CH 68

Chapter 68: 36.5 Degrees

He tried all he could to re-establish a connection with Zhou Yu, but it was like he was aimlessly broadcasting his thoughts while Zhou Yu had closed himself off.

Mo Ye furrowed his brows. To him, all of this was like breaking through layer upon layer of obstacles to charge into the horizon… And at the moment, he didn’t know where his sky was.

He’d never felt this way before, where his heart felt like it had been hollowed out and his blood lost the direction of its flow. Every cell in his body was in such pain that they seemed to be on the verge of rupturing, piercing deep into his mind!

This was all an illusion… He couldn’t have lost Zhou Yu…

Everything had clearly been under his control, including Zhou Yu’s breathing, heartbeat, and every emotional fluctuation…

But all of a sudden, everything felt like quicksand passing through his fingers. He couldn’t hold onto them however much he tried.

Suddenly, tremors rang throughout, each wave more violent than the last.

Everyone looked up one after another

“Is it an earthquake? What’s going on?”

Li Qian instantly operated the surveillance screens and found that there were countless giant three-eyed birds attacking the top of the base from outside. They kept ramming into it, not giving up even when their wings snapped and skulls fractured. All helicopters were dispatched, sending out sonic blasts, yet even that was not enough to dispel them all.

What was even more frightening were the sinuous devil vines boring through the roof of the base, seemingly wanting to overturn the whole thing! 

The alarm sirens in the base blared on incessantly, and all personnel prepared for war!

Zhou Qing, who was currently studying a sample under the microscope, suddenly felt a violent tremor. When he fell off his chair, the microscope and all of the samples followed him, creating a broken mess.

The researchers looked up. “Is that an earthquake?”

At this time, guards rushed in and shouted, “Protect Professor Zhou and Professor Bai! We’re evacuating immediately to the base’s emergency shelter!” 

While Zhou Qing was still confused, another powerful quake hit them. The entire base was almost rocked into the skies! Zhou Qing knew that this feeling wasn’t an earthquake.

“What is going on?”

Beside him, Bai Yingting looked up, then closed his eyes and seemed to sense something. Compared with the other researchers’ panic and the guards’ nervousness, Bai Yingting appeared to be steady.

When he opened his eyes, he spoke, “They’re soaring snakes.”

Zhou Qing was stunned. “What? Soaring snakes… Are you talking about that legendary A rank organism? They should be dormant right now, soaring snakes are organisms that are only active in the winter!”

“Never mind that right now, just go!”

Swordbone butterflies came flying in through the open door. The entire lab fell into chaos, and screams were heard in rapid succession!

None of the researchers had been injected with the fear inhibitor!

Bai Yingting threw Zhou Qing over his shoulder, and when he slammed his palm against the table, the swordbone butterflies quickly retreated outside and pasted themselves onto the walls, as if they had been frightened.

While Zhou Qing was wide-eyed and digesting what had happened, Bai Yingting carried him and started to sprint, leaving the lab with the guards. The other researchers scrambled to catch up to them.

But Zhou Qing couldn’t help having doubts; how did Bai Yingting know what organism was attacking the base from outside? They couldn’t see anything!

As the shaking in the base became more and more evident, Li Qian, who was monitoring the surveillance cameras, suffered a fright. On the screen was an enormous black python soaring through the air. It charged at the base, its black scales like innumerable steel blades, and in a single, easy swing, a giant tree that had lived for tens of thousands of years snapped in half, falling towards the base!

“My God!”

Li Qian transferred the image from the surveillance camera to the screen in front of the emergency room. When Song Zhi saw it, he narrowed his eyes. He quickly turned around and shouted at Mo Ye, “What are you doing?! Do you want to destroy everything here?!”

Wu Yun was also stupefied by the scene. That gigantic creature was comparable to the giant sea bull they had seen before. “What is that?”

Song Zhi answered, “A soaring snake! A distinctive A rank organism! Its power is inexhaustible, and it’s immensely destructive! It also has a vicious, uncontrollable temperament! It must have come here after sensing Mo Ye’s emotions! Right now, Mo Ye wants to destroy everything. He’s completely lost his mind! This an S rank organism! Only a fool like you would count on him to save Zhou Yu!”

Mo Ye shot Song Zhi a dark gaze containing a kind of ruthlessness that did not hesitate to destroy heaven and earth. Word by word, he said, “All of this was according to Juli Corp’s plan, wasn’t it?! I’ll make Juli Corp pay for it! I’ll set all of their hard work up in flames! I’ll make sure that they’ll reap nothing from this place other than despair!”

This Mo Ye was ice-cold, resolute, and ruthless, like an asura from hell. Even his aesthetically pleasing face looked like the carved mask of a death god.

