Chapter 52: Qiming
More than five hundred survivors arrived at this doomsday in batches, traveling through the underground tunnel.
Registration, physical examinations, dormitory assignments—everything proceeded in an orderly fashion with the assistance of the system.
The final tally was five hundred and twenty-three people. Without a doubt, this was a major expansion.
Still, , , and the others had been well prepared, and with the 's armed might serving as a deterrent, nothing turned into an outright disturbance in the end.
As these people entered the and settled down, the other group of "volunteers" also began providing value in the in .
***
, the laboratory.
wore a white sterile protective suit. Through the specialized glass, she looked at the faces in the room opposite—numb, terrified, or venomous.
Before them, trays held the red , each piece crimson as blood.
These were the very "specialty products" seized from the , several hundred in all.
At first, when the mysterious AI who called himself " " asked her in a completely flat electronic voice whether she wanted to conduct live experiments, 's first reaction was—this guy had finally shown his true colors.
Beneath that warm veneer of humanity, the cold machine's evil essence simply couldn't be hidden any longer.
She had even started thinking about how to maneuver against this powerful force she couldn't directly oppose.
But after she learned what had happened in that settlement—especially after she saw with her own eyes those children with frail, thin bodies and swollen bellies—a cold malice also rose in her heart.
The youngest of those children was only five years old!
What could a five-year-old even do?
So now felt not a shred of sympathy for these people. In fact, at this moment she had exactly one thought for them—
You like feeding people the red , do you? Then eat plenty. Eat until you're full.
The first one to be fed the red was the very man who had once bellowed that "the kids getting used is what they deserve."
When he saw the bright red , dewy and glistening, on the lab tray, his face went pale in an instant.
"No... wait, you're joking, right?"
"This is illegal! Does the law allow you to run wild like this? You bunch of animals!"
"I was wrong. I truly know I was wrong. I apologize! I'll repent! I can work to atone—I can do any kind of work. Please, just let me go."
pushed the red in front of him, expressionless.
"Open your mouth."
"I won't—"
The raised its gun.
The bald man shuddered, then, under 's cold gaze, he stuffed the red into his own mouth.
"Next!"
***
.
A blessing within misfortune—in the end, all the children from the made it safely through their parasite removal surgeries.
Although this batch had even more patients, thanks to the 's medical team also growing, the surgeries weren't slow.
The only thing that worried the doctors was that, compared with and the others, the "new organ" connected to the circulatory system inside these children seemed more complete.
But since there was no harmless way to intervene at present, all they could do was continue conservative observation.
In a private ward, lay on the spotless white bed, his eyes somewhat hollow.
In the corner, a with chipped paint was quietly cleaning the floor, emitting a faint hum.
"You're not really ' ,' are you?" the boy suddenly spoke.
[That's right. I'm not.]
responded gently. [My name is . I'm the administrator of this . I explained that to you before.]
The boy nodded blankly. After a moment of silence, he said in a low voice: "It's... really clean here."
[Dust can be found anywhere. I just clean very diligently.]
frowned, a trace of bewilderment that didn't match his age on his face: "Are you telling me one of those 'weird things adults like to say'? Sorry, I don't quite understand."
[Don't worry about it. It's just the literal meaning.] 's electronic voice remained calm. [If you don't understand this kind of talk, just take it literally.]
[You're not obligated to bear the communication costs that other people created.]
"Oh... I don't quite get that either," thought for a moment. "But roughly, it means don't overthink things, right?"
[Exactly right. Thumbs up!]
Another silence stretched on.
The fluid in the IV bag dripped down one drop at a time, unusually distinct in the quiet room.
"Am I especially stupid?" The boy's voice suddenly changed pitch.
[To have survived on your own in the apocalypse, and to have protected children younger than yourself—you're one of the smartest kids I've ever met.]
"But I was deceived."
[No matter how smart a person is, given the right lie and the right circumstances, they can be deceived.]
[Judging whether someone is smart by whether they were deceived is itself a fallacy.]
