FT DR Chapter 84: Won the Prize!

Chapter 84: Won the Prize!

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Tungusic Base, Once the largest military fortress of humanity on Ida Star, it almost occupied half of the Shadow Sea’s area, radiating out from the first human space carrier “Tungusic” five hundred years ago, forming a medium-sized city of nearly two hundred square kilometers, with a magnificent scale.

Today, the former space behemoth has long been decommissioned and transformed into the administrative center of the Guide School. It’s like the heart of Tungusic, controlling the daily operations of the entire base.

Originally, there were dozens of military fortresses and civilian settlements on Ida Star, but since the “Cocktail Incident,” the Federation has designated Tungusic Base as a Guide Restricted Zone, and the permanent population of these strongholds has been gradually relocated to other planets. By the end of the “Great Massacre,” the entire Ida Star had only one active area left: Tungusic.

This season was the height of the “Green Tide” flooding. The entire Shadow Sea was submerged in a surging green ocean. Tungusic looked like a huge hemispherical “bubble” sinking into the seabed, quietly standing on the continental shelf under the protection of a high-intensity transparent dome. Living there, humans felt as if they were living in a crystal city, translucent and beautiful, mysterious and eerie.

The amphibious starship descended slowly on the surface of the water, stirring up fierce waves. In the steaming water vapor, it gradually transformed into a spindle-shaped submarine, sinking underwater and connecting closely with the “Gate of Tungusic.”

Wu Chenghe, accompanied by Monica, stepped out of the cabin and immediately smelled a strange scent, somewhat like mint but slightly sweeter. It was the freshener added to Tungusic’s atmospheric filtration system to mask the corrosive odor of the “Green Tide” itself.

This underwater city had been built for hundreds of years, with densely packed buildings and wide aerofloat lanes everywhere. The spaces between the buildings were planted with many locally unique mutant plants, most of which emitted a faint fluorescent color, very beautiful.

Everything here was extremely similar to Planet Dunkirk, except for its gray-green sky, which wasn’t the real sky but was separated from the “Green Tide” by a transparent dome. The Green Tide rolled and surged with the tides, resembling shifting clouds from afar, oppressive and heavy.

“Brother, are you okay?” Monica looked at Wu Chenghe with concern. His face was extremely pale, his lips devoid of color. Although his back was straight, he seemed like he could collapse at any moment.

Wu Chenghe didn’t answer her question. He couldn’t forget how she had oppressed him and Mu together with other guides yesterday. He could forgive her for dealing with him, but he couldn’t forgive her for hurting Mu. Mu was the only person in the world who unconditionally protected and nurtured him, a fact even Jin Xuan couldn’t match.

“Brother,” Monica was about to cry, mustering the courage to hold his hand. “Are you blaming me? Do you hate me? Do you regret saving me…”

“No,” Wu Chenghe finally replied. “I’ve never regretted saving you, Monica. It’s just that I can’t forgive you for hurting my teacher.”

“I’m sorry, I was just following the principal’s…”

“Stop,” Wu Chenghe interrupted her. “It’s useless, Monica. Apologies are useless. I can’t even forgive myself, let alone you. You’ve become an excellent guide. You deserve your principal’s approval, so why care about my opinion?”

“No, it’s not…” Monica covered her mouth and cried, shaking her head frantically. Her little cat grabbed Wu Chenghe’s trouser leg and meowed mournfully. “I’ve always, always liked you so much.”

Wu Chenghe smiled bitterly, not knowing how to explain the true meaning of “like” to her, or perhaps in the minds of many, it was just a cheap intuition, forever lifted high on the scales of life and value, seemingly precious but actually worthless.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry, it’s all over,” Wu Chenghe looked at her with pity, wiping the tears from her cheeks with his thumb, not knowing whether he was saying their friendship was over or his freedom was over, or both.

Two school guards were waiting at the entrance, and behind them stood a thin, white-haired old man wearing a Jewish skullcap and a light blue doctor’s robe, with a very kind expression.

Mrs. Balon, due to dealing with follow-up events, came back one starship later than them. This time, a level twenty Hummingbird guide presided over the affairs along the way. He brought Wu Chenghe to the old man respectfully and said, “Sorry for the trouble of coming to pick him up in person, Doctor Luther.”

