Chapter 49 - Loading…
The group that had endured until the very end did not return directly to their dormitories upon leaving the arena. Instead, they were ordered to congregate at the entrance of the breeding farm.
The man sent to manage them was a young researcher whose face was a map of angry red acne. Clutching a stack of identification papers provided by the higher-ups, he shouted for the espers to fall into line. However, his voice was drowned out by the thick tension vibrating between the teams. The acrimony from the competition had not dissipated; if anything, it had fermented into a volatile brew.
"I am from Laboratory 06—" the acne-faced man tried again, his voice cracking.
"You lot only know how to win by outnumbering us!" Tao Cheng’an snarled, his eyes fixed on the Seventh Branch team. "I will have my revenge for the way you drenched my leaves. Mark my words."
Xin Ye sighed, his expression weary. "Leng Xianye was the one who soaked them. Could you please stop spitting on me while you rant?"
Leng Xianye blinked, his expression a mask of cool indifference. "?"
The researcher took a deep breath, his face flushing. "Please, line up according to your branches..."
"Your own team’s strength was mediocre at best," Lian Muyun chimed in, leaning back with a smirk that bordered on a sneer. "How do you have the gall to talk down to our captain?"
"What did you say?" Tao Cheng’an stepped forward, his fists clenching. "You think your captain is so strong? Fine. Do you dare to solo me again?"
"Don't start a war on my behalf, Lian Muyun," Xin Ye muttered, rubbing his temples.
Leng Xianye remained silent, a pillar of stoic observation.
The young researcher was now red-faced and trembling, looking as though he might burst into tears at any moment. Nearby, the six monitors were utterly useless; some were engrossed in books, others were chatting idly, showing absolutely no intention of intervening to maintain order.
By the time Xing Yue and Tang Qiuqiu emerged, supporting a staggering Yu Xiaoyu, they were met with the sight of the boys bickering like children. The little researcher looked so dejected he seemed ready to sprout mushrooms in a dark corner.
"You guys..." Xing Yue sighed, unable to fathom how these formidable warriors had suddenly regressed to primary school antics. It was likely Lian Muyun’s corrupting influence.
"What happened to Xiaoyu?" Tao Cheng’an’s hostility vanished instantly. Seeing Yu Xiaoyu with her eyes squeezed shut and her lips pale, he rushed over to help support her.
Xing Yue shook her head. "It’s nothing major. Her constitution is just weaker; she couldn't handle the high pressure underwater. She swallowed some brine and got knocked around by a fish. She just needs rest."
"By the way, she dropped the material she gathered. Here." Xing Yue handed the syringe filled with the blue blood of the Frilled Shark to Tao Cheng’an before returning to her own team with Tang Qiuqiu.
Tao Cheng’an offered a quiet, muffled word of thanks.
"Can you finally listen to me now?" The researcher, seeing the group finally settle, gathered his courage and stepped into the center. "It looks like everyone is here. Please hand over your collected materials and undergo the security clearance."
The researcher distributed two scanners to Fan Shuwan and Jian Weiwei. The acne-faced man and Fan Shuwan checked the boys, while Jian Weiwei handled the two girls. The process was efficient. Most of the participants passed without issue, their materials successfully logged.
Except for Xin Ye.
After patting down his pockets and finding nothing, the scanner still beeped. The issue was traced back to the mirror fragment. Xin Ye summoned his Mirror Image and asked if it had smuggled anything out of the farm. The Mirror Image tilted its head, looking thoughtful, before shaking its head in denial.
From the sidelines, Fu Shu—who was lingering with another team—suddenly poked his head out. "Mirror Image, why don't you check your trouser pockets?"
The Headquarters’ male uniform trousers featured four pockets: two near the hips and two on the thighs, just below the elastic bands used for holstering daggers. The Mirror Image reached down and, to everyone's surprise, pulled out a glass vial.
It was filled with a vibrant red liquid.
The researcher stepped forward to claim it. "Congratulations. You are the only team to have successfully collected the Red Material."
Xin Ye looked at Fu Shu in genuine astonishment. The latter simply stuck out his tongue playfully.
Tao Cheng’an let out a heavy, disgruntled "Tch," his face practically glowing with envy.
Although the final results would not be officially announced until the website update, it was a foregone conclusion: the Seventh Branch team, "You’re Gonna Lose, Right?", had secured the championship by obtaining all four materials. The researcher thanked everyone for their hard work over the past four days, welcomed them to their new roles at Headquarters, and finally announced their dismissal.
