Cat and Rose - Cat & Rose - Chapter 56 - Reappearing Yesterdays (5)

Chapter 56 – Reappearing Yesterdays (5)

After Ling Yi collapsed and no calls prompted a reply from him, the person in charge of the master control tower understood the gravity of the situation, immediately messaging Madam Chen again.

It had been nearly eight years since the Expeditioner left. The people originally thought they finally returned safe, and did not think this kind of serious incident would happen. Currently, the Lucia system was forcibly shut down, so the Voyagers had no way of contacting the Expeditioner. The information Ling Yi revealed in the video call was also limited, so this side did not know about the situation in detail, and did not know what appropriate measure they should take.

The person in charge wiped the sweat that clung to the side of their forehead. His eyes grazed past the other end of the screen, and discovered that the Expeditioner had already sent its voyage log three minutes ago—it must have been sent by the person who was speaking to him, relieving their issue of extreme urgency.

He forwarded the voyage log, and then opened the document and read from back to front.

Madam Chen and the Marshal were the same; at a glance, both their expressions were incredibly grave.

Lucia’s malfunction not only appeared strange, but also full of malicious intent and needed to be dealt with. Finding a perfectly habitable planet in all aspects was certainly a great blessing from the heavens, yet on the planet was a strong, unknown virus—they could not help but recall the days when the Berlin virus wreaked havoc on Earth.

The past was unbearable to recall, nobody was willing to experience it one more time. However, these two leaders of the spaceship thought the same as the Colonel—they absolutely could not give up on this planet.

To not give up on this planet, meant that they had decided to battle against the virus.

This mission naturally fell in the hands of Area 6. As for who called the shots—of course, it would be Lin Si, as he used to lead the Wilkins Laboratory to finish the vaccine production for the third generation Berlin virus. Everyone knew this mission, whether emotionally or logically, could not be handed to anyone else.

The Voyagers’ work efficiency was very quick; Lin Si’s defrost order was immediately implemented.

Before undergoing cryogenic freezing, every person needed to write an application form in person. One item on the application form was an attribution of authority for defrosting, which Lin Si wrote down as Ling Yi. That meant, if one day he had been defrosted, then it meant two things: Ling Yi’s return, or the Voyagers encountered a critical situation that needed him.

Inside the freezing cabin, the temperature slowly rose according to the preset curve. The freezing solution was extracted, body fluids were injected. The entire process was very long; after five hours, Lin Si’s body gradually rose to normal temperature, his consciousness gradually becoming clearer.

“Shixiong.” Su Ting watched over him. Seeing he had awoken, she called his name.

Eight years could allow a young girl to grow into a matured woman, Su Ting was no exception. Compared to before Lin Si slept, she was now much more steady and graceful.

But the situation at this moment did not allow for a long and extensive reunion. When Lin Si opened his eyes, he was still in a dizzy condition, so he used his willpower to force his senses to return to normal. After Su Ting helped him up, he surveyed his surroundings outside his cabin and only saw Su Ting and a few of his subordinates from before. Ling Yi was unseen.

His expression seemed to turn cold. He asked, “What happened?”

“You slept for eight years. This time we have a very urgent situation,” said Su Ting.

Eight years.

Still within the predicted duration of the Expeditioner’s voyage.

Lin Si let out a relieved breath. Before he went to sleep, he imagined the various situations he would face when he woke up again, such as Ling Yi returning, or if he did not return. Or, over ten years or even decades had passed when he woke up, and Ling Yi still had not returned, because he had been buried in the sea of stars along with the Expeditioner at some point in time Lin Si did not know.

Only eight years passed. There was still hope.

But he still asked, “Did the Expeditioner come back?”

“It’s precisely because of this…” As Su Ting spoke, Madam Chen arrived in person.

“Lin, you’re awake.” She strode over in quick steps. “I sent the documents to you, look at them.”

Lin Si opened up his bracelet and received the document. When he saw it was the Expeditioner’s voyage log, his eyes grew slightly cold. The further down he looked, the lower the air pressure around him felt, it was almost terrifying.

After reading the most crucial part, he pressed at the centre of his brows to compose himself.

Madam looked at him. “Marshal and I have decided to hand this over to you.”

“I have two requests,” he said. “Defrost all members of the Wilkins Laboratory, and reinstate phase three of the ‘limitless’ project.”

“I can understand ‘limitless’ phase three,” said Madam. “But the Wilkins Laboratory…you know their condition.”

“I can choose to forget the past. So can they,” said Lin Si. “They are the best choice of people.”

A layperson was a layperson after all. They only knew the situation was urgent, while professionals like Lin Si or Su Ting could determine the danger levels of the virus and its approximate type based on the description in the voyage log.

The Wilkins Laboratory was the most elite team in combating this type of virus; they were familiar with each other, and were richly experienced. The three hundred lives on the Expeditioner were slowly flowing away and even an instant could not be delayed. They were the only ones who were most likely to find a solution and do it as quickly as possible, rather than a temporarily-formed team of other outstanding scholars.

Even though…the laboratory did not take the same stance as the Voyagers, and some even loathed them.

They were forcibly brought away by the Voyagers when they were at the last stages of overcoming the Berlin virus, leaving Earth behind. Then the research continued, the virus on the Voyager was eliminated, but the vaccine could no longer be delivered to Earth.

Subsequently, the virus mutated four times, and Earth succumbed.

The Voyager carried the blood debts of four billion people on its back.

As such, Madam Chen contemplated for a good while, then finally, slowly nodded her head.

In addition to the Wilkins laboratory, there were other personnel too, most of whom were outstanding young talents in the field—not lacking in those Wilkins tried so hard to find back then to no avail, as they had already been recruited by the Voyagers when the virus broke out early on.

