticity with different people, and then adding her own speculation, she had basically pieced together the truth of the so-called abandoned laboratory—
After the Defense Center was built, the level four laboratory was moved to the 211th floor. With the highest specifications of protection and the highest authority of restrictions, it continued to conduct dangerous research with the highest degree of confidentiality.
And as one of the few first-level researchers in the research institute, it was only natural for Cheng Ran to have a place in it.
Laboratory 40 was probably her main base.
Many of her achievements were produced during this period, until 2155, when an accident occurred in the laboratory. A fire destroyed a large amount of experimental materials, and the losses were immeasurable. Soon after, it was reported by the researcher involved and sealed.
The specific situation was unknown. The experimental subject was nowhere to be found.
Theoretically, it was a huge experimental accident, but surprisingly, no specific news had been spread outside, there was no report of responsibility, and no records were kept.
All that Cheng Ming could find out was just the word of mouth of the old employees in the research institute, and she could not be sure if it was true.
But she had grasped the keyword—2155.
That’s right.
It was this time again. It matched this time again.
Cheng Ran had won an award in June of this year and had written “in memory of the victory of fish and fungus” on a sticky note, which she had casually placed in the folder of her certificate of achievement. She had woken up from her vegetative state in September of this year, and it was highly likely that Xiao Ming had already existed at that time. In an unknown month of the same year, laboratory 40 was scrapped due to an accident…
Cheng Ming looked at the key points she had circled on the paper. In the pale light, the bloody red notes were like a torn wound.
Very naturally, an idea popped up—
At this time, Cheng Ran had stolen the Fish-Fungus monster from laboratory 40 and transplanted it to her?
It was a crazy speculation, but it was logically very smooth.
Cheng Ming stopped her pen, covered her head, and couldn’t help but slow her breathing.
Like a small prey in a dark jungle, afraid of alarming the invisible, terrifying predator.
Now, all she had left to do was to go into laboratory 40 on the 211th floor and take a look, to let this speculation take root as a reality.
No matter how cruel, she had to face it.
People are good at self-deception. If they don’t completely tear open the false skin that covers up the peace, they will always have a glimmer of hope.
Why Jin Xia had approached her and revealed this information to her had become an unsolvable mystery.
If the string of numbers after that was the key, then the other must have been one of the participants in laboratory 40 back then. What was her mentality, what was her purpose, was it good or bad… it was all a cat in a box.
Perhaps the moment she pushed open the door of laboratory 40, there would be an answer.
And Jiang Dexin.
Based on her relationship with Cheng Ran, Cheng Ming did not believe that this teacher was as ignorant as she appeared.
She didn’t want her to investigate too much. Did she have her own selfish motives?
She couldn’t think any more.
She tore off the piece of paper she had just used to organize her thoughts, soaked it in a glass of water, and slowly stirred it until all the ink marks and white paper had dissolved into a paste.
“Why do you have to keep chasing after Cheng Ran’s traces?” Xiao Ming said. “She is your past, but you still have a future.”
“You also said that she is the past,” Cheng Ming looked at the black, white, and red mixed thick liquid in the transparent glass, as if she were seeing a chaotic past and a hazy, unknown future, and said in a low voice, “Even if I have to break it off, at least, I have to say goodbye to the past with my own hands.”
“Cheng Ming, don’t go,” Xiao Ming was very uneasy.
It had been acting strangely these past few days, and had repeatedly tried to stop her to no avail.
“Don’t go. Cheng Ming…” its voice was very low, almost pleading, “I feel that there’s danger.”
Cheng Ming’s hand paused.
Its tone this time was different from any other time in the past.
She asked, “What danger?”
“I don’t know,” Xiao Ming said weakly. “That place makes me very uncomfortable… there’s something in that laboratory, don’t go.”
Don’t go.
It repeated.
It was really uneasy.
If in the past, the parasite and the host were separated by a layer of glass, they were in close contact, and both could see and feel each other, then now, at most, they were separated by a piece of paper, and the surging emotions were constantly soaking the paper, seeping over endlessly.
Cheng Ming slowly frowned. Disturbed by those emotions, her heart became tight and heavy.
What situation would make it feel uncomfortable?
What was being raised in there?
She couldn’t help but think of Zhou Jia.
