Chapter 78: You’re my one and only.
Returning to the surface, six people had gone down, and eight had come up.
They had lost one Sun Xiangxiao, had found Han Xuhua and the other two members of the first batch, had confirmed that two were dead, and had brought back some scattered biological tissues along the way, which were waiting for DNA comparison to verify their identities.
When they reached the second basement level and communication was restored, they immediately contacted the outside world to explain the situation and asked if they needed to continue searching for the missing person, but they only got a voice urging them to come up.
The reason was not hard to guess.
The abandoned area below was complex in terrain, had no signal, and the monsters were cunning. The first batch of people were not fully prepared, and they had gotten separated not long after they had gone down. It was likely that they were in a bad situation.
In short, in order to chase a VOM47, both the Investigation Department and the biology department had suffered heavy losses.
Fortunately, it was not a complete loss.
They had just brought the killed monster to the first floor when there were more vehicles squatting outside, and the red and blue lights were flashing in their eyes. The support personnel rushed up to help and quickly put the monster into a tougher, special body bag and soaked it in a preservation solution.
This was a head-mutated creature that had never been seen before. Its body was slender, its limbs were distinct, and its whole body was covered with dark green hair that resembled some kind of algae. When it was touched, it would sway and seemed to be still writhing and growing.
The people at the scene were very excited.
“Is this VOM47?”
“Quick, quick! Call Team Leader Qiu! Notify the other researchers!”
Before the monster could touch the ground, Cheng Ming had been squeezed out of the encirclement. She had originally been on guard for a possible interrogation, but the scene was in a mess, and no one paid any attention to her.
Only a staff member, while carrying the monster, had hurriedly turned his head and had shouted, “The injured go to the medical vehicle over there!”
As soon as the last person had walked out, the fully armed engineering team had rushed up and had begun to seal the entrance, even though they had already mentioned that there were still team members who were missing.
The confidentiality of this abandoned experimental area was clearly more important than a few missing people.
Cheng Ming glanced at a certain person who was following her every move.
Those who were contaminated had to be taken for a physical examination to test their radiation indicators. Their protective suits were not broken, and after returning their equipment, they were quickly let go and allowed to rest—the latter’s clothes had been stripped from a sacrificed person by Cheng Ming.
The monster that had been handed over was of course not VOM47.
It was neither her, nor the one behind her—
“MM221?”
The light footsteps behind her paused. Cheng Ming turned her head and met the familiar yet strange face.
She was smiling at her, with Han Xuhua’s appearance, and her eyes were curved in a half-smile. She was used to her usual exaggerated mannerisms, and to suddenly see such a pretty and small expression on this face, it could be said to be quite strange.
The Jiao class could control other monsters, or at least, a certain degree of neural communication. After seeing how the other had summoned a monster of at least HR-rank to make her hand over her mission, Cheng Ming had realized this.
This was the third thing she had learned tonight that had shocked her.
So the organizer of every monster collective action in these years, the so-called leader of the monster organization, was the mermaid.
Her abilities in the neural aspect also originated from the potential of the mermaid.
After the shock and panic of her identity being suddenly revealed had faded, Cheng Ming had slowly sorted out her thoughts.
This non-human creature, which looked very much like a human, was a member of the fourth department, and her code name was Tracker. As its name implied, the other’s main mission was to track the Jiao-related monsters that had invaded the Defense Center.
She had found these scenes in the nooks and crannies of Yan Li’s memory, and only then had she realized that when she had dealt with the fish egg in the research institute’s incubation room, she had brushed past her, which was extremely dangerous.
There must have been a special sense between mermaids, so much so that the other had been staring at her since then.
But, why had she never felt it?
Cheng Ming stood motionless, her eyes cold as she waited for her reaction.
“It sounds so ugly,” meeting her scrutinizing gaze, MM221 didn’t seem to care much that she had exposed her, but just complained, “Call me Little Seashell, sister.”
This was already the second time Cheng Ming had heard her call her sister.
“What?” she slightly moved the corners of her lips, and a contemptuous and mocking smile appeared. “Just because my number is 001, and you’re 221? Then you have a lot of sisters.”
It was just that this mockery, it was unclear if it was directed at Little Seashell, or at herself.
Although the other had said that she could save Yan Rong, which had brought her an unexpected hope. But as a bargaining chip, it was clearly using the person she cared about to force her to submit. Being threatened was not a comfortable experience.
