Chapter 71

Chapter 71

There was the sound of something breaking.

Tang Lan knitted his brows and strode out.

The piercing screams continued, accompanied by sounds of struggle.

The boy shrank back abruptly, clutching An Zhe's arm as if seeking protection, but he said, "Don't be afraid. Someone has turned into a monster. Brother Tang can handle it."

They looked out through the open door to see a humanoid figure rolling on the ground in the center, its back bulging with numerous tentacles and lumps. Its facial features had twisted into an unrecognizable gray mass, and its limbs were flailing wildly as it attacked. Another person, whose body had transformed into vines, was fighting back. Tang Lan joined in, and soon, the creature was subdued.

"Lock it up," Tang Lan said.

—The creature was taken away, and Tang Lan returned to the room.

"We still have human consciousness now, but we don't know how long that will last," the boy whispered. "So I cherish the moments when I can be human."

At this moment, there was a noise from outside the window. An Zhe looked down and saw a large device light up in the courtyard in front of the main building.

"The Mr. Boli has been working on this for the past few days," the boy said. "It seems different from his previous research."

An Zhe gazed at the blinding red glow between the machines and asked, "What is that?"

Tang Lan remained silent, looking out the window. On the mountaintop, the aurora and stars appeared so close and vivid as if one could touch them with an outstretched hand.

Silence blanketed the room.

After a long while, Tang Lan suddenly spoke up.

"Mr. Boli is a scientist of the Fusionist faction," Tang Lan whispered softly. "The Fusionists believe that someday, they'll find a way for human genes to peacefully coexist with those of monsters. Humans won't turn into instinct-driven beasts but will still possess powerful bodies capable of adapting to this harsh environment."

"Just like this." He showed An Zhe his arm, where faint black scales could be seen. "Human bodies are indeed too fragile."

"Afterward, before their experiments were successful, the test subjects escaped. That giant leech contaminated the base's water source, causing half of the population to perish. Since then, any similar experiments were forbidden in the base, and the Fusionist scientists became its pariahs." He continued slowly, "But other research yielded no results. Fusion seemed to hold the only glimmer of hope. So, the Fusionist scientists defected. They left the base in search of a place to continue their experiments."

"To study fusion, they had to conduct live experiments. Once done, it would create intelligent monsters with human thoughts but not human nature. The base wouldn't tolerate such a thing, so they continually sent troops to intercept and hunt them down. Eventually, they found this place." Tang Lan looked up at the endless expanse of stars. "The Highland Research Institute is an abandoned site that used to study artificial magnetism many years ago. Located behind the abyss and at a high altitude, armored vehicles can't reach here. Plus, there are existing facilities, some of which can interfere with the magnetic field around the area, rendering the military's planes and radars useless. That's how the institute settled here. They took in hybrids while conducting research, which has continued until now."

An Zhe inquired, "Have they found a way to achieve fusion yet?"

Tang Lan shook his head. "No pattern can be found," he said. "At first, they thought it had to do with willpower, then with the type of foreign genes, but neither was correct. Weak-willed people could wake up in a daze, and weakly contaminated plants could devour one's will. Even after being infected by a very powerful monster, one might not lose consciousness – it was just a matter of luck. Later, when the polarity reversal failed and the contamination became universal, it proved that it might have nothing to do with genetics at all. Gold and iron could contaminate each other, and an iron atom under a microscope would transform into something we couldn't comprehend. The Master said that all previous research was wrong, and that we needed to find a new way to understand this."

An Zhe had also heard similar thoughts from Dr. Ji before. He replied, "The base has similar ideas."

For a long while, Tang Lan didn't speak.

"An Zhe," he suddenly called out his name, "Can you sense a vibration?"

An Zhe nodded; he had always been able to feel it.

"After turning into an Aberrant, many people can sense it," Tang Lan whispered. "And it's growing stronger."

