Cat and Rose - Cat & Rose - Chapter 31 - No Meaning in Anchoring (7)

Chapter 31 – No Meaning in Anchoring (7)

Lin Si intercepted the tools from the assistant, first disinfecting the skin on the back of Ling Yi’s neck.

The dissolving alcohol brought away the skin’s warmth until his nape felt cool. Then Ling Yi felt Lin Si’s fingertip on his skin, pressing down. “Relax, it won’t hurt.”

Ling Yi pursed his lips. Even if Lin Si handled the needle well, he’d still feel it.

Particularly since he was genetically modified, he was extremely sensitive to various touches. Hence, if a needle was jabbed inside him, the feeling would certainly be very intense.

Lin Si found the precise spot, touched the tip of the needle to the skin, then swiftly jabbed it in one go.

The assistant handed over the fastening device. It was a small, silver patch that was used to prevent the probe from detaching, as well as preventing it from completely slipping into the body during vigorous movement and causing accidents.

Lin Si secured the patch and asked Ling Yi, “Does it feel alright?”

“Uh…it’s alright,” said Ling Yi.

Lin Si looked at the little one, whose eyes clearly wrote a plea for comfort. He lowered his head and bumped his forehead against Ling Yi’s. “Good boy.”

Ling Yi squinted like a little kitten that was having its fur brushed, his entire body relaxing.

The Colonel: “…”

Why did he get such rough treatment when he was jabbed before, huh?

When the probes were implanted into the key areas and secured, the Skeleton opened up and wrapped Ling Yi into it.

The mechanic assisted Ling Yi to stand up with a remote control.

“Don’t make large movements for now. Familiarise yourself with the controls first,” said Zheng Shu.

The purpose of the Skeleton’s design was to abandon any complicated systems or controls, directly using the human brain to control this near three-metres tall robot that was built from several thousand components. Those who used it needed to learn how to use their consciousness to conduct these robots, like how they usually conducted their own limbs.

In other words, the probes were like an extension of the human’s neural network, connected to another mechanical body. That way, through this body, the user could do many things that could not be done due to the limits of human biology.

The Colonel’s case where he could not walk stably was a classic example of lacking coordination between limbs. He was unable to achieve the things he could not usually do, and furthermore, even forgot how to do the things he normally knew.

Ling Yi tried to slowly lift his arm.

The mechanical arm reacted in an instant, abruptly and aggressively lifting Ling Yi’s arm up high.

Ling Yi tried a few more times but the result was still the same: the mechanical arm’s speed never slowed.

“You’re actually doing pretty well already,” Svena smiled. “When our Mister Colonel tried to raise his arm for the first time, he couldn’t stop in time and straight-up hit his own head.”

Ling Yi envisioned that scene and could not help but laugh along.

“Don’t control it through controlling your own arm,” said Lin Si. “Control the robot directly.”

—Then how could he control it?

Instead of performing the movements—tell his own brain to make the robot move?

Ling Yi stood in place and pondered for a while. He closed his eyes, tried to forget his own arm, and only thought of his wish to perform that specific action.

The mechanical arm lifted, bringing his own arm with it.

—Not yet. It was still too quick. He would lose control the moment it lifted.

Ling Yi tried again and again.

The mechanics that stood on the side were recording and analysing the data he produced.

Finally, after an unknown number of tries, Ling Yi suddenly felt his arm and the mechanical arm fuse together!

That feeling was like a spark that passed in an instant, where in the next instant it returned to the incongruent feeling between his arm and the machine, but Ling Yi stubbornly carved that sensation into his memory.

He flashed back to that seemingly miraculous fusion, closed his eyes one again, and forgot his arm, forgot himself.

Not long after, he recaptured that sensation!

At this moment, Lin Si, who had been observing the instruments the whole time, also noticed the overlapping of the neuron signal and the mecha’s signal waves.

“Very good,” he said to Ling Yi. “Continue.”

The other Skeletons also began their familiarisation exercises.

