Chapter 345: Fragments of a Broken Past

Lu Xin sat quietly on the high stool, his hand gripping Chen Xun’s arm.

Suddenly, the candle on the bar counter began to flicker. Not just the candle, the golden liquid in the four wine glasses on the counter also trembled gently. Behind the bar, the bottles on the shelf—some broken, some empty—clinked together with a crisp sound.

Chen Xun’s words triggered a flood of memories rushing into Lu Xin’s mind.

More and more things started becoming clearer.

He suddenly remembered what the orphanage looked like when he was a child.

It was a three-story building, quite spacious, surrounded by high walls topped with barbed wire.

He remembered dozens of children living in the orphanage, reading, playing, listening to adults talk about the Civilization Era. He also recalled the chaotic noise that often seemed to drift over the wall—shouting, gunshots, crying, and the roar of explosions.

But the orphanage itself was always safe; that chaos never breached its walls.

He remembered the Old Director, always kind, gentle, and approachable.

He also remembered that besides the Old Director, there were often ‘teachers’ who came to give lessons.

Some were young, some old, and some always gave off a cold feeling.

He even remembered playing, fighting, and snooping through the Old Director’s hidden computer folders with the other children.

He remembered them banding together to get back at bullies for Little Nineteen and fighting over the swings.

These scenes began to appear steadily in his mind, as if layers of fog were clearing away.

But suddenly, the fog turned blood-red.

All the bright, sunny images started to tinge red at the edges, like old photographs.

And this shocking blood-red color spread inward, consuming the entire picture.

Staining all the memories crimson.

He saw blood-soaked corridors and floors littered with twisted corpses.

He saw the terror in Little Nineteen’s eyes just before he died.

…

Buzz…

A strange, piercing sound seemed to ring through the air, making his head throb with pain.

Blood slowly trickled from Lu Xin’s nose, down past the corner of his mouth.

Chen Xun watched Lu Xin quietly. He carefully tried to pull his arm free—luckily, Lu Xin wasn’t gripping him tightly. Once free, Chen Xun flexed his arm slightly, then took a clean handkerchief from another pocket and offered it to Lu Xin.

Lu Xin took the handkerchief and wiped his nose, staring blankly at the stark red stain on the white cloth.

“Brother, don’t listen to him! He’s lying to you…”

His Sister clenched her small fists, shouting desperately at Lu Xin. Her expression was ferocious, yet… afraid.

His shadow, cast by the candlelight, stretched across the bar. Within the shadow, it felt like eyes were watching him.

“Heh, kill him already! Why haven’t you killed someone like him yet?”

“Isn’t killing him why you’ve waited so long?”

…

These voices surged into Lu Xin’s mind, making his eardrums buzz faintly and his mood grow agitated.

“Who… who exactly am I?”

But he remained outwardly calm, his expression becoming even more blank.

“You are a severely Polluted person.”

Chen Xun observed Lu Xin’s reaction, making no attempt to delay or hide anything.

He said softly, “When we found you, you were already severely polluted. To others, you seemed beyond hope of being healed. But, fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—we did heal you… or at least, we thought we had healed you back then.”

“And in the subsequent experiments, you showed immense potential.”

“We once believed you were the best choice…”

He paused, a wry smile touching his lips. “Until you destroyed everything!”

…

“You…”

Lu Xin started to speak, then stopped, his eardrums roaring.

His Sister clung to his arm, pleading, “Brother, just kill this person, okay?”

“Don’t you hate him? Shouldn’t you turn him into a toy?”

“Don’t you want to turn him into a toy while he’s still alive?”

Within the shadow, his Father’s blood-red eyes appeared, staring coldly at Lu Xin.

“What are you waiting for?”

“You’re just delaying. Why haven’t you killed him yet?”

…

Lu Xin looked down at his hands. Blue veins stood out starkly on his wrists, looking like serpents crawling beneath the skin.

It took immense effort to suppress the twitching, the feeling of losing control.

Then he looked up at Chen Xun, struggling to keep his voice steady. “Why… why did you do all this back then?”

…

Chen Xun let out a soft sigh, looking at the seemingly calm Lu Xin with confusion in his eyes.

His fingers unconsciously toyed with the wine glass, swirling the golden liquid slightly.

After a moment, he said softly, “You finally asked that question.”

