"Welcome to the Highland Research Institute. We've taken the liberty of calling ourselves humankind's fifth base," that person said. "I am Pauli Jones."
"You may call me Pauli or Jones, either way is fine," Pauli Jones said. With polite words, an amiable tone of voice, and gray-blue eyes that were like a gentle ocean, he was the type of best elder from humankind's stories.
An Zhe gave his own name.
"You're very young. Are you from the Northern Base?" Pauli Jones said.
An Zhe nodded.
"How did you become what you are now?"
Pauli Jones asked as he took An Zhe step by step into the white building.
The floor was very smooth, obviously well cared for. Tang Lan stepped forth and held out an arm to help Pauli, but the latter waved his hand.
"I…" There was a fluctuation in An Zhe's field of vision, and he slowly looked around.
Inside the white building was a spacious main hall. It had three floors altogether, but the middle portion of the three floors were not divided into separate floors like ordinary buildings, but connected instead. A spiral staircase wound its way up the floors. From the main hall, one could look up and directly see the translucent dome. Currently, on the railings of the second and third floors, some creatures were slowly gathering and silently looking at him from above, their gazes curious.
Altogether, the creatures numbered around forty. Most of them had human characteristics, or in other words they could be considered human-shaped—amongst them, one-third had appearances identical to humans, and one-third had the characteristics of other creatures on top of a human foundation, such as a gentleman on the second floor whose face was covered with dark gray down or someone on the third floor whose hair was like tiny curled vines that were subtly wriggling. As for the remaining one-third, they were entirely like the monsters outside or some grotesque things, such as the mass of rotting meat hanging from the second-floor railing.
"They won't hurt you," Pauli Jones said. "If someone amongst them loses their will, loses control and goes mad, the others will control them."
The facts were as he had described them. An Zhe met the eyes of those changed humans, which were indeed not the unfeeling eyes particular to beasts. He could see the meanings within them—curiosity or examination, devoid of any malice.
"We're all infected individuals, or xenogenics, but fortunately we've retained a portion of our wills. Mr. Pauli brought us together." Tang Lan patted his shoulder. "We'll strive to keep from killing each other, then confront the monsters outside together. There's no Trial Court here either, so you can settle in without any worries."
Pauli Jones softly coughed, then said, "There is no hierarchy among the research institute's members. We look after each other, and the strong protect the weak. Welcome to our home."
An Zhe slowly retracted his gaze.
"Thank you," he murmured.
Tang Lan asked him how he became a xenogenic.
After hesitating for a while, An Zhe said, "I went out with my friend's mercenary team…"
This was a place where xenogenics lived together, he knew. But he was still different from the people here. They were humans who had been infected by monsters, whereas he himself was originally a mushroom. He had no choice but to hide his true identity. So he spoke of An Ze's life, coming to the wilderness, getting hurt, and then—
"After I woke up, I became like this." Combined with Tang Lan's story, he made up this falsehood.
"Do you have any places that differ from humans?"
"No."
"Then what you've obtained ought to be some kind of complete polymorphic mutation." Pauli gently examined him, then asked, "Do you know what you're fused with? Or can you control your transformation?"
An Zhe thought for a while, then still shook his head in the end.
"This isn't common," Pauli said. "How did you survive in the Abyss?"
An Zhe answered truthfully, "Nothing attacked me."
Pauli went silent for a moment. Just as An Zhe assumed he was about to be given a hard time, he said, "That can also be explained."
An Zhe asked, "Why?"
"The creatures in the Abyss, along with some other powerful species, seem to have another kind of sense. Sometimes they judge other monsters' racial affiliations, but not through appearance. A strong polymorphic monster may change itself into a mouse, but other monsters can still sense its tremendous attack power and will stay far away."
After a pause, Pauli Jones continued. "If they truly had no interest in you, this proves that you either fused with some kind of powerful gene or that you aren't part of their diet."
He said, "You're very special."
An Zhe murmured, "I don't know about that."
He truly did not know. The mushrooms in the Abyss were just as dangerous as the animals in the Abyss. They were either highly toxic or their bodies were suffused with hallucinogenic mists that could make animals go mad. The emergence of a weak and harmless mushroom like him in the jungle of poisonous mushrooms was already a kind of miracle—and he even had his own independent consciousness.
Pauli said, "The mutation circumstances of every research institute member is different. If you're willing, I may do some research on you. I won't utilize any experimentation methods that will harm you."
An Zhe agreed to it. There wasn't much he couldn't agree to.
Then, Pauli Jones asked him some more questions. Rather than asking further about the process of his mutation, he asked how he had lived in the wilderness, whether he had suffered, if there were any animals he was afraid of, and if he had any new behaviors after his genes changed—he seemed to purely show concern for him as an elder. But after An Zhe got a clear understanding of his own non-human identity, he was still fearful of human researchers. Afraid to get on good terms with Pauli, he just truthfully answered each question one at a time.
He also got a preliminary understanding of the research institute's status. The first floor of the research institute was the main hall, laboratory, and instruments room, the second floor was inhabited by humans with animal mutations, and the third floor was inhabited by vegetals. Each person had their own work to do. Some helped Mr. Pauli record experiment data, some maintained the facilities, some grew potatoes in the patch of land out back, and some were in charge of hunting trips—these people were infected by those extremely fierce monsters and possessed formidable strength, such as Tang Lan. In addition to hunting, they would also put down guideposts everywhere. Apart from humans, no other creatures could read the guideposts. The directions on the guideposts indicated the way home for the xenogenics wandering around outside. The scope of the guidepost placements was not limited to the Abyss alone.
Tang Lan had said that this place was connected to the Fusion Faction, but the people here were not the results of deliberate fusion, but rather xenogenics who had been killed in the wilderness and luckily retained human consciousness and then followed the guideposts to the research institute—a one-in-ten-thousand chance, the doctor had said.
The addition of new members was something to celebrate. The research institute specially prepared a welcome banquet for An Zhe, and the main dish was a soup of potato and cured meat, cooked by a short male tree xenogenic.
"Do you like potato soup?" The man scooped a serving of soup and handed it to An Zhe. His voice was slightly hoarse, resembling the sound of coarse bark rubbing together.
An Zhe held the bowl of steaming soup in his hands. He blew on it, and warm white vapor covered his face.
"I do," he said. "Thank you."
"Then I'll make it tomorrow as well." The man looked at him. "How old are you?"
An Zhe said, "Nineteen."
"Then you should call me 'uncle.' My son is about your age, and he lives in District 7. Where did you live?"
An Zhe said, "District 6."
The man said, "I haven't seen him in five years. His name is Bai Ye. Do you know him?"
An Zhe gently shook his head.
"I hope he's living a better life."
Their conversation stopped there.
At mealtime, the people of the research institute sat down in a circle, the seating arrangement disregarding rank. Pauli Jones sat in the middle, and everyone acted very familiar with him.
They acted equally familiar toward An Zhe. In the span of a single meal, at least ten people took the initiative to talk to An Zhe. Amongst them, some were mercenaries of the Outer City and some were soldiers from the base. They were either curious about his mutation process or asked about the base's current situation or asked if he had met their erstwhile family or friends. An Zhe did not tell them the fact that the Outer City had been abandoned, only replied with "I haven't met them" or "I don't know them." He felt a sort of listlessness. It was still a complete lack of news, but this type of answer seemed more capable of comforting humans' hearts than the real answer.
After the meal ended, Tang Lan took An Zhe to an empty room.