Chapter 142: Fire Seed (11)

Chapter 142 - Fire Seed (11)

◎ It said "pain" to me ◎

At a critical moment, Zhuang Qingyan cleared his throat twice, saving the innocent Song Ke who was wrongly accused.

"Professor Ming, she is the witness."

At the right moment, the holographic projection cut in on the screen, and a woman in a researcher's white robe appeared in front of the three, it was Lin Xiu.

Perhaps Zhuang Qingyan had instructed her beforehand, Lin Xiu was not as eccentric today. She sat upright, with a serious expression.

"Fourteen years ago, Ming and I were both researchers in the G team of the Fire Seed project. At that time, Ming Zhi was a cultivator, and I was a recorder. The day before the accident..." Lin Xiu narrated in a calm voice.

Ming Gang and Lucia listened attentively.

Song Ke, feeling down for not having tea, suddenly saw a cup of hot tea appear in front of him—Zhuang Qingyan discreetly pushed it towards her.

She picked up the tea cup, sipped it happily, and squinted his eyes with enjoyment.

Lucia, seeing the pitiful look on the girl, turned her head and had the robot brew another large pot of tea, placing it in front of her on purpose.

After Lin Xiu finished speaking, the living room fell silent for a long time.

"You didn't lie?" After a while, Ming Gang asked coldly.

Lin Xiu looked up, meeting Ming Gang's gaze. Her sharp eyes were full of scrutiny, as if she could see through any lies in her heart.

"No," Lin Xiu shook her head firmly.

"How can you be sure you haven't been subjected to hypnosis or psychological manipulation by others? What if you are just fabricating facts based on your imagination?" Ming Gang questioned with a cold tone.

Lin Xiu sighed softly, "Professor Ming, I have died once. What you are seeing now is my backup memory. Even I never thought I could revive, and I don't think anyone would go to great lengths to tamper with my memory. So, I am very clear-headed now and speaking the truth."

"Ming Zhi is not only my colleague but also a friend. I, like you, want to know why he did this."

In the long silence, even the air seemed heavy.

Ming Gang slowly took off his glasses, rubbed his temples wearily, tears shimmering in the corners of his eyes. He was an upright and serious person, and the sudden revelation of his child's crime shook him, making it difficult for him to accept.

"This question, forgive me for not being able to answer. My son, Ming Zhi, was intelligent and outstanding. He obtained his Ph.D. at the age of 20 and was selected to join Qinglan, a one-in-a-million opportunity. After he started working, due to the confidential nature of his work, our contact gradually diminished. However, every time we spoke, his mental state was stable."

"No matter what he did, he's no longer here..."

"Professor Ming, allow me to correct you," Zhuang Qingyan interjected, "Ming Zhi did not perish. He took the experimental subject with him, and it's highly likely that he is still alive. I need to know his whereabouts."

"Why, if he's alive, hasn't he come to see us? For a whole fourteen years, we haven't moved, and he couldn't bear to come back even once?" Ming Gang asked with pain and frustration.

"What about Professor Lucia?" Zhuang Qingyan suddenly changed the subject, "I think... you know where Ming Zhi is, don't you?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was shocked. Even Ming Gang looked at his wife beside him in speechless astonishment.

Lucia put down her tea cup and sighed, "Before you entered, I always thought my child was dead. How could I know?"

Zhuang Qingyan spoke seriously, "Senior colleagues, I have no ill intentions towards Ming Zhi himself. However, the Fire Seed project is the Alliance's highest-level classified project. From Qinglan's perspective, that experimental subject must be traced back."

Ming Gang and Lucia were not naive people. Upon hearing this, they both fell into silence.

"In your eyes, what kind of person is Ming Zhi?" Zhuang Qingyan looked at Lucia and gently asked, "What do you think his motive was for taking the experimental subject?"

Lucia didn't like being manipulated in a conversation. She calmly glanced at Zhuang Qingyan and then turned her head.

"Child, do you like tea?" she suddenly asked, changing the topic.

"Huh?" Song Ke held the tea cup in her hands, enjoying it with her eyes closed. Not understanding why the topic shifted to her, she stammered, "Y-yes, I like it."

"Few people drink tea nowadays," Lucia smiled affectionately.

