"Moduel A1 is normal.."
"Module D3 is normal."
"The engine…"
The whole plane gave a jerk.
"Unknown engine breakdown!"
"Initiate emergency landing procedure!"
"Commander, the emergency procedure failed to initiate!"
"Switch to manual mode!"
The entire plane shook wildly, and the roar of the engine was intermittent.
Hubbard gripped his seat's armrests and checked that his seat belt was fastened.
"A breakdown?" Lu Feng asked. "Wasn't it checked once prior to takeoff?"
Next to him, Hubbard frowned slightly. "Were we attacked by flying xenogenics during the flight?"
Another officer said, "No, we've been safe the entire time."
Hubbard narrowed his eyes. "Speaking of which, one of our wingmen crashed three hours ago."
The cabin trembled continually, and the plane went up and down. In the end, it finally maintained stability and taxied to the ground.
The cockpit door opened, revealing the pale faces of the deputy commander and navigator. The navigator knelt down next to the trash can and vomited.
"Good heavens…" the deputy commander said. "We were almost done for. There's definitely a problem with the engine. I've never seen this sort of breakdown before. This plane can't be used anymore. It must be completely overhauled."
However, although they were almost done for, they still landed safely.
The moment they got off the plane, Lu Feng lifted his head to look at this city that was bathed in the morning
sunlight. In the Outer City area, a swarm of bees took flight, wings vibrating, and disappeared into the sky.
"Bees?" Hubbard asked.
But they had no time to continue their discussion.
A row of the United Front Center's officers stood neatly at the bottom of the boarding stairs.
"Welcome back." After saluting them, the leader had a serious expression on his face as he said, "On behalf of the base, I congratulate you."
Hubbard had no military rank and thus did not need to
care about the military's ritualistic formalities. Without beating around the bush, he asked, "What's the matter with the base?"
The corners of that officer's mouth tightened. "Unspeakable disaster," he said.
Then he turned toward Lu Feng. "Colonel Lu Feng, please come with us."
Lu Feng looked around and, without saying anything, got into a car with them.
While looking toward the direction they left in, Hubbard's gaze was frozen in place. Next to him was a senior officer of the general staff. Right at that moment, the officer said, "The relationship between the United Front Center and Colonel Lu is not very good."
"I heard that on the very first day he officially became a Judge, he killed one of the United Front Center's lieutenant generals," Hubbard said, arms crossed.
The officer said nothing. In this situation, staying silent was approximately the same as tacit agreement.
United Front Center.
"That's basically the situation," the admiral at the end of the long table said.
The base had a strict military hierarchy, but the Trial Court was an exception. It was initially just a joint organization formed by the Lighthouse and the military, with scientific research personnel heading it, so there were no predefined ranks that were too high up. Afterward, the Trial Court was stationed in the Outer City almost all year round. The Outer City's ranks were even more limited, with the directors of the City Defense Agency and City Affairs Office all being colonels. As a result, many years passed without anyone proposing to elevate the Arbiter's military rank.
But everyone knew that the Arbiter had the authority beyond all other ranks to bring others to trial, maneuver, and issue orders. His actual authority far surpassed what a colonel could have. Precisely because of this, the existence of this position seemed to make people be even more on guard and fearful, but the base was unable to part with it.
Lu Feng's voice was very soft, and no discernible fluctuations of emotion could be heard. "How many people does the base have left?"
"According to the preliminary census, there are 8700 survivors."
"At present, the United Front Center has dispatched a fleet to track the swarm's trajectory," the admiral said.
"Colonel Lu, I must declare that the two immediate suspects in this calamity both have connections to you."
"I am deeply sorry," Lu Feng said. "But I personally am absolutely loyal to the base."
"The base believes in you," the admiral said. "You know what you ought to do."
"Yes." Lu Feng's voice was flat. "Unknown breakdowns have occurred with the PL1109 fleet, so there is no way of executing the flight mission. Requesting alteration."
"Request granted."
———
Dusk had fallen. An Zhe did not know where his black bee wanted to fly to, but he was almost dried out by the wind. Thus, when the black bee landed for a brief rest, he changed into hyphae form again and covered its entire head.
Unsurprisingly, the black bee fell unconscious.
