After breakfast, Nanming began clearing the table, and Si Xiaobei helped him.
Once they had finished, Nanming looked at Liu Xiaogang and Feng Xuan, who were still bickering, and sighed helplessly. "All right, Xiaogang, quit fooling around. Go train with Xing Lan some more."
Liu Xiaogang and Feng Xuan glared fiercely at each other. Then Liu Xiaogang agreed, while Feng Xuan returned to his room to play games.
"All right. I kind of want to go back to the dorm and get some more sleep, but as a pioneer of humanity, I absolutely can't slack off!" Xing Lan let go of Hela's hand, then took a long look at her before resolutely heading toward the pitch-black basement.
"Why are you acting like you're going off to sacrifice yourself instead of train...?" Liu Xiaogang remarked as he walked ahead of Xing Lan.
"Don't ask. If you do, it's for the sense of ceremony."
"..."
Hela stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly at Xing Lan's receding figure, looking a little lost.
But a smaller figure soon walked up beside her. "Miss Hela, let's continue learning to speak." Si Xiaobei smiled at Hela, holding a book in his hands.
Hela nodded and resumed learning with him.
Si Xiaobei had just opened the book when Nanming suddenly strode over from the side.
He took a deep breath and shouted, "Everyone, assemble! We have a mission!"
Si Xiaobei hurriedly closed the book. "Sorry, Miss Hela. I'll have to continue teaching you when I get back." With that, he ran over to Nanming.
"Oh, come on! Why did a mission have to come in right now? I just started a ranked match." Feng Xuan came out cursing, his phone in his hand.
He had just stepped out when he seemed to hear something and turned toward the basement stairs.
Suddenly, a blue figure with stars in her eyes came flying over at tremendous speed and crashed headfirst into Feng Xuan before he could react. Both of them fell to the floor.
Xing Lan lay sprawled on Feng Xuan and lifted her head, looking excitedly at Nanming as she spoke with a slight tremble. "Do we have a mission?! Can I go kill Variants?! Is the first expedition beyond the walls starting?!"
Liu Xiaogang came out of the basement, panting and bracing himself against the wall. "Damn, how did you run so fast? Even I couldn't catch you."
She got up off the red-faced Feng Xuan and ran excitedly to Nanming's side, bouncing up and down like a child.
"Uh, yes. We just received notice that there's a case in City B, Guangshen, suspected to involve Variants. We need to investigate," Nanming answered unhurriedly.
"Are we leaving right now, then?! How are we getting there? Are we flying a plane?!" Xing Lan kept stepping on the spot, looking ready to spring into action.
"Yes, we're flying there." Feng Xuan got up off the floor and wiped away his nosebleed, his face still a little red.
"Huh? Brother Feng Xuan, why is your nose bleeding? Do you need me to help you with that?" Si Xiaobei asked, tilting his head.
"It's nothing. No need." Feng Xuan waved a hand.
Nanming glanced at everyone, and after confirming they were all present, gave another order. "Special Investigation Squad, move out!"
"Yes, sir!" The group then brought Xing Lan up to the barbershop's rooftop platform.
Looking at the empty rooftop, Xing Lan wasn't puzzled. Instead, she excitedly began imagining how the plane would appear.
Feng Xuan lowered his head and tapped a few times on his phone.
A notification sounded: "Stealth mode deactivated." A strangely shaped, jet-black fighter slowly materialized before them.
Xing Lan stared at the fighter, so excited she couldn't even speak.
"Quit standing there! Get in!" Feng Xuan, already seated in the pilot's seat, called to Xing Lan, who was still standing there in a daze.
Xing Lan came to her senses. "Oh, okay!" She then rushed into the plane.
Sitting inside the plane and looking around at its incredibly cool interior, she felt her cheeks slowly turn red.
Joining the Special Investigation Squad really was the right choice!
"Everyone, strap in. I'm starting her up!" Chewing gum, Feng Xuan started the fighter.
Seated in his own seat, Si Xiaobei somewhat clumsily pulled a piece of gum from his bag and put it in his mouth.
