Peach Blossom Spring

Chapter 72: Butterfly

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After the meeting, Qiu Shi and Xing Bi did not leave immediately, and Li Feng kept them.

After several ministers and Colonel Yu left, Li Feng met with Zhang Qifeng and returned to the meeting room: "Director Zhang will return to Donglin Town tonight. Xing Bi, you can pick a group of people to take with him first, and then send someone with experience to keep an eye on them."

"Why was Director Zhang sent first?" asked Director Wu.

"He doesn't have that many ideas," Li Feng said. "He has been involved in these things from the beginning, so he has a deeper understanding. Also... his son is going too, so he will be more cautious and less likely to have an accident."

"Zhang Sihai is the biggest surprise." Director Wu frowned.

"He has grown up, grown up," Li Feng said. "I saw him in the parking lot before the meeting. He has wrinkles on his face. He looks like Qiu Shi's uncle."

"Is it possible to describe it?" Qiu Shi said.

"How many people do you want to bring with you?" Xing Bi asked.

"You decide," Li Feng said, "who stays in Donglin and who goes to Xingchuan."

"Yeah." Xing Bi responded.

"Then let's get down to business," Li Feng lit a cigarette, "Um..."

"If you're not feeling energetic, I have some medicine. If oral administration isn't enough, you can inject it," Director Wu frowned. Now that there were no high-ranking officials like ministers or colonels in the conference room, he dared to speak up. "I didn't have this much addiction before. What's wrong with me now?"

"It's not that I'm listless, it's that I'm anxious," Li Feng put the cigarette box aside, "Everyone here is a personal participant in this lab re-opening. I asked you to stay mainly because I want to have a detailed chat. If you have any ideas, feel free to speak up."

"I want to confirm one thing first," Qiu Shi asked, "The data man doesn't live in the general's memory, right? He can come and go freely through the lines in the general's brain."

"Yes." Wang Hong nodded.

"Then when I connect," Qiu Shi looked at Wang Hong, "can he get into my brain from the general?"

Qiu Shi’s question was obviously something Li Feng had not expected. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Wang Hong.

"No, this data... person," Wang Hong said, "We temporarily determine that he is the data of a01 and 249. He needs to pass..."

"Wait a minute," Qiu Shi frowned, "What is this A01?"

"It's the missing first-generation biochemical body," Li Feng looked at him, "This is his number. Do you remember this number?"

"I feel these numbers are somewhat familiar." Qiu Shi closed his eyes and tilted his head back.

"Don't fall asleep." Li Feng reminded him.

"I heard that somewhere," Qiu Shi said, "Have you mentioned it again?"

"This is the first time I've mentioned this to you," Xing Bi said. "I haven't mentioned it before. Have you heard or seen it in the general's rooms?"

"Yes," Qiu Shi suddenly opened his eyes, "The teacher said so, he said so! He said it's 249!"

"Are you sure?" Li Feng asked.

"Sure," Qiu Shi looked at him, "but there's no A01 or anything like that."

"This should be referring to the same person, right?" Li Feng looked at Wang Hong.

"249 is the identification number. Each biochemical body has one number and there will be no duplication," Zhang Tan said nearby. "That's him."

"249 has no relevant information or files," Li Feng said. "His data entered the cable network. It is not clear whether he did it himself or someone else. Do the two chiefs have any clues?"

"No, but we think he is guarding the general's memory," Wang Hong said. "There are things he wants in the general's memory. When Teacher and Qiu Shi entered, they were hunted down and killed by him."

"What's in the general's memory?" Li Feng leaned back in his chair. "The general is not a very capable person. Yuncheng has not had a war for so many years. The general's role is more of a talisman, a symbol. Why do we have to keep his brain?"

"Does Mr. Long know?" asked Director Wu.

"He doesn't know," Li Feng said. "I talked to him a few words before coming to the meeting. I have observed him in the laboratory these days and can see that he may not know as much as the two chiefs about many things."

"Qiu Shi and I will go back to Xima Town." Xing Bi said.

"Are there any clues there?" Li Feng asked.

"There is another generation," Xing Bi said, "but it is dying soon."

"The biochemical body is dying?" Li Feng frowned.

"It's his own choice." Xing Bi said.

"Who is he? Can we bring him back?" Director Wu asked immediately, leaning towards Xing Bi with some excitement. "He may be the only one of his generation, and he is older than the era you experienced. He may be very helpful for us to study the technology of that time..."

"Old Wu," Li Feng interrupted him, "be normal."

Director Wu sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"What we need to do now is, first, to find out the origin and background of 249," Li Feng said, "Second, to find out how he moved. Does he have... a home, I mean, a hiding place? Or has he always been in those cables..."