Ling Yi caught that familiar feeling several times in a row, and felt it lasted a little longer each time, the longest even lasting for half a second.

He carefully felt every bit of that sensation—it was a very relaxing feeling, where the bounds of his physical body would be broken, his brain would no longer think about the difference between the internal self and the external world, the mechanical Skeleton becoming a part of his body.

But before, this feeling only showed up by coincidence because he repeated the action too many times. How could he actively go into that state?

He needed to relax, relax a lot, trust this robot a lot, just like…

—Just like the times he had been embraced by Lin Si.

If he viewed it in another perspective, this Skeleton was the result of Lin Si’s research. The probes, the method of using probes to deliver neuron signals, were also designed by Lin Si.

Of course he could completely trust them, and furthermore embrace them, like they were a part of his own life…

Ling Yi closed his eyes, like he had been submerged in the warm ocean waters.

His sensations began to reach out infinitely, until he even forgot about his own physical body.

Meanwhile, Lin Si was also looking at the interface, in focus.

The few mechanics had crowded over and were also looking at the interface.

Their mouths were open in shock.

The two waves that oscillated on their own and only met occasionally, at this moment, were gradually moving towards synchronisation.

Ling Yi raised his hand.

The speed and degree of movement were both very normal, like the movement of a normal person.

Afterwards, he carefully folded his joints.

—Then afterwards, he made a testing step forward.

His steps were not the most stable, but at least they would not lose coordination.

He walked shakily towards Lin Si, like a child that was learning its first steps.

Lin Si moved his gaze away from the interface and said, “Be careful.”

Even though he knew the little one could hold his own, he was still afraid he would fall down—and it was not because he was worried about the Skeleton.

It was sort of like the parents on earth who nervously kept watch when their child first learned to walk, afraid their kid would bump into something?

When Lin Si first took in Ling Yi, although Ling Yi did not have any memories, he already knew how to run and jump, and could live on his own. Now, watching those quivering movements, Lin Si considered it as making up for the little things he missed.

Ling Yi walked to Lin Si’s side. Lin Si held out his arm and Ling Yi leaned down slightly, raised his hand to touch Lin Si’s.

The mechanics beside them did not withhold any praise, “Fantastic job.”

“Come out and take a break,” said Lin Si.

Adapting to the Skeletons needed extreme concentration. At first, it was very energy-consuming, so it could not be done for long periods of time—especially for Ling Yi, whose body had not yet finished growing, so he needed to beware to not overexert himself. Lin Si typically let him sleep as much as he could, and now, he would not let him stay in the Skeletons for long periods of time.

He controlled the Skeleton to open up, and jumped down.

It was indeed a little tiring; his temples had a thin layer of sweat stuck to it, but he was excitable and energetic, his face bright red. After he jumped down, he immediately ran to Lin Si’s side and sat down, hugging Lin Si’s shoulder and leaning his entire body on Lin Si.

Lin Si scooped him up to massage his shoulders.

The Colonel also emerged from his Skeleton, giving an envious glance at Ling Yi as he did some stretches to relax his stiff limbs.

“This is what you all have to practice today,” Zheng Shu said to them. “This is the most simple part, and when you’ve become more practised, we can move on to testing the Skeleton’s other functions.”

To treat the Skeleton like a part of one’s own body, and perform basic moves such as walking, running, jumping, were prerequisites to using the Skeleton’s functions, instead of being the primary purpose—the Skeletons were equipped with countless instruments, devices, and even weapons that could be operated in a single flash of the mind.

That meant, your brain not only needed to accept the Skeleton as a part of your body, you still had to learn to control complex functions that the human body does not have knowledge of!

Hearing Zheng Shu’s simple description, the Colonel suddenly became excited.

“Mr Zheng, so you’re saying that”—the Colonel stretched out his arm—“we’ll be able to operate the weapons on the Skeleton completely with our minds? For example, I only need to look at a certain point to attack it?”

“Theoretically, it should be like that,” replied Zheng Shu. “The automatic aiming system will capture your neuron signals and react. When the tests have progressed to that stage, we can go to the ground to practise and you can experience it for yourself.”

