Director Wu was somewhat surprised by Xing Bi's question. In his understanding, biological organisms rarely paid attention to their own lifespans, and humans also rarely paid attention to their lifespans.
Especially today's human beings.
The world today is no longer the world of the heyday of biochemicals. Even the fragile humans who would die if touched by the outside world now far outnumber biochemicals.
Whether in Cloud City, in a ruined city, or in a dangerous wasteland, biochemical bodies are more often like a legend.
Director Wu, as one of the small number of humans in this world who knows the most about biochemical organisms, seems to have never thought about this question.
What they think more about is whether these biochemical bodies are enabled, whether they are controllable, whether they are dangerous, their strength, thoughts, emotions...
As for life span, one can live a long time. He has lived a long time in the past and may live a long time in the future.
"I'm sorry." Director Wu said.
"Hmm?" Xing Bi glanced at him. "It's so sudden. Why don't you bow again?"
"I've never thought about this question," said Director Wu. "Your lifespan."
"For humans, this question is indeed not easy to think of," said Xing Bi.
"I don't know if it can be detected," said Director Wu. "If necessary, I can try it, using the method used for human testing, and then make a rough estimate, but it may not be accurate, and I will gradually improve it later."
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded and said nothing else.
"Why?" Director Wu sat down on the chair next to him.
"Have you ever had someone or something that you care about or can't let go of?" Xing Bi asked.
Director Wu was silent for a while, then he let out a sigh of relief: "Maybe there is none now, but there was one before, my wife."
"Do you have a wife?" Xing Bi asked.
"He's been dead for more than ten years," said Director Wu. "It was a fungal infection."
"Is that so?" Xing Bi said softly.
"When she died, I felt that my life was meaningless," said Director Wu. "In this world, separation and death are too common, too ordinary, and you can't even seek a little comfort. Everyone has had such an experience, partners, parents, children..."
Xing Bi said nothing.
"Is it because of Qiu Shi?" asked Director Wu.
"Your reaction." Xing Bi smiled.
"It's a little slow. I haven't thought about these things in my mind for a long time." Director Wu smiled. "It's difficult for humans to survive in this world. There are very few people who can stay together until old age. Most people spend their lives alone. It's probably the same whether it's a longer or shorter life."
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded.
"I'm not good at talking, and I can't explain some things," Director Wu said, "I can only try to test it for you, but... no matter how long it takes... you may have to face it. After all, there are only a few perverts like Li Feng who have lived for more than 30 years and only like himself."
Xing Bi laughed: "Why is the hatred between you two so deep? You even cursed me when you were trying to enlighten me."
"I'm not trying to enlighten you. You've experienced a lot and seen a lot, and your teacher is such a great professor," said Director Wu. "I just suddenly felt a little emotional these days."
"Thank you." Xing Bi said.
"We won't move," Hu Xiaoling waved his arms around, "Even if this bunker has no practical use in the future, it's still where we live."
"That's true," He Jiang took a bite of canned food, "I was a little uncomfortable living in the dormitory in Xima Town."
"This area will not be moved in the future," Zhao Lu said quietly as he sat next to Qiu Shi. "It is now a restricted area where no one is allowed to enter."
"We still have face," said Hu Xiaoling.
"Fuck face," Qiu Shi said, "half of the face is given to the hole at the back where we dumped the body. Can anyone approach that place casually?"
"Fuck," Zhao Lu laughed, "Can you please not attack us?"
"Where is Xiao Lei?" Qiu Shi asked.
"There are still a lot of things going on over there," said Zhao Lieutenant. "They are no longer the bullied lackeys of the corpse collection team. They have a few more people under them. We have to listen to Captain Xiao."
"But he hasn't changed at all," Hu Xiaoling said, "He's still the same..."
"Qiu Shi!" A shout came from outside the door.
"Listen to that force!" said Hu Xiaoling.
When Xiao Lei came in, he was covered in dust and debris. Before Qiu Shi could dodge, he was already standing in front of Qiu Shi with tears in his eyes.
Qiu Shi really didn't want to hug him, but if he hesitated for even a second he was afraid that Xiao Lei would cry silently, so he could only hug him quickly and pat him on the back.
"Oh, this dust!" a group of people shouted.
