Chapter 12
At night, Su Ran saw his human colonel.
The night was thick, and in the fog, several figures were walking towards him. Su Ran carefully hid behind the table, holding the dogtail grass nervously, not even shaking it.
"Dr. Tariel wants to see you when we return to the base this time," the accompanying soldier said. "I heard that with the Level 6 aberration, the base is not peaceful either."
"Also..." The soldier paused for a few seconds and continued, "Testing for benign aberrations will be conducted after we disembark tomorrow."
Si Chengyan: "Thank you."
The soldier raised his hand and saluted respectfully.
Without looking at him again, Si Chengyan strode towards the tree stump.
Everything was exactly as he had left it.
The small pillow and blanket were several meters forward, and the storybook was spread out on one side. It was the page of "Waiting for the Rabbit by the Tree", but there were a lot more ink scribbles - it seemed that the little owner of this storybook had been waiting for him for a long time.
After Si Chengyan withdrew his gaze, it fell on Biluochun.
There are leaf-shaped mud marks on the edge of the cup. One can imagine it stretching out its roots and swaying, afraid of falling into the hot water.
There was a faint smile in Si Chengyan's eyes.
He began to look for Su Ran. As a military commander who had been in the wild all year round, he could tell where Su Ran was hiding with just a glance.
But he acted as if he didn't see it and deliberately went around in circles.
Every time he moved the table away, he would see the foxtail grass swaying, looking very happy, but when he looked back, the grass was frozen there, motionless.
"That was a close call." Su Ran lay beside the table and muttered softly.
But for some reason, he felt a little secretly happy. Even the colonel didn't notice him, which meant that his hide-and-seek skills had improved!
Su Ran happily shook the foxtail grass again.
But somehow, at the end, the Colonel disappeared from his sight.
“…Huh?”
Su Ran was stunned and looked around carefully.
As a little rose preparing to catch the colonel, he cannot fail.
So Su Ran grabbed the small leaf and pulled it out a little, then a little more... He looked ahead while stretching the leaf until he touched something hard.
Su Ran: "Hmm?"
He then pointed at something with the tip of his leaf, and it looked like a pair of military boots. He pointed again, and it turned out to be the boots the colonel usually wore.
Before he could even raise his eyes, he was scooped up by Colonel Si's palm. A familiar warmth came over him, and before Su Ran could even think, he was grabbed and placed on his shoulder.
Su Ran: “?”
He is afraid of heights!
Even if the colonel raised it high, it wouldn't work.
"Put me down." Su Ran pleaded in a low voice, "This is so scary, so scary, please put me in your pocket, please..."
"I have a lot of magnetic cards in my pocket," Si Chengyan said. "I'll need them when I get into the base tomorrow, and I'm afraid I'll scratch you."
Su Ran: "Then hold hands."
"Wait until I wash my hands, then I can hold you again."
The colonel walked out and found a small cliff cave about fifty meters away.
Just like the wild, the outside of the cave was filled with fluorescent grass, mutant mushrooms, and ancient vines, which glowed purple-green under the distant sky.
A breeze blew over from afar, bringing with it a misty, almost imperceptible scent of the wilderness. Su Ran stayed beside Si Chengyan, watching him wash his hands.
Si Chengyan: "Are you not afraid now?"
"Um, what?"
"Fear of heights."
"If you squat down, it won't be high anymore." Su Ran lay down obediently. The colonel's epaulettes gave him a sense of security. "Because I was born and raised here."
Si Chengyan smiled helplessly at this rose that used idioms incorrectly and reached out to pinch its small leaves.
Su Ran lay on his shoulder and was rubbed obediently.
"When we return to the base, we must first undergo a distortion test." Si Chengyan stood up, placed Su Ran in his palm, and said, "This is the base's requirement."
Su Ran rolled up the small leaf and asked, "Will it hurt?"
"Just extract a small sample." Si Chengyan said, "Don't be afraid."
Su Ran felt relieved after hearing this.
Yeah.
Since the colonel told him not to be afraid, he would not be afraid!
The next day, fifteen military aircraft took off from the Manlot area on time.
With a rumbling sound and rising dust, the entire city unfolded before Su Ran's eyes, forming a three-dimensional map. Collapsed buildings were everywhere, intersecting with mutated and deformed objects, forming black shadows of varying sizes.
Si Chengyan told him that this was the "old city" of mankind, left behind before the distortion disaster, and the base was built after the disaster. It had a large base and the most complete military supplies. It was connected to the "new city" on the outer edge, and the population density was also much higher.
"Then why..." Su Ran asked while holding a glass of dog ball juice, "People from the old city don't come to the new city?"
After all, it sounds like the base is much more powerful than the old one.
As a rose, he would definitely choose "New Town" without hesitation.
Si Chengyan: "Because of the location."
"Um?"
