Stardust Remembrance

Chapter 20：Choice (1)

Making a Condition

Training room.

Loran and Qingchu do confrontational training.

Grade E physical fitness meets Grade B physical fitness, there is not the slightest suspense, only to be beaten.

Qingchu had been shrinking her hands and feet and didn't dare to let go of the fight, but after being pushed and begged by Luo Lan, she knew that the princess was for real, so she could only let go of her hands and abuse Luo Lan to death.

After Luo Lan was kicked off once again, the personal terminal rang.

She was on the ground in so much pain that she couldn't move at all, and could only move her mouth, "Answer it."

Feng Lin's voice came out, "The children from the orphanage are visiting the institute, come and help!"

"Okay, be there in an hour."

When Loran arrived at the institute, the children had already arrived.

Anna divided them into several groups, one of which was a special group, the children that Qian Xu had played with earlier, a group of children with immune system disorders due to genetic instability.

Anywhere they went had to be cleaned and sanitized ahead of time, and they couldn't be around other children.

Feng Lin pulls Loran to help, just to ask her to help take care of this group of children.

Feng Lin was in charge of leading them on the tour, explaining and answering questions, while Loran watched out for them not to do anything dangerous.

Amidst the children's chattering, Loran felt as if she had also learned the science of genetics.

"In the early days of mankind's journey to the stars, of all the professions, gene editors were lucrative and very respected. They mastered all kinds of advanced gene editing technology, and could help everyone edit their genes to fulfill their wishes to become beautiful, taller, stronger ......"

"Can the wish to not get sick and to be able to go to the playground whenever you want also be granted?"

"People at the time thought they could, but in reality, not every disease can be cured because the off-target effect shows up with a lag, and that lag could be one generation or it could take ten generations for it to show up."

"What is the off-target effect?"

"Ever played with blocks?"

"Played."

"If you guys build a castle out of blocks but then realize that one block is poorly placed, can you just whip it out?"

"No! Smoking it off risks the castle collapsing."

"That's the off-target effect. Human genes are like a well-built castle, except that the castle is very, very big, and the gene editor's original intention was just to modify the bad genes, but he didn't think that it would affect the good genes or even destroy the whole castle."

Feng Lin led the children to continue, "...... As times changed, all-star nations strictly prohibited gene modification, gene editors had no value of existence, and were even regarded as criminals who committed great crimes and gradually disappeared into the river of history... ...

"...... Now, all interstellar human beings are plagued by genetic diseases, and gene repairers are highly paid and respected. Genetic repair, as the name suggests, is the use of various methods to repair our mutated and unstable genes ......"

A boy asked, "Can you fix my genes?"

Feng Lin smiled and said, "If you listen well to the doctor and protect your body, you will meet an excellent gene repairer to help you repair your genes."

"Can't you?" The boy's eyes glittered with hope.

Feng Lin shook his head, suppressing his sadness and squeezing a smile out, "I'm not that good yet, but I'm trying."

Sending the child away, Feng Lin and Loran saw that the time had passed the lunch hour, and both didn't bother going to the restaurant. Taking two cans of nutrients, they sat in the small garden on the terrace and drank the nutrients while resting.

Loran said with emotion, "So what you did was so great!"

Feng Lin laughed to himself, "It looks like it, but in reality, I often feel incompetent, I can't cure any of these kids who came today!"

"Humanity has taken the wrong path in genetic research because of greed, and to correct it now is neither a momentary nor a one-man-two-man endeavor, but accumulating small amounts and dripping water into an ocean will one day lead to success."

Feng Lin looked at Luo Lan with starry eyes, "Suddenly I feel that you are so cultured."

Luo Lan raises her hand to cover her face in a pretense of shyness, and her sleeve slides down, revealing a bruised and purple arm.

Feng Lin staggered, "If I didn't know how Tatsuya is, I'd suspect that you've been domestically abused."

Loran laughed, "Beaten by Qingchu during training."

"Wow! To fight so hard, it's very promising to become an A-ranked physique."

"That's what I thought." Loran reached out and made a must-win gesture.

Feng Lin laughed out loud, Loran's nature was pleasing, uprooted from her homeland to be a victim of the struggle between the fae and humans, yet neither paranoid and angry nor self-hating, like a sunflower, striving towards the sunlight and growing brightly.

Feng Lin asked in a puzzled manner, "Why are you suddenly so positive about exercising physical fitness?"

"Didn't Cinnabar tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

Tatsuya didn't say anything! Compared to Zi Yan, that flower butterfly who flaunted around, Tatsusa was like a mussel that hid everything in its shell.

Loran organized his thoughts and said carefully, "The day the injury accident happened at the base, I heard some mere words and guessed that the beast could be human. When Tatsuya realized that I knew, he wanted me to become a Level 3a physical ability. Because of your suggestion, I was very self-aware and changed my goal to a class A physical ability."

Feng Lin stared at Loran with a strange expression.

