Chapter 1564: Reduced to Ashes

'No, that's wrong... this is too reckless. How could it be possible?'

Qiao Yuansi knew that she must look foolish, just staring blankly at Jin Yan. Her office door was wide open, with Changelings pa.s.sing to and fro in the corridor outside, their laughter ringing in the air. None of them suspected that, just a few feet away, a game of guessing and probing was taking place.

Hadn't Jin Yan already seen her picture on the wall? Why would she draw such a conclusion? Unless she was intentionally trying to lure the snake out of the hole, right?

But if Jin Yan had transformed, she should never have noticed anything unusual about the bird food box. To conclude that Changelings don't feed birds," there must first be a premise that "Changelings lack compa.s.sion." However, Changelings would never have such a premise. After all, in their eyes, they are all very normal humans.

To discover from the bird food box that Qiao Yuansi was not a Changeling, two things are required: a clear understanding of the nature of Changelings, and a simple but complete logic. Changelings have neither of these at least for now. She had observed many Changelings and had not found any exceptions yet.

According to this reasoning, the possibility of Jin Yan being a Changeling was slim.

Qiao Yuansi swallowed her dry throat, still unable to speak. The girl across the table was staring at her, her face turning paler and paler, like cement was slowly being poured over it, stiffening and freezing, yet still showing her increasing terror. Jin Yan lowered her head and quickly pulled back her hand, which had been trembling slightly.

Qiao Yuansi suddenly understood.

Wasn't she feeling the same way?

Countless times, she felt that she could not endure even a second more of suffocation. She wished she could grab the normal people who hadn't transformed yet, shake them by the collar, point at the transformed faces, and tell them to open their eyes and look.

She'd be satisfied to wake even one comrade. Even if she were discovered and overwhelmed by the crowd, she would have at least shouted out once before disappearing. If she failed, everything would end, and she wouldn't have to endure silently anymore. The new world had only begun two months ago, she was only 33, and she didn't know how she would survive the rest of her life.

Surely Jin Yan felt the same way?

She tried to steady her voice, breaking the silence that seemed to have lasted too long.

Even though Qiao Yuansi could empathize with Jin Yan, she dared not admit it outright, so she asked the safest question. "You didn't see my picture?"

Jin Yan lowered her eyes. "Miss Qiao... is this a test you've set up? Are you using the bird food box to attract non-Changelings to come to you?"

Qiao Yuansi was taken aback.

"My father is a photographer... I know that by cropping and splicing negatives, photos can be altered. The photography professors must know as well. Aren't you afraid they'll become suspicious?" Jin Yan's voice grew softer, almost too soft for Qiao Yuansi to hear. She couldn't help but glance at the door, probably fearful of being overheard.

"I audited one of your cla.s.ses before... I've been suspicious since then... And who would need to hang a picture of their transformed face? I think it would only be normal people."

"If you're so sure, what are you afraid of?" Qiao Yuansi's heart was pounding, but she still didn't admit it.

Jin Yan closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Because I don't know what the purpose of this... test is," she said, eyes still tightly shut, as if she had completely given up. "Miss Qiao, why do you want to find other normal people?"

The more normal people around, the more danger she was in. The more normal people, the more dangerous... This phrase echoed in Qiao Yuansi's mind; yet her hand, seemingly of its own accord, reached across the table and grabbed Jin Yan's shoulder.

"This is not the place to talk," Qiao Yuansi said with a quivering breath. "Come with me."

In the face of the vast ocean that had changed its appearance, in the first week when Qiao Yuansi and Jin Yan found each other, she felt as if she must have been blessed by heaven. Just having a companion made everything immediately different; humans are probably such creatures, where when they are connected, one plus one is greater than two. For safety's sake, Jin Yan eventually did not take her cla.s.s, but it didn't matter because Jin Yan said that she insisted on taking the course only to observe Qiao Yuansi more.

"Miss Qiao, I really don't know what sustains you," Jin Yan would sometimes say.

Regarding the fact that the old world had actually come to an end, Jin Yan didn't seem to take it seriously. Rather, she felt that it was just a way Qiao Yuansi looked at the world, expressed her feelings; without discussing the past, Qiao Yuansi mentioned it twice, seeing that she didn't take it to heart, she let it go. After all, whether accepted or not, what difference does it make to their lives?

