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Fourteenth leaf
Yuu-chan 2025.04.29. 23:52
A week later.
Dr Ji’s home was in a different section of the Main City. Lu Feng and the Arbiter lived in the military residential zone, while scientists usually on the other side of the city. But now it wasn’t a problem to go to him even at twilight, having his personal car, and not relying on trains anymore.
Nowadays, it was quite uncommon for researchers to go home because of the new issues the Northern Base faced; thus, his appearance at the doctor’s flat wasn’t entirely welcomed with open heart: Dr Ji’s face was tired and when he opened the door, he froze on the doorway immediately.
“Lu Feng, I… dude, I literally only came home for a fucking clean underwear… how did you even know I’m here?!”
“I asked your assistant, he said you just left.” Lu Feng explained very straightforwardly, and kindly forced the blond man to let him in, which meant he squeezed himself into the small gap between the door and the wall.
Dr Ji’s apartment looked somewhat different than his or the Arbiter’s, but the basics were the same. It was evident, that researchers would take their work home: right as he stepped in, he saw a small portion of a secluded area in the living room, with glass doors and indoor windows looking towards the sofa’s backrest and the TV on the wall across from it. Inside that glass cube, sharp white lights lit up a small laboratory, with fridges and cabinets and a metal table in the centre.
There were quite a few personal items all around the house, and Lu Feng spent some time to look around, not feeling embarrassed to act as he pleased as a guest anymore. Maybe for it was Dr Ji he visited now, not the Arbiter.
Not as if this one displayed pleasure or kindness towards him for invading his home.
“What the heck do you want from me right in this moment that couldn’t wait until I went back, or required personal contact?” Dr Ji didn’t even spare a look at him, he marched straight into his bedroom; his blanket was in a pile, almost falling to the floor, his pillows flattened, and his sheet wrinkled as if he was in a hurry in the morning, and couldn’t tidy up his bed. When Lu Feng stepped in, inspecting the place, Dr Ji quickly and carelessly threw his quilt on the cushions.
“I need your help.” Lu Feng stayed true to himself, and didn’t bother with pleasantries.
“What a surprise.” Dr Ji murmured, and was about to toss some clean underclothes on the bed.
“I’m not good with computers.”
“I know that.” The doctor interrupted with a sarcastic note, still not looking at him. “You’ve never been good with any electronics, honestly.”
“I want to find a few things in the database.”
“And I’m the only one who can help?” Dr Ji straightened up. “I know you lost your adjutant, but maybe it’s time to form a new squad for yourself.”
Lu Feng was aware that many people volunteered to be his new right-hand man, but because of his reassignment case, he didn’t see any purpose in taking subordinates. Well, let alone that he wasn’t going to stay here forever. But this was too much to explain.
“I’m asking you as a friend. For personal purposes.”
Dr Ji paused in mid-movements with a shirt in his hands, and looked at him in disbelief.
“Now that we’re finally getting closer to each other, you’re just abusing our newly built bond, bothering me with every fucking single tiny issue you have. Great.”
Despite his harsh words and reluctance, his azure eyes didn’t go dark or cold, and his expressions eased up. Lu Feng knew the doctor liked his reasoning, he just wasn’t being honest with his friend… or with himself even.
Once he was done with selecting his outfits, he packed the clothes into a bag.
“Okay, I’ll help you. But next time at least ask me if I have time.” He was still sulking a little, as he went out, and led Lu Feng into his lab where he kept his personal computer. Lu Feng didn’t have a computer at home, and he didn’t see one in the Arbiter’s apartment either. He didn’t know if this was just a Dr Ji-thing, or if all researchers had to have one at home.
Dr Ji brought an extra barstool for him, put it beside his rolling chair, and turned the computer on. In just a few minutes, there was a familiar interface on the screen, a blue page with two white boxes to log in. After typing the password in, the database opened instantly, this time from Dr Ji’s account.
“Okay, what do you need?” He asked.
“Three things.” Lu Feng said avidly looking at the screen. “First, I want you to find a picture of the Arbiter from his childhood.”
