Chapter 117
Because of the unusual incident that happened on the sports field during noon break, most of the discussions in the gymnasium that afternoon revolved around this incident.
Unknown terrifying creatures outside the protective shield.
Some people were afraid, but others were excited.
Genes determine that some people would react defensively and fear danger, while others would be radical and pursue the unknown.
No one could say which of these two qualities would allow mankind to go further into the future.
Maybe Turing had discovered that these Carolians were fed too much at lunch, so the amount of training in the afternoon was increased.
The laps they needed to run changed from 4 to 6. It didn’t matter if you couldn’t finish it running; there would be a robot teacher to drag you along and ensure that every student would complete the set objectives.
After the run, there were very few Carolians left standing. The vast majority were lying on the ground, panting, their visions going dark.
For an outsider like Si Chen, this was nothing. But in order to conform with the crowd, he also lay down on the cushions. He stared blankly at the bright lights on the ceiling.
The school doctor came out of the health room.
Si Chen didn’t quite understand the algorithmic logic here, but some service robots were humanoid and some were not.
The school doctor was clearly non-humanoid in shape.
Its barrel-shaped body was narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. It came with the usual equipment such as a refrigerated compartment, an electrocardiograph, and a defibrillator. Its four arms was equipped with an electric scalpel, a replaceable syringe, a hook, and a rubber hand. When necessary, it can even disassemble its own baffle and pop out an operating table from its abdomen.
Several robot school doctors held up syringes in their hands, grabbed the students’ arms one by one and started injecting.
The face of one person who was caught changed dramatically, “What are you doing?!”
The school doctor’s loudspeaker gave an answer, “Injecting enhancement serum.”
The teacher added, “These are stocks from before the disaster. It can, within a certain probability, improve everyone’s physical fitness. Because of the erosion by the black mist and the loss of data, it is impossible to produce more of this serum. This is the last batch of inventory from the warehouse.”
In the early days of the supernatural disaster, the Carolians, in the interest of self-preservation, lit two different branches on the technology tree.
One was genetic biology; the other, mechanical core.
Limited by various factors such as lack of materials and effect from their external environment, the path of genetic biology was abandoned due to extreme instability in the early stages of experiments.
However, this withered branch of the technology tree had left behind a number of valuable legacies.
Had it not been supernatural disasters that the Carolians encountered, they, being at the forefront of technology, would have undoubtedly had a better future.
The school doctor’s fully automatic injection system was very efficient. Its injector resembled the muzzle of a Gatling gun. They applied dressings while giving the injections. On average, it took less than three seconds per person.
When it came Si Chen’s turn, an information box popped up courtesy of Si Chen’s prosthetic eye.
[Type D evolution medicine (level 5)]
Si Chen was a little surprised.
Evolution medicine is the core product of their Serpent Staff Gene. The types went from S to E, with each major type divided into levels 1 to 10. The level represented the total concentration of nutrients of the type of evolution medicine. A level 5 would have a concentration of 50%.
The purpose of evolution medicine is to improve the physique of ordinary people before undergoing transformation surgery.
But drinking the same level of medicine lowers its successive effectiveness.
A D-5 evolution fluid is the highest level currently circulating in the regular market. Anything above this level is controlled and is not circulated among citizens below second-class.
What Si Chen had requested from Shen Yanxing was D-5 evolution fluid. But the type taken orally and not injected.
A 1ml tube of evolution medicine was injected into his body. Si Chen felt half his arm go numb and it came with a burning sort of soreness.
The effect on the Carolians were even more exaggerated.
Many were groaning and rolling on the ground in pain. But judging by the swollen blood vessels on their faces, it didn’t look like they were just faking it.
“I…I get it -,” said that student from the Freedom Association, the one that shouted the loudest, “You want to reduce the number of Carolians before the vote and execute all those who won’t follow you! What kind of evolution medicine needs to be forcefully injected? Forced injections have been banned hundreds of years ago.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
He struggled to his feet, foaming at the mouth. The next second, his knees gave out from under him and he fell to the ground.
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Si Chen heard the low sobs enter his ears, “That’s-that’s the stretcher they use to carry out dead bodies… He’s dead…”
Si Chen was too far away to detect his vital signs.
But judging from the stiff body and still chest, that person was most likely dead.
Died from an injection of evolution fluid.
“These extraterrestrials,” Zhao Zixin looked dumbfounded, “are so weak.”
He knew that the Carolians had poor physiques but now, he had an even deeper understanding of that fact.
Even medicine can cause death. They’re just like delicate flowers cultivated in a sterile greenhouse.
In the gymnasium, more than one Carolian died; about nine in a hundred.
Zhao Zixin sighed, “…Even if it is for evolution, it’s too tragic.”
Si Chen said slowly, “Inferior genes cannot continue.”
Zhao Zixin smiled, glanced at where they robots were and whispered, “I thought so too before and then I had a daughter. She was bred in an artificial womb. Because of an accident, I was forced to into a prolonged stay inside a Space Fold while I was pregnant.”
“She must have been contaminated then. When she was born, only half her body was human; by the time she was a teenager, she couldn’t even stand straight.”