The Colonel wore a satisfied expression. Although he could not even walk properly right now, he looked like he could already envision himself wearing a battlesuit, slaughtering in all four directions like Iron Man from the movies.

“Once we solve the issue with materials, all the ‘limitless’ modified bodies can be assigned Skeletons, while selections can be organised for regular soldiers, so perhaps people who are more talented can also use them,” Zheng Shu contemplated. “But currently, the material shortage problem is too big. We didn’t even encounter this problem during our voyage. Speaking of which, it can actually be solved easily by going to other planets to extract materials, but Area 2 hasn’t been doing anything…”

The future was bright for the Skeletons, but if they did not have enough materials to produce it, they could only use them small-scale, and its purpose would suffer heavily.

When Zheng Shu mentioned that, Lin Si thought of a certain matter.

“About that, Madam Chen said the situation was too difficult to explain in one or two sentences, so we arranged a meeting tomorrow afternoon.”

“She might have her own thoughts already.” Zheng Shu nodded.

“Perhaps Madam wants us to finish adjusting the Skeletons so we can use it for the extraction programme, while testing its effects at the same time?”

“Mister Colonel, we only have five Skeleton samples currently, and we cannot produce any more,” Lin Si said coolly. “Do you really think Madam will drag out the extraction programme because of this?

The Colonel: “…”

Zheng Shu said, “Then we can wait a bit more, test the Skeletons first on our side, then start researching the microchips. Has Su Ting stepped into her post yet?”

“Give her a bit more time,” Lin Si said mildly. “I contacted Adelaide so he can give her some counselling.”

Zheng Shu nodded.

After the short break, they restarted the tests and exercises. This was a bidirectional test, where humans needed to work with machines, so the robots could be adjusted and modified according to the test results, allowing more convenient usage.

Hence, the Colonel was very busy, Ling Yi was very busy, and the mechanics were also very busy.

Lin Si became the most idle person in the entire hall.

It had been a long time since he had nothing to do, so at this moment he had no idea what to do.

And so when Ling Yi took another break, he saw Lin Si chatting with Tang Ning.

However, when the two chatted, it was certainly not regarding topics like “what did you eat today”.

Lin Si looked at their conversation curiously and only caught something like “Heisender-Brandner problem”, the rest he was completely at a loss.

“Tang Ning was borrowed by Area 1 for the past few days,” Lin Si explained after he saw Ling Yi’s curiosity. “But he isn’t so familiar with high-energy physics, so he’s asking me about a concept.”

Ling Yi nodded.

“Lin Si is truly an all-rounder.” Zheng Shu grabbed a cup of water for himself and sat on the opposite side. “Back in school, he was just that kind of super legendary person.”

“Tang Ning is much more clever than me,” Lin Si said as he typed. “Zheng-ge, do you still remember that round of IMO?”

“Of course I remember,” Zheng Shu laughed. “Our Dr Lin had never been so depressed.”

Ling Yi tilted his head in curiosity.

“At that time Adelaide was studying in Berlin, Lin Si was at the Berlin laboratory, and coincidentally I also had a programme, so all three of us rented a house together,” Zheng Shu began to recount to Lin Si. “IMO—the top international maths competition on Earth, and that year’s finals were in Berlin. At that time we were considered students so we had a lot of free time, and one of the question writers was Lin Si’s friend who invited him over.”

“And so we went. When the competition started, we also got the questions backstage. This competition was not considered elementary mathematics, but it seldom involved further mathematics, for example combinatorics and number theory. To explain it in simple terms…most of it tested your IQ and method of thinking. I knew some but I couldn’t answer the questions, while Adelaide studied psychology, so he only came for fun and couldn’t even understand the questions. Out of the three of us, only Lin Si answered.” Zheng Shu smiled and squinted his eyes. It was an expression of reminiscence. “There were three questions with a five-hour time limit. I remember Lin Si used more than two, then his friend came and asked, ‘Lin, do you think there’s anyone faster than you?’ Then Lin Si objected and said, ‘how could that be possible?’”