"Of course he needs to save himself," Zhang Tan said. "When he enters the general's memory, his memory won't be complete. Otherwise, if the connection is interrupted, he might be trapped inside."

"The part of him that is active may even be just a copy of himself," Wang Hong said. "What we can find may be copies. We need to find the location where his real data is stored."

"Fuck," Qiu Shi frowned, "How do I find this?"

"We need..." Wang Hong looked at the cable diagram still projected on the wall.

"A distribution map of all cables." said Director Wu.

"Do we have it?" Li Feng asked.

"No." Director Wu said, "We are just a mining company that escaped. We have money and land. We took away some data from that time and carried a laboratory. Compared with the huge scientific and technological system at that time, it is just a drop in the bucket. The people at that time have died several times. Moreover, looking at the records, the scale of the war and the final explosion and fire, I am afraid that the data left behind will not be..."

"Let's go to Xima Town first," Li Feng looked at Xing Bi, "The generation you can contact may be our only clue now."

"Yeah." Xing Bi responded and prepared to get up.

"I can go in again," Qiu Shi said, "There must be some clues in the general's memory."

"No." Li Feng refused decisively, "Absolutely not."

"No," Wang Hong, a madman who was looking forward to the connection with Qiu Shi, also objected. "You can't go in if you are not 100% sure that there is what we are looking for. The unknown damage is very serious. Your research is very valuable, so you can't take risks casually..."

"Watch your words, Chief," Qiu Shi said. "What research value? I want to hit you when I hear that."

Go back to Xima Town and set off immediately.

Qiu Shi looked at the two large boxes of supplies that had been placed next to their car and couldn't help but admire Li Feng. In the ten minutes that Xing Bi had instructed Lin Sheng about the matter of deriving the transformed body to assist Zhang Qifeng, Li Feng, whose job was to ensure the supply, had already prepared everything for them.

Start your journey instantly and seamlessly.

"How did Li Feng's secretary and assistant survive?" Qiu Shi got into the car and sat in the passenger seat, leaning back. "The directors all work like this, so they must be even more exhausted."

"No matter what era it is, even if it's been two hundred years," Xing Bi said as he started the car and drove out of the city, "these workers are all equally tired."

Li Feng looked at the map in front of him and didn't speak for a long time.

There were only him and Chen Dang in the conference room. In order to respond to the call for saving electricity from the Security Bureau, Director Wu only left one lamp in the corner of the conference table for them.

"Do you have anything else to add?" Li Feng said.

"No." said Chen Dang.

"Can I believe it?" Li Feng asked.

"You should be able to tell," Chen Dang said, "I don't know much. If Zheng Ting's central nervous system is not damaged, maybe we can find something."

"Xing Bi did not destroy his system," Li Feng said, "Old Wu and the others will try to analyze it."

"That's all I can think of." Chen Dang said.

"My instinct is to trust you," Li Feng glanced at him, "but my rationality makes it hard for me to do so. Biochemical bodies are really strong in some aspects and they are scary."

"In my opinion, humans are powerful enough to be scary," said Chen Dang.

"Are you talking about Qiu Shi?" Li Feng smiled.

"People like Qiu Shi are something that biological bodies can never get 'infinitely close' to," Chen Dang said. "I used to think he wanted nothing but the present moment, but now I realize that what he wants is as big as the world."

"That's why you should trust him," Li Feng said, "Only people like him can give both humans and biochemicals a sense of security."

After the car drove out of Yuncheng and passed the rocky wasteland where the bunker was located, Qiu Shi saw a number of construction vehicles from the mining company, as well as some newly erected scaffolding against the mountain, which showed that they were going to build houses.

"Are they planning to expand outwards?" Qiu Shi leaned against the car window and looked out.

"I guess so," Xing Bi said, "Since the defense line has been built to Xima, the area in the middle must not be wasted. It can expand the scope of the outer city to receive refugees, expand various production, and serve as a buffer zone for war."

"Buffer zone?" Qiu Shi glanced at him. "It means a place where you will die, right?"

"Yeah." Xing Bi responded.

“Maybe there will be no war in the future. In a few hundred years, this place will be very comfortable,” Qiu Shi said. “I just don’t know if I can live to see that day.”

"Living a long life doesn't necessarily mean it's interesting," said Xing Bi.

"Xing Bi," Qiu Shi looked at him, "Would you... make that choice?"

"What?" Xing Bi asked.

Qiu Shi didn't say anything.

"I don't know," Xing Bi said, "Are you trying to persuade me not to make that choice?"

"I don't know," Qiu Shi said, "I will definitely die before you. I don't know which is more painful, you slowly growing old and dying, or you living in memories forever, or which is happier."

The old man still lives in a small house in the underground warehouse. Qiu Shi asked Captain Yang to allocate this warehouse to the biochemical bodies to store their supplies, and no one would disturb him normally.