“Oh, my old bones should move more, lest they rust,” the old man smiled. His gray-brown eyes scrutinized Wu Chenghe up and down and said, “I heard his condition is very bad. I’m very worried, after all, it’s been many years since we’ve had an invisible guide brought here.”

The Hummingbird guide turned back and gently said to Wu Chenghe, “This is Doctor Luther, he will take you for a check-up. Don’t be afraid, this is our home, and it’s yours too. You’ll get used to it slowly.”

Yes, besides getting used to it, what other choice did he have? Wu Chenghe rallied, unwilling to show his weakness in front of these people, suppressing the intense headache and nausea. He extended his hand and said, “Hello.”

There was a hint of surprise in Luther’s eyes. He originally thought he would see a despondent, frightened, or even on the verge of collapse guide. He didn’t expect the other party to be so calm and composed, so cold and calm, not at all like an eighteen-year-old youth.

“Hello, child.” Luther shook hands with him, feeling his ice-cold fingertips, sighed regretfully in his heart, and said, “Welcome to Tungusic Base. I hope you’ll like it here, although I guess it might be difficult.”

The Hummingbird guide was also somewhat surprised by Wu Chenghe’s rapid change. Just a few hours ago, he was having hallucinations, crying and calling them “Nazis” and “executioners.” Maybe Icarus butterflies are different after all. They are one of the most resilient guides in the world. The Hummingbird guide thought so, apologized to Luther with a smile, and whispered, “Balon should have told you about his situation in the email, right? Yesterday’s scene was a bit chaotic, and he might have been a bit shocked. Please, pay attention to his emotions.”

“I will.” Luther looked at Wu Chenghe sympathetically, and said solemnly, “Rest assured, I will take care of him.”

Wu Chenghe was taken by Luther on a four-person small airship, with two school guards accompanying them. He didn’t know why they still needed someone to watch him in a place like this. Alien, deep sea, even if they gave him a two-way starship, he couldn’t escape.

Maybe they were afraid he would go mad or commit suicide, but he didn’t know what would happen once they found out he had already been marked. Wu Chenghe smiled wryly, suddenly feeling a mischievous anticipation.

Fifteen minutes later, the airship arrived at an ancient European-style building with a large blue cross on its exterior, probably the guide hospital. Luther brought him down from the car and walked towards the hospital. This time, the school guards didn’t follow. Instead, two young men in doctor’s robes followed them.

“Relax, child.” In the elevator, Luther smiled kindly at Wu Chenghe and said, “We’re all here to help you. It’s actually much safer here than outside. You don’t have to hide yourself anymore, and you don’t have to worry about being harassed by sentinels — we’re all ordinary people.”

Yes, locked up in a place like this, it’s really “safe.” Wu Chenghe was dizzy and felt very weak because he had flown for too long on an empty stomach, with his stomach empty and throbbing. So he didn’t answer any of Luther’s words, silently leaning against the metal wall, suppressing his discomfort. 

“He’s feeling a bit of deep-sea isolation. Get him some food, I guess he hasn’t eaten in a long time.” Luther noticed his weakness and said to a male doctor, “He needs a little sugar.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

The elevator stopped at the top floor, and Luther led Wu Chenghe into a spacious reception room. The walls here were painted a pleasant light green, with cute floral sofas and wooden coffee tables, very warm and cozy, obviously designed to soothe the emotions of the patients to the maximum.

Luther was a very meticulous doctor. He noticed Wu Chenghe trembling with suppression and immediately instructed someone to raise the temperature in the room, sent a male doctor to prepare the examination instruments in the next room, and asked another person to fetch some food.

Soon, a warm and nutritious meal was brought to Wu Chenghe. Luther sat on the sofa opposite him and said, “Have something to eat, you’re shivering. I know it’s a bit hard to accept being suddenly brought here for someone who has lived outside for eighteen years, but you still have family and friends. For them, you need to take care of yourself, right?”

Wu Chenghe lowered his head and looked at the nutrition in front of him, steamed by the heat, suddenly remembering Mu. He couldn’t help but feel a pang of heartache again. It had been almost ten hours since the incident happened. He was eager to know how Mu was doing, how the child was doing, yet he was afraid to hear any news related to them. He was afraid to know that he had lost one of the best people to him in the world.

