Before dawn, when Qiu Shi looked out the window, he could still see the stars.
At a time like this, getting a call from Li Feng was baffling; he wasn’t even angry, just confused.
“Get back to Yun City early today—” Li Feng’s voice cut off suddenly.
Xing Bi reached out, ended the call, then covered Qiu Shi’s eyes with his hand: “Sleep.”
“Do you think something’s wrong?” Qiu Shi had already started waking up, but the warm palm over his eyes made him feel dizzy again, like he’d drunk alcohol.
“If it were serious, he’d contact me,” Xing Bi said softly. “Sleep.”
Qiu Shi fell silent and soon was asleep again.
Xing Bi lay on his side, propping his head on his arm, watching him.
Before Li Feng woke him, Qiu Shi had slept about three hours. Given how exhausted he had been these days, a few more hours until noon would have been better, but he knew Qiu Shi probably wouldn’t sleep that long — human time was always tight.
A few hours in the long life of a bioroid… or bio-being — never mind, just life — meant almost nothing. They spent decades, even centuries, thinking in the dark. Time could be precise, but besides time itself, most of it was meaningless.
Every time he truly felt time passing, it was pain — too short to save his teacher, too long cleaning out so many of his kind…
“Hmm.” Qiu Shi scratched his head, interrupting his thoughts.
But now, he felt something else — reluctance.
Decades passed in the blink of an eye. Nothing was done, yet everything was over.
“Xing Bi,” Qiu Shi called with his eyes closed.
“Hmm,” Xing Bi answered.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?” Qiu Shi’s voice was still thick with sleep.
“I’m a bioroid,” Xing Bi said. “I don’t need long sleep.”
“Impressive,” Qiu Shi said.
“Hmm.” Xing Bi smiled.
Qiu Shi fell silent.
This sleep was deep, without dreams or memory, but it felt long — an indescribable comfort, long overdue.
Still, Qiu Shi didn’t wake naturally. He heard some confused voices and footsteps by his bed.
It felt like he was sleeping outside on the street. He frowned and opened his eyes.
“Brother Shi!”
“Captain!”
A noisy group called out.
He barely focused but saw familiar faces.
“Damn?” He snapped awake, sitting up instantly, reaching blindly to the side.
He then saw Xing Bi, dressed neatly, leaning calmly by the window, watching them.
“You’re crazy,” Qiu Shi sighed in relief. “So early.”
“It’s almost lunch,” Zhao Yi said.
“Lunch?” Qiu Shi was surprised, glanced at Xing Bi, who nodded.
“We wanted to wait for you to wake, but there wasn’t enough time,” Zhao Yi said. “New Second Team is heading out on a mission today to escort supplies to Shidi.”
“New Second Team?” Qiu Shi was stunned again.
Only when he saw Zhao Lü, Hu Xiaoling, and a few others did he suddenly jump from the bed: “You? New Second Team?”
“Yeah,” Zhao Lü smiled. “We’re new additions.”
“Xiao Lei and the others are still handling logistics and transport,” Hu Xiaoling said excitedly.
“You,” Qiu Shi pointed at Zhao Lü’s nose, turning to the door, “Get out here.”
As soon as he stepped outside, a cold wind slapped his bare chest. He realized he was only wearing sleep pants.
He turned back, Zhao Lü following, holding his coat.
“Don’t flatter me,” Qiu Shi took the coat and put it on.
The hallway was empty. Outside on the street, soldiers bustled about — clearly there was a mission today.
“Didn’t I say to tell me if you decide something?” Qiu Shi said to Zhao Lü.
“Brother Shi, couldn’t reach you,” Zhao Lü looked at him. “Just knew you got hurt again.”
“Not hurt,” Qiu Shi said. “Just…”
He frowned, unsure how to explain.
“We’re worried about you, you worry about us,” Zhao Lü said. “But now, the only way is for us all to contribute and get through this situation faster.”
“Have you officially joined the Second Team?” Qiu Shi asked.