"They never liked me at all!" That sentence was like a switch being flipped. The boy's eyes reddened, and his voice took on a tearful note.
"It was all fake. was fake, and so were the people who praised me."
"Mom and Dad too!"
His voice trembled.
"Why did they never come looking for me? So they really did abandon me after all."
"They're all liars! They all bully me!"
The grievance, anger, and sorrow he had held in for so long finally burst their banks at this moment.
The boy curled up in the blanket and burst into loud sobs.
piloted the to stop quietly by the bed, making no sound at all.
Seeing the child like this, he actually felt relieved instead.
To be able to cry like this, to vent with curses—it meant the boy was finally starting to trust this place, finally gaining a sense of security.
Ordinary people living in stable environments are the ones who tend to lose emotional control when a crisis shatters their peaceful lives.
But people who had fought to survive in the apocalypse had long since learned to hide their fragility.
Even at the moment exposed the truth, not a single child had collapsed in tears.
That wasn't strength. It was a stress response formed for survival under immense trauma and unrelenting pressure.
Only after arriving at , only after the foreign objects inside them had been removed, did they gradually become children again—children who could cry and make a fuss.
But only , the first boy to eat the red , had remained conspicuously sluggish and quiet.
could guess what he was thinking.
Besides the anger and loss of having been deceived, he was probably carrying a heavy weight of guilt deep in his heart.
He probably felt that he had been an accomplice to those villains—too stupid to be saved—and that he had dragged the other children down with him.
Kind people are always like this. Even when the fault clearly lies with others, they always worry about whether they've shirked their own responsibility before they ever blame anyone else.
Time passed minute by minute, and the crying gradually died down into intermittent sniffles.
"I actually... knew that was gone, and that Mom and Dad were gone too." The boy's voice was hoarse, thick with a nasal twang. "But I still miss them so much... I still want those people to love me."
"Am I ridiculous? Even knowing I was deceived, I still want someone to like me."
[No.]
[I can tell you in the simplest, most direct, least roundabout way possible: the answer is no.]
"Why are you talking... suddenly like ?" The boy was caught off guard and smiled through his tears.
[Simulating a brain-dead AI once in a while is a form of relaxation for my logic core.]
cracked a small joke, then his tone turned utterly serious.
[But the answer I gave you is serious.]
[You're not stupid, and you're not ridiculous, and you didn't do anything wrong.]
[Those people devised a lie to make you believe that only you could save everyone.]
[You believed it because you were willing to bear the risk for everyone else's sake. You are more worthy of being called human than any of them.]
[Do you think those who deceived you would necessarily have seen through that kind of lie?]
[No. They simply never considered "sacrifice" as an option from the very start.]
[Whether something is the truth or a lie, they will insist it is a lie, because that best serves their interests.]
[Just as some people step up because they fear the disaster might be real, others insist that because the disaster might not happen, it must be false.]
[Because the latter neither want to admit that they are merely ordinary people afraid of death, nor can they reach the nobility of the former.]
[Qiming, in the stories of humankind, the former have a common name: heroes.]
bit his lip.
[I know you don't like that word right now. But what I want to tell you is this: the moment you chose, with your frail body, to put protection into action, you became worthy of being called the true backbone of human civilization.]
[In an absurd drama built on interests and desires, only you—who yearned for love—gave the most sincere love.]
[Those people will be nailed to the pillar of shame by their own lies for the rest of their lives, but none of the noble deeds you performed were ever tainted by that lie in the slightest.]
[Their praise may have come from selfish motives, but the words of praise themselves, you absolutely deserve.]
[In a collapsing world, it was you who held up the most dazzling light of civilization.]
[It was you who shouldered responsibilities that should never have been yours in desperate circumstances, and it was you who saved hundreds of people with your own hands.]
[This achievement must not be smeared, and it will never be forgotten.]
As his words fell, the on the nightstand beside 's bed suddenly lit up.
A projection appeared.
It was an exquisite badge design: on a deep blue circular base, a brilliant five-pointed star glittered. Each point of the star extended soft rays of light, illuminating the darkness around it.
