Chapter 49 - 49 " He is The One Who Judges Me."
Three years had passed since the final battle.
That day, the East Pole and the West Pole had emitted the absolutely stable frequency. Since then, monsters no longer persisted in attacking the human bases, substances no longer polluted each other, and humans found constancy in the distortion. Later, that frequency was called the "bell toll."
And the Highland Research Institute and Mr. Pauli Jones, who had discovered the "bell toll," were forever recorded within the milestones of human history.
Highland Research Institute, white building.
Green vines climbed all over the windows and railings. The vine that had always been guarding the research institute died naturally a year ago, and its seeds that had scattered all over the soil of the research institute sprouted and grew this spring. The distant mountains were covered with a layer of snow-white mist, and within the mist was a wild profusion of flourishing greenery. Everything was normal and everything was calm, as though it were a day in the spring of 2020.
In the corridor outside the laboratory, there was a wheelchair.
Pauli Jones was sitting in it. A primeval wind traveled through the Abyss, climbed up to the mountaintop, and stirred his head of white hair.
At his side stood Lu Feng.
"In 2020, I was fifteen years old and majoring in physics at university." An elderly voice sounded. "Later, I often dreamed that I had returned to that year and was standing at the podium, in the advisor's office, or in the middle of the sports ground. I'd loudly tell them that the geomagnetic field was about to disappear and that we had to take precautions ahead of time."
He paused, a hint of a resigned smile appearing at thecorners of his lips. "Sometimes they'd believe me and sometimes they wouldn't, but when I opened my eyes each morning, what I saw was still this awful world."
"Fortunately, although the world is still so awful, or even worse than before, at least there's no need to count down the days until extinction."
Pauli Jones lowered his head. In his hand was a copy of Base Alliance Daily with the date and time on the cover, April 2164.
One hundred thirty-four years after the calamity occurred, humankind seemed to have finally been integrated into this violent world.
Many people would mention the last war. The Northern Base had chosen to assist the Highland Research Institute, otherwise, the Highland Research Institute couldn't possibly have persevered until the moment the stable frequency was found. The Underground City Base had chosen to aid the East Pole, otherwise, the magnetic pole would have collapsed and fallen to the enemy, and there would have been no way to emit the frequency. The two decisions were both made on account of humankind's inner kindness, and they narrowly achieved victory.
And the ones who had assisted the Highland Research Institute only had one fighter fleet, while the ones who assisted the Northern Base had only a thousand paratroopers. Humankind's final struggle as it moved toward its own demise was not a magnificent war but a dullcry. Although humankind believed its existence, evolution, and demise to be of vital importance among the world's changes, they had proved their own weakness and insignificance again and again.
Indeed, the human race had actually met its demise.
After being infected by the "absolutely stable frequency," they had finally obtained a permanent and stable immunity. Sometimes, there was even a chance of them being able to obtain a monster's genes, obtaining those powerful physical features and shapes while still maintaining clear wills. This may have been the Fusion Faction's victory—although the theories and methods used were not the Fusion Faction's.
After the peaceful fusion with monster genes, humankind's own strength had been enhanced, and they nolonger depended so much on the limited quantities of weapons and equipment. They began using the monsters' methods to fight monsters, using plain methods to attackand defend. Some humans chose to leave the bases, either returning to the ruined cities or forming small settlements in the wilderness.
All in all, the cities disintegrated.
Around the world, there remained fewer than five thousand survivors. They could no longer form grand social structures or armies—those kinds of things. Centered around the East Pole, West Pole, and Highland Research Institute, small settlements radiated outward in star-like shapes.
The monsters of the external world who needed food still eyed them greedily, but they no longer coveted human genes, or to put it another way, most of the monsters who survived up until now had already obtained human genes. Viewed from a different angle, under that all-encompassing frequency, both humans and monsters had achievedstability. It was an undeniable fact that humankind's intellectual superiority had come to an end long ago.
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The bell tolled, allowing humankind to survive butproclaiming the end of the age of humans. It seemed as though they had started being an ordinary species, living arduously in this world.
"Some people say it's a fall, but I think it's an ascension." Pauli looked forward. "We are simply retreading the journey that humankind's ancestors once took with new accomplishments and knowledge."
