It was obvious that Li Rui was stunned by the words this biological being said and the anger that even a biological being could not suppress.
Qiu Shi didn't explain to him. He shook off Xing Bi's hand that was holding his arm, returned to the meeting room, and looked at the two people still standing inside.
"Who has the final say in this lousy team of yours?" He stared at Feng Yu.
"We together..." Feng Yu was interrupted before he could finish his words.
Qiu Shi kicked the chair that had just hit the ground away and said, "Who has the final say? What the hell is communism? Will you always agree? If you don't agree, you won't work!"
"Qi Jian and I." Feng Yu replied.
"Okay, then I'll tell you," Qiu Shi looked at Feng Yu, "I don't care how you interpret what happened back then. We are here for cooperation. We do need your help, and we can help you. Our goals are the same, right?"
"Yes." Feng Yu nodded.
"We have almost half of the first-level submersibles, more than the symbiotes, and now they are all activated," Qiu Shi stared at him, "We can destroy the symbiote's nest and camp, and we can also kill the super symbiote. We need to find 249 now, and we need those of you who have been running around outside for a long time to provide more clues. Is this clear enough?"
"Clear," Feng Yu looked at Zhou Ping'an beside him, "We actually..."
"You can't speak until I've finished. I forgot what I was going to say when you interrupt me," Qiu Shi said, then paused and cursed, "Fuck, I've already forgotten."
"Things have their priorities," Xing Bi said, "I'm not in a position to say this, but I have no choice but to say it."
Xing Bi's words "I have no right to do so" made Qiu Shi feel a pang of pain in his heart. He glanced at Xing Bi, wanting him to stop talking, but he also had no right to stop Xing Bi from explaining the matter.
He could only look at Xing Bi in silence.
"I have experienced the mistakes of biochemical bodies. They took revenge on all humans because of a part of humans. I watched the people who gave me emotions and taught me how to think die tragically. I watched innocent people being killed, old people, children." Xing Bi's voice was steady, as calm as the emotionless biochemical body when they first met. "I have also tasted the mistakes of humans. Because of suspicion and fear, my companions who once trusted them and whom they called friends were slaughtered, and I was the one who did it myself..."
The room was very quiet. Qi Jian had returned but was standing at the door without coming in.
"On July 15th, at 2:51 in the morning, a riot broke out in the residential area on the mountain south of the inner city. At 2:58, I led a team to deal with the riot. The residents clashed with the biochemical bodies. When we arrived, the biochemical bodies had already left." Xing Bi's voice was still stable, but his speech speed began to speed up a little. "At 3:01, small-scale riots and explosions occurred in seven residential areas in the inner city and four resettlement areas in the outer city. At 3:03, suspected invading biochemical bodies were discovered. At 3:07, all the inner city guards were dispatched to the scene of the incident..."
Qiu Shi leaned against the wall and looked at Xing Bi.
The biochemical being was in the next room and could clearly hear Xing Bi's voice.
"At 3:14, residents died, two adults and a seven-year-old child. The murderer escaped. At 3:20, a large number of residents began to appear on the streets, demanding the expulsion of the bio-bodies. At 3:22, it was determined that there were four invading bio-bodies. At 3:25, I received an order to gather all the bio-bodies. The gathering was completed at 3:31. At 3:37, I received an order to prevent the incident from happening again..."
Xing Bi paused and said, "All biochemical bodies, gather in the area and clean them up on the spot."
It was so quiet inside and outside the house that even the sound of breathing could not be heard.
"This is all I know," Xing Bi said, "I was once considered highly controllable. For me, the oath is not only an iron rule that was once engraved in our 'factory settings', it is also the logic of our actions, and it is also the condensation of the emotions of all the people who have given me hope..."
Xing Bi glanced at Qiu Shi. Qiu Shi wanted to relax his frown, but failed.
"I have made many choices, not all of which were correct, but I will bear the consequences of each choice," Xing Bi said, "Hate, anger, pain, despair, will never diminish. Time will not dilute anything for me, and I will always remember those eyes, every second of my life..."
"But now," Xing Bi turned around and looked at Qi Jian, "there are more important things that need to be put before hating and doubting me or even killing me."
"The biochemical bodies of Yuncheng have chosen to cooperate with humans to eliminate the threat of the symbiote together." Qiu Shi took out a cigarette and lit it. He wanted to calm down, but his hands were shaking and it took him two tries to light it. "It's the same choice you have made now."
He took two deep puffs of his cigarette, threw it on the ground and stomped it out: "The goal is to prevent everyone from becoming 249's data cans together."
Qiu Shi was silent for a while after he finished speaking. No one spoke. He glanced at Li Rui and said, "Let's go."
"What?" Li Rui was stunned.
"Let's go." Qiu Shi repeated it again and walked out.