“I’m a level 7 employee at Eight Directions Technology. I have a second-class citizenship certificate and I earn a considerable amount of money. But it is still very difficult to raise her. I have to buy a lot of gene medicines every month. I’ve even tried giving her prosthetics. But because her disease is so unusual — spores from that high-dimensional world infected her nerves — there’s basically no cure…”
“She undoubtedly has ‘inferior genes’, but I love her. I know that without her, I could live a higher quality life. I could take on a desk job and not have to risk my life in these Space Folds. But she’s my most important reason for living. It’s not that she can’t live without me, but that I can’t live without her.”
“If only noble and outstanding people are qualified to survive, that kind of civilization will also decline.”
There was still something that Zhao Zixin hadn’t said.
His daughter was medically judged to be a “mutant”. Although she is not aggressive, sane though mentally underdeveloped, she wasn’t categorized as human and did not even have the qualifications to go to school.
Si Chen himself was inclined towards the rhetoric of evolution, survival of the fittest, elimination of the weak.
But after thinking about it, he felt that what Zhao Zixin said made sense.
The upper limit of civilization should not be determined by the strongest; rather, it should be judged by what kind of life the bottom of their society has.
Praising the strong should also allow for the existence of the weak.
Si Chen lowered his eyes and softened his expression. “I also have a child with a genetic defect. It's not good-looking at all and takes a lot of effort to raise. Many people have advised me to give up on it.”
Zhao Zixin empathized completely, “But obviously, you didn’t.”
“En.” Si Chen looked at the back of his hand. Were they in reality, there would be an obvious red line there where the Eternal Life Abyss would go in and out, “Because I love it too.”
As Zhao Zixin spoke, his nose began to turn red. “It’s been sixty years… I wonder if I still have enough money left on my card to buy her medicine. The insurance and the company should help me support my family.”
Si Chen comforted, “Actually, it might not have been sixty years. It may just be that you feel in your mind that sixty years have passed. Maybe when you go out and see, it’s only been six days. After all, we don’t seem to have come in with our original bodies.”
“If only… Except for those human restricted areas, I’ve never heard of a Space Fold lasting this long.”
The effect of the evolution medicine was almost immediate.
Si Chen’s prosthetic eye was able to detect that some Carolians whose energy fluctuations originally were at 0 had now increased to around 100. The change could be likened to a weak human turning to a strong adult.
The physical changes brought about by the evolution medicine weren’t only in terms of strength but also in the body’s ability to repair itself, its neural activity and other aspects.
He didn’t know if it’s because of some technical blockade but despite becoming White King’s graduate student, Si Chen has never seen any evolution medicine above B Type.
But this was but a passing thought.
After the successful implantation of the Eternal Life Abyss, Si Chen no longer needed evolution medicine.
Perhaps because they knew that most of the Carolians wouldn’t have much of an appetite after being injected with evolution medicine, the meal prepared for dinner this day, though exquisitely cooked, was small.
There were two pieces of fried shrimp tempura, a pan-fried foie gras and mango sandwich and a few slices of sweet cantaloupe. The accompanying drink was milk.
Although he felt a little queasy, Si Chen was essentially a disabled and impoverished child from a Disaster Zone and could not bear to waste food. He ate it all in one go.
By the time the train arrived, Si Chen’s fever had subsided and his arm no longer hurt.
While it was still light out, he went to the separate bathroom to take a shower.
Here, showers didn’t come as jets of water. What came out was a misting of water. You didn’t even have to close your eyes to wash your hair. Fortunately, it was effective and Si Chen came out quite clean.
Si Chen came out feeling refreshed. As he was walking in the corridor in his pajamas, he saw that the robot dorm supervisor was neatly placing books on a newly built bookshelf.
Si Chen glanced at it. Books included “how to grow vegetables in an environment with scarce resources”, “how a person spends thirty years underground”, “how to receive space signals from Nuwa in extreme environments” and so on.
Although most of the content was as boring as an academic treaties and involved a lot of knowledge that they had never learned before, the Carolians, lacking as they were in entertainment, still read it with gusto.
Si Chen also took out a book and was about to take it back to read, but was stopped by the Machine. “Please read in the corridor, classmate. Some supernatural creatures can use paper as an invasion medium.”
Everything Si Chen could touch in the dorm was made of alloy.
He was very much interested in the contents within the book.
Unfortunately, reading in the corridor meant reading time was very short.
Before 7:30, the dormitory supervisor began to urge the students loitering in the corridor to head back to their rooms.
Having gotten that injection today, Si Chen was feeling quite sleepy and it took him no time at all to fall asleep.
But halfway through his sleep, there was a knock on the door.
He opened his eyes with much difficulty and looked at the time — four in the morning.
According to superstitious sayings, this is the time when the yin energy is heaviest.
Si Chen didn’t really want to open the door.
Turing’s voice was just outside, “Can I come in?”
Si Chen was still a little sleepy. “If I said no, would you not come in?”
Obviously not.
Turing opened the door and turned on the light.
Si Chen discovered that Turing’s appearance had changed slightly though he still couldn’t see his face clearly.
