Chapter 72: 36.2

Chapter 36.2 – The Blue Butterfly

“I’m here to find Lu Tinghan,” Shi Yuan said. “In this world, he is the only human who belongs to me.”

The soldier was taken aback for a while, and then put down his gun.

His voice began to become weak: “It’s unbelievable, there is such a thing…” He shook his head. “Go, I’m going to die, and there’s no way to kill you.”

“What else can I do for you?” Shi Yuan said.

Silverfish scales blocked most of the soldier’s expressions, and he seemed to smile: “There is really one thing.”

Shi Yuan’s tail bent into a question mark: “What is it?”

The soldier fumbled and pushed the gun on the ground over: “Kill me, I don’t want to become a monster.”

The metal of the gun was cold.

Not too unfamiliar.

Lu Tinghan demonstrated to Shi Yuan how to use a gun.

It was not long after the shooting in the city, when Shi Yuan went home, he had an extra gun without bullets in his hand.

“Learn it,” Lu Tinghan said, “in case you need it.”

You can’t really shoot bullets at home. Lu Tinghan explained the structure of the gun to him and demonstrated the basic operation against the wall.

From the first meeting, Shi Yuan knew that Lu Tinghan’s marksmanship was good, he changed the magazine smoothly, loaded it, and took aim, while Shi Yuan imitated clumsily, aiming the gun at the wall.

“Take a step forward with your left foot and keep your waist straight,” Lu Tinghan said.

Shi Yuan stood upright.

“The right hand is straight, and the elbow of the left hand is bent down,” Lu Tinghan said again.

Shi Yuan did as he was told, he felt stiff, his tail frozen in mid-air. Lu Tinghan taught him by hand, adjusted his posture, and finally whispered in his ear: “…shoot.”

“Click!” Shi Yuan pulled the trigger.

“If there are bullets, the recoil is not small, so you have to be mentally prepared,” Lu Tinghan said, “Without training, the deterrent effect of ordinary people with guns is not high, and the accuracy cannot be improved. It can only be used as a last resort.” He paused and touched Shi Yuan’s head. “I hope you will never use what I taught you in your life.”

Shi Yuan said: “I think it’s so interesting. I want to learn if I have the opportunity.”

Lu Tinghan said, “I want you not to have to learn.”

Just three months later, Shi Yuan picked up a gun again, aiming not at a monster, but a human.

The ammunition was full and heavy.

Shi Yuan tried to pull the bolt, and the bullet was loaded crisp.

He said: “I haven’t killed anyone, but if it makes you feel better…”

“This is not murder, it’s liberation.” The soldier gasped. “Hurry up and do it.”

So Shi Yuan stood up, recalling what Lu Tinghan had said, and rustily posed, aiming at his head.

“Wait!” the soldier suddenly shouted. “I, I still have questions.”

“What is it?” Shi Yuan asked.

The soldier did not answer. There was a beast-like growl in his throat, shaking his head in pain, and his fingers twitched constantly, as if he had fallen into a nightmare that he could not break free. Shi Yuan squatted down again, stretched out his hand to touch his cheek, and gently wiped away the blood between the scales.

His fingers were slightly cold, which brought him comfort.

Two minutes later, the soldier gasped and spoke again: “Shi Yuan, you won’t die, you will never die, right? Remember my name, my name is Yin Zhou, the Zhou of Yin Qingzhou. Remember me, and then go and see the end of this end of the world.”

“Okay,” Shi Yuan said, “I won’t forget it.”

Yin Zhou asked again: “One last question, tell me, what’s the color of the sky to-today?”

“It’s red,” Shi Yuan replied to him, “it’s red like a rose.”

“…Oh, that must be beautiful,” Yin Zhou said. “Why didn’t I take a closer look?”

He fell into chaos again.

Shi Yuan stood up and aimed at the muzzle: “Nice to meet you, Yin Zhou.”

“Bang!!”

Several strange birds spread their wings and flew in surprise.

Lu Tinghan was right, the recoil was so strong that Shi Yuan’s stomach was numb from the shock.

He picked up stones and buried Yin Zhou.