When Xin Ye heard the word "dismissed," he expected a wave of drowsiness to hit him. After all, he had been on high alert for four days straight. Instead, his mind was flooded with something else entirely.
A hollow sense of displacement. Fatigue. Anxiety. A nameless dread born from a lack of information.
He was following the path of his previous life—competing, entering Headquarters—yet everything was skewed. He had been thrust into the role of Captain and fed fragments of information he had never heard before.
His team had secured their status as Headquarters employees. What now?
Should he continue to mimic the past? Go on endless missions and wait for Leng Xianye to save the world? He didn't know what else to do, yet more and more questions were surfacing, exposing the cracks in his reality.
Xun Yin, sensing the turbulence in Xin Ye’s thoughts, spoke up with concern: *[Why the sudden deep thoughts? Your brain is going to fry. Go to sleep, do you hear me?]*
Xin Ye felt a bit dazed. He nodded absently.
Xing Yue had intended to speak to him about the Frilled Shark, but seeing his vacant state, she decided it could wait. Everyone retreated to their dorms.
***
In the middle of the night, Xin Ye was jolted awake by his own burning body temperature.
His consciousness drifted in a haze. He felt a crushing weight on his chest, making it difficult to breathe, but the pull of exhaustion was too strong. He slipped back into a fitful slumber.
In the shifting shadows of his dreams, he saw himself placed upon a massive porcelain plate. He was being methodically carved into pieces, tossed into black plastic bin bags, and dumped into a cold, bottomless sea.
When he finally woke again, his fever had broken. His Mirror Image was standing by the bed, placing a glass of warm water on the nightstand.
*[You’ve been asleep for a long time... are you alright?]* Xun Yin asked.
Xin Ye blinked, his voice hoarse. "I had a dream. Didn't you know?"
*[...No. I didn't.]*
"Is there really something happening in this world that you, the 'Author,' don't know about?"
Xun Yin went silent at that, seemingly choked by the question. He tried to reassure himself—Xin Ye was a character who had broken free of his control. That fact had already been established, hadn't it?
The silence stretched between them until it was broken by three polite knocks on the door. Jian Weiwei’s voice drifted in from the hallway. "Since you didn't come looking for me, I had to come to you. Can I come in?"
"Come in." Xin Ye remembered her cryptic words in the arena. He gestured for the Mirror Image to open the door.
Jian Weiwei entered and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Xin Ye huddled under the covers with a glass of water. "Such a weak constitution? You fall ill the moment the competition ends?"
"I'm fine," Xin Ye lied, pushing the water glass away, earning a glare from his Mirror Image. "Just say it. What is this 'truth' you wanted to tell me?"
"Honestly, it’s a bit cliché—the veteran employee coming to give the 'quit while you can' speech to the rookie," Jian Weiwei said, pulling up a chair and straddling it backward, resting her elbows on the top rail. "But I can't help it. I’m a saint at heart. I’ve stood in the rain, so now I feel the need to hold an umbrella for others."
Xin Ye took a sip of water under her watchful gaze. "Get to the point."
"You know how Xing Yue pulled Lian Muyun out of initial training, and then Leng Xianye went back for Xing Yue?" Jian Weiwei asked.
"I know." Lian Muyun had mentioned it when they first arrived at Headquarters. "They said the first batch of trainees were being sent to face Variants with almost no protection. It was a suicide mission, so they had to get out."
Jian Weiwei nodded. "That’s the official story. But it’s more than that."
"When a disaster hits, the people on the front lines always end up knowing things the others don't."
*
Jian Weiwei hadn't come from money. She was pretty, and in middle school, boys would throw money at her to be their girlfriend. One such relationship lasted less than a month before he dumped her and swindled fifty yuan out of her pocket.
The night of the breakup, she didn't dare go home. She was terrified her parents would beat her if they found out her living expenses were gone. She sat in the empty classroom, biting her thumb and sobbing.
Just as she was about to cry herself to sleep, a school blazer was draped over her shoulders.
A boy stood there, possessing a face identical to the boyfriend who had cheated on her. He cooed softly, "Sleep. I’m here."
Jian Weiwei didn't know where he had come from. She hated studying and ignored the news, right up until the day espers began appearing among her classmates. Shortly after, her family received a notice from the Mutation Investigation Department.
