Chapter 19
Tang Xiao sighed, then continued scanning the scholars with his paper in hand. If they wouldn’t come to him, he’d go find them himself.
There were plenty of other newcomers doing the same thing. It was just a game—why worry about saving face?
“Hello, do you have a moment? Would you be interested in taking a look at my paper?”
“Hello, I’d like to tell you about my research...”
“No, no, I’m not trying to refute Bard’s conclusions. I just think 428 may have more potential.”
Tang Xiao went around looking for scholars to give his paper to. Even when they rejected him, he kept at it. It was only a game, and he wasn’t embarrassed. Players had done far more humiliating things, so he asked everyone he came across, one after another. He didn’t even blush when they turned him down.
The other rookie researchers were stunned.
They were all newcomers, and getting rejected when offering a paper was nothing unusual. But they were all highly educated, and being turned down to their faces was still awkward.
Who would have thought some shameless guy would suddenly show up, roaming the entire hall and asking every scholar he came across? He wasn’t even limiting himself to senior scholars; anyone with a rank or without one was fair game.
And almost all of them rejected him, but he never lost his cool. He even thanked them politely. His shamelessness and composure left everyone around him staring.
428 stayed quietly in Tang Xiao’s pocket, concealing its presence. After Tang Xiao had been rejected more than a dozen times, it finally couldn’t help poking its head out.
Why hadn’t he given up yet?
Confusion flashed through 428’s mind. Hadn’t those words been a lie? Hadn’t he made yet another promise just to stay alive? Then why was he trying so hard?
It watched Tang Xiao tirelessly recommend the paper in his hands to one weak-looking researcher in a white lab coat after another, only to be met with cold refusals. Even though it couldn’t understand what they were saying, it could tell from their expressions and body language how the young man was being rejected and mocked.
It had thought Tang Xiao would get angry and lash out. It had seen his edge with its own eyes—in the dark kitchen, in the dim cell, and countless times when he faced someone much stronger than himself. He had never bowed his head, yet he was bowing to these humans, who were much weaker than he was.
That strange irritation welled up once more.
“Give it up. This project has burned through countless funds and resources. What has it accomplished?” Another scholar Tang Xiao had stopped glanced over the project materials and shook his head coldly.
“If it hasn’t demonstrated its key capabilities, then no matter how strong it is physically, it’s of no use to the Third Eye or humanity. There are countless powerful mutant beasts outside, not to mention people with superpowers. How could it possibly be stronger than those monsters?”
“Your paper is interesting, I’ll give you that, but I’ll say it again: give up. 428 has no value left. It’s just trash that needs to be disposed of, before those lunatics turn their attention here. You’re still young. Don’t go down the wrong path.”
As he spoke, the scholar casually handed the paper back to Tang Xiao. Tang Xiao calmly reached out to take it, but before he could get a proper grip, the man let go and walked away, scattering the pages all over the floor.
Trash...
The word stirred up memories from 428’s past once more. At first, the researchers had crowded around the glass, excitedly calling it the future, a treasure. Later, fewer and fewer people came to the lab. Fewer and fewer eyes watched it, and the disappointment and numbness in those eyes were unmistakable.
At first, 428 hadn’t understood anything. Its mind had been hazy, and before it met Tang Xiao, all its memories were blurred. Its intelligence had been clouded, too. Only those gazes remained crystal clear.
Because its instinct to survive told it so.
Those gazes meant it was about to meet the same end as the other test subjects.
Rustle—
The sound in the real world brought 428 back to its senses. Tang Xiao was crouching down, silently picking up the papers from the floor.
The pages had scattered everywhere, and people were constantly passing through the hall. To keep them from being stepped on, Tang Xiao had to pick them up quickly, which made him look rather disheveled. With its keen hearing, 428 could make out the whispers behind him.
“He still hasn’t given up?”
“We already told him it was a failed project. Does this rookie really think he can overturn a Level Five Scholar’s year of work on his own?”
“I had dreams like that when I was young, too.”
“What’s Bard going to think? Do young people these days never consider the consequences? One word from him, and this kid’s career in academia is over.”
A nameless fury suddenly surged through 428. Unaccountable killing intent churned in its mind. The people gossiping only felt a chill at the back of their necks, but when they looked around, they couldn’t find where it had come from.
Tang Xiao bent down, his expression calm as he picked up the scattered pages of his paper.
A pair of leather shoes came into view. Tang Xiao looked up and saw Rocky standing in front of him, holding the papers he’d picked up and offering them to Tang Xiao.
“Thank you.”
Rocky pressed his lips together, but still couldn’t help saying, “You should switch to another project. Bard probably already knows about this. With his connections... no one will acknowledge your paper.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you still sticking with it?”
“Because I believe it’s the truth,” Tang Xiao said calmly.
