Chapter 340: Painting

Chapter 340: Painting

Go there.

Zhu Ning's brain and heart twitched simultaneously; she didn't receive the information about Huo Wenxi until she reached the third base station.

By then, the sandstorm had already lasted for forty days straight. She browsed through Liu Yu's paintings one by one, and was stunned when she reached the last one.

An unknown path unfolded before her, not even resembling a map. A complete map must include more than just the target route; it needs other reference points.

But what formed in Zhu Ning's mind seemed very esoteric, like an intuition that couldn't be described or shared, as if being drawn by some unknown force, suggesting that as long as you head north, you will find your destination.

Was this a way to present a map?

Where is the destination? If Liu Yu was from Utopia, does the indicated location point to Utopia?

Zhu Ning finally understood something: pilgrims don't have maps. How do they know how to get to Utopia, and why are they so certain about leaving the wall?

This method of implanting a map is like mental contamination, planting a seed in the mind that will sprout naturally at the right time.

Pilgrims must have had the same thing implanted in their brains, which is why even when Zhu Ning read their memories, she could only see the same segment; their minds had been altered long ago.

Zhu Ning frowned and looked back at the second-to-last painting, the lighthouse on the shore.

She had dreamed of it before, and now her dream overlapped with Liu Yu's painting. It seemed as if Zhu Ning and Liu Yu were walking on completely opposite paths: Liu Yu heading inside the wall, and Zhu Ning toward Utopia, their paths converging today.

Zhu Ning had never met Liu Yu; they were from different eras, making it impossible to guess Liu Yu's specific motives.

Zhu Ning closed her eyes. Was the lighthouse the destination? Do these paintings depict different locations or the same thing?

She couldn't verify it.

Pei Shu: "The sketchbook was definitely left behind intentionally by Liu Yu."

Pei Shu seemed to think his statement was too decisive and explained, "Liao Xianglin is on the fringes of the first-class citizens, having no interest-related dealings with the Lu family, neither friend nor foe, exactly the type the Lu family looks down upon. She must have chosen her deliberately."

Pei Shu knew the first-class citizens well and understood the Lu family's interests, recognizing how clever this choice was. Even if he were to choose, he couldn't have found a better candidate than Liao Xianglin.

Liao Xianglin thought Liu Yu genuinely wanted to be friends, but everything was arranged from their first meeting.

"Can we be friends?" Liu Yu asked sincerely, treating Liao Xianglin like a safe, knowing the information would be safest with her.

Sure enough, many years later, the sketchbook bypassed the Lu family's screening and reached Lu Yuan's hands, as if completing a handover ceremony.

Liao Xianglin was merely a courier delivering the sketchbook.

"Liu Yu might have known she would die, either through foresight or by arranging all her posthumous affairs," Pei Shu rubbed his temples.

He became increasingly curious about Liu Yu. Pei Shu suspected that what people saw, including Liu Yu's biological daughter, was a 'facade,' a role she deliberately played.

They could only see what Liu Yu wanted to show; as for what she didn't want to reveal, they had no chance to observe.

Liu Yu's figure involuntarily appeared in Pei Shu's mind, with a classical aura, always so elegant. She descended into the nurturing camp, telling stories to a group of children who were about to become investigators outside the wall, planting seeds in each of their hearts.

Liu Yu's influence on Pei Shu was evident; even when he went mad, he still yearned for the world beyond the wall.

This mysterious woman seemed to be constantly 'sowing seeds,' planting the seeds of the Returner into the hearts of the nurturing camp children and the seeds of the sketchbook into Liao Xianglin.

There were probably many more seeds they hadn't discovered. Liu Yu wasn't weak or helpless; from certain perspectives, she had an almost sinister quality.

No one knew who she was, but all her seemingly unintentional actions continued to influence the world.

And they were merely tools following in Liu Yu's footsteps.

Even if not them, others' inner seeds would sprout, and Liu Yu needed only to wait quietly.

"Did Liu Yu really die?" Zhu Ning asked.

Pei Shu couldn't answer this question. When Liu Yu died, Pei Shu wasn't with the Lu family; she had become a taboo, rarely mentioned, and impossible to investigate.

If she did die, she wouldn't have been buried peacefully; her body would likely have become an experimental subject in some laboratory. Such an excellent observation object, the Kingdom of God would not let go.

Pei Shu didn't respond, but Zhu Ning continued, "Did Nian Nian really see her mother's body?"

Lu Yuan had once told her a bit about it. In the cloud of consciousness, everyone saw their deepest fears. Lu Yuan saw the moment her mother died.

A large amount of blood, the most resolute self-stabbing, for a long time, they believed Liu Yu chose suicide because she couldn't bear the pain of becoming a breeding machine.

But could there be another explanation for this event or scene?

What if this was also arranged by Liu Yu?

Zhu Ning gazed at the blood-red clouds in the distance, "Isn't this also like a seed?"

Such a powerful woman, capable of planning step by step, spending decades sacrificing her freedom to plan everything.

Even if Liu Yu truly couldn't bear the pain and wanted to commit suicide, or if her life had come to an end, she could have protected her daughter, not leaving such a strong psychological scar.

But she didn't; instead, she chose a visually shocking way to die, as if using her death to stage a perfect 'performance.'

Even adults would find it hard not to break down seeing such a scene, let alone young Lu Yuan.

Zhu Ning: "Liu Yu's death changed Nian Nian's personality, and... fate."

