Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Lily whispered, "I'm sorry, ma'am. I was just a bit worried about Si Nan."

"Is there anything you can't tell me?" Madam Lu extended her hand, and Lily obediently left An Zhe's side to be led by the lady.

During their previous encounter at the lighthouse, Madam Lu had worn a mask, so An Zhe could only see her eyes. This time, he finally got a clear view of her features. Her facial lines were gentle, with arched eyebrows, but her thin lips were slightly pursed when she wasn't smiling, adding a touch of resolute bravery to her gentle appearance. She didn't resemble Lu Feng in the slightest.

Strangely, An Zhe felt that there was a resemblance between her features and Lily's. If everyone in the base had grown from embryos from Eden, and all those embryos had come from women in Eden, then it was possible that Lily was Madam Lu's biological daughter.

In that case, Lily's decision to leave him and go with Madam Lu made sense – after all, she was Madam Lu's offspring, not his. In this world, only spores would never leave him willingly.

Looking at Madam Lu, An Zhe wondered what actions she would take towards him.

Madam Lu asked, "Is he your friend? You came to the tunnel to find him?"

Lily met An Zhe's gaze, her clever eyes darting around before she spoke to Madam Lu, "He doesn't want to go back. Can I invite him for a visit?"

"We can treat An Zhe to dinner. Their food is terrible," she added.

An Zhe understood that the little girl wanted to help him hide from the search downstairs, but he didn't think Madam Lu would agree. After all, his sudden appearance was too peculiar.

To his surprise, Madam Lu replied, "Alright."

Lily gasped and said, "Madam is so kind today."

Madam Lu bent down to stroke her hair. "I've always loved you."

Lily nuzzled her palm affectionately. "I love Madam too."

- And just like that, An Zhe was taken to the twenty-second floor of Eden. The atmosphere here was tranquil, with soft music playing through the corridor speakers. The pristine white walls were adorned with images of flowers, butterflies, bees, clouds, or depictions of the Virgin Mary. Compared to the outside world, it felt like a different realm.

In the spacious corridors and hallways, An Zhe encountered other women, all dressed in flowing white dresses with their raven-black or chestnut-brown hair loose. They had serene expressions and nodded politely at Madam Lu when they saw her.

In a small cubicle of the communal dining area, An Zhe had dinner on the twenty-second floor: sweetened milk, half a roasted chicken, and a bowl of vegetable and corn soup.

After the meal, Madam Lu said, "It's time to send your friend away."

Lily pleaded with her, "Let him stay a bit longer."

Madam indulged her request, saying, "Then come with me to water the flowers."

Lily took An Zhe's hand, leading him through the pristine hall to another circular room. At first glance, An Zhe noticed the vibrant red and green in this chamber. In its center was a small garden, brimming with deep crimson roses.

"Back then, my love used to bring me seeds from the wilderness," Madam Lu told An Zhe. "Later on, Lu Fen would do the same. I remember the day you spent with him."

An Zhe nodded in response.

"He rarely allowed himself to get close to others," Madam Lu said, picking up a silver watering can from the flower rack.

Just then, something caught the corner of An Zhe's eye, and he instinctively turned his head. It was the television screen in the room, which had turned on by itself without anyone touching the remote control.

"The Emergency Response Department has an announcement," the news anchor spoke at an unusually rapid pace. Simultaneously, a half-body picture of An Zhe appeared on the screen. "Urgent capture of this suspect. If you have any sightings, please report immediately."

An Zhe's body tensed slightly. The tranquility of the past hour seemed like a mere illusion. The world was still fraught with danger for him. He looked at Madam Lu.

But Madam Lu softly reassured him, "Don't be afraid."

Madam Lu's actions always surprised An Zhe. Initially, he thought she was a strict adherent to the base's rules, but now it seemed that wasn't the case.

An Zhe: "You..."

"I won't help you escape, but I also won't hand you over for the time being," Mrs. Lu smiled.

An Zhe asked her, "Why?"

"There are always many reasons to arrest someone," Mrs. Lu looked away from the screen and lowered her head to water her roses. The translucent droplets rolled down the edges of the deep red petals, fell off the green leaves, and dropped into the soil. "For example, forty years ago, they arrested my mother."

An Zhe wasn't sure what she was trying to say, but it seemed like she wanted to tell a story. Many people he had met wanted to tell him stories, as if everyone carried some cherished memories in their hearts.

So, he remained silent and listened quietly. The scent of roses enveloped them. Lily picked a flower, peeled off its petals one by one, held them in her palm, and scattered them into the air. They fell like rain, sprinkling onto her hair and body, with one petal landing on the corner of Mrs. Lu's hair.