On the open space in front of the white building, young scientists clad in white coats traveled back and forth between instruments.
Suddenly there was a jubilant commotion, and a young man in the middle raised aloft a beaker full of water. The situation was crystal clear: by sampling and reproducing the frequencies of substances, they successfully infected other substances with the frequency of distilled water, turning the pitch-black muddy water in the beaker into a cup of clear pure water.
Many things were being redefined, and a new theoretical framework was beginning to emerge. Whether it was correct or not was a mystery, but it was indeed slowly progressing.
"I still don't understand exactly what these frequencies are. Do they represent a substance's fundamental composition? Or are they just terms referring to a substance's properties?" Pauli Jones's voice had become hoarse due to his advanced age. "Obtaining the frequencies of specific substances and then being able to alter the real world is even more of an expectation-exceeding accomplishment."
"We are still insignificant, only obtaining a superficial projection of the real world via simple and crude methods, but even a mere projection is enough to temporarily shelter humankind itself."
Facing the boundless wilderness, he muttered to himself, "In a hundred years, a thousand years, will we know more?"
Lu Feng pushed his wheelchair over to the waterfall-like vines. On this spring day when everything was coming back to life, tiny white flowers grew thickly all over the oddly shaped vines. The flowers came in a variety of shapes and hues ranging from dark to light, but they all coexisted on a single vine.
"Am I being too optimistic?" Pauli smiled. "Even the question of whether humankind still exists in a hundred years is a difficult one to answer."
Survival was as precarious as before, and dark clouds were still circling. There was still no effective solution to the issues of fertility and reproduction.
The copy of Alliance Daily in Pauli Jones's hand, which had already started going fuzzy at the edges from frequent perusal, was stopped on the third page, where two things were reported.
The first report stated that a scientist who had happened to fuse with a bird had laid an egg while in bird form, but the chick that hatched suddenly changed into human form after it turned one year old. The second report stated that a fertile woman from the Underground City
Base had declared that when her life came to an end, she would be willing to walk into the Simpson cage and donate her own frequency for research.
"My life is coming to an end," he said and closed the Daily.
"Some people have finally survived. Throughout all these years, I've constantly been asking myself if I had finished atoning for my sins," he said. "But I still cannot face everything I did back then. I can only wait for God to judge whether I was right or wrong after I die."
Lu Feng asked, "Was it for this reason that you left the base back then?"
"Yes. I was unable to face my own heart after all and unable to approve of the Trial Court's beliefs." He looked at Lu Feng. "I can't compare to you."
"I haven't done anything," Lu Feng said.
Pauli shook his head.
A mighty spring breeze blew over the mountain peak, and the delicate fragrance of the vine's flowers dissipated in the wind.
"You all have faced everything that I could not face back then, and you've persevered the longest." He lifted his head and held Lu Feng's hand. "Humankind's interests take precedence over all else. Thank you for allowing the base and artificial magnetic pole to persevere until the end. This is the ultimate reason for humankind's victory."
Lu Feng said, "Thank you."
"I heard that they've started compiling a 'Base Chronicles.' In a hundred years, how will people judge the Trial Court?" Pauli looked toward the pale eastern sky,where the daybreak was rising, and his gaze contained a distant tranquility. "Some will criticize it, while others will eulogize it. The only sure thing is that everyone will remember it."
He continued. "And even more will remember you, child."
Lu Feng's gaze lingered on a patch of snow-white velvety petals.
The sunlight turned it into translucent golden crystal.
"There's no need." His eyes closed slightly and his voice was flat, as though all of what Pauli Jones just said had nothing to do with him.
The sun's rays also illuminated the dark silver buttons and trimmings on his black uniform. His figure was straight-backed and his attire impeccable. His nigh-perfect facial features, uncommon eye color, and impassive expression left a haunting impression on all passersby. New vines wound around the corridor that was bathed in the morning light. He stood in a patch of surging spring scenery, yet he seemed completely out of place.
In the courtyard and the corridors, many people would surreptitiously turn and examine him. As the final generation of Arbiters, he carried on his shoulders too many unsettled grudges and puzzling enigmas. Opinions in the Northern Base varied. Some said that he wasassassinated, and others said that he shot himself. Only the people of the research institute knew that the Arbiter was staying here forever—although nobody knew why.
