The Mad Scientist’s Domesticated Little Zombie 41

Chapter 41: The Past

“As for what happened back then, Lingling can watch the surveillance footage yourself.”

When Song Jing saw that the young man in front of him was completely indifferent to his own origin and was more concerned about a certain guy, he knew that the cabbage had already been stolen.

“When the laboratory was attacked back then, it alerted the military, and this place was taken over by them. Some things the laboratory didn’t have time to destroy were left behind, and the surveillance videos were one of them.”

Because the number of preserved surveillance videos was too large, Song Jing, at Lin Ling’s request, only retrieved the parts related to Shi Changyuan. When the little zombie watched, it was in segments.

The first video was dated eighteen years ago.

Shi Changyuan appeared on the screen for the first time, a small figure, looking only eight or nine years old, sitting quietly in the laboratory doing his homework.

The laboratory behind him was the place where Lin Ling was now standing.

The little zombie looked at the brand-new laboratory on the screen, then looked up at the current laboratory—completely shut down, with most of the traces of the attack preserved, and warning tape everywhere.

He was a bit surprised. “Why wasn’t this place cleaned up…”

“We didn’t dare to. Because this illegal laboratory contained many unknown substances, even the people who came in had to wear protective suits.”

“They took those substances back and spent ten years without being able to figure out what they were. They only knew the answer after the zombie virus broke out.”

After listening to Song Jing, Lin Ling’s gaze fell on the surveillance video again.

“So, I’m also from here?”

“Is this where Shi Changyuan met me?”

Song Jing didn’t answer Lin Ling’s question. He just also looked at the surveillance video from eighteen years ago that was still playing.

Eighteen years ago, researchers in white lab coats came and went in this laboratory. The surveillance could vaguely hear their conversations.

“Professor Shi.”

Someone called out, but it wasn’t Shi Changyuan, who was still doing his homework on the lab bench, but another middle-aged man with a slight resemblance to him. Beside him stood another woman, also in a white lab coat.

With just one glance, even the little zombie could tell their relationship with Shi Changyuan.

“Shi Changyuan said that his parents passed away a long time ago.”

Song Jing nodded. “Yes, in that attack.”

—”Professor Shi, this is the new substance extracted from the glacier. It contains many unknown things. If you participate in this project, I can offer you this much.”

—”You don’t need it? Yes, yes, talking about money is vulgar. I’ll be waiting to see Professor Shi on the highest award stage.”

These conversations took place behind Shi Changyuan, but his expression was cold from beginning to end, and he never lifted his head.

In the following videos, Shi Changyuan would only appear in the laboratory from 5 PM to 10 PM on weekdays, and almost all day on weekends.

Normally, a child appearing in a laboratory should receive some special attention, but in the surveillance videos, Lin Ling barely saw Shi Changyuan’s parents have any conversation with him.

Shi Changyuan didn’t care about these things. He could take care of himself.

“…We’ve discovered a living cell in this unknown substance. We’ve experimented with almost all biological genes. This living cell will devour the genes of all species and is particularly active when it encounters human genes.”

“…What’s even more amazing is that this cell is still growing.”

The voice from the video sounded like a report, with an irrepressible excitement.

However, that excited voice soon turned to panic.

—”Professor Shi, this cell, no, it’s an embryo now! We don’t know what it will develop into, maybe some terrible monster. This research was not specified by the boss. Why don’t we give it up…”

—”This kind of cell can’t live for long and can’t develop into anything. If you decide to leave now, you’ll never be able to come back.”

The panicked researcher never appeared on camera again after that.

However, Shi Changyuan on the side seemed to be attracted by these words. He walked to the incubator, looked at the cell seriously, and left after a long while.

From that day on, every time Shi Changyuan returned to the laboratory and left, the first and last thing he did was to stand in front of the incubator for a few seconds.

The cell in the incubator gradually grew, but everyone thought it would die soon. The experiments became more and more frequent, until it really grew into the shape of a baby.

This baby gradually developed human life signs but remained motionless.

Like a living dead person.

More people panicked, a panic for life. At this time, the private owner of the laboratory gave a new research direction, with a grand scale and complete secrecy, which was almost impossible to know from Shi Changyuan’s perspective.

But every day after that, there were arguments in the laboratory. Two groups of people argued endlessly. One side said they were cultivating a monster, and the other said this was a new future for humanity.

As time went on, Shi Changyuan also grew up. He appeared in the laboratory much less frequently, almost only on Friday afternoons.

Lin Ling guessed that Shi Changyuan must have been in a boarding school, with holidays from once a week to once a month.

From the age of eight, to sixteen, and later, he always wore a familiar blue and white school uniform.

And the baby in the incubator had also grown into an eight-year-old child with an exceptionally beautiful face. But this child, as usual, showed no movement except for weak life signs.

“If you want to die, I can help you.”

Shi Changyuan stood alone in front of the incubator and spoke for the first time in this laboratory.

