Cat and Rose - Cat & Rose - Chapter 3 - From the Deepest Depths of the Whirlpool (3)

Chapter 3 – From the Deepest Depths of the Whirlpool (3)

A few had already burned through their brain cells back when the little thing was still unconscious. Now that he had awoken, he had once again brought about complete chaos.

Holding new and old grudges at once, Ling Yi refused Lin Si’s reattempt to close their distance.

Furthermore, with a record of dismantling the sleeping cabin with his bare hands, the children were in shivers every time they had to approach him.

In the end, Seth mixed high-concentration glucose syrup into the nutrient fluids, coaxed him for who knows how long, and finally got it down his throat.

After he was full, he became very quiet and well-behaved. He didn’t speak, nor made any other movements, wrapping himself inside the blanket and watching the people in the laboratory come and go.

“He’s observing you all,” concluded Lin Si. “Very clever of him. Let’s raise him like a baby.”

At this moment, Lucia unexpectedly greeted Ling Yi. “Hello, Ling Yi.”

Ling Yi immediately raised his head and looked at the corner of the ceiling.

Holding a form, Lin Si drew a star in the listening column.

The voice design of “Lucia” was very human-friendly, to the point where it almost directly rang in people’s ears. Normal people could not distinguish the source of the sound at all, but this little thing could do it with accuracy in an extremely short period of time.

Lucia continued. “Hello, Ling Yi.”

“Lucia?” asked Lin Si. “Are you teaching him?”

“Yes, Mr Warlock.”

Ling Yi was still gazing at the source of the sound as Lucia repeated herself over and over again. “Hello, Ling Yi.”

Finally, Ling Yi opened his mouth and pronounced the syllables with hesitance.

“Hello” was easy to pronounce without mistakes, hence they were all waiting for his next word. What they did not expect was that Ling Yi didn’t repeat his name, but said, “…Lucia.”

Seth made an exaggerated expression.

Since Ling Yi could recognise Lucia as a name, it meant that he was indeed very smart and could understand human speech—therefore, no matter how his physical structure had changed, he could still be considered a person after all. The level of his threat had plummeted.

But Ling Yi was considered a human being, whereas Lucia was not. No matter how intelligent she was, she wouldn’t coax a child like a mother, and so she could only repeat it mechanically again and again.

“Ling Yi. Welcome to consciousness.”

“This is Area 6 of the ‘Voyager’.”

“It is now 2681 A.D. You have left Earth for one-hundred-and-thirty-seven years.”

Ling Yi looked at her, not quite understanding.

A sensor chip was attached to his skin to monitor his physical condition at all times. The child who was in charge of observing the data let out an “eh” and said, “He has relaxed by a lot.”

Hearing that, another added, “This kind of situation typically happens when the offspring is close to the female. With sharp senses, it actively distances itself from the aggressive individual and approaches the less aggressive individual.”

The few youths quietly casted their eyes on Lin Si in synchrony.

Lin Si was writing in the logbook—what the person in charge of the spacecraft had to do every day, as detailed in the voyage rules and regulations. He was holding a ballpoint pen—a very old-fashioned way of writing, yet many still preferred.

In a white shirt buttoned to the top, he sat with a standard posture of perfect uprightness, and no emotions showed on his face—when he was not smiling, he gave off a neurotic and hypercritical rigour from head to toe.

The youths simultaneously shrank back, looking away and obediently continuing with their tasks. Although Lin Si’s actual age was not much older than theirs, he was much scarier than their mentors.

Time passed amidst Lucia’s mechanical repetitions and Ling Yi’s occasional responses, until a small timer on Lin Si’s desk made a “tick” sound.

He got up from the table and retrieved a syringe.

Seeing him approaching, Ling Yi immediately stiffened, rejection written all over his body.

Without saying a word, Lin Si walked up to Ling Yi and pulled out his wrist.

