Chapter 41 - " Have You Heard of The Fusion Faction?"
"Hubbard," Tang Lan repeated the name in a mutter. "He..."
He seemed to have lost his ability to speak. It wasn'tuntil after more than ten seconds had passed that he spokeup again, and his voice was a little hoarse when he asked, "... Is he doing well?"
An Zhe recalled the visuals concerning Hubbard.
The insect swarms had been wreaking havoc in the Outer City. When District 6 was bombed, Hubbard had been on a mission outside of the city, which was a very brilliant move. He had not only avoided the devastation ofthe Outer City, but also avoided being arrested by Lu Feng under the charge of "illegally stealing the Arbiter's information." Afterward, he safely returned with his teamand was welcomed by the Main City. And after that, this renowned mercenary team captain had still run into Lu Feng. Together, he and Colonel Lu had boarded the PL1109 to go rescue the Underground City Base. While in the mine, he and Lu Feng had occasionally chatted. According to Lu Feng, Hubbard and Lu Feng had completed the rescue mission and safely returned together.
He said, "He's doing very well."
Tang Lan dropped his gaze slightly and seemed to smile for a moment. He did not ask anything else and only said,
"That's good."
An Zhe looked at Tang Lan.
The first time he learned of this person was in Mr. Shaw's shop, where he saw a mannequin so exquisitelymade that it bordered on the real deal. Mr. Shaw had said that that was something Hubbard spent more than half of his life's savings to order—Hubbard was the most renowned mercenary team captain in the whole Outer City, and this man was his vice-captain with whom he shared a sworn friendship. After an expedition, he had never returned, and not even his body had been found.
Next to the mannequin had been labels marked with various bits of data, and the first one was his name, Tang Lan.
But now the living Tang Lan was standing before An Zhe and completely unharmed, like he hadn't been injured in the slightest—surprisingly, he had survived in this dangerridden Abyss and was living quite well to boot.
"You survived," An Zhe said. "You won't go back?"
A hint of a helpless smile showed in Tang Lan's eyes.
"I can't go back," he said.
As he spoke, he buried the marked rock in his hand in the soil.
"I have a map, so going back is possible," An Zhe said.
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"... Do you need it?"
"I don't," Tang Lan said. "You aren't human, are you?"
An Zhe was at a loss for words.
Then he saw Tang Lan smile, take out a gleaming dagger, and carve an arrow onto the nearby tree branch. As he carved, he asked, "Do you know what I'm doing?"
"I don't," An Zhe said.
"After being infected, the vast majority of people unfortunately turn completely into monsters. But there's also a minuscule number of people who are rather lucky. Sometimes, they'll still seem like a human," Tang Lan said.
"I'm guiding those lucky ones—I was originally guided in this manner."
An Zhe said nothing. He found that he had a special gift, which was the ability to recognize when a person wanted to tell a story.
However, Tang Lan's story was very short.
"That day, Hubbard and I got into a little spat. He wanted to continue going deeper, while I felt it was time to go back. In short, it was very unpleasant. That night, I didn't see him again and kept the night watch in another vehicle according to the rules."
"The Abyss has all sorts of things. At midnight, a powerful monster found us. I'd never seen something so dangerous before." Tang Lan finished carving the mark and put away his dagger. His voice was as clear and crisp as the person himself. "I warned them, then led the thing away in a different direction. Afterward, I died, and it must have been a very miserable death."
"But somehow, I seemed to have woken up again and also changed into something very strong. I merged with themonster, but I'm still lucid." Toying with the dagger, he asked An Zhe, "What about you?"
An Zhe thought about how to word it.
Just then, Tang Lan whipped his head around, and hisgaze shot like a sharp arrow into the middle of the jungle— where rustling noises were coming from.
He said in a low voice to An Zhe, "Go!"
The moment he said that, a massive black shadow sprang out of the jungle!
An Zhe's arm was grabbed, and Tang Lan slung An Zhe over his shoulders with unhesitating strength. Then there came the loud sound of the air being rent as a pair of massive filmy black wings unfolded from his back!
An Zhe suddenly left the ground. Behind them, the
mountain-like monster's claws swiped down, but the ghostly speed at which Tang Lan took flight was faster, leaving the jungle almost instantly.