What’s more, MM221 knew much more about her than she did. She had always been in the open, and the other had been in the dark. She knew very little about her.
The unknown would bring fear, and the imbalance would bring vigilance.
“Of course not, you’re my one and only,” she tilted her head and smiled at her.
If it weren’t for her identity as an experimental subject, Cheng Ming could almost imagine how popular this girl would be in daily life. She could say moving and sweet words at will.
“Aren’t you my mom’s precious daughter who’s already dead?”
She had added a lot of qualifiers, and her enunciation was very strange. “Precious” was the emphasis.
If Cheng Ming had paid attention, she would have noticed this. The choice of words could disguise emotions, but the fluctuation of the tone was difficult. That hinted at the other’s extremely restless heart.
But she couldn’t pay attention.
Her eyes were fixed, and all her attention was drawn to the first few words, like a howling hurricane, which had taken away all her air in an instant, forming a terrible negative pressure, making it difficult to breathe.
Her feet were frozen, and both the distant and near scenes seemed to have receded in an instant. The world had lost its sound and color, and only the dreamlike smile on the other’s lips was left.
“Mom?” she slowly repeated this word.
Her ears were filled with reverberations, and she couldn’t even hear her own voice. Her soul also seemed to be floating up with the tone. “Who is your mom?”
“It’s our researcher,” Little Seashell looked at her with a smile and said, “Her surname is Cheng, and her name is Cheng Ran.”
…
Qu Ying stood behind Cheng Ran.
This was the other’s studio. Theoretically, it should be rigorous and tidy, just like the first time she had been invited to their home thirteen years ago. As soon as she had entered the door, she had been shocked by the objects on the workbench that were arranged in a neat row.
However, without enough memory to support it, it was likely that it would affect a person’s personality. There were no professional instruments or complex records in front of her. It was more like it had been converted into her personal break room, and was filled with paintings.
She hadn’t painted anything complicated, just seashells.
One after another, red seashells, the brushstrokes from clumsy to skilled, from rough to detailed, and finally, lifelike. The sizes were different, and the shapes were also slightly different, but the patterns on each seashell were surprisingly consistent.
“Why did you call her Little Seashell?” Qu Ying asked quietly. “Did you give her this name?”
Cheng Ran had her back to her and was sitting in the middle of countless monotonous colors.
She was wearing an always-clean white lab coat, and she herself was like a blank sheet of paper. The only thing that had stained her was the seashell in her hand.
She seemed to be holding it very tightly, and yet she seemed to be just holding it loosely. The blood-red color was held in her pale five fingers. It was like a stone in a barren land that had been accidentally embraced by a growing vine. Along with the growth and support, it had sunk deeper and deeper, and in ignorance, it had become a part of the vine.
The ignorant vine did not understand what this stone was, but just instinctively wrapped and enveloped it, and held it tightly in its embrace, and integrated it into its life.
It didn’t understand, but it subconsciously felt that it was important.
Actually, Cheng Ming had gotten it wrong.
The necklace she had received on her sixteenth birthday was not the one she had picked up on the beach and had casually given to Cheng Ran.
The pendant that Cheng Ran had given her was specially customized with special materials from the research institute, and was made into a closed shape in the shape of a seashell.
And the one that Cheng Ming had picked up, after being re-polished and decorated, and coated with a protective layer, had been worn by Cheng Ran for more than ten years, and had not been lost even when it had fallen into the sea.
In the first few days after she had been salvaged from the sea, she, who remembered nothing, had only this seashell that was tightly pressed against her chest and held in her palm.
“No,” hearing Qu Ying’s question, Cheng Ran said, and calmly put away the seashell.
She had called her mom, and she didn’t know who she was. She had just created her as required, and she didn’t know who she was, and had not given her a name. And so 221 had pointed to those day after day of graphics and had asked her if she could be called this.
The origin was that simple.
The monsters that her own department had lost could only be caught by her own people. But MM221 itself was a tracker, and she didn’t know where to get a tracker No. 2 to track the previous one in a short time.
And if you were to ask who knew these experimental subjects best, it was naturally their respective special researchers.
“Don’t be in a hurry, she’ll be back,” she said.
A calm and determined tone.
Like a mother’s understanding of her child.
…
17th floor, the night was deep and bottomless.
Standing at the apartment door, Cheng Ming had entered the wrong password three times in a row.
Hearing the beeping warning sound, MM221 next to her glanced at her suspiciously, and her gaze seemed to be asking—”Is this really your home?”