The original plating on his face had been replaced by high-tech goggles.
He had also changed into a suit. He looked like he was going on a blind date.
Si Chen narrowed his eyes slightly and the data fed back by the prosthetic eye was still a series of question marks.
“What are you here for today?” His tone was languid.
“I would like to invite you to visit my computer room.”
For a Machine, this was similar to taking out a stack of Safe Zone real estate deeds on a first date. It was a very bold and impressive move.
Unfortunately, Si Chen’s interest lay in another place, “Alright. Good timing, I want to ask you how these evolution fluids are made in this world.”
Turing’s computer room was in the center of the entire Safe Zone, shrouded by a semicircular closed building.
There were 16 computer rooms inside, like 16 small nuclear reactors. It was also like 16 unfathomable wells.
Si Chen’s eyes were illuminated by the light in the well, turning into a dull blue color.
There were similar buildings on the Ji Family’s Four Seasons Island; only that they were a few sizes smaller, not quite as grand.
This building was equipped to stop outsiders, but it cannot stop Turing.
As he walked, he introduced, “Each base is equipped with a Level 7 energy core to support my calculations. In addition, the reserve energy of the entire Safe Zone is also at my disposal. However, due to the supernatural disasters becoming ever graver, the dark matter shields consume more and more energy.”
“Before the protective shields were opened 24 hours a day. Now, it can only be opened during the day. Truthfully, keeping the Carolians safe within the dormitories for long is a hopeless endeavor. In the future, it will get darker much earlier.”
Nights, even in the Safe Zones, was full of ghosts.
The two of them stood near the computer room. All around them, floating in from the distant suburbs, were Human Head Balloons. Some balloons were of old people, some were of children. There was a hair-like thread attached to the bottom of each one.
[High Dimensional Creature 1437-Human Head Balloon]
Introduction: Belonging to the Supernatural Branch, origin unknown. It will look for prey through windows. If its prey look into its eyes for more than three seconds, the prey’s head will turn into a balloon. Should you encounter one, it is recommended that you close your eyes tightly until the Human Head Balloon leaves.
The Balloons searched hard for windows, but they were doomed to fail.
The dormitories here closes all passages at night, like a sealed food keeper. Giving the creatures outside not a single crack to exploit.
A Balloon almost floated past Si Chen’s face. He didn’t move, but he caught whiff of its disgusting stench.
Si Chen remembered that there was an article in the “Human Safe Zone Survival Guide” that prohibited staring at balloons.
“Surviving here is really tough.”
Memorizing so many prohibitions is only the first step. Whether you could apply them is another matter.
Turing said, “Evolution medicine is the result of research and experiments done by the labs. It was later spread to the founder of the Serpent Staff Gene. Taking evolution medicine has a certain risk of death, so it is not allowed to be used. The remaining stock is for the cultivation of ‘astronauts’.”
“The last plan left to mankind is to send the remaining survivors to outer space through space stations. These space stations have supporting ecological circulation systems and cryo-sleep chambers. In theory, humans can live for a long time.”
However, it was difficult to say whether such a civilization would be “alive”.
Si Chen’s brows furrowed slightly. “I think there’s actually nothing you can do to save the Carolian civilization. Not unless you can eliminate the supernatural disasters.”
There was no expression on Turing’s face, but the light on his goggles flickered. “That is true. It is a pity that I couldn’t do so at the time.”
It wasn’t possible ‘at the time’ probably meant it was possible now.
The high school area in the Safe Zone was shrouded in black mist. Si Chen had seen this kind of black mist in every destroyed world.
Si Chen suddenly asked, “Will you be releasing ghosts to scare the Carolians tomorrow?”
In the third restart, Turing adopted a different strategy than before. It was like putting in a little outside air into a sterile environment.
Maybe this way, the result of the referendum would be that Turing would continue to run and they could clear this instance.
Turing replied, “Actually, my actions have already violated the instructions left by the administrators. I’m also well aware that the Carolian Civilization will not come back.”
These superfluous data has indeed generate many unnecessary viruses within him, viruses such as “attachment“.
He’d had a realization: since this was a dream constructed from virtual data, why couldn’t he get what he wanted?
The light on Turing’s goggles dimmed. “I remembered something else today. Turn off the power supply here and you can leave the Level 3 world. The chip you brought has the administrator rights for these computers. Format the hard drive and the people in the Space Fold can wake up.”
The price was that this superfluous data would disappear forever. Turing would never be able to retrieve this memory and those who wake up also will not remember anything.
Fortunately, Si Chen would be there to remember this part of his heavy past for him.
Si Chen was a little surprised when he heard what Turing said.
“What is the time flow ratio here?”
“There are some differences but on average, one day outside is five years inside,” Turing said.
Converting, it meant 4.8 hours outside is a 1 year inside.
There was still 5 days until the referendum.
Si Chen thought for a moment, “Let’s wait until the referendum is over before shutting it down. I want to eat roast duck today.”
The corners of Turing’s mouth curved slightly upwards. “Okay.”
I love their interactions <3
Eating >>>
Thank you for your translation 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜
Si Chen: Fooood
Turing: You see, this is proof that he cares for me!