C31 (1/2)

Time slowed down in an instant.

Very slow.

The world in my eyes, from macro to micro, endless.

I saw a speck of dust on the ground fly up from the impact and landed on Lina's hair.

Her hair spun in the air and stuck to a drop of blood I hadn't dried.

The blood bounced off the fine lines on his skin, like a red lake suddenly appearing on a dry Loess Plateau.

Red blood cells floated in the lake, fission and fusion taking place.

Within the core of the cell, there was a spiral shaped gene chain, which was wrapped with countless chromosomes.

Inside the chromosome was an endless universe, so close and so far away.

In the center of the universe, a blue liquid suddenly appeared.

As it grew in size, it began to devour the surrounding planets.

It was like a child that didn't have enough to eat. It eventually ate a universe, ate the chromosomes, ate the gene chain, ate the cells and red blood cells, ate Lina and I, and then the entire world.

The more it ate, the larger it became.

Then it exploded without warning, and all that it touched was darkness.

I came to the door again.

But this time, it felt like hundreds of millions of years had passed.

The brass on the door had long since turned to mud, and even the granite had turned to fossils.

There were no emissaries of hell, no torn hearts. The only thing left on the door was a mottled, blurry pattern.

It was as if it had been carved and decayed countless centuries ago.

The door was closed.

I suddenly felt a sense of familiarity.

He was like a traveler who, after trekking for thousands of miles, saw the dim lights of his home on the other side of the mountain.

In my mind, the feeling passed like a feather and echoed like a morning bell. It's not a language, it's an emotion that says to me:

Go home, my child.

Gentle, as if she was gently shaking it in her mother's arms.

From birth to death. All the memories of my life surged up and then faded in a blur.

My body urged me forward, and I opened the door a crack.

Behind the crack in the door was the boundless universe.

Two interconnected worlds, linked by a silver river, glowing blue in the silence of the Milky Way.

I pushed the door open a little, and from the other side, a force absorbed my body.

From my blood to my bones to my organs … I felt a relaxation and comfort I had never felt before.

I walked slowly towards the other side of the door …

Who was speaking?

It seemed to be a woman. She seemed to be crying.

”Lei …”

Who was Lei …

Lina!

I came to my senses in an instant and desperately tried to hold on to the door that was about to close!

I can't go! Lina is calling me!

”... ”Who are you?”

This time it was 43 who asked me. He looked at me in confusion. He was still holding the syringe, but the blue liquid inside it had already disappeared.

I'm holding Lina in my arms, and when I touched my back, the sharp pain from earlier was already gone.

I looked at my hands and feet and touched my face. No change.

Everything had happened in a matter of seconds.

I looked at 43.

He suddenly started laughing hysterically.

”Hahahahaha!” How interesting! How interesting! I've never come across such a fun toy! I want you! I want you! ” He slapped his forehead, ”I am indeed old, my memory has become worse!” Why didn't I think of it! That little monster in your dream looks so much like what I saw on the Fountain of Life farm! ”I was careless, Chinese, did you come from Tibet as well!”

”We are the same kind of people.”

43 suddenly stared into my eyes and said fiercely:

”Let me see your memories!”

”Are you in pain?”

I also stared at him as I slowly spoke.

”Hmph,” 43 was stunned for a moment, then let out a disdainful snort, ”I've already killed everything that I need to kill, and I've also taken revenge. I'm the chosen one, the emotions of lower organisms have already been excreted by me during the process of evolution. Do you think I'm forty-four? I didn't expect you to still not understand. ”

”No, I'm talking about the pain of living in the same body as Alpha, right?”

”You managed to hide it from Alpha. You never thought of letting Lina maintain her consciousness to become Alpha's mother. Lina is the next Maria, your next puppet. But Alpha already knew about it, so he went all out to retrieve the body right? The two of you can no longer live in the same body, can't you? ”

I couldn't see her expression, but I could smell something else in the air.

The smell of sweat.

It was now the end of February, and California's lowest temperature was between 2 and 3 degrees. In an unheated room at night, it was about 6 degrees, Lina and I had on at least two sweaters, and the first thing we felt when we woke up was cold. When I got close to Lina, I found that she was also trembling, but it wasn't because of fear in itself, but because the windows of the apartment were riddled with holes due to the cold wind that blew in and caused the temperature to plummet.

In such a low temperature, it's impossible for Lina and I to be sweating, so where does the sweat come from?