Before Ling Yi knew what was happening, the needle was pierced into the skin.

—And the syringe was filled with red.

Lin Si swiftly pulled out the needle. Seth retrieved the half-filled tube of blood for testing.

The series of actions were done cleanly in one go, without any typical preparations before drawing blood. There was no bleeding from the needle hole either, only an inconspicuous little red spot.

Ling Yi was stunned.

The next instant, large tears rolled down his eyes. He looked at Lin Si in disbelief, his expression both angry and aggrieved.

Ling Yi looked at him in scrutiny.

Ling Yi cried even harder. Beautiful and still a half-grown boy, a crying face like his was capable of breaking anyone’s hearts.

—Except for Lin Si of course, who simply turned and left.

Watching him exit, Ling Yi trembled in anger and snivelled a few times, his face covered in tears.

Anyone with eyes could tell that this little one bore a grudge against Lin Si—yet also feared him and did not dare retaliate.

They had also figured out Ling Yi’s personality—although mutation brought about astonishing changes to his body, he didn’t understand it himself. That meant that he wouldn’t lose control, displaying that kind of aggressive behaviour back when he had just woken up. Of course, there was still the problem that this child lacked emotions; he would react when Lin Si was close, or when he was with Lucia, but he completely disregarded anyone else—even seeming like a lifeless doll sometimes.

Lucia released her own three-dimensional projection to teach Ling Yi a series of basic knowledge, such as how to open the nutrient fluids, how to walk, and how to put on his clothes.

Her personified image was of a blonde, blue-eyed female knight in white armour that gave forth an air of heroism and holiness. As the only woman on the spaceship, she received widespread liking.

“Goddess Lucia,” Seth said earnestly, “may I take a picture with you?”

Leaning on her big sword, Lucia said with a flat voice, “Insufficient authority.”

Ling Yi came over from the other side and called out “Lucia”. He was not used to walking yet, his steps slightly stiff with a kind of cautious elegance.

Lucia turned and walked to Ling Yi.

Seth dejectedly accepted his position at the bottom of the authority pyramid.

His companion let out a questioning “huh” and said, “I suddenly remembered—for human experiments like Dr Lin’s, the experimental subjects were randomly sampled out of the frozen bodies of the military. How could there be such a young child?”

“Maybe there’d been a shady deal with the ship tickets. It wouldn’t be impossible for the big shots on Earth to send their children on the ship. Not everyone can stick to the rules like Marshal Süss, who could even give up his own wife and child,” replied Seth.

“Shady deals were virtually impossible,” someone said, shaking their head. “It’s not like you don’t know how strict it was at that time—apart from the Marshal and Madam Chen, no one could influence the eligibility to board the ship, and obviously both of them strongly adhered to the rules. I heard that Madam Chen had even decided to give up her ticket because she was sad that Dr Ye Selin could not board the ship. It’s precisely because the quota could not be relaxed that there must be something special about this little cutie here.”

Chatting time was soon over. Since it was clear to them that Ling Yi would not show unexpected aggression, with the help of Lucia, Ling Yi no longer needed several people to care, observe, and record data at once. As such, they proceeded to clean up the mess caused by the black hole emergency as soon as possible: make detailed records for the losses of each laboratory—so that they could apply to Area 2 for resource supplementation after returning to the “Voyager”—and also reinforce and protect undamaged instruments and experiment materials, preventing them from getting tossed around in case it happened again.

As for the three-percent chance of returning to the “Voyager”—although it was low, it was still possible, but after a few days, their situation became more and more pessimistic. Their energy was at emergency levels, there weren’t many nutrient fluids and water left, and the navigation conditions in the black hole were becoming more and more complex. The lines on the force field chart were intersecting uncontrollably—even the slightest mistake would crush them to bits.

On some occasions, Lucia’s 3D projection stood next to Ling Yi one moment, and distorted and shattered the next—it was because the amount of computation required at that moment was so large that it could not run parallel to any other programs.