But Luther was right. He couldn’t just sink into despair like this. He still had dreams, he still had Mu and Jin Xuan. He had to survive, become stronger, only then could he possibly leave this place.

Sienna and Mu could work hard for the cause of free guides for decades. He was a guide too, a member of the Free Guide Organization. Even if he was captured now, for the sake of the juniors not suffering the same pain as him, he should also strive to survive and do something for them.

Wu Chenghe took a deep breath, picked up the spoon, scooped up a spoonful of nutrition and put it into his mouth, mechanically swallowing it. He felt the food entering his stomach through his esophagus, then digesting and burning, slowly delivering strength to his limbs and brain. Gradually, his hands and feet began to warm up, his body stopped trembling, and even his mind seemed a bit clearer.

Luther looked at him in amazement, a hint of admiration rising in his eyes — after so many years, he had encountered such a young guide with such strong recovery ability and firm will for the first time. With time, he would definitely become the most outstanding student of the guide school!

Wu Chenghe silently ate half of the plate of nutrition, his stomach started churning again. He put down the spoon, calmed down for a moment, and said, “I’m full. If you want to do something to me, you can start now.”

“Okay.” Luther raised his eyebrows and sighed pretentiously, “You’re too calm. If you had flipped the table and smeared the leftover nutrition on my face, I might feel a little more relieved.”

Wu Chenghe smiled faintly and said, “I’m not a child anymore.”

“Mn, you’re much more mature than I imagined.” Luther touched his Jewish skullcap and murmured something that was probably a Jewish prayer. Then he said, “Follow me.”

They went to the next room, which was very spacious compared to the reception room. There was a thermostatic cabinet on one whole wall, and in the middle was only a narrow treatment bed. The male doctor who had been sent over to prepare the equipment was adjusting an umbrella-like object above the treatment bed. When they entered, he respectfully said, “Everything is ready, Doctor.”

“Okay.” Luther nodded and said to Wu Chenghe, “Please, lie on the treatment bed. I need to give you a code first, so you can contact your family — Tungusic has information shielding, only registered guides with a code can use personal terminals.”

Wu Chenghe knew what the code was. It was the registration number of every guide. Once bound to his personal terminal, it could never be erased. From then on, no matter where he went in the Federation, the guide school could easily track his location.

From now on, he was a registered guide.

Since he had already come here, everything was inevitable. Following Luther’s words, Wu Chenghe lay on the treatment bed. Luther secured his left wrist with a metal ring and rolled up his sleeve. “It will be a little painful, like being scratched by a kitten, but it will pass soon.”

A metallic tentacle extended from one side of the treatment bed, accurately pausing at the inside of Wu Chenghe’s wrist. After a moment, a red light flashed over his head. The red light swept over Wu Chenghe’s skin, and then a complex code composed of a mixture of numbers, letters, and symbols appeared there.

There was a moment of burning pain, and Wu Chenghe gently furrowed his brows. When he looked again, the code had disappeared, as if ink had seeped into a sponge, leaving no trace. Luther took out a specially made flashlight and scanned Wu Chenghe’s wrist with it. The code quietly appeared, emitting a faint fluorescence within the circle of light, indicating that the registration was successful.

“Alright, your personal terminal will return to normal in four hours because the network center needs some time to verify your DNA data,” Luther said, turning off the flashlight, retracting the tentacle, and unfastening the metal ring on his wrist.

Wu Chenghe moved his wrist, feeling no abnormality, nor could he see the existence of the code. He wanted to sit up, but suddenly felt nauseous, unable to help but retch, then closed his eyes and breathed heavily.

“What’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable?” Luther touched his forehead and muttered, “A little fever, is it a cold or asthma? You seem to have some difficulty breathing.”

He reached out to unbutton Wu Chenghe’s collar, but Wu Chenghe subconsciously quickly blocked his hand. The two looked at each other silently. After a moment, Luther’s gray-brown pupils suddenly contracted. “Heavens! You can’t be…”

It was time to unravel the mystery. Wu Chenghe knew that this was inevitable sooner or later. After hesitating for a moment, he dropped his hand. Luther’s fingers trembled slightly, whether because of his old age or because he was frightened by the imminent discovery, and it took him a while to unbutton his shirt.

