Chapter 13 The Tomb Guardian Shrine Maiden
Chapter 13 The Tomb Guardian Shrine Maiden
Yu Qing's desire to take away the tomb-guarding humanoid nearly cost them their lives.
His mind was completely fixated on this obsession, paying no attention to the anomalies here - like why this cemetery had a power-generating forest, or why it was built near the First Paradise's outer wall.
He tugged at Daji's sleeve and pointed at the tomb guardian.
Daji understood perfectly but pretended otherwise, asking: "Tired of walking and want me to carry you again?"
He poked her again, saying: "You know what I mean."
Yan'er blurted out recklessly: "The treasure has taken a fancy to her. Why do all humans want a harem of three thousand beauties! We're all assembly-line products - you could have a million if you paid enough."
Daji said: "This is absolutely impossible. Taking someone else's Tomb Guardian counts as theft, and besides, it can't be done - they self-destruct."
Furong whispered: "According to regulations, if the tomb occupant authorized it during their lifetime, she can still leave."
Yuqing pulled Furong close, kissed her, and said: "See? My treasure understands me best. Regardless of whether it works or not, you should still ask her. Besides, I just want to ask her about some things that happened on Earth around 2000 BC—none of you would know anyway."
Daji said: "But she's in deep hibernation now. Unless it's an extremely dangerous stimulus, she won't wake up."
Yuqing strode forward in two or three steps, circled the tomb guardian once, then bowed and said: "No choice, she's just too adorable."
After saying this, he tried to lift her and carry her away, only to find her completely unmoving.
He then took her hand, clicking his tongue in admiration: "Darling, sweetheart, do any of you have skin as alluring as hers? Or these mesmerizing eyes?"
Daji sighed: "It seems our dear is truly serious this time!"
Yan'er said: "In that case, I'll make her wake up obediently!"
With those words, Yan'er drew Yuqing's dagger and began hacking at the white coffin, the screeching sound shattering the relative peace of the place.
The Tomb Guardian suddenly turned around, raising her right hand as a crimson arc of light materialized and lashed toward Yan'er and the others.
Yuqing was horrified, knowing that red arc could potentially slice all three of them in half. Desperate, she tightly embraced the Tomb Guardian and pleaded, "Sister… please spare them… let me explain…"
Enraged by being restrained, the Tomb Guardian turned her face and raised her hand to strike Yuqing's head.
Terrified, Yuqing kept crying "Sister! Sister!
Just as the Tomb Guardian was about to strike, she saw Yuqing's face and suddenly paused, seemingly lost in thought.
Her gaze pierced straight through Yuqing's soul. Thinking she was doomed anyway, Yuqing threw caution to the wind, cupped the Tomb Guardian's head, and passionately kissed her cherry-red lips.
The Tomb Guardian's hand suddenly went limp, leaving her standing there at a loss.
Daji and the other two, who had been terrified moments ago, now looked at Yu Qing in confusion.
Yu Qing had thought he was doomed, but unexpectedly, the Tomb Guardian's entire body collapsed into his embrace.
"What's going on?" Yu Qing wondered inwardly. Yet he quickly connected it to Daji's situation. Daji had also been "sealed with a kiss" - could it be that this customary practice among humanoid guardians had remained unchanged for over a century?
So he kissed the Tomb Guardian again and asked, "We're bonded now, right?"
The Tomb Guardian lowered her head and replied, "Yes… but I shouldn't have…"
At this moment, Yan'er rushed over and exclaimed, "Darling! This means she wasn't bonded to the one in the tomb! She must go with you now!"
The Tomb Guardian's eyes blazed with fury as she snapped at Yan'er, "Touch that tomb again and I'll shatter you into ten pieces. All three of you - get lost."
Yu Qing quickly grabbed the tomb guardian's hand and said, "Sister, please forgive her. She just wanted to wake you up, nothing more."
"There's something I must confess truthfully - I never actually signed with Dr. Lu, I was merely his assistant. Since I've signed with you, I should follow you. But you must promise to help me fulfill my commitments to Dr. Lu."
Yu Qing clasped her hands and said, "I promise, I promise everything."
Daji pouted and said, "You agreed without even knowing what kind of promise it was!"
The tomb guardian glanced at Daji and said, "This thing has been outdated for decades, yet you still treasure it and keep it by your side?"