This place, a flat desert, was very dry and unsuited for the survival of mushrooms. From the backpack, An Zhe took out human clothes and put them on, then ate a bit of hardtack and drank some water. With the black bee's body blocking the wind, he planned to sleep for a night first.
The roar of a plane came from the sky. An Zhe tilted his head back and watched it fly south. Over the course of this day, there were more than ten southbound planes. On the black bee's back, An Zhe thought for a good while before finally coming up with a conjecture.
The black bee was also flying south. This swarm of bees definitely had a single destination, someplace suited for bees to live, whereas those human planes—they were pursuing the bee swarm. Their purpose was to kill the bees, because those were bees that had acquired human genes. Among the monsters in the wilderness, arthropods were a very weak group, so if they were not eradicated, human genes would spread throughout the entire wilderness by way of the food chain. If those monsters united to attack the base, it would be very dangerous.
As for why the humans were able to track those bees, he did not know. For the moment, it seemed that his black bee was not within the scope of the pursuit.
He looked at the plane, which was small and seemed to be some kind of fighter craft. It flew very unsteadily, shaking like mad in the air. With a frown, An Zhe quietly watched as the plane gave a violent shudder, burst into a ball of flame in the distant sky, and plummeted down.
He had seen the same spectacle twice during the day as well. Humankind's airplanes frequently had accidents, but he didn't know why.
An Zhe wrapped his clothes around himself tightly and closed his eyes. The roar in the sky was constant, but he was hidden beneath the black bee and it was nighttime, so humans ought to be unable to see him.
Just as he was about to awaken, a loud noise made him give a sudden start, and he opened his eyes.
The wind was very strong, and the roaring noise was loud as well, loud to the point of being strange. An Zhe strove to open his eyes and look at the source. A hundred meters away, one of humankind's small fighter planes suddenly shook in the air. Its nose dipped downward, and then it slammed into the ground with a loud crash. One wing snapped, and the entire plane tilted to one side.
The ground trembled, and thick smoke rose from the plane.
Frowning even more deeply, An Zhe got up and walked in that direction. Sometimes, it was very difficult for him to describe the motivation driving his behavior, just like the day he dragged the grievously wounded and dying An Ze back to his cave.
The cabin door was deformed, having warped and cracked. When An Zhe pushed open the broken cabin door with all his might, a human body rolled out. Clad in the dark blue uniform of a military pilot, he was covered with blood, and his eyes were closed. An Zhe bent down carefully to check for his breath.
He was already dead.
He climbed into the cockpit. In the cockpit's other seat, there was another dead person. An Zhe went inside, and behind were the passenger cabin and weapons cabin. He thought that the two people in front were already no longer breathing and thus beyond saving, but perhaps he could find some supplies here.
In this manner, he walked into the back cabin.
The very next moment, he became completely dumbstruck.
To one side in front of him, there was a person. He was completely still, his head resting against the back of the seat in front.
An Zhe's breathing was about to stop. He strode over to the person, then lifted up his upper body and saw his face.
It was Lu Feng.
Lu Feng was also dead.
An Zhe was completely unable to describe his emotions at the moment. Lu Feng… was dead?
He had no time whatsoever to think about why Lu Feng would appear here. He could only shakily check for his breath.
The following moment, his emotions changed dramatically—he was still breathing. The cabin was in very good condition, and the seat belt had also been buckled very securely. Lu Feng had not been struck by anything, so it must have been that the force of impact during the crashwas too big, causing him to pass out.
Within the entirety of the cramped space was the smell of something burning, and a wisp of smoke drifted over from the cockpit.
He knew they couldn't linger here.
Lu Feng's gun was clipped to his waist. An Zhe took it, then pulled Lu Feng up. Draping the man's arm around his shoulders, An Zhe attempted to move him out.
But it was too difficult. He could not budge Lu Feng, for the distance between the seat and front wall was too small. The acrid burning smell became increasingly strong. From a communicator came the hissing sound of electricity, and it was mixed with an operator's shouts. "United Front Center to Colonel Lu Feng, please respond."
"United Front Center to Fighter PJ103, please respond."
The smoke was getting thicker, and the engine roared. An Zhe gritted his teeth and yanked hard—
He saw Lu Feng abruptly open his eyes.
