Chapter 116

When leaving the chemical industrial park, the morning mist had completely dissipated.

Su Yu placed the seed in a specially made lead box—Kaiwen insisted on using the most airtight container, even though the detector showed its radiation level was lower than background. The box went into the inner pocket of her tactical vest, right over her heart. She could feel its faint warmth, like the gentle breath of a hibernating animal.

"The return route avoids Sector Three contamination," Han Qing marked on the map, "although it's twenty kilometers longer, it's safer."

Zhang Yang set up a sniper rifle on the vehicle roof: "If the Shadow Network really locked onto us, nowhere would be safe."

Makusi started the engine of the modified off-road vehicle: "Then let's move quickly. Every second we linger in this open area makes us a target."

The vehicle drove out of the chemical industrial park, leaving the crystalline wreckage behind. Su Yu glanced back. In the sunlight, the tilted cracking tower resembled a giant bowing in farewell; where its body was mottled with rust, a few weeds actually poked their heads out of the cracks.

Life is always like that, taking root in the most unlikely places.

The return route was unusually quiet.

It wasn't without danger—they had briefly spotted wandering mutants from afar, detoured around two anomalous shadow contamination zones, and even encountered a minor trap at an abandoned checkpoint. But compared to the fierce encounters of the previous days, these were mere interludes.

It was too smooth, smooth to the point of being unsettling.

"Like the calm before a storm," Wang Hu said over the comms, he was in charge of the rear vehicle, "I hate this kind of quiet."

"Same here," Han Qing's voice came from the lead vehicle, "Everyone maintain Level Two alert. Kaiwen, keep scanning for energy fluctuations."

"Received." Kaiwen pushed up his glasses, staring at the jumping data stream on the screen, "Wait… interesting."

Su Yu turned her head to look at him: "What?"

"The seed," Kaiwen pointed to a nearly invisible fluctuation curve on the instrument panel, "it emits an extremely weak pulse every twenty-seven minutes. Not an electromagnetic wave, more like… a biological rhythm?"

Aili turned from the front seat: "Like a heartbeat?"

"Much slower than a heartbeat." Kaiwen enlarged the image, "Each pulse causes the background shadow readings around it to dip slightly. The range is small, about a five-meter radius."

Su Yu pressed her hand against the pocket at her chest. The box was warm.

"It's breathing," she said, "and when it breathes, it purifies the surroundings a little."

The whole vehicle fell silent for a few seconds.

"What the leader left behind," Makusi gripped the steering wheel, eyes fixed on the shattered road ahead, "is indeed extraordinary."

At noon, the convoy rested beneath an overpass that was relatively intact.

Vines covered the bridge piers, bearing purple blossoms. Rainwater collected in the depressions, forming natural pools so clear that the pebbles at the bottom could be seen.

The Pure Land's reconnaissance team had previously marked this spot, labeling it a "temporary safe point." Faded spray-paint symbols still remained on the piers—a circle with three leaves inside, indicating a "drinkable water source."

Han Qing tested the water quality: "Low contamination, usable after boiling."

The team members dispersed to carry out their respective tasks—watch, water collection, vehicle repairs. Su Yu leaned against a bridge pier and opened the lead box.

The seed floated in a specially formulated inert gas, its tender leaf still emerald green, the golden light at its center faint yet steadfast. She extended a finger and lightly touched it through the transparent shield.

Memories surged forth unexpectedly—

Not a complete picture, but fragments: a midnight campfire, Chen Mo's back as he repaired a motorcycle, the profile of his face when he looked up at the stars, the fine lines at the corners of his eyes when he laughed and said, "Light doesn't need to be much; a little is enough."

And earlier still: in the lab, he stared at the glowing colonies in a Petri Dish, his expression so focused it was as if he were observing the entire universe; when he first discovered the "heartfire" resonance phenomenon, he excitedly burst into her office, still holding a beaker…

"He rarely talks about the past."

Su Yu looked up; Han Qing handed her a warmed nutrient paste and sat down beside her.

