Although the initial broadcast had been manipulated by the butterflies, one piece of information remained true: the competition lasted exactly twenty-four hours in the real world.
Under normal circumstances, the ability users should have woken up at eight o'clock the following morning. However, because one particular team had decoded the world-building mystery ahead of schedule, everyone climbed out of their simulation pods right at the stroke of midnight.
Realizing their teammate was in a strange state, the other four members immediately headed to Xin Ye’s room after leaving their pods, only to find he had already left the designated competition quarters.
Lian Muyun struck a deal with the others, telling them to go back and rest while he checked on Xin Ye at his dormitory.
"Xin Ye, are you alright?" he asked through the door, giving it a light push.
It was locked.
"Sorry, I’m a bit tired. I’m already in bed. Let’s talk tomorrow, okay?"
Xin Ye’s voice sounded muffled, making it impossible to gauge his true feelings.
The dormitory doors in the branch office used specialized electronic locks, with a remote control right by the headboard for convenience. Lian Muyun caught the underlying emotion in Xin Ye’s words and knew he didn't want to be disturbed. After a quick "get some rest," he sent a message to Leng Xianye and the others saying Xin Ye was fine, then turned to leave.
However, before he had gone far, his multi-function watch buzzed with a new message.
Inside the room, the Mirror sat on the edge of the bed. He glanced at Xin Ye, who was buried under the covers, and continued typing a message to Lian Muyun on his own watch.
***
The birth of an ability is inextricably linked to the user themselves. It might stem from a hobby or a personal experience, but it always contains something unique and personal.
Xin Ye had awakened his ability at thirteen, right in the middle of the "Five-Year Awakening" period. Back then, news and internet rumors about abilities were everywhere. His classmates discussed nothing else, acting as if awakening meant becoming some kind of legendary savior.
Even though the world was still at peace.
But one young boy’s perspective differed from his peers. He was firmly convinced he was an ordinary person who would never awaken an ability.
Because he felt he wasn't good enough.
Most personality flaws are rooted in one's family of origin, and Xin Ye was no exception.
His life had once been perfectly ordinary and happy. He went to school, came home to eat with his parents, occasionally got new clothes or a backpack, and spent weekends playing with friends.
Back then, the weather was normal. The streets didn't suddenly crack open to sprout bizarre plants. Xin Ye could run across the road with his friends to buy ice cream whenever he pleased.
But that life shattered after the results for his junior high school admissions came out.
His parents divorced without warning.
His mother took custody. She explained the reason for the divorce only once and never mentioned it again: "It has nothing to do with you. Your father and I have had issues for a long time. we only stayed together because we didn't want to affect your studies. But the school you got into is... just average. So, we discussed it and decided to split."
"Don't overthink it. Just keep studying hard."
*It has nothing to do with you. Don't overthink it...* How could he not?
After hearing his mother’s explanation, Xin Ye had fled the house in a panic.
It turned out that the harmony at the dinner table and the family laughter had all been a lie—a performance staged for his benefit.
Now that they saw his grades, they decided he had no further "investment value" and tore off the mask to leave.
The junior high school Xin Ye had gotten into wasn't poorly ranked in the city, but he knew that "not bad" wasn't enough. He hadn't been good enough to make his parents stay.
Ultimately, he lacked the courage to truly run away. He returned home dejectedly that evening. His mother said nothing when she saw him; she simply told him to go to the kitchen and heat up his own dinner.
That night, he sat at the table alone.
Xin Ye began to develop an aversion to socializing and resting. He pushed himself to squeeze out every possible second for studying, as if his test scores were a life-saving pill he would die without.
His mother didn't stop him. In fact, she wore a gratified smile. She felt that if her son becoming "sensible" was the result of this setback, then the divorce had been worth it.
His classmates began to look at him with strange expressions. His old friends gradually stopped talking to him. They said, "Xin Ye, come find us when you're actually ready to take a break, okay?"
*Had it really been that long since he’d rested?*
Xin Ye felt a sense of daze when he heard that. Yet, he still couldn't figure out what was happening to him.
Everything changed the day before his thirteenth birthday.
During dinner, his mother asked what he wanted for a gift.
Xin Ye, eating without tasting anything, said inexplicably, "I don't want to go to school tomorrow."
His mother slapped him and told him to go to his room and reflect.
Xin Ye returned to his room, intending to reflect on his words. But when he sat at his desk and saw his reflection in the mirror—one cheek burning red from the slap—he felt his lips curl into a smile.
Even though his mother was angry, he... didn't seem that sad anymore.
