Chapter 4: Chapter Three: That Girl

After leaving school, Ding Huan immediately sped up and turned onto a road he rarely took, remembering something important.

In his previous life, it was also today that he felt deeply desolate for failing to stay on as a tutor at Heluo Upper Military University; even when Ding Ding Jie kicked him out of the Baoyu Group's inheritance line, he hadn't felt this desolate, so he drank some alcohol at a small eatery near campus.

Just as he stepped out of the eatery after finishing his drink, a car hit him, and immediately he heard someone shout, "Quick, take him to the hospital!"

But when he woke up, he wasn't in the hospital—he was beside a garbage pile.

At the time, both his legs had been broken; that wasn't the worst—worse still, his eyes had been gouged out.

If not for the old man who collected garbage, he would have had no future from that day onward.

On an Earth ravaged by gene mutations and ferocious beasts, no one cared if an insignificant student died—even if a small town was slaughtered by beasts, it would only get a few minutes on the evening news.

After picking him up, the old man didn't tell him where he was taken.

All the old man said was: "This kid is one of the rare gene affinity types—affinity level definitely above eighty percent. If you're taking him, price is one thousand Alliance credits."

At the time, Ding Huan couldn't speak, but he heard every word clearly—he knew he wasn't a gene affinity type at all.

A gene affinity type wasn't just someone who could fuse with most gene serums; even when fusing with faulty gene serums, they only showed temporary non-fusion symptoms and had far lower mortality rates than ordinary people. In short, they were perfect test subjects.

That made them extremely valuable: gene serums were flooding the market, but truly effective ones were scarce. Every time major gene research institutes developed a new gene serum, they needed someone to test it.

Every valuable gene serum that reached the market was a true money-printing machine.

Gene serum testing was best done by gene affinity types—they could rapidly reveal the serum's flaws, helping researchers correct the formula in the shortest possible time and shorten the development cycle for qualified serums.

One thousand Alliance credits to buy a true gene affinity type? That was a fantasy. So even though his legs were broken and his eyes gone, he was immediately taken from the old man's hands.

Ding Huan suddenly thought of the old man—the garbage collector was no ordinary person, because later he learned he truly was a gene affinity type.

A taxi approached from afar; Ding Huan waved it down.

Whoever wanted to kill him, whoever the old man was—he had to leave here immediately.

"Where to?" the driver asked.

"Qianjiang Gate," Ding Huan said.

The trip from where he got in to Qianjiang Gate Restaurant took twenty minutes; just before the taxi reached Qianjiang Gate, Ding Huan suddenly said, "Driver, stop here—I'll walk the rest of the way. I need to buy something first."

With his life at stake, Ding Huan had to be cautious.

After getting out of the taxi, Ding Huan quickly entered a street with decent foot traffic; an hour and a half later, he arrived at Yujiang University.

……

"You're here to report in?" A middle-aged woman in Yujiang University's Personnel Office stared blankly at Ding Huan, utterly baffled by this creature from another planet.

Yujiang University couldn't even pay salaries anymore—it was truly on the verge of collapse—and yet someone still came to report in?

Ding Huan placed his identification documents and assignment letter before the woman and smiled warmly: "Sister, look—can I report in with this assignment letter?"

The woman unconsciously touched her face—sister? This sunny, handsome young man calling her sister actually made her feel good.

She glanced briefly at his documents and said, "Do you even need an assignment letter to enter Yujiang University anymore? With your Heluo Upper Military University diploma, you're guaranteed a tutor position."

"But young man, I need to be clear—school funds are tight right now. You won't get a salary for now."

Not just Ding Huan—even she herself hadn't received a salary in months. The teachers and staff who stayed at Yujiang University either did so out of sentiment or because they had nowhere else to go.

Most others were just waiting for the day Yujiang University merged with another university, so they could naturally become staff there too.

"Do you have a place to live?" Ding Huan knew he wouldn't get a salary here.

"Plenty of places to live—you can eat in the cafeteria too, though it's not free," the woman said, handing him the employment form.

Registration went smoothly—no matter how desirable Yujiang University once was, no one would leave school one day and show up to report in the next.

Because Yujiang University had so many empty rooms, Ding Huan could even move into a row house courtyard. Of course, these courtyards came in rows of over a dozen.

Yujiang University ranked last in every subject, but in terms of area, it could still rank among the top ten nationwide.

That's because Yujiang University was located in the suburbs of Heluo City, not far from Qianluo Mountain—had Yujiang University wished, it could have expanded endlessly toward Qianluo Mountain.

That's exactly what it did: when its budget still allowed, it expanded massively toward Qianluo Mountain every few years, building row after row of villas and independent courtyards to attract talent from all fields.

Unfortunately, Earth's environment changed—plants and animals mutated, ferocious beasts ran rampant—and all those bright prospects collapsed overnight.

