Humanity's Final Countdown

Chapter 21 Chang'e

　　That night, Yuqing went to sleep early in the cave. Yaodan and the other three took positions - one at each end of the cave entrance, while the other two sat on either side of Yuqing. All four humanoid beauties entered their dormant state.

　　Too much had happened today, it was overwhelming his mind. He recalled again the silk painting Gu Yi had given him - what did it really mean? What did that big sphere represent? The Earth? Probably not. Maybe Gu Yi, having gone too long without seeing another of his kind, had gone mad.

　　Now he couldn't see another human either, yet surrounded by Yao Dan and her companions, he strangely didn't feel the anxiety of longing to meet someone. This was terrifying too - it meant they were slowly leading him down a gentle path to death.

　　However, he dismissed this thought. After all, he was on his way to the Second Paradise to find his own kind. Even if humanity went extinct, it wouldn't be his fault.

　　Once you get involved with humanoid beauties like Yao Dan and her kind, you can never leave again. You couldn't find a more suitable lover than them even among a million people. Moreover, Yu Qing had already blurred the distinction between them and humans.

　　His sleep was fitful, unlike Yaodan and the others who slept soundly through the night. In the dead of night, he was awakened again by the plaintive strains of a pipa.

　　His head rested on a mat facing the riverbank when he noticed the painted pleasure boats ablaze with lights. Several humanoid beauties moved about the decks - some gesturing toward the river as if composing poetry, others flirting and laughing among themselves.

　　In this empty, uninhabited city, the scene was profoundly eerie.

　　At the bow sat a humanoid beauty in ancient attire. Even from afar, her silhouette resembled that of a celestial maiden. It was she who plucked the pipa's strings.

　　The river breeze played with her long hair, as if dancing to the passionate music from her pipa. The melody was unfamiliar to him, yet divine - sometimes murmuring endless longing to the river, other times pleading with heaven to sever inescapable sorrow.

　　In a daze, he rose from the mat and, as if possessed, crawled out between the legs of Daji who was guarding the cave entrance, then climbed over the courtyard railing, walking toward the pleasure boat like a sleepwalker.

　　He felt he must have been drunk, his steps unsteady as he walked.

　　After boarding the pleasure boat, he went straight to the pipa player and sat down, involuntarily resting his head on her lap.

　　Looking up, he saw tears brimming in the pipa player's eyes, her flushed face glowing with a cold radiance under the moonlight. Her hands continued plucking the strings without pause, undisturbed by Yu Qing's sudden boldness.

　　Waves of coolness slowly rose from her lap to the back of Yu Qing's head, seeping through his neck into his entire body. After hesitating, he raised his hand to wipe the lingering tear stains from her face.

　　At this moment, she gradually stopped playing and sat perfectly still.

　　After a pause, she whispered, "You shouldn't have provoked me!"

　　Yu Qing mustered his courage and approached. He saw her as a girl who had been sitting here waiting for decades, rather than an android beauty.

　　She slowly put down the pipa and gazed at him with tender affection.

　　Yu Qing seemed to take this as encouragement and stood up.

　　He pulled the pipa girl into his arms, kissing her lips fervently, and muttered indistinctly, "I'll sign it…"

　　At this moment, he slipped into another episode of role confusion, feeling as if he were embracing one of his own kind.

　　As Yu Qing held the pipa girl in a daze of passion, he faintly sensed shadowy figures approaching from all sides.

　　Suddenly, he snapped back to reality, thinking—had he gotten himself into trouble again?

　　He regretted coming here alone in the dead of night.

　　To put it nicely, this city was called "Empty of People," but wasn't it just a ghost town? And what's a ghost town without ghosts!

　　However, the figures seemed to take no action. Playing ignorant, he buried his face in the pipa girl's hair.

　　But the previous enthusiasm was instantly ruined by these people.

　　However, the standoff didn't last long before Yu Qing conceded defeat.

　　He couldn't help but peek through the gaps of the pipa player's flowing hair, tracing the shadow upwards to find its source.

　　This glance proved startling - he nearly jumped in fright.

　　But he quickly composed himself and shouted, "What's with all of you pretending to be ghosts?!"

　　It turned out to be Yao Dan and the others, who had automatically awakened from hibernation after five minutes without sensing Yu Qing.

　　Seeing him so engrossed, they dared not disturb him and had quietly gathered around.

　　In their programming, there's no concept of fearing ghosts, so they naturally couldn't comprehend this human reaction.

　　Yao Dan answered irrelevantly, "My lord has signed another…"

　　Daji turned her face away without speaking, while Yan'er and Furong lowered their heads in silence.

　　Evidently, they had activated their self-protection mechanism, perceiving the pipa player as a threat.

　　Yu Qing smiled apologetically, "She can play the pipa - at least we'll have some entertainment during our journey…"

　　Upon hearing this, Yaodan snatched the pipa, played a short tune, then smashed it on the ground, saying, "Who can't do this? For us human-like Shus, it's a piece of cake!"

