AGTCTCC Chapter 76
by VolareWu Kun couldn’t hear the “Happy Birthday,” just as he couldn’t hear the “Sorry” that followed.
Wu Xing turned his head, watching the chaos on the other side, without a word.
He still looked indifferent, but occasionally showed a strange, sad expression.
Hill beckoned, calling a human soldier, “Take him away.”
At the operating room door, this time Xiang Li didn’t make a fuss like before. The wound on his wrist had healed, but for some reason, the scab left behind wouldn’t fall off.
Xiang Li stared blankly at the “Operating” light above the operating room door. Time seemed to be filled with sand at this moment, each second passing with agonizing slowness.
Shen Gui, wrapped in bandages, hopped over on one foot, “…”
He’d seen this guy sitting here before going to find Xing Zi Mu, and now that he’s back, the guy is still sitting here.
Sang Quan Shi Li, supporting him, also glanced at the light, and, seeing that Shen Gui showed no sign of leaving, lowered his head and ground his toes into the floor.
Xiang Li: “.”
Shen Gui and Sang Quan Shi Li walked over to him. Although Shen Gui was also worried about Chu Qi, at the rate Xiang Li was going, he might just kick the bucket even before Chu Qi did.
Shen Gui: “Why don’t you go back and get some sleep? I’ll keep watch here, and I’ll tell you if there’s any news.”
Xiang Li shook his head, “I’m fine, I won’t die.”
Of course Shen Gui knew he wouldn’t die. His brain working at lightning speed, he made something up, “In a lot of stories, the main character might suffer temporary amnesia after facing great danger.”
Seeing Xiang Li look over, he gritted his teeth and continued, “What if Chu Qi also has amnesia? If he wakes up and the first thing he sees is you looking so down and out, his first impression definitely won’t be good.”
“You go back and rest. When Chu Qi wakes up, I’ll cover his eyes right away, and make sure the first thing he sees is you.”
Xiang Li knew Shen Gui was talking nonsense, but he also took a good look at himself, and he was indeed a bit of a mess.
He reached out and leaned on the wall, staggering a bit as he stood up, his legs having gone numb from squatting for too long.
Sang Quan Shi Li let go of Shen Gui’s arm and helped Xiang Li, but Xiang Li refused.
He stared at Shen Gui, his eyes clearly saying, “When Chu Qi wakes up, be sure to cover his eyes and tell me immediately.”
Shen Gui nodded, his eyes also telling Xiang Li, “Just go already.”
Xiang Li ran into Yan Zhou Ping when he got home, who looked shocked, “Chu Qi woke up?”
Xiang Li’s eyes flickered slightly when he heard Chu Qi’s name. Realizing what Yan Zhou Ping was saying, he lowered his eyes and shook his head.
Yan Zhou Ping noticed the dark circles under Xiang Li’s eyes and consciously shut his mouth, turning to change Ning Le’s nutrient solution.
Xiang Li threw himself on the bed, not caring about the dust he’d picked up outside, and buried himself in the covers.
He turned his head, his mind blank, and in a haze, watched the faint indicator light flashing on the communicator on his wrist.
Thinking of something, Xiang Li suddenly opened the communicator, his eyes landing on the chat logs between “Chu Qi” and Lin Wu.
Xiang Li’s gaze fell on the virtual blue screen projected in front of him, his fingers slowly sliding across the screen.
[Lin Wu: What was that thing you gave me?]
[Chu Qi: Xiang Li’s genetic chains.]
[Lin Wu: ?]
[Lin Wu: He gave it to you? Is it real? He didn’t trick you, did he? It feels like it’s been forced together.]
[Chu Qi: No, I ran into Wu Xing, he gave it to me.]
Xiang Li was stunned when he saw this message. He looked at the time. It was the day Chu Qi had just woken up.
He ran into Wu Xing? What did they say…
[Chu Qi: He told me that Xiang Li’s body is collapsing bit by bit, and said if I didn’t believe him, I could show this to you.]
Lin Wu had marked several places on the image Chu Qi sent at the beginning, clearly showing that the splicing was inconsistent.
[Lin Wu: If the picture is accurate, then it’s not just this one problem. Isn’t that guy supposed to be immortal?]
[Chu Qi: Not immortal. The situation is complicated. Let’s talk in person.]
A long time later, Xiang Li guessed that this was after they had met in person. Chu Qi sent Lin Wu another message.
[Chu Qi: I want him to live.]
“…”
Silence filled the room. Xiang Li stared blankly at Chu Qi’s last sentence, “I want him to live.”
He couldn’t describe how he felt, only that his throat burned painfully, and only swallowing over and over seemed to alleviate it.
Xiang Li’s fingers tightened, then finally loosened weakly.
Qi Xiao noticed Xiang Li entering from the interrogation room and was surprised for a moment, but quickly adjusted her expression.
She narrowed her eyes, thinking, “Did Captain Chu wake up?”
