The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Yu Qing huddled deep in the dense bushes a few hundred meters away, his body covered by the latest optical camouflage layer, almost blending into the surrounding environment. Only the faint light from the portable monitor screen in his hand could vaguely illuminate his taut jawline and furrowed brows.

He stood like a frozen statue, only the occasional movement of his Adam's apple betraying the turmoil within him. He stared intently at the live feed of Chen Jiang, Xiao Ya, and the others on the screen, his heart pounding heavily with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety.

According to his conjecture and deduction, the hidden illness in Chen Jiang's body that needed "diagnosis and treatment" and originated from the so-called "replacement bacteria" should be like an invisible key that could naturally unlock that mysterious door that would not be easily opened.

However, as time ticked by, nothing happened. Chen Jiang and the others lingered outside the courtyard, quietly mimicking the patient's cough, and even deliberately had Chen Jiang rub his stomach as if in discomfort, but the courtyard remained as still as a sleeping boulder, completely unresponsive.

The air around seemed to freeze, and only the rustling of the wind through the leaves made the courtyard seem even more desolate.

“No…where did the logic go wrong?” Yu Qing could almost hear the throbbing in his temples. His fingers tightened unconsciously, the cold metal detector shell digging painfully into his palms.

"Is the triggering condition more stringent than I anticipated? Or have I overlooked a crucial, non-physical variable?" Various hypotheses flashed through his mind: Did the number of visitors exceed the default limit? Does it require a specific time or celestial phenomenon to align?
Or perhaps Chen Jiang and the others' "illnesses" are not simply physiological problems, but involve the spirit, fortune, or even something deeper that he cannot understand, so that they have not been recognized by the courtyard's identification mechanism.

Anxiety, like a thorny vine, tightened its grip. For a fleeting moment, a high-risk, alternative plan even flashed through his mind:

They activated a disguised low-frequency sound pulse generator, suggested by an aunt, to simulate some kind of extreme "biological stress signal" or "soul's lament," attempting to forcibly "remind" or "stimulate" the presence within the facility.

But he forcibly suppressed the thought as soon as it arose. The risk was too great. If it were recognized as a deceptive signal, not only would all his previous efforts be in vain, but he might also suffer the consequences of being too clever for his own good. He took a deep breath of the damp forest air and forced himself to calm down.

Watching Chen Jiang and the others on the monitor, their initial anticipation turned into confusion and helplessness, and finally they started kicking the pebbles under their feet and catching grasshoppers among the grass with boredom. Yu Qing felt a burning sensation on his cheeks, a mixture of failure and shame.

This has become a huge joke in his own eyes—he spent a lot of effort and was full of confidence to set up this plan, but it turned out to be like punching an invisible barrier, without even creating a ripple.

He was completely caught in a dilemma. Should he reveal himself now? Not only would he be unable to explain himself, but he might also completely expose himself, rendering his previous covert operation a complete failure.

Should he continue waiting in place? The children's patience had run out, and his plan was on the verge of bursting like a bubble in the sunlight.

Sure enough, the children outside the courtyard gate quickly forgot their original intention of "seeing a doctor." Their childlike nature led them to chase and play in the open space, and their laughter temporarily dispelled the previous dullness.

Chen Jiang got even more excited and picked up a sharp-edged stone slab, scribbling randomly on the mottled, old courtyard wall, leaving several crooked, uneven white scratches.

Yu Qing's heart skipped a beat, and he almost rushed out to stop it immediately—this was tantamount to a provocation! He stared intently at the screen, anticipating the terrible counterattack that might occur. However, the expected thunderous rage did not materialize.

Just as Chen Jiang's fingers left the wall and she turned to chase after Xiao Ya, something unbelievable happened:
There was no sound, no halo, no sense of spatial distortion at the scene. Chen Jiang, Xiao Ya, and the other children were swallowed up by an invisible giant mouth in an instant, or wiped out of reality by the most skillful magician. In the blink of an eye, they disappeared without a trace!

Yu Qing lunged at the monitor, his pupils contracting sharply. He frantically switched between various detection modes—thermal imaging, vital sign scanning, energy fluctuation monitoring, spatial curvature analysis… The data on the screen was cold and cruel: everything was normal, target lost, no abnormal signals.