An Zhe looked down. Everything on the ground got farther and smaller as they rose, and the tall mountains in the south got closer.
Amidst the oncoming wind, he asked Tang Lan, "Where are we going?"
The wind in the sky was getting stronger and stronger, dispersing his voice. In a loud voice, Tang Lan asked him a question.
"Have you heard of the Fusion Faction?"
Having spoken those words, he soared higher with An Zhe and gradually approached the peak of the highest mountain. As they approached the sky, that stretch of the highlands was dyed reddish gold by the sunset, and white buildings at the top of the highlands gradually emerged where the sky met the summits.
What initially caught An Zhe's eye were two smoothlooking cylindrical white towers, between which was a path linking them. Between the two white towers was the building's main body. It was an oval-shaped three-story building, and on either side of it were auxiliary buildings and other scattered constructs. The open space in front of the main building was dotted with all kinds of strange apparatuses, and behind the building was a piece of flat ground where more than a dozen tall wind turbines stood. The snow-white three-bladed turbines were spinning quickly in the howling wind.
A massive deep green vine that was split into more than a dozen strands surrounded the entire group of buildings, and its branches were draped over the fencing and white towers. When Tang Lan and An Zhe landed, a vine slithered over to them, sniffed them both, then left.
The massive black wings on Tang Lan's back gradually retracted into his body—while they were being retracted, Tang Lan trembled slightly and clenched his fists, a slightly pained expression on his face. An Zhe watched him without blinking until he opened his eyes again.
When their eyes first met, Tang Lan's eyes were completely jet-black, which was an inhuman look, but fortunately he recovered in three seconds.
"The transformation process is a bit messy and not very pleasant," Tang Lan said, "but I'm already very lucky.
"He looked at the vine. "This fellow can't become human again."
An Zhe looked at the vine. "Does it have a human consciousness?"
"Somewhat." Tang Lan started walking, and An Zhe followed him. The strong winds on the mountaintop blewup their clothes, and they gradually approached the slightly old-looking white building in the very center.
Six o'clock in the evening was when twilight was the thickest.
In the southwestern part of the sky, clouds billowed. The huge red sun burned as it sank, its reddish-gold light illuminating the wide-open front door where a figure was standing in the very middle.
An Zhe actually couldn't really distinguish humans' ages. He only knew that that person was at least like Mr. Shaw, around sixty or seventy years old by human reckoning. But by no means did he show any sign of a stooped posture due to his age. Once they got closer, An Zhe saw that he was wearing a stiff black suit with a meticulously tied bow tie beneath the silver-gray shirt collar and that his snow-whitehair was neatly combed back. Upon that face, which seemed all the more composed and kindly due to the passage of time, was a pair of gentle gray-blue eyes.
Those eyes gave An Zhe the impression that he had already seen all of the world's disturbances and changes.
"Sir." Standing before him, Tang Lan said in a very respectful tone, "I've brought back a new member."
That person looked at An Zhe with a smile. Those grayblue eyes made people feel close in spite of themselves. An Zhe tilted his head back to look at him, and he held out his right hand to An Zhe.
After a brief hesitation, An Zhe shook hands with him in a slightly awkward manner. The other party's palm was warm and dry, and his handshake was gentle yet strong.
"Welcome to the Highland Research Institute. We've taken the liberty of calling ourselves humankind's fifth base," that person said. "I am Pauli Jones."
"You may call me Pauli or Jones, either way is fine," Pauli Jones said. With polite words, an amiable tone of voice, and gray-blue eyes that were like a gentle ocean, he was the type of best elder from humankind's stories.
An Zhe gave his own name.
"You're very young. Are you from the Northern Base?" Pauli Jones said.
An Zhe nodded.
"How did you become what you are now?"
Pauli Jones asked as he took An Zhe step by step into the white building.
The floor was very smooth, obviously well cared for. Tang Lan stepped forth and held out an arm to help Pauli, but the latter waved his hand.
"I..." There was a fluctuation in An Zhe's field of vision, and he slowly looked around.