As usual, they made an appointment with Deng Yeye to come here.

Grandpa was still sitting in the wheelchair. He looked about the same as the last time they met, but his eyesight seemed a little off. He stared at Qiu Shi for a while before recognizing him: "Qiu Shi."

"Yes, grandpa," said Qiu Shi.

"You've changed," Grandpa said. "I can't recognize you anymore."

"Your central nervous system is starting to fail," the old man said. "You may not last more than three months."

The old man's words were very blunt, but Grandpa didn't mind. For biological beings, the concepts of "life and death" might not be the same as those of humans.

"Let's get down to business," Deng Yeye took a can and opened it. "Hey, the canned food in Yuncheng is still the best. It's more fragrant than the ones we eat outside that have a shelf life of a hundred years."

"The shelf life of one hundred years must have expired by at least fifty years now, right?" said Qiu Shi.

"The shelf life is just a reference. As long as it's not spoiled, you can eat it," Deng Yeye said. "It just won't be as fragrant."

"Aren't we going to talk about serious business?" Xing Bi said.

"Yes," Deng Yeye nodded, "quickly."

"Grandpa," Qiu Shi sat opposite the wheelchair, "Do you know a01249? A first-generation biochemical body."

Grandpa looked at him with a somewhat unfocused gaze, but when he heard the number, his eyes fell accurately on his face: "Have you met 249?"

“You could say,” Qiu said, “we ran into … his data.”

"Data?" Deng Yeye asked.

"In our time, he only heard about it. We were not allowed to get close to the core technology, and we couldn't get close to the biological bodies like him who were involved in it," said Grandpa. "He never left the institute in his life."

"Research Institute? What research institute?" Qiu Shi asked, "Where is the research institute?"

"It's a research institute directly controlled by the military," Grandpa said. "I don't know where it is, but I know it's underground..."

Grandpa stopped talking halfway through his speech and just looked at Qiu Shi.

"Grandpa?" Qiu Shi called him. "It will be fine after a while," Deng Yeye said, "He is like this sometimes."

"It's stuck," the old man said nearby. "It's the same for generations. Not to mention that the brain is failing now, it's easy to get stuck even when the brain is not failing."

"Stuck?" Qiu Shi was stunned. "He's not a robot."

"I use the word 'stuck' so that you can understand." Xing Bi said.

"Okay," Qiu Shi looked at the old man, "Do you know what he said?"

The old man smiled.

"You loved eavesdropping when you were hiding on the second floor of Dayan," Qiu Shi said. "Now that there is such a big story machine next to you, you must have asked a lot of questions."

"You really understand me." said the old man with a smile.

"What is the core technology?" Xing Bi asked, "Why is there a biochemical body involved? Is it related to the biochemical body?"

"How can I find out that?" the old man shouted. "Do you think he can know?"

Xing Bi said nothing.

"He does know a little bit," the old man smiled, "but he only knows that the fungus began to appear after the research began. He doesn't know whether it's a coincidence or a causal relationship."

"The biochemical body can coexist with fungi from the beginning," Xing Bi said. "The biochemical body is based on human biochemistry, but fungi were taken into consideration from the beginning."

"Fuck," Qiu Shi thought for a moment, "then this isn't a coincidence."

“Perhaps the instability of the first generation does not only refer to performance and the like,” Deng Yeye said, “it may also be that their symbiotic relationship with the fungus is not perfect.”

"Is the second generation perfect enough?" Qiu Shi asked.

"Ask him." Deng Yeye raised her chin towards Xing Bi.

Qiu Shi turned and looked at Xing Bi.

"I don't know what perfection means," Xing Bi said, "but the symbiotic state does not require any external factors to participate. As long as you are willing, it can be."

"And the degree of symbiosis can even reach that of Zheng Ting." Deng Yeye said.

"Can I understand it this way?" Qiu Shi felt a chill on his back. "From the beginning, the world was not so good. Even with the help of the first generation of biochemicals, it did not get better. So... they began to want to change and survive in another way, such as fungal symbiosis? But this doesn't make sense. There are too few humans who are immune to fungi. Only the second generation of biochemicals can..."

"So humans back then wanted to destroy themselves?" Deng Yeye frowned.

"The war broke out before the research was completed," said Xing Bi.

“Then the fungus outbreak, what are they really going to study…” Deng Yeye said.

"Brain." Qiu Shi said softly, looking at Xing Bi, "right?"

Apart from the general's brain, Yuncheng has nothing else related to this kind of research. Even if there is some important information in the general's brain, the idea of preserving the entire brain and reading it in some way must have led to special research. And if the purpose of this research is linked to these things, it becomes very scary.

Human beings want to completely break away from their original physical bodies and use biochemical bodies to continue living in this world.