Lu Yuan's desire to approach the polluted world stemmed from witnessing her mother's death. She had a strong impulse to get closer to the world beyond the wall. She went to Zone 103, met Zhu Ning, and uploaded her consciousness to the cloud of consciousness with Zhu Ning.

"I'm ready." Lu Yuan lay in the bathtub in the basement, surrounded by piercing ice cubes, with no one she could trust, her guardian being her mechanical caretaker.

Lu Yuan entered the cloud of consciousness so lonely, thinking it was the biggest adventure of her life. With Zhu Ning and Xu Meng leading her, she even saved Zhu Ning's life.

Lu Yuan knew, was this the path her mother had arranged for her?

Did she know that she would awaken the contaminated factor within her body, awaken some kind of power, inherit her mother's abilities, and thus become something even Zhu Ning couldn't judge?

Thinking this way, Liu Yu's terror far exceeded their imagination.

Zhu Ning: "To put it another way, Liu Yu is like painting; she influences us through the form of her paintings."

What Pei Shu saw in the breeding camp, what Lu Yuan saw when her mother died, including all these series of events, symbolized unknown works of art.

Yes, this was painting; Zhu Ning suddenly understood a point that had long puzzled her.

Liu Yu influenced the world through painting; each work was an implanted image, her contamination ability seemingly akin to mind control?

But this manipulation was more subtle, almost imperceptible.

The tent trembled in the fierce wind, and Pei Shu opened his mouth several times but closed it again, finally only dryly saying, "No evidence."

Of course, there was no evidence; it was just speculation, but they all knew in their hearts that Zhu Ning's guess might be true.

Zhu Ning continued to ask, "What's the purpose?"

This question was too vague, so Zhu Ning changed it: "For destruction or transformation?"

Pei Shu knew Zhu Ning was just thinking and didn't need his answer. Lu Yuan was a contaminant, and from the current information, a more powerful and unknown contaminant. Lu Yuan hadn't even fully awakened yet.

Putting aside all the complex discussions, the purpose could only lean towards two directions: good or bad?

The birth of contaminants in the Divine Kingdom destroyed the Divine Kingdom, leaving human survivor bases non-existent—a simple idea of destruction.

There was another possibility, the idea of transformation, where Lu Yuan represented the future direction of humanity, not the Alpha series experiments.

Lu Yuan was different from Zhu Ning, who was a hybrid of machinery and contamination, unstable and dependent on mental values and technological development, with a short lifespan.

Lu Yuan was a combination of biology and biology, the result of natural selection, the most perfect existence.

Zhu Ning increasingly understood why Yongsheng Pharmaceutical stopped developing the Alpha series; there was a better alternative, making Zhu Ning truly a defective product.

Zhu Ning and Lu Yuan's fates were surprisingly similar—one from the Divine Kingdom, one from the junkyard.

They both had powerful mothers, and they were the continuation of their mothers' wills, creations of their mothers, and bore their mothers' destinies forward.

Zhu Ning was free, but Lu Yuan wasn't; she might not even know the role she played.

Destruction or transformation, no one could answer.

Most likely it leaned towards transformation; otherwise, the Divine Kingdom and Prometheus wouldn't support it. Perhaps what they were doing was a grand gesture to guide all of humanity forward?

The Divine Kingdom had always given Zhu Ning the impression of being superior beings, needing to be brought down, but now this image might need to be refreshed. After all, it was a nation created by the elite of humanity at the time, and there must have been a reason for its existence.

Zhu Ning turned off her secondary brain and stopped thinking; this question was too advanced for her, and she needed more evidence.

Pei Shu asked, "Are we still going?"

Usually, it was Zhu Ning who asked Pei Shu if he wanted to follow, but this time it was Pei Shu asking Zhu Ning. Would she have new plans after seeing these documents?

Bai Cheng was also waiting for Zhu Ning's answer. She had seen Liu Yu's paintings, but strangely, she felt nothing.

She once suspected she came from Utopia; if this was really a map, she should have recognized it, but to her, Liu Yu's paintings were just simple works of art.

Apart from sensing that Liu Yu's mental state was poor while painting, Bai Cheng felt nothing else.

But Pei Shu and Zhu Ning showed a certain degree of shock, so the painting must have implanted something in their minds.

Perhaps Bai Cheng's mind was too distant, so nothing could influence her.

Bai Cheng was immortal, hard to contaminate, and naturally found it difficult to form lasting bonds with anything.

Now, they were in a wasteland, with the only nearby artificial structure being an iron tower. From here, they could already see the shadows of many large creatures.

Not far away, large flying fish floated in the sky, with blue-purple bodies that were semi-transparent, allowing a view of their insides.

Everyone outside the walls knew this was a boundary in the north, which some called the Flying Fish Line.

Below this line, other bounty hunters could still be seen, but beyond it, few bounty hunters ventured further except those from Northern Investigation. After all, hunters sought profit, not death.

The creatures ahead were more primitive, and the dangers more mysterious. The reduction in artificial structures led to bizarre pollution zones.

Moreover, Zhu Ning had seen Liu Yu's paintings and was likely already influenced. It was hard to say where Liu Yu's legacy would lead them, possibly to hell.

So Pei Shu's question was necessary: knowing this information, do you still want to continue forward? After all, this was a turning point.

Zhu Ning answered quickly, "Of course, why not?"

As she passed Lin Xiaofeng, Zhu Ning patted her shoulder, as if they were on a leisurely road trip, "Let's hit the road, folks. The next stop has beef noodles."