Inside the white building was a spacious main hall. It had three floors altogether, but the middle portion of the three floors were not divided into separate floors like ordinary buildings, but connected instead. A spiral staircase wound its way up the floors. From the main hall, one could look up and directly see the translucent dome.
Currently, on the railings of the second and third floors, some creatures were slowly gathering and silently looking at him from above, their gazes curious.
Altogether, the creatures numbered around forty. Most of them had human characteristics, or in other words they could be considered human-shaped—amongst them, onethird had appearances identical to humans, and one-third had the characteristics of other creatures on top of a human foundation, such as a gentleman on the second floor whose face was covered with dark gray down or someone on the third floor whose hair was like tiny curled vines that were subtly wriggling. As for the remaining one-third, they were entirely like the monsters outside or some grotesque things, such as the mass of rotting meat hanging from the second-floor railing.
"They won't hurt you," Pauli Jones said. "If someone amongst them loses their will, loses control and goes mad, the others will control them."
The facts were as he had described them. An Zhe met the eyes of those changed humans, which were indeed not the unfeeling eyes particular to beasts. He could see the meanings within them—curiosity or examination, devoid of any malice.
"We're all infected individuals, or xenogenics, but fortunately we've retained a portion of our wills. Mr. Pauli brought us together." Tang Lan patted his shoulder. "We'll strive to keep from killing each other, then confront the monsters outside together. There's no Trial Court here either, so you can settle in without any worries."
Pauli Jones softly coughed, then said, "There is no hierarchy among the research institute's members. We look after each other, and the strong protect the weak. Welcome to our home."
An Zhe slowly retracted his gaze.
"Thank you," he murmured.
Tang Lan asked him how he became a xenogenic.
After hesitating for a while, An Zhe said, "I went out with my friend's mercenary team..."
This was a place where xenogenics lived together, he knew. But he was still different from the people here. They were humans who had been infected by monsters, whereas he himself was originally a mushroom. He had no choice but to hide his true identity. So he spoke of An Ze's life, coming to the wilderness, getting hurt, and then—
"After I woke up, I became like this." Combined with Tang Lan's story, he made up this falsehood.
"Do you have any places that differ from humans?"
"No."
"Then what you've obtained ought to be some kind of complete polymorphic mutation." Pauli gently examined him, then asked, "Do you know what you're fused with? Or can you control your transformation?"
An Zhe thought for a while, then still shook his head in the end.
"This isn't common," Pauli said. "How did you survive in the Abyss?"
An Zhe answered truthfully, "Nothing attacked me."
Pauli went silent for a moment. Just as An Zhe assumed he was about to be given a hard time, he said, "That can also be explained."
An Zhe asked, "Why?"
"The creatures in the Abyss, along with some other powerful species, seem to have another kind of sense. Sometimes they judge other monsters' racial affiliations, but not through appearance. A strong polymorphic monster may change itself into a mouse, but other monsters can still sense its tremendous attack power and will stay far away."
After a pause, Pauli Jones continued. "If they truly had no interest in you, this proves that you either fused with some kind of powerful gene or that you aren't part of their diet."
He said, "You're very special."
An Zhe murmured, "I don't know about that."
He truly did not know. The mushrooms in the Abyss were just as dangerous as the animals in the Abyss. They were either highly toxic or their bodies were suffused with hallucinogenic mists that could make animals go mad. The emergence of a weak and harmless mushroom like him in the jungle of poisonous mushrooms was already a kind of miracle—and he even had his own independent consciousness.
Pauli said, "The mutation circumstances of every research institute member is different. If you're willing, I may do some research on you. I won't utilize any experimentation methods that will harm you."
An Zhe agreed to it. There wasn't much he couldn't agree to.
Then, Pauli Jones asked him some more questions. Rather than asking further about the process of his mutation, he asked how he had lived in the wilderness, whether he had suffered, if there were any animals he was afraid of, and if he had any new behaviors after his genes changed—he seemed to purely show concern for him as an elder. But after An Zhe got a clear understanding of his own non-human identity, he was still fearful of human researchers. Afraid to get on good terms with Pauli, he just truthfully answered each question one at a time.
