Li Feng’s car stopped at the side entrance of Yun City Prison. This was an internal passage, so no outsiders would pass by. He still didn’t drive his own car, instead sitting in the prisoner transport vehicle of the City Defense Bureau.
Moreover, he was sitting in the escort compartment.
One of the refugees in the car had already been sent to the dungeon. He had to wait here for the people inside to bring out Zhang Sihai. He had done this kind of tedious task quite a few times and was very experienced.
When Zhang Sihai came out, he had a hat on his head and was lowering it. A guard opened the door of the escort compartment and pushed him onto the car.
When he saw Li Feng inside the car, he was stunned at first, then turned around to get out of the car: “I want to go back.”
“Sit down!” Li Feng shouted in a suppressed voice.
Zhang Sihai froze and hesitated, and by then the door was already closed by the guard, and the car started moving.
“Are you going to kill me to silence me?” Zhang Sihai took off his hat and threw it on the floor viciously, glaring at Li Feng with a heroic look.
“You’re not even worth it,” Li Feng said.
“Where are we going now?” Zhang Sihai asked.
“Sending you home,” Li Feng said.
“I don’t want to go back!” Zhang Sihai stood up abruptly, hitting his head on the roof of the car and being knocked back into his seat. “I won’t go along with you guys…”
Li Feng slapped him across the face: “Shut up.”
Zhang Sihai was stunned.
“A refugee was swapped out for you. You behave and stay at home. He will be released in a few months,” Li Feng said. “If you cause trouble now, he will die. Aren’t you noble.”
“Brother Feng,” Zhang Sihai said, touching his face, his voice full of grievance and anger, “Was it me who asked you to swap people! I can take responsibility, I’ll stay locked up!”
“It was your father,” Li Feng said. “Go cry to him.”
“I hate you all, especially hate,” Zhang Sihai said.
“Then go home and assassinate Director Zhang first,” Li Feng glanced outside and knocked on the window to the driver’s compartment.
The car stopped. Two tunnels ahead was the exhibition hall. Soon Qiu Shi and Xing Bi would cooperate with the experiment to collect information from the already declining Nest One. He had to go and check it out.
As soon as the door opened, Zhang Sihai jumped up from his seat again.
Without thinking, Li Feng jabbed the stun baton he was holding into his neck. Zhang Sihai swiftly collapsed in the escort compartment.
“Deliver him to Director Zhang’s house,” Li Feng instructed the two guards in the driver’s compartment. “Zap him once before opening the car door to ensure he gets inside and is handed over to his family.”
“Understood,” the guard nodded.
Without Colonel Xu and those people present, Xing Bi didn’t need to be transported like cargo in the so-called “transfer box” by them. He could sit in the experimental vehicle with the experimenters.
Although there would be a pile of instruments beside him and two operators, the atmosphere would be much more relaxed.
“Is that wound healed?” Qiu Shi sat across from Xing Bi.
“Yes,” Xing Bi raised his arm a bit.
“Is the fungus now in your body?” Qiu Shi leaned closer, elbows on his knees.
“Yes,” Xing Bi also leaned closer in the same posture.
“Can you feel where they are moving?” Qiu Shi asked.
“Not yet,” Xing Bi replied.
“Can you control where it moves?” Qiu Shi asked again.
“Don’t know, not now,” Xing Bi answered.
“If you can’t control it, won’t you eventually become that monster?” Qiu Shi glanced at the two operators focused on the instruments and lowered his voice, “You probably think you’re pretty smart? Since it’s inevitable, why not choose the infection site yourself.”
“Yes,” Xing Bi said.
“Bullshit,” Qiu Shi said.
“Then what should I do?” Xing Bi asked.
Qiu Shi was silent for a long time, finally saying, “What if they don’t plan to do that?”
“You know it’s impossible, right,” Xing Bi smiled.
Qiu Shi didn’t say anything.
“I know humans better than you,” Xing Bi said.
“Of course,” Qiu Shi leaned back in his chair, “You’ve lived so long, your model is probably out of production.”
“More than that, the factory went bankrupt a hundred years ago,” Xing Bi said.