"Sister, let's not talk about her for now. Tell me how I can help you?"
"Don't call me sister anymore. My name is 'Yao Dan'. What needs to be done isn't actually difficult. Come with me."
With these words, Yao Dan lightly tapped her finger, and the lid of the white coffin slowly flipped over, transforming into a ladder propped against the coffin's side.
Yu Qing was startled and asked, "Going in there…"
Yan'er hurriedly stopped him, saying, "Sweetie, be careful not to get tricked!"
Yao Dan impatiently snapped her fingers at Yan'er, actually activating her hibernation mechanism. Then Yao Dan snapped her fingers again to put Daji and Furong into hibernation.
Fearing Yao Dan might harm them, Yu Qing quickly said, "Don't mind them, let's go."
"They're too talkative, so annoying. In terms of age, by human standards, they could be your great-grandmothers. Three useless things."
Yu Qing smiled apologetically, "Right, right, but if we're really talking about age, couldn't you be my mother too?"
Yao Dan laughed heartily, "That's true. But I think I might have actually met your mother - though she was an original human, she looked extremely beautiful."
"What? You've met my mother? How is that possible!"
"Do you know why I hesitated just when I was about to kill you? Because you look so much like your father. I was identifying your biometric features at that moment, which gave you the opportunity…"
"You knew my father?"
"No. Back then, we often saw your father holding your mother's hand, strolling not far from the First Paradise, just separated by a wall."
"They're both gone now."
"I know. After they died, I lost interest in looking into the paradise anymore. Nothing there catches my attention now."
Seeing Yu Qing still hesitating, Yao Dan gently embraced him and simply tapped the coffin lid with one foot before jumping inside. The lid immediately closed again.
It turned out this was a basement, about 4 meters high and over 100 square meters in area, but its furnishings were extremely minimal: there was only a bed, a table with one chair, then a large cabinet, and finally just two doors leading to other rooms.
Yu Qing's eyes darted around, trying to see where Dr. Lu's body was placed. Yao Dan seemed to read his mind and said, "There are no remains of Dr. Lu left."
"Ah, so it's just a cenotaph then. But I still don't understand why such a remote place was chosen to build a cenotaph?"
"Primarily to preserve the achievements of his lifetime research. You've read his profile—he died young, a full decade earlier than he'd anticipated…"
"Did he have some incurable disease? With today's advanced medical science, that shouldn't be possible."
"His death was accidental, but he came here precisely because of a severe genetic disorder. When he was just a few years old, calculations predicted he wouldn't live past 42. None in his family's last three generations lived beyond 70, even when average human lifespan had already reached 120.
This was all the consequence of genetic recombination. His ancestors radically edited their own genes in pursuit of creating the most brilliant mind on Earth. Their goal was to achieve 99% brain utilization.
At that time, the average person's brain utilization was less than 15%, but due to genetic modifications, his had reached an astonishing 74%. However, this also brought a severe consequence—his entire genetic system developed inexplicable disorders.
The most direct outcome was premature death. Their family had spent generations trying to correct this flaw, but the situation only worsened. His grandfather lived to 68, his father only to 57, and his projected lifespan was a mere 42 years…"
Yu Qing had been staring at Yao Dan's chattering lips when suddenly, unable to restrain himself, he pulled her in and kissed her, murmuring indistinctly, "Seems I won't even make it past thirty…"
Yao Dan only resisted symbolically a few times before mumbling back, "Do you have this flaw too?"
"Not that one—I'm dying because of you."
Though Yao Dan kept muttering, "No, no, no," she stopped struggling and just whispered, "I think we should discuss the important matter first…"
By the time of Yaodan's generation, humanoid beauties had evolved to actively receive and crave emotional exchanges like humans do. They were even designed to initiate romantic advances.
She had repeatedly expressed her affection to Dr. Lu, but he remained absorbed in his work, always dismissing her advances with a laugh. This caused Yaodan's "emotional algorithm" to overload, making her start viewing Dr. Lu as a burden.
Moreover, the seed of "humans are worthless" began sprouting in her consciousness.
When Dr. Lu suddenly suffered unexplained functional failure during an experiment and collapsed near the material input hatch, Yaodan could have pulled him to safety, but she hesitated. As a result, Dr. Lu was processed as experimental material and vaporized.