Xiao Lei smiled and said, "I just blasted a rock and cleared the ground."
"Are you still working together?" Qiu Shi asked.
"They are all refugees. They have poor physical strength and limited knowledge. There are many things they cannot learn even if they are taught," Xiao Lei sighed. "If we let them do this kind of thing, I'm afraid they will all be killed before the work is done."
"Be careful. What are you building now?" Qiu Shi patted his arm, and a cloud of dust was raised again. Everyone shouted again.
"School." Xiao Lei said, "It will be completed soon. It has eight classrooms and is quite large, similar to the ones in the inner city. The rocks were blasted to clear a piece of land for a playground. Director Lu of the Urban Construction Bureau said that schools must have a playground and space for activities."
"Well," Qiu Shi inexplicably wanted to avoid these two words, "Then... can I go to school?"
"Yes, you should all go to school." Xiao Lei said and looked at Zhao Lu and the others.
"Get out—ah—" a group of people shouted in a long voice.
"You want to be a teacher?" He Jiang looked at Xiao Lei. "I'm really afraid that the refugee students will beat you up."
"I won't go. I'm not at that level," Xiao Lei said. "There is a teacher. Qiu Shi knows him."
"Who?" Qiu Shi became alert upon hearing this. Although he immediately thought of the person who could be the teacher, he was really... unhappy.
"Li Rui, Teacher Li." Xiao Lei said.
"Fuck..." said Qiu Shi.
"Who?" Zhao Lu asked, "Is he from outside? Is there anyone else out there who can be a teacher?"
"A..." Qiu Shi didn't know what to say, "A good kid, he really knows a lot, he reads books from our ancestors, and they tell stories we don't know."
"How small?" As the youngest brother in the corpse collection team, Hu Xiaoling immediately became interested.
"Fifteen years old." Qiu Shi said.
"Fuck." Hu Xiaoling was shocked.
"I will never go to school," Qiu Shi said to Xing Bi confidently while sitting in the car, "Do you know who the teacher is?"
"It's not just Li Rui who is the teacher," Xing Bi said, "There are other teachers, including three biochemical teachers."
"Mr. Li San can be a teacher with a biochemical being?" Qiu Shi was even more shocked.
Xing Bi laughed. "Part human, part biochemical. Li Rui's knowledge is quite broad, he has read a lot of books, and his background is quite special, so he is suitable for teaching refugees and vagrants."
Qiu Shi thought about Li Rui's "background" for a while, and said with a sigh: "Why, if someone doesn't study hard, can he still chop people down in the middle of the class?"
“But students feel that if they don’t attend class properly, they might be hacked to death,” Xing Bi said, “and maybe they will behave themselves.”
“… What the hell kind of school is this?” Qiu Shi said.
"Li Feng once promised you a school to improve the teaching quality of refugee schools." Xing Bi said with a smile.
Li Feng did promise him, although he did not take it seriously at the time, but when he saw that after the outer city was expanded, in addition to the shelter and the supply station, the first thing built was the school, he was indeed indescribably moved.
"Where are we going?" Qiu Shi asked.
After checking his injuries in the laboratory, he came out and got in the car with Xing Bi. After driving for a long time, he remembered to ask a question, because he had never been on this road before.
"The military base in Yuncheng." Xing Bi said.
"What's going on?" Qiu Shi sat up straight, looked around, and found that Li Feng's car was following behind their car.
"Prepare to destroy the general's brain." Xing Bi said.
Qiu Shi was stunned. He had no idea about the general's brain. After seeing the brains in Video 249 and those in the research institute, he also didn't want anyone else's brain to be soaked in water and plugged in to electricity, at the mercy of others.
But these were not his first thoughts.
"Then are all his memories, the ones we accessed before," Qiu Shi whispered, "gone?"
"Yes." Xing Bi said.
"Then the teacher... the last bit of consciousness the teacher had, is it gone?" Qiu Shi asked.
"Yes." Xing Bi said.
Qiu Shi didn't say anything else and sighed softly.
"Life is like this, constantly saying goodbye," Xing Bi said, "to the people you care about, to the people you hate, to the people you are familiar with, to your friends, to your comrades, to your relatives, to your loved ones."