Dr Ji remained motionless, drawing Lu Feng’s eyes at him, and judging by his expression, his brain froze; according to his widened eyes, he was thinking about all the wrong reasons why Lu Feng would ask such a thing. The rose sighed.
“I just want to see him as a kid, that’s all. Don’t misunderstand.”
“You’re a creep. God, now I’m helping you to stalk him…” The doctor complained murmuring, but he began searching. “They probably have one in the Garden of Eden’s database. I will try to log in.”
Dr Ji wasn’t a soldier, but one of the leading doctors of the Lighthouse, so he had access to many facilities that was related to his job, or if he previously had already been working on one of the researches of those places. In this current, complicated situation, it wasn’t a big deal for any researches to log into the Garden of Eden’s database.
“The Arbiter’s information is top-secret stuff.” He said while clicking on multiple links and folders. “I could go to jail if they find out… He was born in 2142, right? Mn, it should be in this folder… well, there were ten thousand other kids on the list… Wait, maybe I can sort them by name… Ahh, look!”
They both leaned closer to the screen. It seemed like Dr Ji was curious too. He clicked on a datasheet, and soon enough, a small kid’s picture appeared on the pop-up window, looking at them innocently.
Lu Feng’s heart fluttered. The bud-An Zhe looked almost identical to his adult version, but with chubby cheeks. His eyes were bright and warm, and a small smile graced his face. He was very cute.
“Can you download it?”
“Lieutenant, have patience, let us enjoy it for a moment…” Dr Ji scolded him, and he looked just as satisfied as Lu Feng. “I can only download the whole datasheet. I will send it to your device.” He did what he promised, and Lu Feng heard the small ringing of his communicator. Maybe he could print it out tomorrow. “I must save it too…” The doctor added. “Such a treasure.”
“But I’m a creep.” Lu Feng interjected as he watched his friend save the file on his own device.
“Shut it. So, what are the two other things?”
Lu Feng took out his communicator, and showed it to Dr Ji. The blond man leaned closer to the smaller screen.
“Oh, it’s Seraing’s number… Good, you figured out you can contact An Zhe through him. Wait, aren’t these titles An Zhe’s poems and stories?”
“Hm.” Lu Feng nodded.
Once he was free from accusations, the military couldn’t hold him in the Twin Towers or throw him into prison, so he went home. He wasn’t as careful as Dr Ji suspected; he actually called and texted the Arbiter many times, but with no luck. So, in his last hope, he contacted Adjutant Seraing instead, and fortunately, the man answered him.
They didn’t talk for long, but somehow it just came up that An Zhe had all his works somewhere in the database, and the adjutant urged him to read them. He later sent this text message with the titles, so Lu Feng could easily find them… if he was better with computers at last. He understood the database, but didn’t know how to search for specific content.
Dr Ji’s dramatic sigh lasted for a couple of long seconds before he turned back to his screen.
“Are you really in love with him?”
Lu Feng also stared at the bright monitor, but for this question, he lowered his eyes a little. He didn’t really have an answer. He understood love in a way as Madam Lu showed him, but the relationship between her and the roses was slightly different than that between him and the Arbiter.
“Look, I’m not saying it’s bad or anything…” Dr Ji murmured, typing ferociously on the keyboard; he was so quick that it was hard to follow with the naked eye. “But you had to choose one of the most controversial people in the whole base… and in just a few weeks… Or did you stalk him already? You’ve never shown any interest towards him, ever… but I guess, I was wrong, of course, why would you not care, when… well, you know, because of Gao Tang, at least.”
The doctor repeatedly clicked a button that said “Download” again.
There was no right answer. Human Lu Feng’s feelings were so subtle towards anything, that it was really hard to tell if he was in love with the Arbiter. He was rather empty inside, and had so little interests, apart from fighting and war, that maybe he wasn’t even capable of feeling love. The rose couldn’t be certain if he worked that way.
“Well, anyway. I downloaded all of An Zhe’s stuff for you, you must be satisfied. I don’t dare to imagine what the third thing you want is. But please, think about the next few weeks in advance because I can’t be distracted from work too much. You have to say everything you need now, or wait for who knows how long before I can help you again.”