At the start, how difficult it was for Ye Selin to establish the entire laboratory amidst the period of turmoil, but today, to regroup the Wilkins Laboratory, they only needed to select people from a long list and press ‘confirm’.

After the defrost process was completed, Madam Chen evaded and left them alone.

Apart from witnesses who were there, nobody else knew what Lin Si said, and nobody else knew what happened in that room. They only knew that after that day, work proceeded at a hurried pace.

The valuable and cutting-edge equipment in the warehouse that could be easily disabled, whether large or small, were all transferred onto a small spacecraft. Even Area 2 was alarmed by this action, raising their ears to pay attention to the situation, as they feared their particle accelerator collider would be scavenged away as well.

***

“You shouldn’t go there so soon,” said Su Ting. “It’s too early…we still don’t know how contagious the virus is, even though the protection equipment is comprehensive—”

“Ling Yi is inside,” Lin Si interrupted her. “he lost consciousness eleven hours ago, and we’re still unable to contact him now.”

Lin Si paused, suppressing his voice. “He stayed on the Expeditioner for three years by himself.”

The little one who was so delicate, pretty, and would cry even if he felt a single bit of grievance, who Lin Si had watched grow up little by little—Lin Si could not imagine just how much he had to suffer in order to come back.

It was not as simple as staying on the ship…with that level of viral infection, Ling Yi had forced himself to hold on for three years.

Su Ting understood this feeling from experience, so she pursed her lips. “Alright, just pay attention and take care. I’ll organise ‘limitless’ phase three here.”

“Okay,” said Lin Si.

He led the first batch of fourteen people to leave the Voyager, commencing work at the Level Five biological laboratory that was built in deep space near the Expeditioner.

Comparing this group to the soldiers on the Expeditioner, the difference was sky-high. They had overcome Ebola and did not fear the Berlin virus, hence naturally, they also ensured the best protective measures were taken, and would not end up like the Expeditioner where almost nobody was spared. As they did not know the specifics of the situation, they decided to temporarily name the virus “Purple virus”, according to the descriptions in the voyage log.

Fume hoods, pressure chambers, independent oxygen supply systems, fully-sealed protective clothing, strong ultraviolet rays…To speak figuratively, the Expeditioners tried to fight the Purple virus like a man in a raincoat attempting to resist floodwater, while the Wilkins Laboratory rode a submarine—not to mention, they were additionally equipped with a wealth of theoretical knowledge.

“Full-body haemorrhage…I suspect it’s a panphagic virus,” said a woman, flipping through the voyage log.32

“Highly contagious, short illness duration, I think there’s a large chance it’s a filovirus,” her colleague said.

“It’s a devil akin to the Berlin virus,” said a voice.

At the mention of the Berlin virus, the atmosphere of the entire mini spacecraft immediately grew heavy, until someone opened their mouth to break the stalemate: “Lin, what do you think?”

“I lean towards gene virus,” said Lin Si. “The voyage log we received was not automatically generated by the spaceship’s intelligence system. It was recorded manually.”

“Impossible,” said the woman who spoke at the start. “Who would be able to live through three years under this virus?”

“He’s an experimental product of the ‘limitless’ project, who obtained a very unusual mutation from black hole radiation.” Lin Si deliberately withheld Ling Yi’s identity. It was not appropriate to mention Ye Selin right now, as it would lead to their emotions spiralling out of control.

“His DNA was granted some kind of active nature, always slowly changing towards a beneficial direction…there were two hundred people who went through the ‘limitless’ body modification, but their illness onset was only extended a bit more than the normal person, only he had lived through three years. That’s why I lean towards the purple virus being a gene virus, otherwise, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“My god.” She shook her head in disbelief. “Three years of being infected by a panphagic virus or a gene virus …nobody can withstand that kind of pain. Did he not end up breaking down?”

Lin Si did not speak. He looked scarily quiet, but in reality, he was not.

Very evidently, the purple virus would attack every cell, breaking and fragmenting them, dissolving all organs and tissues in the entire body into turbid blood. Even having it occur to a stranger made that woman cry out in alarm, not to mention it was his…Ling Yi that was so close to him.

There were things that were completely beyond belief. Regarding the ties and impediments that wore a person down over the years, the pain experienced from that would multiply by a hundred times when transmitted to the heart of another.

The spacecraft hovered over the Expeditioner’s cabin door; they entered inside, fully geared-up. This time, their main purpose was to collect virus samples, take away Lucia’s problematic core hardware, then install the Vivian system provided by Area 5, allowing the Expeditioner to recover to normal operation.

The moment they entered the master control room, Lin Si saw Ling Yi, who had fainted on the ground. He stepped forward quickly.

Fortunately, he was still breathing.

His body temperature was extremely low, his breathing was weak, eyes tightly shut, one could barely make out his vital signs.

Lin Si propped up his upper body. Ling Yi did not react; like a little dead kitten, he flopped against Lin Si’s chest softly.

The time that stopped on Lin Si’s body had passed for eight years on Ling Yi’s. He was no longer a child; his eyes and brows remained just as delicate and beautiful as before, but he had grown taller, and could not be carried anymore. But the price paid for that was too much, to an unbearable level. At least for Lin Si it was as such.

If he knew this would happen, he would rather have stuffed Ling Yi into the freezing cabin to sleep for eight years with him.

The look in Lin Si’s eyes changed several times, then finally it calmed down, transforming into a familiar expression in the eyes of people who knew him—an extremely dangerous look that resembled a smile, yet was not a smile.

“I’ll settle things with you when you’re awake.” 33

*

The author has something to say:

Settling things is impossible. When the frail meow calls out softly after waking up, Dr Lin’s heart is going to completely melt =w=

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