Little Mushroom

An Zhe dreamed.

He seemed to be standing above the abyss of black water, facing an endless empty world. The dangerous breath grabbed him like a hand. There must be something watching him in the dark distance and he couldn't breathe.

He felt danger and subconsciously looked around, taking two steps back. In front of this dangerous gaze, he wanted to find someone or be close to someone to get a sense of security. Thus, his hand moved uneasily and gently grabbed onto the corner of Lu Feng's sleeve. His breathing became a bit short like he was afraid.

Lu Feng closed the lid of the silver cold box and threw the empty disposable needle into the garbage can at the head of the bed. Then he placed the gun at a place that could be reached from the head of the bed.

After doing all of this, An Zhe's somewhat short breaths calmed down but his beautiful eyebrows were still slightly furrowed.

There was a tiny, bright red bead of blood on the side of An Zhe's neck. Then within three minutes, the blood had solidified into a small red dot the size of a pinhole. The thing that was injected into his body wouldn't cause his body any damage apart from this blood spot.

He was a soft-skinned small animal, fragile and in need of comfort. It was as if he could be easily destroyed while also easily protected.

Lu Feng stared at him with no expression. After a long time, he reached out his hand and rested his fingertips on the warm skin of An Zhe's eyebrow. The furrowed eyebrows slowly relaxed and three minutes later, An Zhe was sleeping calmly again like he did at the beginning.

***

Once An Zhe woke up, the entire room was already lit. It was the brightness of the morning and the panic about being late caused him to be completely awake. Then he found the towel he had used to wrap himself last night had slid down a lot, exposing his shoulders. His hand was clinging to a corner of a human's clothing and he was leaning against this human body, face resting on the other person's shoulder.

If this man was Seraing, An Zhe would apologize to him in a manner that conformed to human etiquette. If this man was Colin then An Zhe would leave immediately. However, this man was the colonel who often directed killing intent at him.

An Zhe quietly let go and stared up at this person. However, Lu Feng didn't want to kill him this time. The man reached out and pulled up the quilt to cover An Zhe's exposed arms and shoulders. He spoke lightly, "It is 8:30."

An Zhe's work location today was still the Lighthouse but the work was very boring. Lu Feng seemed to have no work to do today and also accompanied him. The scene in the laboratory could be summarized as Sinan watched Lily, Lily watched Sinan, An Zhe watched Lily and Lu Feng watched him.

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After half a day, Sinan's situation actually improved steadily. The time it took for his brain waves to stabilize increased from a short one or two seconds to a stable four seconds. During this brief period of awakening, he would regularly hit the glass wall like he was telling Lily he was there. The doctor was pleased to hear the results and said he would leave for a while, letting them continue on their own.

During the times when Sinan completely lost his mind, Lily would talk to An Zhe.

"I still want to fly." She declared. "It is so big outside."

"Can't you go out?"

"No, they say it is too dangerous outside. When I was a kid, I begged them to let me go out for five minutes but they never said yes. I was angry with them every day."

"Mrs Lu will comfort me and tell me not to care about them. She said that the entire base is Eden's child. Sometimes the child will be capricious and sometimes it will hurt its mother in turn but it is understandable. What's more, the things we eat, the place we live and the electricity we use are all the base's things." Lily signed but this action was a little out of place for a child her age.

An Zhe touched her head.

"Only Mrs Lu can go outside. She is a scientist." Lily continued, "I want to be a scientist too."

"I heard them say that the embryo has to grow in the body for at least five months before it can be removed, which is very painful. However, Mrs Lu and the Lighthouse team have been shortening this time and now it only takes a month."

An Zhe quietly listened to her. Just then, Lu Feng's communicator rang and he picked it up. An Zhe faintly heard the voice on the other end saying something like 'sample', 'growth' and 'verification'. After hanging up, Lu Feng told him, "I'm going out."

"Yes."

Lu Feng's footsteps headed down the corridor. Then Lily suddenly leaned against An Zhe and asked in a mysterious tone, "The colonel is Mrs Lu's child. Did you know that?"

An Zhe watched the girl. After two days of contact, she was much livelier. He asked, "Do you even know this?"

"It is because I'm smart." Lily slightly raised her chin. "They only sleep while I know everything."

For the things she said before, An Zhe didn't have much interest. Then once she mentioned Lu Feng, he felt some curiosity. "What do you know?"

"There are photos of the colonel stored in the madam's communicator. I have seen it." Lily swung her legs on the chair and continued, "They said that the colonel is the madam's real child and he wasn't grown with the assistance of machines."

An Zhe thought that the relationship between Lu Feng and Mrs Lu was really special. The children of Eden themselves didn't know the identity of their parents. The only number that had been with them since birth was their ID card number.

He heard Lily continue, "There seem to be two reasons. The first is that the colonel was in a precarious state at the time and wasn't suitable for in vitro culture. The other one is just a guess."

An Zhe inquired, "What is it?"

"The madam stayed outside the Garden of Eden. Later, she would go to the Lighthouse for meetings and talk to people outside. My guess is that the madam had a lover outside. Maybe the colonel is the child of the madam and her lover."

At this point, Lily stared at An Zhe. "Are you Colonel Lu's lover?"

An Zhe pondered on the meaning of the word for a moment before shaking his head.

"Have you ever been paid for sperm?" Lily wondered. "Although you don't have a lover, you might already have a child."

"No." An Zhe frowned. "But…"

"What is it?"

An Zhe slowly shook his head and didn't speak. He didn't have a human child but he had his spore. He just didn't know where his spore was now. He would ask Lu Feng but he was afraid to reveal his heterogeneous identity. If he continued to search the ventilation ducts, he was at risk of getting lost and being exposed at any time.

The only thing he knew was that according to Lu Feng's manual, the spore was most likely in the Lighthouse. He was now in the Lighthouse but facing the complicated authority gates and secure laboratories, he had no idea how to find the spore.

It was clear that he and the spore must be close. In the Lighthouse for the past two days, An Zhe felt sad whenever he thought of this.

Lily wondered, "You aren't happy?"

"Yes."

He wasn't a complete mushroom. An incomplete mushroom couldn't be happy. Just then, a slight thumping sound was heard again. Sinan had recovered his consciousness and Lily immediately ran over to Sinan. An Zhe felt even more depressed.

Then footsteps were heard in the corridor. Lu Feng and the doctor had come back together. The doctor was talking to Lu Feng. "What have you done to it?"

"What could I do to it?"

"It lay as unmoving as the dead until you spent two days in the Lighthouse. Then it suddenly started to grow. I don't think this is a coincidence."

"Moreover, it is soaked in a nutrient solution and keeps floating randomly. So why is it that when you move next to the incubator, it drifts near you?"

Lu Feng's voice was cold. "Isn't this your research?"

"You have to first provide us with enough information. What special connection do you have with it?"

"I took it, sealed it and sent it to the Lighthouse." Lu Feng's tone gradually became cold, a sign that he didn't want to continue the topic. "Nothing more."

"This is a key project. You have to cooperate with the research."

"Feel free."

The voices came closer and the two of them returned to the laboratory. The doctor walked back to the instrument while Lu Feng took out the base armament book from An Zhe's backpack and read it to pass the time.

An Zhe recalled their conversation just now and gradually felt a bit more suspicious. He slowly turned toward Lu Feng.

Lu Feng felt his gaze and looked up from the page toward him.

An Zhe stared at him. "What have you done?"