Wu Yun froze, then he grabbed Song Zhi’s collar. “Did you know Li Shengnan was on Turing’s side or not?!”

“I had no idea Li Shengnan was with Turing! Do you think I’m stupid enough to use one of Turing’s people?” 

Song Zhi stared back at Wu Yun.

Wu Yun’s raised fist hung in mid-air. He knew that although Song Zhi would use unscrupulous means, he always admitted to his deeds and disdained telling lies. Since he personally claimed that he had not known that Li Shengnan was one of Turing’s people, then he shouldn’t have known.

The base was still experiencing severe shocks, and the soaring snake had already broken through the outer walls of the base on its first attack. Currently, it was drawing in its back in preparation for the second strike. Countless organisms were pouring into the base’s external extension. The field personnel had no choice but to retreat and hide in the internal part of the base.

This was turning into war.

Song Zhi’s expression did not waver in the slightest. He only looked at Mo Ye and said, “If your goal is to destroy all of Juli Corp, then I don’t have any objections. Humans are invaders in Nibelungen in the first place, and invaders should experience the consequences of their actions, sooner or later. However, if you merely loathe yourself for not having protected Zhou Yu from Turing, you can destroy me, take your revenge on me, and disintegrate all that Zhou Yu cared about, including Wu Yun, Zhou Qing, and Han Li, who has been trying her hardest to save him. Everything that Zhou Yu was tied to is here. You can certainly destroy them all. I’m just reminding you not to forget who extracted the virus from the death dahlia. Who exploited you from the very beginning? Why did Zhou Yu become Turing’s target; was it because of me? You know very well that it’s not. This was all because you chose Zhou Yu! Zhou Yu died merely because Turing took revenge against you for not choosing him.”

Mo Ye looked at Song Zhi. His body started to tremble as if it was on the verge of collapse.

Blood started to gush out at the corners of his eyes.

“Mo Ye! Your body can’t handle the release of this much power! In less than a minute, a large number of cells in your body will rupture! You’ll die! If you die too, then who will take revenge for Zhou Yu?! Or do you think that killing me in here along with all the other employees in the base counts as avenging Zhou Yu?” Song Zhi turned to ask him.

While the base was unstable and flooded with fear, Mo Ye could not sense Song Zhi’s fear.

There was a cold gleam of light in his eyes. He did not care if Mo Ye destroyed Juli Corp’s base; there was even a certain sense of expectation deep in his heart.

“Just who are you?” Mo Ye narrowed his eyes, frustrated at being unable to read Song Zhi’s thoughts.

Yes… if Song Zhi had truly betrayed that S rank organism, then why were they still doing their utmost to protect him?

Mo Ye furrowed his brows and clenched his fists. He closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and the trembling of his body became even more intense. Rather than the release of energy, he was pushing back down that uncontrollable power.

“Very good… calm down just like that. Don’t hurt yourself anymore.”

Song Zhi pressed his hands to the glass.

Mo Ye’s eyes finally stopped bleeding, and he slowly put Zhou Yu back on the pillow. He leaned down to kiss Zhou Yu’s forehead.

It was an extremely pious gesture.

Song Zhi’s gaze was distracted.

He seemed to recall something… A long, long time ago, there had also once been a youth who earnestly kissed his own forehead like so.

In the midst of everyone’s terror, the quaking base suddenly became still.

The devil vines had withdrawn, and the giant three-eyes birds that had already flown inside the base and the perytons also left. The soaring snake that was preparing for its third attack on the base suddenly retreated backwards and vanished slithering into the dark night.

Everyone looked up to peer around themselves, as if still confirming that the peace was real.

Mo Ye suddenly spoke as if it was a command, “Song Zhi, I want to join your hunt for Turing. I will make him pay.”

Song Zhi shook his head. “Are you sure you want to go? Turing target is an S rank organism. Our current technology is unable to extract the spinal fluid Zhou Yu left in your body. Your power will be greatly reduced. If you face Dr. Turing like this and he happens to infect you with the virus, he’ll obtain the power of an S rank organism through you.”

These words made Wu Yun, who was at the side, pause. Song Zhi had said that technology-wise, they couldn’t extract Zhou Yu’s spinal fluid from Mo Ye, which meant… Song Zhi wanted to do it?

Then why had he done all of that earlier?

Mo Ye turned to the side and sneered. “I don’t care about death, because I’ve already died. Do you not care for Song Lin at all, Song Zhi? If I don’t go, then after Turing confirms that the first ancestor Ymir has died and cannot be exploited, he will change his target to Song Lin. Why Song Lin has gone to deal with Turing, do you not already know? He’s doing everything for you, even though you’ve thrown him aside. You don’t care what he wants. It used to be like that, it’s still like that, and it always will be like that.”

