In the end, they scooped out the full moon in the water.
The sun rose bit by bit. Amidst the howling cold wind, the winter sunlight was glaring and devoid of any warmth. On the test tube racks, glass sparkled. In the still atmosphere, there seemed to be the sound of one heartbeat after another.
Original residents, newcomers, xenogenics, military officers—they kept watch in front of the communication channel, waiting for information on the Underground City Base's assistance and the Northern Base's condition. Even the vine that had always been guarding the research institute extended a single tendril through the window.
They also occasionally whispered to each other.
"How many of ours have died?"
"Uncle Shu died. His body is downstairs."
"What about Tang Lan?"
"Haven't seen him."
The breakout and counterattack had begun. Nobody reported on the situation through the communication channel, so everyone held their breaths as they waited.
Amidst this silent tension, Pauli Jones got up from in front of the computer.
Because of his age or his emotions, his footsteps were somewhat faltering. With a creak, he pushed the door open, and what he looked at first was the extinguished Simpson Cage—blood and bodies were everywhere outside of it, but the interior of the Simpson cage was spotless. Then he turned his gaze forward.
Outside the laboratory door, the black figure who had been leaning against the wall slowly lifted his head as well.
Those eyes seemed utterly vacant, age-old layers of ice covering a green ocean.
They only needed to meet to know who the other was.
Pauli Jones's gray-blue eyes were filled with grief.
"Child," he said gently.
Lu Feng did not respond to him, but his gaze traveled downward to settle on the sheet of white paper that Pauli Jones was holding in his hand.
Pauli's fingers trembled as he held the paper out. On the paper were several hastily scribbled lines. An Zhe's writing could not be described as beautiful. All of his strokes were plain and simple, so clear as to be reminiscent of a lake in springtime.
"Pauli, thank you for looking after me. I am the Northern Base's inert sample. Perhaps my frequency will be of help to you, but if not, I'm sorry.
P.S. Please be sure to remember our agreement."
"Was he really that inert sample?" Pauli Jones asked.
"The sample was a part of him." Lu Feng took the snow-white slip of paper, and his voice was slightly hoarse as he said, "What was your agreement?"
"If there came a day when the Arbiter of the Northern Base arrives…" Pauli said, "I should say that An Zhe left of his own will."
The rims of Lu Feng's eyes reddened slightly.
From behind him came the sound of heavy footsteps, which belonged to a dark-skinned Indian man.
Holding An Zhe's backpack in his hands, Rum silently held it out to Lu Feng.
Inside it, a few objects had been neatly packed.
A copy of Base Monthly, a silver four-pointed star badge, and a black pistol.
Lu Feng gripped the edges of the backpack. He bowed his head and stared at the contents within, his expression difficult to make out.
"He was brought here from the Abyss by our people… He was a good child, and he led a good life here," Pauli murmured while looking at him. "I know that the base could not accept him. Did you know this entire time he was here?"
Lu Feng's gaze finally shifted from the backpack to Pauli Jones.
"I didn't know," he said.
The expression on Pauli Jones's face trembled violently, and he closed his eyes in anguish.
"I am deeply sorry," he said.
Their unexpected reunion was their final parting. It turned out that this sort of icy torture existed as well.
The bitterly cold wind blew through the mountain peak.
After a long silence, Lu Feng asked, "Where is he?"
"The Simpson cage is a high-energy force field and collider. Any matter that enters it will be bombarded and disintegrated into tiny pieces by its high-energy particle flow," Pauli said hoarsely. "I believe you saw for yourself."
The backpack thudded to the ground, and the muzzle of the gun rested against Pauli's temple.
Lu Feng stared at Pauli with an icy expression in his eyes.
"Where is he?" He repeated the question, articulating one syllable at a time. All of his emotions exploded at that moment, and his icy eyes contained a faint madness. He was like a convict who, despite having already been sentenced to death, still wanted to repeatedly confirm his sentence.
A sorrowful smile appeared on Pauli's lips, and he looked up at the limitless distant sky with his loving gaze. He was fully aware that what this man before him needed was only a white lie, even though they both understood everything.
"His frequency has been sent out to the entire world. He will deliver everything from the distortion," Pauli Jones said. "He's right by your side. There's no place where he isn't present."
Lu Feng only looked at him in the same manner as before, and they remained in that stalemate until Lu Feng's fingers shakily loosened and the pistol clattered to the ground. With a "bang," it struck the corridor's iron railing and triggered a drawn-out metallic hum.
"My apologies," Lu Feng said hoarsely. "I…"
He closed his eyes, clenched his fists, and did not finish his sentence.
"There's no need to be like this." Pauli looked at him with a tender gaze. "You can shoot me or vent your feelings however you please, child."
"Thank you," Lu Feng said hoarsely. "If he is still around, I will."
That was the most calm yet despairing sentence Pauli Jones had ever heard.
In that manner, they stood side by side in the late-winter corridor, all the way until the blood-like setting sun dyed the mountains and the Abyss and until the communication channel's volume was turned up inside the laboratory. Amidst the static, there came excited shouts.
"They're falling back—they've fallen back!"
"The tide of beasts is dispersing."
"The breakthrough succeeded."
From the channel, the cheers of victory rang out. The fragmented scraps of celebration were mixed with bits of information, such as how the Underground City Base's paratrooper unit sacrificed more than six hundred people, how the Northern Base's actual number of survivors was a hundred or so, or how people were eagerly asking why the distortions were no longer occurring and what exactly had happened at the Highland Research Institute.
Grief and joy overlapped little by little, despair and hope existing together. Everything was fortunate, and everything had its price.
The sacrifice of countless people, the sacrifice of one person.
A trickle of tears flowed slowly from the corners of Pauli Jones's eyes.
Suddenly, a mass of white floated down from Lu Feng's shoulder, drifted on the wind to land on Pauli's clothes, and extended soft hyphae to touch him with.
"What is this?" Pauli asked as he held it.
"The inert sample," Lu Feng said. "The thing most important to him."
Pauli Jones naturally knew who Lu Feng was referring to. Between the two of them, there was only one "him."
He stared at the hyphae, then reached out to touch it, and the hyphae gently wrapped around his finger. Pauli asked softly, "Why did it approach me of its own accord?"
Lu Feng said, "I don't know."
"This is an asexual spore, a fungus's propagule." Pauli Jones had a slightly stunned look in his eyes. "He never told us what species he belonged to. So he was a—"
While looking at the spore, Lu Feng murmured, "He was a mushroom."
His voice was hoarse, but it seemed to contain endless compassion and tenderness. "He was just a… little mushroom."