The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Once the decision was made, there was no turning back. Yu Qing began his daily, unwavering "ritual."

He chose to sneak into the secret room deep within the central control center in the dead of night, when all was quiet and there was no sound. This was done without the knowledge of anyone—including the loyal Dong Hao, and even more so Yao Dan, who, though transferred away from the core area, might still be secretly watching.

The secret chamber was empty and cold, with only the fully expanded box in the center, its interior shrouded in an ominous yet alluring dark blue light, like a lighthouse in the deep sea, guiding one to an unknown shore. He removed his outer garments and lay naked inside.

Surprisingly, the inside of the box wasn't cold at all; instead, it had a warm, jade-like feel, as if it possessed a life of its own, conforming to every curve of his body.

When he lay completely flat, the lid of the box closed silently and tightly, as if it were alive, swallowing up the last ray of light from the outside world, and his vision was completely occupied by that deep blue that seemed to absorb the soul.

At first, I didn't feel anything special. It was just as if I was in an extremely quiet, isolated space where even the sound of my own heartbeat and blood flow was amplified, and my sense of time became blurred.

But soon, a strange, indescribable feeling of being detached began to emerge from every part of my body. It was not a sharp pain, but a deeper feeling of being "read" and "analyzed," originating at the cellular and even genetic level.

It was as if countless invisible, extremely subtle energy probes were meticulously scanning, recording, and analyzing the most minute structural secrets and operational laws of his body in ways beyond his comprehension, including life imprints and latent instincts that he himself had never noticed, hidden deep within his bloodline.

He felt like a book that had been forcibly laid out, allowing the most astute readers to browse and copy all its contents at will, with no privacy or dignity whatsoever.

A week later, the changes began to show in every moment he was conscious. Yu Qing clearly felt a persistent, bone-deep fatigue.

This is not simply a lack of sleep, but a feeling of weakness stemming from the very source of life, as if the body's energy, vitality, and even some inexplicable "vital energy" are being gradually drained and extracted by that mysterious box with each "ritual."

His muscles became unusually prone to soreness, and his once steady arms would sometimes tremble slightly uncontrollably; his attention was also difficult to maintain for long periods of time, and he would often involuntarily drift off for a moment when handling official business.

He looked into the cold mirror in the bathroom and could clearly see the barely perceptible bluish shadows under his eyes and the undisguised weariness between his brows, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.

He began to seriously doubt his choice, and the wavering within him grew like a crack that was gradually widening. "Is this really the right path?" an anxious voice repeatedly questioned him from the depths of his heart, the voice growing louder and louder.

"For a vague and uncertain 'future power' that may never materialize, are you personally accelerating the destruction of this fragile but at least capable body that can move autonomously and experience the real world? This is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst!"
If, before I gain my so-called new power, 'Dadian' launches another attack, one as bizarre as the one in Oxygen Deprivation, or even more so, or if unexpected changes occur within Wengshan due to my weakened state, how can I, in my deteriorating condition, cope? How can I protect them?

Thinking of Yu Xuan, Yu Lan, and the children in their wombs, a strong sense of powerlessness gripped him.

He finally couldn't hold back any longer and reconnected to the encrypted line with his aunt, revealing all his worries and the obvious physical reactions he was experiencing. His tone was filled with barely concealed anxiety and a hint of barely perceptible regret.

My aunt's response came through the encrypted line, calm as ever, even carrying a hint of something she had already expected and taken for granted.

"Feeling weak is normal, there's no need to panic." Her voice was completely calm.

"Your biological information is being collected and preliminarily modeled with high precision. This process itself will consume a large amount of biological energy stored in your body and cause a continuous, mild load on your central and peripheral nervous systems."

I warned you long ago that this would be very uncomfortable, even a kind of slow torture.

She paused, then spoke with surgical precision, shattering Yu Qing's lingering illusions about "gradually gaining power."

"Moreover, you must recognize a fact from the bottom of your heart: as long as you still have this original, carbon-based body, you cannot obtain or bear any real 'superpowers'."

Those powers that transcend the physical limits of mortals—whether it's directly manipulating energy, creating large-scale barriers of consciousness, engaging in multidimensional perception, or other forms you can't even imagine—are all built upon a complete 'transformation'.

In other words, it's based on the complete fusion and synchronization of your core consciousness with a specially designed and enhanced non-biological carrier. Everything you're experiencing now, lying in that box, is merely paying the necessary and expensive 'price' and 'ticket' for that uncertain future.