A red bean-sized cinnabar mole was imprinted on Wu Chenghe’s snowy white skin, right in the middle of his collarbones.

“My God!” Luther muttered, his face showing an expression of incredible shock, shaking his head repeatedly. “You’ve really… you reckless child, you’ll ruin yourself!”

Wu Chenghe’s stomach churned violently, his temples throbbing. He looked at Luther’s shocked expression, feeling a sense of vindication. He coldly said, “Yes, I’ve already been marked. It’s disappointing for you, isn’t it? One less gift to offer to the politicians.”

“No, you’ll regret it,” Luther’s eyes were extremely complex, with a hint of pity that Wu Chenghe couldn’t understand. After a while, he whispered, “You don’t know what you’re doing at all. God help us, I hope the sentinel who marked you has enough qualifications to receive a guide, otherwise…” He stopped abruptly, then opened his personal terminal and sent a message, sighing, “I think we should solve this problem first. We’ll talk about the examination later. I’ve notified the administrative center, and they will send investigators immediately.” He sighed deeply again, saying, “Trust me, child, you’d better tell them the truth.”

“The truth?” Wu Chenghe smiled faintly. “What truth? Tell you who he is, and then let you arrest him, put him in prison, exile him, and punish his family?”

Luther shook his head, saying, “Exile? You’re thinking too simplistically, child. That was the method of disposal from a few years ago, when we didn’t have the means of ‘severance’!”

“‘Severance’?” Wu Chenghe’s heart skipped a beat, and he subconsciously asked, “What’s that?”

Luther sighed continuously, sitting on the high chair opposite Wu Chenghe, and began to explain to him what “severance” meant.

Originally, when the first version of the “Guide Protection Act” was drafted, in order to prevent those thirsty sentinels from arbitrarily marking rare guides, the Supreme Court stipulated that anyone who marked a guide without the permission of a guide school would be sentenced to death and fined a huge amount.

However, the power of marking is deadly; once a sentinel is executed, the guide would succumb to depression and perish shortly thereafter. The federation didn’t care about losing a few sentinels, but they couldn’t afford to lose guides—there were already too few of them. Losing one guide meant killing the hope of two hundred thousand people.

So eventually, the published “Guide Protection Act” abolished this clause, replacing the death penalty with exile. On one hand, this was to allow those marked sentinels and guides to pair up and maximize their potential, and on the other hand, it was to allow them to reproduce. Because guides, especially female and male guides, had a greater chance of giving birth to new guides.

This clause remained in effect until five years ago. During this time, it could be said that marked guide-sentinel pairs were relatively fortunate. Even though they were exiled, they could still be together, and once they produced a new guide, they could be pardoned and sent to Tungusic Base.

But five years ago, the guide hospital at Tungusic Base discovered a method to break the bond between sentinels and guides, which they called “severance.”

This technique was initially a military research project aimed at defending against potential attacks from higher-dimensional beings. The military research institute attempted to create a weapon that could be used in higher-dimensional space to combat invisible enemies. However, this research was too difficult; humans were three-dimensional beings, and trying to engage in combat in four-dimensional space was like trying to lift a dot off a piece of paper and make it fly in the air, as one scientist put it, it was “trying to attack invisible enemies with invisible weapons,” simply absurd.

The military’s research stagnated, but their findings were utilized by guide schools to create a device capable of severing marks in higher dimensions. Through this device, they could forcibly sever the bond between sentinels and guides, making them “pure” again.

Of course, the side effects of this method were significant. After the mark was severed, the guide’s consciousness would be severely damaged, requiring years of care and stimulation to recover. And the sentinel would face almost certain death.

“So, I suggest you tell the truth. Out of humanitarian considerations, they might let you meet before the severance, or live together for a while,” Luther looked at the young guide whose face was ashen, feeling extremely reluctant. The bond brought by marking was profound, stronger than love, thicker than family affection, hotter than instinct. Any pair faced the fate of being torn apart, causing unbearable pain. But all of this was unavoidable unless his sentinel himself had the right to own him. But how could that be possible?

