Chapter 48: Bird Feeding
It was raining on the ground, so the underground city had become both stuffy and damp.
Having spent too much time in the laboratory, Yu Yan took off his mask and sat outside to get some fresh air, squinting as he looked at the murky water flowing down through the gaps in the distance.
His terminal vibrated, and Yu Yan raised his hand to check it. It was Lu Qiufeng sharing the latest updates from the residential area for the day.
[Life Group has been besieged. The Zhou family patriarch, who had been in the treatment chamber for over ten years due to gene collapse, died this morning because the evolution fluid caused his body to completely collapse.]
[The Zhou family’s Central District factory was attacked, the warehouse was set on fire, and fifty thousand bottles of evolution fluid were destroyed.]
[Internal power struggles within the Central District’s five great families have reached their most intense level in two hundred years. Three heirs of the He family generation are now in emergency treatment at the hospital, with suspicions of power falling to an illegitimate child.]
[The Song family’s laboratory announced an urgent development of a drug to treat the side effects of evolution fluid, but it was accused of being a fraud. The new drug led to multiple deaths.]
[The Central Research Institute established an evolution fluid research team and urgently released a statement that, due to the mutation of evolution fluid, humans can still be treated and recovered.]
[The Central District’s guard team mutinied, and the former head of the Defense Department was killed. The Central Court has suspended operations, with reports that many senior judges have become increasingly abnormal due to evolution fluid disease. (images attached).]
[Side effects of evolution fluid have begun to appear in several outer districts, further expanding the chaos.]
Most of the news was forwarded, and since no one else seemed to be sharing it, Lu Qiufeng sent it to Yu Yan every day, along with his comments.
Lu Qiufeng disliked mutants and equally hated all beings in the world, including himself.
So every piece of news about the misfortunes or deaths of the Central District’s elites was good news for him, and he took pleasure in their suffering daily.
He brought another piece of good news for Yu Yan today: “Quite a few people in Fifth District had secretly used evolution fluid before. Even Director Meng, who likes to curry favor, has mutated. And your Kang family—none of your siblings escaped. Did you know about this?”
Yu Yan replied, “I know now.”
No wonder the Kang family had been frantic trying to contact him these past few days. For a family that places great importance on lineage, having their genes “polluted” was even worse than extinction.
Now he was the only one still healthy—how could the Kang family not be anxious?
Yu Yan could roughly guess that the Kang family had acquired the once-scarce evolution fluid by selling him to please Zhou Sheqing, and now the retribution had arrived.
“How’s Zhou Sheqing doing?” Yu Yan asked.
“Her? I haven’t heard any news about her. But the Zhou family is really done for; even the He family, which always cooperated with them, has fallen out with them,” Lu Qiufeng said.
After ending the call, Yu Yan returned to the laboratory, where Su He was working diligently at the workbench.
Since arriving in the underground city, after treating the silver wolf’s wounds and cleaning him up, she had immersed herself in the laboratory, surviving on nutrient solutions for food and drink.
Yu Yan approached and saw that, in addition to monitoring and analyzing the condition of Xiao Ye and 012, she was also working on improving the evolution fluid.
The conscientious protagonist felt that the chaos she had created needed to be resolved by her.
But she seemed to be at a loss, scratching her head in frustration.
Yu Yan picked up a report and said, “The effect of this evolution fluid is irreversible. It breaks down the genetic barrier between mutated organisms and humans, merging them. It’s difficult to separate them once they’ve merged.”
“Why not try to stabilize the genes extracted from the mutated organisms and make the integration more complete? At least this could reduce the number of sudden deaths,” Yu Yan suggested sincerely.
“Most people won’t accept that,” Su He said. “If they go through with this, from a genetic standpoint, they’d become half mutants.”
“Why can’t they accept it?” Yu Yan laughed. “Aren’t they quite fond of mutants?”
“It’s often heard that many wealthy people in the Central District like to keep mutants, and there are many related service industries. If they like them so much, what’s wrong with becoming like them?”
Su He didn’t look up and said with a bitter smile, “I understand your point, but not everyone who used the evolution fluid is like that. There are also innocent people.”
