MCL CH1

Chapter 1: “I seem to… have already died…”

Wee-woo wee-woo wee-woo—!

Piercing sirens cut through the continuously retreating crowd. The team moving against the flow formed a sharp contrast with the retreating traffic. Amidst the chaos, the sharp screech of brakes sounded one after another, but mostly, it was the screams and shouts from the chaotic crowd.

A frontline reporter clutched a microphone, struggling to report in the midst of the chaos: “Hello everyone, this is a live broadcast from the front line. A fissure has appeared in Long’an Park. According to incomplete statistics, this is the third time a fissure has appeared in our city this month. Currently, nearby residents have been effectively evacuated at the earliest opportunity. According to the latest news, the contamination zone inside this fissure is D-class, and for now, there are no signs of contamination spreading. We will continue to follow up on the situation. Please stay tuned!”

As her voice fell, the camera panned, attempting to capture the specific scene behind them. Just as a fully armed team appeared in the frame, a hand reached out and decisively cut off all filming.

“Apologies, before the fissure is cleared, the risk zone could expand at any time. For your own safety, I do not recommend continuing to film near the danger zone.”

The man walking at the forefront of the armed team was tall. A faint cross-shaped scar on his left cheek, its origin unclear, gave his already handsome face an imposing air of authority without being angry. He was the person in charge of this contamination zone cleanup operation, Qi Xian.

He casually tossed the now-off camera back to the cameraman, waved his hand to signal for the others to escort the reporter away without a second glance, and strode forward. “What’s the situation?”

“Reporting to the captain, it has been confirmed that a D-class contamination zone has appeared inside this fissure. Old Li and his team have already gone in. It should be dealt with shortly.”

A team member following behind gave a concise reply. “Overall, this fissure was discovered in a timely manner. There are no casualties for the time being. All surrounding civilians have been arranged for evacuation, and those who came into contact with the risk zone have also been transferred to the quarantine area for further observation.”

Compared to the armed team around him dressed in protective suits and wearing isolation masks, Qi Xian, in his casual clothes, was particularly eye-catching. Hearing the report, he ran a hand through his short hair and asked, “Any signs of lesions?”

The team member, of course, knew what Qi Xian was asking. He shook his head. “Although the fissure appeared in Long’an Park, the area was sealed off for the preparation of a large-scale matchmaking event. Besides the relevant staff, there weren’t many ordinary people. We’ve just confirmed with the people in the quarantine zone; there are no signs of lesions for now.”

Qi Xian let out a slight sigh of relief upon hearing this, then suddenly remembered something. “I remember you mentioned earlier that a comatose person was found outside the fissure’s opening. Ask if he’s woken up yet.”

The team member immediately took out his phone to make a call and replied to Qi Xian, “He’s awake. He’s in an isolated observation room in the quarantine zone now.”

Qi Xian nodded. “Let’s go take a look.”

Meanwhile, in the quarantine zone.

The person in charge of the Infection Department, dressed in a white lab coat, hung up the phone. “Captain Qi is coming. I’ll go meet him.”

He then turned and walked out of the observation room, leaving several technicians holding record files, watching the figure on the other side of the floor-to-ceiling window with concern.

“Captain Qi is coming just to see him, right?”

“This person was found right outside the fissure opening. That’s a high-risk area for lesion development. It’s normal to be concerned.”

“I heard he wasn’t part of the staff for the matchmaking event. No idea why he decided to wander over there on a whim. To run into a fissure appearing just like that, what bad luck.”

“Lesions don’t have a 100% occurrence rate. It’s been half an hour since he woke up, right? Seeing that he can eat and drink, it probably isn’t a big problem?”

“Hard to say. He was found right at the fissure’s opening. We’ll have to see the observation results after 48 hours.”

“Indeed. I already think he’s lucky to still be in human form.”

In the separate isolation room, just a wall away, the person the technicians were focused on, Lin Xi, was unhurriedly swallowing his last mouthful of food.

His leisurely and natural posture showed no signs of someone who had just escaped death. After he finished the last remaining strand of shredded potato, he placed the bowl and chopsticks in his hand neatly back on the tray and looked at the technician before him, who was completely wrapped in a protective suit. He smiled politely, “Thank you for the hospitality. May I have another bottle of water?”

The incandescent light from above cast a morbidly pale glow on Lin Xi’s face.

Beneath his striking red, choppy hair was a pair of heterochromatic eyes—one was the deep blue of the sea, the other a brilliant gold. This made his smile resemble that of a harmless Persian cat: gentle, lazy, and easily making people lower their guard and want to get closer.

