Made in Iris

"Are you Nie Yun?" A clear, girlish voice interrupted the young man's thoughts.

Nie Yun looked up toward the voice and saw a girl in a white dress standing before him. He hadn't noticed when she came aboard. Her fair skin and delicate features seemed completely out of place here, making her look almost dazzling. His heart skipped a beat.

The fishermen nearby stared at her curiously. Only then did they realize that the breathtaking girl who had just arrived was here to see Nie Yun. The bald man had passed her on his way out and now stood nearby, watching with interest.

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

"I'm that man's daughter. Before he died, he wrote a letter to my mother, asking us to take you in. Following his last wishes, my mother sent me to bring you back." Her tone was flat, almost cold.

That man? Nie Yun's heart stirred. "You mean my old man?"

At the words "old man," the girl's slender brows drew together slightly. "Yes."

"You're his daughter? I never heard him mention that he had one," Nie Yun said, confused.

"Hmph. He abandoned my mother and me. How could he have the nerve to mention us?" At last, an expression appeared on the girl's face. Her cheeks flushed with anger.

"Abandoned... you and your mother?!" Nie Yun's eyes widened. He could hardly imagine that his slovenly old man had such a past. Even more unbelievable was that the old drunk with the red nose had such a beautiful daughter.

The girl didn't answer. Instead, she looked around the Sea Wolf, clear disgust in her eyes. It made Nie Yun uncomfortable.

"This is the Sea Wolf, my old man's own son—my brother. I've lived here with him since I was little. Want me to show you around?" Nie Yun thought the old man's daughter ought to see the place where he'd spent so many years.

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

Nie Yun was taken aback, then nodded in understanding. "In that case, I refuse to go back with you."

If you don't want anything to do with my old man, then I don't want anything to do with you either! Nie Yun's reasoning was simple and blunt.

The girl was stunned. She hadn't expected to hear that answer.

She knitted her delicate brows. "Are you sure you've thought this through? This ship is practically a wreck. How will you support yourself? If you don't want to live with us, we can give you some money for living expenses and pay for your schooling..."

Before she could finish, Nie Yun interrupted her. "No need! I'm doing fine as I am, and I don't need your charity. I can take care of myself!"

The girl gazed intently at Nie Yun. His eyes were full of stubborn determination.

"Here's my contact information. If you change your mind, you can come find me." She set a card down beside him, then turned to leave. Her long hair swayed, leaving behind a faint fragrance.

"Wait!" Nie Yun called after her.

The girl turned to look at him, waiting for him to continue.

"My old man... He could be sharp-tongued, he loved to drink, and he had a terrible temper. But I know he was actually a very kind person.

"I don't know why he left you, but I don't think it was what he wanted. I hope you can forgive him. At least go burn some incense at his grave. I'm sure he'd be happy." Nie Yun spoke to her with complete sincerity.

The girl fell silent for a while. Without saying a word, she turned and left.

A black car waited nearby. A bodyguard in black opened the door for her, and the car sped off in a cloud of dust.

Nie Yun watched her go, then slowly sat down. Resting his chin in his hands, he stared blankly at the sunset over the sea until the last rays disappeared beneath the horizon.

"Grrr~" The rumbling in his stomach finally reminded him that he hadn't eaten dinner. A whole afternoon of hard labor had left him ravenous.

He went back aboard, took out a few packets of instant noodles, and grabbed some fish and shrimp. He boiled some water and hastily cooked himself a meal. For some reason, though, he ate three packets today and still didn't feel full. He ate another three before the hunger finally subsided.

"Ugh, when it rains, it pours! The Sea Wolf's already in this state, and now I've suddenly turned into such a glutton. A poor man saddled with a bottomless pit for a stomach—what a rotten twist of fate!" After eating, Nie Yun leaned beside a hole in the damaged Sea Wolf and bailed out the water that had seeped in.

Even though he knew the Sea Wolf couldn't be saved, he still wanted to spend a little more time with it.

"We've been brothers for over ten years. Let me see you off on your final journey! Tomorrow I'll burn you, then scatter your ashes into the sea. The old man's probably waiting for you down there. You're his own son, so he'll recognize you. Make sure you pick him up before you cross the Bridge of Helplessness!

"Though I don't know if they'll let you cross. Will you go over the bridge or under it? Either way, you should be grateful if they let you through. Don't get picky..."

As he bailed out the water, Nie Yun rambled on with a string of nonsense.

He scooped the water out gently, as if caring for his own little brother, one ladle at a time, until only a small puddle remained at the bottom.

"Hm? What's this?" Nie Yun paused, puzzled by a patch on the hull beside the hole. Under the water there was a palm-sized silvery-white spot, impossible to miss.

"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.

He picked up a dry rag and wiped the puddle away. Sure enough, the silvery-white patch was still there. It didn't look like debris; it seemed to be stuck to the hull.

Curious, he reached out and touched it. It was smooth and pleasant to the touch—no, incredibly pleasant. It felt as though he were caressing... himself?!

Nie Yun was dumbfounded. How could he have such a strange sensation, as if he were touching himself? Yet this bizarre substance really did feel familiar to him. What was going on?

A thought struck him, and a flash of inspiration crossed his mind. A large mass of information flooded into his head.

"Iris... Mechanical Insect... mutated symbiosis... queen insect..."

In an instant, Nie Yun finally understood, more or less, the strange events that had taken place on his body earlier that day.

The creation of the Iris civilization—the Mechanical Insect—had been on the meteorite that struck him. So aliens really did exist!

Nie Yun's eyes widened in disbelief.

After drifting through space for ages, the Mechanical Insect had very little information left to offer. Aside from the label "made in Iris," there was only a little information about the Mechanical Insect itself.

The Mechanical Insect was an extremely tiny nanorobot, originally used as repair material for the Iris civilization's spaceships. Somehow, it had parasitized Nie Yun, and it seemed to have mutated. Some of it had also come into contact with the Sea Wolf and Nie Yun's blood, mutating as well. The two seemed to have formed some kind of strange connection.

Nie Yun looked at the silvery-white patch. It really did seem like a part of his own body. The sensation of their souls being linked was incredibly strange.