She still remembered that Zhou Jia was the administrator of the experimental creatures. When she had run into her at noon today, the other seemed to be dragging a culture medium to be changed… but the 211th floor was the most strictly protected experimental area, and it was impossible for the experimental creatures to pose a threat to people.
Could it be that there was a technology specifically for mutated creatures?
Cheng Ming picked up the glass, walked into the bathroom, and poured the turbid paper pulp into the sink. She watched the rotating and descending liquid surface reflected on the smooth ceramic wall and thought for a moment.
This was more reasonable.
Then, she casually placed the cup on the sink, returned to her bedroom, and bent down to take out an inhibitor from the bedside drawer.
The reserves were still sufficient.
Originally, Qu Ying had been worried about her safety and had given it to her to guard against Xiao Ming. But as the trust between her and it deepened, the inhibitor had become useless. If it weren’t for the fact that she would touch it every time she reached for the nutrient supplement, Cheng Ming would have almost forgotten that she still had these.
Similarly, because it had not been used for a long time, Xiao Ming did not recognize it by touch for a moment.
It was only when Cheng Ming lifted the hem of her clothes and injected it into her abdomen that it understood what she was holding.
“Cheng Ming!”
It seemed to be the first time she had heard it sound so anxious, almost out of control with panic, so vivid that it was like a person.
Cheng Ming only felt her entire arm go numb. Her nerves briefly lost control, and the muscles in her wrist trembled violently, sending the syringe flying.
It was fighting with her for control of her body, trying to stop her.
The syringe fell off and rolled far away, but there was little liquid left in it.
The drug was taking effect. Cheng Ming steadied her breathing and stood up. “Xiao Ming, be good.”
She touched the root of her “hair.” Perhaps because Xiao Ming had developed further in her body, the mycelia that were stuck in her scalp were still firm. At most, their activity was declining, and they were not as strong when they wrapped around her fingers.
She tied them up as if she were combing her hair normally, buttoned up her shirt, and picked up her coat.
The matter was becoming clear. Since she had made up her mind, she had to act as soon as possible. The longer she dragged it on, the greater the probability that her abnormal behavior would be discovered.
There was no time like the present.
If she were to be arrested, she absolutely could not expose Xiao Ming.
Even if she triggered the alarm, she would have a chance to argue. She was a valuable scientific talent, and at most, she would be charged with espionage after the fact.
But if the parasitism was discovered, she would only go from being a researcher to a research subject.
…
17th floor, Building 3, Investigation Department staff apartment.
At 23:23 in the middle of the night, Yan Li was suddenly woken up by the vibration of her bracelet.
Seeing the message, she immediately sat up.
But her other hand was still being pressed down. She could only shake her sister awake and lean over, saying:
“Rongrong, there’s an emergency mission. I have to go.”
The field teams of the Investigation Department generally worked from six in the morning to nine in the evening, unless there were special circumstances. This was the time for a good dream. Yan Rong wanted to spend more time with her, so when she was at home, her sleep schedule would be synchronized with hers, to avoid her being asleep when she went out, and her being awake when she wanted to sleep, always missing each other.
Yan Rong was in a daze. She tilted her head and lay it back on the pillow, watching her sister get out of bed, get dressed, and put on her bone conduction hearing aid.
Yan Li’s right ear had been injured, and her hearing was impaired. The longer hair on her right side was usually to cover this up.
The apartment suite had two bedrooms, and the sisters each had their own room. But before, Yan Rong’s condition was unstable, and Yan Li was not at ease in the next room, so she had added a single bed for convenience of night care. Now, it was simply because Yan Rong was too insecure and liked to cling to her. In addition, she was no longer as fragile as before, so it was fine to sleep together occasionally.
Of course, only occasionally.
Their physical fitness could not be compared. Compared to Yan Rong, Yan Li was much “thicker-skinned.” If she were to roll over and press on the other, it would definitely cause a disastrous consequence, which meant that when they were lying on the same bed, Yan Rong enjoyed it, while she could only sleep lightly.
A person made of iron could not stand long-term lack of sleep, so this had become a trick to occasionally coax her sister, and it couldn’t be used often.
“Sister…” Yan Rong slowly woke up, like a cub whose mother was about to leave the den to hunt, filled with reluctance and unease.
