“People without badges leave. The ones with badges have them handed out at random.”
Fuling studied the badge in her hand. “Could it be that the badges protect us?”
The lab’s strange atmosphere made her scalp prickle. Everyone was acting out the tasks they’d carried out over and over while alive.
Linglan took Fuling’s hand and led her toward the experimental zone.
Everyone here was like a weak AI, capable only of stiff, scripted answers and reactions. When the two intruders approached the lab, a guard blocked the entrance.
“No entry.”
Fuling looked up at him. “I’m in charge. I’m allowed in.”
The guard hesitated. “But there’s been a Class III leak inside. It’s dangerous.”
A researcher leisurely walked out of the room as he spoke. Through the doorway, the experimental zone looked clean and orderly.
Fuling thought it over, then raised the badge in her hand. “I’m the supervisor authorized to deal with the leak.”
The guard was delighted. “You’re finally here!”
Well, these people really were easy to fool.
“A lot of the equipment is broken… Someone only cleaned it up.”
Fuling peered through the reinforced glass. A closer look showed bullet holes in the floors and walls.
Nervously, she put a hand on her gun holster.
Linglan was confused, too. As far as she remembered, the lab had been a pathology research center set up during the epidemic. After the discovery of spores, it had shifted to studying their properties. In the end, the Mother Entity was the only living organism they’d raised.
When the apocalypse began, the experimental zone had activated its extermination protocol and killed ninety-eight percent of the Mother Entity’s tissue.
Even so, the Mother Entity hadn’t chosen to retaliate. Instead, she had continued to be “sentimental” like a human and withdrawn into herself.
She stroked Fuling’s shoulder. In the corner of her eye, she saw a mechanical arm gliding toward them along a track in the ceiling.
It stopped in front of them and looked them over from side to side in a strangely human manner.
“Why have you come here?”
A mechanical voice came from its built-in speaker. The “Mother Entity” paused, then asked another question.
“Has the outside world achieved coexistence?”
The mechanical arm’s voice startled Fuling. She’d thought a person was greeting them.
Linglan shook her head and took out her notebook, turning to a page where she’d already written.
I’m different. I need your help.
“Help. What do you need?”
I want to become human.
“Good. I’ll help you tonight at eight.”
Linglan paused. The response was very much in keeping with the Mother Entity’s personality, but something about it still felt wrong.
She took out her pen.
What happened to the people here?
The mechanical arm fell silent, as if it had shut down. It seemed to have gone off to prepare the genetic material.
Linglan hesitated, then decided to return to the dorm with Fuling. They tried their badges on the doors until they found the room assigned to Zheng Ming. Once inside, they locked the door.
Seeing the worry on Fuling’s face, Linglan told her everything about the Mother Entity and the lab.
“So the people here are zombies, and they’ve kept their humanity because of the Mother Entity?”
Fuling lay on the comfortable bed and stared at the ceiling, lost in thought. “If that’s true, then the Mother Entity did all this?”
No.
The Mother Entity would never desecrate life.
“Anyway, it’s eight o’clock tonight. Ling should be able to talk by then. We can leave right after. This place gives me the creeps.”
Fuling reached out and tapped the light bulb, sighing. “Still… living here wouldn’t be so bad.”
A soft, spotless bed. A clean room with a comfortable temperature. Books, exercise equipment…
Splash~
And a bathroom with hot water.
It was true. The place was just too nice, too comfortable—a paradise in the apocalypse, with everything running in perfect order under the Mother Entity’s care.
The water in the bathtub rose almost to the rim. They sank into it, leaving only their heads above the surface.
Resting in Linglan’s arms, Fuling asked, “What do you want to do once you’re human, Ling?”
Eat and sleep.
With a gentle twist, Fuling turned around and draped herself over Linglan. The pressure made her soft curves round and full.
Her cheeks flushed as she closed her eyes in contentment and murmured, “There’s something I want to do, too.”
A misty haze floated through the bathroom. The pleasantly warm water eased the exhaustion of a full day.
An arm circled Fuling’s back, gently stroking down her slender spine.
“Mmm~”
A faint, trembling sigh escaped Fuling’s lips. She melted into Linglan’s arms.
The hand slid upward. Fuling felt Linglan gather up her long hair and work soap through it, gently rubbing her scalp.
The clear water slowly filled with foam, and rainbow bubbles shimmered under the bathroom lights.
There was unopened conditioner in the cabinet, too. They ignored the expiration date and enjoyed a rare hot bath in the middle of the apocalypse.
“Ling~ Dry me off~”
Fuling happily raised both arms. Linglan glanced at her.
You call me childish, but you’re just as bad.
“Hehe~ It feels so nice when Ling touches me. I want her to keep touching me forever.”
Fuling’s lips curled into a W. She wore her bathrobe loosely, leaning against Linglan with her chest half exposed.
Like a cat who owned the place, she stretched out at ease.
All Linglan had to do was lower her eyes, and she could see plenty of pale skin.
A hand pinched the collar and pulled the loose robe closed.
“Eh?”
Fuling froze. A blush crept up her cheeks, and she looked away, her voice barely audible. “I… wanted Ling to look.”
Linglan hadn’t heard her. She tilted her head in confusion.
“Hehe.” Fuling grinned foolishly, pulled her robe closed, then hopped aside to grab the hair dryer. “Dry my hair, dry my hair~”
Young people’s thoughts really did jump around.
Linglan walked over with a straight face, crouched down, tied Fuling’s belt properly, then took the hair dryer.
There were plenty of spare clothes in the room. They were a little too small for Linglan and a little too big for Fuling.
“Ta-da~”
Fuling sprang up. The white coat swallowed her tiny frame, its overly long sleeves flapping like the tips of wings.
She looked like a little bird sticking out its tongue.
Linglan forced a smile as Fuling tilted her head adorably. Her tongue still poked out, as if she’d forgotten to pull it back in.
Linglan pinched it.
“Waaah!”
Fuling squeezed her eyes shut and pulled her tongue back. Like a little animal that had taken the bait, she caught Linglan’s finger in her mouth.
Her bright eyes sparkled as she looked up at Linglan. When she pulled away, a shining thread stretched between her lips and Linglan’s fingertip.
Fuling: (⁄⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄⁄)
Linglan: What a little pervert…
Their clothes had been too ragged, so they changed into clean researchers’ uniforms. Fuling was clever with her hands and altered the clothes to fit in no time.
Linglan stood before the mirror with both hands in the pockets of her white lab coat, trying to look cool. Then she suddenly realized something.
Fuling hadn’t taken her measurements. How had she managed to tailor the clothes so perfectly?
Had she been touching me all the time before?
Linglan looked at Fuling, who was grinning foolishly at her, and shook her head.
You little pervert.
She checked the time. Five in the afternoon.
Linglan still felt something was wrong with the Mother Entity, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
Should we wait until eight?
No. That would leave us too passive.
She planned to take Fuling to the security section and look for the truth about what had happened here.