The woods calmed down, but he hadn’t found a monster he could kill.

Should he go somewhere else, or should he look for it nearby? He didn’t know when the warning would end, he must hurry up and return to the city as soon as possible.

There were many monsters around, trees, stones, squirrels, mushrooms… but just as he told Yin Zhou, when he looked at the monsters, their souls were connected.

Shi Yuan thought with some frustration that he might not be able to start with them.

He picked up the last stone and his gaze was suddenly attracted.

There was a bright blue butterfly next to the stone.

The blue color was extremely bright and eye-catching, which could even be called dreamy.

It was only half the size of a palm, its wings and body were half rotten, and it was flopping on the ground.

Shi Yuan finished building the mound of stones and approached it hesitantly.

The butterfly no longer had the strength to flutter its wings, and it was also injured when the machine gun was fired. In two or three minutes, it would die. Shi Yuan stretched out his hand and gently picked it up.

“Does it hurt?” he asked softly.

Of course, the butterfly did not answer him.

Yin Zhou wanted to be free, and this butterfly might want it too. Besides, he shouldn’t delay it.

“I’m sorry,” Shi Yuan said, “Please get some sleep.”

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In the palm of his hand, black crystals gushed out of the butterfly’s body, enveloping it layer by layer. The last moment of its life was frozen, solidified in the black crystal, strange and beautiful.

Shi Yuan carefully put it in his pocket.

Then he turned into a black mist again, skimmed through the forest, skimmed across the boundless wasteland, and went down the way he had come under the rose-red sky.

*

“At 13:47 on May 17th, the infection wavelength of Abyss No.0 was observed at the South Gate of Gleaning City. Lieutenant Bing Siyun and 13 soldiers in the city came into close contact with the source of infection. Five of them had slight mental fluctuations. There is no danger and they are under observation.”

“And just 6 short hours later, at 19:33, the infection wavelength of Abyss 0 reappeared, this time, at the East City Gate… F*ck, what the hell is this, is it running around and playing? Don’t tell me it’s actually lost?”

—Professor Yang Zhengyi, who specializes in abyss research at the Gleaning City Research Center, scolded.

The infection wavelength of Abyss No.0 only appeared for less than 10 seconds each time, but the research center exploded. Within a few hours, from the gray-haired old professor to the young intern who had just joined the job, they were all busy.

In a trance, back to the months when Abyss No.0 had just disappeared, they also studied around the clock like this.

In the end, there was still nothing.

The student whispered next to him: “Professor, these are really all the information left by Professor Yu.”

Yang Zhengyi sighed and waved his hand.

“Floating River” had been repelled, they should have been very happy, but Abyss No.0 ruined this joy.

Abyss No.0’s information was on his desk and computer screen. Most of the past research materials came from Yu Qingmei’s hands, and the recent data was provided by Lu Tinghan, who was its watcher for ten years. They had read it countless times and still had no clue.

“Professor,” the student whispered again, “General Lu will be here soon.”

“I see.” Yang Zhengyi rubbed his eyebrows.

Thirty minutes later, the aircraft swept past the window, and Lu Tinghan entered the command center.

Yang Zhengyi introduced the situation to him, while Lu Tinghan picked up the tablet and flipped through the information silently, as if looking for something.

He flipped over and asked, “Can you confirm that it has not infected any creatures?”

“Not at the moment.” Yang Zhengyi pushed his glasses. “We did a wavelength analysis, disassembled the frequency, and found no outlier for the time being.” Lieutenant Bing Siyun was at the center of the pollution. According to the value at the time, anyone would be directly infected, but in fact, he was unscathed. Its infectivity is unexpectedly low.”

Lu Tinghan stopped at a certain page of information and asked, “I’m not just talking about people. It also has the possibility of infecting the infected creatures.”

“The infected creatures?” Yang Zhengyi repeated.

Lu Tinghan turned to the tablet and showed him the information.

That was Yu Qingmei’s interview video.

As a scientific researcher, Yang Zhengyi had contact with Yu Qingmei. His impression of her was that she was casual and had a rational scientific research style. When she died, he sighed bitterly, even saying that heaven is jealous of talents.