“Understood.” Lu Feng nodded. “It’s really the last thing. I want to find an assessment result.”
“Ah… An Zhe’s?” Dr Ji clicked his tongue.
“No.” Lu Feng only got a raised eyebrow for his answer.
“What a surprise. Okay then, whose?”
“…I’m not sure.”
Dr Ji let out a resigned “hmhmg”.
“You have to tell me at least one aspect you know about it, otherwise, even I can’t help you.”
“This might not be a public file.” Lu Feng warned him. “I want to find a test, in which a xenogenic produced a completely symptom-free and negative result.”
Dr Ji’s hand paused, and hovered over the keyboard, abruptly looking at him with creased eyebrows. The monitor’s light faintly reflected on his glasses and pale face in a blue hue.
“I don’t know about such results…” He said slowly. “Where did you get this idea from? We did have some xenogenic attacks in the past, but to have one with no physical signs of the infection… I think everyone would’ve heard about that.”
“But sometimes polymorphs could break in.” Lu Feng said calmly, and tried not to think about himself now.
“Um, yeah… But they didn’t have a perfect result. I’m talking about completely, 100% pure test results here… Sometimes you can have a few not-idealistic or increased values in your blood test or psychological examination, and still go through the gates and the Judges, because those values can be just the after-affect of being exposed in the wilderness for a longer time, and you would recover, once you go home. Obviously, these weren’t figures that would strike as infection… but later, in a few cases, it turned out they were wrong for letting people in with those figures. Well, only if they get through the Arbiter, of course. Even before An Zhe, the Arbiters were a firm obstacle at the gates, so we don’t have a ton of records of intrusion from a xenogenic, let alone a polymorph. If the case you’re talking about exists, I…”
The doctor suddenly paused, and his eyes went unfocused, the wrinkle between his light brows relaxed, and it seemed like something just hit his mind. But then, his eyes widened, and he shot an almost frightened look at Lu Feng before turning to the monitor.
“Impossible.”
Lu Feng knew he was lying.
“Have you heard about it?”
“No.”
“Have you?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. If that is all, I’m going back to the Lighthouse.”
But before he could stand up, Lu Feng put his hand on his small shoulder, and gently squeezed it. Dr Ji seemed even more frightened, looking at him as if he saw a ghost. Lu Feng was calm, and didn’t plan on hurting this person, obviously. He flashed a soft smile at him.
“You do know.” He said in a steady tone. “What else do you know about it? If you can tell me, you don’t have to try to find it.”
Dr Ji’s face twitched, and his eyes looked around as if he were searching for an escape route, but when he found Lu Feng’s eyes again, his body started to loosen up from its stiffness, and began slightly shaking under Lu Feng’s palm.
Defeated by his friend’s pleading gaze, Dr Ji relented. His expression reflected his inner suffering, as he struggled to convince himself not to give in. Ultimately, he turned away pressing his glasses firmly against the bridge of his nose.
“I don’t know a lot about it… I haven’t seen the test personally, I just heard of it.” His voice was low and just as shaky as himself, but he tried to suppress it, forcing himself to calm down. “It’s an older story… a few years old.”
Lu Feng had an impression of it. He let go of Dr Ji’s shoulder, and leaned closer to pay better attention.
The doctor struggled to speak, which was very unlikely of him.
“You know… I just… because there was not much evidence… Ah, I know, I should’ve investigated this, for two reasons, actually… But I promised myself not to dig my nose into top-secret military business. I treasure my life, you know. I’m not that courageous to die for a truth that won’t benefit my work anyway.”
“I understand.” The rose really did. Human Lu Feng was a different kind of person, but he didn’t have much to lose, unlike Dr Ji. And protecting one’s life was not wrong in any case. Everyone wanted to live.
It seemed the doctor didn’t hear him.
“It was a controversial case.” He continued without pausing. “To be honest, I don’t think we can say, that the person was a xenogenic… because none of his results showed otherwise. The only reason people would doubt those results is because one person claimed to be true. But then, who cares for that one person, right?”
Lu Feng hummed, and he already knew, his intuition was right.