“The ‘Protection Act’ does not stipulate this way,” Wu Chenghe’s face turned pale, beads of sweat the size of beans constantly rolling down his forehead. “You can’t do this, it’s illegal!”

“This is an implicit clause added five years ago,” Luther could hardly bear to face his expression of despair, reluctantly looking away. “Because this method involves military weapon secrets, if it were to be known and exploited by terrorists, it could endanger military and political officials already paired with guides, causing devastating blows to the federation. So it wasn’t publicized, only filed with the Supreme Court.”

Wu Chenghe could hardly believe they dared to secretly amend the law, still under the pretext of “protecting federal security”! Freedom, democracy, independence, these so-called federal spirits, once conflicting with the personal interests of military and political officials, could be arbitrarily overturned, trampled upon, and even worse than torn paper!

“You are despicable…” Wu Chenghe stood up, his voice shocked and angry. “You are using the guise of ‘protection,’ but in fact, it is only to satisfy the selfish desires of a small group of people. You are even worse than those who carried out the ‘massacre’ fifty years ago! I won’t let you succeed, you won’t…” At this point, he suddenly closed his eyes in pain, clutching his stomach and retching, “Ugh” he vomited out.

“God! Calm down!” Luther, disregarding being sprayed with vomit, rushed to support his staggering body, shouting for the male assistant to come in and help.

Although Wu Chenghe was thin and weak, he was still an adult man, taller than Luther by five or six centimeters. Luther was too old, his hands weak, almost being dragged down by him. With the help of the assistant, they managed to get him onto the treatment bed, panting, “Turn him on his side, he’s still vomiting, be careful not to let him choke!”

Wu Chenghe clung to the edge of the treatment bed, violently vomiting, expelling all the nutrients he had consumed before, then began retching up bile, eventually even emptying his stomach, still dry heaving nervously.

“This isn’t right, even with a deep-sea reaction, it wouldn’t result in this kind of vomiting.” Luther hurriedly wiped away the mess, instructing the assistant to take his temperature, frowning. “He’s running a low fever, could it be a chill? Gastric flu?” he muttered, quickly activating the umbrella-like device above his head. A bright blue light scanned Wu Chenghe’s body back and forth twice, finally pausing at his abdomen, projecting a one-foot square hologram.

“Oh, God!” Luther stared at the projection, instantly stunned, so much so that he didn’t even feel his Jewish cap fall to the ground. He stood there muttering like a fool, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. “Seven and a half weeks pregnant, fraternal twins… and he’s a male—! Quick! Notify the investigation team and Principal Balon!” Luther exclaimed in surprise, shouting to the assistant, “He’s pregnant, we can’t proceed with the ‘severance’ procedure!”

The assistant was also startled by this miraculous turn of events, hesitated for a moment, then said, “Yes!” and immediately turned and ran out.

“There, there,” Luther supported Wu Chenghe’s neck to prevent him from choking on his own bile, soothingly stroking his hair. “Don’t be afraid, child. No one will touch you until the twins are born.” He repeated it twice, his expression then turning somber. “But your body is too weak; having two at once, you’re likely to suffer a lot…” 

For some reason, he felt a deep sympathy for this calm and fiery young man, even though their time together had been brief. Subconsciously, he felt that his sentinel must also be an extraordinary man.

Wu Chenghe lay on his side on the treatment bed, his body unable to withstand the violent retching, convulsing repeatedly. He could hardly believe that the notion of “pregnancy” would befall him. Although he knew he was able— and rarely took any precautions with Jin Xuan, the idea of male pregnancy was extremely rare and difficult. Many people would never experience it in their lifetimes. And he was only eighteen!

Normally, he would have been shocked by such bizarre news, but at this moment, he felt incredibly lucky, just as Luther had said—until the children were born, they wouldn’t perform the ‘severance’ on him. This meant that for the next four or five months, maybe even half a year, Jin Xuan would be safe!

As for what to do after half a year, he would have to find a way to see Jin Zhe. Regardless of the Supreme Court’s secret clauses, there was no way they could bypass the President. Jin Zhe must know what Jin Xuan would face after the ‘severance’. He wouldn’t abandon him.

 

 

 

 

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