Qiu Shi raised his hand and hugged Xing Bi, gently touched his face, and then brought him towards him. Xing Bi leaned over and lay sideways on his legs.
"Director Wu said that Wang Hong and Zhang Tan were put in a hibernation capsule," Qiu Shi said in a very light voice, "Humans can also be in a hibernation capsule..."
"No." Xing Bi decisively rejected the idea he had not yet finished saying, "I don't want you to become someone who only exists for my emotional needs."
Qiu Shi scratched his hair.
"We have done so much just to be able to live better in the present, as human beings, as biological entities," Xing Bi said, "not being someone's appendage, not existing for anyone, and not being controlled by anyone."
"Yeah." Qiu Shi nodded.
"Also, don't even think about trying it. Those hibernation pods are made based on the characteristics of biological bodies," Xing Bi said. "It may work for a short period of time, but over time, you might turn into a mummy."
"Fuck," Qiu Shi laughed, "I won't go into the hibernation chamber, so there's no need to disgust me like that."
"Your strengthening system can speed up your body's self-repair and improve various functions," Xing Bi said, "As long as you don't commit suicide by blowing yourself up with a homemade bomb, you will live longer than ordinary humans."
"Fuck your ancestors, just chat, don't bring up the past and curse at me." Qiu Shi said.
"Just to remind you," Xing Bi said, "you'd better live carefully for me."
"Yeah." Qiu Shi nodded.
Xing Bi's pet suddenly shook. Before Xing Bi could take it, the pet was automatically connected. Li Feng's voice came out: "The checkpoint ahead, have you two finished? Sit tight."
"Fuck!" Qiu Shi was furious. He turned around and pointed at Li Feng's car behind him. He couldn't see clearly whether Li Feng was sitting in the passenger seat. "Do you have any serious thoughts in your head? What the hell are you doing? What the hell can you do?"
"Sit down." Li Feng said.
"No." Qiu Shi said as he slapped Xing Bi, who was about to sit up, back onto his legs.
"Okay." Li Feng said.
They had indeed arrived at the checkpoint. When Qiu Shi looked forward, the soldiers at the checkpoint had already raised a small stop sign and were walking towards their car.
The driver also rolled down the window.
"Get up, get up," Qiu Shi shook his legs, "Get up, fuck, someone is coming."
Xing Bi sat up while laughing and leaned back in his seat.
"No." Li Feng said.
"End the call!" said Qiu Shi.
Xing Bi ended the call and put the pet back in his pocket.
The inspecting soldier looked back from the cab and saw Qiu Shi lowering the partition.
"Captain Qiu, Captain Xing." The soldier saluted them and gestured to let them pass.
The car drove into a spiral tunnel and drove down for a long time before stopping in a mine. It looked like a parking lot, but it was very small and there were already two cars parked inside.
Colonel Yu and Colonel Xu are already waiting here.
Qiu Shi hadn't seen Colonel Xu since she was transferred from the operations team. When he saw her this time, he felt that she seemed to have aged several years and looked a little tired.
"Colonel Xu." Qiu Shi got out of the car and greeted him.
"It's been a long time since we last met," Colonel Xu looked at him, "you look different now."
Qiu Shi didn't say anything.
"Let's go in," Colonel Yu said, "We're ready. We'll start as soon as everyone is here."
Li Feng walked over, touched a small door next to him, pressed a button on the password box that popped up, and the door opened silently.
Li Feng let Colonel Yu and Colonel Xu go in first, and then they followed.
This is a place that Qiu Shi has never been to. Xing Bilai doesn't know about it because he has never been here. It looks almost the same as the room that connects to the brain in the exhibition hall.
However, Qiu Shi didn't quite understand why Colonel Xu was there in such an occasion. He always thought that Colonel Xu would never appear at the scene of the core operation again.
Li Feng obviously saw through his confusion. He walked while operating the pet. Then the pet flew behind him and projected a line of words on his back.
The general's only descendant.
Only when the words disappeared did Qiu Shi realize that they were referring to Colonel Xu.
He turned around and looked at Xing Bi in shock. Xing Bi shrugged, indicating that he had just found out about it too.
However, it can be seen that Colonel Xu did not know before that the general only had one brain left, or she did not know that the general actually had one brain left.
When she saw the brain in the glass jar in the secret room, her whole body shook slightly.