"Chen Mo," Han Qing tore open his own portion, "I've known him for seven years; all I know is that he was a researcher before the disaster, with a sister who went missing in the catastrophe. Other things… he doesn't say."

Su Yu took the nutrient paste; the plastic wrapping warmed her palm: "He mentioned his parents once. He said they died in a car accident when he was in high school. On the day of the funeral, he ran alone to the school's observatory and stared at the stars all night."

Han Qing's chewing motion paused: "So that's why he always looks at the stars."

"He said, the starry sky is the only thing the disaster hasn't changed." Su Yu gazed at the seed in the lead box, "It's too far away for human foolishness to reach."

From beneath the bridge came the voices of Kaiwen and Zhang Yang arguing—about whether to pry open a deserted vending machine in search of possibly sealed food. Makusi was trying to mediate, while Wang Hu, not far away, wiped his weapons, occasionally glancing over with a faint smile.

Such moments, ordinary as they were, felt almost luxurious.

"Han Qing," Su Yu asked softly, "if he really… came back in some form, what do you think he'd be like?"

Han Qing remained silent for a long time, so long that Su Yu thought he wouldn't answer.

"I don't know," he finally said, his voice low as if talking to himself, "but if it were Chen Mo, he certainly wouldn't make us wait for him. He'd want us to move forward."

He stood up, brushed dust from his pants: "Break time's over. We depart in twenty minutes."

Su Yu closed the lead box and placed it back against her chest.

Move forward.

On the ensuing journey, the seed's pulse began to change.

Kaiwen was the first to notice the anomaly: "The frequency has increased. Now it's every eighteen minutes. And… the range is expanding."

The data showed that the pulse's purification radius had already expanded from five meters to seven meters, and was still slowly growing.

"It's like it's waking up," Aili said, "or… growing?"

Su Yu felt the temperature in her pocket rising, not scorching but a fuller warmth. She suddenly recalled a passage from Chen Mo's notebook, hastily written in the margin:

"Life is not existence, but a process. It is the cycle of breathing, growing, decaying, and regenerating. True 'eternity' is not stillness, but continual change."

Back then she didn't understand why he wrote that. Now, looking at the jumping data on the instrument panel, she suddenly understood.

He was researching how to make "existence" endure.

How to keep the light from going out.

At dusk, the outline of Pure Land appeared on the horizon.

The searchlights on the high walls had already switched on, carving warm arcs through the dimming sky. Seeing that light, everyone let out a breath—the feeling of homecoming, no matter how many times, felt like the first.

But the pendant at Su Yu's throat suddenly grew intensely hot.

"Stop!" she commanded sharply.

Makusi slammed the brakes. The convoy halted at an abandoned gas station three kilometers from Pure Land.

"What's wrong?" Han Qing already had his weapon gripped.

Su Yu pointed to the sky. In the True Knowledge Vision, the previously sparse Shadow Network was converging, like sharks scenting blood, slowly moving toward Pure Land. At the network's center, a denser black spot was forming.

"They're not targeting us," Su Yu said, voice tense, "they're targeting 'Pure Land' because of what we brought back."

Kaiwen's detector emitted a sharp alarm: "High-concentration shadow aggregation! Distance... directly overhead!"

Everyone looked up.

In the sky, the cloud layer began to rotate anomalously, forming a slowly expanding vortex. At the vortex's center, darkness settled, like a drop of ink falling into clear water, spreading slowly.

"Can the barrier hold?" Zhang Yang asked, his voice containing suppressed fear.

Han Qing had already linked to Pure Land's communications: "Command center, this is Recon Team Seven. We've observed abnormal shadow aggregation, location at..."

"We have already seen it," a cold, calm voice came over the channel, "Barrier energy output increased to 120%. All combat personnel, take positions. Han Qing, your mission is changed: do not return to the city, find cover on site, protect the 'thing' you brought back. That is the target."

Su Yu clenched the lead box at her chest. She could feel the seed inside trembling slightly, like a small animal sensing danger.