"In the Human Four Bases, twenty-three thousand three hundred and seventy-one women unanimously passed the following declaration: I voluntarily dedicate myself to the fate of humanity, accepting genetic experiments and all forms of assisted reproduction, striving for the continuation of the human race for life." Mrs. Lu repeated the "Rose Declaration" that An Zhe had heard from Lily before, albeit with a much softer tone than the cheerful voice of the little girl. Her tone was deeper.

"This declaration omitted a sentence, a premise," Mrs. Lu said, "Under the premise of basic human rights, we accept genetic experiments and all forms of assisted reproduction. In addition, the initiators of the declaration reached an agreement with the base that women would manage women."

Her fingers brushed against the soft petals of the rose. "But that was almost seventy years ago, when everything still seemed hopeful. Humanity's fate was right in front of us, and as long as we could continue, things would get better... If I were one of those twenty-three thousand women back then, I would have agreed without hesitation. Everyone was making sacrifices, and I was willing to contribute whatever I could to the benefit of humanity."

"At that time, in vitro embryo culture technology was not yet mature, and children had to stay in their mothers' wombs for at least seven months. The base hoped, for the sake of increasing population, that their uterus could rest for no more than fifteen days." Mrs. Lu looked up at the steel-colored ceiling. "The burden of childbirth was too great, destroying their entire lives, and their vitality was slipping away. They hoped the base would relax the requirements, but no one agreed."

"Females who willingly signed the Rose Petal Oath and all girls born afterward are rightfully devoted to this cause – and we desperately need the population. The Lighthouse and the military think so, as do most in the main city and the outer city, even those women who govern us," she said gently, her tone evoking empathy. An Zhe listened quietly, observing Lily sitting calmly on the edge of the flower bed.

"To fight for basic human rights, they launched a protest movement about forty years ago. My mother was one of its initiators – she might have been among the first to propose the Rose Petal Oath," Mrs. Lu smiled wistfully. "But all records, both visual and written, were destroyed. I was too young then to remember much. I only recall one night when soldiers from the Unification Center barged into our home. She locked me in my room, and then came the sound of a gunshot... I saw blood seeping under the door into my room. After that, I was sent to Eden."

"They eventually realized that the most effective way to control resources was by having a tight grip on reproduction. So they removed that statement from the oath, gathering the new generation of girls to be raised in Eden, where they were taught their duties from a young age and received no other education. This ensured the base wouldn't face declining birthrates and no girl would suffer the loss of her rights due to constant childbirth."

She looked around the walls, as if seeing through them to the entire human settlement. "I grieve for this, yet I know my sorrow is but a small part. In this place, life ends with every passing second. The only way for humans to survive in this era is to become a single organism. Different roles are like different organs of this creature – the Lighthouse is its brain, the military its claws, the people of the outer city its flesh, the buildings and walls its skin, and Eden its womb."

An Zhe met her gaze, and she seemed to read his thoughts. "I've never resented this place."

Bending down, she picked up Lily, who nestled her head on her shoulder.

"I often find myself perplexed," she said, caressing Lily's hair softly. "We resist monsters and hybrids, reject foreign genes corrupting human DNA, to preserve our unique human will and avoid being ruled by our primal instincts... Yet, in achieving this goal, everything we do contradicts the very essence of humanity. And the collective we form – all it does, acquiring resources, strengthening itself, reproducing – merely displays the nature of beasts. In reality, there's no significant difference between humans and the monsters outside; it's just that our adaptable minds deceive ourselves into assigning meaning to our actions. Humans are just another ordinary species, born like all life, and soon to perish like all life."

Mrs. Lu's eyes held a haunting stillness. "Human civilization and its technology are as insignificant as the rest."

Silent now, she gazed at the ceiling for a long while. An Zhe noticed her hand resting on a dark knob – then turning it gently.

The ceiling's radiation-shielding metal plates crashed open, revealing the uppermost level of Eden. Beyond the glass lay an endless expanse of sky. During the night, when solar winds temporarily subsided, a serene twilight and the Milky Way spilled down together in silence.

An Zhe softly said, "There will be a better day."

Perhaps there would come a time when Judges no longer had to kill their kin, soldiers wouldn't perish in the wilderness, and the girls of Eden would regain their freedom.

Madam Lu replied, "That won't happen anymore. The world is almost completely broken."

"Lily," she turned to the little girl in her arms, "do you want to fly?"

An Zhe gazed at her gentle profile. Upon hearing this, a chill ran down his spine.

Lily wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and asked with a clear voice, "Can I? Just like Si Nan?"

"It's possible," she answered.

In that instant, An Zhe finally understood Si Nan's true intention for sending Lily back to Eden – something entirely opposite to what they had initially suspected.

Returning to Eden wasn't a choice driven by the pursuit of safety.