In the early morning, An Zhe opened his eyes in bed. His head throbbed, filled with dreams of the wilderness, howls that reverberated through his eardrums, the splashing sound of claws sinking into mud, and cries—cries whose source he couldn't identify. In the jungle, the glowing eyes of beasts reflected eerily, and he fled madly from something, searched for something, but could never escape or find what he sought. That immense, intangible vibration continued to haunt him, seemingly present in every corner of this world, even in the dew on the tips of leaves.

Struggling, An Zhe propped himself up with his arms and sat up, a difficult task. His bones seemed rusted, no longer flexible and now brittle, causing him to doubt if he would cease to exist with every movement. Thus, he knew that he was drawing closer to an inevitable death he could no longer resist.

An Zhe sat wrapped in his blanket for a long while before he felt somewhat better. He gazed blankly at the warm room—the events of the previous day still felt like a dream, but they were beginning to feel more real today. He had entered a different kind of human world, where people treated him kindly—but his reason for leaving Lu Feng was to prevent him from witnessing his death.

And what about these people here who have been kind to him?

An Zhe felt a twinge of guilt. But before he could contemplate further, the door was knocked on.

It was the boy from yesterday, carrying a tray with breakfast. On it were steaming enamel cups and bowls.

"The tree uncle cooked potato soup again," the boy said. "You should have some since you weren't awake earlier."

An Zhe expressed his gratitude with a "thank you."

With that, the boy placed the tray on the table. He lowered his head to gaze at the rich broth, its surface dotted with bobbing bits of potato. The scent of the soup, mingling with the savory aroma of the shredded ham, created an atmosphere of warmth that gently permeated the room like vapor through the air.

Inexplicably, the thought of leaving never crossed his mind again.

Life in the institute wasn't as orderly as it was in the base, with its assigned tasks and roles. Instead, there was an organic division of labor. The institute had taken him in, and he knew he needed to contribute in return. He was eager to make an effort, and the people in the institute welcomed his involvement.

At first, he would venture out with the boy to gather edible roots in the safer zones. Eventually, his body could no longer withstand the biting cold, forcing him to stay back at the base to assist with planting or cooking. Before long, even these tasks became too much for him. The researchers concluded that he was afflicted with some unidentified illness - a common occurrence in this world where any ailment was possible, and the world itself seemed terminally diseased.

On that day, Boli came to see him. From then on, An Zhe took up residence in the white building on the west side of the main building with Boli Joan. Although his body gradually weakened, his mind remained sharp, making him a competent assistant. In Boli's laboratory, there was also a taciturn Indian man named Ked, who excelled in repairing various equipment and served as an additional assistant.

This was a stringent laboratory, encircled by machinery, each piece wired to display screens. The largest of these – its fiber optic cables stretching from the lab into the subterranean depths, connecting to an exterior device known as the "Simpson Cage."

The primary components of the Simpson Cage are four mechanical towers that stand five meters tall, resembling the miniature versions of the two white towers outside the research institute. An Zhe observed the shape of those two white towers for a long time and confirmed that they bear many similarities to the massive artificial magnetic pole at the base. He then deduced that the Highland Research Institute was indeed the original site for the development of the artificial magnetic pole.

Four towers converge to form a rectangular space, stretching dozens of meters in length and width. When the Simpson Cage is activated, the entire cubic volume they enclose becomes filled with a searing, high-frequency laser-like red glow, resembling a crimson sea of flames. Everyone at the research institute is well aware that stepping into an active Simpson Cage spells a gruesome demise.

From the laboratory manual, An Zhe learned that the "Simpson Cage" was the pinnacle achievement of high-energy physics during the heyday of human science, directly contributing to the successful creation of artificial magnetic poles.

"Up to this point, we have yet to determine the origin of the Earth's magnetic field. Some speculate it's due to the flow of molten iron in the Earth's liquid core, while others propose the rotation of an electric layer within the mantle. However, no solid evidence supports these theories. We don't know how it starts, so we can't fathom how it might end - that lies beyond our current understanding. Similarly, we cannot recreate the electromagnetic field unless we fashion a magnet the size of half the Earth," Boli explained to him. "But within the laws of physics we possess, magnetism is derived from electricity; the movement of charged particles generates a magnetic field."