“We tried to make you understand back then, but you were too young.”

Speaking gently, he looked up, meeting Lu Xin’s gaze frankly. “We were trying to understand and master these powers.”

“When the Red Moon appeared in the sky, we knew that some changes, unavoidable for humanity, had occurred.”

“We discovered a power that had always been with us, yet we hadn’t noticed it.”

“This power could easily destroy our civilization, our order—everything we prided ourselves on.”

“Back then, too many people simply surrendered to this power, willingly accepting everything.”

“Like rats encountering a cat, they even forgot how to resist…”

…

“But there were always those who refused to accept it, like us.”

He paused slightly, looking up at Lu Xin, a hint of pride in his voice:

“You could say we were like Prometheus, trying to steal fire!”

“No matter what we faced, we believed that one day, we could understand it and bring it completely under control…”

“Humans were born to control power, weren’t they?”

Chen Xun smiled as he spoke. “Civilization began the moment we learned to use tools.”

“The history of our civilization is a history of learning to control.”

“Ancient lightning, earthquakes, and storms were catastrophic disasters for humanity, but gradually we understood and learned to control them, leading to modern civilization. The appearance of the Red Moon is also a catastrophe, but we can definitely control it too.”

“Just like this darkness…”

He suddenly looked up, gesturing around the bar.

Most of the bar was swallowed by darkness, utterly still and silent.

“When faced with darkness, we don’t just wait for the sun to rise.”

Chen Xun looked into Lu Xin’s eyes and said softly, “We try to light a candle and illuminate it.”

…

Buzz… Buzz… Buzz…

Waves of impact crashed against Lu Xin’s mind like a tide.

He caught some of Chen Xun’s words but missed others. Even Chen Xun’s face before him seemed to shift, sometimes close, sometimes distant, like a drawing being crumpled and smoothed out again and again. The real world felt absurdly unreal.

His Sister clung tightly to his arm now, her face streaked with tears.

His Father seemed to step out from the shadow, his tall figure pacing anxiously around Lu Xin.

“Kill them all! Kill every single one…”

“He’s a madman! They’re all madmen…”

“He treats everyone like toys, so let’s treat him like a toy too!”

“Make him regret it so deeply he’ll never forget this pain…”

“Make him understand the price for doing something like this…”

…

“Could you both just be quiet for a moment?”

Lu Xin couldn’t take it anymore. He slowly turned his head towards his Father and Sister beside him.

Both his Father and Sister stopped, just watching him with gloomy faces.

Lu Xin clenched his fist in frustration, pressing it against his temple before striking it hard once.

He seemed to be trying to silence the chaos in his mind.

Then he looked up, his eyes shot with blood, staring intently at Chen Xun.

“So you can just…”

He forced his voice to remain steady. “…just cut… cut people open whenever you feel like it?”

…

Several candles on the bar suddenly sputtered out.

Chen Xun had fallen silent, closing his mouth the moment he saw Lu Xin speaking to someone beside him.

He simply watched Lu Xin calmly, noting his slightly unfocused gaze and the blood threads slowly appearing in the whites of his eyes. From the way Lu Xin pressed his fist to his temple, Chen Xun could sense the intense irritation Lu Xin felt inside.

After a long silence, he gently adjusted his glasses, then slowly relit the extinguished candles.

“Are you trying to lecture me about how even the pursuit of truth, or the noblest goals, must have moral boundaries?”

He spoke softly, looking directly into Lu Xin’s eyes without a trace of fear. “I’m sorry!”

“But I have no intention of discussing such a childish question with you.”

…

Lu Xin snapped his head up, his strange gaze fixed on Chen Xun’s face.

“Kill him! Kill someone like this…”

“Mince him into paste…”

“Absolutely, absolutely cannot allow him to do this to anyone else…”

His Sister and Father lunged towards Chen Xun, as if desperate to tear him to pieces on the spot.

But their hands always remained some distance away from Chen Xun.

Just then, Lu Xin could faintly hear gunshots, the thud of heavy objects hitting something, and cries of pain coming from the other side of the building.

This made him realize that Chen Jing and the others had likely begun their attempt to enter the lab elsewhere and had encountered powerful enemies.

At the same time, he also realized this relative of his was now rushing to accomplish something else.

Lu Xin’s fingers spasmed, trembling uncontrollably.