Xing Bi glanced at him, probably not expecting him to leave so suddenly, but he didn't say much, just turned around and walked out.
Qi Jian, standing outside the door, looked at them silently.
"I noticed that you all know Xing Bi," Qiu Shi stopped in front of him, "I believe you know him not just because of Yuncheng's incident, you must also know what he was like in the past."
Qiu Shi paused, feeling his mind was in a mess. "You should be able to imagine what he went through when he made his choice. As biochemical beings, you should have more rigorous logic and calmer emotions. If everyone can't do that, how can you demand that his choice must be calm and correct? The basic principle that humans require of biochemical beings is obedience and never betrayal. It is cruel and unfair. What he bears is much more contradictory and heavy than those of his kind who chose to betray and massacre from the beginning."
Qi Jian didn't say anything.
"I am definitely biased in what I say, and I can understand the pain of the victims who went through this," Qiu Shi said, "but I know Xing Bi, and I know what this meant to him. He is my friend, partner, relative, and lover who has been through thick and thin with me. I know that he will always be the most reliable and powerful support, both for his kind and for humanity."
Qiu Shi walked over to the boat: "You should know where we rest. We will set off in half an hour."
The boat docked at Xiaodongtian Pier, and the few people were silent throughout the entire journey.
Li Rui tied up the boat and said, "I'll go with you."
Qiu Shi looked at him.
"I've only lived for fifteen years, and I haven't experienced what happened one or two hundred years ago," Li Rui said as he walked forward, "I don't have enough brains to judge what happened so long ago. I've only lived in this period of your lives. In this period, Brother Xing Bi was the undercover guard who saved me, my sister, and everyone in the store. That's all I can think of. I don't understand what it means to choose or not to choose. We little humans have never had a choice. You are our only hope, our only choice to survive."
After saying all this without stopping, he paused and turned to look at Xing Bi and Qiu Shi: "I'm done."
"Third Master," Xing Bi looked at him, "Thank you."
"Let's not talk about this." Li Rui waved his hand, turned around and walked forward with his head down.
Qiu Shi looked at Xing Bi and wanted to say something.
But Xing Bi smiled at him: "I'm fine."
"How can it be okay?" Qiu Shi said, "If it were okay, you wouldn't be yourself anymore."
"This is what I have to face while I am alive," Xing Bi said. "As long as I am alive, these are part of me. I am loved and trusted, but also hated and questioned."
Qiu Shi was silent for a long time and could only ask: "What should I do?"
"Give others a world where they don't have to go through this again," Xing Bi said.
When they returned to the small building where the convoy was resting, Xing Bi no longer noticed anything unusual, but Qiu Shi and Li Rui's moods had not recovered, especially Li Rui.
Ji Sui glanced at them and did not ask about the result of the meeting. He only reported on his contact with Xu Jie.
"Xingchuan will send two teams this afternoon," he said, "One team will be responsible for picking up the people. If they don't want to leave, they will leave some supplies and weapons behind. The other team will go and explore the camp by the river."
"Yes." Xing Bi responded, "The biochemicals here are cooperating with humans. They also know about the existence of 249. Their map is more detailed than ours, and the camps are marked. They have more contact with the symbiotes and know more about the situation. There should be clues that we haven't grasped yet."
"Wait now?" Ji Sui understood what he meant.
"We'll set off in half an hour." Xing Bi said.
"Okay." Ji Sui nodded.
The convoy began to pack up. With the addition of Li Rui and Da Xiong, they needed to leave some space for them to rest. After all, they were human beings, and unlike biological bodies, they could not maintain any posture like a statue.
Xing Bi and Qiu Shi sat at the intersection of the street and could observe the situation in four directions and several forks in the road.
"Do you think they will come?" Qiu Shi asked, "I asked them to leave because I wanted to give them some time to discuss."
"It will come," Xing Bi said, "Biochemical bodies are always calm and stable."
"Back then... were there many biochemical bodies that escaped?" Qiu Shi asked.
"Compared to those that were destroyed, it's very little," said Xing Bi.
Qiu Shi sighed softly: "It's okay not to tell them, they wouldn't know so much anyway."
"What you hear and what you experience in person are never the same," Xing Bi said. "For those who kill or are killed, only those who have experienced it can understand it deeply."
“If one day, these people all… die,” Qiu said, “these things will just be heard.”
"In the end, they all slowly disappeared," Xing Bi said. "Back then, the base and Yuncheng sealed up the data in order to make sure they would slowly disappear one day."
"After Li Feng came to power, he didn't unblock a lot of information," Qiu Shi asked, "Doesn't he want to know?"
"Some things can never be seen clearly. Whose fault is it? Who made the mistake first? No one can see it all," Xing Bi said. "If we want to continue, they need to disappear. Li Feng will not look at those materials because he can't see clearly. They are full of distrust, suspicion, exploitation, and fear. He chose to cooperate and doesn't want to be affected again."
