Awakening 5
Fang Luochun, wheeled by her students, stared at the ever-changing data on the screen. Wu Chuannan also stood nearby, hands behind his back, mentally calculating the trend of the data fluctuations.
Until an alarm sounded - they all knew what it meant, and more than half of the instruments in the research center pressed the emergency stop button by the automatic control program.
The researcher responsible for observing physiological data put on layer after layer of protective clothing before picking up tools to forcibly pry open the outer shell of the thermal insulation chamber.
The nutrient solution that filled the capsule spilled onto the floor, and the volunteer who was dragged out was completely unconscious. Aside from the alarm, no one spoke, as everyone raced against time to record the final data.
The volunteer was quickly escorted out, escorted by a dedicated medical team. Everyone who saw her sighed inwardly, her vital signs fading.
After following up on this experiment for several months, they all hoped that the volunteers could sleep peacefully. The order for immediate rescue was deeply engraved in their instincts, but the load that quantum leaps put on cells was unpredictable, and any tiny change produced was irreversible.
Human rights and orders intertwined into a contradictory entity, fused in unspoken sighs. The young volunteer closed his eyes tightly, his faint heartbeat gradually fading into a silent line, a straight line displayed on the screen.
Electric shocks couldn't wake her up, nor could the atropine pumped into her dark blue veins. Her disintegrating consciousness carried memories that no one else could ever know and sent her away, sinking into eternal silence.
Finally, someone spoke up, bringing up irrelevant facts to dispel the silence that enveloped them. Someone reached out and covered her with a white cloth, obscuring her face, and felt a sense of relief and hope for her freedom from the pain she had endured.
They didn't know which journey to the past she was on, and could only draw one or two conclusions based on the theories that were revealed sporadically - she disappeared before their eyes, and would appear at any moment in time, which was something they could not yet glimpse.
"There's only one item left," Fang Luochun said, hanging up the phone call that lasted only a few seconds. He looked at the old man standing beside him. He propped up his hand and cupped his face to admire his nervousness, his eagerness, and a hint of disappointment.
Feeling incomparably pleased by this, she curled her lips and repeated a fact that everyone knew, "There's only one possibility left."
The young student lowered his head, trying to minimize his presence, fearing his teacher would notice him. "Let's go," the man in the wheelchair said, gently pushing his wheelchair toward the direction his teacher had indicated.
Fang Luochun approached Wu Chuannan, not intending to tell him about some experimental progress he didn't know about yet. Based on the data just sent to her phone, her own ideas had just made good progress.
She had already borne the consequences of failure, and now she certainly had no intention of sharing the possibility of success with others. Having reached her current position, she naturally understood that science, like the ever-evolving society, was nothing more than a dictator's private game.
"Do you remember the preface?" She asked in a gentle voice, as if she was giving a normal test.
The student pushing the wheelchair was stunned for a moment, his thoughts disturbed by memories for a moment, and then he hurriedly mumbled the humanistic judgment.
"It enables people to acquire wisdom that is not biological instinct and a soul that is not innate."
Fang Luochun clapped his hands lightly twice and said, "This is the old saying that the director just mentioned when he was teaching." The crisp sound faded away along with the sound of the roller sliding.
"He didn't seem to like it, but I thought it was well written, and now it seems you remember it clearly."
He continued to nod, pushing his teacher out without answering any of her judgmental words. His teacher was indeed the dominant figure here, a very resourceful dean. Before he arrived, he had heard countless rumors, both true and false.
Fang Luochun waved his hand, and he immediately stopped and looked ahead. A conference room? He had unknowingly pushed his wheelchair here. The tightly closed door blocked anyone's view from outside. Fang Luochun leaned against the handrail and stood up, adjusting his sleeves and tying up his shoulder-length hair.
"You should go back first. If nothing unexpected happens, you'll see me tomorrow morning when you come over." Fang Luochun, joking for once, finished her instructions in a light tone. She didn't bother looking at her students again. She pressed the door and walked into the conference room. After a moment of noise, silence returned.
He pushed the wheelchair away and returned to his own residence. Whatever happened, it was something he shouldn't know.
Pang Li pressed his brow with his curved finger. The person in the incubator still maintained normal physiological data, but had not woken up yet - it was two days later than the scheduled time.
People transferred from other groups took over most of her work, and although she was still exhausted, she was unwilling to catch up on sleep. For several months, the most she did every day was to trace the volunteer's face through the hatch of the thermal chamber and record the daily data.
She also vaguely knew the volunteer's situation. She was five or six years older than him. Pang Li thought, this is the last time, the experiment will soon be over.