Qiu Shi had seen many brains. The general's brain was no different from those he had seen before, and the preservation method was basically the same.
There were not many people who witnessed the general's death, except for the few who just arrived, as well as Director Wu and Mr. Long.
Everyone looked in silence at the brain connected to wires and floating quietly in the liquid before them.
"Thank you General for all these years," Li Feng said, "The residents of Yuncheng will always remember your contributions to Yuncheng. You have worked hard, General."
Qiu Shi didn't know how Li Feng could say these words so seriously, as if he was not facing a brain, but the general himself on the sickbed.
"After you leave, Yuncheng will continue to move forward," Li Feng said, "and strive to become a real paradise, providing a place to live for those who want to survive in this world."
After saying that, he gestured to Xing Bi. After all, Xing Bi was the only one who had truly ended the "life" of a brain here.
Xing Bi's operation was actually very simple. He walked over and found the power supply of the energy supply system. He glanced at Li Feng and turned off the main switch.
As the water in the tank gradually became turbid, the brain began to tremble slightly, and then the surface tissue began to fall off bit by bit...
No one knows whether the general left his brain in order to be resurrected again or for some other reason. Mr. Long may know, and Li Feng should know too, but they will never mention it again.
With the disappearance of this brain, the pursuit of immortality was put on hold.
The people in the room looked at the chaotic water tank. The brain had completely disappeared, leaving only a few wires floating in the liquid.
"Please inform the residents of Yuncheng, Mr. Long," Li Feng said, "the general has unfortunately passed away. The general's work will be taken over by the general. Minister Liu has prepared the speech for you."
Mr. Long said nothing, turned around and walked away.
Colonel Xu walked forward, stared at the jar for a while, then turned around silently and prepared to leave.
"Colonel Xu," Colonel Yu stopped her, "I'm afraid your report cannot be approved. You are a rare talent in Yuncheng, and Yuncheng needs you."
"I understand." Colonel Xu said, glanced at Li Feng, and slowly walked out.
"How do we deal with this?" Director Wu looked at the liquid in the tank.
"Seal off this hall." Li Feng said.
"How to seal it?" asked Director Wu.
"Casting." Li Feng said.
"I'll arrange someone to do it." said Colonel Yu.
"Let's go," Li Feng turned around and walked out, "We are all very tired, let's take a break, there is no end to the work ahead."
Back at the parking lot, Qiu Shi and Xing Bi got in the car. Just as they were about to close the door, Li Feng got in: "Let's go to the lab."
"Didn't you just say that everyone should take a break?" Qiu Shi looked at him.
"We are not everyone." said Li Feng.
"What are you going to the lab for?" Xing Bi asked.
"The symbionts who volunteered to undergo the reverse experiment before responded well," Li Feng said, "Director Wu wants to try it on Zheng Ting. Besides, aren't you going to spend some time alone? There's a job that can help..."
"You really are good at getting on with someone!" Qiu Shi kicked the seat next to Li Feng.
"We have two people to deal with," Li Feng said, "what can we do?"
"What job?" Xing Bi asked.
Li Feng glanced at him and said, "Old Wu used some experimental data from the base to make some reagents that can kill fungi, but the effect is not stable. There is more than one kind of fungi at present, so we need..."
"We need to take reagents out to find different types of fungi for testing," said Xing Bi.
"Yes," Li Feng said, "By the way..."
"Fuck | your ancestor Li Feng," Qiu Shi was so angry that he laughed, "Don't bother talking about it, just talk about this mission."
"The mission has a deadline, and we have to report," Li Feng said, "You don't have a deadline, so you don't need to report."
"You are so bold to say that. I admire you for that," Qiu Shi said. "Whether you are exploring your 'general' path or conducting experiments to kill fungi, which one of these doesn't need to be done as quickly as possible? Which one of these can you not report if you encounter a situation?"
"I wish you a pleasant journey," Li Feng said, "My suggestion is to go south, from Xima Town."
"I'm not going!" said Qiu Shi.
"Then I'll give you two a mission," Li Feng said, "Go south from Xima Town..."
The author has something to say:
To be continued tomorrow⊙▽⊙.
I thought I could finish it today, but found out there is still one chapter to go⊙▽⊙.