“F*ck,” Qiu Shi laughed, then sighed softly after a while, “Li Feng said the second generation was also over a hundred years ago.”
“Yes,” Xing Bi nodded, “Be more respectful to your great-grandfather in the future.”
“…Your ancestor,” Qiu Shi was stunned, “You can hear that too?”
“Can see,” Xing Bi said.
Today’s task was to check the situation of Nest One and try to find the source of the nest’s nutrients.
“The range cannot exceed Nest One, but to avoid encounters with invading biotic entities,” Curator Wu placed a box on the table, “you can carry weapons to ensure safety.”
Qiu Shi opened the box and found the three guns he had chosen for the last mission and the one Xing Bi had chosen.
“Regret not taking a few more?” Qiu Shi said as he equipped the guns. “Even the general’s men are so stingy. Did they bring those guns over just to let us have a look?”
“Let Director Zhang apply for more,” Li Feng’s voice came from behind.
“Why are you everywhere?” Qiu Shi turned his head and glanced at him.
“The Logistics Department must ensure everything,” Li Feng said. “We must ensure the smooth progress of the mission. If you want to eat anything, the Logistics Department has to find it for you.”
“Bring me a bottle of wine,” Qiu Shi said.
“After the mission is completed in the next two days, I’ll let you take some back,” Li Feng said.
“I want a whole barrel,” Qiu Shi said. “I saw it in the Logistics Department’s warehouse, the black barrel kind.”
“Don’t push your luck,” Li Feng said.
“Learned from you,” Qiu Shi checked his gun. “Once we go in, who knows if we’ll lose contact again.”
“Return immediately if there’s an anomaly, don’t take risks,” Curator Wu instructed.
“Director Zhang isn’t here today,” Qiu Shi asked. Normally, although Director Zhang didn’t talk much, he would usually be present to report to the general.
“Reorganizing family discipline,” Li Feng said. “Today it’s just me and Curator Wu. Say whatever you want, talk about anything. Today we’re only recording Xing Bi’s parameters, checking the infection source pollution status. No emergency situations will be reported.”
“Talk about what? You want me to get something out of him?” Qiu Shi glanced at him.
“Not that extreme,” Li Feng said. “You can’t get anything out of him anyway.”
“We’re ready,” Curator Wu said beside them. “We can set off. Let’s go to the command room.”
The high wall outside Nest One had been halted, and the busy scene of sacrifice had disappeared, leaving only some tools abandoned on the ground. Instead, there were rows of large black military vehicles parked at intervals and soldiers with guns in protective suits.
Passing through the high wall passage to the outside of the city, the first sight of the black forest of Nest One made Qiu Shi feel the change.
That eerie aura of life and death intertwined was fading. Even the black color was starting to fade, revealing patches of withered brown.
This nest was indeed dying.
As they walked into the forest, Qiu Shi reached out to touch the tree trunks and found that the black fungus covering them had dried up. A slight pinch would cause it to peel off from the trunk.
“Can you still hear the sound?” Qiu Shi asked.
“No,” Xing Bi said. “The edges should all be dead.”
“Xing Bi,” Curator Wu’s voice came through, “can you try to sense the presence of other symbionts?”
“Can’t feel anything,” Xing Bi said.
Curator Wu and Li Feng said nothing more. As Li Feng had mentioned earlier, their mission this time had no specific target, so there was nothing much to discuss.
“It’s like taking a walk,” Qiu Shi said as he walked. The headset was quiet, and the map in front of him was also quiet, with only Xing Bi as a red dot.
Besides their conversation, there was only the subtle cracking sound of dried fungus underfoot.
“Do you take walks?” Xing Bi asked.
“No,” Qiu Shi said. “But when outside the city, we go out a few times a day to check for infected or refugees, similar to a walk.”
“Walking around without a purpose is a walk,” Xing Bi said.
“Do you take walks?” Qiu Shi glanced at him.
“No,” Xing Bi said.
“Then let’s walk now,” Qiu Shi said.
“Walking with guns,” Xing Bi said.