“So, you don’t think my father was a xenogenic?”
Dr Ji trembled as if Lu Feng shook him. His face paled even more. His voice became very low, almost whispering.
“In the eyes of the base, there is no actual proof that can support An Zhe’s judgement. I don’t think the military would take it seriously…” But then, his voice completely halted, and he lowered his head, swallowing hardly.
Lu Feng stared at him for a little while, giving him time before he spoke again.
“Were there any signs that he might not have been a human… before his death?”
Dr Ji ramped up his courage to glance at him, but his body froze again, and he hid his hands in his lap. Lu Feng continued.
“I’m asking about way before… years and years before… when we were kids.” Dr Ji’s mouth twitched again, so Lu Feng hit the iron while it was hot. “You were the one shouting my name?”
The azure eyes couldn’t bear to look at him for long.
“I kinda hoped you would never remember…” This time, he truly whispered. “I feel sick.”
Lu Feng wasn’t a heartless rose. He didn’t want his friend to feel sick, so he stood up, found a glass and poured some hot water from the tap. He put it in front of Dr Ji before sitting down again, only realising now, how uncomfortable the barstool was. His better side ached slightly.
Dr Ji thanked the water, and drank it with big gulps, but he gagged on the last sip.
“I still don’t know much.” Lu Feng added. “Whenever I try to force myself to remember, my head starts hurting.”
“Ah. Well… I don’t know what exactly they have done to you.” Dr Ji put both hands on the glass, and played with it. “I guess, they drugged you to forget it… But I wasn’t sure if you really did forget. You changed after that… you started avoiding me…” He choked on his words. “I thought, it’s because I… I didn’t stand up for you…”
“What happened?”
Dr Ji took a deep breath and, regaining a piece of his calm, started telling Lu Feng a story about two young boys who snuck up to the Garden of Eden’s top floor.
In this story, bud-Lu Feng was an enthusiastic but a bit socially awkward kid. He was courageous and deeply emotional, but didn’t express himself too well, so he only had one friend, bud-Dr Ji. They were the same age, and were classmates and friends. Lu Feng was always honest with him, so the small future-doctor knew about his mother, Madam Lu. And they both heard a rumour that said, Lu Feng had a real father as well. Someone, who was a partner to Madam Lu, but they had been separated by the leaders of the base.
From that point, Lu Feng was eager to find his dad. He asked his mother, but Madam Lu just smiled at him, and always found an excuse to send him away. She did not deny the fact, that there was such a person; instead, she told him that it doesn’t matter anymore, and that he has to concentrate on his study and be a strong leader. Later, she did promise that they can meet in the future, and when the monsters were gone, they will live as a family. She even included Jibran in that family.
But Lu Feng couldn’t accept this. He was a good student, and his grades were not dropping. He only didn’t have a talent for computers, so eventually, his best friend offered to help him find out the name of his father. The future-doctor insisted that every person was registered in the Northern Base’s database, even if they were from the Outer City. And because Madam Lu was a famous and well-respected scientist, they figured that she wouldn’t be with someone, who was much lower in rank.
It still wasn’t easy to find information about him, of course. They only could find out that there was a promising Lieutenant, who got some severe punishment for having an affair with someone. But they couldn’t find his name. Lu Feng was disappointed, and suffered a lot mentally. So, because their initial attempt wasn’t fruitful, Jibran proposed the idea of hacking into Madam Lu’s personal computer. He said, he believed she kept some mementos about him, as it seemed that the base prohibited them from ever meeting again – they presumably shared a long and deep relationship.
They plotted an intrusion, and eventually, they snuck up to the top floor. Madam Lu’s personal device was the most reliable source, but Jibran couldn’t break into it just from anywhere. They had to go up, and they had to get access to the computer itself. Once they’ve succeeded, the little future-doctor could find an easy way to all information.
They ran out of time. Someone noticed that they left the door open, and they needed to hide just when they thought they’d found something. Dr Ji managed to transfer a file to Madam Lu’s communicator, which was in her drawer, and he stole the device. After that, it was a hide-and-seek game with Madam Lu’s guards until they were able to get back to the secret staircase that they had been using quite some time ago.