Tea was a unique cultural symbol of the old era. Tea trees were precious and hard to cultivate, and tea production was scarce. Gradually, it was phased out in the tide of development.

"My grandfather also liked tea, but not the kind you brew. Yours is delicious," Song Ke said earnestly.

"This is my self-created health tea, with a mix of small soup golden chrysanthemum, Yunshan Pu'er, dried dandelion, and a little bit of rock sugar. Xiao Zhi also loved drinking the tea I brewed for him."

Zhuang Qingyan did not urge, patiently waiting in silence.

Lucia seemed to be lost in distant memories. "When Xiao Zhi was young, he loved small animals. He would always bring back stray kittens or puppies, looking at me with eager eyes, asking, 'Mom, can I keep them?' I'd say, 'Sure,' and he would be so happy. But his luck was often not good; those little things would die one after another due to fragility and illness, and Xiao Zhi would cry heartbreakingly."

"Later, he stopped keeping anything, saying he needed to focus on studying and find a way to make those little beings live longer."

"On the day he officially started working, he smiled and said to me, 'Mom, I'm going to raise something again. This time, they won't die for sure.'"

"Sometimes, I wish he wasn't so kind, sensitive; it wouldn't hurt for him to be a bit indifferent to the world..."

Lucia wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and sighed softly.

Zhuang Qingyan lowered his voice, "So you have seen him, right? After the accident, you saw Ming Zhi."

Ming Gang's face showed astonishment. "Lucia, you...?"

"I haven't seen him. I'm not sure if it was him," Lucia denied.

"After the news of Xiao Zhi's death came, I fell seriously ill, almost bedridden. On the anniversary of our marriage the following year, there was a bouquet of longevity flowers at our doorstep, with an unclear signature. I asked the delivery person; it was an anonymous sender, and the address was encrypted, untraceable."

Lucia held Ming Gang's hand, "Your heart wasn't well those years; I was afraid you'd worry, so I didn't tell you."

Ming Gang tightened his grip, "It's okay, it doesn't matter. I know now."

"On the same day the next year, the same longevity flowers. Then the third year, the fourth year... I never knew who sent the flowers."

"Until one year, the bouquet didn't appear. I waited for a year, still nothing. Year after year, I gradually realized that the person who sent the flowers might not be there anymore."

Zhuang Qingyan asked calmly, "From which year did the flowers stop?"

Lucia thought for a moment, "In the year 40 of the new calendar."

Her tone then softened, "Child, I know Xiao Zhi made a mistake, but as a mother, I believe he had his reasons..."

"Rest assured, both of you. Finding Ming Zhi and bringing back the experimental subject is my personal will. This matter will not be made public," Zhuang Qingyan solemnly promised.

...

After leaving the Ming residence, Lin Xiu couldn't help but ask in a hushed tone, "Professor Zhu—uh, Brother Yan, was that person who sent flowers Ming Zhi?"

Zhuang Qingyan strictly prohibited her from calling him "Vincent" or "Professor Zhuang." In the end, Lin Xiu could only timidly address him as "Brother Yan."

"Most likely," he replied.

"So, Ming Zhi... if he's still alive, wouldn't he continue sending flowers to his parents?"

"Not necessarily. Go back and try; see if this virtual address can dig up anything."

In the end, Lucia gave Zhuang Qingyan the information about the flower sender. With Lu Xiaoyu around, they could always find some clues.

Lin Xiu murmured to herself, "My feelings are complicated now. If Ming Zhi didn't take the experimental subject, he might have been blown up with me. But he ran away, escaped the accident. From a professional ethics standpoint, I strongly condemn him! But deep down, I feel it's good that he survived."

"Brother Yan, Brother Yan, tell me, when Ming Zhi ran away, why did he take the experimental subject? Why didn't he take the ones scheduled for destruction, LAK0117 and LAK0366, and specifically chose LAK0017?"

Lin Xiu chattered away; in terms of psychological age, she was just a 23-year-old girl.

"Ming Zhi was a cultivator," Zhuang Qingyan said.

Lin Xiu nodded, "Oh, right, right."

"Do you know what specific experiments the Fire Seed project conducts?"