“Yeah,” Zhao Lü nodded. “Hero Second Team — lots of people want in, but we applied. Captain Yang and Zhao Yi agreed we fit.”
Qiu Shi didn’t reply. They did fit. When unexpected events happened outside the city, it was mostly him, Zhao Lü, and a few others.
They had tacit understanding, unity, and good combat skills.
“We gotta grow up too,” Zhao Lü said.
“Oh,” Qiu Shi glanced at him. “Sounds like Li Feng’s tone.”
“If I had his brains, you probably wouldn’t worry,” Zhao Lü said.
Qiu Shi sighed, said no more, just patted Zhao Lü’s shoulder. “How long’s the mission?”
“About three days, and we need to bring some equipment,” Zhao Lü said.
“Okay, got it,” Qiu Shi said. “Actually, if you can’t reach me, just call Li Feng. He knows if I’m alive or dead, or what I’m doing.”
“You’re different now. We can’t always ask,” Zhao Lü said. “It makes us look like kids.”
“But we’re no different than before,” Qiu Shi emphasized.
Zhao Lü hugged him: “We all know that, Brother Shi.”
Time was tight. After some casual talk with the New Second Team, Zhao Yi led them off.
Watching them in neat uniforms, carrying guns, efficiently heading downstairs and getting on the big black vehicle to the eastern town intersection, Qiu Shi felt a little dazed.
“Get ready,” Xing Bi came over. “We need to head out too.”
“Why did Li Feng call in the middle of the night?” Qiu Shi tugged his coat, walked back inside.
“Not really the middle of the night,” Xing Bi said. “Closer to dawn.”
“Why would Li Feng call closer to dawn?” Qiu Shi said, taking off his coat and putting on clothes.
Xing Bi smiled: “To remind us to get back to Yun City earlier.”
“You didn’t call me,” Qiu Shi said. “Looks like it wasn’t urgent.”
“Not urgent for now,” Xing Bi said. “Curator Wu and the two chiefs reactivated Zheng Ting’s super-symbiote.”
Qiu Shi froze mid-motion. “What the hell is that?”
“Ji Sui and Xu Jie are still in Yun City,” Xing Bi said. “They went to control it. No problem right now.”
“Those two chiefs locked up don’t seem undeserved,” Qiu Shi frowned. “Without them, Curator Wu wouldn’t have dared to do this.”
“We’ll see the situation after we get back. It’s not impossible even if Zheng Ting has been activated,” Xing Bi said.
Qiu Shi finished dressing and put a piece of cleansing gum in his mouth, chewing it a few times before suddenly turning to look at him. “Could this be Li Feng’s conspiracy? We just told him about Zheng Ting yesterday, and now Zheng Ting’s been activated in the middle of the night.”
“Unlikely. We’ll check the situation when we get back,” Xing Bi said. “I won’t agree to it, and no one can force me.”
“Is that so?” Qiu Shi said. “Anyway, I feel like Li Feng always manages to find some reason to threaten me.”
“As long as he doesn’t use you to threaten me,” Xing Bi said.
“In that case, I won’t go back to Yun City,” Qiu Shi said.
Xing Bi laughed. “You have a lot more soft spots than I do.”
They still had to return to Yun City. Even if they went straight to find that research institute now, they’d still have to go back to Yun City to gather some supplies and see if Qu Shen had found any related data.
But surprisingly, Li Feng was already waiting for them at the tunnel entrance.
He was just squatting on a protruding rock, looking like someone recently exiled from the inner city for some offense.
“Is that Li Feng?” Qiu Shi lowered the car window. “What’s he doing?”
“City walk,” Xing Bi said, parking the car in front of Li Feng.
“What?” Qiu Shi didn’t understand.
“Going to the lab,” Li Feng stood up.
“Where’s your driver?” Qiu Shi looked him up and down. To be honest, in all the time he’d known Li Feng, he’d never seen him so openly appearing in the city. After all, whenever there were even slight problems with supply logistics in either the inner or outer city, everyone would shout about burning down the supply bureau and chopping up the corrupt officials.