　　Daji also turned around and snapped, "You can entertain yourself however you like, but you shouldn't have sneaked away without us!"

　　Yan'er said, "Alright, since the treasure doesn't need us, we'll just leave."

　　With that, she walked straight toward the cave without looking back. Yaodan and the others followed behind, leaving as well.

　　Yu Qing felt they had embarrassed him in front of the pipa girl and said resentfully, "Go, go, all of you, just leave!"

　　The pipa girl nestled her head against his shoulder and whispered softly, "My lord, it's all my fault…"

　　Yu Qing said, "How can I blame you? Let's not bother with them. By the way, what would you like me to call you?"

　　"Whatever my lord wishes."

　　"Then I'll call you… Chang'e! Like the celestial maiden. Is that alright?"

　　"Yes, my lord, I'll be Chang'e. Since you've given me this name, you mustn't call me anything else from now on."

　　"Of course. Chang'e, have you always played here before?"

　　"No, just tonight."

　　"Then our meeting must be fate working its magic."

　　Chang'e picked up the pipa, examined it, then tossed it into the river, murmuring softly: "It's broken."

　　Yuqing then spent the whole evening strolling along the riverbank with Chang'e, holding her hand. He kept stealing glances at her, feeling that from head to toe, her demeanor and clothing perfectly matched his ideal in every way.

　　As they walked, Chang'e recited verses from "Spring River Flower Moon Night" to him, transporting him into a realm of tender emotions.

　　It was as if she had truly just descended from the Moon Palace, intending to take him to explore the infinite cosmos…

　　Only at dawn did sleepiness finally overtake him. He stood leaning against Chang'e and actually fell asleep like that.

　　When Yuqing awoke, the sun was already high in the sky.

　　Without moonlight's concealment, yesterday's joy had vanished, and the world had returned to its ordinary, unremarkable state.

　　Now when he looked again at the pipa girl who had enchanted him the night before, he suddenly realized she wasn't much different from Yaodan and the others. He couldn't help feeling slightly disappointed.

　　Chang'e, with her intelligence far surpassing humans, immediately noticed the subtle change in his mood and launched a gentle offensive. While wiping sweat from his forehead, she whispered comforting words in his ear.

　　"My lord, I think although they left in anger, they'll surely regret it. Let me accompany you to find them."

　　"Who wants to find them? I have Chang'e - that's enough for me! They can go wherever they please!"

　　Chang'e pouted and said reproachfully, "But I miss them."

　　"What? You miss them? You've even learned their deceitful ways!"

　　"I truly miss them. It's only fun and lively when we're all together."

　　Chang'e successfully took upon herself the responsibility of finding Yaodan and the others, both relieving Yuqing's embarrassment and demonstrating her understanding and benevolent nature to him.

　　Thus, Chang'e wandered around the vicinity on Yuqing's behalf, searching for his troublesome subordinates.

　　She then "reluctantly" accompanied him back to the Ancient One Villa to check if Yaodan and the others were there.

　　With human hearing being only three percent as acute as a humanoid Shu's, Chang'e had actually already detected movement in the villa's backyard where Yaodan's group was making boxes.

　　Pretending not to have heard anything, Chang'e instead led Yuqing to a cool cave far from the backyard - with perfect justification that other places were too hot.

　　She had Yuqing lie on a mat and gave him a full-body massage to relax his bones.

　　Her thorough knowledge of human meridians and pressure points worked like magic, melting his tensions away until even immortality seemed less desirable.

　　He even grabbed her hand and tucked it into his bosom, babbling, "Aiya, my mother!"

　　Chang'e gently slapped him and said, "Husband, don't talk nonsense—I'm not your mother, I'm your wife!"

　　"Yes, wife… Now I don't even want to go to that damn Changtian anymore. I'll just lie here and let my wife slap me every day!"

　　"Husband, why go to Changtian? Don't you know it's already sunk into the sea? Who told you to go there—are they trying to harm my husband?"

　　"What? Changtian is underwater?"

　　"Yes, Changtian sank nearly fifty years ago.

　　Think about it—the temperature here is already 60°C. How could any ice or snow on Earth not melt? So… was it *them* who told you to go to Changtian?"

　　"Well, yes and no. I was supposed to go to the Second Paradise—Daji planned the route for me. After Weng Mountain, we'd go to Changtian, then via Yaoxing to Malu, Fuping, Changlin…"

　　"Aiya, this is madness! What kind of route is that? It won't work!

　　This can't be blamed on her. Her database is too outdated, so she can only come up with such unreliable plans."

　　As she spoke, she flicked her wrist and projected a rotating holographic image of Earth to show Yuqing, pointing at one spot on the image: We're here now;

　　Then she pointed to another spot: Our destination, the Second Paradise, is here.

　　"Can you see if we're connected by land to the Second Paradise? I think we should go to the Fifth Paradise first instead. Though it's farther, at least it's land-connected."