"Look at me, child." Pauli murmured.
Lu Feng looked at him.
Although those gray-blue eyes had clouded over, theywere still bright with excessively clear and penetrating wisdom, benevolence, and grief. It was like they could see through all of the world's facades.
"Sometimes I feel like you've been freed, and sometimes I feel like you haven't," Pauli said. "These past three years, everything has been making a turn for the better. Are you still unable to face the past?"
"No."
The answer, however, was unexpected. Lu Feng looked straight at him, his voice calm and devoid of any hesitation. "I have not sinned."
"There's not a single Arbiter who would say such a thing."
"Humankind's interests take precedence over all else." Lu Feng turned slightly. In the infinite morning light, he was a backlit silhouette. "My belief has never wavered."
"Yet you live in suffering."
"I used to suffer for the trials," Lu Feng said. "Now, losing him is my only suffering."
"I'd never met such a warm and quiet child before."Pauli closed his eyes, seemingly dwelling on the past. "Hecame from the unknown into the world, as though it were for the sake of experiencing suffering. But humanity's suffering would not harm any of his innate qualities. My days are numbered. I only wish to see him alive one more time."
In the long silence, they looked at the laboratory behind them.
In that place that was only a wall away, young assistants were busy recording data. They were even more busy than ever, as though today were some special day. Visible through the window was a transparent rectangular tank laid horizontally on the snow-white floor. It resembled acoffin of crystal. The coffin of crystal was filled with pale green nutrient solution—and within the nutrient solution, snow-white hyphae grew without restraint, intertwining with each other and forming a snow-white cocoon that was shaped vaguely like a human.
It had grown very swiftly from a spore the size of a jujube pit into a long and soft aggregate of hyphae. Just like that chick who had suddenly changed into a human infant, one day, it exhibited a human form.
On countless nights, Lu Feng had leaned down and looked at that familiar profile through layers of hyphae.
"Is that him?" he asked Pauli Jones.
"He was an asexually reproducing mushroom, with no distinction at all between his body and his spore. I can only tell you that there are no differences genetically and that the frequency has always been identical. In a biological sense, they are one and the same," Pauli murmured with a small smile. "In your ancient legends, there are stories of the phoenix being reborn amidst raging flames. In fact,with regard to those creatures with simple compositions, it is indeed so. Death means rebirth. They have many ways of continuing their lives, unlike mammals."
"... Will he remember?"
"I don't know." Pauli shook his head. "It'll depend on him. Is that a new individual or a continuation of his old life? I'm afraid that we will only know after he wakes up. This is also part of my current research; remember what I mentioned to you before? This may be a new and unique method of survival for organisms."
Lu Feng turned his gaze to the distant sky, hisexpression unswervingly cold and calm. "I hope he forgets everything."
"Why?"
"The human base and I have only brought him suffering," he said. "I hope he'll never experience these things."
Pauli shook his head. "And how do you know what this world was like for him?"
Lu Feng's words landed softly. "Therefore, I'll accept all outcomes."
Pauli said nothing. In the silence, the sounds of instruments beeping, laboratory staff shouting, and objects falling to the ground suddenly came from the laboratory. The sounds traveled over intermittently, allowing the people outside to know what was happening inside.
At the break of dawn, the morning light illuminated Pauli Jones's elderly body. As though the final worries on his mind had been resolved at last, he felt a sense of relief and turned his wheelchair toward the laboratory, his gaze even warmer than before.
But Lu Feng didn't turn around.
"He's woken up," Pauli Jones said. "Why won't you go see him?"
In the laboratory, there were some chaotic noises.
After a very long time, Lu Feng spoke.
"You once asked me how exactly I viewed him." His voice seemed to come from a faraway place. "I thought about it a lot."
There was another long silence. Golden sunlight flooded the chain of mountains in the east, and a red sun sprang up from the horizon.
In the wind, he closed his eyes. The sculptures of the ones waiting, the portraits of those who went on pilgrimages, every one of them resembled him. Everyperson had once shown this expression, on the night before judgment arrived.
He said calmly, "He is the one who judges me."
There came the sound of a door, and light footsteps stopped not far away.
On the mountain peak, within the morning sunlight, the mist, and the gentle breeze, a clear, soft voice spoke.
"Lu Feng?"
—END—