Chapter 20

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Chapter 20: The Degenerated Species

Zhu Huai was about to ask something when she suddenly met Luo Yu’s eyes and sensed her disapproval. So, she glanced back and shut her mouth.

Mo Chuan noticed that none of the three spoke and smiled, saying, “I know this must be a difficult decision for you. It’s fine; you don’t need to give an answer right away. We will continue to provide you with engineering support to repair the time capsules until you make your decision, so don’t worry.”

Luo Yu nodded. “Thank you for the touching invitation, but we need to think it over a bit more. Thank you for understanding.”

“I want to confirm if your concerns are related to your mission, right?” After hearing Luo Yu’s response, Mo Chuan added, “If you find this question uncomfortable to answer, you don’t have to.”

Luo Yu thought for a moment and looked at her. “The mission is part of the reason.”

“Okay, I understand.” Mo Chuan didn’t press further and turned to Ao Ci, “Director Ao Ci, please continue.”

Ao Ci took a sip of water, leisurely set the cup back on the table, and looked at the three of them. “On the day of your emergency landing, when we performed the super crystal implantation, we also collected blood and genetic samples. These have all been sent to my lab. The test results over the past few days have come out, along with the findings from the autopsy of Test Subject 014 and the live experimental results of Test Subject 015. I believe that humanity is exhibiting overall genetic degeneration after thirty thousand years.”

After saying that, she glanced at the three of them and continued, “Additionally, from your genetic sample library, as well as blood samples from all three of you and inside Test Subjects 014 and 015, we found traces of nuclear radiation and microplastic residues. This provides insight into how the technology in your time is still in a barbaric development state. There is a certain level of technological production, but you do not have the ability to control harmful substance diffusion. Although the detected levels are not yet at a point to jeopardize health, I still recommend you come to my facility for a full body purification to eliminate these foreign substances from your system.”

The traces of nuclear radiation likely stemmed from the ocean nuclear leak ten years ago. The International Health Bureau had been monitoring the impact of that incident on humans, but the actual effects on the entire human population wouldn’t be clear for at least thirty years. Thus, each country was initially anxious, but over time, they became numb to it.

After all, the world situation changed daily, presenting various urgent troubles more pressing than this issue. After a long time, people became indifferent; as everyone carried trace residues and had health problems, it was no longer considered a problem.

The three exchanged complex glances, and Luo Yu turned back to say, “Thank you, Director, for your kindness. When you have time, we will visit again.”

“Sure, I’ll be available tomorrow.”

They sat in the conversation room for a little while longer before returning to the exhibition hall. Once inside, they heard the elders who had just watched the live stream discussing the reasons for the state of the time from thirty thousand years ago.

“Maybe we encountered an irresistible disaster similar to the great extinction of ancient times.”

“But the disaster did not lead to human extinction. If everything started over, it would still continue our developmental history. At least, I don’t believe humanity would willingly relinquish sovereignty to become tools for male variants to reproduce.”

“Although the species didn’t become extinct, humans have indeed shown signs of degeneration in stature, which may be related to genetic mutations causing shifts in societal structure.”

Just as they spoke about physical degeneration, Luo Yu and her companions returned to the exhibition hall, and everyone turned to look at them. As Luo Yu entered, she overheard the elders’ conversation and had to admit that humanity’s physical form had indeed degenerated significantly.

Seeing them return, an elderly lady sitting at the front asked with a smile, “Back already? How was the discussion?”

Ao Ci also smiled and nodded, “It went well. They will visit me again tomorrow; we have had many research results these past few days that still need to be organized.”

Another elderly lady chimed in, “Good, we look forward to hearing your presentation at the summer grand council the day after tomorrow.”

They then noticed Zhu Huai entering as well, knowing she was an engineer from the Shan Hai Jing, and inquired about the recovery of the sky curtain.

“I have completely shut down the deployment process; there will be no further incidents of live streaming uncontrollably into the outside world. The recovery of the sky curtain will also not fail, as all records are retained in our recovery system.”

After Zhu Huai repaired the flooded control panel, Mo Chuan sought to back up the recovery panel, but due to inconsistencies in data interfaces between the two timeframes, the deployment device couldn’t directly access the live stream backup. Thus, Mo Chuan contacted an expert from the footage equipment center to help devise an adaptive reader.

It was said that the new reader would be completed in five days, and during this period, Mo Chuan’s time investigation team could still access previously recorded footage, so Zhu Huai shutting down the deployment process wouldn’t hinder their ongoing research on the broadcast content.

Upon learning there would be no more uncontrolled overflow, the elders expressed their satisfaction. They hoped to learn more about the future, but only on the condition that it didn’t disrupt the local residents’ lives. If live streams kept appearing and interrupting people’s leisure time, that would be inappropriate.

After exchanging a few more words, everyone in the exhibition hall dispersed. Luo Yu, the other two, and the elders went outside to the helipad, watching as they boarded the aircraft one by one until Mo Chuan boarded last and waved goodbye to them.

Once everyone had left, the three returned to the hangar. As soon as Luo Yu stepped into the operation room, she sent all the assistant robots out. After shutting the door, she turned to Zhu Huai and asked, “You mentioned the ‘deployment system malfunction’ before. What wasn’t working?”

