Cat and Rose - Cat & Rose - Chapter 49 - limitless (2)

Chapter 49 – limitless (2)

The silhouette of the Expeditioner from behind flickered in the horizon like a comet, and when it finally faded, the crowd had unexpectedly gone quiet.

Lin Si turned off his communication bracelet—his vision suddenly blacked out, and the feeling of light dizziness lingered afterwards.

He was under a lot of pressure the past few days, so his body probably developed some condition.

Everything that happened a moment ago was like an illusion. Ling Yi…suddenly left just like that, to somewhere he could not see within the vast universe—somewhere very dangerous.

It happened too quickly and unexpectedly, as if it did not happen at all.

Yet again, Lin Si unfolded the diary page Ling Yi left behind, trying to understand why he would make such a decision.

Why did Ling Yi say he had to leave him?

Even when the crowd had dispersed, he still could not comprehend the reason why.

He did not notice Su Ting arriving beside him, saying, “I hope they return victoriously.”

Lin Si said, “Ling Yi is also on the Expeditioner.”

Su Ting was a little surprised. “I thought he’d follow you.”

“It’s my fault,” said Lin Si. “I didn’t find the chance to tell him I decided to stay behind, and he found out from Area 3. He was very angry last night, gave me an overdose of sleeping spray while I was sleeping, then went to the Colonel himself and boarded the ship.”

“You made him so angry that he ran away?” Su Ting smiled. “Lingling is actually a very assertive kid, so I’d rather trust that he has ideas of his own.”

“Mm-hm,” said Lin Si.

Su Ting went silent for a while, then said, “…he has to come back.”

Lin Si naturally thought the same in his heart.

Before these things ever happened, when he decided to follow the Voyagers, he envisioned many things—discovering strange minerals, samples with great research value, or even achieving their vision of finding a planet suitable for living. But the moment Ling Yi left him, he realised he had only hoped for Ling Yi to come back safely.

When he thought about how the Expeditioners could all end up buried within the endless sea of stars, his mind would go completely blank.

Su Ting looked like she had many worries weighing on her today. When the two were about to separate, she suddenly said, “Shixiong, I found something.”

“What is it?”

Su Ting turned to lead Lin Si into her own laboratory room, then took out a hastily-written list of names from her drawer.

“The people from Area 9 aren’t very welcoming to you, you probably seldom interacted with them…so you definitely didn’t know.” Su Ting handed Lin Si the list. “Since Area 6 is reducing in numbers, I reported to Area 9 yesterday… You know, because of Ye Selin, I’ve always been thinking about what exactly happened that year, and why would the virus spread onto the ship, so I used the opportunity to search Area 9’s retrieval system. Originally, I wanted to find whether there was anything strange with the members of the Wilkins Laboratory, but after I typed in the keyword for virology, I found these people.”

Lin Si intercepted the list. When he saw the first name, he immediately frowned.

“Richard Ranst, I remember him, Harper…” He continued down the list, but after reading a page, he did not read on, and simply placed the sheet onto the table upside down. He became completely wordless, his eyes containing deep weariness.

Su Ting’s complexion also looked terrible. She patted her face several times to refresh herself, then put the list into the paper shredder.

“Ye Selin must’ve been under so much pressure when she was maintaining the laboratory…” she covered her face, her voice sounded like sobs, “but we never noticed, we only thought they couldn’t be contacted….”

Richard was an outstanding scholar from the United Kingdom who stayed in the Berlin laboratory for a period of time, so Lin Si could recognise him. Harper was a virologist; her accomplishments always pioneered the field.

As well as others…who were all reputable and famous people.

Lin Si remembered the names of these people. Back on Earth, Ye Selin had sent emails to them.

At that time, the Berlin virus had spread across almost the entirety of Europe, attacking outwards wildly. This virus was a very strange type, and there were no ways to tackle it. When Ye Selin established the Wilkins Laboratory, she invited the top researchers of virology and genetics to join. Many outstanding people gathered to her side, but there were also many messages that never received replies, like stones that sank into the ocean.

Now, those people who they thought they had lost contact with due to the chaotic situation, or even those who might have died from the virus, had appeared on the Voyager’s list of people in cryogenic sleep.

Perhaps even before they received Ye Selin’s invitation, they had already received the Voyagers’ invitation, boarded the ship early, and entered cryogenic sleep.

After all, the Earth’s environment was terrible. The governments who used giant cities as units were extremely disorderly, such that riding a spaceship to leave Earth had already become a scenario many people dreamed about during their leisure time after meals. Moreover, there was also the virus of such ferocious momentum—almost nobody could reject the Voyagers’ invitation.

Ye Selin must have also received it, but she did not speak of anything. At that time, perhaps she was even scrambling for people against the Voyagers.

The existence of the Voyager had always been a top secret that the majority of people had no idea of. Even Lin Si only knew of it after he received his invitation.

But it turned out, since the virus had just started to spread, or even earlier on, they were already looking for candidates to board the ship and prepared to leave Earth.

Ye Selin stayed until the very end, until the vaccine research was developing at a swift speed and overcoming the virus was a day they could count towards. Only then did she agree to Madam Chen and accept the ship ticket along with Su Ting and several other students.

