Chapter 27

Chapter 27

"Human science is like climbing a mountain, but we stumbled a century ago," the doctor chuckled. "Just like how we still can't explain why Earth's magnetic field vanished for such a long time."

With that, he didn't elaborate further and said, "Let's go."

Colin lowered his head and walked silently towards the shuttle. After An Zhe bid the doctor farewell, he also got on board.

Lu Feng was nowhere to be seen. An Zhe hadn't spotted him. The man must've been busy, and he didn't seem interested in interacting much with An Zhe today. He probably had already left.

Once he confirmed that the last two passengers had boarded, the shuttle bus started moving along the tracks, leaving the train station. It was the final shuttle of the day, packed with nearly a hundred people standing shoulder to shoulder. Their departure point was within the building, so they couldn't see the outside world clearly. Three minutes later, after passing through a tunnel, the sound of rain and the light from outside flooded into the vehicle, revealing a broad vista ahead. Murmurs of surprise echoed inside the bus.

An Zhe's gaze pierced through the crowd and the window—another buffer zone. Beyond it stood countless towering, gray-blue buildings with shimmering glass facades piercing the sky.

He widened his eyes slightly.

A month ago, when he first arrived at the human base, he had been amazed by the miraculous human structures, which towered over most giant mushrooms, displaying an extraordinary grandeur and height. But that grandeur and height were relative to a mushroom that had never seen the world.

Now, things were different. As someone who had grown accustomed to the scale of the outer city's architecture, he felt those skyscrapers looming over him once again. Most residential buildings in the outer city were ten stories high, but not here. After counting up to thirty, the buildings receded from his sight due to the time it took, and he had only counted half of them.

The patterns were also unusually dense and intricate, creating a surreal spectacle in An Zhe's vision. The rain gradually subsided; summer storms always passed swiftly. Golden sunlight pierced through the clouds, shimmering on the glass facade of a building's rooftop.

An Zhe had heard the full story of the base's establishment from a poet. It had begun with the weakening and eventual disappearance of Earth's magnetic field. To address this issue, two magnetic field generators were constructed, with the main city of the Northern Base safeguarding one of them.

Then came the mutations of bacteria, plants, and animals, prompting humans to band together for self-preservation, eventually giving rise to the entire Northern Base. Hence, the main city was established before the outer cities. At that time, many events had yet to unfold, and both the magnetic field generator and the main city symbolized the pinnacle of human technology and construction capabilities.

After that, everything went downhill.

The mechanical voice announced, "Passengers, due to the scarcity of living resources in the main city, the Lighthouse and Eden residential areas are already fully occupied. You will be temporarily settled in military housing. Please locate your designated residence based on your ID card number and await further instructions."

An Zhe took out his newly issued ID card. The number had changed, now reading 3124043702.

The '3' represented a human base, while the '1' indicated the main city. The remaining digits pinpointed his specific living location.

The people in the vehicle began whispering among themselves, realizing that their addresses were scattered.

"I get it," someone said. "The residents in places like Lighthouse and Eden have safe jobs, so their residential areas are full. But the military loses personnel frequently, leaving plenty of empty spots. They're just filling us in there."

The others agreed with this reasoning. Before long, the shuttle stopped, letting them off. A few others were assigned to live in Unit 04 of Building 24 with An Zhe. They entered the building and started fumbling to learn how to use the elevator – a feature absent in the outer city.

Ultimately, Colin alighted at the 36th floor, while An Zhe made his way alone to the 37th. There were no more buttons above this level; it was the penthouse. Facing each other were two doors, both sealed with white stickers. An Zhe tore off the seal on Door 02 and swiped his card to enter.

The living area within the main city was evidently more spacious than the outer city. It was a one-bedroom, one-living room suite with a separate bathroom and kitchen. In the living room stood a simple coffee table and a small gray sofa. On the wall directly opposite the sofa hung a black rectangular object. Its construction and hue reminded him of the tablet he had played with at Boss Xiao's place. Approaching it, he pressed the button located beneath it.