He would surely wake up safely, right? Just like before, even at the last moment, if he woke up, everything would be over.
He sank in a liquid like water, trying to float up, but he could not find a way out. All he could see was the same darkness, and his head was filled with sharp pains. Shen... Shen Yi?
Is that him? He wanted to reach out and touch his face, just to confirm. Where were the knife wounds? Had he returned to Chang'an?
No, that's not right. He shook his head. It didn't seem like he was there. It must be summer in Chang'an, and willow catkins covered his closed eyes. The blind man was a little confused, but also sighed with a hint of understanding.
Even if he died here, he still wouldn't be able to see his grandfather and tell him about the new dynasty. But there was no point in living, blind, deaf, and lame.
He wanted to continue sleeping and not wake up again. He hated the fact that he couldn't see anything and he hated the darkness before his eyes.
But his attention was drawn to the wound on his neck. It must be very painful, although it was far less painful than being castrated.
Li Fuquan wanted to open his eyes and reach out to touch the hole. He had finally crawled here, so how could he be willing to continue sleeping?
But that emperor had died before him, so where else could he go? If there was a new emperor, he thought, he probably wouldn't be able to climb up, and he wouldn't be able to climb up at all.
Chaotic memories kept swirling in his mind. Counting the days, it should finally be summer in Luzhou. If nothing unexpected happened, Su Si would be getting married in a bright red wedding gown, with his father and mother sitting in the upper seats.
I should have prepared more gifts back then. Su Si should have been his brother long ago. I was not able to go in person then, which is a real regret for my whole life...
Li He smiled, feeling that he hadn't broken his promise. He seemed to close his eyes again, no longer needing to look at the cloudy sky. Was someone taking him home?
If not, the sound of the river flowing would have already rang in his ears. It was so gentle that if he hadn't been paying attention to this sound, he would probably not have been able to hear it.
He was so tired, he just wanted to keep sinking like this. Something seemed to be pulling him, and he was in a daze, not knowing whether to fall asleep or wake up.
It was a video that had been played several times without any sound. The girl in the hospital bed had been removed from her oxygen tube and was able to take some liquid food and begin rehabilitation.
He remembered that it was his sister, Li Qingyue, who had a very nice name.
Who was he then? He simply couldn't bear the pain any more. It was like a knife ripping through his flesh, leaving him no peace for a moment.
"According to the monitoring data, the volunteer can wake up..." A familiar voice sounded in his ears. Li Rong followed the voice and floated to the surface.
He—his name was Li Rong. He silently recited this name as he woke up from the gentle liquid. The researcher next to him began to help him stand up from the incubator.
After struggling for a long time, he finally stood up with his limp body. Li Rong vaguely grasped something, and he remained silent, waiting for someone to push the wheelchair over. Once the medicine was injected, he would be completely free from this pain.
It was all over. Those intertwined pains felt like flesh being gnawed clean. Just one dose of medicine, and this experiment would have nothing to do with me anymore.
"Dean Fang." Pang Li bowed his head and greeted the person in the wheelchair. Fang Luochun also nodded and looked at the person they were supporting. "Li Rong?"
He paused for a moment before uttering a soft sound and answering his name. Previously, when he'd been out, the person he'd seen most often was probably an older man. Director Wu? Wasn't he here today?
Li Rong suppressed his doubts and felt that the waiting time today was really too long. Was there any other step that required his cooperation?
square
Luo Chun smiled, stood up, and gave the wheelchair to Li Rong. After watching him sit down, she pushed the wheelchair slowly out. "No need to inject medicine anymore," she comforted the volunteer in the wheelchair. "There's only one last step left. Just see one more person, and you can leave here."
No need... to inject more medicine? Before Li Rong could even ask why, the light flashed in his eyes. His vision began to blur, and when he regained focus, he was already in another laboratory.
It seemed that there was a person lying among the densely packed instruments in the center of the laboratory. Why did he come to see such a person?
The dean seemed to understand what he was thinking and pressed the button on the instrument to open the glass barrier that isolated the outside world.
"I think you should know him."
Li Rong saw the face clearly and subconsciously reached out to touch it, but was immediately stopped by the sharp pain that surged through his body. He shouldn't know this person, he clearly shouldn't know this person - how could it be, how could it be him? Why was he here?
The man opened his eyes and met Li Rong's gaze. Li Rong made a sound in such pain, with twisted pain and unspeakable disbelief.
"Xue Heng, Xue Zhuozhi, Chief Censor, Xue Congzhi——" How could it be him, how could it be him?
Xue Heng woke up from his drowsiness and heard his own name. It seemed to be a familiar voice, so he chuckled, as bright as a jade mountain.
The main text is over.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