She entered it for the fourth time, and it was wrong again.
Beep, beep, beep! This time, the prompt sound was even sharper.
Little Seashell looked at the display and said, “Sister, if you get it wrong one more time, it will call the police.”
Cheng Ming’s hand paused, and only then did she come back to her senses. She suppressed the coldness that was seeping up from her finger bones, re-entered it, and click, the system was unlocked. It was finally right.
On the way back from the biology department, she had been quietly controlling her breathing and her inner anxiety.
The news of Cheng Ran had shaken her so much that she could barely think, but when she saw the life monitoring reminder flashing on the light screen of her bracelet, her reason told her that the top priority was to solve Yan Rong’s predicament first.
She had to go and see Cheng Ran and confirm the truth with her own eyes. But not now.
Before that, she had to clear her worries.
Because she might not be able to come back.
If it was fake, then it was a complete conspiracy. She was still hiding the identity of experimental subject No. 1, and it was purely walking into a trap.
If it was true, then why didn’t Cheng Ran see her? Why didn’t she recognize her? Was there something that was preventing her from contacting the outside world?
That night in the A-zone laboratory, they were so close, and she had opened the escape route for her and had personally pushed her away. But besides that, there was not a single extra word.
At that time, face to face, Cheng Ran had looked at her, at her who was in tears, what was she thinking?
Mom, don’t you have anything to say to me?
…
She couldn’t think any more. She was surrounded by countless questions and panic, like a silkworm that had spun a cocoon around itself, and would only push herself to the brink of madness.
She put away her chaotic thoughts and pushed the door open to Yan Rong’s room.
“Sister?” The person on the bed was woken up, even though Cheng Ming’s footsteps were already very light.
She was tormented by the continuous pain. Without painkillers, it was difficult for her to enter a deep sleep.
She blinked her hazy eyes and looked at Cheng Ming. Then, she saw the other figure that had come in behind Cheng Ming.
“Rongrong, I might have found a way to save you, but I’m not sure of the effect. Do you want to try it?” Cheng Ming sat down by the bed, glanced at MM221, and asked her.
Yan Rong was a little dazed and looked at the “Han Xuhua” who she had met a few times in the previous mission, and her eyes widened.
The smart her clearly saw that something was wrong, “Sister, she’s not…”
Cheng Ming nodded, “She’s like me.”
Her puzzled gaze turned a few times and returned to the person by the bed. Yan Rong retracted her gaze and did not ask any more. She tilted her head, like a magnolia that was about to wither in the late spring, and rested on her hand, and said with a smile, “Alright.”
Cheng Ming could see that she didn’t have much hope, but she just didn’t want her to be disappointed, so she let her do as she pleased.
Her chest felt a little tight. She wanted to say something encouraging, but she took a breath and was about to start when her finger stung.
She looked down, and this sister had launched a sneak attack at the most docile moment. This time, she had bitten her little finger.
The teeth marks were very shallow, and they were healing almost visibly.
“So annoying, sister, your self-healing ability is too strong,” Yan Rong lay flat and complained with regret, her tone weak but stubborn.
Cheng Ming couldn’t help but laugh.
She flipped her hand and covered her eyes, and said with a double meaning, “It will be fine.”
After being injected with a painkiller and a sleeping pill, Yan Rong fell into a deep sleep.
She held the hand that was exposed outside. The blood vessels under her skin were even more obvious, like the cracks in an ice layer, and they were floating with a deep and ominous dark blue.
She tucked her hand into the covers, her movements very light. She did not turn back and asked calmly, “How to save her?”
“You sisters have a really good relationship,” Little Seashell, who had been left aside for a long time, tilted her head and looked at her, and then at her. Her expression was indescribable, whether it was mocking or envious.
Cheng Ming turned her head to look at her. She turned around and examined the existing instruments, and walked around as if she were in her own home, looking left and right. Besides the medical equipment, she was also clearly very interested in the furnishings in their home.
Cheng Ming saw her put her hand on a completely unrelated item for the third time, and she picked up a glacier-patterned glass and shook it back and forth, and it shone with a colorful light in front of the desk lamp, with a rather novel look.
Her brow couldn’t help but furrow, and just as she was about to speak, the other finally put down the messy things.
Returning to the main topic, she said, “There’s one more thing missing.”
“What?”
Little Seashell turned around and said to her, “Wave-Born Floating Flower Algaefungus.”