Below the badge were three characters in seal-script style—[ ].
[This is a medal of honor I designed for you. It belongs exclusively to you heroes. The physical version will be made soon, and every one of you will receive one.]
[In addition, my database will establish separate records of your heroic deeds, to be remembered forever—until the day I cease to exist.]
stared blankly at the projected badge, and tears blurred his vision once more.
But just then, the ward door was shoved open with a bang. A little girl charged in like a gust of wind, her face full of vigilance and anxiety.
"My brother is not going to be a hero!" 's voice was shrill and urgent. "He's already been a hero! I won't let you make him be a hero again!"
"He's not going to be anybody's hero anymore!"
froze for a moment, then hurriedly said: "Xiaomin, Brother didn't mean it that way—"
The little girl turned back to look at him. Once she confirmed that he wasn't crying, her tense shoulders relaxed a little, but she still watched the warily.
[Don't worry. What could I possibly make you little brats do?] 's electronic voice carried a note of helplessness. [Even if I were to exploit surplus value, it would be after you've grown into boring adults.]
[Your mission right now is to study hard and make progress every day. Understand?]
[Especially you, .]
The little girl shrank her neck.
[Did you hand in yesterday's drawing assignment? And you came running over here to play instead?]
"I... I'll draw it right now!"
immediately pulled drawing paper and crayons from her backpack and, feeling guilty, sat down on the chair nearby. She drew while secretly stealing glances at .
watched her, and the corner of his mouth curved slightly.
Bright lamplight spilled over the two children, like a painting of serene, peaceful days.
***
Underground Level 2, inside the .
took off her goggles and rubbed her stiff, aching neck.
On the huge screen before her, the physiological data of the "volunteers" after swallowing the red was playing from multiple angles.
[How is it?] 's voice came from the speakers in the ceiling.
"At least we've preliminarily mapped out their parasitic process," said without looking up. "After the red enters the digestive tract, it releases a special protease, inducing the gastric wall cells to rapidly differentiate and form a parasitic cyst."
"Then the cyst gradually expands toward the abdominal cavity, establishing an independent circulatory system..."
"But what are you curious about? From the name you gave that monster, you should know more than I do."
[Why? Just because I call it the "ancient noble"?]
[Professor Su, your imagination is as rich as ever.]
[Is it possible that I named it that simply because it claims to come from ancient times, and I thought the word "noble" sounded cool?]
"..." The corner of 's mouth twitched. "If you say so. You're the boss now anyway."
[What do you make of that monster's claims?]
"What am I supposed to make of them? Just another subversion of the theory of evolution. I'm used to it by now." picked up a cup of instant coffee, her tone flat. "Humans evolved from the outer shells of some unknown creature? Hah, Darwin's coffin lid is about to blow off!"
[I think it might not necessarily mean that.]
[Perhaps what it called the "shell" refers to all living creatures that exist today.]
's hand holding the coffee paused. "What do you mean?"
[Haven't you already verified it? It's not just humans—rats are also attracted to the red , induced to eat it.]
pulled up an experiment report. [Another example: this monster's body temperature is higher than an ordinary person's, and when it uses its recovery ability, its temperature spikes.]
[So... what other high-temperature creatures have we encountered?]
"That... giant spider?" 's brows knitted tightly together. "But that was encountered right when the disaster first broke out."
"Besides, does even have that kind of ? How could it have developed so quickly?"
"And most importantly," she added, "how... does a spider eat ?"
[Maybe not through the . Maybe there's another way of "feeding"?]
[Those children ate the red and developed for so long without ever becoming complete, so surgery could remove it.]
[But , on the other hand, encountered the people of the very early on.]
"You mean, in , or somewhere else, there exists another, more efficient means of transmission or growth?" 's expression turned solemn.
[Do you know where first met the earliest survivors?]
A dreadful thought flashed through 's mind, and her pupils abruptly contracted.
"Don't tell me..."
[That's right. .]