Yu Yan said, “Think of it this way: in the future, mutants walking down the street won’t have to worry about being caught, because no one will be able to tell if they’re a mutant or a young master from the Central District.”
Su He: “…………” Is this some kind of hellish joke?
Yu Yan smiled slightly: “Keep up the good work, junior sister. I need to go bring food to Yao’er now.”
Su He buried herself in her work: “Remember to record his physical data changes for today.”
Yu Yan brought the new medication that Su He had developed and administered it to 012. After the injection, 012 would wake up, so Yu Yan took this opportunity to feed him.
Placing the blood plasma bag in front of the newly awakened little bird bat, the little bird bat grabbed the bag and tried to push it toward Yu Yan’s mouth.
“You eat,” the slightly confused little bird bat began to insist.
“I’m not eating; you eat,” Yu Yan declined with a touched expression.
“You eat,” the little bird bat persisted in offering the food.
“I’m not eating; you eat,” Yu Yan continued to refuse.
After a couple of rounds of this back and forth, Yu Yan brought out his own steak and toasted bread, saying, “That’s not my food; this is what I eat.”
012 looked at him and suddenly took a piece of beef into his mouth.
Yu Yan: “Hmm? You don’t want blood plasma? You want to try my food?”
Actually, 012 took the beef and tried to feed it to Yu Yan.
Yu Yan: “…”
Is this what Su He meant by more instinctive, beastly behaviors during evolution? Like a real bird feeding behavior?
Holding down the determined 012, Yu Yan laughed, “Alright, alright, stop smearing this greasy thing on my face!”
He pinched the little bird bat’s cheek, turned his head, and deftly took the piece of beef from his mouth.
Feeding success, the little bird bat nuzzled his head with his own and then continued feeding.
012 fed him tirelessly and attentively, spoonful by spoonful. Even after finishing all the food, 012 still seemed unsatisfied, making Yu Yan drink water to ease the discomfort from being stuffed.
The little bird bat’s feeding method was relentless. By the time Yu Yan was still chewing one bite, another was already being pushed toward him.
“Alright, I’m done eating; now it’s your turn,” Yu Yan said, picking up the bag of blood plasma and offering it to 012. 012 didn’t take it, but his eyes clearly expressed his desire.
Yu Yan roughly ruffled 012’s head, then bit the edge of the bag and brought it closer. This time, 012 accepted it obediently.
Afterward, 012 tidied his disheveled feathers and even combed Yu Yan’s hair a bit.
Yu Yan pulled down his wandering hand from his back, saying, “Stop looking; I don’t have wings on my back.”
012 pulled at his sleeping robe and, looking both disappointed and affectionate, rubbed against his shoulder blades for a while.
At night, Yu Yan stayed with him in the nest. In his deep sleep, Yu Yan was abruptly awakened by a series of chirps, instinctively looking toward the window for the source of the bird’s shadow.
Then he realized, oh, it was the little bird bat making the noise.
“Quiet,” Yu Yan said sleepily, covering 012’s mouth and his own ears.
012 switched to a low, rumbling sound. Yu Yan suddenly turned and kissed him, silencing all the noise.
After a while, with a drowsy voice, Yu Yan said, “Be good, stop making noise, and go to sleep.”
012 responded with a soft, “Coo.”
Yu Yan closed his eyes and chuckled, “Pigeon.”
The pigeon pecked at his face, effectively waking him up.
“Hey, are you feeling more energetic today?” Yu Yan asked, patting 012’s face.
012 pecked him a couple more times, then suddenly left the nest and flew out from the balcony.
Yu Yan: “?”
He got up and went to the balcony, only to see 012 had flown to the roof of the opposite building.
Yu Yan quickly dressed and went downstairs to chase him, running for three streets before losing sight of the little bird bat. It was quite normal; of course, he couldn’t catch up with someone who had wings.
Standing still, Yu Yan thought: He should fly back, right?
As he turned to head back, he heard the flapping of wings overhead. 012 had landed on a clothesline made of discarded electric wires, looking at him with curiosity and anticipation.
“Come down,” Yu Yan called, extending his hand, but 012 suddenly flew up again.