Song Zhi fell silent for a few seconds before opening his mouth again, “Fine, I agree. But you have to come out of the emergency room, right now. Based on how quickly the last field agent alienized, Zhou Yu will start to change very soon. I will give you two choices. The first choice is to watch him become a lizard monster and keep him in captivity, but you will never have him respond to you again. The second choice is to let him sleep eternally with dignity.”

“Sleep eternally? How would you do that? You going to shoot him?” Wu Yun asked.

Song Zhi replied, “Cryosleep, until the day Juli Corp figures out how to revert lizard monsters back into humans… Or perhaps until researchers voluntarily study it.”

Wu Yun was left speechless. He knew clearly in his heart that Juli Corp would not put their funds there, nor would any researchers be interested in studying it.

Mo Ye lightly touched his forehead to Zhou Yu’s, such an intimate position resembling when he had nestled up to Zhou Yu’s side in his childhood.

“I won’t leave, I’ll stay right here. No matter what Zhou Yu turns into, it won’t hurt me.”

Song Zhi indifferently turned away. “Fine, as you wish. I need to prepare for future operations, but I don’t know when Song Lin will act.”

Mo Ye coldly replied, “Don’t worry, Song Lin and I can interact with each other. When he acts, he will inform me.”

“Thank you.” Song Zhi’s shoulders paused, and he quickly left the scene.

Mo Ye spoke to Wu Yun, who was standing guard outside, “You go outside, too. We both know Zhou Yu, he wouldn’t want you to see him become like that.”

Wu Yun hesitated for a moment and couldn’t help asking, “What are you going to do? Will you kill him?”

“I have my own ways. I will stay with him until the last moment arrives,” Mo Ye answered.

“Alright.” Wu Yun clenched his fists and turned to leave. His footsteps were very heavy.

Each time he had previously walked the edge between life and death, Zhou Yu had managed to break through the cocoon and be reborn. But he knew that this time, Zhou Yu would probably never create another miracle again.

There was finally only Zhou Yu and Mo Ye left in the world.

Mo Ye’s fingers slowly slid across Zhou Yu’s browbone. He said self-mockingly, “You really don’t understand, when you first pressed your hand to the chest I was in, I fell for the sound of your heartbeat. It’s special. It made me choose you, and it made me hatch for you. I can indeed enter your mind to read all of your thoughts, images, and even your choices and decisions. The more I saw, the more I wanted to understand. I was attracted to the world in your mind, and like an addiction, I couldn’t pull myself away… Who was it that said falling in love with an S rank organism was fatal to you humans? It’s clearly the other way around… you’re all so selfish, ugly, and greedy, but I was still attracted to you. Do you know what the true law of survival for S rank organisms is, ever since humans stepped foot into this world? There is only one—do not become fascinated by humans.”

Mo Ye turned sideways to lie down beside Zhou Yu, like a child snuggling into his embrace. He held onto him tightly, but it was a pity that Zhou Yu’s residual body warmth had gradually dissipated and he’d grown cold. Mo Ye rubbed his cheek against Zhou Yu’s body like a child.

“Do you know what my favorite temperature is? 36.5 degrees, your temperature. Do you know what I thought of every night, sleeping in that glass room? Not Wu Yun’s action movies… I want to go to your world, I want to travel with you, and eat the things you’ve eaten. I want to go to the movies, even if I’ll watch it with interest while you sleep beside me. And now, these are all fantasies. Before I could compress my time, you had already used up yours. There are times when I really want to have you enter my mind to take a look, then you would come to understand the real me… You would never doubt me again. You know, before we had language, we could still trust each other, and you were able to understand all of my desires… But after I could speak the language of humans, why were you unable to trust me again?”

It was a sleepless night.

Whether it was Wu Yun, Li Qian, or Han Li, they were all waiting for Zhou Yu to mutate.

But after the entire night passed and the sun rose from the horizon, the first rays of sunshine falling onto the base, Zhou Yu was still lying peacefully in Mo Ye’s embrace, without any change.

Han Li felt like this was strange, and she sent out a request to Song Zhi. “I want to go inside to examine Zhou Yu and draw a blood sample to further do a lab test on it. Maybe he wasn’t infected with the virus in the first place. It’s at least a completely different virus than from the last field agent!”

Song Zhi tapped his finger on the table’s surface. “So you think this was all a joke Dr. Turing played on us? If he only wanted to kill Zhou Yu, he could have used much simpler methods, or even much crueler and visually impactful methods to provoke Mo Ye… there’s no need to make things so complicated.”

