Chapter 14
The Personal Achievement Quest was roughly equivalent to an optional side quest for players. Tang Xiao glanced at it and got the gist: it encouraged players to pursue research and climb the ranks within the Third Eye. The next quest required him to deliver an outstanding presentation at the Research Results Conference.
Rewards would be granted according to the quest evaluation criteria.
Tang Xiao glanced at it, then set it aside for now. Everyone else had left, and only Bard and Tang Xiao remained in the office.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t expect him to go that far,” Bard said to Tang Xiao. “You’ve had a rough time lately.”
Tang Xiao silently shook his head.
“You won’t have to deal with anything like that again. Just focus on your experiments here.” Bard walked over and patted Tang Xiao on the shoulder, his words laden with implication. “After your one-month probation, there’ll be a mentor selection process. If you choose me, I won’t turn you down.”
The mentor selection process.
Rocky had told him about it too. There were a few set opportunities every year when researchers in the organization could submit their résumés and papers to attract the attention of more senior scholars and join their labs. A closer relationship meant becoming a direct disciple, much like pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree.
Tang Xiao said, “Mr. Bard, actually, there’s one more thing I didn’t mention at the meeting. I think 428 may have even greater potential. Have you ever considered...”
Before Tang Xiao could finish, Bard raised his hand. “You don’t need to say any more.”
He looked impatient. “You newcomers might not know this, having just joined the lab, but this project has already failed. There’s no other possibility. 428 doesn’t have the potential we hoped for, and the organization will deal with it soon.”
“But...” Tang Xiao tried to say more, but Bard cut him off. “Tang, I hope you’re a smart man.”
His meaning was clear: there was no room for discussion about disposing of 428.
Under Bard’s pressuring gaze, Tang Xiao sighed. “I understand.”
“Focus more on the current project. The Research Results Conference is the perfect stage for newcomers like you to showcase your talents. Don’t waste your energy on unnecessary things.”
“Yes.”
Tang Xiao said nothing more. He closed the door behind him and left.
As soon as he came out, Tang Xiao saw Rocky waiting by the door. They didn’t talk there, but tacitly walked one after the other to an empty spot.
As soon as they stopped and confirmed no one was around, Rocky said impatiently, “Your performance today was incredible! No wonder you didn’t need my notes last night. You must have figured out the whole process of our experiment already. That’s amazing!”
Tang Xiao: ...No, he’d just reloaded his save.
“By the way, what did Bard say when he asked you to stay?”
“Yeah, he told me about the mentor selection process...”
Rocky froze and cut him off anxiously before he could finish. “You agreed?”
“Not yet. I’m still thinking about it.” As he spoke, Tang Xiao realized Rocky seemed a little off and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. Do you remember how I told you that Bard had fallen out of favor with the higher-ups?”
“Yeah. What did you mean by that?”
“Actually...” Rocky hesitated, unsure whether he should tell him. He looked around to make sure no one was nearby, then gritted his teeth. “All right, it’s not really a secret. A lot of people in the Third Eye know that the project initially focused on 428 was a Level 5 project, and the higher-ups placed a lot of importance on it. They poured a tremendous amount of resources into it.”
The Third Eye’s ranking system for scholars was simple and blunt: both projects and scholars were ranked from Level 1 to Level 5, with the levels corresponding. Only a Level 5 scholar could lead a Level 5 project. Level 5 scholars were roughly equivalent to members of a national academy, but their rank wasn’t permanent. They could be demoted for academic misconduct or for failing to produce results for a long time.
“But it didn’t produce any results?”
“...No, it did, partway through,” Rocky said with a bitter smile. “But it would’ve been better if it hadn’t. You know how excited the higher-ups were when they thought 428 could really affect other fungi? A lot of people genuinely saw 428 as their hope for the future. At the time, the Third Eye had such high hopes for Bard’s project that every resource request went through right away. But... those results couldn’t be reproduced.”
As a biologist, Tang Xiao immediately understood. “Academic fraud?”
“Ahem. Keep your voice down. Don’t let anyone hear you.” Rocky lowered his voice. “Anyway, Bard’s academic career was nearly destroyed after that. That’s why he’s desperate to produce results and keep from being demoted. The resources allocated to this project were ‘above the limit,’ which caused a lot of resentment among the other scholars. It’s complicated. He can supervise your experiments if he wants, but don’t agree too hastily to become his disciple...”
“I understand. Don’t worry, I never planned to accept Bard’s offer in the first place.”
He didn’t plan to restart the project, but Tang Xiao had to complete the main quest. That was an inherent conflict.
Besides, was Bard really completely unaware of what Babbit was doing in the laboratory?
Tang Xiao considered how to advance the main quest. “Does it have to be a Level 5 project for 428 to avoid being disposed of? What about Level 4?”
Rocky opened his mouth. “...Why are you so fixated on 428?”
“I think there’s still more potential hidden in it. Destroying it now would be such a waste,” Tang Xiao said casually.
Rocky, however, stared at Tang Xiao with a complicated look. He remembered the genetic disease Tang Xiao had developed.
Could it be...?
“No. 428 itself could bring trouble down on the organization. Level 4 security isn’t enough.”
“You mean those crazies you mentioned?” Tang Xiao looked at him.