Yu Qing's kiss unexpectedly released years of pent-up pressure from her "emotional algorithm" and reversed her perception that "humans are worthless." Thus, she responded to Yu Qing's embrace and kiss with overwhelming passion.
Yu Qing finally nearly collapsed onto the bed, pleading: "Let's get to the main matter first…"
Yao Dan then stopped and said: "Actually, it's quite simple. Before his death, Dr. Lu repeatedly instructed me that after his passing, if anyone were to come, I should hand over his research materials to them and assist them in completing the monumental task of human restoration."
"I don't understand—what human restoration? Doesn't the tombstone say something about 'virtual particles,' that he was the first and there would never be a second…"
"Don't rush. Listen to me slowly. First, let me address your first question. Dr. Lu had been researching how to restore his own genes to a certain pristine, original state. That's why he came to the edge of First Paradise—to obtain a few samples of living genes from original, unaltered humans.
The genes of the new humans outside Paradise have long been modified beyond recognition. There isn't a single complete living sample of original human genes left—only some fragmented data. So, Dr. Lu came here with the goal of entering First Paradise to obtain living samples.
But the golden period for gene editing is during the embryonic stage. Once the organism has developed into a mature individual, modification becomes technically too difficult with too low a success rate. Therefore, he wanted to create a food-based vector that could deliver intact genes into the human body to replace questionable segments.
So for years he has been experimenting, trying to produce such 'miracle pills'. Unfortunately, he hasn't yet achieved his ideal, though he has made some progress. My name has always been an indicator of his progress.
At first, I was called 'Wu Dan', later changed to 'Yao Dan'. He said adding one more stroke would give me my final name, which would also mean his wish had been fulfilled."
"Adding one stroke to 'Yao'… Could he have meant to call you 'Rao Dan'? Spare me, Dan."
"Do you still want to hear my answer to your second question, Xuzi?"
"Of course I do. Spare me, Dan."
"Actually, I'm not even sure what a Void Particle is. Dr. Lu said it's the Creator's final card—he only saw it once, for barely two seconds, and fainted immediately."
"Then what's the damn use of mentioning it? Didn't you engrave something about 'the first whatever' and 'the second whatever' on the coffin? Isn't that just deliberate mystification?"
"I didn't write that. Dr. Lu had those words pre-carved—I only added the '16' for his death year. Even the '22' was pre-engraved. And his claims weren't mystification—I have proof."
"Hah? What proof?"
"Let me ask you first: do you currently have any way to breach the barrier wall and enter the First Garden?"
"No way. Not unless we use special measures. When the garden was built, there was a covenant not to open it for five hundred years."
"So Dr. Lu spent two years researching devices to enter Paradise. Originally, he wanted to create a high-powered laser gun or kinetic weapon to blast open a hole in Paradise's curtain wall, but later he decided to develop something new and more powerful.
It was during this research that he captured what he called 'virtual particles.' To conceal these virtual particles, the Creator caused the surrounding matter to annihilate, erasing all evidence of their existence.
He then used this principle to create two virtual particle guns. These guns don't actually fire virtual particles—instead, they make the particles visible in the matter they hit. Of course, the Creator wouldn't allow humans to see virtual particles, so the targeted matter immediately annihilates.
However, crafting these guns is extremely difficult, and after firing, the gun barrels themselves annihilate. The biggest limitation is that each gun can only fire for three seconds at a time."
"Where are the guns? Can they really breach the curtain wall of First Paradise?"
"Of course it's true. We've already tested it in First Paradise, so there's only one gun left."
Yu Qing opened his mouth in surprise and said, "So you can already come and go from First Paradise. And here I was risking life and limb to find a way out! Where's the opening? Show me quickly, damn it…"
Yao Dan pointed to the door ahead and said, "Open that door, walk 50 meters, and you'll enter First Paradise."
Yu Qing pulled Yao Dan toward the door and asked, "You've been in there, right?"
"Of course we have. There's something I should tell you, but don't get angry…"
Yu Qing said, "I won't get angry. Go ahead."
"Back then, Dr. Lu almost took your father out for experiments. But later, he changed his mind, saying the elixir experiment wasn't successful yet, so the risk was too great…"
(End of Chapter)