Chapter 26 Part 1

Mo Liang’s real name was not Mo Liang. The descendants of the pollution civilization didn’t need names to distinguish one another; their original names were even just a string of codes.

Mo Liang’s code was CT-●●●●.

Most common names were similar codes, hence a rumor that the pollution civilization originally originated from just bacteria cultivated in a biology lab. Later, during the Great Pollution Era, all species on the planet died, and only bacteria tenaciously survived, evolving generation after generation into a civilization.

At first glance, it indeed sounds quite plausible. Firstly, bacteria have a strong reproductive ability, mainly through binary fission, where one bacterial cell splits into two basically identical daughter cells.

Secondly, bacteria vary in shape, have simple structures, are highly adaptable, possess unique quorum sensing to rapidly transmit rich information codes, and even find absolutely pure spaces unfavorable for survival—traits that are all very similar.

Of course, this is just a rumor.

As for how the pollution civilization actually survived the Great Pollution Era and what its original origin was, there have always been various different theories.

The pollution descendants each had extremely long lifespans, but their memory cycles were very short. Therefore, their kind would set up a unique anchor point and place it in the shared consciousness link, so there would be no memory loss.

CT-●●●● never did this.

He always behaved differently from other members of his kind.

Other members of his kind were keen on constantly reproducing more offspring, rapidly forming a vast “legion,” continuously spreading outward, waging endless wars, and enslaving the native inhabitants. One planet was never enough; they would constantly seek new territories and carry out invasion and assimilation…

And the status among their kind was determined by who had invaded more planets. CT-●●●● found this extremely incomprehensible.

Other members of the kind also didn’t understand why there existed an individual in their group who couldn’t split into offspring.

Many of his kind considered CT-●●●● an unreasonable freak, and some even refused to acknowledge him as a descendant of the pollution civilization, wanting to expel him from the shared consciousness.

However, regardless, CT-●●●● indeed possessed some of the distinct characteristics of the pollution civilization.

Even though he was indeed different from most of his kind, his established nest couldn’t split into offspring at all, and he was completely indifferent to other alien races, even more dismissive of the mission to spread pollution and revitalize the group.

Not only that, CT-●●●● also found that even when he replenished the same energy as his kind, he still felt very weak.

This weakness was different from the weakness of energy deficiency; it was indescribable, more like there was an invisible hole in his body.

Too empty,

urgently needing something to fill it.

So he thought what he needed might be something else, something he had never seen and couldn’t even describe.

Something soft, warm, breathing, something that would stir his emotions, to fill the emptiness…

How could one find something that even he himself couldn’t describe? Where to look?

But a miracle did happen.

One day, CT-●●●● sensed the breath of life from the mother nest. In that instant, he immediately identified it as his child, a soft child.

Although he later unfortunately lost the child, he searched for a long, long time and finally found him.

As for previous memories…

The last time, it was Li Zhuo’s eyes that restored a few blurry memories to him. This time, it was the dream Li Zhuo narrated that gradually cleared up something from the chaotic memory blocks…

This feeling was hard to describe concretely. His memory was like a puzzle covered in thick dust. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t wipe off even a speck of dust on it, but his child could casually wipe it clean.

Now, the puzzle had been brightened a few more pieces by his child, and this time, more memories were recalled than before.

Many images were all about his child.

His child…

A lovely child…

A pale and thin child, his shoulder blades like butterfly wings ready to take flight, every inch of bone seeming to pierce through the tight skin.

A child who liked to curl up into a ball when sleeping, a tiny ball, like a forgotten shadow.

A child who liked to play hide-and-seek with him, a child who constantly ran in the city.

Oh… no!

In the quiet and silent bedroom, Mo Liang again recalled what his child had just said personally—that the dream version of him was frightening, that he was terrifying…

…

…

In other words… he had caused negative emotions in his beloved child. As a caregiver, how could he be so negligent so as to… harm his child?!

…

Like a stone cast into calm water, a sound wave of a special frequency reverberated continuously over the entire Hai City. At that moment, even the leaves of a row of roadside trees a thousand miles away trembled slightly.

Fortunately, this frequency had long been beyond the range of human hearing, or Li Zhuo would have been woken up.

The bedroom walls, the ceiling, and even the nightstand were eroded by a dense mass of black fine lines. The fine, unknown substance kept squirming, and the place with the most dense distribution of black tentacles was the bed.

At first glance, it seemed as if Li Zhuo was submerged by the dense black unknown objects, but it didn’t affect the sleeping Li Zhuo at all.