Han Li answered, “That’s why I need to go inside and take a blood sample to do lab tests on. We already have a sample of the virus, we only need to conduct a comparison test to know if Zhou Yu was infected with the same virus, and what the differences are between the viruses from the two of them that would allow Zhou Yu to not mutate. Did it only delay the transformation? Or does his constitution differ from the field agent that mutated into the lizard monster?”

Song Zhi nodded, agreeing to Han Li’s request. “Please be careful. I don’t want a single one of us to lose our lives.”

“Don’t worry. You also very much want Zhou Yu to become ‘one of us,’ don’t you?”

“Thank you.”

“This is all I can do.”

But when Han Li walked into the emergency room, Zhou Yu’s body suddenly tensed up. His back arched upwards and his limbs stretched out, convulsing violently as if something was going to burst out from his body!

Han Li was frightened and stepped back, while Mo Ye, who was beside Zhou Yu, pressed down on his shoulders.

He flipped up and sat across Zhou Yu’s waist. Zhou Yu struggled so hard that the entire bed creaked, before finally collapsing with a crash.

Mo Ye pressed his hands to Zhou Yu’s head and suppressed him with his own bodyweight. Mo Ye stared hard at Zhou Yu, then closed his eyes. He tried to enter his thoughts into Zhou Yu’s mind. He thought that he would never communicate with Zhou Yu again, but at this moment, whether Zhou Yu was about to mutate or die, he still had to try and hold onto his thoughts!

When Mo Ye tried to dive into Zhou Yu’s mind, he found that he had jumped into a stretch of water. The splashing sound of the water rang out. Above the water was Zhou Qing’s childish cry.

“Brother, come up! Brother, grab onto me! I’m sorry! Brother, don’t scare me—somebody! Help!”

Then Mo Ye saw that Zhou Yu was already drowning. His ears were gurgling with water and his lungs couldn’t breathe. He struggled desperately but he couldn’t swim above the water.

And this Zhou Yu was different from the one Mo Ye had seen until now.

He looked to be only 13 or 14 years old.

Mo Ye struggled to swim over, but the current was too strong, as if it was refusing him and trying to push him away from here.

“Don’t be afraid, Zhou Yu… I’m coming. Nothing will happen to you! Trust me! Trust me!”

Mo Ye opened his arms, and just like when he saved Zhou Yu at the Angel’s Horn, he hugged Zhou Yu tightly and tried to swim upwards.

Feeling a force supporting himself, the panicked Zhou Yu gave up struggling and opened his eyes.

In the chaos of the water, Zhou Yu met Mo Ye’s obsidian eyes. They were pure and limpid, and there was only himself in those eyes.

There was a certain strength in Mo Ye’s eyes. Even though his lips didn’t move, Zhou Yu could hear what he was saying.

“You only need to do two things in your life, Zhou Yu. First, trust me. Second, live well. Remember them always. “

When Zhou Yu was still thinking about what his words meant, his body was lifted out of the water and oxygen rushed in, expanding his lungs. He coughed hard and gasped for breath. Zhou Qing had a death grip on his wrist as he hauled him ashore.

Zhou Yu looked back and saw that beautiful and elegant face in the light of the water, shining with extraordinary brilliance in the sunlight.

“Wake up, Zhou Yu.”

It seemed like a call from another world.

When he turned back to ask Zhou Qing, who was holding onto him, if he had heard anything, he found that there was no one else on the shore.

“Come to me.”

Zhou Yu looked to the center of the river, but the young man who saved him was also gone.

Where did he go?

All of a sudden, Zhou Yu found that he was the only person left in the world. It was so silent it seemed like he was trapped there.

“Come to me… I’m waiting for you…”

Zhou Yu lowered his head and found that the voice came from the lake. But he had almost drowned just now!

“Stay here, or come with me.”

The voice was very soft and far away, but it inexplicably made Zhou Yu resolute.

He took a big breath of air then jumped back into the water.

It was very bright under the water, as if passing through it would lead to an even vaster place.

And before that light, that young man in white who had just saved him was nearby. He stretched his hand out to Zhou Yu.

This time, Zhou Yu swam towards him bravely, regardless of perils.

Who are you? Where are you taking me?

The moment Zhou Yu reached out to take that young man’s hand, he was drawn in by a powerful force. He passed through the light, then instantly started to fall.

Zhou Yu was frightened. The sudden weightlessness made him want to grab onto something. There was a boom, and then a force seemed to grab him.

The world flipped over, and life and death changed directions.

“Wake up! Zhou Yu!”

At the voice calling him, Zhou Yu opened his eyes. His body was tensed up, and oxygen rushed into him from all directions. Closed cells opened up again, and his stilled blood impatiently started to flow.

Then his vision fell on a sea of obsidian.

He panted hard, tightly holding onto the other person’s hands.

“Zhou Yu… Don’t panic, slow down! Regulate your breathing!”