Or perhaps… Qi Xiao didn’t say it out loud. She noticed Xiang Li’s bad complexion, afraid that saying it would really drive someone insane.
After Xiang Li sat down, he cut to the chase, “What do you know about the experimental results back then?”
As soon as Qi Xiao heard Xiang Li ask this question, she cursed Wu Xing inwardly.
Qi Xiao: “I know everything.”
Chu Qi stared at her without speaking.
Qi Xiao made a request, “I want to see Ning Li An.”
Xiang Li still didn’t say anything. The little snake on his wrist raised its head, hissing, its golden vertical pupils also staring coldly at Qi Xiao.
Qi Xiao: “I can tell you everything. I just want to see Ning Li An. He’s just been ‘reborn’ and hasn’t even recovered his soul yet.”
Xiang Li only thought for two seconds before agreeing, even without directly saying it. After all, he was Number 054, the child Qi Xiao had created, and had raised for 19 years as a child.
Qi Xiao knew that Xiang Li had agreed.
“The experiment back then wasn’t successful. Neither Experimental Subject 053 nor you – Experimental Subject 054.”
Qi Xiao: “Both failed.”
Qi Xiao stared at Xiang Li’s face, as if looking through him, recalling the events of that year.
“This experiment went on for many, many years. Ning Li An was already driven mad by the experiment and refused to accept the result.”
“So even though he knew you were a failure and your genes were completely incompatible with human safety, he still extracted your serum and injected it into other humans.”
Qi Xiao spoke lightly, her expression showing surprise as she spoke.
“After the injections, it was discovered that your genes had an excellent replication and regeneration ability, and could automatically replace some of the gene chains in those experimental subjects.”
Qi Xiao: “This result was obviously very exciting. Ning Li An thought so. He believed he had succeeded and was so insane that he injected your serum into his own body.”
Qi Xiao’s expression changed, “He was my husband. Whatever he wanted to do, even if I knew it was wrong, I would still support him.”
“That day, I was actually prepared to die together with Ning Li An, our whole family, after injecting the serum. I didn’t expect that day—”
“The lab exploded.”
“We didn’t die.”
After she finished speaking, she raised her eyes and stared at Xiang Li, her voice a little dry.
Qi Xiao: “I said it from the beginning, we’re monsters.”
Xiang Li: “.”
Qi Xiao carefully observed Xiang Li’s expression, “Not immortal, it’s just that your gene chains haven’t started to collapse yet.”
“From the moment your five senses started to disappear, I knew that we wouldn’t live for long.”
After hearing these words, Xiang Li stood up abruptly. He placed both hands on the table, took two deep breaths, and looked at Qi Xiao with dark eyes.
Xiang Li: “One hour.”
After saying this, Xiang Li left. Qi Xiao knew he meant that she would see Ning Li An in one hour.
In the past few days in the interrogation room, she had really wanted to see him, but now that she was really going to, a strange emotion rose in her heart.
She collapsed into the chair, staring at the ceiling of the interrogation room.
Xiang Li said a few words to the soldier and went to find Yan Zhou Ping, telling him the situation.
To Xiang Li’s surprise, Yan Zhou Ping just gave a faint “Mm” sound, without any surprise.
Next to him, Ning Le was lying on the bed, her whole body, except for her head, submerged in the nutrient solution.
Zhou Xin Shui showed a very surprised expression, in contrast to Xue Hu Su, who exaggeratedly jumped up from the experimental chair.
Bai Yan and Hill were in the living room, probably not hearing what Xiang Li said, otherwise Bai Yan would probably be like Xue Hu Su.
Xiang Li looked at Yan Zhou Ping, who was looking down and adjusting the reagents, “You knew?”
Yan Zhou Ping didn’t even look up, “Qi Xiao and Ning Li An both wrote about it in their remaining notes.”
Xiang Li: “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Perhaps knowing too much in one day, Xiang Li felt his brain was hurting, his eyes were itchy, and he subconsciously raised his hand to rub them.
When he lowered his hand, he saw the red liquid on his hand.
Xiang Li: “…”
He heard Xue Hu Su’s increasingly weak voice in his ear.
“Damn, Xiang Li! Xiang Li, you…”
When Xiang Li woke up, he was lying on the bed next to Chu Qi. Before he could do anything, everything in front of him went black.
Lin Wu, who was recording data next to him, noticed and breathed a sigh of relief.
Lin Wu: “If you two hadn’t died, I would have died first.”
After Xiang Li saw Lin Wu, he directly asked, “What was that red potion that Chu Qi drank?”
Lin Wu: “…”
He put down the light board in his hand and sighed after a long time, “You found out.”
He continued to ramble, “When I saw Chu Qi’s communicator on your wrist, I guessed it.”
Xiang Li’s gaze fell on the silver-white metal bracelet on his wrist, Chu Qi’s communicator, quietly encircling his entire wrist.