The propellers in the two wings began to spin, and the enormous fighter slowly rose into the air.
Once the plane reached a certain altitude, the thrusters at its rear fired up, and the fighter shot forward like an arrow, speeding through the sky.
Hela leaned by the window, staring blankly as the plane vanished from sight.
"Wow! It's so fast! The city below just whooshed out of sight!" Xing Lan braced both hands on the back of Feng Xuan's seat and stood on tiptoe, looking at the buildings flashing past outside the glass, her mouth hanging wide open.
"Of course. This plane is one of the fastest vehicles in the Great Xia Nation, and it's the only one the Special Investigation Squad has," Feng Xuan said as he chewed his gum and worked the controls.
"Miss Xing Lan, you should sit down... It's dangerous..." Si Xiaobei sat buckled into his seat, bent over and looking a little pale.
Nanming, seated across from him, noticed. "Does chewing gum still not help?"
Si Xiaobei nodded, still bent over. "My ears are still ringing." He looked again at Xing Lan, who was admiring the scenery, and a trace of envy flashed in his eyes.
Half an hour later.
The pitch-black fighter flew over City B, Guangshen, and slowly came to a hover.
Chewing his gum, Feng Xuan glanced at the position on the radar. "We're here." He then pressed the button to open the door.
The huge hatch swung open at once, and gusts of strong wind rushed into the plane, whipping everyone's hair and clothes about.
"Hehe! Xing Lan of the Special Investigation Squad, heading out!" Xing Lan shouldered her backpack and jumped straight out of the hatch.
Si Xiaobei's eyes went wide. "She... she didn't take a parachute."
"Don't forget, she can fly. The fall won't kill her." Liu Xiaogang put on a parachute and leaped out after her.
"That's true, but I'm still a little worried."
Nanming handed Si Xiaobei a parachute and patted his head. "Don't worry. Believe in her."
Si Xiaobei put on the parachute and stood at the plane's door with Nanming.
"Take care!" Feng Xuan turned around and made a gesture to the two of them.
"Mm." Si Xiaobei glanced at the height below and shuddered. After looking at Nanming, he jumped, and Nanming followed close behind.
Inside an experimental base in City A, Guangshen.
A middle-aged researcher in a white coat slowly placed a drop of glucose on a microscope slide, covered it with a coverslip, and used tweezers to place it under a microscope for observation.
Under the microscope's magnification, a cell could be seen rapidly absorbing the glucose around it.
As the researcher watched with trembling eyes, the cell began dividing and growing continuously. In just a few seconds, it grew large enough to be seen with the naked eye and pushed the coverslip aside.
The researcher looked at the little lump of flesh, which was wriggling slightly, and his breathing gradually grew rapid.
"Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable!
All it needs is a single cell and nutrients to grow and regenerate indefinitely.
This is the most interesting Variant I've ever encountered."
The researcher carefully examined the lump of flesh. "It's a good thing you destroyed it with a high-temperature weapon like a missile back then. Otherwise, other methods really wouldn't have killed it. I just wonder whether he would develop self-awareness if he continued to grow."
"So, Dr. Hong, have you thought of a name for this brand-new Variant?" a female researcher wearing earrings asked from beside him.
Dr. Hong rubbed his chin. "Well, let me think...
Its ability to proliferate indefinitely is quite similar to the HeLa cells we use in medicine. Let's just name it [HeLa Cell]."
The female researcher's lips twitched slightly. "Your naming sense is just the same as ever, Dr. Hong."
"Oh, naming things is just too much trouble. Any name will do." He then took out a pair of tweezers, carefully picked up [HeLa Cell], and placed him in a specially made container. [HeLa Cell] froze instantly.
Dr. Hong picked up the container, stood, and headed outside. "This needs to be stored properly. If it leaks out, the tragedy in City C, Shan'an, might happen all over again." With that, he left the laboratory.
The female researcher gazed in the direction he had gone for a long time.
Meanwhile, far away at the Star Barbershop in City D, the blank-faced Hela's beautiful eyes trembled slightly.