The boy in the mirror smiled back, looking much gentler than the stern, study-obsessed version of himself.
That night, after finishing his homework, Xin Ye didn't spend extra time reading. He went to bed on time.
When the digital clock on the wall hit midnight, a boy wearing pajamas—looking exactly like him—appeared by the bedside.
The boy looked at his pajamas, shook his head, and pulled a school uniform out of the wardrobe to change.
When Xin Ye was woken by his alarm the next morning, he saw a "Xin Ye" dressed in a school uniform sitting by the bed, watching him.
Xin Ye was dazed, thinking he was still dreaming or having an out-of-body experience. He reached out to pinch the uniformed "Xin Ye’s" face, but the other boy took his hand and guided it to his own cheek, letting him pinch twice.
"Happy birthday, Xin Ye," he said. "Go back to sleep. I’ll go to school for you today... consider it my birthday gift to you."
***
On the giant screen in the Mission Hall, the list of available missions had been temporarily taken down. In its place hung the name of a single team.
The "You're Gonna Lose, Right?" Team.
"I'm exhausted. I'm literally dying of sleep deprivation." Lian Muyun had his fingers interlaced behind his head, his eyes full of grogginess. "The results are already set. Why did they have to call us for a meeting at nine in the morning?"
Xin Ye looked completely recovered. He was holding a tablet, exchanging mission notes with Xing Yue, though he spared a moment to chat with Lian Muyun. "Was nine hours of sleep not enough for you?"
"Not even close. I could sleep for nineteen hours." Lian Muyun shook his head, leaning over to try and see what was on their tablets. "The preliminaries are over. What are you two still looking at?"
Xin Ye kindly tilted the tablet so Lian Muyun could see. Xing Yue didn't even look up as she answered, "The second half of the document."
Xin Ye had slept early and woken early. Having nothing to do after breakfast, he had read the files they hadn't finished yesterday as if they were a story. Xing Yue, ever the professional, had even exported the files and made numerous annotations.
The rest of the story wasn't overly complicated.
***
The day after the incident, the investors sent people to take Gu Shaolou away. Simultaneously, Jiang Kelan was given a month of leave, under the guise of "corporate product restructuring." He knew perfectly well that this was related to Gu Shaolou.
But without concrete evidence, Jiang Kelan’s suspicions were useless. When he returned to the underground research facility a month later, he found that aside from the mutant butterflies, almost all the equipment had been replaced. Specifically, the area Gu Shaolou had used had been scrubbed clean. The sense of unease in his heart only intensified.
That unease remained wrapped around his neck for seven long years before it finally tightened.
Over those seven years, the development of daily products derived from the mutant butterflies had been completed. It was enough for Jiang Kelan to repeatedly convince himself to drop his suspicions of Gu Shaolou, chalking it up to a researcher’s paranoid mindset. But just as he resolved to forget the past—even considering leaving the industry—Gu Shaolou reappeared.
Many years had passed, and Jiang Kelan’s face inevitably bore the marks of time; as a mental laborer, he looked older than most. Yet Gu Shaolou remained young, looking exactly as he had seven years prior.
When Gu Shaolou returned to the underground facility, Jiang Kelan was packing his bags. When he saw who it was, the photo frame in his hand hit the floor.
The photo inside was of him and Gu Shaolou at their graduation. It had sat by his computer until he discovered Gu Shaolou’s secret experiments seven years ago, at which point he had tucked it into a drawer.
Now that he was leaving, he had decided to take it with him out of nostalgia for their youth, only to have the glass shatter right in front of Gu Shaolou.
Gu Shaolou only spared a glance at the shards on the floor before returning his gaze to Jiang Kelan. Yet, it felt as though he wasn't looking at Jiang Kelan at all, but staring through him at something else.
"You're resigning?" he asked.
Jiang Kelan nodded. "I don't want to be in this industry anymore. I'm planning to become a shop clerk."
Gu Shaolou didn't reply immediately. As Jiang Kelan bent down to pick up the frame, he spoke again.
"You're wasting your talent for research." The man pulled a contract from his briefcase. "Actually, I wanted to say this to you seven years ago."
"But it's not too late. I have a job for you. We can negotiate the pay. Are you in?"
Jiang Kelan, half-kneeling on the floor, took the contract and saw the name of Gu Shaolou’s experiment.
"...The Butterfly Successor Brain Immortality Project."