{Seeking espers for training. Given the life-threatening nature of the program, the families of volunteers will receive a substantial financial reward.}
Her classmates stayed behind, their families comfortable enough to decline. Jian Weiwei went. Her family was desperate.
The so-called training base was a research institute disguised as an information technology company. Jian Weiwei was assigned to a six-person dormitory, and by the next morning, she was thrown into the meat grinder of esper screening.
It was only after she became a formal employee that she realized Variants had existed long before the "end of the world." The apocalypse was merely the catalyst that brought hidden genes and bizarre biological possibilities from the depths of the earth and sea to the surface.
The end had been predicted. For five years during the "Awakening," humanity had been preparing for the inevitable.
She saw giant flowers open their maws to consume anyone who drew near. She saw horned tigers abandon their predatory instincts to impale rivals against walls.
She watched as the mission shifted from culling Variants to humans slaughtering one another. The brawls between adults devolved into attacks on the elderly and children, all in a desperate bid to escape that hell. Just when Jian Weiwei thought her time was up, someone stepped in front of her.
Her "Boyfriend."
Number One.
By the time she passed the screening, she had exhausted eight "Boyfriends."
When she returned to the dormitory, only one roommate remained. The girl looked to be about her age, her hands constantly entwined with silver threads. Later, Jian Weiwei learned her name: Xing Yue.
Xing Yue was formidable. She had awakened as an A-rank, unlike Jian Weiwei’s lowly D-rank. Her roommate skipped the student phase entirely, moving straight to a teaching assistant role. Even the boxed lunches Xing Yue ate were different—they looked ten times more appetizing.
So, Jian Weiwei did everything she could to stick to her roommate. If Xing Yue was teaching, Jian Weiwei followed. If Xing Yue was printing documents, Jian Weiwei was there. They even went to the restroom together.
One night, she even tried to crawl into Xing Yue’s bed.
She was promptly kicked onto the floor.
Despite her efforts, they hadn't exchanged a single word.
While she failed to become close with Xing Yue, the teachers and researchers who were close to the A-ranker began to notice Jian Weiwei. They started asking her for help with odd jobs. In their eyes, she was a girl with no background but plenty of diligence—a perfect set of extra hands.
She began spending more time in the laboratory wing. She met many people there.
There was Fan Shuwan, who worked in the archives and was always pleasant to talk to.
And then there was Fu Shu. He was not pleasant to talk to, mostly because he was dying. He wore a heavy respiratory mask that made speech nearly impossible.
Every two days, Jian Weiwei would go to the lab to give Fu Shu an injection. On one rare occasion, his condition seemed to improve. He took off the mask, and they managed a brief conversation.
"I volunteered too..." Fu Shu’s face was ghostly pale, his eyes fluttering as if he might slip away at any moment. "But I’m not an esper. I’m just a regular guy with lung cancer..."
"They said... maybe there’s a way... to fix me..."
"Hmm? Yeah, I know. These shots... they’re extracted from Variants... To stay alive, I’ll do anything..."
She gave Fu Shu twelve injections in total. After that, she was barred from the lab because a new research phase had begun.
When she finally stepped back into the experimental zone, it was because a researcher had personally invited her.
The old man looked at her with a grandfatherly kindness. "Little girl, would you be willing to provide some materials for our experiment?"
Jian Weiwei knew the experiments here were all related to Variants. She felt a prickle of fear; she didn't have Fu Shu’s desperate courage. She wasn't terminally ill. "...What do you want?"
"Your ability."
"Your ability allows you to create a new person as long as you kill the previous one, right? I want you to provide nine dead ones and one live one. Once the trial is over, we will kill the last living manifestation, and you can go back to using your ability as normal."
***
**Glossary of New Terms:**
| Chinese | English | Notes |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 06实验室 | Laboratory 06 | The specific research unit the acne-faced man belongs to. |
| 助教 | Teaching Assistant | A rank within the training facility, held by Xing Yue and later Jian Weiwei. |
| 导师 | Formal Mentor / Instructor | A higher rank within the department, achieved by Xing Yue. |
| 针剂 | Injection / Shot | The variant-extracted medicine used on Fu Shu. |
| 实验楼 | Laboratory Wing / Experimental Building | The area where the research and experiments take place. |
| 资料室 | Archives / Records Room | Where Fan Shuwan worked. |