They were safe there. They were a bit tired of running and hiding, and from the adrenalin and stress, so gasping for air, they sat down in the darkness.
After they felt well-rested, Lu Feng didn’t want to go down until they saw the stolen file. He was impatient and filled with curiosity, and Dr Ji felt the same, excitedly opening up the file on the communicator.
It was an empy message, with an image attachment about a letter, that someone wrote, and formatted into a picture. The sender was someone from a place called Highland Research Institute, but the two small buds had no idea back then what that was.
At this point, the adult Dr Ji stopped speaking, and he seemed pretty exhausted and writhed.
“Do you remember what the message was?” Lu Feng asked.
“I… I do…” Dr Ji’s voice was hoarse. “When you’ve read it… you… you were very upset. You always spoke of humankind in high regard, and you knew that you were going to defend the Northern Base when you grew up, which you did in the end. I’ve always admired you. I was proud of you, and I sometimes wished to be like you. But… I was even worse than a bad friend.” Dr Ji swallowed. “I couldn’t stop you from going back to the top floor, and demanding an answer from your mother. I… I tried though. I punched you… I shouted at you. I knew I was not an opponent for you, but I was scared of being exposed. I was thinking about possible punishments, and even stupid things like I won’t get any candies from Madam Lu anymore, if she finds out, and won’t adopt me, and I can’t be a family member… You know, childish and immature issues… I was worrying about the wrong things. I didn’t expect them to hurt you or… So I… I let you go up… and I ran away.”
Dr Ji suddenly turned his rolling chair, forcing himself to face Lu Feng, but he was shaking like a poplar leaf.
“I abandoned you because I was scared… And you disappeared for about… three days, I think. When you came back, you were a different person… You didn’t want me around as much anymore, and I also avoided you. I thought you would want to scold me and argue with me, but it was worse. You ignored me. I… I was just a stupid kid, but I regretted not being able to stand up for you… I’m sorry, Lu Feng.”
As the doctor spoke, vague memories started to float up in Lu Feng’s head about that day. It wasn’t as forceful as before, so he only felt a tiny headache. He wasn’t sure if human Lu Feng avoided Dr Ji for the reason that the doctor told him just now… but even if he was mad at him, and didn’t want to contact him for that reason, it didn’t matter after a while.
But the doctor was visibly upset over his old mistake. If he would’ve mentioned this to human Lu Feng ever… what would he reply? The rose was quite certain, it would be a short and emotionless answer, blunt but not hateful.
He wasn’t the human Lu Feng. Not completely. He understood him very well, and in his opinion, they shared many similarities, but the rose never could see the reason behind Lu Feng’s remoteness. Not until this point. Because now, he felt like he started to see it.
And it assured his suspicion even more that Dr Ji wasn’t part of the reason, why Lu Feng drifted away from him. Thus, he did the only thing he could to express his acceptance. Lifting his arm, he reached out and put his hand on the blond hair, stroking it, gently messing up the short strands into a bird nest.
Dr Ji stiffened at first, his face full of shock, he even left his mouth open, forgetting what he wanted to say. They stared at each other, and the doctor was smart enough to realise what Lu Feng meant, even without words. The corner of his azure eyes reddened with the tip of his nose, and water gathered on his eyelashes.
“Don’t cry. It’s in the past. It doesn’t matter.” Lu Feng said this because both the rose and his ancestor would feel this way.
It turned out his words only urged him to cry more. He pursed his lips, his brows creased again, and he looked down with his cheeks getting a red mist under his eyes. This position made him look much younger, but also more broken than Lu Feng had ever seen him. The always chatty and loud Dr Ji couldn’t reply for a little while, wiping his face and sniffing a few times until he collected himself again.
Lu Feng let his hand fall down, and felt a bit awkward: he truly made a nest on the top of Dr Ji’s head, and it looked hilarious, but he didn’t dare to laugh. And not just because it was not Lu Feng-like.
“This was… awkward. Headpats? Really?” Dr Ji complained in a muffled voice, sniffing a few more times, taking down his glasses to clean them with the edge of his shirt because he smeared them with his tears. He was much calmer now than when he began telling this old story.