As if he were talking to himself, not expecting anyone to answer.

But just as he was about to turn and leave, he suddenly met a pair of beautiful eyes.

The little zombie outside the screen also widened his eyes.

No wonder this school uniform appeared in my dream! I saw it! I remember!

The sixteen-year-old Shi Changyuan in the video, with his still youthful face, was stunned for a moment, moved to block the surveillance, and said nothing.

By the time he turned and left, the little person in the incubator had returned to his original state.

After that, every time Shi Changyuan came, he only had one thing to do: stand in front of the incubator and wait, occasionally saying a word or two, but the little person inside never opened his eyes again.

Three months later, the laboratory was attacked.

Explosions, gunshots, panicked crowds. The attackers broke into this laboratory, shouting about whether this base was researching immortality, where the experimental subject was, and where the report was.

And this was also the first time Shi Changyuan’s mother had spoken to him.

She rushed in from elsewhere and instructed Shi Changyuan, who was standing in front of the incubator.

—”You take the experimental subject and escape. Go towards the side door. Someone will come to pick you up. Protect this experimental subject with your life, you understand!”

Shi Changyuan followed his mother’s orders, opened the incubator, and the child inside fell into his arms.

But he didn’t go towards the side door, nor did he get into the car that came to pick him up.

He took the experimental subject and escaped completely.

The little zombie watched as Shi Changyuan carried him and left the range of the last camera, a bit lost in thought.

“And then?”

Lin Ling took a while to recover before he looked at Song Jing and asked.

“There’s no more surveillance after that, but according to our investigation, he took you and fled from the pursuit, running very far, from here all the way to the port.”

“He’s very smart.”

Song Jing placed the paper documents in front of Lin Ling.

“Before he passed out from exhaustion, he hid you in a shipment of goods going abroad. All the people who were chasing you at that time thought you had been sent abroad and searched all the countries and regions along the shipping route for several years.”

“But actually, you hadn’t moved at all. That shipment of goods was held in storage for several months. This incident alerted many parties and affected many things, including a child trafficking case.”

“It was right at this port.”

“At that time, you were sent to the hospital along with the rescued children. Your identity and household registration couldn’t be found, and in the end, you were left in an orphanage in City B and were adopted.”

“You happened to wake up in the hospital, and just like that, you were hidden in plain sight.”

Lin Ling listened to Song Jing’s account, his expression unchanged. He just slowly lowered his eyelashes and murmured softly, “So that’s how it was…”

Then, as if he had thought of something, he suddenly looked up and asked anxiously, “Then what about Shi Changyuan? After he passed out, who saved him?”

“He was taken away by the military. Later, there was an explosion in the laboratory, and he was the only one left inside who knew the truth.”

“He used the other contents of the laboratory as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the military, didn’t say a word about you, and in the end, he left safely.”

The little zombie blinked, listening very carefully.

“…So this was his connection with me?”

“Yes, but not all of it.”

Song Jing looked at Lin Ling, who was completely focused on Shi Changyuan, sighed, his expression complicated but also very emotional.

“Those who were secretly investigating went in the wrong direction for the first few years. By the time they realized, the military had already teamed up with a cooperative research institute and erased all related traces.”

“Those traces were cleaned up so thoroughly that even Shi Changyuan didn’t have time to find you.”

“Until the apocalypse broke out.”

“This matter returned to the military’s attention.”

“It was Shi Changyuan who took the initiative to come and talk about cooperation. He only had one request, which was to protect you and maintain your due rights.”

Song Jing paused for a moment, looked at Lin Ling, and asked, “Did Shi Changyuan take Lingling away from City B before?”

The little zombie nodded and said hesitantly, trying to beautify the other’s kidnapping act, but he couldn’t think of how to do it and could only tell the truth in the end.

“Yes… he said he wanted to keep a pet, and that I was the cutest and caught his eye.”

Hearing this, Song Jing was stunned for a moment, his eyes filled with shock and confusion, and finally, a hint of relief.

“He told you that?”

“Mm-hmm.”

The little zombie nodded with certainty.

“That’s because we found out that besides the military and the research institute, there were several other private forces that wanted to go deep into City B, probably all looking for you.”

“He took you away as a result of negotiations with the military.”

“Before the other ability users had grown strong enough to enter the core of City B, he took the first step to take you away and protect you.”

“The military has an ability user who can make people completely invisible from a biological perspective, but it only works on ordinary people. The duration is not clear, and it’s not clear if it will be ineffective against high-tier zombies with different abilities.”

“To put it bluntly, it was a suicide mission.”

“But he succeeded in taking you away and even made up a…”

“Lie.”

A lie like a fairy tale.

***

Author’s Note:

Here! [Bunny ears] Although they only made eye contact once, Shi Changyuan firmly believes that he and Lin Ling are childhood sweethearts, and everyone else is a latecomer