Chapter 498: Chapter 499 Happy Prince_1
In the suburban bungalow, Professor Dodge sat by the bed, reading a story from a magazine.
"... And so, they cast the statue of the Happy Prince into the furnace to melt, and the mayor even held a meeting to decide what to do with the metals.
"’We need to cast another statue,’ he said, ’and it must be my own likeness.’
’It should be mine!’ each council member clamored, and they began to argue amongst themselves.
Meanwhile, the foreman at the foundry was astonished by something: ’It’s strange, the broken lead heart inside the statue won’t melt; we can only throw it away.’
So they threw away the broken heart of the Happy Prince into the trash heap, and the body of the swallow was discarded there as well,"
Professor Dodge finished reading and raised his face with the book in hand: "The story ends here."
"This issue of the Watcher has a splendid story as well," said the sheepdog lying on the bed, Tony Dodge, in a peculiar voice.
Attached to an animal’s body, it was difficult for him to flip through books with his paws, so sometimes, Professor Dodge would read short stories to him personally.
"Yes." Professor Dodge nodded in agreement and glanced again at the title of the story in the magazine: The Happy Prince.
This was a fairy tale story published in this issue of "Children’s Dreams," contributed by the magazine’s topic contributor "Watcher."
Tony was already nineteen years old, well past the age for reading this type of magazine.
But Tony liked the stories contributed by "Watcher," and after Professor Dodge read them once or twice, he understood why—"Watcher’s" fairy tales were indeed fascinating; not only could children be captivated by them, but adults could also derive profound meanings from some stories, a feat requiring great skill in writing.
The story of The Happy Prince told of a prince who knew not what sorrow was in life, and after his death, people gilded his statue with gold leaf and precious stones and erected it in the city. There, the Prince saw for the first time the poverty and ugliness outside the palace he had never encountered during his life.
He asked the swallow to distribute the jewels from the statue to a seamstress with a sick child, a destitute playwright, a match girl, and then he scattered the gold leaf among other poor people and hungry children.
However, the story ended with the swallow dying at the feet of the statue after working for the prince and missing the season of departure, kissing the statue’s lips in the cold winter.
And the statue of the Happy Prince, having lost all of its adornments and turning ugly, was melted down and recast by the mayor and council members; his broken lead heart and the swallow lay together in the trash heap.
Ironically, the story began with the statue of the Happy Prince, decorated with gold and jewels, receiving praises from the residents. Yet, after giving everything to the poor, the Prince was despised by the people.
To a child, it was merely a sad story. But as Professor Dodge read it aloud, he felt an eerie chill.
The beloved maidservant of the Queen and her lover complained about the lazy seamstress taking too long to make the dance skirts, while at that moment, the seamstress had to work overnight to embroider passionflowers onto the skirts, her child burning with fever and crying for oranges, but she could only feed him a few sips of river water.
The rich warmed themselves by the fireplace inside their mansion, while the poor children huddled together under bridges to fend off the bitter cold.
Reading these scenes, Professor Dodge’s vision was filled with refugees who had lost their homes, wandering aimlessly around the square.
Then in his memory, he heard the screams of the refugees from the core testing ground of the "Infection" program, and the pleading voices of those demonized refugees begging for mercy in front of the executioner’s guns—as a specially invited consultant to the Kingdom’s military "Infection" project, he had naturally inspected the core experimental site.
In a world where people prey upon one another, the reality he lived in was more cruel than tragic stories.
Whenever he encountered begging refugees, he would give some spare change, unclear whether it was out of guilt or what. He knew all too well that such actions could not compensate for even a fraction of his sins.
He too was a devourer of men, and unlike the wealthy in stories who unconsciously preyed upon others due to their social class, he did it with his hands and lips stained with blood, consuming those refugees without spitting out even their bones.
He was willing to bear these sins to save his kind and upright son. If possible, he wished his son could be like the Happy Prince before his death, unaware of sorrow, but this child had tasted pain and regret that most people had never experienced since his birth.
"Shall I read you another story?" Professor Dodge took out a copy of "Explorer" magazine, which was also one of Tony’s favorites.
Just as Tony was about to answer, there was a knock on the door outside.
"Mr. Katch, an old buddy of ours has come, says he needs to see you right away, do you have a moment?" the man shouted from outside.
Professor Dodge paused for a moment and then touched Tony’s head: "Son, wait for me a moment."
The voice outside belonged to the officer he was in contact with; he had been lying to Tony all along, saying that this person was an old friend of his here.
"Our old buddy has come" was one of their codes.
Old buddy signified trouble and problems, and saying that he needed to see him right away meant that the matter was urgent. Professor Dodge was an external consultant for the "Infection" project, and usually, when there was a tricky problem with the experiments there, they would come to him for advice.
"It’s fine, Dad, I was just thinking of taking a nap," Tony replied calmly.
Professor Dodge nodded and left the room.
The officer waiting outside saluted him and invited him out of the house to the tree in the courtyard.
"We’ve run into trouble," the officer said bluntly, "Someone has been sabotaging our base, and the plan might have been leaked!"
"What did you say?" Professor Dodge’s face darkened.
"The Intelligence Bureau received a warning from another department that a religious group called ’Resurrection’ is probing into the secrets of the Kingdom’s Intelligence Bureau," said the officer with equal gravity, "Two nights ago, three officers mysteriously disappeared from the base, and just today, another one vanished while on patrol. You should remember, previously, a person in charge of ’procurement’ was reported for suspected betrayal and then suspended—this information was also disclosed by that department."
"A religious group can do this much?" Professor Dodge frowned, "What department provided this warning, and is it reliable?"
"The information came from a higher level and was not convenient to disclose, but it is absolutely reliable," the officer answered, "Looking at these ’accidents’ that have occurred, it’s feared... the facts are indeed so."
"Then we just need to ensure the security of the experimental site—"
Professor Dodge was cut off mid-sentence by the officer raising his hand: "No, the experimental site has already been invaded."
"That’s impossible," Professor Dodge was taken aback.
"It has been indeed invaded, though for only about ten seconds," said the officer with certainty, "Someone broke into ’Balance Space’ without us noticing."
