Chapter 351: Chapter 247: The Final Farewell

"Can you understand all the content in these books?"

"Hmm, I can..."

"Did you find answers to those problems I gave you yesterday?"

"Yes, I did. I used a lot of paper. Uncle, take a look."

"...Oh my God, she’s already learned cohomology operations! She’s a genius!"

"Team Leader Luo, if this child receives a normal education, she will definitely achieve unexpected accomplishments when she grows up. Are we really going to continue using her for the ’Mind Project’?"

"Gentlemen, ladies, please remember this firmly: the power of one person is meaningless. Humanity needs not just one genius, but countless geniuses. That is the purpose of the ’Mind Project’."

"Understood."

"The experiment has reached a critical stage. We must break through to the second phase... at any cost!"

...

Two years ago, for unknown reasons, Xiaoqi proposed not to room with Zero anymore and moved back to her original dormitory.

Every time Zero asked Xiaoqi, she avoided the question and did not tell her why.

There was another strange thing.

Zero discovered that Xiaoqi’s health had been deteriorating over the past few years.

At first, she was yawning more frequently and seemed a bit lethargic.

Later, she developed dark circles and bloodshot eyes, and her hair lost its usual luster.

Further on, she frequently caught colds and fevers, was lethargic in the recreation area, and even fainted while walking once.

The doctors couldn’t find the cause after several examinations, and since the children here were considered "expendable," without any guarantees, the supervisors didn’t bother with her.

And as time passed, the day of separation inevitably arrived.

Today is December 6th, also Xiaoqi’s birthday.

After today, Xiaoqi will turn 18.

According to the regulations, once a child turns 18, they are sent out from here to start a new life.

It must be said, Xiaoqi is lucky.

Because very few children here grow up to be 18. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The kids that Zero knew back in the day, including the little boy she once fought fiercely with then became friends with, many unfortunately perished in subsequent experiments.

Today’s experiment began as usual. During the preparation stage, Zero met Xiaoqi in the waiting area.

Zero gently asked, "Xiaoqi, are you leaving today?"

Xiaoqi nodded, "Yes, today is my birthday. I’m officially 18 and will be under the control of the ’Social Training Bureau’."

Zero pressed her lips tightly, unable to speak, with tears swirling in her eyes.

Xiaoqi lovingly hugged Zero, stroking her head, saying, "Oh, don’t cry. Such beautiful eyes shouldn’t be used for crying."

Zero buried her head in Xiaoqi’s embrace, sobbing, "After you leave, I’ll be all alone..."

Xiaoqi fell silent, her gaze growing increasingly profound, unreadable.

She glanced sideways at her surroundings.

The researchers in white coats were busily preparing, ignoring all the children, creating space for their private conversation.

"Zero," Xiaoqi hugged Zero tighter, speaking in a voice so low only they could hear, "Listen to me, make sure to listen carefully..."

From Xiaoqi’s subsequent account, Zero learned a startling secret.

Two years ago, due to her exceptional performance, Xiaoqi received more privileges than other children, not only being able to read books but also having more recreation time.

Because of her cleverness, she was quite appreciated by the managers and occasionally allowed into the administrative area to act as an office assistant.

Once, she found the construction layout of this place in an office in the administrative area and discovered that her bedroom wall was next to an underground tunnel.

The underground tunnel was large and could barely let a girl like her crawl through. The material was not hard metal but easily chiseled PVC.

Thus, she conceived an extremely bold plan.

She applied to move back to her original bedroom to live alone and then got up at midnight each night to remove the washbasin and dig through the wall with a spoon stolen from the cafeteria.

She dug until two hours before the wake-up call, then replaced the washbasin to cover it up, hurriedly slept, and upon waking, stuffed the excavated rubble into her shoes to secretly scatter in the recreation area.

Xiaoqi dug in secret for a year and a half, until mid-year when she connected her bedroom to the underground tunnel, then spent half a year digging from the tunnel to the surface, finally breaking through the connection between her bedroom and the outside world yesterday.

She could have fled yesterday, like a bird escaping from its cage, flying to the outside world.

But when she was just a step away from freedom, she didn’t forget her original intention for doing this.