"How long will this process take? I need a clear timetable!" Yu Qing asked anxiously, his voice hoarse from weakness and anxiety.

"How many more days will I have to lie in this damned box? A week? A month? Or longer? When will I finally gain the real power to protect Wengshan and fight off threats?"

He needs an anchor, a goal to look forward to, which is crucial to all his strategic plans and psychological defenses.

"Information gathering and preliminary modeling of the body structure require a fixed base time, but more importantly, it's about your conscious adaptation process, which varies from person to person and there's no standard answer." Aunt's answer remained vague, as if shrouded in mist.

"I can only assure you that your physical body will not disintegrate before you enter the 'Ultimate Office' and pass the biometric authentication there. We will use technological means to maintain its most basic life activity and morphological integrity to ensure that you can complete that final 'procedure'."

However, as for how long it will take for subsequent consciousness synchronization efficiency, carrier solidification speed, basic capability loading, and even practical application integration... that depends on your consciousness resilience, compatibility with the carrier, and many other uncontrollable factors.

I can't give a definite answer right now; it might be soon, or it might... be a long time from now.

The fact that his aunt remained silent again and that there was no end in sight to the uncertainty made Yu Qing's heart sink completely, as if he had fallen into an abyss.

His greatest fear and worry seemed to be gradually turning into a cold reality—a "gap period" of power shortage and vulnerability.

Advancing represents the distant shore of new power, which is unattainable and whose arrival time is unknown; retreating means that the physical body upon which we depend for survival is continuously and irreversibly decaying and heading towards its end.

He was trapped in the middle, caught between a rock and a hard place, like a fledgling bird with broken wings, only able to watch helplessly as the storm might come again, powerless to protect everything he wanted to protect. This sense of powerlessness almost drove him mad.

He was especially afraid to think of Yu Xuan and Yu Lan, and the unborn children in their wombs who carried his hopes for the future. They were the light in his darkness, the spark for the continuation of primitive humanity, but also perhaps the most vulnerable and easily attacked targets.

He feared they might mysteriously disappear like Old Chen, suffer mental trauma like Xiaoya and Daya, or be infected and controlled by "replacement bacteria" or some other more insidious and vicious unknown entity.
In that case, they would ultimately lose their precious self-awareness and emotions, becoming "puppets" manipulated at will by the mastermind behind the scenes. If that were to happen, it would be a complete and utterly devastating blow to him, even worse than physical demise. He almost pleaded with his aunt again, with a hint of humility and something unusual about him: "Could you... perhaps use the technology of Tianqing City to help me eliminate any potential threats posed by them?"

For example, those known 'displacement bacteria,' or other similar things you can detect? I don't need absolute safety, just to ensure they are at least relatively 'clean' for now, temporarily safe! Give me some time to prepare and respond!

At the other end of the line, the aunt's holographic image seemed to gently shake her head. Although Yu Qing couldn't see her specific expression at this moment, he could feel the negation that transcended space.

“It’s meaningless. That idea is naive.” Her voice carried an almost cruel indifference based on a higher level of cognition.

"You think 'displacement bacteria' are the only, or the main, threat? You're sorely mistaken! Your perspective is far too narrow."

Based on our parallel human's continuous monitoring and analysis over many years, we now believe that within the Earth's entire ecosystem, there exist microscopic symbionts that have been periodically 'sown' by certain advanced civilizations, either through natural evolution or by other means, and that possess functions similar to latent consciousness interference, mental influence, or genetic modification...

To make it easier for you to understand, you can refer to them collectively as 'bacteria'—there are at least seven thousand different lineages and variants, and that number is probably a conservative estimate.

What you have discovered and named in Wengshan so far is only the most common, simplest in structure, and easiest to observe with current technology, like the tip of an iceberg.

They are everywhere, penetrating every breath of air, every drop of seemingly clean water, deep in the soil beneath your feet, and even in the bodies of other plants, animals, and some humanoid creatures.

Want to completely eliminate those you care about and create an absolutely 'clean' environment? Unless you have the ability to completely format and reboot the entire planet's (Earth's) ecosystem, which would mean the collective end of all carbon-based life, including you and everything you care about.

Yu Qing was dumbfounded. A bone-chilling coldness shot from his feet up his spine to the top of his head, leaving him completely cold. More than seven thousand kinds?! Or even more?!

Earth, the home where he was born and raised, has become, in his aunt's calm narration, a giant puppet theater filled with invisible strings and fraught with danger! And they, all along, have been nothing more than puppets, passively performing on the stage without even realizing it!
"Shocked? This shows you lack sufficient understanding of the true nature of this world." Aunt's tone remained as calm as if she were discussing the weather, yet she spoke words that were enough to completely overturn the worldview and survival beliefs of ordinary people.