In the video, the woman had one hand in her pocket and faced the reporter’s questions: “Infection is unique and mutually exclusive. Abyss No.0 breaks this restriction, it can ‘kill’ the infection… But let me say, I think it is never hope, it only represents ‘destruction’.”

The reporter asked: “Can you talk about it in detail?”

“There is nothing to say,” Yu Qingmei said. “Destruction is destruction. The destruction of cities destroys civilization. It is the end of mankind.” She smiled suddenly. “Well, that’s just baseless speculation – in reality, it just hasn’t infected any creatures, it’s the most harmless abyss, isn’t it?” She paused for a moment and then added, “In the final analysis, I have only one hope—”

Fourteen years later, also at the busy research center, Lu Tinghan stood in front of Yang Zhengyi as she did.

Lu Tinghan looked much like his father, and the most similar place to his mother was probably the eyebrows. The inside of their eyebrow arch was steep, and the lines of their eyebrows were stretched, giving people a sense of depth, while the gentle upper edge neutralizes aggressiveness. Such eyebrows look quite calm when they are serious and extremely good-looking when they smile.

At this moment, even though there was a huge difference in appearance, temperament, and physique between Lu Tinghan and his mother, Yang Zhengyi still saw the shadow of Yu Qingmei.

They were the ones who knew Abyss No.0 best. At this moment, the figures of the two seemed to overlap, and they said together: “In the final analysis, I only have one hope, and that is not to let Abyss No.0 come into contact with any creatures, especially infected creatures.”

“What else will happen?” Yang Zhengyi asked unconsciously.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s destruction.” Lu Tinghan’s eyebrows were deep. “I have the same point of view as Professor Yu. It is not hope. If you don’t stand on the side of humans, you will always be the trump card of monsters.”

“What is the trump card?”

Lu Tinghan did not answer.

At the same time.

In the East City Gate of Gleaning City, night fell and cold rain fell down. The Level II warning was not over. The puddle reflected the light of a searchlight in the distance and was instantly crushed to pieces by an armored vehicle.

Shi Yuan went home wet from the rain, he took off his shoes and clothes stained with mud, leaves and blood, and soaked them in a basin.

At this time, there was no electricity or hot water. He took a cold bath, then quickly rushed onto the bed and covered himself tightly with a quilt.

Professor Yang never imagined that Shi Yuan really got lost when he entered the city and went around to the East City Gate.

He had a bad sense of direction and got dizzy.

He did not dare to turn back into the black mist in the city, for fear of causing panic – he had no idea that his existence had been exposed. He walked home in the rain for a long time, and then took a bath in cold water. His already white face became even whiter, and the scales of his tail were so cold that they exploded slightly.

In the dark, he pulled out the black crystal from under his pillow.

The bright blue butterfly solidified in it, and its wings were fluorescent, shining on his face through translucent crystals.

The phone lit up.

Shi Yuan had sent a message to Lu Tinghan before and asked him when he would come back.

Now Lu Tinghan has replied: [If the situation is good, within a week]

Shi Yuan said: [When you come back, I have something to tell you.]

Lu Tinghan: [Can’t you say it now?]

[No, I have to say it in person.] The surface of the crystal in Shi Yuan’s hand was jagged.

Lu Tinghan didn’t ask, and simply said: [Okay.]

Shi Yuan said: [I’ll wait for you to come back]

When Lu Tinghan returned, he wanted to show him the butterfly and tell him his secret.

Lu Tinghan: [Okay]

Shi Yuan curved his eyes with a smile.

The cold rain in the city was still raining, the long streets were deserted, the buildings were empty, and the chill flooded every corner and seeped in through the windows.

The phone locked the screen, and the room was pitch black again. The only light source was the butterfly wings, and its light fell on Shi Yuan’s bent eyes, shining brightly. Outside the city, the last touch of rose red faded on the horizon. In the woods were damaged cars, a cold gun, brass-colored bullet casings, and vines quietly moving forward, climbing up the newly built mound of stones, blooming a few scarlet flowers.

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