The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Chapter 21 Chang'e
That night, Yu Qing went to sleep in the cave early. Yao Dan and the other three stood at opposite ends of the cave entrance, while the other two sat on either side of Yu Qing. The four humanoid beauties also entered a state of hibernation.

So much had happened that day; his mind was reeling. He thought again of the silk painting the Ancient One had given him—what did it mean? What did a large sphere represent? Earth? It didn't seem so. Perhaps the Ancient One had gone mad from not seeing someone of her own kind for so long.

Now I can't see a single person, and surrounded by Yao Dan and the others, I don't seem to feel any anxiety about meeting anyone. This is also terrifying, indicating that they are leading me down a gentle path to death.

However, he dismissed the idea. After all, he was on his way to the Second Paradise to find his own kind. Even if humanity were to perish, it wouldn't be his fault.

Once you're involved with beauties like Yao Dan, you'll never be able to leave them. You wouldn't find a more suitable lover among millions. Moreover, Yu Qing has blurred the lines between them and ordinary people.

His sleep was intermittent, unlike Yao Dan and the others who slept consistently. In the middle of the night, he was awakened again by the plaintive sound of a pipa.

He lay on the mat with his head facing the riverbank, and only then did he notice that the painted boats on the riverbank were brightly lit, and several women who looked like human figures were coming and going on the boats. Some of them pointed at the river as if reciting poems, while others teased and joked with each other.

In an empty city, this scene is too strange.

Sitting at the bow of the boat was a woman in ancient costume who looked like a fairy. From a distance, her profile resembled that of a celestial being, and she was the one playing the pipa.

The river breeze tousled her long hair, as if it were dancing in response to the stirring sound of her pipa. He had never heard this piece before, but it was like celestial music. It seemed to be telling the river of her endless longing, or begging the heavens to sever the inescapable sorrow.

He was momentarily distracted, got up from the cushion, and inexplicably crawled out from under Daji's legs, who was standing with her legs spread apart guarding the cave entrance. He then climbed over the courtyard fence and walked towards the painted boat as if in a dream.

He felt he must be drunk, because his steps were unsteady.

After boarding the painted boat, he went straight to the pipa player, sat down, and unconsciously rested his head on her lap.

Looking up, I saw that the pipa player's eyes were brimming with tears, and her rosy face shone with a cold, radiant light in the moonlight. Her hands continued to pluck the strings, undeterred by Yu Qing's reckless actions.

A cool sensation slowly rose from her legs to the back of Yu Qing's head, seeping into his entire body through his neck. He hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand to wipe away the remaining tear stains on her face.

At this moment, she slowly stopped playing the zither and sat motionless.

After a moment, she said softly, "You shouldn't have provoked me!"

Yu Qing mustered his courage and approached. He saw her as a girl who had been sitting there waiting for decades, not as a humanoid beauty.

She slowly put down her pipa and gazed at him with deep affection.

As if encouraged, Yu Qing stood up.

He pulled the pipa player into his arms, kissed her deeply on the lips, and mumbled, "I'll sign it..."

At this moment, he entered a state of role confusion again, feeling as if he was hugging someone of his own kind.

Just as Yu Qing was embracing the pipa player, lost in his passion, he vaguely sensed several dark figures approaching from all around.

He suddenly came to his senses and wondered if he had gotten into trouble again.
He regretted coming here alone in the middle of the night.

To put it nicely, this city is deserted; in reality, it's just a ghost town. And what kind of ghost town wouldn't you see ghosts?

However, the other party didn't seem to take any action. He pretended to know nothing and simply buried his eyes in the pipa player's hair.

But these people completely ruined my mood.

However, the two sides did not remain silent for long before Yu Qing was defeated.

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

This sight startled him so much that he nearly jumped up.

But he quickly regained his composure and shouted, "What are you all doing, playing tricks on me!"

It turned out that Yao Dan and the others had automatically woken up from their dormancy after not sensing Yu Qing for five minutes.

Seeing how engrossed he was, and not wanting to disturb him, they quietly gathered around.

In their programming, there is no concept of being afraid of ghosts, so they naturally cannot comprehend this human reaction.

Yao Dan, seemingly unrelated to the question, replied, "My lord signed another one..."

Daji turned her face away and said nothing. Yan'er and Furong lowered their heads and remained silent.

It seems they activated their self-preservation mechanism, treating the pipa player as a threat.