“Then throw away your gun,” Qiu Shi said. “After all, you practically threw it away last mission.”
Xing Bi chuckled. “Those few were indeed a bit troublesome.”
“Do you get angry?” Qiu Shi asked. “Logically, you can understand emotions like happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy, right?”
“Yes,” Xing Bi said.
“…Then you have quite a good temper,” Qiu Shi nodded.
Maybe because the nest was dying, they didn’t encounter any biotic entities or infected as they went deeper.
At the site of the first skirmish, A, B, and C’s “bodies” were still there. Xing Bi took out a detector given by Curator Wu, inserted it into the ground beside them, and turned it on.
“Receiving detection signal,” Curator Wu’s voice came through. “No infection detected. I’ll notify the tech team to retrieve them. You guys continue.”
Retrieve.
“Can they… come back to life?” Qiu Shi asked.
“They can be reactivated before the biochemical substance changes,” Curator Wu said.
“If it’s a Level One,” Qiu Shi thought for a moment, “will it still be the same Level One after reactivation?”
“In principle, yes,” Curator Wu answered.
“What do you mean?” Qiu Shi didn’t understand, turning to look at Xing Bi.
“Memories can be backed up and activated together,” Xing Bi said.
“Backup? Does that mean they can be tampered with?” Qiu Shi sharply asked.
“That’s difficult,” Curator Wu said. “Usually, they are only locked, and the locked part will be activated together in a locked state. It means it won’t be altered casually. This is the respect humans give to biotic entities as friends…”
“Respect?” Qiu Shi didn’t know what to say.
Xing Bi smiled without speaking.
Qiu Shi looked at the few level-two hidden guards waiting for retrieval on the ground and then glanced at Xing Bi. “I’ve always wanted to ask you.”
“Hmm?” Xing Bi responded.
“What are these biotic entities to you? Companions? Same species? Or something else?” Qiu Shi asked.
“biotic entities,” Xing Bi said.
This answer was unexpected for Qiu Shi. He wanted to ask more but didn’t know what else to ask, so he remained silent.
“Emotionally speaking, ever since I had memories, I’ve always leaned towards humans,” Xing Bi said, “even though I’m not human.”
Qiu Shi noticed that Xing Bi used “I” instead of “biotic entity,” but he couldn’t quite figure out what that meant.
“It depends on how you define ‘human,'” Qiu Shi said bluntly. “If you go by the lowest standard of species, then no, you’re not. But if the standard is higher, for some people, like Director Li, defining them as human is a bit tricky.”
Xing Bi laughed. “Not reporting the mission content doesn’t mean it won’t be archived for review.”
“Is that so?” Qiu Shi said. “Director Li?”
Li Feng didn’t respond, but Curator Wu chuckled and said, “It will be archived.”
“Where’s Li Feng?” Qiu Shi asked again. Although this mission wasn’t difficult, it was part of the symbiotic experiment, and Li Feng had no reason not to be present.
“He’s on an important call,” Curator Wu said.
“Get your tongue straight and say that again,” Li Feng stared at the screen, looking at Xiao Lei’s anxious, somewhat twisted face. “Who’s missing? Where did they go missing?”
“Hu Xiaoling, he’s… he’s a junior member of the corpse collection team,” Xiao Lei’s voice was trembling. “After drinking, everyone took a stroll outside the city, just… wandered around the refugee market…”
“When did this happen?” Li Feng interrupted him.
“Half an hour ago,” Xiao Lei said.
“Why are you only reporting this now?” Li Feng suppressed his voice.
“We searched for a bit first…” Xiao Lei said. “Zhao Lü didn’t want to tell you, afraid Qiu Shi would worry.”
“Whose man are you?” Li Feng was so angry he turned around in circles. “Zhao Lü is afraid Qiu Shi will worry, but you’re not afraid I’ll kill you? What did I tell you back then?”
“Any anomaly, no matter how small,” Xiao Lei said.
“Tell them to return to the shelter!” Li Feng shouted in a low voice. “Now, immediately! Stop searching, if anyone else gets in trouble, you’ll pay with your life!”