The convoy has been organized and everyone is on board.
Xing Bi and Qiu Shi stood up and walked towards the convoy.
Two small bright spots appeared on the map in front of me.
"It's their people." said Qiu Shi.
The two men stopped and took the fork in the road to the right. From afar, they could see two people walking quickly towards them. One of them was Qi Jian, and the other was a biochemical being that had never appeared before.
Although Qiu Shi also felt that they would come, after all, they did not really understand Xing Bi, so he was still worried about what choice they would make in the end.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Qi Jian and his men coming over. Even if it was not for 249, he still hoped to see a response from the other party.
"Song Heng," Qi Jian introduced the person next to him, "He will go with you."
"Huh?" Qiu Shi was stunned. This was something he had not expected.
"Song Heng escaped from the symbiote." Qi Jian said.
"Then you are..." Qiu Shi looked at Song Heng.
"Symbiote." Xing Bi said.
"Yeah." Song Heng nodded.
"He knows the other party's habits and situations better than we do," Qi Jian said, "He will be of greater help if he is with you."
"Thank you." Xing Bi said.
"Take this," Qi Jian handed Xing Bi a small round metal piece, "We will have people to the east. It will be much easier to get through or contact them with this."
Xing Bi took the small disc and looked at Qi Jian.
"We actually had the same opinion from the beginning, even if some of us would suffer a little," Qi Jian said, "We can choose to cooperate with the humans who enslaved and betrayed us, or we can try to trust you again." "Why should I bring a cub?" Sang Fan asked Ji Sui in a low voice while standing by the car.
"The kid likes you and he treats you as his sister." Ji Sui said.
"He is a mountain eagle," Sang Fan said. "The mountain eagle is very strong."
"He calls himself Zuoshan Diao," Ji Sui said, "I diagnose him as a child. Go ahead."
"What's wrong?" Xing Bi asked as he walked back to the car.
"Who?" Sang Fan looked at Song Heng who was standing behind them.
"Song Heng," Xing Bi said, "This is someone sent by the biochemical body here to assist us."
"Ji Sui asked me to go to the back to accompany the children." Sang Fan said.
"Li Rui asked three times which car Sister Sang Fan was in." Ji Sui said.
"Go ahead," Xing Bi said, "Song Heng happened to be in our car, I'll talk to him."
Sang Fan turned around and walked towards the car behind: "Diao'er!"
"Hey," Li Rui stuck his head out of the car window, "Sister Fan."
Song Heng got into their car. Xing Bi glanced at the map in the cab and said, "Let's go. Continue east along the original route."
"receive."
The convoy turned at the intersection and drove east, crossing the upper part of Benquan City.
When the car passed the river where they had boarded the boat before, Xing Bi saw a man standing by the bridge.
"Stop the car," Xing Bi said, "Sang Fan, tell Li Rui that Jiang Cheng is ahead."
"Okay." Sang Fan replied.
Xing Bi and Qiu Shi got out of the car, Li Rui and Da Xiong jumped out from the back car, and the two ran to Jiang Cheng.
"I knew you would come to see me off!" said Li Rui.
"See you when you come back." Jiang Cheng took out a bag and handed it to Li Rui, "Give each of you one of the little gadgets inside."
"What is it?" Li Rui took it and opened the bag impatiently, then took out a small clay jar the size of a fist. There was a picture of a child on the front, holding up his hand and wearing a red hat.
It looks handmade, rough yet delicate.
"Can you open it?" Big Bear took it and prepared to unscrew the clay jar.
"Hey, hey, hey," Jiang Cheng clapped his hands, "This is a straw seed doll."
"What is it used for?" Li Rui asked.
"If you water it, grass will grow." said Xing Bi.
"Really?" Li Rui became interested when he heard it, "I'll water it in a moment."
"Yeah." Jiang Cheng nodded.
"Then...you guys chat." Li Rui looked at them. Although he was a little reluctant, he still decisively pulled Daxiong towards the car.
"Not going too smoothly, is it?" Jiang Cheng asked.
"It's going smoothly now." Xing Bi said, "Song Heng, come with us."
"I heard about it." Jiang Cheng glanced at their car and waved his hand.
Qiu Shi looked back and saw Song Heng leaning against the window with his hands just put down.
"Or else..." he said.
"No need," Jiang Cheng said, "I wish you all the best."
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded.
Jiang Cheng turned around and walked along the path along the river.
The convoy drove over the small bridge and entered the center of Benquan City. There was a square, a tall monument, a collapsed iron frame, and densely packed buildings that made people feel dizzy. There were straight and curved bridges across the desolate and weed-covered streets...
"It feels like this road is more complicated than a mine," said Qiu Shi.
"There are more complicated ones," Xing Bi said, "You will see them later."