"Not very clear." As a recorder, Lin Xiu had the lowest level of access. She was not a core member of the Fire Seed project, but she had heard bits and pieces, some of which involved brutal genetic experiments.

"Ming Zhi knew," Zhuang Qingyan said casually. "Cultivators have the authority to participate in some gene fusion experiments. According to what Lucia said, Ming Zhi was a person with extremely strong empathy. What if, like with little cats and dogs, he felt 'sympathy' for LAK0017?"

"But that's... that's an experimental subject!" Lin Xiu exclaimed.

Experimental subjects were consciousless, thoughtless, artificially created alien organisms. How could they be compared to little cats and dogs?

Lin Xiu was at a loss for words. She suddenly remembered a time during lunch break when the handsome young man was standing alone in the corridor, lost in thought.

At that moment, Lin Xiu lightly patted his shoulder, "Hey, why are you hiding here slacking off?"

Ming Zhi turned his head, and Lin Xiu only then noticed that his eyes were slightly red.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

Following Ming Zhi's gaze, Lin Xiu looked into the empty laboratory. The observation chamber door was tightly closed, and there was nothing unusual.

"It... today, it said 'pain' to me," Ming Zhi's voice was barely audible.

"Who?" Lin Xiu inquired.

"Mmm, you know, what the Fire Seed is?" Ming Zhi asked.

"The Fire Seed is hope, the hope of all humanity."

"Yeah... the hope of all humanity, but not its own."

"For the Fire Seed itself, burning over and over again, reduced to ashes, it clearly has always been in despair."

At that time, Lin Xiu didn't understand the meaning of these words, but now, looking at Zhuang Qingyan's statue-like profile, she fell into a long silence.

Before reuniting with Ye Zimei, Lin Xiu retreated into the holographic screen. The three of them traversed the medieval street again, heading towards where the floating car was parked.

On the way, Song Ke's terminal rang.

She stopped and took a look.

The message was from the official channel of the Awakener Department, filled with lengthy bureaucratic language praising her excellence. After condensing the message, it requested her to undergo further genetic testing as she was a rare S7-level awakener. They wanted her to provide some indicators for record-keeping, contributing to more accurate awakener detection in the future, and so on.

Song Ke read through it twice, still unsure about the true intention of the Awakener Department. She decided to discuss it with Zhuang Qingyan.

"Ahhhhh—!"

Suddenly, a horrified scream erupted at the street intersection ahead, catching Song Ke's attention.

She abruptly looked up.

A double-decker public bus went out of control, careening wildly towards them. The rear of the bus shattered the glass of the nearby shops. Pedestrians who couldn't evade in time were rolled over by the wheels. In the driver's cabin, the driver convulsed with an unnatural expression, pupils covered by a layer of dead-white shadow.

It's a zombie! The apocalypse was still ongoing. Radiation was everywhere, and with its continuous accumulation in the body, ordinary people exposed to sunlight were highly likely to lose their sanity one day, turning into flesh-eating monsters.

The previous message was overridden, and a new task appeared on the terminal: "C-level Emergency Commission (Exclusive to District B10): Zombie suicide attack incident reported in the medieval street. Please eliminate the source promptly, protect civilians at the scene, and contain the situation as quickly as possible."

Surrounding awakeners rushed forward, attempting to intercept the zombie driver of the careening double-decker bus.

However, the swaying bus drifted around the corner and collided head-on with a floating subway train that was traveling at high speed and was more than ten sections long!

Boom—!!

The several-thousand-ton car soared high into the air. In that moment of mass acceleration, a catastrophic explosion ensued.

Ye Zimei dashed forward and suddenly acted. An invisible psychic wave, like a stop button, froze both the double-decker bus and the floating subway train in mid-air. Passengers inside the two vehicles had terrified expressions, their eyes rolling, mouths opening and closing as if in slow-motion playback, screaming in silence.

She turned out to be a gravity-type awakener!

However, relying solely on her power was not enough to counteract the force. In a matter of seconds, cracks began to appear under Ye Zimei's feet, and she was pushed backward by the tremendous force, appearing as though she would stumble and fall—

The floating subway train teetered, and from the sky, it came crashing down at high speed!