After several rounds of chase and stop, Yu Yan finally understood: it was a certain bird gene at work within 012. Some bird couples will fly together in the sky, chase and play to cultivate their relationship.
Yu Yan waited for him to come down, but it seemed 012 was waiting for him to fly up.
With his hands in his pockets, Yu Yan decided to ignore the “invitation” and walked back home, heading to the lab to assist with the research on the evolution medication, hoping to help the little bird bat return to his normal state soon.
Su He looked up, stretching her neck, and inadvertently saw outside, gasping, “He’s outside, Senior!”
Yu Yan also noticed 012, who seemed unusually alert today, standing on the electric pole outside the lab. With his slender build, well-fitted clothes, and a pair of partially spread wings, 012 looked quite striking from the high pole, overlooking the area below.
Against the backdrop of the dimly lit underground city, 012 looked like a mysterious vampire described in novels.
Unfortunately, as soon as Yu Yan thought of it as just a bird on a pole, all the mystique and elegance vanished.
“Silly bird,” he muttered with a smile, looking out the window.
After waiting for a while without seeing his partner, 012 finally came down. Yu Yan stepped outside with his hands behind his back and called out, “Yao’er, come here.”
012 approached him without any suspicion, nuzzling his neck. Yu Yan swiftly snapped a handcuff on him.
A long rope was attached to the handcuffs, and Yu Yan held the other end.
Leading 012 back inside with the rope, Su He looked at the scene with some hesitation, saying, “Isn’t it a bit harsh to chain up 012?”
012 looked at the chains on his hands and tugged at them.
“He doesn’t mind,” Yu Yan said.
Su He: So you guys are into that. Forget I said anything.
…
The further evolution of high-level mutants was extremely rare, and it was Su He’s first encounter with it. Comparing Xiao Ye and 012, she found that Xiao Ye’s evolution was faster than 012’s. She was unsure what caused this result and discussed it with Yu Yan.
Yu Yan speculated, “It might be due to the sense of crisis. Xiao Ye had to escape with you and protect you. The hormones secreted in such a tense and intense state might have accelerated his evolution.”
On the other hand, 012 lived without any threats at all.
Overwhelmed by stress, Su He worked tirelessly to research the medication, her eyes growing dull from exhaustion.
Even Yu Yan, an expert in avoiding work and laziness, felt a bit of sympathy. He advised her, “Junior sister, you should take a break.”
“Alright, my brain is not functioning anymore. I’ll go outside to clear my head,” Su He said, wandering out with the sleeping silver wolf in her arms.
Yu Yan placed a drink in front of her and noticed she was staring at a necklace.
The necklace was beautiful, with a silver base holding a green gem. Yu Yan had seen her wearing it since he met her, and she seemed to cherish it.
“That’s a very pretty necklace,” Yu Yan said as he sat beside her.
“This is… a gift from Zhou Sheqing,” Su He said with a wry smile.
“I don’t understand why she has become like this. She used to be really good to me.”
Yu Yan thought: It’s simple. There was no conflict of interest back then.
“My parents passed away a long time ago, and Xiao Ye was the closest person to me. Later, when I was b*llied at school, it was Sheqing who helped me. We became friends, and I gained another close person.”
“I thought we would always remain close.”
In the original storyline, she and Zhou Sheqing didn’t fall out, and Zhou Sheqing had a minor role. But she was part of the “protagonist faction.”
Yu Yan had previously learned about Su He and Zhou Sheqing’s background from the system, but the system’s information on the original storyline wasn’t exhaustive, so he didn’t know many details.
After Su He vented her feelings, Yu Yan could only express his regret.
Releasing her pent-up emotions, Su He stood up, but her vision darkened and wavered. She lost her grip, and the necklace fell to the ground, chipping a corner.
Su He hurriedly picked it up, looking at the damage with frustration.
Suddenly, she said uncertainly, “It seems like there’s something inside?”
“I’ll take a look,” Yu Yan said.
The green gem was loose and fell out with a gentle pry, revealing a small object inside.
After inspecting it, Yu Yan gave Su He an answer she found unacceptable: “It’s a listening device.”