Lin Si was watching the countdown.

The oxygen generation, temperature control, and gravity systems were all downgraded to the point where they just managed to sustain life. Walking on the ship made one feel dizzy and cold, like one was floating.

After receiving Lucia’s notification, the faltering youths assembled to see Lin Si sitting behind the table in a black coat. A countdown was on the light screen behind him:

29 minutes and 46 seconds until energy was completely exhausted.

Several nutrient fluids were placed on the table. Seth half-drifted over, his eyes devoid of life. “Dinner—our Last Supper. Jesus, we don’t have enough people.”

Lin Si said expressionlessly, “Maria is bringing Judas over.”

Seth turned around and looked at the corridor. “How can he be Judas? He’s obviously a little angel.”

The aforementioned little angel was wearing a white shirt that was a little too big for him. His white and slender ankles were exposed under the rolled-up trousers, looking like a doll.

It was a pity that his face wasn’t wearing a pleasant expression. When he walked alongside Lucia, he stubbornly fixed his eyes on the wall, refusing to spare even a glance at Lin Si.

He was strangely unresponsive to the weightlessness.

Lin Si drew two stars on the form for “physical coordination”.

As Ling Yi also made his way over, the lights in the corridor switched off. Only in this room of the entire spaceship did they remain on, in order to save energy to the greatest extent.

“Everyone has arrived. Then first,” Lin Si said, pushing his silver-rimmed glasses, “we must ask our little friend here—did you pull out the cat grass I had been growing in the beaker?

Ling Yi stayed silent.

“Non-admission is tacit admission,” Lin Si said, then made a “tsk” noise. “Next question—did you pull it out because you wanted to play, or did you want to indirectly get revenge on me?”

Although Ling Yi could already comprehend many sentences, this one still seemed too complex for him.

He only knew that this incredibly loathsome person was playing tricks on him!

“Silence is the second form of admission.” Lin Si half-smiled. “No sugar in your nutrient fluid today.”

This sentence was very simple and easy to comprehend.

Ling Yi was almost angered to tears again.

Lin Si commanded coolly, “Come here.”

Ling Yi looked to Lucia for help, but Lucia could not give any response, and according to the information he got from the past few days of observation, everyone had to obey Lin Si’s order—he had no choice but to go to him reluctantly.

What Lin Si did was beyond his expectations. He did not prick Ling Yi with a needle, nor did he do anything else that made him feel uncomfortable. Instead, he reached out and buttoned the top two buttons of Ling Yi’s shirt.

When his fingertips inadvertently brushed against Ling Yi’s skin, the little thing suddenly shivered.

The ends of Lin Si’s words were tinged with a low, intrigued laugh. “Are you that scared of me?”

Ling Yi turned away, refusing to look at him.

Lin Si looked over at Seth and the others.

The youths understood that Lin Si was trying to ease the atmosphere, with how he had deliberately teased Ling Yi and quipped with Seth on his “Last Supper” joke.

The countdown had reached 23 minutes and 14 seconds.

Lin Si bent his knuckles and knocked them against the table. He said, “If things go as expected, we’ll be dead soon.

“Although everyone here is a firm believer in materialism, I still hope for all your souls to return to your homelands.

“So as to allow everyone to pass happily, I’ll let you add sugar in your nutrient fluids.”

Seth feebly grabbed a tube of nutrient fluid. “Dr Lin, may your soul return to your homeland too.”

The other youths also raised their tubes of nutrient fluids. “May our souls return to our homelands.”

There was only one left on the table.

Ling Yi did not fully grasp what was happening. He only knew that the remaining tube would certainly be taken by that loathsome Lin Si.

As expected, Lin Si took it, only to say in a flat tone, “I’ll pass.”

He handed the nutrient fluid to Ling Yi. “It’s sweet.”

Ling Yi held the cool tube in his palm, feeling slightly at a loss.

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