Zhu Huai frowned in thought, confusion still lingering in her tone. “At that time, I was thinking of conducting a virus check on the deployment system before shutting it down. What if it wasn’t just the control panel flooding? The virus check got stuck on a positioning module; everything else checked out, but that one wouldn’t move. When I thought to check the source code, it closed by itself. That’s when the broadcast got mixed up. I tried a couple more times but had no luck, so I quickly halted the virus check and forced the process to shut down.”

After finishing, Zhu Huai sat down next to the maintenance station. “This system is too complex. I don’t have the authority to dismantle the hardware, and I can’t unlock the recovery panel’s back. To get to the bottom of this issue, we need to contact the recovery center.”

“What’s the positioning module used for?” Ying Zhao asked.

“I don’t know; it’s not in the recovery terminology dictionary.” Zhu Huai replied helplessly, “The information from the recovery center doesn’t detail the names and specific implementations of all processes; those are considered core functions.”

Luo Yu had been quietly listening from the side. Once Zhu Huai finished speaking, she propped her chin in thought and said, “Last time, Professor Ti Ran said she could help us repair the communication device. I was thinking of using the technology here to try to contact the ground directly. If that works, we should be able to find answers to many strange situations.”

Zhu Huai, however, was not optimistic. “Going around the space station, I think that’s tough.”

After they finished discussing, they checked the current repair progress of the Shan Hai Jing. The engineering assistant robots were working efficiently; not only had they completed repairs to the exterior hull as per Zhu Huai’s plan, but they also reinforced all the internal facilities, including the built-in oxygen circulation system.

All that remained were the repairs to the air-tight transition layers of the windows and doors, the modification of the power cabin, and finally fixing the communication device and reinstalling the control panel to declare the job well done.

They stayed in the hangar until night fell, having dinner together in the operation room before slowly heading back.

Since the afternoon, Zhu Huai had been wanting to ask what they thought of the "invitation" from earlier, but she hadn’t found the right moment until they entered the cave villa. She finally asked, “What do you think about Mo Chuan’s suggestion of ‘settling down’?”

Luo Yu looked back at her, “She sincerely invited us, but let’s not take it too seriously. After all, we must return.” After saying this, she waved at the other two and pushed open the archway to her suite.

Zhu Huai and Ying Zhao stood in the lounge, watching her close the door, and exchanged glances without speaking.

That night, the cliff dwelling villa was as tranquil and peaceful as ever. Inside the suite, the three of them finished washing up and stood by their bedroom windows, gazing at the bright, shining moonlight, each lost in their own thoughts.

The next morning, as the three sat in the lounge finishing breakfast and waiting for the housekeeping robot to clear the table, a panel on the round table popped up with a message: “Assistant researcher of Director Ao Ci will arrive at the entrance of the ninth cliff dwelling in half an hour to escort the three of you to the Biological Research Station.”

They confirmed the message just as the housekeeping robot entered to clear the dishes. While sitting on the circular soft cushions in the hall, they quietly watched the view outside. The waterfall’s flow had grown even more majestic in recent days, with white mist billowing below and a faint rainbow appearing in the middle of the cascade.

Such natural beauty captivated them, and even after a few days, they never grew tired of it.

As the time drew near, an alert sounded from the entrance control panel: “Arrivals at the cliff dwelling entrance.”

The three stood up, adjusted their outfits, and walked out. Indeed, they saw an aircraft parked on the platform outside, with a familiar young assistant from Director Ao Ci’s team in the cockpit.

After greeting each other, they boarded the aircraft, this time landing not through the dark river at the bottom of the lake but at a flat riverbank. After exiting the aircraft, the assistant led them down a wide path in the forest to the entrance of an underground cave.

This turned out to be the entrance to the Biological Research Station, and the route appeared longer than the last time they came, explaining why Mo Chuan had previously mentioned taking a shortcut.

As they walked deeper into the underground cave, it became increasingly spacious, well-constructed, and bright, noticeably cooler than outside. After about five minutes of walking, they reached the gate of the research station, verified their identities, and entered, where a guiding robot awaited them.

The guiding robot and the assistant led them inside again to the corridor marked "Primates."

“Director Ao Ci is still reviewing experimental data; please wait in this room for a moment,” the guiding robot said as it opened one of the doors.

There was already someone inside; Test Subject 015, wearing a lab coat, sat in a transparent cage. He turned around upon seeing them and excitedly stood up. “Captain!”

“Please sit, ladies.” The assistant gestured to the sofa beside them and had a Serving Robot bring drinks to the coffee table. “I’ll go fetch the director.” With that, she turned and exited with the guiding robot.

015 stared blankly at them. Noticing that their clothing was similar to that of the staff here, he realized they had acclimatized to this place. When he saw the assistant’s polite attitude towards them, he exclaimed in frustration, “What’s going on? Why are they treating us so differently?” He tugged at his lab coat, his voice trembling, “They don’t even give me clothes to wear! They treat me like a gorilla for their experiments, with no dignity at all! Why don’t you have to be test subjects? Why?!” By the end, he was nearly shouting.

“This world has different rules now. We are fortunate to still preserve our humanity…” Zhu Huai sat at the far left side of the sofa, looking at 015 with disdain, and sneered, “You, my male colleague, are the real specimen.”