He gripped the contract tightly, scanning down, but couldn't find more details. He grabbed the hem of Gu Shaolou’s coat, his voice filled with pain. "Back then... this is what you were doing? Merging mutants with humans has always been a taboo. You were touching that even then? Why didn't you say a single word to me?"
"Why would I tell you? You would have only stopped me." Gu Shaolou brushed Jiang Kelan’s hand away. "One word: yes or no? If you say no, I'll find a way to force you."
Jiang Kelan grew angry. "What are you going to do? Bully a middle-aged corporate drone just because your body is still young?"
Gu Shaolou corrected him meticulously: "A middle-aged, *unemployed* corporate drone."
"And for the record, my body isn't young. Only my face is. That’s thanks to the mutant butterfly skincare products you developed... I still value your abilities. By the way, why don't you use them yourself?"
Gu Shaolou didn't even realize how much more talkative he had become since reuniting with Jiang Kelan.
He walked to the coffee machine in the corner of Jiang Kelan’s lounge and practicedly brewed himself a cup. "I'll take that as a yes, then? We've recently reached the stage of merging and cultivating the butterfly torso surface with the cerebral cortex. Get over there and give those graduates some guidance. The progress reports are so ugly they make me want to vomit."
Jiang Kelan continued packing with a long face. "You're still doing the funding reports, right?"
Gu Shaolou smiled. "Right."
With the old partners reunited, progress was lightning-fast. In just three years, they completed the portions Gu Shaolou hadn't been able to crack in seven.
Later, Gu Shaolou found a way to move the experiment back to the underground facility. Returning to the familiar environment, Jiang Kelan happily dragged him out for drinks.
It was the fourth year of their renewed partnership. In June, the number of mutants suddenly surged. The experimental plan had reached its final step: they needed a volunteer to provide their brain for fusion with a butterfly.
Gu Shaolou looked at the Blue Morpho in the glass box and said, "I'll do it myself."
At the time, Jiang Kelan thought he was joking. He teased, "That sounds great. The butterfly swarm will keep creating new bodies for you. You'll basically be immortal. Things are looking bad outside; if you successfully infiltrate the enemy camp and find a way to survive, remember to look out for your little brother here."
Gu Shaolou accepted the ridiculous request and sent him home. That night, after Jiang Kelan returned home, he messaged Gu Shaolou. They discussed potential volunteers and the next day's work before saying goodnight.
The next morning, Jiang Kelan opened his phone to see news of a butterfly plague.
"...These butterflies appearing in the city possess extremely high intelligence. Their source is reportedly an underground research facility in the city center..."
Jiang Kelan didn't even have time for breakfast. He grabbed his phone and rushed out. He saw butterflies everywhere.
He bypassed the guards and reporters surrounding the main entrance and slipped in through an emergency exit. When he reached the lab, he saw a desk covered in messy instruments. The glass box that had held the Blue Morpho contained only a pool of blood and a note.
The note read: *Jiang Kelan, I've got your back.*
After humanity’s first attempt to attack the mutant butterflies, the butterflies began their counterattack.
They relied not only on their evolved toxic scales and sheer numbers but also on the sudden surge of other mutant species.
Only a small fraction of humans had awakened as ability users, and they were no match for the mutants. Thus, the Survivor Project was launched. As the researcher who understood Gu Shaolou best, Jiang Kelan joined the Survivor Project amidst the hateful glares of others, hiding in the shelters with the ability users.
He was too special—special enough to incite envy. The butterflies never attacked him. They even allowed him to return to the underground facility, where he left those two documents.
But Jiang Kelan never revealed the location of the ultimate device containing the butterfly's original body to the human survivors.
***
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
---|---|---
模拟舱 | Simulation Pod | The device used to enter the virtual competition environment.
你们要输了对不 | You're Gonna Lose, Right? | The name of Xin Ye's team.
蝴蝶继承人脑永生计划 | Butterfly Successor Brain Immortality Project | The secret project involving merging human brains with mutant butterflies.
蓝色闪蝶 | Blue Morpho | A specific type of butterfly used in the core experiment.
幸存者计划 | Survivor Project | The human initiative to preserve the species after the butterfly outbreak.
庇护所 | Shelter / Sanctuary | Safe zones for humans during the apocalypse.
五年前觉醒 | Five-Year Awakening | A specific historical period in the story when abilities first began to appear.
江客澜，我罩你 | Jiang Kelan, I've got your back | A note left by Gu Shaolou, indicating his protection over his friend.
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Promoted to Protagonist: Persecuted by the Meta-Narrative | Chapter 20 | The Butterfly Project | Novela.app | Novela.app