“You’ve been investigating them?” Rocky let out a long sigh. “That’s right. It’s because of the Returnist Cult.”
Tang Xiao hadn’t actually had time to investigate yet, but that didn’t matter. Now he knew.
From Rocky, Tang Xiao learned that the Returnist Cult was a heretical group that roamed the wasteland forests. They worshipped fungi, especially the King of Fungi in the Fungal Kingdom, claiming it was the origin of all life in the world.
“They worship fungi and believe humanity should follow the same path of evolution as other species: merging with fungi. They’re hostile toward anyone trying to understand fungi and will stop at nothing to sabotage those efforts. In short, they’re a bunch of antisocial lunatics. Even the Third Eye doesn’t want to provoke an organization of fanatics like that.” Rocky shrugged. “Now you understand how difficult this project is, right?”
There had been academic fraud, and now a cult was watching them like a hawk.
It did sound as if the future was bleak.
When Tang Xiao didn’t say anything more, Rocky couldn’t help trying once again. “Tang, you’re a smart man. You should know the organization won’t revive this project. Using fungi to control fungi is the wrong approach. 428 has no value left, so don’t do anything stupid, all right?”
“Besides, don’t you have a grudge against 428? It’s attacked you over and over. Wouldn’t it be a good thing if it were disposed of?”
Above the ceiling, 428 stared at Tang Xiao.
Tang Xiao couldn’t be bothered to say anything more to Rocky. Some things were hard to explain, so he said calmly, “Mm, you’re right...”
As soon as the words left his mouth, 428’s favorability began to plummet.
[428 Favorability -5]
[428 Favorability -6]
Tang Xiao abruptly changed his tune. “But I refuse!”
“You don’t understand the value 428 holds! I won’t give up on it! No matter what, I’ll make the organization reconsider the value of this project!”
The drop in favorability finally stopped.
Tang Xiao silently breathed a sigh of relief, only to see Rocky looking at him with a complicated expression. “So you really...”
You’ve decided on 428, then?
Even if it means flying straight into the flames?
Rocky’s heart suddenly turned cold. He realized he’d overlooked something. A genetic disease might indeed be a genius’s disease, but it also seemed to mean that the ‘genius’ afflicted with it could be unexpectedly stubborn—even after hitting a brick wall, they wouldn’t turn back.
He’d made the consequences perfectly clear, yet Tang Xiao still insisted on going his own way.
A genius, and a lunatic...
There really couldn’t have been a more apt description.
“Forget it. Do whatever you want.”
Tang Xiao didn’t notice that Rocky’s attitude had suddenly turned a little cold. He was too busy sweating bullets.
428.
It had snuck out again! And it was eavesdropping!
If he hadn’t turned on the favorability notifications, he’d have been done for.
After their brief conversation, the two emerged from the corner and returned to work in the laboratory. Tang Xiao instinctively reached for a broom, but someone beside him quickly stopped him. “How could we let you keep doing this kind of work? Your new workstation has already been brought over. You can go there!”
Tang Xiao gave the man a cool glance. The man froze, and his smile grew even more obsequious.
Tang Xiao didn’t actually remember the man’s name. He only vaguely recalled that the man was another newcomer who’d started around the same time as him. He nodded at him indifferently and walked over to the newly delivered workstation.
Tang Xiao’s workstation was right beside the room containing 428, close to the glass window. He could approach it without raising suspicion and observe the test subject’s behavior.
He looked inside, only to see 428 sitting perfectly still in the corner. He couldn’t tell if it was dormant or doing something else, but there was no sign that it had ever left.
Tang Xiao still felt somewhat uneasy. Although he’d intervened in time and its favorability hadn’t continued to drop, it hadn’t gone back up either.
The foundation of their cooperation was Tang Xiao finding a way to keep 428 from being disposed of.
But now... would it still honor their agreement?
The day passed quickly in the laboratory.
An invisible storm was quietly gathering.
That evening, after leaving the laboratory early, Tang Xiao was looking up information in his dorm room when he heard the familiar rustling again.
Blood-red mycelium climbed up the white bedsheets like a snake.
Tang Xiao’s typing paused. He took off his glasses and set them aside. His dark eyes reflected the screen’s cold, flickering light.
“Take it.”
He didn’t turn around. When he felt the bed sink behind him, he casually picked up a blood pack he’d prepared in advance from the bedside table and tossed it behind him.
The monster behind him caught the blood pack with ease. Even through the packaging, he could feel its warmth.
Tang Xiao had been expecting 428 to sneak into the dormitory again. He stared nonchalantly at the screen, rubbing the pinprick on his left wrist with the fingers of his right hand, pretending not to know anything.
“Don’t keep challenging the surveillance system. What if someone suddenly checks on you? You’d be exposed. Finish that blood pack and go back.”
The monster behind him didn’t answer. All he heard were repeated, very heavy swallows.
Tang Xiao quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing how readily it ate and drank, it should be fine, right?
The room was silent. Just as Tang Xiao turned around, blood-red mycelium suddenly swallowed his vision.
The blood-red mycelium slowly gathered on the bed into a human shape. Its strands wrapped around the young man’s limbs beneath it, then slowly extended toward his eyes, which gleamed with shifting emotions.
The blood-red figure leaned down, close to his ear:
“Xiao Xiao...”
“What does ‘dispose of’ mean?”