Chapter 77: The Creator’s Waters
Translator: Letty Editor: DarkGem
The tense lines on Chen’s face loosened up as he recovered from the shock. He was a renowned scholar, after all. He quickly absorbed the information from the test result, and a straight face was soon put back on.
“Welco, you can join my group as a researcher; mine is the third group, Gemma, in this institute, you will et the rest when you start working in here. I will grant you access to facilities and rooms as soon as possible.” Chen casually glanced over Chang and Jing in his arms “Are they your family?”
“Yes, they’re my family,” Qing Shui affird.
“Sounds good, we do offer suites for researchers who work in the institute. Therefore, your family can live with you.” Chen made a pause and articulated carefully with his next words. “Now that you are part of the institute, you will be exposed to all sorts of research that we have done; although your encephalon mutation puts you at a position where you can acquire knowledge by just one glance, you are still lacking relevant knowledge. For now, it would be good for you to co to my class and run experints as my research assistant. You would gain more knowledge as you go further in the field of Biology and Genetics.”
“I’ll do as you say,” Qing Shui agreed with a nod.
A burst of sonorous footsteps ca from the end of the corridor.
The footsteps belonged to three n: one was in a military uniform and the other two in lab coats.
The one in the middle was middle-aged. His facial features weren’t outstanding, and neither was he sharp-eyed. Chang saw him coming from far but didn’t pay much attention to his appearance. He was more interested in the epaulet. It signalled that the man was a Lieutenant General.
This was the top power in a secondary city like Zhengzhou.
The lab coats beside him seed to be in high positions as well; the three walked side by side, and it was hard to tell if either one was superior to the others. What was more jaw-dropping was the fact that one of them was in his twenties, just like Qing Shui.
“Dr. Chen,” the Lieutenant General greeted before he arrived. This man was not haughty. Instead, there was an affable aura surrounding him. Only the epaulet revealed his rank.
Chen forced himself to squeeze out a smile when he saw the person coming, making it obvious that he was acquainted with the Lieutenant General.
“General Zhang.”
“Chen! Haven’t seen you for a while. I heard from my subordinate that an EM just arrived. I just ca to give my congratulations in person since we don’t have many EMs coming from outside of Zhengzhou. What category is he in?”
“Well... He is just an ordinary EM in cognitive and analytic categories, nothing too special for General to concern about.” Chen gently patted Qing Shui’s shoulder. “Here he is, a young man as you see.”
Apparently, Zhang wasn’t too impressed by Chen’s introduction. He shifted his eyes and stared at Qing Shui. “A spirited young man! Our institute needs fresh blood like you!”
“Thank you for your kind words, General,” Qing Shui answered, bowing.
“Treat us as your friends and family!” Zhang hinted for the young man at his side to co closer. “Let introduce you, this is Zhuo Zhao. He is just as young as you are and is the only local in the institute who underwent encephalon mutation. This precious gem was the only EM in cognitive category in here before you arrived. I have learned how smart he is during his stay, so you should talk with him more.”
Following Zhang’s introduction, the young man was the first to reach out in a friendly manner. “Nice to et you, I am Zhuo Zhao, just call Zhuo please,” he said.
“Nice to et you too, I am Qing Shui Li,” Qing Shui said, holding out his hand in reply. He smiled, and the two shook their hands. It looked perfectly neutral and normal, but there was an undercurrent of tension as they looked each other in the eyes, judging, evaluating.
Not sensing anything out of the norm, Zhang stepped aside to introduce the other person. “This is Dr. Xilin Zhang, one of the best scientists in conducting research on Biology and Genetics in China; you will surely learn a lot by having him as your supervisor.”
“Nice eting you, Dr. Zhang,” Qing Shui greeted him, polite as he always were.
“Hello, Qing Shui.”
Dr. Zhang was in his sixties, but despite his wrinkles, his dashing and upward eyebrows made him as charming as a young man. He looked neither soft nor tough and was very charismatic.
General Zhang spoke again once he ensured Dr. Zhang greeted Qing Shui. “Great, now that we know each other, if you have any questions, you can ask Dr. Zhang. And please, make sure you’ll talk to Zhuo more often.”
“General Zhang, are you trying to steal Qing Shui from ?” Chen asked, stepping in to cut off Zhang’s chattering. “Our group found him first, and he will work for as I found him in the first place. This is the rule that you set before you found Zhuo, or did you forget about that?”
“Hahaha... Look at how nervous you’ve beco.” Instead of feeling intimidated, Zhang simply sidetracked. “I was only concerned about his welfare as he is a newcor; I never thought about taking him anywhere. To avoid arousing suspicions, I will be leaving now.”
Zhang’s chatter was ceaseless. He patted Qing Shui on the shoulder before leaving. “Group Alpha will always welco you to visit and study. Although our five groups share the resources equally, labor is always shared differently within divisions in socialism.”
Zhang seed to have a mask of being amiable. His facial expressions always made others feel like he was approachable.
After finishing his speech, he turned around and slowly disappeared down the other end of the corridor with the lab coats.
“How does research relate to socialism? His speech was so weird!” Chang was lost in their conversation.
“He was trying to say his group is superior to others; and he wanted to consider hopping to their group,” said Qing Shui, expressionlessly.