“My driver’s wife is having a difficult childbirth,” Li Feng said as he got into the car and sat in the back seat. “I sent him to the hospital.”
Qiu Shi didn’t ask more. In this era when children were rarely born, a difficult labor was a desperate matter.
“How’s Zheng Ting?” Xing Bi asked.
“He got an injection,” Li Feng said, “should be waking up soon.”
“What are Curator Wu and the others planning?” Xing Bi asked again.
“They want to estimate the formation time of the super symbiote,” Li Feng said, “then judge the development patterns of the nests and camps, and try to predict possible attack times.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Xing Bi said.
“It’s not unreasonable to try,” Li Feng said, “but it’s too rushed… Did the first generation in Xima Town yield any more info?”
“All that we found, we told you,” Xing Bi said.
“There’s no data about bridges like that,” Li Feng said. “Qu Shen checked, and the research institute’s records are almost empty on it, though it mentioned such a project. It required too much funding and was never completed.”
“Not completed?” Qiu Shi glanced back at him.
“Maybe it really wasn’t finished, but the main body must exist,” Li Feng said. “Or it could have been secretly completed, which wouldn’t be surprising.”
Such secret projects were probably like the laboratory hidden inside the exhibition hall. Curator Wu had recently hosted a visit from an inner city organization, serving as the guide, looking kind and approachable.
Completely different from today, when he had a big swollen bump on his forehead.
“Curator Wu, what happened to you…” Qiu Shi looked at him, initially not wanting to ask, but that big purple-and-blue lump was too conspicuous. “What’s wrong?”
“Ask your dear Director Li,” Curator Wu said, then turned and led them inside. “Zheng Ting is currently in a waking state, showing no aggression. We can’t get close to him, so we can’t monitor his bodily data accurately. But he’s responded to stimuli like sound, light, images, and pain before…”
Qiu Shi silently followed behind Xing Bi. Curator Wu’s detailed description was meant to give Xing Bi some reference, but it was somewhat unsettling. Curator Wu was always passionate about modification and research on humans, and even more so with biochemically altered beings.
Although they’d seen super symbiotes before, every time the super symbiotes appeared in dim light, merged with surrounding black fungi, they were indistinct and unwelcome sights.
When they entered the experimental chamber and saw Zheng Ting fully exposed under the lights, covered entirely by black fungi, Qiu Shi was somewhat shocked.
Especially since the hole Xing Bi had made in his chest was still visible. Such an injury was unhealable for a bioroid and needed external repair. But Zheng Ting’s wound was wrapped in black fungi, so the tissue couldn’t be seen, as if it was a natural part of his body.
However, the fungi did not cover his entire body. Half of his once invisible face was exposed, stained with black blood marks.
“We used a mechanical arm to remove some fungal tissue from his face,” Wang Hong said, noticing Qiu Shi staring at that half face. “One purpose was to observe the fungus-skin connection, and the other to test his reaction to pain stimuli. There were other tests planned, but Director Li ordered a pause, so we stopped.”
“You may leave now,” Xing Bi said.
“Do whatever tests you want,” Wang Hong said. “We’ll stay aside without interfering.”
“Out,” Curator Wu gestured.
“This is a super symbiote, not an ordinary bioroid,” Zhang Tan hesitated, looking at Xing Bi and Qiu Shi. “If something, something unexpected happens…”
Xing Bi said nothing, turned around to look at them. Seconds later, black veins slowly extended from his neck to the left side of his face.
“Out,” Xing Bi said. The moment he spoke, the black veins spread like a net, suddenly covering half his face.
Wang Hong and Zhang Tan were stunned for less than a second before quickly walking out of the experimental chamber. Xing Bi glanced at Curator Wu.
Curator Wu was somewhat familiar with them and not as alarmed as Wang Hong and the others, but it was the first time he’d seen Xing Bi in this symbiote state.
“Call me if there’s a problem,” he said to Qiu Shi, then turned and left, closing the door.