He also got a preliminary understanding of the research institute's status. The first floor of the research institute was the main hall, laboratory, and instruments room, the second floor was inhabited by humans with animal mutations, and the third floor was inhabited by vegetals. Each person had their own work to do. Some helped Mr. Pauli record experiment data, some maintained the facilities, some grew potatoes in the patch of land out back, and some were in charge of hunting trips—these people were infected by those extremely fierce monsters and possessed formidable strength, such as Tang Lan. In addition to hunting, they would also put down guideposts everywhere. Apart from humans, no other creatures could read the guideposts. The directions on the guideposts indicated the way home for the xenogenics wandering around outside. The scope of the guidepost placements was not limited to the Abyss alone.
Tang Lan had said that this place was connected to the Fusion Faction, but the people here were not the results of deliberate fusion, but rather xenogenics who had beenkilled in the wilderness and luckily retained human consciousness and then followed the guideposts to theresearch institute—a one-in-ten-thousand chance, the doctor had said.
The addition of new members was something to celebrate. The research institute specially prepared a welcome banquet for An Zhe, and the main dish was a soup of potato and cured meat, cooked by a short male tree xenogenic.
"Do you like potato soup?" The man scooped a serving of soup and handed it to An Zhe. His voice was slightlyhoarse, resembling the sound of coarse bark rubbing together.
An Zhe held the bowl of steaming soup in his hands. He blew on it, and warm white vapor covered his face.
"I do," he said. "Thank you."
"Then I'll make it tomorrow as well." The man looked at him. "How old are you?"
An Zhe said, "Nineteen."
"Then you should call me 'uncle.' My son is about your age, and he lives in District 7. Where did you live?"
An Zhe said, "District 6."
The man said, "I haven't seen him in five years. His name is Bai Ye. Do you know him?"
An Zhe gently shook his head.
"I hope he's living a better life."
Their conversation stopped there.
At mealtime, the people of the research institute sat down in a circle, the seating arrangement disregardingrank. Pauli Jones sat in the middle, and everyone acted very familiar with him.
They acted equally familiar toward An Zhe. In the span of a single meal, at least ten people took the initiative totalk to An Zhe. Amongst them, some were mercenaries of the Outer City and some were soldiers from the base. They were either curious about his mutation process or asked about the base's current situation or asked if he had met their erstwhile family or friends. An Zhe did not tell them the fact that the Outer City had been abandoned, only replied with "I haven't met them" or "I don't know them." He felt a sort of listlessness. It was still a complete lack of news, but this type of answer seemed more capable of comforting humans' hearts than the real answer.
After the meal ended, Tang Lan took An Zhe to an empty room.
A feathered youth delivered a quilt to the room.
"It was dried in the sun just yesterday." He helped make the bed of his own volition. "It's cold at night, so remember to close the window."
"Thank you," An Zhe said. Just like the uncle who served him food today, this young boy's kindness made him feel both grateful and a little bewildered.
After making the bed, the boy took out a bright red fruit from his clothes and smiled. "For you to eat."
After saying that, he also took out a portion of dried meat that had been wrapped up. "This is from everyone to you."
An Zhe accepted it. The dried meat was very heavy. He didn't know what the living standards at the research institute were like, but in this age, no matter where, so much dried meat was very precious.
"Thank you," he said. "It's too much, I can't finish it."
"Take your time eating." Tang Lan, who was standing behind him, seemed to smile as he reached out to straighten An Zhe's shirt collar.
"We give gifts to all newcomers. I found this place a year ago, and everyone was very good to me too," the young boy said. "Being a xenogenic in the wilderness is too hard. You have to avoid monsters and find things to eat on your own. You remember that you're human, and you miss home but don't dare to return to the base. Once you come to the research institute, everything's fine." As he spoke, he smiled at An Zhe.
An Zhe returned the smile.
The room had no wind and was very warm, and the tube light on the ceiling shone with a penetrating glow. As An Zhe held the dried meat, he recalled the month he had spent trudging through the Abyss's jungles and bogs. Unexpectedly, it was like a dream.
"Don't cry," the boy said. "In the future you'll have a home."
His tone was so certain and warm, it was like he had a boundless attachment to this research institute.
This was something An Zhe had never seen in the human base before.
He asked, "Has this place always been like this?"