Luo Lan hurriedly explained, "I didn't mean to pry into your secrets, it's just that, being in the middle of it, it's impossible not to pay attention, so don't worry, I'll never divulge it."

"I didn't blame you, just ......" Feng Lin still looked in disbelief, "I didn't expect you to know everything and still dare to stay alone with me. I hid it from you because I was afraid you'd be afraid of us, and I didn't want you to hate Alicata out of fear."

Loran's hand rested on Feng Lin's shoulder, "Fear of the unknown is the worst, knowing the truth, even if you are afraid, you can find a way to overcome it."

Feng Lin looked at the hand on his shoulder and suddenly smiled, "I want to have a serious talk with you, go to my office."

Feng Lin's office.

Feng Lin opened his think-tank and pulled up a confidential document for Loran to read.

"More than three hundred years ago, the first case of sudden genetic mutation appeared in the Odin Federation. So far, there have been six thousand eight hundred eighty-nine recorded cases, all of which are the Federation's one-in-a-million, most outstanding warriors. Among them, six thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight died, and only one recovered his sanity and turned back into a human being. The deaths and injuries of others due to sudden mutations were even higher at over thirty thousand ......"

The Odin Federation was the first star nation to be founded by "human beings carrying the genes of the Fae", and Fae who had suffered unfair treatment from all over the world found a way to come here to settle down and live. They combined and reproduced their offspring, leading to an increasing number of genetic diseases. Sudden mutation is one of the most terrifying terminal diseases, with no signs before the outbreak, and certain death after the outbreak.

The most terrible thing is not its death rate, but its potential harm.

An unsuspected mutation destroys trust between people, destroying their faith and courage.

Over the past hundred years, the scale of the outbreak was gradually expanding, and in case the news got out, it was feared that it would cause panic and hostility among all of humanity, and the "fae" would once again fall into a crisis, being questioned by humans as to whether or not they were still human, and being slaughtered by all of humanity in a frenzy.

"For more than three hundred years, we have tried our best to find a cure. The only conclusion so far is that the fifteen minutes after the mutation is the golden resuscitation period, and if you can't regain your sanity within fifteen minutes, it means you can never recover ......"

The video ended, and the virtual screen scrolled with close-up images of the various genetic patients. Some of their expressions were fragile, some were strong, but the same confusion was hidden under their eyes: why them? What was happening to their bodies?

Loran was in a trance, remembering herself running through the wasteland, marching forward with despair, just trying to figure out what was happening to her.

So far, no one has given her answers.

Feng Lin said, "In other star nations, a warrior becoming an A-class physical ability is an event of immense pride and joy, and everyone will celebrate him. However, in the Odin Federation, the day a warrior becomes an A-class physical ability person, instead of congratulations, he receives a death notice telling him that he may turn into a man-eating beast at any time, and so far the probability of recovery is equal to zero."

"Wasn't there one who recovered his sanity and turned back into a human?"

"One in six thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine, a probability of 000014, and ......" Feng Lin's voice was very somber, "that person still died later from a sudden mutation."

Loran froze.

"The only thing the Federation can do for these outstanding warriors is to kill them fifteen minutes after the mutation occurs, preserving their last dignity!"

Loran remembered the scene when Tatsusa swung his sword and killed the beast, and also the sadness hidden in Chisoku's eyes when he talked about the mutation. To guard the Odin Federation, these excellent warriors had to pursue excellent physical abilities, but the better the physical abilities the higher the probability of mutation, they had to be ready at any time to kill their comrades who fought side by side, and they also had to be ready at any time to be killed by their comrades.

Feng Lin looked at Loran: "Now that you know everything true, are you still willing to cooperate with our research?"

"What do you guys need me to do?"

"It's very simple, at the moment, we just need to regularly extract your blood and your other tissue cells to study your genes, and it definitely won't affect your physical health."

Loran didn't ignore the word "currently", but the future was anyone's guess, and Feng Lin was being open and honest without making promises, so her heart moved, and all of a sudden, she made a bold decision.

She tentatively asked, "If I don't cooperate, isn't it detrimental to your research?"

"Yes." Feng Lin smiled bitterly, "Not even an apple tree can let a researcher take what he wants, let alone you being a human. The hormones in your body change when you change your mood a bit."

"I have a request."

"Go ahead." Feng Lin wasn't afraid of Loran making a request, he was afraid that she wouldn't make one.

"I want to participate in the entire research process as a researcher."

Feng Lin froze, "Genetic research is boring and hard work, it won't be an occupation that a young girl would like."

Loran smiled bitterly, "Believe me, I never expected the process of searching for answers to be easy and relaxing."

Feng Lin realized that she was serious and walked around bitterly, "Loran, you're imposing. You should know that your identity is sensitive, and genetic research is a secret of every country."

"I know. This is my only condition." Loran folded his hands and said pleadingly, "Please help me, I swear I won't do anything against the Odin Federation."