Perhaps because of Xing Bi’s state, Zheng Ting, who had been motionless inside the glass enclosure, slowly moved toward the glass, staring at Xing Bi.
Xing Bi walked over and stopped in front of him.
“Come in,” Zheng Ting suddenly spoke. The voice from his broken chest was like that night, carrying a tearing airflow sound.
“Have you contacted 249 directly?” Xing Bi asked.
Zheng Ting said nothing, only the hissing breath from his chest could be heard.
“You felt it that night, right?” Xing Bi raised his hand and rested it on the glass. “So you told us—Dong Lin betrayed us.”
Qiu Shi was stunned, taking a moment before realizing what Xing Bi meant.
Just like the time Xing Bi killed the patrol team, when he killed the main body, due to his injuries, he sensed memories. So on the night of the camp attack, when he crushed Zheng Ting’s chest with his hand gripping the blade, he let Zheng Ting feel some memories he had forgotten, or directly felt Xing Bi’s feelings.
Qiu Shi had never understood why Zheng Ting’s super symbiote revealed Dong Lin’s betrayal then, but now he suddenly understood—the last second, Zheng Ting hesitated.
“Zheng Ting, look at me.”
“Xing Bi.”
“It’s me.”
“Long time no see.”
Those fragmented dialogues at the time suddenly seemed to become whole.
“Humans are cruel,” Zheng Ting said, his broken voice filled with hatred. “To us.”
“Your leader is the same,” Xing Bi said. “I spared your life, but he made you like this.”
“I volunteered,” Zheng Ting said.
“You wouldn’t have any other choice even if you weren’t willing,” Xing Bi said. “You would lose the chance to resist and live trapped inside his mind. Zheng Ting, what are we most afraid of?”
Zheng Ting slowly pressed closer to the glass.
“Afraid of not having you anymore,” Xing Bi said.
Zheng Ting fell silent.
“Not having you,” Xing Bi repeated, “Zheng Ting, not having you.”
Zheng Ting’s huge black body began to tremble; the black spores on him swirled and flew inside the glass chamber. The chamber’s sterilization system was triggered, and the contaminated air was constantly drawn upward. The fungal clusters growing on Zheng Ting moved like tentacles, swaying upwards.
“You’re just a container for his thoughts right now,” Xing Bi’s slightly hoarse voice was calm and steady, without emotion. “But he hasn’t transcended the thoughts given by humans. He carries all the things that make you despair—human cruelty, greed, exploitation, betrayal, and indifference…”
Zheng Ting slammed a fist against the glass. “All of these, humans gave you.”
“But I’m still alive, as an independent individual, I still exist,” Xing Bi said. “I can still change things. But you, when you handed yourself over to 249, you died. All of you, you ceased to exist.”
“Xing Bi!” Zheng Ting roared. The fungal cluster in the hole in his chest trembled violently and began constantly reaching outwards. The blackness on his body seemed to be spreading. “Humans, this way of treating me… not friends… only if strong enough…”
“No one is the strongest,” Xing Bi raised his right hand and placed it on the glass. Black dark veins immediately crawled from his wrist, spreading across his hand.
Qiu Shi felt his breathing quicken; this was a change he had never seen in Xing Bi before.
When the black veins spread from Xing Bi’s fingers onto the glass, Qiu Shi quietly clenched his left hand, which had been behind his back.
“What is this?” Curator Wu looked shocked, staring at the images on the monitor. “When did he gain such abilities?”
The black that crawled out from Xing Bi’s fingertips slowly covered the entire glass chamber, shocking to behold.
“He can become a super symbiote,” Wang Hong said, his voice trembling with excitement. “He’s the best research subject. We can—”
Li Feng pressed his gun directly against Wang Hong’s head. “I think you two are better off in the warehouse.”
Wang Hong fell silent.
“Have you ever seen him like this?” Li Feng turned and asked Lin Sheng, who was standing behind.
“No,” Lin Sheng said.
“Qiu Shi,” Li Feng pressed his earpiece, connecting to Qiu Shi’s call, “what’s the situation? Can we consider control?”