Across the globe, countless villages were slaughtered by beasts; humans began clustering together. Every city, big or small, had to build protective walls if it still existed.

Smaller cities might have real walls, but medium-sized cities like Heluo used laser grids and cutting-ray defenses.

Yujiang University now sat on the city's edge—though protected by walls, it would be the first target if a beast surge occurred. Combined with its poor management, the few talents it had managed to attract all fled, leaving vast numbers of empty buildings.

……

After the middle-aged woman who brought Ding Huan to the courtyard left, he finally looked around his new home—it was indeed small, the yard no more than twenty square meters.

Inside the house, it was a one-bedroom, one-living-room, one-kitchen, one-bathroom layout. There was a bed and blankets, and the kitchen still had pots, pans, bowls, and chopsticks left by previous occupants. For Ding Huan, it was enough.

Sitting on the bed, Ding Huan finally relaxed—he wouldn't suffer the same tragedy as in his previous life, where he'd been crippled and blinded. His tense nerves eased.

Once his mind relaxed, he couldn't stop thinking: who in his previous life had wanted to kill him?

At first, Ding Huan always thought it was Ding Ding Jie, but after repeated reflection, he realized Ding Ding Jie had no reason to kill him.

Ding Ding Jie was adopted by his father; after his father disappeared, Ding Ding Jie had legally seized control of the Baoyu Group—killing him seemed pointless.

But who was that garbage collector? In this era, expecting a stranger to rescue an unknown person from a garbage pile was pure fantasy. Of course, the old man hadn't rescued him—he'd simply sold him to an unknown organization.

What organization bought him from the old man? Why did he wake up in a Gene Alliance branch? Had the organization bought him and then resold him to the Gene Alliance? And how did the old man know he was a gene affinity type?

A flood of long-baffling questions swirled in his mind, leaving Ding Huan momentarily confused.

He wouldn't thank the Gene Alliance—they saved him only because he was a gene affinity type. After being saved, he could die even more horrifically at any moment.

In his previous life, in this very Gene Alliance, Ding Huan had seen too many test subjects die after failed gene fusions—bodies exploding, skulls bursting, flesh rotting…

For a gene test subject, dying peacefully might be the best fate.

Ding Huan's thoughts suddenly halted, fixed on a voice in his mind he could never forget…

"When I die, please donate my eyes to him—he's still so young. Let him see the beauty of the world through my eyes…"

Ding Huan involuntarily clenched his fists. He didn't know her name, her origin, or even her face—but that voice, filled with despair yet tinged with hope, was etched forever into his memory.

It was six months after he was sent to the Gene Alliance, after his leg surgery and near-full recovery.

At this time, he was still lying in the Gene Alliance's laboratory; even though his broken legs had not fully healed and he had no eyes, he still had to integrate a new gene reagent at regular intervals.

Despite undergoing numerous gene fusion trials, Ding Huan's body had suffered no damage, but his heart had long since died. Almost every day during this period, someone died a horrific death due to failed gene fusion—perhaps the next would be Ding Huan himself.

After more than half a year, one day Ding Huan heard several people enter the laboratory.

Ding Huan was used to this; aside from his own stubborn resilience, no one undergoing gene fusion trials here survived more than a month. Someone coming meant a new subject had arrived for gene integration.

Among those entering seemed to be a woman; upon seeing his appearance, her voice trembled with tears, "Why are you so cruel? You didn't just break his legs—you gouged out his eyes too! He's still so young…"

No one answered her. She hadn't even considered that she herself was a tragic soul, 随时 ready to be sacrificed by this laboratory. She was miserable enough herself, yet she couldn't bear to see another's suffering.

Perhaps thinking of her own wretched fate, she felt a resonance upon seeing Ding Huan.

For the first time, Ding Huan's numb heart was stirred. Before this, he had known that none of his classmates or friends had ever cared for him—only for his family background.

Aside from his mother, whom he had never known, the only person in this world who truly cared for him was his old man, Ding Baishan. Today he learned that there was still a stranger in this world weeping for him.

Ding Huan only hoped this girl, like him, here for the gene trial, would be lucky enough to survive.

Unfortunately, fate did not favor her; like so many others who failed gene fusion, she died on her first attempt.

He did not know what gene she had been tested with, but he clearly felt her despair and agony as she died.

Even so, she still whispered tremblingly, "After I die, please donate my eyes to him—he's still so young. Let him see the beauty of the world through my eyes…"

Everyone understood she meant Ding Huan. Ding Huan had never seen her face, but from her voice alone, he knew she too was very young.

Even Ding Huan's empty eyes grew moist. In this world, was there truly a stranger who would give him her eyes?

From that moment, that voice was forever etched into the deepest depths of Ding Huan's soul—it became the most precious sound of his life.

From that moment on, Ding Huan resolved to live—not just for himself, but for that girl he had never seen and never knew by name. He would live to carry her eyes into this crude world and seek the beauty she had spoken of.