Rocky froze.
By then, Tang Xiao had already turned away. He gathered up the papers, looked toward the other scholars gradually entering the hall, chose his next target, and calmly walked past Rocky.
Nothing miraculous happened with the scholars who came after that, either. Some didn’t even look at the paper; as soon as Tang Xiao offered it to them, they ignored him and went straight into the hall.
It was as if they’d gotten wind of something and were avoiding him at all costs.
Was it Bard?
Tang Xiao had expected this, but regretted that he hadn’t managed to persuade a few people before Bard reacted.
Things were troublesome now. If it had been a difficult challenge before, restarting the failed project had now become hell difficulty.
After several scholars hurried into the hall without even acknowledging him, Tang Xiao sighed and returned to his whiteboard to think about what to do next.
When the short-haired guy saw him come back, he couldn’t help giving him a thumbs-up. “You’re incredible, buddy. Whatever else, with skin that thick, you’re sure to go far.”
Tang Xiao didn’t even look up. “Thanks. Good luck to you, too.”
“Thanks. Unfortunately, I didn’t get anything out of it this time, either. Sigh, I’m not what I used to be.” The man sighed and started packing up. “By the way, I’m Li Ji. Nice to meet you. I have to go, though. There’s another talk I’m interested in. Want to come along?”
Tang Xiao was about to refuse when Li Ji said, “You haven’t had much luck here. Why not try another approach? Scholars giving talks have already achieved something. If you can catch their interest, you might actually have a chance... though the odds still aren’t great.”
Tang Xiao’s heart stirred at that. It did sound like an option. “Do you know where the talks are being held?”
“Hey, no need to worry about that. Just follow me!”
...
The dark-skinned guy was incredibly enthusiastic. All the way there, he kept bragging about how amazing the scholar giving the talk was. He was practically wearing the words ‘die-hard fan’ on his face.
“I’m telling you, Dr. Feng is a treasure to all humanity. A real treasure, you know? She’s almost fifty, and her achievements over the course of her life include... And now she’s developed a way to accurately detect zombie fungus infections. You can’t even imagine how many disasters this discovery could prevent...”
Tang Xiao listened with a blank expression all the way there. When he saw how the venue had been set up, he realized the guy might not have been exaggerating.
The security check at the entrance was exceptionally strict, far more so than at the other talks. Besides the tall, burly armed guards in uniform, a masked man sat in a chair, watching them in a carefree manner. For some reason, his figure looked familiar to Tang Xiao.
He quickly looked away. After passing security, he followed Li Ji and the others into the central hall.
The place was as large as a concert hall in the real world, and it was packed with people. A striking slogan was displayed on the wall behind the stage.
[Wisdom is humanity’s third eye for observing the world.]
The other emblem belonged to the Third Eye: a closed eye, with an open, vertical pupil between its brows.
As soon as Tang Xiao sat down, his expression suddenly turned a little grim. The guy thought he disliked crowded places and patted his shoulder reassuringly. “You okay?”
Tang Xiao forced a smile. “I’m fine.”
As he spoke, he pretended to knock over his bottle of water. While bending down, he gritted his teeth and whispered, “How did you get in here?”
Something moved in Tang Xiao’s pocket. A small strand of mycelium poked out, thin and long like a stick insect, and bloodred from end to end.
When had this thing gotten in here? It scared the hell out of him.
428 swayed its slender body and curled its mycelium around Tang Xiao’s finger.
Tang Xiao was furious at the thought that he’d almost been discovered because of it. When 428 didn’t answer, he added, “Don’t stick your head out, and don’t make a sound!”
The mycelium obediently slipped back into his pocket.
Why was it so obedient today?
The question flickered through Tang Xiao’s mind, but there were too many people around to investigate. He decided to leave him alone and quickly sat up straight to avoid being noticed.
Fortunately, no one around him was paying attention to Tang Xiao. Li Ji wasn’t, either, because the talk had begun.
A woman nearing fifty walked onto the stage and began speaking as the presentation slides appeared.
“Five years ago, the zombie fungus outbreak caused Base 4-21 to fall overnight. 130,000 people died from infection, 218,200 went missing, countless others were injured, and more than 90,000 fled. It was the largest fungal infection outbreak in nearly a century of human history.”
“There’s no doubt that zombie fungus is one of the greatest threats to humanity in modern times. Once infected, its hosts attack their own kind and spread spores, destroying countless cities.”
“The most troublesome aspects of this fungus are how difficult it is to identify infected people and how quickly it evolves. Ordinary people can’t tell whether someone has already been infected by spores. But that is no longer a problem.”
The images were horrifying. Tang Xiao hadn’t taken the talk seriously at first, but when one fungal zombie after another appeared on the screen, he couldn’t help tensing up.
Just then, something stirred beside him. Tang Xiao looked over and saw that the staff were handing out papers.
