A Dog Father Cannot Beget a Dragon Son

In the [Prelude] (3)

The more he spoke, the more the details came back to him. He suddenly could remember the face of his perpetually smiling supervisor, and also the grouchy demeanor of An Ling, a female researcher he worked closely with. He was so absorbed that he almost missed the comet freezing, like something had flash-froze it.

Fei Chuan wetted his lips. "I was doing cancer research for the better part of two years. The laboratory I joined was one geared towards health sciences, and placed great emphasis on finding a way to cure the incurable. Then one day, the government passed down a decree to begin work on a new, secretive project. I think we were told," he furrowed his brows to try and remember, "we were responding to a new deadly disease that had not reached the public eye yet. Or something like that."

"Did you actually buy into it?" the voice asked, tone flat and without judgement.

"I'm not sure. I was pretty naive back then." Fei Chuan hummed. "There might not have been enough to make me suspicious. We were told to work on muscle relaxant since the existing ones were ineffective. It was presented as a very time sensitive issue, so even if we felt suspicious, I don't think we would have dared to raise the issue."

"We?"

"I was one of two junior researchers. The other was a female named An Ling. Our names were both short and lackluster, so we got along well. I think."

There was a pointed silence. Fei Chuan waited with bated breath to see how the system was going to react, and was pleasantly surprised when the system chuckled and teased, "Should I be worried?" The cheer sounded very forced, but it was the effort that counted.

"I think she would be the worried one," Fei Chuan remarked, with no small amount of relief. "You sound like the kind of person that makes people hide away their wives."

"Maybe once," the voice agreed wistfully, and with a bit more ease, "but alas, it seems like I'm no longer on the market."

"The world just sighed in relief."

"I think you meant 'dismay,'" the voice offered. "It's alright, we can't all be a genius. One is enough for this partnership."

"Glad you accept your position," Fei Chuan shot back.

The voice laughed, before turning serious once more. "And so? When did you realize what you were creating?"

Fei Chuan exhaled. "We began work on bacteria that could recognize and break down cell surface proteins. There was some research already into bacteria that could do it for very specific tumor cells, but the Head Researcher insisted on doing multipurpose bacteria whose targets could then be specialized."

He smiled coldly, feeling the remnants of the indignation that came with being played for a fool.

"He must have forgotten that we had all gotten our degrees from top universities. There was no one who didn't know how advanced our scientific knowledge would have to be for something like that to even be conceivable. It was estimated by a leading biologist that we'd need another hundred years before we could teach bacteria to "distinguish" between good and bad molecules.

"Then we tested our laboratory strain on a rat, which died in the next hour from internal bleeding. An Ling and I swore off the project, and we thought that that would have been the end of it. Then I read media reports about the rebels developing bio weapons that backfired on themselves. I didn't pay it much heed until I read the symptoms."

Fei Chuan lifted his head to regard the silent comet. He quirked up his lips but then felt them fall back down into a stony expression.

"They got some run-of-the-mill biochemists to pick the project back up. It was unofficial and kept hushed up, but they forgot my name was put on the original project. I still had total access to the developmental notes. I printed them out, mailed them to an independent newspaper anonymously, and waited."

"So you were the one to call in the tip about the Yellow Death," the voice realized. "How did that work out for you?"

Fei Chuan shrugged again. "They have logs when people access government projects, so I got offered an ultimatum. Jail, or service to the nation. Some of the higher ups agreed with what I did, so I suspect that was the reason I wasn't simply executed."

"You chose to join the National Guard."

"I did," Fei Chuan agreed. "Guess we've come full circle now. Was my story what you expected?"

"...I don't think anyone could expect you," the voice commented wryly. "Then last question, I suppose. Do you think the government was right?"

Fei Chuan frowned. "...It's not that simple," he finally said. "The government's actions were not correct. In fact, they were violations of human rights. But if we're talking about what started the whole conflict, the surveillance policy....it's a grey area. There were people—your average citizen—who gained and people—like marked criminals—who lost, and it was hard to say which outweighed the other. I didn't support it, but I understood the people who did." Fei Chuan raised an eyebrow. "Is this a deal-breaker, Silveros?"

"...So you did know," the voice said, once it shook off the pause. With a small amount of pride, it added, "I knew you were only pretending to be oblivious."

Fei Chuan only smiled.

A solar wind picked up, bringing with it a wave of heat.

"Looks like time is about up," the voice observed. "We still have a few minutes. Why don't I return the favor? Got anything you're dying to know?"

"No need," Fei Chuan refused the offer. "Let's continue to the next world."

The blue platform beneath him began to shift and deform.

"Are you sure?" the voice pressed. "No burning desire to learn my original identity? Don't you want to know if I was always this handsome?"

"I don't need your help for something like that," Fei Chuan said, amused despite himself. "Vice Commander of Silveros, Qian Sa Long."