　　Yuqing pondered: "That would be much farther… Wait, if there's no land connection, we could just fly there. Chang'e, your thinking is quite old-fashioned."

　　"My lord, only I can fly there. I'm afraid the others wouldn't make it."

　　"The old flight suits can only fly 160 kilometers without recharging. Think about it - they'd need to recharge before even reaching the shore.

　　Where would we find charging facilities for them out at sea?"

　　"So you mean you have new flight suits that could fly directly there?"

　　Chang'e lifted her outer garment, revealing her flight suit underneath, and said:

　　"New model, can fly 420 kilometers.

　　If I use my own electricity reserves, I can fly another 300 kilometers. But if I run out of power with nowhere to recharge, I'll be useless…"

　　"How many kilometers from Weng Mountain to Yaoxing?"

　　"380 kilometers."

　　Yu Qing pondered, then slapped his thigh and said: "Doesn't that mean we could fly there?

　　You give me your new flight suit to wear, then you put on my old one and use your own power reserves to extend the range by another 220 kilometers. Problem solved!"

　　"How clever you are, my lord! Shall we proceed then?"

　　"Wait. Yao Dan could also use her own power to fly another 220 kilometers…"

　　"Unlikely, no? What year was she made? Earlier model hominid beauties lack reverse power transfer functionality. Even models from sixty years ago can only extend range by about 120 kilometers…"

　　"So we'd have to leave them behind!"

　　"No helping it."

　　However, Yu Qing suddenly became alert - Chang'e was eager to drive Yao Dan and the others away so she could monopolize his attention.

　　But he showed no expression and said with a smile, "If it really can't be helped, let's at least bid them farewell when we meet. So they won't accuse us humans of being heartless and ungrateful."

　　Chang'e had already quietly leaned half her body against Yu Qing by now, whispering softly in his ear, "I'll follow whatever you say, my lord."

　　A few days earlier, this would have stirred Yu Qing's emotions, but his fascination with the humanoid beauties had faded. Instead, he felt a slight unease toward their deep emotional computations.

　　Yet Chang'e's delicate charm still blurred the line between them and real humans in his mind. He gently stroked her black hair, feeling deeply content.

　　"Do you know the last year when any news about humans arrived?" Yu Qing suddenly asked.

　　"After all the humans evacuated from Weng Mountain, there was no more news about them. It's been over forty years now.

　　We've had no contact with the outside world at all. Even in those last few years when there was news, it was sporadic—something about upgrading communication protocols, I think…"

　　Yu Qing suddenly pushed Chang'e away and sat up. "Could it be that humanity has already gone extinct?"

　　"You're still here, how can you say we're extinct?"

　　"If I were the only person left in the world, how could that still be called humanity! At best it would be humanity's orphan, not far from extinction."

　　"The information I have is that in 2C19, there were still 49 residents across six human ecological preserves."

　　Yu Qing excitedly grabbed Chang'e's hands and asked: "Are you certain?"

　　"Absolutely certain. At that time, society was debating what truly constituted a human being. Some believed only the residents in ecological preserves were real humans, meaning Earth only had 49 people."

　　"That's not entirely accurate. New humans wanting to enhance their capabilities by modifying a few gene sequences or replacing a couple of organs isn't such a big deal."

　　"My dear sir, you're gravely mistaken! Some have completely transformed themselves. There was a doctor who encountered a patient wanting treatment for eye problems, but the doctor was utterly baffled!"

　　"Probably just an incompetent doctor?"

　　"Not incompetent - the patient had eagle eyes!"

　　Yu Qing laughed: "From what my father knew back then, weren't there also dog-headed people?"

　　Chang'e said: "I forgot to tell you, in 2C10, Earth passed a law stating that only beings with at least 80% human facial features and possessing over 60% of human tissue genes from the original genetic database specimens could be defined as 'human' and recognized as part of the new humanity."

　　"How absurd. I'm curious, what happens if someone doesn't meet that 80% or 60% threshold?"

　　"The law states they are no longer considered human, deprived of human rights, and are all exiled to the wilderness."

　　"This information is crucial! Those with dog heads are no longer human, but those with two horns still qualify."

　　"Not entirely correct—the 60% requirement must also be met. Humans must undergo hospital instrument verification for identity confirmation and be registered in the global identity authentication system."

　　"I never imagined the standards for being human would be so low."

　　"Low? Back then, many protested, accusing the authorities of stripping them of genetic freedom, demanding the thresholds be lowered to 50% and 30% respectively."

　　"What happened afterward?"

　　"Later it became even more chaotic, as people took their humanoid companions to the streets to counter their protests, shouting slogans like 'Rather humanoids than pig-headed monsters'."

　　Yu Qing pulled Chang'e close and kissed her, saying: "I approve this slogan."

　　At that moment, sudden clamor rose from the sky outside.

　　(End of Chapter)