Zheng Shu glanced at Lin Si teasingly. Lin Si’s eyes were also lightly clouded with laughter.

“He’s right. Even if a person did not think and only copied, the calculations and proof would need over two hours at least,” said Zheng Shu.

“Then what happened in the end?” asked Ling Yi.

“In the end,” said Lin Si, touching Ling Yi’s hair very faintly, “Tang Ning was on the British team that year, so then…”

“So he was faster than you?”

“When I finished backstage, he was already sleeping for half an hour up front,” said Lin Si.

“Didn’t you say writing the formulas would still take two hours?”

“He was too lazy to write the process, so he only wrote down three conclusions on the question paper, then went to sleep,” Zheng Shu said. “At that time, Lin Si’s reaction was like he wanted to crack his skull open.”

“It wasn’t only three conclusions,” Lin Si wrapped around Ling Yi as he typed on the keyboard for Tang Ning, while supplementing, “there were a few words at the front that explained—‘it’s observable’.”

“Tang Ning was only twelve at that time,” said Zheng Shu. “When the competition ended, Lin Si blocked his way to ask about his thought process. Then Tang Ning said very calmly, ‘isn’t it very obvious?’”

Geniuses—sometimes they would always appear stranger than the average person.

Lin Si said, “We’ve known each other since then. Tang Ning was only fourteen when he was defrosted, and always followed Zheng-ge around.”

Ling Yi nodded. “Tang Ning told me.”

“He told you about that?” Zheng Shu was a little surprised. “I thought he didn’t acknowledge anyone, much less chat with them.”

“Ling Yi has a good relationship with everyone.” Lin Si flicked Ling Yi’s nose. “Everyday he goes behind my back to play with other people.”

“It’s only because you’re always busy!” Ling Yi hugged his neck, arguing back.

“Alright, it’s my bad.”

Ling Yi whipped his head away to ignore him, but he still hugged Lin Si tightly.

The Colonel looked up from the Snake game he was playing to witness the scene, and made a few “tch” noises.

—How long were they even apart for, before they would buzz off together again.

At the same time, Ling Yi was a little unhappy.

Today, the little one, who grew up being held in everyone’s palms, suddenly heard his two seniors talk about Tang Ning’s legendary stories when he was fourteen, and felt like he was slapped in the face by his life that had never encountered the concept of “another person’s child”.

However, Lin Si definitely liked himself more, and Tang Ning who made Lucia and Vivian, and also helped himself with calculus questions assigned by Lin Si, was truly, truly amazing. When he thought about it like that, he no longer minded.

After they discussed Tang Ning, Zheng Shu recalled the Area 1 SSS programme that took away half their materials in the middle of their research progress. “It seems that Tang Ning was borrowed because of that SSS programme, can you tell what kind of programme it is?”

“If it involves the Heibein problem, it’s probably related to antimatter,” said Lin Si. “If Area 1 really made a discovery on antimatter weapons, I can’t fault them for applying away our designated materials.”

Zheng Shu nodded thoughtfully.

The Colonel, who was very passionate about weapons, perked up. “What is that?”

“What do you get when you add positive numbers and negative numbers?” Lin Si said mildly.

The Colonel’s mathematical ability was not great, but he still knew these things. “…Anything is possible?”

“What about a special situation?”

“Zero.”

The Colonel was very happy, seldom was he able to answer Lin Si’s questions so fluently.

“Around the 50s era during the 20th century, our predecessors grasped a technique that could simulate a Big Bang, which was the prototype of that universe simulator in Area 1. But no matter what, the results simulated would always be wrong,” Lin Si explained to the Colonel and Ling Yi, who both perked up their ears. “This meant we probably lacked a very important parametre, hence we suggested a hypothesis, that in the universe there exists a kind of matter we are unable to detect, which is named antimatter, while everything else we can detect is positive matter. So when the antimatter added inside the simulator surpassed the amount of matter by over 90 times, the model produced a correct result, and thus the universe was born.