The black tentacles wouldn’t harm him; they just wanted to feel his breathing and body temperature more vividly.

As time passed by the minute and second, until the sky outside gradually brightened, and until the changes in the breathing and heartbeat of the boy on the bed were felt, the strands of black tentacles reluctantly burrowed back into the shriveled skin.

A familiar page was displayed on his retina; it was the feeding log he recorded every day without fail.

It was densely filled with data about Li Zhuo—how much he ate every day, his mood, and so on. The two most recent records were about “Eating Environment Management” and “Study on Emotion-Affected Feeding”.

Supplementary updates: 1. Prohibit revealing the complete form in front of the child, 2. Prohibit chasing the child…

~

Li Zhuo woke up.

Just like yesterday morning, he opened his eyes to see Teacher Mo’s gentle face, wearing thin-framed glasses. The eyes hidden behind the lenses radiated infinite gentleness and acceptance, like a deep lake.

“Good morning, Teacher Mo.”

The man gave him a gentle smile in return: “Morning.”

Through the half-open curtains, Li Zhuo suddenly discovered that it was snowing outside!? He immediately got out of bed, slipped on his slippers, and quickly walked out to the balcony.

“It’s really snowing?”

Hai City, as a coastal city, is influenced by the ocean, so temperatures are relatively high and more stable, with few snowfalls. This was the first time he had seen it in his memory.

“When did this start?”

Although he didn’t quite understand why a common weather change would make his child so happy, Mo Liang, who was following behind, still gave a very precise time: “At 03:28:05.”

At that time, the outdoor temperature suddenly dropped. Worried that his fragile child might catch a cold, Mo Liang deliberately synchronized and raised his own body temperature, thus preventing Li Zhuo from waking up cold.

Among the few friends staying overnight at Mo Liang’s villa, the one who got up the latest found that breakfast had already been neatly arranged on the table by the servants.

“Oh—”

That classmate pulled out a chair with great novelty, looking at the busy servants around and the sumptuous breakfast on the table, clicking his tongue repeatedly.

“Young Master Zhuo truly lives up to being a young master. This life is really fcking enviable!”

Deng Yuliang, sitting next to Li Zhuo, first looked at Mo Liang at the head seat, then at Li Zhuo beside him. After noticing no change in their expressions, he chimed in with a tease: “Isn’t it all thanks to my sharp eye? I spotted it long ago!”

The morning passed pleasantly like this. They toured the villa in the morning, had lunch outside at noon, and visited a few scenic spots to check in.

In the afternoon, two classmates’ parents were really worried, so Mo Liang had someone send them back first. By evening, two more left, and the rest each said they would leave tomorrow.

Deng Yuliang was the last to leave. He waved to Li Zhuo through the window as he left, telling him to let him know when he returned to Changyang, and they could hang out again then.

Li Zhuo nodded.

“By the way, you like snow, right? It snowed in Changyang this year too, and it was much heavier than in Hai City. Come play when the time comes.” He paused, and his voice lowered a few degrees. “Actually, you didn’t need to prepare an extra gift for me. Just tell me when it’s your birthday, and I’ll definitely come…”

“Alright. I know.”

The day after receiving birthday gifts from his classmates, Li Zhuo also gave them return gifts. Everyone else’s gift was the same, but Deng Yuliang had an extra layer hidden in a secret compartment—it seemed he had probably discovered it.

These gifts were bought with his own private savings. —Even though he had told Mo Liang more than once that he was bad and had had very dark thoughts, in essence, he was a kind child who knew to repay kindness.

Li Zhuo watched the vehicle disappear from sight. The light snowflakes, like willow catkins, fluttered in the air, landing on rooftops and carefully trimmed vegetation. However, not a single flake settled on Li Zhuo.

He suddenly murmured to himself: “When I first transferred there, he took care of me a lot…”

Before his words ended, a voice drifted from behind: “And what about me?”

Li Zhuo didn’t need to turn around to know who it was, and couldn’t help but laugh: “Of course, and Teacher Mo too. You’ve taken care of me the most, so much that I don’t even know how to repay you.”

“I’m good to you because I want to be good to you, not for repayment,” Mo Liang said seriously. “I just hope you live happily and healthily…”

Li Zhuo stopped talking and silently shifted his snow-gazing gaze toward the “man” behind.

Even though Li Zhuo already knew Mo Liang wasn’t human, he wore a human skin and treated him so well, causing Li Zhuo to often forget his non-human identity.

The child’s gaze made Mo Liang very happy.

[My child… is observing me…]

[Cute…]

[Like…]

[Love…]

~