Lin Wu: “That’s the medicine I researched based on your gene chains, that can help all of your genes re-fuse and transform.”
“It’s just that after all, there’s no basis for this, and I don’t know what the result will be, so I can only find someone to experiment…”
Lin Wu still remembered that day when they were discussing it—
After Chu Qi heard what he said, he just lowered his head and was silent for a second, then asked him, “Is it possible to fuse human genes?”
Lin Wu guessed what Chu Qi wanted to do, but after thinking about this question for a while, he honestly replied, “Gene re-fusion and transformation is too illusory. No one knows, I have no confidence at all.”
He didn’t directly refute Chu Qi’s idea, but this also completely rejected Chu Qi’s idea.
Chu Qi stirred the coffee in front of him, the black liquid swirling in the cup with his movements.
Chu Qi: “I want to try.”
This led to the origin of that “I want him to live” message that Chu Qi sent him after the two separated.
Lin Wu said, “Chu Qi brought me a lot of the experimental data from back then. I’ve improved that reagent no less than a hundred times. I don’t even know which version of the reagent Chu Qi took.”
Xiang Li: “…”
Yan Zhou Ping immediately came up from downstairs after receiving the news, and walked to Xiang Li’s bed in a few steps.
He sighed, “I knew it. The reason I said before that I didn’t want you to get too close to Chu Qi was because I didn’t want you to do anything out of control.”
Xiang Li: “You were lying when you said before that you didn’t want me to be with Chu Qi.”
Yan Zhou Ping tucked him in, “Mm, after I learned about this from the notes, I thought about telling everyone, but…
“Seeing how everyone was being tormented, I hoped I could find a way, find a way for everyone to live comfortably.”
Yan Zhou Ping: “I hid a lot from you. I didn’t dare to speak up, I was afraid that everyone wouldn’t want to live anymore.”
“But I want you to live, everyone live. C079 is C079 only when everyone is alive.”
Xiang Li turned his head. Next to him was Chu Qi’s hospital bed. He was wearing a breathing mask, and even the rise and fall of his chest was extremely subtle. One could only judge that this person was indeed alive by the heat on the breathing mask.
Next to him was a floor-to-ceiling window, the curtains were drawn open, and the fluttering snowflakes outside hadn’t stopped yet.
He stared at Chu Qi’s profile for a few seconds, his fingers resting on the back of Yan Zhou Ping’s hand.
Yan Zhou Ping looked up and found Xiang Li looking at him.
“I want to go outside.”
Yan Zhou Ping wanted to say that it was snowing outside, but looking at Xiang Li’s eyes, and thinking about the lies he had always told himself that were for their own good, he didn’t say a word.
He pressed a few buttons next to the hospital bed, and the entire bed slowly rose and folded, eventually turning into a simple “wheelchair.”
Yan Zhou Ping pushed Xiang Li. In fact, Xiang Li could have operated it himself, but the two tacitly didn’t mention it.
Xiang Li looked at the snowflakes falling on his legs, and rarely felt cold.
Yan Zhou Ping stood behind him, and the two watched quietly until Xiang Li spoke to break the silence.
Xiang Li raised his head and looked at the sky. After two seconds, he turned his head to look at Yan Zhou Ping and said softly, “May we grow old together.”
Yan Zhou Ping’s eyelashes trembled, and his eyes were instantly filled with warm liquid, blurring his vision.
At this time, the few people who had been observing in the dark also ran over.
Xue Hu Su: “May we grow old together.”
Ning Le still held on to her little adult persona, in contrast to Zhou Xin Shui next to her.
“May we grow old together.”
Bai Yan in all black was particularly conspicuous in the snowy world. Next to him stood Hill, who was also unusually in all black.
Hill just nodded slightly.
Before Bai Yan could open his mouth to say the next sentence, Xue Hu Su threw a snowball at him.
Xue Hu Su: “Bai Yan is perfect as a snow target.”
Bai Yan clenched his fists, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Sister Xue.”
He and Ning Le exchanged a look.
Ning Le: “.”
Xue Hu Su said “Damn” and ran away, shouting as she ran, “Old Yan, save me! I’m not playing with you anymore!”
Xiang Li just curled the corners of his lips and lowered his eyes. He gently lifted his wrist and lightly placed a kiss on the silver-white metal bracelet on his wrist.
“May we grow old together.”
Lin Wu stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, sighing as he watched the scene below. He turned his head and met the eyes of Chu Qi, who was wide awake.
“Chu Qi!”
In the next second, Lin Wu covered Chu Qi’s eyes.
Chu Qi: “?”
Perhaps because he had just woken up, Chu Qi’s throat was too hoarse to make a sound, but that didn’t prevent him from expressing his doubts.
Lin Wu took a roll of bandages from the head of the bed and wrapped them around Chu Qi, muttering as he wrapped them, “Your guy said that you have to see him first, don’t look at me.”