One of Simpson's Cage's contributions lies in its ability to depict the wave dynamics between elementary particles, thereby elucidating how they interact and replicating certain phenomena. This inspiration led to the conception of artificial magnetic poles — unfortunately, lacking a deeper understanding of physics, I can't elucidate further. To put it simply, these two artificial magnetic poles emit pulses at a specific frequency, inducing resonance among charged particles in the solar wind, akin to us using a megaphone to direct them, 'please proceed that way.' The resonance and subsequent movement of these particles generate a magnetic field, thus shielding the Earth.

An Zhe nodded, indicating comprehension. However, his understanding was limited to just that. His job didn't require profound knowledge of physics; he only needed to monitor the instruments properly.

On occasions when Boli was outside calibrating the frequency of the Simpson cage, accompanied by another assistant, An Zhe would find himself alone in the White Building. Seated in the silence, he faced a window that looked out onto a heavy, overcast night sky. The monotonous hum of machinery filled the air as the spectrometer, connected to the Simpson cage, traced out intricate patterns, documenting some unknown phenomenon.

The curves were chaotic, entangled without any discernible pattern. They inexplicably reminded him of the terrifying, nebulous lines that Si Nan had scribbled on paper in Eden. Closing his eyes, he sensed the ethereal oscillations growing more intense, feeling life ebbing away day by day. He was afraid, yet at times, he felt himself inching ever closer to eternity.

Boli returned, delving into the labyrinthine curves. An Zhe, with effort, picked up a thermos nearby and poured him a cup of hot water.

Finally, he found his voice to ask, "What are you doing?"

"I want to find that object," Boli said.

Staring at the screen, An Zhe inquired, "What is it?"

"The very thing that brought about the change in this world."

"It must be omnipresent," he said, "if it exists in this world, it must also dwell within the Simpson Cage."

An Zhe furrowed his brows slightly.

Boli picked up a compass beside him. "We can never see a magnetic field, but the compass's orientation tells us it exists. It's the same with other unseen things in this world. Our understanding is too shallow; we can only follow the manifestations they cast upon the world."

"Look here." Boli highlighted a steady curve. "Everything in the world interacts with one another, and there's a wealth of information in these traces of interaction. Like this line—it, like the compass, represents the magnetic field."

"We speculate that the changes occurring in this world are due to some colossal entity gradually descending… But the magnetic field can resist it to a certain extent. Since the magnetic field can resist it, it must manifest in a way similar to the magnetic field," Boli's gray-blue eyes were entranced by the jumbled screen. "It's vast, beyond our comprehension. It's altering the very essence of this world, yet it's right within it. I believe there must be a specific reception frequency that allows us to perceive its shadow projected onto the real world."

An Zhe asked, "And then what?"

Boli shook his head slowly. "We need to understand what it is before we can consider how to deal with it."

But could they truly find it?

An Zhe gazed perplexedly at the screen.

As if sensing his thoughts, Boli spoke up.

"Though the prospects are bleak," he began, but then let out a soft sigh, "after all, we've created many unimaginable masterpieces in the past for humans."

Noticing the fluctuation in An Zhe's tone, he repeated the latter part of the sentence: "A masterpiece that is unimaginable to humans."

Next, he witnessed the glimmer in Boli's eyes slowly fade away.

Boli Joan gazed out the window at the boundless wilderness, the sky shrouded in gray smog, while howls of beasts echoed from all directions. These calls carried an odd undulation, a frequency beyond the scope of human auditory comprehension.

"Just for humans," he whispered. "Before we were shattered, we thought we comprehended the world in its entirety."

In that moment, An Zhe saw across ages of solitude reflected in his eyes.