"The base is built on the abyss, which is more dangerous than the old city." Si Chengyan said, "Because of the distortion, the land resources are much less. Compared to the fields, we can only choose this type of area for reconstruction."
During the conversation, the pilot's announcement came on, announcing that they were about to land.
Su Ran sat on the chair, twisting and turning, trying to look out the window. But no matter how she twisted, she only twisted herself into a pretzel and saw the top of the plane.
After a few seconds, when he decided to keep twisting and trying harder, Si Chengyan turned on the surveillance screen in front of him. Su Ran's eyes fell on the front.
Su Ran: "Wow..."
He had never seen such a large city.
Under the white skylight, human buildings spread out before the eyes, layer upon layer. They were as big as more than thirty caves and as wide as more than a dozen abysses. They were like a huge spider web, densely packed, connecting everything together.
He originally thought it would only be slightly larger than Manlot, but now he realized that he was completely wrong.
Several times, or even dozens of times, as a small rose, Su Ran felt that it had become a whole new world. Except for the old city, such a city could indeed be called a new city - in the fog, high-rise buildings rose from the ground. They were intricately intertwined, but they could be surrounded by clever corridors and pass through each other. In the end, ten main architectural circles were formed.
And on the outside of each circle, Su Ran discovered something different. It seemed that there was some space floating, like a suspended island, surrounding the entire city in a circle.
When we got off the plane, rows of soldiers were waiting on both sides. The moment they saw Si Chengyan, they all raised their hands and saluted.
Su Ran poked his head out of the colonel's pocket.
The leading soldier stepped forward and said, "Welcome back, Colonel Si Chengyan."
Exactly the same terminology, just like Manlot.
The only difference was that this soldier should be familiar to Colonel Si, because without introducing himself, Si Chengyan called him by his name, Rotenberger.
Looking at the badge on his chest, he was a lieutenant colonel.
"Colonel Si," Rothener said, "the base is ready. The meeting with the institute is scheduled for this afternoon."
He paused, then continued, "Regarding this aberration, a similar dead-object infection has occurred in the outer city. Two cars in a repair shop suddenly absorbed the inspectors and became new types of aberrations. In addition, there's also a group of benign plants that have been infected. The cause is currently unknown, and we'll have a more extensive discussion this afternoon."
Si Chengyan: "Then as soon as possible."
"OK."
After the words fell, Si Chengyan said to Su Ran: "Let's go get tested first."
Su Ran agreed obediently and rubbed the colonel's neck with the small leaves.
*
Base, testing area.
This is a high-rise building surrounded by cement and stone walls, used for special detection of distorted objects. In order to prevent accidents, the outer walls are covered with electric grids to prevent sudden mutations during the detection process.
"Wow—what a lovely rose!"
When several laboratory staff saw Su Ran in the colonel's hands, they couldn't help but sigh and wanted to touch Su Ran's little bud. Seeing Si Chengyan standing aside, they restrained themselves a little.
So one of them said, "Colonel Si, the test results may take fifty minutes. During this time, Su Ran must stay in the observation room."
"Yeah." Si Chengyan responded lightly, "I'll accompany you."
The inspector was suddenly embarrassed when he heard this: "Colonel Si, I'm so sorry, the base just approved the application of the Institute of Qualitative Change, and this is not allowed."
Si Chengyan's tone turned colder: "When did it pass?"
"While you're supporting Manlot City," the inspector pulled a chipped glass bottle from the cabinet, "there's also a proposal to revise the distortion values, raising the standard for benign distortions. Take a look..."
Before he finished speaking, Si Chengyan suddenly raised his hand and knocked the glass bottle out of the inspector's hand.
——clang.
The bottle fell to the ground and broke into pieces in an instant.
The inspector took a few steps back: "What, what's going on?"
Si Chengyan said nothing, looking at the debris on the ground, and said: "Contact headquarters, dead things are infected."
The accompanying soldier responded immediately.
Su Ran looked at the glass bottle that was broken into pieces.
I don’t know if it was an illusion, but the fragments fluttered a few times like fish and shrimp, making their last struggle - just like an armored vehicle.
Su Ran held on to the small leaf tightly.
Just then, he heard the colonel say, "It's all right."
"Yeah." Su Ran responded timidly.
Despite this, he was still a little scared, so the colonel held him in his palm, let Su Ran's small leaf rest on his index finger, and kept comforting him along the leaf.
The entire laboratory fell into silence.
Just then, a tall and thin old man in a white robe walked into the laboratory.
His face was covered in lines and wrinkles, his skin showing an unhealthy paleness. Despite this, his eyes were sharp. Listening to the conversation was the highest official of the Institute of Transmutation, Dr. Tariel.
"Institute's order." He said, his eyes darkening and falling fiercely on Su Ran, "Capture all the aberrations at the scene."
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