“What I’m saying is that the universe is actually filled with antimatter, but all our instruments and naked eye can only see the positive matter. Positive matter is equivalent to the very tip of the universe’s iceberg.”

“That…” A little shaken, the colonel asked, “that…how can that become a weapon?”

“If we can bring antimatter to the real world as weapons, and aim it towards our enemies, or at anything else that must be positive matter, then when matter and antimatter collide, it will end up like positive numbers and negative numbers, where everything will be reduced to nothing.”

“Complete destruction. From matter to energy, nothing is left, which escapes the law of conservation of energy,” Zheng Shu supplemented.

Ling Yi widened his eyes. “Wow.”

“A thermonuclear weapon’s probability of mass-energy conversion is seven percent, while an antimatter weapon is a hundred percent. If one can actually be produced, then Area 5 and Area 6 would both willingly give them their materials,” said Lin Si.

“It’s too difficult, and the bigger issue is that it’s dangerous,” Zheng Shu shook his head. “From extraction to storage, those are still blind spots for the current field of science. Moreover, if there’s a nuclear accident we can still deal with it, but if it’s an antimatter accident, then the entire Voyager will be completely annihilated.”

The Colonel stretched out his joints. “Mechs, we have it. Super weapons, we have it too. You scientists are too energetic. How come I don’t see you guys up to these things during the voyage?”

“At that time, all we pursued was survival.” Lin Si, for once, did not formulate a comeback at the Colonel. “After we’ve gained a home, we’ll use all our might to protect it.”

The Colonel was moved. “Oh doctor, you’re finally speaking the language of humans.”

Lin Si made a half-smile, but did not respond.

The Colonel felt a sense of danger, shrunk back, and ran away to continue practising the Skeletons.

Ling Yi observed Lin Si.

Compared to any moment from before, he knew even more clearly now, that Lin Si was actually a very good, very gentle person.

From the conversation he had with Zheng Shu, they were still very, very young back then. Before they encountered the cruel and incidents that came later on, what were they like?

A Lin Si that would always smile, a Lin Si that was bold and determined, a Lin Si that blocked someone’s way because they answered questions faster than himself.

Ling Yi did not know him, but he knew that the Lin Si back then must have been very good. A kind of good that could not be described with any adjective.

At this moment, Lin Si’s bracelet rang. It was his schedule that reminded him he needed to go see Madam Chen.

“I should go,” he told Zheng Shu.

Zheng Shu said, “Sure, go now.”

“Ling Yi’s had enough practice. He can come again tomorrow.”

Zheng Shu nodded understandingly.

Ling Yi was taken away by Lin Si, and the Colonel who was left behind was suffering as he continued practice enviously.

A child who had parents would always be prioritised due to the affection and love they had—the poor Colonel could never figure out this principle.

“I’m going to Area 1 to find Madam Chen.” Walking in the corridor, Lin Si spoke as he pulled Ling Yi by the hand. “Are you okay with visiting Su Ting with Adelaide? I arranged for her to stay in Betty’s room.”

Betty’s room was right next to Lin Si and Ling Yi’s.

Ling Yi nodded. “I can.”

“Mm-hm. Thanks.”

Ling Yi smiled at Lin Si.

Lin Si rubbed his hair.

After they walked a certain distance and were about to separate on different paths, Ling Yi suddenly said, “Lin Si.”

“Hm?”

“You never finished telling me about what happened on Earth. You were up to the part where you received the Voyager’s message.”

“Yeah…after Ye Selin left for half a day, I received the Voyagers’ message that the virus had broken out on the ship.”

“Then?”

“At that time, our subspace navigation technique was still unstable, so we needed to borrow the magnetic fields created by space’s natural wormholes, and the risk factor for travelling through wormholes was quite high. According to the analysis result, on a particular moment on a particular day, the wormhole activity would be most beneficial to the voyage, and the Voyager must enter the subspace at that specific period of time.”