“They might not listen to me.” Xiao Lei immediately got up and started running.
“Hold a knife to your own throat and threaten to die,” Li Feng said. “I’ll send people to search.”
A corpse collector missing—if it was in the past, it wouldn’t have been something Li Feng would bother with, even though he knew that to Qiu Shi, these brothers were like family.
But a disappearance during this period was a very serious problem.
The disappearance was at the refugee market, a place of survival of the fittest. Normally, unless someone was crazy, no one would easily mess with corpse collectors. Everyone knew these people were desperate, and even if someone was crazy enough to cause trouble, they wouldn’t win.
The only thing Li Feng could think of was that this was targeted at Qiu Shi.
And they chose Hu Xiaoling.
Hu Xiaoling and Zhao Lü could basically be said to have grown up with Qiu Shi.
When he returned to the command room, Li Feng could tell that Qiu Shi was in a good mood during this mission, no unexpected incidents, no fighting.
He frowned as he sat down in the chair, looking at the real-time screen of Qiu Shi and Xing Bi, not knowing how to explain this matter without getting skinned alive.
“What’s wrong?” Curator Wu asked.
“A corpse collector is missing,” Li Feng said.
Curator Wu was stunned, then said in a low voice after a while, “We should keep this from him for now.”
“How long can you keep it?” Li Feng said. “If he finds out we didn’t tell him immediately, he could blow up the museum.”
“Then just tell him?” Curator Wu said.
“Tell him directly,” Li Feng said. “Tell him while Xing Bi is present. I’ve already sent people to search. I hope Hu Xiaoling just got drunk and fell asleep somewhere.”
“Director Zhang will arrive soon too. Let the City Defense Bureau send people as well,” Curator Wu said. “This doesn’t seem like a normal disappearance.”
“I was about to find him.” Li Feng’s face was very dark.
The fungus near the center of the nest was still alive, unlike the withered ones at the edges. They were still disgustingly soft.
“Will it shrink to the currently still alive area?” Qiu Shi kicked the ground. The human-shaped forms that were wrapped up before had disappeared, leaving no trace.
“Almost,” Xing Bi squatted down slowly.
“The biotic entities that besieged you that day,” Qiu Shi looked around, “were they also recovered?”
“Yes,” Xing Bi responded.
Qiu Shi glanced at him and squatted down too, noticing that Xing Bi was motionless, with his left index finger gently touching a small piece of black fungus.
It seemed like he sensed something.
Qiu Shi wanted to ask, but then remembered what Curator Wu had said earlier.
It would be recorded for review.
So he didn’t speak. After a while, Xing Bi still didn’t move. Qiu Shi reached out and moved Xing Bi’s finger away from the fungus.
Xing Bi turned to look at him.
“No anomalies at the symbiont source,” Qiu Shi said. “The nutrients have been depleted.”
“Did you find any other symbionts?” Curator Wu asked.
“No,” Xing Bi replied.
“Now collect samples,” Qiu Shi took out a sample bottle, unscrewed it, and handed it to Xing Bi.
Xing Bi put his finger into the bottle and stirred.
“Mission complete,” Curator Wu said. “You can return now. Be safe.”
Back in the departure hall, as usual, there was a round of disinfection.
After changing clothes, Qiu Shi noticed something was off in the hall.
Given such a large space, with only Li Feng, Curator Wu, and Director Zhang standing there, he shouldn’t be able to feel any atmosphere or even any presence.
But at this moment, Qiu Shi felt that the entire space was filled with a certain unease.
“I have something to say,” Li Feng propped his hand on the table. His face looked terrible as he spoke. “Qiu Shi, listen to me calmly until I finish.”
“What’s going on outside the city?” Qiu Shi immediately asked.
“Hu Xiaoling is missing,” Li Feng said.
Qiu Shi didn’t speak or move. Li Feng’s response, given without any pause or buffer, made his head buzz.
He tried hard to control his emotions and after a while, he said, “I want to talk to Zhao Lü.”
“No way!” Director Zhang said from the side, his tone full of irritation. “City Defense personnel are there, and they are being questioned!”