"Huh?" The boy was stunned at first, but then he understood. With a smile, he said, "You'll get used to it soon."
But the moment he said that, he abruptly froze.
A keen howl suddenly came from the corridor.
Then came the sound of objects shattering.
Tang Lan furrowed his brows and strode out.
The keen howl continued, and sounds of fighting traveled over.
The boy abruptly cowered. He grabbed An Zhe's arm, seemingly seeking protection, but he said, "Don't be scared. Someone changed into a monster, but Mr. Tang can beat them."
Through the open door, they saw a human figure writhing on the central open space, densely packed feelers and lumps bulging out of his back. His facial features were distorted, turning into a gray-colored swollen mass, and his limbs attacked wildly. Part of someone else's body turned into vines as they fought. Tang Lan threw himself into the fray as well, and before long, the figure was subdued.
"Lock him up," Tang Lan said.
The thing was taken downstairs, and Tang Lan returned to the room.
"We have human consciousness now, but we don't know when it will disappear," the boy said in a small voice. "That's why I deeply treasure my time as a human."
A sound came from outside the window. An Zhe looked down and saw that on the open space in front of the main building, a large instrument was lighting up.
"Mr. Pauli seems to have been working on that these past few days," the boy said. "It looks different from his previous research."
As An Zhe looked in that direction, a glaring red light shone from between the machinery. He asked, "What is it?"
Saying nothing, Tang Lan looked out the window. At the top of the mountain, the aurora and the starry sky had become so low and so clear that it was like one could touch them if they just reached out.
Inside the room, all was silent.
After a long while, Tang Lan suddenly spoke.
"Mr. Pauli is a scientist of the Fusion Faction," Tang Lan murmured. "The Fusion Faction believes that there will be a day when they can find a way for human and monstergenes to peacefully fuse. People won't change into monsters that only rely on instinct, and they'll have powerful bodies and be able to adapt to the current harsh climate."
"Just like this." He showed An Zhe his arm, which had faint impressions of black scales. "Human bodies really are too fragile."
"Later, before success was achieved, the Fusion Faction's experiment ran off. The giant leech infected the base's water supply, and half of the base died because of this—from that point on the base prohibited any similar experiments from taking place, and the Fusion Faction scientists became sinners to the base," he said slowly. "However, other research has also yielded no fruit. It's only with fusion that it sounds like there's still a glimmer of hope. So the Fusion Faction scientists defected. They left the base, wishing to find a place where they could continue experimenting."
"They wanted to research fusion, so they had to do live experiments, and once they performed the experiments,they would have created those intelligent monsters that have obtained human thought yet are not human. The base would not allow this to happen, so they constantly dispatched soldiers to intercept and hunt them down. In the end, they finally found this place." Tang Lan tilted his head back and looked at the vast starry sky. "The Highland Research Institute is a set of ruins. Originally, it was a place where the artificial magnetic poles were studied many years ago. This place lies behind the Abyss, and the terrain's elevation is high, so armored vehicles can't drive over here. There're also many existing devices, some of which can cause magnetic interference in the surrounding area and cripple the military's aircraft and radar. Only with this did the research institute settle down. They've been taking in xenogenics while doing research all the way until now."
An Zhe asked, "Have they found a way to fuse?"
Tang Lan shook his head.
"They can't find any patterns," he said. "At first, they thought it had to do with will, and then they thought it had to do with the type of foreign gene, but it was neither. People with weak wills could wake up in confusion, or plants with weak pollution capabilities could devourpeople's wills. One would not necessarily lose consciousness after being infected by a very powerful monster either. The reason for retaining will is just luck. And after that, the failure of the magnetic poles and the overall pollution proved that this may have nothing at all to do with genes. Gold and iron can also pollute each other. Beneath the microscope, an iron atom inexplicably changes into something we can't understand. Mr. Pauli said that allprevious research was wrong and that we must search for new ways of analyzing."
An Zhe had heard the doctor mention the exact same view. He said, "The base thinks so too."
Tang Lan didn't speak for a long time.
"An Zhe." Tang Lan suddenly called his name. "Can you feel a sort of wave?"
An Zhe nodded. He'd always been able to feel it.
"After turning into xenogenics, many people can feel it," Tang Lan said softly. "And it's getting stronger."