"... Safely relocated within the main city, emergency defense protocols have been activated. As per the United Front Center, the base is entering a 5-10 year consolidation period until the next generation matures. Concurrently, the Lighthouse speculates that external monsters have undergone high-level intellectual mutations. This insect swarm invasion is presumed to be a coordinated mass action during their breeding season. To mitigate the potential risk of genetic leakage, the Lighthouse advises the United Front Center to exercise caution in deploying troops externally and to refrain from high-risk operations. The focus should shift to resource production and war preparation research, seeking means to overcome our current predicament. Now connecting to Mr. Chen, a researcher from the Lighthouse."

The interface shifted, replacing the suited announcer with a middle-aged man in a lab coat, his expression grave.

As is well known, arthropod monsters do not hold a survival advantage in high-risk areas, yet during their breeding season, they require nutrient-dense and genetically superior animal flesh as incubators for their eggs. We speculate that this is the reason behind their collective assaults on human settlements. After all, reproduction stands as the paramount priority for any species, driving them to extremes. However, how they developed a collectively intelligent group consciousness remains a mystery, likely tied to the ingestion of human genetic material by some individuals.

The announcer asked, "In light of this situation, do you have any message for the public?"

"The outer city's fall is unfortunate, indeed. But we've ultimately prevented further leakage of human genetic information and denied the monsters the chance to multiply. In its own way, that's a victory." The researcher continued, "What I want to convey to everyone is that there's no need to worry about the safety of the main city. It stands as the pinnacle of human technological achievement, its security designed to withstand any external monster invasion. Moreover, there's no need to be anxious about the future of our species. I've received news that cultivation technology has advanced, resulting in a significant increase in newborns in Eden in recent years. Our base is entering a period of population expansion, and our future is bright..."

The researcher spoke at length, primarily to reassure the public. After his address, the announcer connected with a military representative to provide an update on the latest developments in outdoor operations.

An Zhe found that the news broadcasts from the main city were much more detailed than the monotonous announcements from the outer city. He found it fascinating. When the news finally ended, the screen turned into a dull gray and began playing meaningless music, he switched it off.

It was already evening. Looking out the bedroom window, the first stars were appearing in the sky. In the distance stood a colossal, pillar-like structure, so massive that it took up almost a quarter of An Zhe's field of vision and towered over all other buildings. It seemed like a monstrous beast lurking at the heart of the city, with faint auroras rapidly swirling around it. An Zhe thought that perhaps this was the fabled magnetism generator.

After gazing for a while longer, he opened the door, planning to go have dinner. The main city, like the outer city, had communal dining halls on certain floors.

At this moment, he noticed that the seal on his neighbor's door across the hall had been removed.

An Zhe had no intention of investigating when his neighbor had returned or what kind of person they might be. The day had begun with an alarming incident, and he didn't like it. He wanted a peaceful end to the day.

As wished, he remained undisturbed until the next morning. His communicator beeped with a message: all civilian personnel transferred from the outer city were to assemble at the entrance of Eden.

The previous night, An Zhe had studied the map of the main city and the base manual. He learned that there were twenty thousand permanent adult residents, seventy percent of whom were military personnel, while the remaining thirty percent were researchers and various civilian workers. Surrounding the main city were zones for military equipment, bases, landing pads, train stations, and residential areas. Within the city, the core area housed the key institutions of the three bases.

The first was the Unification Center, which oversaw the military, responsible for personnel and resource allocation. The second was the Research Center, whose function was self-explanatory. Due to its logo resembling a simplified lighthouse, people simply called it "Lighthouse." The Unification Center and Lighthouse each occupied a skyscraper, connected by a skybridge. Together, they formed the "Twin Towers."

The third had a longer name: "Reproduction, Cultivation, and Education Center." It served two purposes – providing food and nutrition for the base (An Zhe guessed this might be where humans grew potatoes), and nurturing infants. Human babies grew up here and received initial education. Because of its cumbersome title, it was commonly known as "Eden."

Eden would be An Zhe's future workplace.

Gazing at the distant Twin Towers, then at Eden, he felt a hint of anticipation. He had yet to encounter human infants. His spore was a soft, white ball; he wondered if human babies would be similar.

Yet, would tending to human infants provide experience for when he cares for his own offspring in the future?

—Perhaps not.