Outside the empty courtyard gate, only the wind rustled through the grass. Before his eyes, under the top-tier surveillance network of Tianqing City, set up by his aunt and supposedly capable of detecting even the faintest ripples of energy and spatial folds, the children had vanished without a trace, without explanation or warning!
"Impossible... This is absolutely impossible..." came my aunt's unprecedentedly trembling and incredulous whisper through the earpiece, as if her long-held confidence in technology was crumbling.

"All sensors are reporting normal data... No energy leakage, no mass loss, no spatial topology changes... The logs only show normal data from the second before they disappeared... It's like... it's like they never existed there."

At this moment, the technological barriers she was so proud of and relied on were like fragile glass, silently shattered by an incomprehensible force.

The next few hours were a long and agonizing ordeal for Yu Qing, who was hiding in the shadows. He could not get close, could not investigate, and could only wait passively like a trapped beast, all his senses tense, trying to catch any movement from the direction of the courtyard.

About two or three hours later, intermittent crying and shouting could be heard from inside the courtyard, which sounded like the voices of Chen Jiang and Xiao Ya.

The voice was filled with unbearable pain, as if it were undergoing some kind of torture that scraped the bone and ripped flesh, yet strangely mixed with a sense of cathartic release, a resolute determination to destroy before rebuilding.

If Yu Qing hadn't personally experienced the agonizing process of consuming the Immortal Flower, where it felt like his internal organs were being churned up and all the accumulated toxins and coldness in his body were being forcibly expelled, he would have thought the children were suffering some kind of inhuman torture.

Yu Qing's heart was pounding wildly, fearing that he had made the wrong judgment...

The next afternoon, just as Yu Qing's patience and rationality were about to be worn down to the limit, and he was almost about to rush out to investigate, the old door that had disappeared for a whole day reappeared in the same place without warning and without a sound, just as it had disappeared.

Before Yu Qing could even utter a cry of surprise, the door creaked open from the inside. Chen Jiang, Xiao Ya, Daya, and Bread, all lively and rosy-cheeked, filed out one after another, swaggering out with a hint of pride and swagger.

Instead of showing any signs of suffering, their faces were full of energy, with clear and bright eyes, as if they had been washed by clean water.

The faint, almost imperceptible dark aura between Chen Jiang's brows, which even he himself hadn't noticed, had completely vanished, leaving him looking light and full of energy.

Yu Qing jumped up and hurried over... On the way back to Wengshan, Yu Qing held Chen Jiang's hand with one hand and tore at a piece of bread with the other, carefully asking them about the specific details of their bizarre experience.

“We were drawing on the wall,” Chen Jiang gestured excitedly, her face beaming, “and then suddenly everything went blurry, like…like falling into a warm, glowing bubble! And then…”

Then, when I could see clearly, we were already in an absolutely beautiful courtyard! Everything there was different from outside! There were two incredibly beautiful aunties there, like they'd stepped out of a painting, waiting for us!

Yu Qing's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately asked, "Pretty aunties? Not two... well, people who look square-headed, slovenly, or even a bit fierce?"

The image of "evil" and "ugliness"—its striking, cold, and grotesque appearance—was vividly clear in his mind.

"No, that's not true!" Xiaoya blurted out, her big eyes sparkling. "She's a super pretty auntie! Much, much prettier than...much prettier than Aunt Yaodan!"

In her limited life experience, the gentle and capable Yao Dan was already the pinnacle of beauty she could imagine.

Yu Qing was stunned. The stark contrast with his own experience left him speechless for a moment. He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and continued to ask, "Then...did they tell you what their names were?"

Chen Jiang nodded vigorously, her voice clear and crisp: "Yes! The auntie who wears a white dress like moonlight and speaks so gently, we call her 'Auntie Shan'! And the other auntie who wears a colorful dress like a rainbow and is always smiling, we call her 'Auntie Mei'!"

Bread added, "They were so kind, always smiling... They didn't mind at all that we made the wall dirty, and they even encouraged us to climb up that magical tree to play. They even had a contest to see who could eat the most glowing petals!"