Yu Qing said with a forced smile, "She can play the pipa, so we'll have some entertainment on the road..."

Upon hearing this, Yao Dan snatched the pipa, played a few notes, then smashed it on the ground, saying, "Who can't do this? It's a piece of cake for us humanoid beauties!"

Daji turned around and retorted, "You can have whatever entertainment you want, but you shouldn't have left us behind and sneaked over here!"

Yan'er said, "Alright, since you don't need us, darling, let's go."

After saying that, she turned and headed towards the cave without looking back. Yao Dan and the others followed her out.

Yu Qing felt that they had made him lose face in front of the pipa player, and said angrily, "Go, go, all of you, go!"

The pipa player nestled her head on his shoulder and said softly, "My lord, it's all my fault..."

Yu Qing said, "How can you blame yourself? We won't interfere with them. By the way, what name do you want me to call you?"

"My lord said."

"Then I'll call you... Chang'e! You're a fairy, okay?"

"Alright, my lord, I will be called Chang'e. You changed my name, so you are not allowed to call me anything else from now on."

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

"No, come tonight."

"So our fate is really amazing."

Chang'e picked up the pipa, looked at it, and threw it into the river, saying softly, "It's broken."

Yu Qing then took Chang'e for a walk along the riverbank all night. He would stare at her from time to time, feeling that she was exactly to his liking from head to toe, in terms of demeanor and clothing.

As Chang'e walked with him, she recited verses from "A Moonlit Night on the Spring River," drawing him into a tender and romantic atmosphere.

It was as if she had truly descended from the moon palace, intending to take him to outer space to explore the infinite…

He didn't feel sleepy until dawn, and he even fell asleep while standing and leaning against Chang'e.

When Yu Qing woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.

Without the cover of moonlight, yesterday's joy is gone, and the world returns to its mundane routine.

When he looked back at the pipa player he had been so captivated by the previous night, he suddenly realized that she was no different from Yao Dan and the others. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

Chang'e, far more intelligent than humans, immediately noticed the subtle changes in his heart and launched a gentle offensive, wiping the sweat from his forehead while whispering comforting words in his ear.

"My lord, I think they'll regret leaving now, even though they were angry. I'll go with you to find them."

"Who's looking for them? I have Chang'e, they can go wherever they want!"

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

"Oh? You think they've all learned how to lie!"

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

Chang'e successfully took on the responsibility of finding Yao Dan and the others, which not only made Yu Qing feel relieved but also showed him that she was understanding, kind, and benevolent.

So, Chang'e carried Yu Qing around the neighborhood, looking for his troublesome friends. Then, she "very reluctantly" took him back to Gu Yi's villa to see if Yao Dan and the others were there.

Humans have only three percent of the hearing ability of humanoids. In fact, Chang'e had already heard the noise in the backyard of the villa. Yao Dan and the others were making boxes there.

Chang'e pretended not to hear and instead took Yu Qing to the cool cave away from the backyard. Her reason was perfectly valid: it was too hot elsewhere.

She had Yu Qing lie on the mat and gave him a full-body massage to loosen his bones.

She knew human meridians and acupoints like the back of her hand. After this treatment, he was so weak that he didn't even want to be a god anymore.

He even grabbed her hand and pulled it into his arms, shouting incoherently, "Oh dear, my mother!"

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

"Yes, my wife... I don't want to go to that damned Changtian anymore. I'll just lie here and let my wife beat me every day!"

"My lord, what are you doing going to Changtian? Don't you know it's sunk into the sea? Who told you to go there? You're just getting my husband into trouble..."

"What? Nagata has gone into the water?"

"Yes, Nagata has been submerged in the water for almost fifty years."

"Think about it, the temperature here is already 60℃, what ice and snow on Earth wouldn't melt! So…they want you to go to Nagata?"

"That's true and that's not true. I'm going to the Second Paradise, and Daji planned the route for me. After Wengshan, we'll go to Changtian, then via Yaoxing to Malu, Fuping, Changlin..."

"Oh no, this is terrible! What kind of routes are these? They won't work!"

You can't blame her; her database is outdated, so she could only come up with such an unreliable plan.

After saying that, she waved her hand and threw out a holographic image of the Earth, which kept spinning, showing it to Yu Qing. She then pointed to a point on the image and said, "We are here now."
Then she pointed to another spot and said, "The second amusement park we're going to is here."