“Rongrong, be good,” Yan Li reached out and stroked her head. “I’ll make it up to you tomorrow.”
Yan Rong held her hand, took it down and held it in her palm to look at it. She found that the mark from last time was almost gone. She aimed for the web between her thumb and index finger and, without any ceremony, bit down again.
Her teeth were really good…
Yan Li let out a light hiss and deliberately made an exaggerated reaction. She glanced at her, “Are you at ease now?”
“Sister keeps her word.”
The girl who had just shown her sharp teeth had turned back into a well-behaved little sister. She opened her hands and gave her a hug. “I’ll wait for you to come back.”
Click. The door closed behind her.
Yan Li stood in the corridor. The light was sparse, and her body silently relaxed a little. She squeezed her stiff arm.
Then she straightened her back again and, while quickly going downstairs, she sent a message to the other team members—
“Everyone, gather at exit A2 of the South Gate parking lot.”
…
The clock ticked past midnight, and it was July 8th.
Sixty kilometers outside of Lanjiang Port, Star Sand City.
This place was rich in a kind of stone that could glow at night, which was beautifully called “star sand.” In fact, it was just a phosphorescent mineral. Many years ago, the people from the cultural and tourism bureau had a flash of inspiration and spread it on the beach. By creating a glowing coastline, they had attracted a large number of tourists and had successfully boosted the local GDP through tourism. The town had also been renamed because of this.
Now, no one dared to go near the sea, but the star sand mine was still a local specialty.
The temperature at night was only in the teens. Qu Ying was wearing a thin windbreaker and was waiting for a car on the side of the road, playing with a fluorescent stone in her hand with great interest.
The sea-going operation that had lasted for a full six months was finally over. They had arrived at their destination half a month ago. There were no major accidents in the follow-up, and the target was handed over to the local biological research institute. But they had been detained at the Defense Center until now and had only just regained their freedom, undergoing a comprehensive physical and psychological examination.
There was only a short period of free time between endless missions. It was a rare opportunity to leave the Defense Center. With the thought of “since I’m already here,” she bought some things to take back.
Leaving the bustling commercial district, the winding road went deep into the dark night. In the distance, three heavily armed off-road vehicles drove over smoothly, one for personnel and two for escort.
“Officer Qu, you still like these little things…”
The personnel involved in this mission were still injured and those whose mental state was not good enough were undergoing treatment. Qu Ying was going back with the first small team. The person who had come to pick her up was staring at the shining thing in her hand, with a look of shock.
Chen Ke was also in the car, looking at her with great interest.
“It’s for my sister,” Qu Ying put the star sand stone in her pocket, interrupting their gaze.
It had become a habit to bring something for Cheng Ming before every meeting.
According to the provincial and municipal divisions, there were originally a total of 15 coastal cities. After the ocean pollution, the area within the quarantine line was separated and the jurisdiction was re-divided. The headquarters of the five major defense centers were in charge of the 30,000-kilometer coastline.
She was supposed to go to Redstone Bay, but had unexpectedly come to Lanjiang Port. Although she had not left the headquarters’ range, it was still six or seven hundred kilometers from here to go back. The coastline was too winding. They drove on the national highway, set off in the early morning, and would be able to arrive in the morning.
She didn’t know if Cheng Ming was asleep.
But based on her understanding of her, Qu Ying suspected that she was staying up late again. She couldn’t help but curl her lips and tap on her bracelet, deciding to send a message to scare her little one.
“Sending failed, please check your network… Sending failed, please check your network…”
The screen repeatedly jumped to the same reminder.
The curve of her lips froze slightly, and her gaze gradually became sharp.
The signal connected to her personal device was cut off.
Someone next to her let out a “huh,” and it was clear that the same situation had occurred.
“What’s going on?” more people asked.
Their main electronic communication equipment was collectively called a personal device, including mobile phones, bracelets, and work laptops, all of which were provided by the department. The network was also specially provided by the Defense Center, and its security and strength were imaginable. This was the first time they had seen this situation.
The people in the car couldn’t help but look out the window.
In the distance, along the coast, the buildings that stood like giants were reflecting light in the night. The red lines that suddenly scattered from the top formed a vast ocean in the sky, like a burning sunset cloud.
At 0:34 on July 8th, 2174, the Eastern Binhai Defense Center entered a state of level one defense.
