Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Lily lifted her head from Lady Lu's shoulder, her dark eyes gazing at An Zhe. There was always a peculiar hue in them, misty and profound, reminding An Zhe of creatures from the abyss. Actually, every lady and girl on the 22nd floor had this naive demeanor, as if they were strangers to the world. If there were judges present, they might conclude that these women were not truly human. If someone were born in Eden and never allowed to leave, they would inevitably be different from those outside.

Suddenly, An Zhe felt a slight headache. That fluctuation—had resurfaced in his mind, but it was much less grand and terrifying than what he had experienced in the dead of night. It was more concrete and closer, as if the source was right beside him.

He looked at Lady Lu. The light shifted, and in her eyes, he saw a vague iridescence. "You..."

An Zhe took a few steps back. Behind him was the red alarm bell installed in each room. "Don't you want to be human anymore?"

Lady Lu stared at him, dumbfounded, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"There is no hope for humanity," she said.

An Zhe continued, "Wait for Lu Fen to return..."

Before he could finish, Lady Lu suddenly laughed. At the same time, tears kept falling from her eyes, and her whole body trembled, like a leaf in autumn winds. With her right hand covering her mouth, she let out fragmented laughter.

"Humanity... has brought too much suffering to me and my children," An Zhe finally heard her speak—she might have been pained for Lu Fen, but in the next moment, Lady Lu's voice turned hoarse, terrifyingly so.

"Lu Fen... He's more resolute than I am. He's like this base, willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of humanity, yet he'll never attain what he desires." The lady reached out and crushed a crimson rose, its thorns piercing her hand, but the pain only steadied her voice further. "Everything he wants to protect is destined to be destroyed. His beliefs are built on a foundation of air... He won't meet a peaceful end. Not being able to witness the day he goes mad, the day this base collapses... That's my only regret."

The despairing, sorrowful animosity in her tone startled An Zhe, his eyes widening in confusion as he stared at her in disbelief.

The rose petals slipped from Madam Lu's grasp, her voice softening. "What I wish to accomplish is to leave this place. What brings you, little alien, to the human base, to his side?"

An Zhe gazed at her, unable to utter a single word.

However, Madam Lu seemed uninterested in his response. Her neck elongated, her entire body transforming, stretching and bending into an eerie arc before swelling and expanding...

Brown and black patterns emerged across her body, turning it into an oval-shaped chrysalis. Her arms transformed into the slender limbs of an arthropod, while two pairs of translucent wings tore through her white gown, sprouting from her back. Within a minute, she had become a monstrous hybrid of human and bee.

The bizarre oscillation intensified but enveloped only Lily. Lily's body underwent a similar transformation under its influence.

"The time is drawing near. Human genetics are too frail to perceive the changes happening in this world, nor can they withstand mutation or selection. Yet, other creatures aren't much stronger," she whispered. "We will all die. I harbor no hatred towards humans. I've worked for the base for thirty-five years, alleviating much suffering for women and ensuring more newborns each year."

She smiled. "But in the face of this calamity, all that work was futile, merely highlighting humanity's insignificance and vulnerability. I simply wished to experience, in the last era of peace, something I've never obtained."

Her elytra shimmered under the moonlight, the queen bee's body large, slender, and graceful.

Lily's transformation was complete before she could react. She became a smaller bee, fluttering around Madam Lu. Her flight was so graceful and innate that An Zhe couldn't find any trace of humanity in her.

Looking at Madam Lu, An Zhe noticed her frown slightly and close her eyes.

A hint of pain was visible on her serene face, but then, an indescribable change occurred on her head. Multicolored compound eyes emerged, antennae sprouted, and her human bones contorted into hard, honey-colored chitin. This creature was far larger and more beautiful than any insectoid monster An Zhe had ever seen. In this hexagonal hive, she resembled a queen bee.

A rustling sound filled the air, the wings vibrating. The transparent insect wings fluttered like a flowing white veil before straightening and quivering, lifting her body into the air. Slowly ascending towards the dome, she suddenly accelerated as she approached it!

A heavy tremor echoed, causing the solid glass dome to crack like a spiderweb. An Zhe believed the dome should be very sturdy, but with the second and third impacts, it shattered with a loud crash, sending countless fragments cascading onto the floor and into the rose petals, like dewdrops.

Alarm sirens blared, flooding the room with red light. The deafening sound was accompanied by hurried footsteps as staff in white shirts burst in, only to freeze at the sight before them.

A massive hole had been created, and the bee Lily had transformed into soared outwards, ascending into the night sky, soon disappearing from sight.

The queen bee was slower. Standing above the dome, she turned her head, perhaps nostalgic for the place, before slowly turning back. Her wings fluttered gently, as if deciding to ascend.

But in the next moment, the wing vibrations ceased, leaving only silence. The motionless wings seemed like an ominous pause. The colossal queen bee bathed in moonlight suddenly turned, her pair of shimmering golden compound eyes fixated on An Zhe— and all of Eden.

Her right foreleg reached in, the pincers glinting coldly with a silvery sheen. The tip grew larger, followed by the entire foreleg, then the massive head.

A strange sensation abruptly rose within An Zhe. This action was too bizarre. A determined Madam Lu, now free from captivity, would never return unless the one controlling this queen bee was no longer Madam Lu. Unless the monster's instinctive consciousness had effortlessly triumphed over human will.

What would a complete alien do when facing humans of Eden?

All this transpired within mere seconds. Staring at the immobilized staff, An Zhe croaked, "…Hurry and leave."

In the very next instant, the queen bee lifted its head. An incomparably intense and indescribable wave emanated from it, engulfing everyone present!

Pain seared through An Zhe's skull, conjuring hazy images before his eyes.

Before An Ze's death, as he absorbed the blood and tissues from his body, memories of An Ze's past played like vivid paintings in his mind.

In the outer city, on the day the insect swarm arrived, he was bitten by one on his finger. That night, in his dreams, he witnessed the scenes that insects would see while flying through the wilderness.

Now, as An Zhe confronted the jumbled fragments of memory flooding before him, he realized what was happening.

—The Queen Bee was infecting them non-physically.