Made in Iris

"Are you Nie Yun?" A crisp, girlish voice interrupted the boy's deep thoughts.

Nie Yun looked up in the direction of the voice and saw a girl in a white dress who had boarded the ship at some point. She stood gracefully before him, her fair skin and exquisite features looking so out of place in this environment that she felt almost too dazzling, causing his heart to skip a beat.

The surrounding fishermen all peered over with curiosity, only then realizing that the stunning girl had come specifically for Nie Yun. Baldy, who had been heading out, brushed past the girl and stood to the side, watching with interest.

"I am. And you are?" Nie Yun asked, puzzled.

"I am that man's daughter. Before he died, he wrote a letter to my mother, asking us to take you back to live with us. According to his last wishes, my mother sent me to fetch you." The girl's tone was flat, perhaps even cold.

That man? A thought stirred in Nie Yun's mind: "You mean Old Man?"

Hearing Nie Yun use the term "Old Man," the girl's delicate willow-leaf eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Yes!"

"You're his daughter? I've never heard Old Man mention he had a daughter," Nie Yun said, confused.

"Hmph, he abandoned us! How could he have the face to mention us!" A flicker of emotion finally appeared on the girl's face; her cheeks flushed with anger.

"Abandoned... you two?!" Nie Yun's eyes widened. He couldn't imagine that the slovenly, disheveled Old Man had such a past, and what was even more mind-boggling was that the wine-nosed, messy Old Man had such a beautiful daughter.

The girl didn't answer him, instead looking around the Sea Wolf with a clear expression of disgust in her eyes, which made Nie Yun feel very uncomfortable.

"This is the Sea Wolf, Old Man's own flesh and blood, my brother. I've lived here with Old Man since I was a child. Do you want me to show you around?" Nie Yun felt that Old Man's daughter should understand the place where he had lived for so many years.

"No need. I'm not interested in his affairs. If my mother hadn't insisted I come to get you, I would never have agreed to have anything more to do with him!" the girl said coldly.

Nie Yun was stunned, then nodded in realization and said to her, "In that case, I refuse to go back with you!"

Since you don't want to have anything to do with Old Man, then I don't want to have anything to do with you either! Nie Yun's logic was just that simple and blunt.

The girl was taken aback; she truly hadn't expected to hear such a response from him.

She knitted her delicate brows. "Are you sure you've thought this through? This ship is likely ready for the scrap heap. How will you live in the future? If you don't want to live with us, we can provide you with a living allowance so you can go to school..."

Before the girl could finish, Nie Yun interrupted: "No need! My life is fine as it is, and I don't need your charity. I can live perfectly well on my own!"

The girl looked deeply at Nie Yun; the boy's eyes were full of stubbornness and persistence.

"This is my contact information. If you change your mind, you can come find me!" The girl placed a card nearby and turned to leave, a faint fragrance lingering as her long hair swished.

"Wait!" Nie Yun called out to her.

The girl turned to look at him, waiting for what he had to say.

"Old Man, he... although he was sharp-tongued, loved to drink, and had a terrible temper, I know he was actually a very gentle person.

Even though I don't know why he left you, I want to believe it wasn't his intention. I hope you can forgive him! At least, go and light a stick of incense at his grave. I think he would be very happy." Nie Yun said this to the girl with great sincerity.

The girl was silent for a moment, said nothing, and turned away.

Not far off, a black sedan waited. A bodyguard in black opened the door for the girl, and the car sped away, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Nie Yun watched the girl leave, then slowly sat down, resting his chin on his hand as he watched the sunset over the sea. He sat there blankly, watching until the last glimmer of light vanished into the horizon.

"Gurgle~" The roar from his stomach finally reminded the boy that he hadn't eaten dinner yet. A whole afternoon of physical labor had left him ravenous.

He returned to the ship, took out a few packs of instant noodles, added some fish and shrimp, boiled some water, and ate a hasty meal. For some reason, he ate three whole packs and still didn't feel full, so he ate three more before the hunger finally subsided.

"Sigh, when it rains, it pours! The Sea Wolf is in this state, and I've suddenly become such a glutton. A broken home meeting a bottomless pit—what a wretched fate!" After eating his fill, Nie Yun leaned against the damaged hull of the Sea Wolf and began bailing out the newly seeped water.

Even though he knew the Sea Wolf was beyond saving, he still hoped to spend as much time with it as possible.

"We're brothers for life, over ten years of history. Let me see you off on your final journey! Tomorrow I'll burn you, and I'll scatter your ashes into the sea. Old Man is probably still waiting for you down there. You're his own flesh and blood; he'll definitely recognize you. Just remember to pick him up before you cross the Naihe Bridge!

I wonder if the Naihe Bridge will even let you cross? Will you walk over it or under it? Doesn't matter, though. Just being able to get across is good enough, don't be picky..."

Nie Yun rambled on with nonsensical talk as he bailed the water.

His movements were gentle, as if he were taking care of his own younger brother, scooping until only a small puddle remained at the bottom.

"Hmm? What's this?" Nie Yun paused, looking curiously at the bottom of the ship near the hole. A palm-sized, silver-white patch was visible at the bottom of the water, standing out starkly.

"A reflection of the moon?" Nie Yun looked up at the sky, but it was covered in thick clouds; there was no sign of the moon.

Nie Yun picked up a dry rag and wiped the puddle dry, then saw that the silver-white patch was indeed there. It didn't look like debris; it looked as if it were stuck to the bottom of the ship.

He curiously reached out to touch it. It was smooth and felt quite comfortable—no, it felt extremely comfortable. Nie Yun felt as if he were touching... himself?!

Uh, Nie Yun was dumbfounded. How could he have such a bizarre sensation, like touching himself? Yet, this strange object truly made him feel a sense of deep familiarity. What was going on?

A thought stirred in his mind, and a flash of insight crossed his brain, flooding him with a vast amount of information.

"Iris... Mechanical Insect... Mutant Symbiosis... Queen..."

In an instant, Nie Yun finally understood the bizarre events that had happened to him earlier that day.

A creation from the Iris civilization—a Mechanical Insect. The meteorite that had struck him actually contained this thing. Aliens really did exist!

Nie Yun's eyes widened in disbelief.

Although the Mechanical Insect had been through a long interstellar drift and the information it could provide was limited, aside from the "Made in Iris" tag, there was only some basic introduction to the Mechanical Insect.

The Mechanical Insect was a type of ultra-micro robot, originally used as repair material for Iris civilization spacecraft. For some reason, it had parasitized Nie Yun, and it seemed to have mutated. A portion had also contaminated the Sea Wolf and Nie Yun's blood, causing further mutations, and the two seemed to have developed some kind of mysterious connection.

Nie Yun looked at the silver-white patch, feeling as if he were truly looking at a part of his own body. This soul-linked sensation was truly miraculous.