Compared to before, the general framework of their living environment has not changed, but many aspects have already shown signs of subtle, deteriorating chaos. After becoming a precarious marginal person, Qiao Yuansi began to observe the world around her half out of curiosity and half out of necessity: besides the gradually increasing negligence, deception, superficial coa.r.s.eness, and inferior absurdity, security seemed to be slowly deteriorating, part of the sensational news and stories always made her suspect that it was the trouble caused by posthumans.

As an anomaly hidden among the Changelings, an ordinary person struggling to survive in a world of the end, Qiao Yuansi clearly realized that her future life would only slowly and bit by bit get worseif she's lucky enough.

If she's unlucky, the world might change overnight into something she doesn't recognize. She doesn't know which day she will step out of her home in the morning, only to be seized by the world and burned to ashes.

Later, Qiao Yuansi knew that when she was burned to ashes, it wasn't in the morning.

On the day of the tenth month, Qiao Yuansi came home and received a message from Jin Yan on her answering machine. "Miss Qiao," the latter's voice was slightly excited, "Don't be angry when you hear this. I know you don't approve of what I'm doing... but this time I'm two hundred percent sure, I found another normal person who can see the Changelings!"

Qiao Yuansi's heart was suspended at once. Jin Yan was clever, but after all, she was young, and she could be called brave or impulsive; plus, the first time she met someone, it was Qiao Yuansi, and she was always encouraged by this success, feeling that she could find another Qiao Yuansi.

"Don't worry, I haven't mentioned a word about your existence to him. We agreed to meet at seven o'clock tonight in the park next to the school, where I will observe him carefully..."

Seven o'clock?

Qiao Yuansi looked at her watch, hastily grabbed her hat and scarf hanging by the door, and dashed out.

Jin Yan indeed considered the situation carefully. At this time of year, it was gradually entering winter, and the park was already completely dark by seven o'clock. Under the orange streetlights, the park was spa.r.s.ely populated, with open views and access in all directions. If anything unexpected happened, Jin Yan would have a chance to escape.

Searching around, Qiao Yuansi stopped short when she saw two figures on a distant bench, sitting down at the edge of a flower bed. She was under the shade of the trees, pulling her hat low and scarf high, her eyes fixed on the two figures, who looked like a couplethe male was a little older than Jin Yan, a stranger's face, not like a student but more like someone who had already started working.

Qiao Yuansi sat and observed for a while from a distance, gradually easing her concern. From such a distance, she naturally couldn't hear anything; but from the atmosphere and body movements of the two interacting, everything seemed to be going smoothly. They didn't talk for long, and after ten minutes or so, they nodded to each other, and the man stood up and left first.

Fortunately, she put down the other half of her heart as well. Qiao Yuansi followed, only to ensure Jin Yan's safety. Seeing the boy leave first and that Jin Yan was fine, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking for a moment, she stood up and followed the boy from a distance.

The boy seemed unaware that he was being followed; the two walked quietly one behind the other in the dim gloom. There were very few people in the park, just an office worker who pa.s.sed them by, then a woman in a red company uniform, followed by two girls of similar age wearing work badges, and a middle-aged man in a blue company uniform.

Was it empty?

When Qiao Yuansi abruptly stopped and rushed back, the boy, without looking back, headed for the park gate in her peripheral vision.

In that dim, cold winter evening, scenes from memory became as old and unreal as a black-and-white film.

Qiao Yuansi remembered running back desperately, a mere two or three-minute journey that seemed to never end. And Jin Yan, who appeared suddenly before her eyes, still sat on the bench, her head bowed at some point, her long hair covering her profile.

Beside Jin Yan, the office worker, the two badge-wearing girls, the red-uniformed woman, and the blue-uniformed middle-aged man were standing in a circle, surrounding the girl on the bench. Hearing Qiao Yuansi's stumbling, sudden footsteps, they turned their heads one after the other.

Each one had a human face.

In her daze, Qiao Yuansi was oblivious to their stares, fixated solely on Jin Yan.

Jin Yan finally turned her head slowly.

Huge, blood-red scratches emerged from her eye corners, as if the traces of blood had torn the earth, winding and climbing across her face, tearing it apart. Her tears fell one by one, yet they could not wash away even a bit of the blood on her face.

Qiao Yuansi gasped, making a small sound in her throat. By the time she quickly covered her mouth with both hands, it was too late. As if hearing a signal, the group of company employees took steps towards her.

"There's another one after all," someone said.