Chen Jiang continued her eloquent description of the wonders in the courtyard: "That big tree is so tall, it seems to reach into the clouds! The trunk is the color of warm jade, and it feels warm to the touch. The leaves are like the greenest jade, and they make a tinkling sound like a spring when the wind blows!"
The branches weren't sharp at all; they were as soft as grass. When we stepped on them barefoot, they changed color, and soft halos of light appeared where we walked—it was so much fun!

Little Bread excitedly added, "Yes! The flowers on the tree are colorful...like...like crystal, and each petal seems to contain a tiny, twinkling star!"
Aunt Shan said you can pick them and eat them; they taste sweet and cool, like chewing on a snowflake. After swallowing, you feel light and airy, as if you could reach the top of the tree with a slight jump!

"And there's more!" Chen Jiang excitedly interjected, "Aunt Mei can blow on a leaf and make a beautiful sound, and then many flowers fly over like little birds with rainbow-colored feathers..."

They seemed to recognize us, landing on our shoulders and chirping away. Aunt Mei said they were saying hello! We...we licked a few of these glowing, feather-like petals; they tasted both sweet and sour!

Listening to Chen Jiang and the others' rambling, dreamlike descriptions, Yu Qing couldn't help but reveal a complex smile on his face, a mixture of relief, disbelief, and an indescribable sense of loss and self-deprecation.

He murmured softly, a hint of bitterness in his voice: "When I went in, I was greeted by two ugly monsters, 'evil' and 'ugly'..."

But what you saw... was a fairyland, a gentle and beautiful 'goodness' and 'beauty', and so many wonderful experiences that I had never even heard of before...

It seems I truly am a cunning and unpopular fool, even this courtyard is so clearly divided, as if it deems my motives impure, deserving only to face ugliness and malice.

He could clearly hear his aunt's voice in the remote conversation through his headset; her voice carried a knowing insight and a hint of barely perceptible teasing laughter.

"What's wrong, our little Yuqing? You've gotten on good terms with the kids? Your forehead is etched with 'purpose,' 'scheming,' and 'obsession.' They're using 'evil' and 'ugliness' to temper you, to help you heal your wounds and refine your character."

Chen Jiang and the others have pure hearts, like unpolished crystals, filled only with curiosity and innocence. Naturally, they can reflect and encounter 'goodness' and 'beauty,' receiving nourishment and healing from them. This courtyard is more 'spiritual' than we imagined, and it understands... how to teach according to aptitude.

Yu Qing subconsciously touched his nose, smiled helplessly, and his gaze involuntarily turned to the distant woodland shrouded in twilight and mystery.

The doubts in his heart had not dissipated; on the contrary, they had become even more intense and turbulent. But amidst this profound confusion, he seemed to vaguely perceive a subtle and unsettling phenomenon...

The rules governing the operation of this courtyard, the "will" or "mechanism" behind it, are far more profound, complex, and even... imbued with a kind of wisdom and compassion that transcends the mundane than he initially deduced based on logic and technology.

But is that all? How did Professor Lu develop such an ingenious system more than a hundred years ago, and how is it still running so smoothly so long after his death?

Yu Qing sensed an inexplicable logical flaw here. Professor Lu was indeed a remarkable expert in botany and zoology, but he lacked the capability to plan, design, and manufacture intelligent facilities, and Shengtian Company did not possess such advanced technology back then.

Yu Qing was certain that this wasn't something Shengtian Company had created for him. Shengtian didn't even possess the technology that allowed Chen Jiang and the others to teleport mysteriously; even his aunts were puzzled by it.

The biggest loophole... At this moment, Yu Qing calmed down and suddenly realized that the "displacement bacteria" on Chen Jiang's body was a newly discovered species. How did Professor Lu's "diagnostic" device from more than a hundred years ago identify it?

There's also the possibility that it simply noticed something was wrong with Chen Jiang and the others' bodies, without diagnosing the specific cause. But that doesn't make sense either. How could someone as meticulous as Professor Lu dare to "cure" Chen Jiang and the others without knowing the exact cause?

Unless… Yu Qing shook his head, unable to believe his own deduction… (End of Chapter)