"From the perspective of us 'parallel humans,' carbon-based life forms, whether you call yourselves 'original humans' and maintain your so-called purity, or those winged people, werewolves, and turtle people who have undergone different degrees of genetic modification and adapted to specific environments, or even the three-headed, six-armed monsters created by certain forces through crazy experiments, are essentially considered to be relatively 'lower' and 'primitive' life forms on this planet."

Above you, beyond your field of vision, exist countless life forms that are more advanced in technology, consciousness, or form of existence—including us 'parallel humans'—all of which, in their own different ways and for different purposes, regard your existence, your social structure, your evolutionary struggles, and your emotional entanglements as a vast, open experimental field.

You are merely 'guinea pigs' for us to observe natural evolutionary paths, test the boundary effects of certain technologies, and collect data on different models of consciousness.

Different advanced life forms may differ in their methods of 'raising,' the degree of 'experimentation,' and the focus of their observation, but fundamentally, your status as subjects of observation and research is not fundamentally different.

“White mouse…” Yu Qing’s eyes were vacant as he murmured the humiliating word repeatedly. An indescribable emotion, a mixture of immense humiliation, anger, and absurdity, surged into his heart, almost suffocating him.

All their loves and hates, all their sacrifices and struggles, all their ideals and perseverance—in the eyes of these higher beings, were they merely a coldly observed, recorded, data-driven experiment?! This is more despairing and tragic than direct destruction!

"Yes, that's a very apt description, just like a white mouse." His aunt affirmed his cruel perception without any mercy, and added in an almost cruelly calm tone, as if stating a law of physics.

"The anger, resentment, struggle, fear and other intense emotional reactions and resistance that mice exhibit when faced with experimental intervention are merely recorded by the experimenters as a noteworthy emotional phenomenon, valuable data fluctuations and behavioral samples during the experiment."

They may increase the complexity and observational dimensions of an experiment, but fundamentally, they cannot change the macroscopic design of the experiment, its overall process, or your fundamental position as the research subjects.

Yu Qing clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug deep into the flesh of his palms, but he felt no pain, only a bone-chilling coldness and numbness.

His unwavering belief in upholding the dignity of native humans and striving for an independent future was shattered at this moment, appearing so ridiculous, so insignificant, so worthless. He could almost hear the sound of his worldview collapsing and crumbling.

However, just as this suffocating despair was about to completely crush and devour his remaining will, his aunt seemed to have noticed some abnormal data and suddenly changed the subject.

With a hint of genuine doubt and inquiry, rarely seen in her voice, she said softly:
"However, in stark contrast, what has always puzzled and been difficult for me to explain is..."

Based on our continuous, high-precision biological monitoring data, there are currently no known specific symbiotic bacteria in your body that have been deliberately 'implanted' or guided into the body through the environment.

Moreover, there were not a single case, whether it was 'displacement bacteria' or any other known lineage.

This is an incredibly low probability event in your environment, which is almost saturated with various micro-symbiotes, especially when you frequently come into contact with all kinds of people. It is an outlier in statistics.

Perhaps... you really are special, possessing some kind of 'gift' at the genetic or conscious level that we haven't fully understood yet? Or perhaps your very existence is an anomalous case worthy of in-depth exploration.

Yu Qing abruptly raised his head, his eyes instantly filled with despair and anger replaced by immense astonishment and bewilderment. Was he…special? “Clean”? Not infected by any known “bacteria”? How could this be?

Although he is currently mainly in Wengshan, he has been to many places before and had close contact with so many people, even non-human beings, breathing air that may also be full of "bacteria"...

"Am I... really gifted? Or... is this just another form of 'experimental arrangement'?" he asked incredulously, his mind filled with mixed feelings and doubts.

This sudden information, pointing to his own secrets, was like a faint and eerie ray of light, barely piercing through the thick, despairing darkness, but it also made the already foggy road ahead even more mysterious, unpredictable, and filled with uncertain fortune.

Who exactly is he? Or rather, what is he? Why is he the only one who managed to survive this global "bacterial" feast?

Was this so-called "talent" a glimmer of hope bestowed by fate, or an undiscovered, unpredictable link in a deeper, more extensive experimental plan? Countless questions, like vines sprouting in the darkness, instantly and tightly coiled around his heart. (End of Chapter)