“Questioning who? You just go there and expect to get a word out? I’ll be damned if you get anything,” Qiu Shi looked at him. He could tolerate listening to Li Feng’s attitude, but Zhang Qifeng’s inexplicable irritation was like adding fuel to the fire.
“Director Li,” Xing Bi spoke up from behind Qiu Shi, “finish explaining first.”
“Xiao Lei said they went drinking together and then went to wander around the refugee market,” Li Feng glanced at Zhang Qifeng, “and halfway through, Hu Xiaoling disappeared.”
Qiu Shi stared at Li Feng, not wanting to miss a single word.
“Both Director Zhang and I have arranged for people to search,” Li Feng said, “but…”
“Don’t bother searching, you won’t find him. It’s not the refugees or those outer city gangs,” Qiu Shi said, “it’s aimed at me, right?”
“It seems so,” Li Feng frowned.
“Let me talk to Zhao Lü,” Qiu Shi said, looking at him, “if he really knows something or saw something, he’ll only tell me.”
“Only here,” Li Feng glanced to the side, took out his little pet, and tossed it in front of Qiu Shi, “video call, Xiao Lei.”
Xiao Lei’s face was haphazardly projected onto a nearby box, looking particularly messy, “Qiu Shi…”
“Where’s Zhao Lü?” Qiu Shi asked.
“In our empty shelter, City Defense wants to question him,” Xiao Lei’s voice was hoarse, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have let them go to the market, I…”
“It’s not your fault, not your problem,” Qiu Shi said, “bring Zhao Lü over.”
Xiao Lei turned to look over there.
“Captain Xiao,” Li Feng spoke up, “this is Li Feng, Director Zhang is also here, go get him.”
Zhao Lü appeared on the screen with a head of messy hair, looking very irritated, his face bruised. When he saw Qiu Shi, he quickly wiped his face, “Damn, Brother Shi, it’s really you! I thought they were up to something again.”
“Did they hit you?” Qiu Shi asked, his hand hanging by his side trembling slightly.
“Misunderstanding,” Zhao Lü smiled, then quickly stopped, “are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Qiu Shi said, “any clues?”
Zhao Lü didn’t speak, frowning, and after a while, suddenly asked, “What did I eat this morning?”
“Shit,” Qiu Shi said.
“Right,” Zhao Lü nodded.
Li Feng couldn’t help but laugh, quickly turning his head away. Director Zhang turned his head and glared at him.
“Not sure if this counts as a clue,” Zhao Lü lowered his voice, “I saw that woman who was with the guy recording the video in the market. What’s her name, Deng Yeye. Just a glance, no contact, but she looked at me.”
As soon as he said this, Li Feng raised an eyebrow, and Director Zhang’s face turned very grim.
“That’s it, is this useful?” Zhao Lü asked.
“Useful,” Li Feng said from the side, “Zhao Lü, from now on, if you recall anything suspicious or find anything new, have Captain Xiao contact me immediately, emergency channel 037, any time.”
“Got it!” Xiao Lei came closer and shouted.
“The City Defense people will leave soon,” Li Feng glanced at Director Zhang, “don’t leave the shelter for now.”
“Understood.” Xiao Lei nodded.
“Then…” Li Feng was about to say more when a commotion came from the other side.
“What’s going on?” Qiu Shi asked.
“Brother Shi! There’s news!” Zhao Lü reached over, grabbed Xiao Lei’s little pet, and threw it out of the shelter, “Someone’s here!”
The little pet spun around, quickly adjusting the shooting distance. In the video, at the foot of the mountain in the distance, there were two blurry figures. As the camera zoomed in, it slowly became clear that it was a tall and a short person.
The tall one’s face couldn’t be seen clearly, only that it was a man, but the short one, Qiu Shi recognized immediately.
“It’s Deng Yeye.”
“Such a grand gesture?” Director Zhang’s voice was stern, “What are they up to?”
Deng Yeye raised both hands high, and above, in the dust and sand blown by the wind, appeared a few words in laser projection.
Qiu Shi, Donglin Town.