“It worked.”
“Who taught you this?” The doctor clicked with his tongue, and putting back his glasses, turned back to his computer to shut it down. “I truly, really want to talk about this with you more… but I can’t spare more time. I’m not running away, I really can’t, I have to go back. But once I’m home again, I will send you the message we stole from your mother… I saved it somewhere, but I had to hide it. I was a bit paranoid back then… Even I don’t know where exactly I’d put it. I will search for it, and send it to you, okay? I promise.”
The rose nodded and hummed; he wasn’t rushing it, but he also felt a bit disappointed that they couldn’t talk more. Unlike all the other times, this time he was able to understand and connect with Dr Ji much more deeply, and he liked this feeling.
He escorted the doctor out of the building, and even offered him a ride, but Dr Ji came with his own car, so there was no need. He left with a calmer and happier smile, and Lu Feng waited until the black vehicle disappeared under the streetlights.
It had become quite dark since then. The west sky illuminated with shades of purple and burgundy, and a faint green glow could be seen in some areas. However, while he was with the doctor, a large blanket of clouds drifted in and obscured the usual view of the beautiful aurora-ribbons. A colder wind swept through the night road, carrying the smell of rain. There was no one around him. People have already gone home.
He walked back to his car, and comfortably settled in his seat. But once again, he felt a presence around him. It was different from his pollinators; it resembled the unease he felt regularly before the incident in the Garden of Eden.
He drove home, and he noticed the car following him from the distance. Was it Adjutant Seraing again? But Lu Feng already knew about it, why was he still hiding?
He figured if it was truly the adjutant, he could wait for him in their building – he knew the man lived in the same residential building as him and his boss. So, when he got inside, he went for the elevators, but he only stepped inside, sent up an empty one to the top floor, and stepped back before the doors closed. After that, he hid behind the corner, and waited.
Sure enough, he saw the man clad in military uniform coming in, his badge was shining under the strong, golden lights of the hall, and he stood at the elevator that Lu Feng sent up. He looked at the numbers above it, and when it reached the top level, the adjutant called the elevator back.
Lu Feng waited right until Adjutant Seraing entered the elevator before he jumped behind him, and squeezed him inside. He wasn’t very careful, briefly pushing the Judge forward, causing him to stumble. The Judge apologised, clearly believing he was blocking the way for someone else, but when he turned back and recognised Lu Feng, he was stunned.
The door had already closed on them, and the lift slowly went up.
“I knew you’re still following me.” Lu Feng explained calmly, and put his hands in his pocket.
“A… aaah…” Adjutant Seraing was embarrassed, trying to collect himself, and showed a small smile at him. “I’m deeply sorry… I was a bit distracted. I wasn’t careful enough if you noticed me. I’m glad I didn’t scare you, Lieutenant Lu.”
“Does he think I need your supervision?” Lu Feng asked curiously, yet his voice remained the usual cold one, therefore, the officer didn’t catch his spirit, and still seemed very apologetic.
“I didn’t ask him to explain… I don’t think he is suspecting you anymore, but he…” Adjutant Seraing shut up, and uncertainly looked around. “Ah… Ehm, let’s go up first.”
Just then, Lu Feng realised that it was his floor number that lit up on the control panel. Was the adjutant trying to follow him and guard his very door?
Maybe his eyes lingered on the number for too long because Adjutant Seraing started apologising again.
“I was going to the Arbiter’s apartment.”
“Oh.” Lu Feng didn’t ask, why, nevertheless, he was curious. “…Is he not coming back anytime soon?”
Adjutant Seraing licked his lips, and before he could answer, the elevator arrived at the top floor. They strode out, and instead of Lu Feng’s residence, they went to the Arbiter’s. The officer had a card, that worked on the door. If it was given by the owner himself, or there was an ultimate card for many other doors, Lu Feng wasn’t sure. They didn’t waste any time to go inside.
The small apartment looked the same as always, but before Lu Feng could fully observe it, Adjutant Seraing slowly turned back towards him with a frown.
“Actually, he is here right now.”
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