“Yes… I’m sorry, I forgot how to address you?”

“Lin Ni. The ‘Lin’ from ‘double wood,’ the ‘Ni’ from ‘sailing against the current.'” Lin Xi made up a fake name without batting an eye, his smiling expression unwavering, becoming even more pleasant. “Of course, if it’s not too much trouble, it would be even better if you have Coke.”

Inside the protective suit, the technician’s completely covered face twitched slightly. “Alright… Mr. Lin, I’ll get it for you right away.”

Lin Xi’s smile remained. “Thank you.”

Looking at such a face, the technician found it hard to imagine that this gentlemanly person had just consumed a meal meant for three people.

He picked up the empty bowl and chopsticks from the tray, nodded at Lin Xi, and turned to leave.

Smiling as he watched the isolation room door close again, Lin Xi slowly lowered his eyes, finally having the time to focus his attention on his own hands.

He had used these hands to eat just now. An operation that should have been very familiar felt inexplicably unnatural to him.

In fact, it wasn’t just his hands. Strictly speaking, the body he currently possessed felt foreign to him from head to toe.

Observing it now was more like examining something novel and intriguing.

After a long while, Lin Xi finally looked up and observed his surroundings.

He was all too familiar with this kind of quarantine zone used for monitoring lesions.

He could tell that the jurisdiction he was currently in was relatively well-supplied; the testing equipment alone was already an advanced model, ahead of what was used in earlier years. It was just that Lin Xi’s previous role had always been to observe the situation inside the isolation room. This time, waking up inside one was a different experience.

The separate isolation room was clean. Besides the equipment and bed, the surrounding walls were also spotless.

But Lin Xi knew that what was in front of him was likely a one-way mirror. On the other side, which he couldn’t see, there were bound to be many people observing his condition. The moment there was any sign of a lesion, they would take action immediately.

Lin Xi lowered his hands, his expression calm as he pulled the blanket over, lay down on the bed with his back to the wall.

This scene was captured by the technicians’ eyes.

The person was still unconscious when brought to the quarantine zone. It was normal for him to be drowsy, having just woken up and not yet fully processed the situation. In contrast, the fact that there were still no signs of lesions was what was somewhat surprising. Even if it was only D-class, the area near the fissure opening was already a zone of extremely high contamination. Apart from those with special abilities who wouldn’t be affected, an ordinary person without any protective gear was essentially directly exposed to intense nuclear radiation. The probability of remaining completely unaffected was almost less than 0.00001%.

If he was really fine after 48 hours of observation, he could probably get rich just by buying a lottery ticket!

The figure in the isolation room gradually grew still. Seeing that the person inside had fallen into a deep sleep, two technicians were left to continue observing while the others went to attend to other matters.

No one noticed that the person with his back to them had silently opened his eyes again.

What entered Lin Xi’s vision was a clean white wall. In stark contrast to his previous gentle and kind demeanor, the depths of his mismatched eyes now held only a deep and bottomless indifference, as if the gentleness and kindness he had shown the technician were a facade that had never existed.

The white wall became the backdrop in Lin Xi’s eyes. In the empty observation room, he asked as if muttering to himself, “You’re there, right?”

The empty surroundings offered no response.

Completely unfazed, a slight smile played on Lin Xi’s lips, and his emotionless tone stretched out a bit longer. “I know you’re there.”

The voice that only he could hear quickly dissipated into the silence again.

He was alone in the isolation room. There was still no one to reply to him.

A hint of impatience appeared in Lin Xi’s eyes, and the surrounding airflow seemed to momentarily stagnate. “Are you sure—you want me to ‘invite’ you out?”

There was a few seconds of silence.

This time, a voice finally emerged from his mind: [Aiya, a threat? You’re actually threatening me! Is this how you treat your savior?]

As if he had heard the funniest joke in the world, Lin Xi let out a playful sneer. “Savior?”

The voice in his mind, however, grew cheerful: [That’s right, that’s right! Your savior! See this body you have now? It was me! I was the one who, with great difficulty, painstakingly recreated it! If it weren’t for me, you would already be dead! Al-rea-dy dead!]

What the hell is this shit!

Lin Xi was speechless, retorting, “If you don’t know how to use an idiom, you can choose not to.”

However, what the voice said also sent him into a brief contemplation.

Vaguely, many fragments of memory finally began to coalesce in his mind, ultimately leaving him with a sigh of sudden realization. “Oh… I remember now. I seem to… have already died.”