Early in the morning, An Zhe opened his eyes as he lay on the bed. He had a splitting headache. His dreams were all about the wilderness, with howls that shook his eardrums, the sounds of animal paws stepping in sludge, and crying—crying from a source unknown to him. From the jungle came the faintly reflected glow of animal eyes. As though he'd gone mad, he was fleeing from something, searching for something, but he could never escape, could never find it. That massive and formless wave was still winding around him with the closeness of a man and his shadow. It seemed to be present in every nook and cranny of this world, with even the dewdrops on the tips of leaves its embodiment.
An Zhe strove to prop himself up with his arms. He sat up, but it was very arduous. It was like his bones had rusted. Not only were they unable to nimbly move, they had also become thin and brittle. Every time he moved, he wondered if he was about to stop forever, so he knew that he was another step closer to his inevitable death.
An Zhe sat on the bed for a very long time with the quilt in his arms before he felt that he'd recovered a little. He stared blankly at the warm room—what happened yesterday still felt like a dream, and only today did it have a sense of realism. In a sense, he had come to another human world. The people here were very good to him—but his original intent in leaving Lu Feng was so that Lu Feng would not personally witness his death.
Then what about the people here who were friendly to him?
An Zhe's nose prickled a little. He felt guilty, but before he could make any further choices, someone knocked on the door.
It was the boy from yesterday. He was holding a tray containing breakfast, and on the tray were a steaming enamel cup and bowl.
"You didn't wake up in the morning, and we didn't call you," the boy said. "Uncle Shu made potato soup again. You must drink it."
An Zhe gave his thanks.
With that, the boy put the tray on the table. An Zhe looked down at the bowl of rich soup. Small pieces of potato bobbed up and down in the soup, giving off a tender fragrance together with the shreds of cured meat. The fragrance, mixed in with the white steam, spreadthroughout the room in curling wisps.
Strangely, he no longer thought of leaving.
Life at the research institute was by no means as orderly as that of the base. The people had no fixed duties or positions, but they had spontaneous divisions of labor. The research institute took him in, so he knew he had to give back. He wanted to work hard and do a bit of something, and the people of the research institute were all very welcoming.
At the very beginning, he would go out and gatheredible plant roots with the boy in a relatively safe area. Later, his body could not withstand the cold wind, so he could only remain at the base and help plant things or cook. And even later, he couldn't do even this kind of work.
The people of the research institute all thought he suffered from some sort of unidentified illness. This was a common occurrence. In this world, all kinds of illnesses could occur, and even the whole world itself was incurably ill.
That day, Pauli came to see him. From that day on, An Zhe started living with Pauli Jones in the white building to the west of the main building. Although his body was gradually weakening, his mind was still lucid enough that he could be a competent assistant. In Pauli's laboratory, there was also a quiet Indian man working as an assistant. He was good at maintaining the various pieces of equipment, and his name was Kedar.
This was a high-security laboratory, with machines allaround. Screens were connected to the machines, and the largest one—its optical cable ran from the laboratory into the ground and was connected to a device called a "Simpson cage" outside.
The main components of the Simpson cage were four five-meter-high mechanical towers that were just like miniaturized versions of the two white towers outside the research institute. And as for the shape of those two white towers—after looking at them for a long time, An Zhe confirmed that they had many similarities with the base's massive artificial magnetic pole. He then recalled that theHighland Research Institute was the place where the artificial magnetic poles were first developed.
The four towers formed a rectangle more than tenmeters long and twenty meters wide. When the Simpson cage started up, the cuboid space they enclosed would be flooded with a scorching red light similar to high-frequency lasers, and it'd resemble a scarlet sea of flames. Everyone at the research institute knew to not walk into the activated Simpson cage, or else they'd die a horrible death.
From the laboratory's manual, An Zhe learned that the Simpson cage was the most cutting-edge masterpiece in the field of high-energy physics from when human science was at its peak. It directly contributed to the success of the artificial magnetic poles.