As always, she put the washbasin back in place, suppressing her longing for freedom all night, just to tell Zero about this escape route.

After hearing Xiaoqi’s story, Zero could only feel an overwhelming sense of confusion wrapping around her heart and lungs, almost suffocating her.

At that moment, Zero finally understood why Xiaoqi’s health had been deteriorating over the past two years, because she barely got any rest at night.

After the lights went out under the monitoring, she started digging through the walls, with only her hands and a small iron spoon stolen from the cafeteria as her tools.

In order to dig it through before she turned 18 and left, she had to dig until dawn every day, and could only manage to sleep two hours before the whistle sounded.

The long-term lack of sleep pushed her immune system to the brink of collapse, which is why she often fell ill.

And Xiaoqi did all of this not for herself, but for someone who grew up with her since childhood.

This escape route, dug at the cost of her health, was meant for her, so that she could escape after Xiaoqi left.

Zero stood there dazed, tears uncontrollably falling, her voice almost hoarse: "Xiaoqi, you..."

"Shh shh shh..." Xiaoqi forcefully embraced Zero and shielded her from the view of others with her body, saying in a deep voice, "Don’t cry, don’t speak, there’s no time, listen carefully to what I say."

"After I leave, find an excuse to say you miss me, and apply to move into my dormitory. You’ve been doing well with me these years, the monitors will surely agree."

"Once you get there, don’t hesitate, the very night all the monitors fall asleep, escape immediately through the tunnel I dug."

Xiaoqi’s voice became somewhat stifled as she spoke: "The intensity of experiments has been increasing these years, a lot of people have died.

"You have a long time before you turn 18, if you continue to stay here, you might not survive until the year you can leave..."

"So, Zero, run, don’t stay here anymore, run to the outside world, embrace true freedom."

Freedom...

Zero never imagined that these two words would ever come into her life.

Yet at this moment, what awaited her wasn’t joy or excitement, but unprecedented confusion.

She’d been confined here since childhood, never having seen the outside world.

Even if she escaped to freedom, where would she go?

In that unfamiliar world outside, is there really a place for her?

Zero hugged Xiaoqi tightly, asking in a bewildered tone, "Where can I go after escaping..."

"Anywhere you want, you can go anywhere!" Xiaoqi pressed her cheek to Zero’s forehead, whispering dreamily, "Little monster, you can’t imagine what I saw yesterday."

"I saw the whole world draped in a veil of white as the snow fell, I stepped on the snow, everything around was shrouded in snowflakes, like a dreamlike world."

"After I leave the facility today, I’ll find a chance to escape the Social Training Bureau, move to a city far away from here, and start a new life."

"If you can’t find a place after escaping, hide somewhere quietly, just like we used to play hide and seek."

"I will come to find you. No matter where you hide, no matter how long it takes, I will find you!"

At that moment, a certain indescribable stirring filled Zero, as if the two little souls that grew up together merged into one, floating as wind and rain in the vast world.

The childhood friend before her seemed to become Zero’s entire world, all the confusion and insecurity about the future melted away in her warm embrace.

At that time, the researchers came and told the children in the waiting area: "Today’s experiment is starting, come in first, Zero."

At that moment, Xiaoqi’s hold on Zero tightened involuntarily, and she bit down on her lip.

She knew this was the last time she and Zero would see each other here.

Despite telling herself countless times before, that the more critical the moment, the more rational she needed to be.

But when the time came to part, her heart felt torn apart, and she didn’t want to let go of Zero for a long time.

"Zero, hurry up." The researchers’ impatient voice came.

Xiaoqi trembled, forcing herself to let go of Zero: "Go."

Zero staggered backward, her voice so low it was like a whimper: "Will I see you again...right?"

For the first time in her life, Xiaoqi shed tears in front of Zero, gently saying: "Yes...we will definitely meet again, in a sunlit world."

Watching Zero stand dazed at the lab door, a surge of unspeakable sorrow welled up in Xiaoqi’s heart, the unwillingness to part like a tide surged in, almost making her unable to resist going back to pull Zero close.

Until the researcher’s large hand grabbed Zero’s arm, dragging her into the lab, this childhood friend, who grew up with her, vanished from Xiaoqi’s sight.

...

That year, she was 12, and she was 18.