"Do you see that we are connected to the Second Paradise by land? I think we should go to the Fifth Paradise first. Although it is a bit farther away, the land there is connected."

Yu Qing pondered for a moment and said, "That's much farther... Right, since the land isn't connected, we can fly there, Chang'e, your mind is so old-fashioned."

"My lord, only I can fly over there; I'm afraid they can't."

"The old flight suits could only fly 160 kilometers without being charged. Imagine, they would have to be charged before they could even reach the shore."

Where in the sea can we find charging facilities for them?

"So, you have a new flight suit and can fly there directly?"

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

"The new model can fly 420 kilometers."

If I use my own electricity, I can fly another 300 kilometers. If I run out of power and there's nowhere to recharge, I'm done for…

How many kilometers is it from Wengshan to Yaoxing?

"380 kilometers."

Yu Qing thought for a moment, then slapped his thigh and said, "Can't we fly over like this?"

"Give me your new flight suit, then you put on my old one, and use your own electricity to travel another 220 kilometers. Done!"

"My lord is truly clever. Shall we proceed in this manner?"

"Wait. Yao Dan can also fly another 220 kilometers using his own electricity..."

"That won't work, will it? What year is she from? Early humanoid models don't have reverse charging capabilities. Even models older than sixty years ago can only fly about 120 kilometers more..."

"So we have no choice but to leave them behind!"

"It can't be helped."

However, Yu Qing suddenly became alert. Chang'e was eager to drive Yao Dan and the others away so that she could take the lead alone.

But he didn't show it and laughed, "If it really doesn't work, let's say goodbye when we see them. Otherwise they'll accuse us humans of being heartless and ungrateful."

Chang'e had already quietly leaned half her body against Yu Qing and whispered in his ear, "I will do whatever you say, my lord."

A few days ago, Yu Qing would have been thrilled, but he had lost interest in the humanoid beauties and instead felt a little scared of their deep emotional manipulation.

But Chang'e's charming appearance still confused him with the difference between them and humans. He gently stroked her black hair, feeling very comfortable.

"Do you know anything about humanity? In what year was the last news about them?" Yu Qing suddenly asked.

"After all the humans left Wengshan, there has been no news of humans since. It's been more than forty years."

We were unable to contact the outside world. In the last few years, news was sporadic; I heard it was about upgrading communication standards or something…

Yu Qing suddenly pushed Chang'e aside and sat up, saying, "Has humanity already become extinct?"

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

"If I were the only person left in the world, how could I still be called human? I would only be called the orphan of humanity, and I would not be far from extinction."

"My information is that in 2C19, there were still 49 residents in the six original human habitats."

Yu Qing excitedly grabbed Chang'e's hand and asked, "Are you sure?"

“I’m absolutely certain. At the time, there was a lot of discussion in society about what constitutes a true human being. Some people thought that the residents of the original ecological park were the true humans, which meant that there were only 49 people on Earth.”

"That's not entirely true. For new humans to improve their abilities, modifying a few genomes or replacing two organs is not a big deal."

"My lord, you are sorely mistaken! Some people have already changed their ways. Once, a doctor saw a patient who wanted to be treated for an eye ailment, but the patient completely baffled the doctor!"

"Is the doctor's skill level lacking?"

"It's not that they can't, it's that they have eagle eyes."

Yu Qing laughed and said, "According to what my father knew back then, weren't there also kobolds?"

Chang'e said, "I forgot to tell you, in 2C10, a law was passed on Earth that only organisms with more than 80% human features and more than 60% human tissue genes from the original gene pool can be defined as 'human' and recognized as part of the new human race."

"That's ridiculous. I'm curious, what happens if we don't reach 80% or 60%?"

"The law stipulates that they are no longer human beings, do not enjoy human rights, and have all been driven into the mountains and forests."

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

"That's both right and wrong. The 60% requirement also needs to be met. People must have their identities confirmed through hospital equipment testing and be entered into a global identity authentication system."

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

"Is it low? At that time, there were quite a few people marching and demonstrating, protesting against the ruling authorities for depriving them of their genetic freedom, and demanding that 80% and 60% be reduced to 50% and 30% respectively."

"What then?"

"Later it got even more chaotic, with people taking their humanoid creatures into the streets to disrupt the parade, chanting slogans like 'We'd rather have humanoid creatures than pig-headed monsters.'"

Yu Qing pulled Chang'e over and kissed her, saying, "I agree with this slogan."

Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out in the sky outside.

(End of this chapter)