The title was simple and clear: On the T21 Detection Method for Zombie Fungus. Exclamations rippled through the crowd. The scholars knew something about this big shot’s research, but seeing the results laid out before them still left them stunned.
When the video ended, the hall fell so silent it was unnerving. The only sound was the rustling of papers as everyone read through them.
Dr. Feng thoughtfully gave the scholars some time to look over the materials. Ten minutes later, the lights on the stage came back on.
Tang Xiao looked toward the stage and saw several whiteboards that hadn’t been there before.
“Thank you all for coming. As the title indicates, my recent research has focused on a method for detecting zombie fungus.”
“Fungal infections have plagued humanity for as long as recorded history. The wilderness and forests have always been forbidden zones for humanity. Countless disasters caused by fungal infections have occurred throughout history, and the zombie fungus is the deadliest of them all. The fundamental reason is that it constantly evolves and changes how it infects its victims. But at last, we’ve found a way to detect it reliably.”
“Now, please allow me to present the results of our work over the past year.”
Everyone in the hall watched the speaker onstage intently. The elderly woman remained composed under their many gazes and continued explaining her paper.
By now, Tang Xiao was no longer the clueless newbie he’d been at the start of the game. He had some idea of how significant this discovery was.
In Resident Evil, it would be like inventing a perfect machine to detect the zombie virus. In fact, it was even more difficult, because zombie fungus kept evolving new ways to infect people. It was more frightening than any real-world contagious disease because it was so hard to detect.
It wasn’t a cure, but it was still destined to be a great achievement. Thinking of that, Tang Xiao couldn’t help looking down at the name of the paper’s author.
Feng Shuyun.
After the talk came the Q&A. Several scholars stood up to ask questions, and Feng Shuyun answered them with ease, until an older scholar raised his hand.
“I’d like to ask about the formula on page twelve, line five of your paper.”
“Is there a problem?” Feng Shuyun’s brows furrowed when she saw who had asked.
“The formula you cited is fine, but I ran the numbers, and it seems they shouldn’t produce this result,” the man said calmly, a smile on his face.
Feng Shuyun froze and looked down at the formula. The more she looked, the tighter her brows drew together, while the questioner’s smile grew wider.
A long silence fell on the stage. The people below gradually realized something was wrong and began whispering. Tang Xiao asked, “Was the data falsified?”
“Not exactly.” The dark-skinned guy beside him looked grave. “It’s just a data error. The underlying idea is sound. Normally, you wouldn’t make such a basic mistake, because the critical data would be sent to a supercomputer and checked repeatedly... How could Dr. Feng have made this mistake?”
“Can’t she just correct the data?”
“No. A paper with a data-fabrication issue like this gets sent back, and it can’t be resubmitted for at least a week... If another scholar’s research happens to be at a similar stage, then who knows what’ll happen.” The dark-skinned guy gritted his teeth. “Damn old man, I recognize him. He’s competing with Dr. Feng in research. Fuck, no wonder he went after her.”
Tang Xiao pondered that. It seemed the academic world of the Third Eye wasn’t as pure as he’d thought.
Feng Shuyun didn’t answer right away. Whispers immediately rose from the audience. No one in the hall was a fool; from the old scholar’s carefully prepared words, they could sense trouble brewing.
Just then, Tang Xiao felt his lab coat pocket move again. 428 poked its way out. He was a little annoyed, but could only pretend to drop his water bottle again and bend down to glare coldly at it. “I told you not to...”
The mycelium tugged hard on Tang Xiao’s clothes, pointing toward the entrance with its other end. It seemed to be warning him about something.
Feng Shuyun remained silent onstage for a long time. After five minutes, she said, “There does seem to be a problem with this data.”
The old scholar in the audience curled his lips into a cold smile. “Then...”
Just then, everything changed.
Several deafening booms suddenly rang out around the hall.
The hall’s ceiling was nearly six or seven meters high, but an explosion went off in the dome. Before several people could react, they saw chunks of stone fall from the ceiling, sealing all four exits. Some of the falling stones even hit researchers sitting in the corners.
The sudden disaster left everyone in the hall stunned. Before they could recover, someone who had been sitting near the back suddenly sprang up and lunged at the people around him, biting them like a madman.
Screams filled every corner of the hall. Tang Xiao heard someone beside him cry, “Look out!” Then a sharp pain suddenly struck his neck. By the time he broke free of the person attacking him, it was too late.
His vision turned red, and the game issued warning after warning.
[You have been infected. Health is decreasing.]
[Game Over!]
[You have obtained CG: The Long Night Before Dawn]
[Description: On the night before dawn, darkness still shrouds the world. Humanity is not yet ready to welcome the light. Someone murmurs, “Wisdom has returned to primordial chaos.”]