Ling Yi nodded, still not fully understanding, so he only made a sound of acknowledgement.

“The Voyagers requested me to bring the Wilkins laboratory’s core members with me, as well as all the research results to Area 6, and spend the shortest time possible to overcome the virus.”

“You said before that you were only a bit away from overcoming the virus,” said Ling Yi.

“It was indeed as such. We quickly found a way to attack the third-generation virus.”

Ling Yi suddenly widened his eyes!

Lin Si said flatly, “The Voyager was composed of the most brilliant people, who already made up their minds to leave this resource-exhausted planet that was no longer suitable for civilization’s continuation due to war and disease. The spaceship’s pilot system was completely installed, and needed to enter the wormhole after half an hour. Meanwhile, the virus that could kill everyone had broken out on the ship, and Ye Selin, who I always considered my mother, had been infected too. But the virus was ubiquitous in our homeland, and several billion people were all about to die.”

He looked into Ling Yi’s eyes. “If you were in my shoes back then, what would you choose?”

Ling Yi was stunned.

“I…” He shook his head dazedly. “I wouldn’t be able to choose.”

“But in that situation, you must choose one, you could not waste the virus research time on hesitation,” Lin Si said. “I chose to stay on Earth.”

“That…”

“Indeed I made a choice, but the Voyagers did not give me the authority to choose, so the entirety of the Wilkins laboratory was forced onto the spaceship. All the infected people on the Voyager, led by Ye Selin, walked out of the ship voluntarily, which minimised the speed of the virus spread and bought time for the laboratory to overcome the virus.

“Later, we certainly did create a medicine formula and vaccine. The Berlin virus was a genetic virus that had unexpectedly mutated while researching genetic modification in the Berlin laboratory. I stayed in the Berlin Laboratory for two years before and after it, so the medicine was based on their thought process for a gene repair medication they created before. We could cure the ones who were infected at an early stage, and so the ship was saved.

“But at this moment, the Voyagers connected a call from earth.” A smidge of blood-red emerged in Lin Si’s eyes. He paused, as if he could not speak on. “Not long after we found the way to overcome the third-generation virus, the Berlin virus on earth had gone through its fourth mutation. Its incubation period had shortened, the spread had accelerated, and even animals had begun to be infected. It was impossible for anyone to find a way, so all these years, we tacitly agreed that Earth had been completely destroyed.”

Ling Yi did not know what to say to console Lin Si. He only reached out his hand, gently placed his fingers on Lin Si’s eyes and made movements like he was wiping his tears.

Lin Si did not cry, but Ling Yi knew he was definitely sad.

“I always thought back to that time, when I was researching the virus, if only I had focused harder…stayed up for more nights, maybe I could’ve found a cure. That way, the billions of people on Earth wouldn’t have to die, and neither would Ye Selin. She’d be alive and well, and you wouldn’t have to lose your mother.”

Ye Selin’s silhouette appeared in front of Lin Si’s eyes.

She stood behind the thick glass wall, smiling at him. Her face was pale and lost its rosy hue from the virus, but it did not diminish her gentle aura that was like the vast ocean.

She coughed a few times. The handkerchief she used to cover her mouth was stained with blood.

“Lin, I’ll leave the people on the spaceship to you. I advised all the infected people to leave the ship to give you more time to work,” she smiled. “Don’t be afraid, don’t feel guilty over leaving your comrades behind on Earth. This isn’t your fault, and I will always protect you.”

She looked at Lin Si one last time, then turned to leave.

At that time, Lin Si stared at her gradually fading white silhouette, his face full of tears streaming down.

Ling Yi reached over to hug Lin Si, slowly tightening his arms around him, closing his eyes.

The past was worn down, and language had become pallid to the extent that it had lost its intended power.

After a very long, very long silence, he finally opened his mouth and said, “But we’re getting better. Ye Selin isn’t here, so I’ll protect you on behalf of her.”

Lin Si pinched his face, leaned down, and gently kissed his forehead.

Ling Yi’s ears turned red.