Those who received the tickets the earliest had been in cryogenic sleep in Area 9 since early on. One day, they would wake up, discover the voyage had gone smoothly, and everything would be restarted. The virus on Earth had undergone mutation, Earth had fallen to its doom, and the Voyagers had truly become the sole spark to rekindle human civilization,26 persisting in their original intention of extending the human race, flying towards a beautiful, peaceful new world full of hope.

Even though the wilted Earth had long been branded as hopeless, even though they needed move outwards to open up a new territory…if the Voyagers did not solicit these outstanding scientists so early on, the vaccine could have progressed even quicker than expected, the virus could subside, and the people left on Earth would not have to die to begin with.

This truth had been buried long ago. They would never know of the Voyagers’ rationality and callousness when they completely gave up on Earth.

Lin Si did not say anything more. He had known of this callousness for a very long time, that now, it was only an added layer of frost upon the snow.

Su Ting had fallen onto the desk, crying and muttering Ye Selin’s name.

Ye Selin was Madam Chen’s close friend. She knew everything, but still held onto that gentleness like the ocean. Even knowing that Earth had been completely forsaken, she still encouraged everyone in the laboratory to continue the vaccine research and save the majority who were living in endless suffering—because her nature was still that of a doctor.

Rather than dying of the virus, one could say that she died from the hands of the Voyagers.

The Voyager—the ship that carried endless hope, yet at the same time, also bore countless debts of blood.

“Shixiong.” Su Ting grabbed Lin Si’s hand. “I don’t want to stay here, I also want to sleep…”

She swallowed harshly a few times, then continued, “But I won’t. I’ll investigate the reason why Ye Selin was infected.”

Lin Si patted her shoulder. She hugged him, weeping profusely.

Perhaps Ye Selin could forgive, but Su Ting could not. Lin Si was the same.

“I’ll hand over my authority to you,” Lin Si told her.

Su Ting wiped her tears, nodding.

Lin Si wanted to tell her that if necessary, she could look to Zheng Shu or Tang Ning for help, but he was struck with second thoughts. The spaceship was currently filled with conspiracies to the point where every person held the suspicion of betrayal. The more people they involved, the more dangerous it would be, hence he only told her, “Make sure to protect yourself.”

“I will.” Su Ting smiled, albeit with difficulty. “The Voyager system will be looking after me. I’m sure Mr Ling will protect me.”

Even though she only said it to console herself, her words certainly made one feel comforted.

The initial Voyager system was programmed by Ling Ning. Ye Selin’s husband, Ling Yi’s father.

Living under the care of this system felt as if their senior was looking after them.

Upon returning to his room, LIn Si discovered it had been rummaged through by someone. He laughed helplessly, then opened the cabinets and drawers to confirm what the kitten had taken away, whether he brought enough supplies, and whether he had left things behind.

The result of the room inspection was that Ling Yi was very thorough when packing up. He did not forget any necessities, and even took away a bag of cat grass seeds and a bottle of perfume Lin Si barely used.

One could see he was very clear-headed at that time. This was a meticulously thought-out departure, not a short-tempered, reckless incident of running away from home.

He had left just like that.

Lin Si looked at the empty room and suddenly felt at a loss.

His bracelet lit up. It was a work message from a subordinate.

He did not want to open it.

The ship was like a giant cemetery. He felt like all these strenuous duties were unrelated to him. Every instant in those silver rooms and corridors felt like torrents that overwhelmed him, rendering him unable to breathe at every moment.

Lin Si’s thoughts floated in mid-air, only feeling a little better after a good while of delay.

It was not a physical condition, but rather still a psychological problem.

He opened his messages and began to reply to them one by one, the feeling once again familiar to him. He had gone back to a few years ago, back when he did not have Ling Yi, when he lived in the shadows of the past each day. Adelaide had dubbed it a “stress response”, and every week would come over to confirm whether Lin Si could function daily like a normal person.

After he began to take care of Ling Yi, this condition miraculously vanished.

The little thing exhibited an exuberant vitality, like a pot of spilled paint, dying the entire world with his lively, yet soft colours. Every time Lin Si listened to his thumping heartbeat, it was as if he had been regranted a new life.

He was very good. One could essentially use every word of excessive praise to describe him, apart from his worrying departure this time.

And after he left, there was nothing he was reluctant to part with on this ship that only made him tired and weary.

Lin Si expressionlessly submitted his cryogenic freezing application.

He was about to sleep for several years, perhaps even longer, until Ling Yi returned, or until the Voyagers encountered difficulties that involved his field—such as if the Berlin Virus reemerged.

By the time Ling Yi came back, he would definitely have grown into an adult.

Lin Si could not imagine what a grown-up Ling Yi was like, and whether or not he would still act cutely to be spoiled with affection, just like his younger self.27

But…because it was cryogenic sleep, no matter how much time truly passed, he would still remain young when he woke up. Whatever the little one would grow to look like in the millions of light years away, he would still be able to handle it no matter what.

*

The author has something to say:

What age gap =w= it’ll go away after a sleep

Yesterday I was absorbed in weiwei, so I did not update. It’s my fault, I will update tomorrow.

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