"What is the function of fungi?" Qiu Shi frowned and asked in a low voice.

"This is the easiest way to execute orders to the end. It allows people to maintain their own awareness while also being able to work as a whole at any time," Xing Bi said. "For some leaders, this is a very good thing. It can save them a lot of trouble."

Qiu Shi didn't say anything, feeling like he couldn't breathe.

"Under the bridge." Grandpa, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.

"What bridge?" Xing Bi asked.

“It’s a very big bridge,” Grandpa said. “Every time we passed that bridge, we would take a car and go through the tunnel under the bridge. There was a river below, a very wide and big river… maybe it was the sea.”

"You guys," Xing Bi frowned, "can't you tell whether it's a river or an ocean outside when you're sitting in a car?"

"Well," Grandpa looked at him, "what?"

“…Nothing.” Xing Bi said.

"Aren't you proud?" Grandpa said.

"No," Xing Bi said, "They are all man-made things, with different craftsmanship. There is no need to be proud of it."

Qiu Shi felt uncomfortable after hearing this.

"Thoughts and emotions are not man-made," he looked at Xing Bi, "they belong to you. Even if they come from humans, you will not become a second teacher. You will always be just yourself, and there is no second you in the entire universe."

"Yo." Deng Yeye looked at Qiu Shi.

"What kind of bridge is it?" Qiu Shi looked at his grandfather. "Have you seen that bridge? Bridges should all look different, right?"

"Like a butterfly." Grandpa smiled.

Deng Yeye spent a long time drawing the butterfly-like bridge on the ground before she finally figured out that the bridge her grandfather was talking about was basically a few parallel lines pinched together in the middle.

"This is also called a butterfly?" Qiu Shi was stunned.

"When the two sides are connected, they become wings." Grandpa said this as if he was lost in thought, his eyes drifting off into the distance.

Xing Bi had no impression of this bridge. The old man had collected many maps, but had never seen it.

The clues about the research institute ended here.

"Qu Shen is looking up information," Li Feng leaned back in his office chair in his pajamas, his legs on the table, "Xing Bi doesn't need to sleep, shouldn't you also take a nap? And let me take a nap too?"

"Can't you go to sleep after the call ends?" said Qiu Shi.

"I was about to sleep," Li Feng said angrily, "but you woke me up all of a sudden. Do you think I can still sleep?"

"I can." said Qiu Shi.

"It's so fucking good to be young." said Li Feng.

"Do you and Mr. Long really know nothing about the things we researched before?" Qiu Shi asked.

"We were all born in Yuncheng. We don't know much about what happened before the war, let alone what happened after the war," Li Feng said. "The so-called history we know is limited to Yuncheng."

"Yeah." Qiu Shi responded.

"Take a rest, Qiu Shi." said Li Feng.

"Xing must have thought of a way," Qiu Shi said, "We can try to lure 249 out."

"What idea?" Li Feng asked, "It's not a good idea."

"Using Zheng Ting's little cube," Qiu Shi said, "Zheng Ting can contact 249. If Xing Bi can control Zheng Ting..."

"Do you think this idea will work?" Li Feng asked.

“I don’t know,” Qiu said, “but I think it’s dangerous.”

"I think it's dangerous too," said Li Feng.

"Would you agree?" Qiu Shi asked.

Li Feng was silent for a while before speaking: "Are you afraid that the people in the laboratory will also think of this method? Then I will let Xing Bi do it. After all, Xing Bi's control is the strongest."

"You can do it." said Qiu Shi.

"What am I in your eyes?" Li Feng asked.

"He's a scary, cunning, but reliable person," Qiu said. "I just want to know what you're going to do if you can't find 249's hiding place now."

"You guys go out and look for it." Li Feng said.

"What?" Qiu Shi was stunned.

"You guys go look for that bridge, that underground secret research institute," Li Feng said. "The area is already very small, go look for it where there is water. We have time now, not much, but enough to find it."

"Fuck you, this is a small range?" Qiu Shi cursed, "And is this safer than the previous method?"

"It won't be more dangerous," Li Feng said, "Follow the cable to find a place with a river. Once 249 finds out you are looking for him, he may contact you himself."

"Then what?" Qiu Shi asked.

"Ask Xing Bi." Li Feng said.

Qiu Shi didn't say anything.

"Xing Bi!" Li Feng said.

"Hmm?" Xing Bi responded.

"You two have nothing to do, so you want to have some fun with me..." Li Feng sighed, "Whatever your idea is, we'll discuss it when we return to Yuncheng tomorrow. Is there anything else you can ask about that generation?"

"He's dead." Xing Bi said.

"What?" Li Feng was stunned.

"The only generation now is the 249 hidden in the cable," said Xing Bi.

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To be continued tomorrow⊙▽⊙.