"To this very day, we don't know the cause of the geomagnetic field. Some people have speculated that it's because of the circulation of molten iron in the earth's liquid core while others believe it's the spinning of the electrical layer in the earth's mantle, but there isn't strongenough proof for either one. We don't know the reason for its existence, so we are also unable to learn the reason for its disappearance. It exceeds the boundaries of our knowledge. Likewise, we are also unable to replicate the electromagnetic field unless we create a magnet half the size of the earth," Pauli explained to him. "But one of the laws of physics we know is that magnetism is generated by electricity. The movement of electric charges produces a magnetic field."
"One of the Simpson cage's contributions was that it could show the fluctuating force fields between elementary particles, thereby analyzing how they interact and then reproducing some phenomena. As a result, we obtained inspiration for the artificial magnetic poles—you lack physics knowledge, so I can't explain more deeply. To put it simply, the two artificial magnetic poles emit pulses withspecial frequencies, leading to the resonance of charged particles in the solar winds. It's like we're holding a loudspeaker and telling them 'please go that way.' As a result, the resonance and motions of the particles produce a magnetic field, and the earth is thus protected."
An Zhe nodded. He understood, but only just. His work did not require him to master advanced physics knowledge. He only needed to look after the instruments.
Sometimes, Pauli would be outside adjusting the Simpson cage's frequency with the other assistant following him, which left only An Zhe in the white building. As he sat there, the night sky loomed outside the window. The machines hummed monotonously, and the spectrometer connected to the Simpson cage drew intricate curves. An Zhe did not know what it was recording.
The curves were messy and tangled together, lackingany patterns whatsoever. For no reason, he thought of the chaotic and horrifying lines Si Nan had drawn on his paper in the Garden of Eden. Upon closing his eyes, he felt the increasing intensity of that formless wave and the day-byday passing of his own life. He was afraid, but sometimes he also felt that he was gradually approaching eternity.
Pauli came back and began to analyze the chaotic curves. An Zhe exerted great effort to pick up a nearby thermos, then poured a cup of warm water for him.
"What are you doing?" he finally asked.
"I wish to find that thing," Pauli said.
Looking at the screen, An Zhe asked, "... What thing?"
"The thing that led to this world changing."
"It must be omnipresent. If it is in this world, then it must also be in the Simpson cage," he said.
An Zhe frowned slightly.
"A month ago, I also believed that the cause of infection and mutation had to be searched for starting from biology.It wasn't until the distortions occurred that I realized the root of the problem lies in this world's physics laws. Thus, I restarted the Simpson cage." Pauli picked up a nearby compass. "We'll never be able to see the magnetic field, but the direction of the compass can tell us that it exists. It's the same with the other invisible things in the world. Our knowledge is too superficial, so we can only pursue the facades they project onto the world."
"Look here." Pauli highlighted a steady curve. "Everything in the world is interacting, and there's a lot of information in the traces of these interactions, such as this line. Just like the compass, it represents the magnetic field."
"We assume that the changes currently happening in this world are because of some massive thing that is slowly approaching... But the magnetic field can resist it to some extent—since the magnetic field can resist it, then it must have a similar representation to the magnetic field." Pauli's gray-blue eyes avidly gazed at the scribble-covered screen. "It's vast, surpassing our knowledge. What it's changing is the very essence of this world, but it's right in here. I thinkthere must exist a specific receiving frequency that can see the shadow it casts on the real world."
An Zhe asked, "And then?"
Pauli slowly shook his head. "We must first know what it is before we can think of ways to respond to it."
But could it really be found?
Perplexed, An Zhe looked at the screen.
As though he knew what An Zhe was thinking, Pauli spoke.
"It's very uncertain, but..." His voice trailed off, and he sighed softly. "After all, we have also created many masterpieces that defied humankind's imagination in the past."
An Zhe sensed the fluctuation in his tone of voice and echoed his last sentence. "Masterpieces that defied humankind's imagination."
Then he saw the faint glimmer of light in Pauli's eyes gradually dim.
Pauli Jones looked out the window at the infinite wilderness and the haze-filled sky. The howls of wild animals came from all directions, and within those sounds were strange waves that could not be deciphered by the human sound spectrum.
"Only with regard to humankind," he murmured. "Before we were shattered, we believed that we had comprehended the entirety of the world."
At that moment, An Zhe saw in his eyes a loneliness that transcended time itself.