Unfortunately, Zhuang Qingyan happened to be directly under the front of the train. Even if he stood up and ran frantically, it would be challenging to escape the area in an instant.

Zhuang Qingyan's wheelchair swiveled abruptly but was unexpectedly bumped by the chaotic crowd around him. His glasses with golden rims flew off and rolled on the ground.

Bang!

Just at that moment, a slender figure shot out like an arrow. Both hands emitted a blue light, and instantly covered with metallic knuckle-dusters, fiercely intercepting the plummeting floating subway train mid-air.

Boom! Boom!!

With the gravitational support from Ye Zimei, Song Ke hammered the front of the train, each strike creating a powerful and domineering force. Yet, her posture remained very relaxed, as if she were not smashing a few thousand tons of scrap metal but merely tossing around a sandbag.

Under the formidable reactive force, the floating subway train was forcefully pushed back, coiling like a snake with its tail raised, slowly collapsing to the ground. Song Ke leaped onto the roof, grabbing the floating double-decker bus with one hand, and with a powerful mid-air shoulder throw, slammed it together with the subway train.

Crash—!

The smoke and debris scattered in all directions, and a tragedy that almost destroyed the ancient street was effortlessly resolved by Song Ke.

Next, Song Ke shattered the driver's seat glass, pulled out the convulsing zombie driver, and with a "snap," broke his neck.

The bustling market street fell into silence. Whether they were awakeners or ordinary citizens, everyone stared in astonishment at the savior who descended from the sky.

Song Ke turned back, and Ye Zimei excitedly gave her a thumbs-up.

In the midst of all eyes, Song Ke bent down to search on the ground, picked up the golden-rimmed glasses that had fallen in the chaos, wiped them clean with the edge of her clothes, and then walked back to Zhuang Qingyan. She bent down to help him put on the glasses.

Two tiny dimples appeared on her cheeks, and she smiled as if seeking praise, "Was Captain impressive?"

Zhuang Qingyan graciously played along, "Of course, very impressive. Our captain is the best. This family... cough cough, V587 can't do without you."

Song Ke was flattered by his sweet words, and with great enthusiasm, she declared, "When we get back, let's take on some missions and climb the rankings! Captain will be aiming for the top!"

As for the message from the Awakener Department—it had long been tossed aside by her.

...

The news of an S7-level powerful attacker appearing at the Northern Base quickly spread.

The first to react was Tokushima.

Videos of Song Ke saving people, stopping the bus, and beating up Lei Zhao and Yuko Noguma were laid out on the conference table of the B15 District's high-level meeting.

"Let's hear everyone's thoughts."

"So far, she's the first publicly known S7-level in the entire Alliance. Both her reaction speed and explosive power are top-notch. But I have a question: if the information is correct, she's a powerful attack-type, right? But her physical abilities are unusually off the charts? She single-handedly caught a subway weighing several thousand tons, almost comparable to the strength of an S-level physical enhancement-type awakener."

"Can we get a report on her awakened abilities?"

"It's quite difficult. Reports on S-level awakeners are well-hidden by that old witch."

"Send a spy to try. Also, I heard she came from a lower-level district and doesn't have much attachment to the Northern Base. It's best to recruit her."

"Yes!"

*

District A1, Central Court.

The reporter in front of the projection was systematically analyzing the top awakener resources in each district.

"... The overall number of awakeners is showing a steady increase... Resource distribution in each district is uneven. Currently, the highest-ranked is the S7-level awakener from B10, Northern Base..." The scene of Song Ke punching the floating subway and kicking the double-decker bus flashed across the screen.

"Stop." The official sitting below suddenly spoke.

"Director Park, do you have any instructions?" The reporter asked nervously.

Park Jae-woo, rubbing his chin, began to contemplate. "This awakener looks very familiar... "

He gradually revealed a realization. Oh, isn't this the one from the time when Bloody Hunter Punk was killed in Mu City? The owner of that rabid dog, who still acts like he has rabies, is now chasing him down, insisting that he hand over the footage from that time.

"I want to have a conversation with the person in charge of District B10," Park Jae-woo instructed.

"Is it General Ye?" The secretary beside him instinctively asked.

Park Jae-woo smiled faintly without answering.

The secretary realized and said, "Alright, I'll contact Commander He right away."