Little Mushroom

"No." Polly told him, "We can't make such an unreasonable request."

"The base has an emergency system. As long as they are prepared, they can survive."

"What if the device is damaged due to distortion during the short period the artificial magnetic poles are closed? Once the magnetic field protection is lost in winter, the environment will be worse than it was in summer. I can simulate a reverse force field with the independent magnetic poles within the range of the Simpson Cage. This will cancel the artificial magnetic field and create a non-magnetic space."

"I don't understand your expertise but the artificial magnetic field itself is very complicated. The frequency must be difficult."

"Perhaps it is much simpler than the previous work."

Tang Lan refuted, "Still, the quickest way is to have the base shut down the magnetic poles for a short time."

"We can't do that."

"I…" Tang Lan looked at Polly. "I know your research is correct. You have been exploring this disaster for decades. As long as you can see the fluctuation, you will definitely find a solution. You are always too kind."

"In addition, we're just making a request. They might not necessarily agree. The Northern Base only believes in human interests and we are different. Every year, they send people to try and wipe us out." Tang Lan whispered with his hand on the keyboard. "This is my personal initiative. All… all the consequences have nothing to do with you."

Polly just looked at him like he was a wayward child.

The slightly pale fingertips rested on the keyboard.

One second, two seconds. The suspended fingertips sat silently over the keys. Three seconds, four seconds. Suddenly, a trembling voice was heard.

"I'm sorry." The trembling fingers fell, leaving behind only a string of garbled text in the input field. It was like Tang Lan was facing a terrible thing as he even took two steps back, eyes slightly red. "I can't do it."

Polly shook his head like this result was expected. "Silly boy."

Tang Lan's eyes were bloodshot.

An Zhe saw all of this by the fireplace. The choices faced by humans were often difficult and the pain in the heart sometimes exceeded the pain of the body. Polly was right to say that kindness was the most significant weakness of humans. Under the weight of the cruel world, Tang Lan would be miserable and Polly would be 100 times more miserable. Thus, An Zhe watched Polly for a long time, waiting for this person to make a choice from the pain in his heart. This was the impermanence of fate. Polly would still face the dilemma of a judge after 100 years.

In this silent standoff, the aurora flashed again. Rum reflexively looked at the big screen and An Zhe was the same. The ghostly image once again appeared on the screen. This time, it took more than three seconds to disappear. The strange scatter plot was burned onto An Zhe's retinas.

At the same time, Tang Lan reached up and held his temple. "I heard it again."

What did this mean? Even An Zhe knew this meant that the unknown fluctuation from the universe had suddenly strengthened. It turned out that it wasn't gradual as humans had predicted. It could climb in leaps and bounds.

After five seconds of silence, the aurora flashed again. It was like the heart of a huge thing suddenly shrank and the entire world was plunged into complete darkness. On the screen in the laboratory, the dense light spots shook.

"It's coming." Tang Lan closed his eyes and buried his face in his palms, voice hoarse. "It's coming, I hear it. Soon, it will exceed the strength of the magnetic field. Sir, you don't have to worry now. The distortion has come and it can't be stopped."

"We… we…" He lowered his head. "We… for what?"

He laughed dumbly. It was that type of laughter—that type of despair. An Zhe thought there was probably blood in his throat.

Just now, their humanity had tortured them about whether to ask the base to close the magnetic poles or now. They had been hating this cruel world and the cruel fate they had to fight against. They were also suffering in their hearts. They thought they had a choice but the next moment, they knew how ridiculous all the struggle and hatred was. This was the most meaningless resistance of all—of course, the meaning of all humans was meaningless.

This world didn't care about anything. It wasn't ruthless and cruel, it just didn't care. It didn't care about their happiness and it naturally didn't care about their pain.

It seemed to be a natural change, just slowly moving forward. It naturally didn't intend to let humans know the real reason. This wasn't necessary. It was only the humans who were truly obsessed.

Humanity would be destroyed, life would die and Earth would collapse. Still, it didn't care.

An Zhe stared blankly at the sky outside.

After the intermittent flashes, the aurora above them started to tremble madly. The green light scattered into dazzling meteors at a horrible speed. A large meteor shower burned and then disappeared, the remnants darting through the dark night sky.

In the laboratory, the machine gave a long beep. An Zhe suddenly looked up and saw a snowflake on the big screen.

Polly's right hand clung tightly to the armrest of the seat and his hoarse voice showed his age. "Open the independent magnetic poles—"

He spoke at the same time there was a creepy howl, each voice difficult to describe using human language. They pierced the tympanic membrane. Outside the window, under the mountain, in the Abyss—the monsters were calling out beyond common sense.

A huge flapping sound came from the dense forest, as if thousands of birds were rising into the air. They had been lurking in the Abyss for a long time, testing each other and deadlocked with each other. Once the magnetic field was finally going to collapse, these terrible monsters started to move in unison.

Why? He didn't know.

The first black shadow flew over the Highland Research Institute.

Polly came to the Simpson's Cage operating desk.

Tang Lan asked in a low voice, "Sir, is it too late?"

Polly stated, "It's too late."

"Do you want to continue?"

There was a brief silence. Polly suddenly said, "Human vision is like the moon in the water. It seems to be in reach but the moment we touch the water, it is broken."

"We thought the broken moon was also meaningful so we reached out to fish it up, only to find our palm full of water. Even more absurdly, the water flowed out of the palm of the gaps in our fingers."

He looked at the numerous light spots like it was a distant still. "Still, if you give me a second chance and let me stand by the water, would I still want to fish it out?"

Polly Joan's eyes were red and trembling, his voice choked up as he closed his eyes and finally said, "I would."

Tang Lan took out a black walkie-talkie from his pocket. He stared at everything in front of him, drooping eyes dim as he declared, "Prepare to defend."