“Later on, many people from the laboratory chose cryogenic freezing and hoped they would never wake up again, because we all felt like we were the ones who caused the deaths of everyone on Earth,” said Lin Si. “And nobody who knows will mention this, because it’s far from honourable. The Voyagers’ purpose was to extend human civilisation, but the price was accelerating the destruction of Earth with our own hands.”

Because they kept silent about the past, the spaceship was filled with various assumptions, misunderstandings, and hatred.

A ship, sailing above the dark, dense reefs, at risk of capsizing anytime. Its internal staff could have conflicts, its crew could split and fight, but its sails must forever be raised up-high, and the ship’s bow must eternally face forward.

Hence, this was a layer of window paper that could not be ripped through. People absolutely needed to believe the Voyagers were noble saviours of the light. That way, they could keep their faith during the hundred years and more of drifting in solitude.

“Do you want to let Su Ting know?” asked Ling Yi.

“There’s no need. She will find herself the most acceptable reason to believe,” said Lin Si.

Ling Yi nodded.

Lin Si looked at the time, saw it was already quite late, and said to Ling Yi, “I should go.”

“Okay,” said Ling Yi. “Come back early tonight.”

Lin Si ruffled his hair. “Mm-hm.”

Madam Chen’s office looked the same as usual. It was very clean and tidy, and the light screen that took up an entire wall was still the same Probability Simulation Model Lin Si had seen the last time he came here.

“Lin,” greeted Madam Chen.

“Good afternoon, Madam.”

After they exchanged simple small-talk, Lin Si sat down at Madam Chen’s desk, and Madam Chen quickly addressed the main topic.

“I called you here because I have a very important issue I’d like your feedback on,” she said.

“Alright,” said Lin Si.

“Over the past month, I really wanted to defrost a few sociologists or economists to help me make a few decisions, because the current situation is very complicated,” Madam Chen’s hands were placed on her desk, her ten fingers interlocked as she pondered, “but the ship originally didn’t have that many specialists of these fields, and some of them died along with Area 4, hence they are scarce resources I don’t want to easily use.”

“What kind of problem is this decision based on?” asked Lin Si.

“I believe we are developing abnormally. Science has made leaps of a thousand miles in a single day, military power has always been growing stronger, but we only have scientists and soldiers. Moreover, no matter how many more people we defrost, we will only produce more scientists and soldiers.”

Lin Si felt these words sounded familiar—it was Betty who had said something similar when she chose to sleep. She came from a family in politics and business, so she always had her own perspective when it came to these things.

So Lin Si asked, “Why do you say so?”

“Because we lack the ability to produce,” said Madam Chen. “The Voyagers provide food, provide materials, then delegate them accordingly. This was our way of living during the voyage. But we’ve already landed, we can live like normal people now—but we were somehow unable to do so.”

She sighed, then continued, “This planet is barren. You cannot plant anything, so there’s no agriculture, no business, no manufacturing industry, and it’s not possible to have these things in the future. That’s why our lifestyle can only continue as before, where all resources are foraged and produced by the Voyagers, then managed and delegated. Only scientific researchers and military officers have value, but they don’t get the corresponding rewards for their work; it is only a hard duty for them. Until one day, all of you have lost your passion, what should we do? Keep living on like machines? I can already see a prototype of a utopian society, but this is not the result we want. Are there not enough dystopian works across humanity’s history already?”

Lin Si frowned when he sought what she truly wanted to convey in between her words. “So you’re saying that you regret allowing the Voyager to land here?”

The madam nodded solemnly.

“I requested the model to calculate us the possibility of long-term survival and continuing the human race, and it gave me a 76 percent result. That’s why we’ve anchored. But a few days ago, I noticed this problem, and requested it to calculate our possibility of passing on, continuing, and further developing human civilization. The result was…only 2.7 percent.”

*

The author has something to say:

Good morning ww I’m sending red packets to all my babies who comment today. Tomorrow I’m opening a sweet, sweet new section~

I forgot to set the time when I saved the chapter again, and only saw it after I woke up…

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