The world went spinning. Lu Feng reached out and grabbed him, then kicked open the emergency exit door on the side, and the steel debris went tumbling down with the thick smoke. Then he yanked An Zhe to himself, and the two of them fell hard onto the ground below, but Lu Feng did not stop there. Holding An Zhe's wrist in one hand and clasping An Zhe's shoulder with his other hand, he exerted his strength outward, and together they fell into a slight depression in the ground nearby.
It was a little painful. An Zhe unconsciously held on tight to Lu Feng, and the very next second, there was the sound of a deafening explosion in his ears!
In the shallow pit, the ground trembled and rocks rolled down. An Zhe lifted his head and saw a brilliant and powerful firework explode in the night sky. A raging inferno burst to life around the fighter plane, its heat radiating against his face and its glow resembling perpetual golden lightning, and an explosion sent the wreckage of the plane flying like shooting stars in all directions. Someone's broken hand was thrown high into the sky with the firework, where it hung briefly at the peak before falling. The wrist landed outside, and the palm landed not far from them, stirring up a puff of dust.
The plane had blown itself up, just like the two accidents An Zhe had witnessed before.
The sound of the explosion ceased three seconds later, and the surrounding fields went quiet, with only the sounds of the wind and flames being blown by the wind remaining as thick smoke billowed up.
A narrow escape.
If he hadn't gone inside the plane, perhaps Lu Feng's life would have ended in that explosion, and he would have never known who had died in that accident.
Or, even if he did go inside the plane but Lu Feng hadn't woken up in time, the ones to have died would have been both of them.
Having barely gotten away with his life, his heart felt a little suffocated, his blood surged, and his ears rang. All he could hear was the sound of their breathing.
After a long while, he heard Lu Feng murmur, "… Thank you."
An Zhe gasped for a few breaths, his body aching all over. The places that got hurt when he rolled on the ground were no big deal; the residual effects from the electrocution and the soldiers' rough treatment were worse.
An Zhe lifted his head.
In this manner, he and Lu Feng locked eyes.
In the few seconds that they locked eyes, the pain of the electricity stabbing through his entire body arose from the depths of An Zhe's consciousness, and he seemed to have returned to that cramped and ice-cold interrogation room.
It was just that this time, the interrogator became Lu Feng. He felt a greater sense of danger and fear from Lu Feng than anyone else.
Lu Feng looked at him for a long time, but An Zhe could not understand his expression.
He only heard Lu Feng ask, very low and one syllable at a time, "An Zhe?"
An Zhe said nothing.
The name on his ID card was An Ze, but he called himself An Zhe. Even if it was commonplace in the Outer City to be dissatisfied with one's randomly assigned name and thus take the liberty to change it, it still could not cover up the fact that this in itself was a flaw.
That pair of eyes—those eyes that seemed able to see through everything—were exactly the same as the ones from the day they first met. The day he walked through the city gates, he had been prepared to die under the Arbiter's gun, but that day, Lu Feng had spared him.
But he could not escape. This Trial was merely two months late in its arrival.
He heard Lu Feng ask coldly, "Where is the sample?"
An Zhe could not answer this question, but the Arbiter's tone of voice and authority were more frightening to him than electrocution. He bit down hard on his lip. In the end, he said, "I ate it… It's gone."
Lu Feng's fingers gently pressed down on his abdomen. Through a thin layer of fabric, the feeling of the touch was frighteningly distinct, and An Zhe felt numb all over from terror. He understood beyond a shadow of a doubt that if Lu Feng knew that the spore could still be removed, he would cut open An Zhe's body without the slightest hesitation, just like how he had cut An Zhe's hyphae apart with a military knife half a year ago.
He was unable to think. With his mind blank, he could only watch Lu Feng. Beneath the light of the moon and the flames, the Colonel was expressionless, without a hint of warmth in his thin and long eyebrows or his cold green eyes, nor were there any visible emotions. He was forever perfect and cold-hearted.
An Zhe softly panted for breath. He had hidden Lu Feng's gun behind himself, and now he was continuing to surreptitiously push it further back, wishing to hide it even better.
In any case, without his gun, Lu Feng couldn't… couldn't do anything to him.