"They want it," she said, "not to destroy it, but to take it."

Makusi had already driven the vehicle into the repair bay behind the gas station, and the other vehicles followed quickly. The heavy metal rolling shutters dropped, plunging the bay into semi-darkness, with only the instrument panels and equipment indicator lights emitting a faint glow.

Kaiwen swiftly set up a portable shielding device: "It can interfere with energy signals, but it's uncertain whether it's effective against a aggregation of that scale."

"At least it buys us time," Han Qing checked the ammunition, "Su Yu, what's the seed's current state?"

Su Yu opened the lead box.

The seed was no longer calmly suspended. Tender leaves quivered slightly, the golden light at its core flickered at a visible frequency, like a rapid heartbeat. More crucially—at the leaf edges, a second tiny, translucent bud tip had appeared.

"It's accelerating its growth," Aili whispered, "because of a threat?"

"Or because it's near the 'Stardust Cradle'," Su Yu looked toward Pure Land, "it sensed its kind."

Outside the bay, the wind sound grew strange, no longer a natural howl but mixed with a low-frequency hum that made one's scalp tingle. Shadow networks were gathering, and the pressure in the air noticeably increased, making even breathing laborious.

Wang Hu set up a heavy machine gun at the window: "When will they attack?"

"We wait for the aggregation to complete," Han Qing stared at the detector screen, "based on the energy accumulation rate... at most fifteen minutes."

Fifteen minutes.

Su Yu looked at the seed in her hand. The golden light flickered steadily in the darkness, once, then again.

She recalled Chen Mo's words, his lingering script, and in that fragmented perception, at the very moment he was torn apart, he "nailed" this small piece of himself toward the direction of home.

Not to be protected.

But to return to fight.

"Kaiwen," Su Yu suddenly said, "can the shielding device adjust its frequency? Tune it to synchronize with the seed's pulse."

"It can, but why?"

"If they're attracted by the seed's purifying pulse," Su Yu stood up, the lead box glowing in her hand, "then we amplify this signal."

Han Qing snapped his head around: "Are you crazy? That would expose our position!"

"It's already exposed," Su Yu pointed to the sky; at the vortex's center, a black "line of sight" had descended, slowly sweeping the ground, drawing ever closer to the gas station, "they're locating us. Rather than waiting for them to find us, we should actively guide."

"Guide them where?" Zhang Yang asked.

Su Yu looked toward Pure Land, toward the protected area within the high wall that Chen Mo had personally built: the "Stardust Cradle."

"To a place where we can control the battle."

She opened the comms, linking into Pure Land's command channel: "This is Su Yu. Request to establish a temporary rendezvous point at Position No. 3 outside the barrier. We have a plan and need remote support from the 'Cradle' Resonance Array."

The channel was silent for two seconds.

"Plan risk level?" the commander asked.

"Extremely high," Su Yu said honestly, "but the risk of passive defense is annihilation."

A longer silence. Outside the bay, the humming grew louder, and the metal walls began to resonate faintly.

"Approved," the commander's voice finally came, "Position No. 3 is activated. The Resonance Array will reach maximum output in five minutes. You have ten minutes to reach the rendezvous point. Good luck."

Communications cut.

Han Qing looked at Su Yu, his gaze complex: "You know this could kill everyone."

"I know," Su Yu fastened the lead box, securing it firmly to her chest, "but Chen Mo believes I can find the answer. The answer is: the seed isn't a treasure to hide, it's a hope to plant."

She looked at all the team members: "The act of planting is the battle."

Makusi was the first to walk toward the driver's seat: "Then let's not waste time."

The engine roared.

The rolling shutters rose.

Outside the doors, the sky had turned dark violet, the vortex expanding to almost cover the entire view. In the darkness, something was taking shape.

The convoy burst out of the gas station, racing toward the rendezvous point three kilometers away.

And the seed at Su Yu's chest glowed brighter, its pulse frequency racing like a running heartbeat.

It's ready.

Grow, or die.

But never wait.