“Then what is your decision?” Chen asked, looking sideways at Qing Shui’s face.
“I am already at your side by what I’ve just said,” Qing Shui implied.
“If you don’t mind, can I ask for your reason behind the desicion?”
“It was intuition that told to do so,” Qing Shui said, gazing at Chen. “By any chance, can you tell the number of the EM index test that you just perford on ?”
“167.”
“What about Zhuo, the young researcher?”
“134, his was slightly lower than yours.”
“Understood. He’s been here for a few days, hasn’t he?”
“Yes, eight days to be exact. He impressed with his learning skills as he had a thorough grasp of genetic engineering which takes decades to establish. He even joined the research group which studies the red fog today.” He drew a USB key from his pocket as he spoke. “This is what he learned from; it contains more than a gigabyte of research papers. I hope you can read them in a week.”
“I really appreciate this, Dr. Chen.” Qing Shui bowed again to show gratitude.
“Let’s call it a day then. You must be tired from the arduous travelling. I’ll ask soone to arrange a suite for you and your family.” Chen directed his attention to Chang and Jing “You are all wounded, and the little girl seems too pale... it must be shock from an excessive blood loss. We have military doctors stationed in the institute, I’ll get one of them to take care of you guys. We’ll talk more if you have any other inquiries, but for now, just rest.”
Chen turned around and left to make the arrangents for Qing Shui.
The rest of the day went by quickly. The doctor that Chen asked for arrived before they got to their suite. They received proper treatnt and then went to have a good rest in their beds.
At dusk, Chang woke up and saw Qing Shui buried in the blue light of the computer. The room beca darker as the clock ticked by, but Qing Shui didn’t turn on the light in considerion of Jing who was still asleep.
“Electricity! This makes feel like I am back in the civilized world,” Chang said. His finger hovered over the sensor of the desk lamp, the yellow light shedding warmth on Qing Shui’s face. The calm atmosphere in the suite made him feel like the apocalypse had never happened.
Nailed to the desk, Qing Shui comnted without turning his head, “Sad to say, civilized world is not necessarily any safer than the jungle.” Every page he read stayed less than three seconds on his retina, such pace of page turning made his eyes seem like they were flickering.
“I don’t really understand the political stir in here. I thought humans would be united at this mont to fight the crisis ahead, instead of fighting with each other.” Chang slowly sunk into the sofa beside Qing Shui’s desk, sighing in comfort. “They are so smart yet so dumb at the sa ti.”
“Politicking doesn’t an they are dumb, but they may just be arguing over beliefs.” Multitasking was well-handled by Qing Shui, he kept the pace of reading while talking with Chang. “To elaborate, all of us are facing the sa world sunk into the red fog, but how everyone approaches it could be very different. So might be extremists who would advocate to transform the nature using nuclear power and biochemicals, so as to defend the inherent dominance of humanity. Others might be much softer, holding an idea of imrsing civilization in nature without changing it. You can’t really say which side is right or wrong, and it doesn’t an one is more evil than the other. They are simply factions which strive for the future of humanity with different approaches.”
“Therefore, you declined the invitation from Group Alpha. Does that an you do not agree with their ideas and approach?” Chang asked, standing up and coming to stand behind Qing Shui.
“You are correct. They are aggressive enough for to know they are the left wing. The three of them are imrsed in the fantasy of invincibility of mankind. They also view nature with contempt shown by their arrogant attitude. Their values and beliefs conflict with mine.” Qing Shui heaved a sigh, and his fingers stopped pressing on the mouse. His index finger fumbled over the screen. “Just as the person who discovered the red fog said in this comnt, ‘Humanity cannot simply outcompete nature, like humanity cannot defeat its Creator. I never believed in theology, but I do believe this magical red fog is the waters of the Creator.’”
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NOTE:
Hello,
To allow better understanding of the novel, the translator and the editor have worked together and decided to address the aning of MCs’ Chinese nas as many of you may not have a chance to see the link between MCs’ personalities and implication from their nas. We hope this explanation can make your reading experience more enjoyable. ;)
Best,
Letty & Monika
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Chang Liu - Chang ans fast, fluent, carefree.
Qing Shui Li - Qing Shui is his first na although it was often typed separately, it ans clear and pure water. The na resembles how resilient, calm and unperturbed Qing Shui is.
Zhuo Zhao - Zhuo usually ans excellent.
Jing - Jing ans quiet and stable.
Ming Yi Shen - Ming Yi is his first na that typed separately. It is a kind of nas that often associated with the political environnt when he was borned. It fits his background if you recall that he was borned and raised in a small village, which is usually isolated from big cities like Beijing, Shanghai. The impact of Mao, the 1st Chairman of PRC isn’t completely vanished in this small town and newborn babies are usually nad patriotically. Therefore, Ming usually ans bright, honesty, integrity and Yi can an “be the number one” or just simply because he is the first kid in the family.
Pangzi (Shiyu Li) - Pangzi is often a nickna for those who are chubby, it is nad after a person’s physical appearance. It is a common practice to na after a chubby person in a Chinese novel as Pangzi as Chubbiness is their most noticeable feature. Pangzi’s real na Shiyu, ans rain that cos in ti.
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