However, this movement made Lu Feng notice the gun instead, and his eyes turned chillier. With remarkably quick movements and inexorable strength, he securely restrained An Zhe in a one-handed embrace, and with his other hand he pried open An Zhe's fingers and snatched away the gun.
Gasping for breath, An Zhe desperately struggled against—
"Bang!"
A gunshot rang out.
An Zhe's mind went blank for a moment, but then he found that he was still alive. He heard the sound of something heavy falling to the ground in the distance accompanied by a monster's roar, and when he turned around, he saw a lizard-class monster that Lu Feng had squarely hit flailing about as it fell.
An Zhe felt cold all over. He knew that in this world, he and that monster were the same, whereas Lu Feng and they were eternal foes, forever unable to come to an accord.
Right at that moment, choppy and distorted noises came once again from Lu Feng's communicator amidst the sounds of harsh static. "Uni… Center to… 03, please…"
In a cold voice, Lu Feng replied to the call, "PJ103 has received comms. The fighter plane has crashed, and the pilot is confirmed dead."
"Please… mission progress. Send… coordinates."
The voice became increasingly distorted and choppy. If it was not because a problem had occurred with the communicator, then it was that the base's communication network covering the wilderness had collapsed again. During the month that he was in the Outer City, An Zhe had learned from snippets of the mercenary teams' conversations that the signal out in the wilderness had never been good.
He heard Lu Feng say flatly, "The target is under control."
"… order. Confirm… xenogenic type. Get the lost… clues… shot dead. Please—"
"Do you hear me?" Lu Feng's voice was hoarse. At the end of his sentence, there seemed to be a bit of a tremble, but there was more of a tough coldness. "Answer me."
The ice-cold muzzle of the gun pressed against An Zhe's temple. For the first time in his life, he realized how close he was to death, and terror held firm sway over him. Trembling, he said, "I… I won't hand it over."
"PJ103, please immediately—"
The sound of the broadcast from the communicator pushed all emotions to their apex.
Then it came to an abrupt stop the very next moment.
"Bzz—"
The static grew louder. It started as a rustle, then it became a long buzz, and finally, after a high-frequency sound that shot up, it suddenly disappeared.
Taking its place was a soft female voice with a gentle frequency. "I'm sorry, but due to the effects of the solar wind or the ionosphere, the base's signal has been interrupted. This is normal. Please refrain from panicking and carry out all activities as usual. The communication signal will recover at some point. At that time, the public broadcasts will be sent to you, so please stay tuned."
"I'm sorry, but due to the effects of the solar wind or the ionosphere…"
An Zhe was still being securely held. They were so close that it was a distance where the peril had reached its maximum. Lu Feng could kill him anytime and anywhere, and he could feel Lu Feng's heartbeat and breaths—his face clearly looked so calm, but the rate of his heartbeat was not at all slow.
The fingers Lu Feng was holding An Zhe's shoulder with tightened, coincidentally touching his injury. An Zhe gave a start, and his vision was covered with a layer of mist. With his body trembling, he let out a whimper.
The ice-cold muzzle of the gun was still pressed to his temple, having not been warmed up by his body heat in the slightest. Likewise, the terror and shadow of death had not retreated even a little. An Zhe opened his mouth, and in that moment, he was practically unable to even speak. He knew he had already fallen apart—if mushrooms could also fall apart.
Everything he had seen in his life flashed before his eyes, but he could not grasp anything nor obtain anything. Merely two nights ago, he was still thinking about how exactly to lie in order to protect the Colonel.
"I… won't hand it over to you." He protected his abdomen with his hands, his voice both trembling so badly that he could not form whole sentences and carrying the undertone of a sob. "I… hate you."
The muzzle of the gun suddenly trembled.
"… Please stay tuned."
The final sound of the broadcast played.
Everything went silent.
The fire of the wreckage went out, and the sound of the communicator stopped. All communications had been cut off.
Here, there was no trace of human existence, only open country all around and unbroken desert that connected directly to the night sky.
Just like humankind had never existed. No humans, no human culture, and no human base. All of the—all of the exhausting entanglements and all of the painful struggles disappeared along with the signal, suddenly dissipating like ashes and smoke.
Upon this ancient desert, only the two of them remained.
With a muffled thump, the gun fell to the ground.
Lu Feng closed his eyes and held An Zhe tightly in his arms.