"There are still quite a few people in the building." Qiu Shi said that small bright spots can be seen appearing from time to time on the map, with three or two, four or five people gathered together and not moving around much.
"Jiang Cheng said there are still quite a few people in the city," Xing Bi said, "but fewer than before."
"He has been here for more than 20 years," Song Heng said, "and there were quite a lot of people here at that time."
"What about you?" Qiu Shi asked.
"I haven't seen him for a long time. We knew each other when we were at the base," Song Heng said. "After the base fell, we didn't have many chances to meet. He liked to be alone and would deliberately avoid people."
"When did you leave with... the leader?" Qiu Shi asked again.
"About five years ago," Song Heng said, "I met homeless people and they saved me."
"Why did you run away?" Xing Bi asked.
"We want more than just strength, don't we?" Song Heng said. "More importantly, we want respect, freedom, and ourselves."
"Yeah." Xing Bi responded.
"It's not hard to understand this," Song Heng said, "but it's hard to escape."
"Can I understand it this way," Qiu Shi thought for a moment, "that not everyone in the Symbiote Corps is willing, and some are forced or controlled?"
"Yes," Song Heng said, "After all, not every biochemical body is a potential guard. We are..."
He glanced at Xing Bi and Ji Sui and said, "In front of the hidden guards, they are not much different from ordinary humans."
"Do you know how the camps are connected?" Xing Bi asked, "How does 249 control the various camps?"
"There is no communication between the camps," Song Heng said, "and they are not clear about each other's positions and goals. 249 uses the black pile to give orders to the camps."
"What is the black pile?" Qiu Shi asked.
"That's it..." Song Heng thought for a moment, "Complete fungal symbiosis..."
"I see." Qiu Shi frowned. "We call that a super symbiote. 249 is unwilling to give these biochemical bodies a name even for living things. Fuck."
"After all, he himself is not really a living thing," Ji Sui said, "and he doesn't mind whether he is a living thing or not."
"Yeah." Song Heng nodded.
"He controls the Black... Super Communists, is it through cables?" Xing Bi asked.
"An old-fashioned telephone line," Song Heng said. "If you have one, find the interface near the cable and connect it to an old-fashioned telephone. As long as 249 is willing, you can talk to him."
"Oh shit." Qiu Shi was stunned. This was something they had never thought of before.
"But not everyone can make him 'willing', right?" Ji Sui asked.
"No one has ever contacted him," Song Heng glanced out the window, "I tried it too, when I started to feel confused and doubtful."
"That means he only contacts the coal piles he thinks need to be contacted," Qiu Shi said with a sigh, "He is quite arrogant. Compared to him, Li Feng is so amiable and like a big brother."
"A black pile." Ji Sui corrected him.
"Is there any essential difference?" said Qiu Shi.
Song Heng smiled and said, "I figured it out then. He can only see what he wants. Everything else doesn't exist. We are not biological bodies, we are just parts."
When we reached the area connected to the city, the roads became relatively easier to travel on. Although most of the road surface had been broken and disappeared, the width and the relatively flat road surface even though covered with weeds and gravel made it much easier to travel on than the completely wilderness roads near Yuncheng.
They quickly left the city of Running Springs and passed through the roads connecting the cities.
The former intercity highways, the former expressways, the former viaducts and the former mountain tunnels, all of which Qiu Shi had only known from those fragmented picture albums and literacy pictures, slowly appeared before his eyes in a dilapidated yet real form, full of vicissitudes and fatigue.
For the first time, Qiu Shi felt the reality of the abstract concepts of time and years.
“Fuck,” he leaned against the glass, “Among the doomsday guys, I’m probably the most inexperienced one.”
"Some things in the world may not be very pleasant to see," said Song Heng.
"It's worth it," Qiu Shi said. "After all, I only have a few decades to live. I don't have much time to wait."
Xing Bi turned his head and looked at him.
"A large number of humans have been detected gathering ahead." Feng Zhi's voice came from the headset. He was in the lead car.
"Distance?" Xing Bi asked.
"No more than two kilometers," Feng Zhi said, "The direction of movement may be northeast."
"What's over there?" Qiu Shi asked.
"Camp." Xing Bi said.
"It's a vagrant." Song Heng said.
"Nomads?" Qiu Shi was stunned. "The nomads are going to the camp? Are they going to join the symbiote?"
"No," Song Heng said, "the vagrants are going to rob the camp."
"…Is it so fierce?" Qiu Shi asked.
"Slow down and observe," Xing Bi said, "We might be able to get some bargains."
Qiu Shi was a little shocked. As the most powerful undercover guard, was he planning to follow behind a vagrant and take advantage of others
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To be continued tomorrow⊙▽⊙.
It might still be a little late tomorrow. I have to go to the hospital to see my mother’s doctor in the morning. I will try to get there early!