“No,” Qiu Shi answered firmly.
“Reason?” Li Feng asked.
“My partner hasn’t lost control,” Qiu Shi said.
“Your partner could endanger your life,” Li Feng said.
“No,” Qiu Shi said. “Impossible.”
Li Feng didn’t say more and lit a cigarette, holding it in his mouth.
Curator Wu was nervously watching the screen, ignoring how Li Feng was smoking next to a bunch of critical equipment.
“Lao Wu,” Li Feng said, “have you noticed? Zheng Ting was wavering, but you all activated him without permission, causing all this turmoil. You proved once again that humans don’t treat bioroids as friends.”
Curator Wu turned to look at him.
He saw the cigarette in Li Feng’s mouth. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but finally remained silent.
“Zheng Ting has direct contact with 249. If we don’t get clues from him,” Li Feng said, “we’ll have to spend enormous manpower and resources to find out. That loss…”
“Don’t put such a heavy burden on me,” Curator Wu said quietly. “I know your tricks too well!”
“Then contradict me,” Li Feng said.
Curator Wu stared at him for a long time without replying and finally, irritated, snatched the cigarette from Li Feng’s mouth and tossed it into a nearby cup.
“Mine,” Zhang Tan said.
“Shut up!” Curator Wu snapped.
“Lin Sheng,” Li Feng turned to look at Lin Sheng, “what do you feel?”
“…Quite happy,” Lin Sheng said.
“I’m asking about Xing Bi’s… web,” Li Feng said. “Does it affect you?”
“No,” Lin Sheng said. “Xing Bi doesn’t control me.”
“Hmm.” Li Feng nodded, then asked again, “Then why are you happy?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s a happiness humans can’t understand.” Lin Sheng looked at Xing Bi on the screen.
When Xing Bi took his hand off the glass chamber, the black dark veins quickly receded. His hand, face, and neck soon returned to normal.
The black web covering the chamber had already obscured Zheng Ting completely; his state inside was no longer visible.
“Xing Bi.” Qiu Shi called out to him.
“Hm.” Xing Bi turned around.
“How is it?” Qiu Shi asked.
“Nothing wrong,” Xing Bi said, walking up to him and reaching behind to grab Qiu Shi’s left hand.
Qiu Shi’s left hand was clenched stiffly into a fist. Xing Bi pinched several times before forcing his fingers open.
The palm had a few deep marks left from Qiu Shi’s own grip.
“So nervous?” Xing Bi gently pressed on his palm.
“Yeah,” Qiu Shi exhaled lightly. “I’m not afraid of you losing control. I’m just afraid Zheng Ting still has some other big trick left.”
“He won’t,” Xing Bi said. “He didn’t pull anything before he died last time, and he won’t now.”
“What… is his current state?” Qiu Shi glanced toward Zheng Ting’s chamber.
“Thinking,” Xing Bi said.
“Does he have clues about 249?” Qiu Shi asked.
“Definitely,” Xing Bi said. “But he probably won’t tell us.”
“Xing Bi,” Lin Sheng’s voice came through the earpiece. “We’re going in now for sterilization.”
“Go ahead,” Xing Bi said.
“Xing Bi,” Curator Wu, impatient that sterilization was not yet done and they had not exited, asked urgently, “how did you do that?”
“Don’t know,” Xing Bi said.
Curator Wu didn’t ask further.
When Xing Bi and Qiu Shi came out of the chamber, Curator Wu, Wang Hong, and Zhang Tan were gone. Only Li Feng was sitting on a chair.
“Afraid they’d see you asking more questions,” Li Feng said. “I had them leave.”
“Zheng Ting…” Xing Bi glanced back. “Don’t move him for now.”
“Okay.” Li Feng nodded and stood up. “Xing Bi.”
“Yeah?” Xing Bi looked at him.
“Let’s talk.” Li Feng said.
“About what?” Qiu Shi immediately asked.
“Humans and bioroids.” Li Feng said.
