A is in StarCraft, just disembarked from the Zerg Prince spaceship.

************

......

Gao Xing never made a point of seeing Qi Wan, nor did Qi Wan make a point of seeing him.

Gao Xing didn't say anything.

He simply packed his things in silence.

Gao Xing did not find this hard to accept.

What happened back then... he was the one who wronged Qi Wan.

Qi Wan should have already received news that he and Qin Qin returned alive. If Qi Wan doesn't come looking for him... then it probably means he's given up, right?

Yes, more than twenty years have passed.

I heard that Qi Wan is now the incorruptible Commander-in-Chief Qi, devoting himself wholeheartedly to the cause of human progress and becoming the cornerstone supporting the future of mankind.

What does it matter if a relationship that ended without a trace more than 20 years ago is brought up again now?

He just feels some pain, but he'll get used to it soon.

......

As they prepared to depart for Antarctica, the Prince Ship was already waiting outside. Gao Xing and Qin Qin hurriedly walked through the long corridor of the research institute.

The floors and corridor walls of the research institute were so clean that you could see your reflection in them.

Research institutes and hospitals have some similarities; the air is filled with a faint smell of disinfectant and an indescribable odor from the operation of sophisticated instruments.

With each breath, the life-monitoring device high in the sky inside the distant medical pod beeped like a death knell.

The Prince-class destroyer is already outside, ready to depart.

Gao Xing and Qin Qin walked quickly, their minds filled with geological maps, virus models, and fragmented, chaotic memories of the Apocalypse.

They were in a hurry.

Qinqin is short and has short legs; carrying the medicine box, she almost had to run.

As they turned a corner, they nearly bumped into someone without warning.

Gao Xing abruptly stopped in his tracks, instinctively apologizing, "I'm so sorry..."

Before he could finish speaking, the words got stuck in his throat.

Standing before him was Qi Wan.

He seemed to have just happened to be passing by. He was dressed in an impeccable uniform as the Commander-in-Chief of the Federation, his epaulets cold and every button fastened meticulously.

It seems they met by chance.

Qi Wan's complexion was also not good; she looked somewhat haggard, with dark circles under her eyes and a tired expression between her brows.

Time has etched its marks on his face and hair, completely transforming this once cheerful and playful Alpha into the cold, silent block of ice he is today.

Gao Xing was caught off guard and came face to face with him, standing there stunned.

For a moment, you could hear a pin drop in the corridor.

Qin Qin was taken aback. She shrank her neck and covered half of her face with the first-aid kit, leaving only her big eyes showing. She looked at Gao Xing for a moment, then at Qi Wan.

I dared not utter a sound.

Gao Xing and Qi Wan remained silent.

More than twenty years have passed between them, like an insurmountable abyss.

It seems like not much has changed, yet it also seems like a lot has changed.

More than twenty years have passed since their youthful and impetuous days.

Qi Wan's hair was all white, neatly combed, and his military uniform was also neat. He no longer smiled, and his temperament was cold and aloof, a kind of indifference and alienation eroded by time and power.

Qi Wan looked at him, his eyes no longer holding the fiery light of his youth, only a deep calm.

He transformed into Commander-in-Chief Qi of the Human Federation, who resembled an ice cube.

Gao Xing felt as if something had suddenly clenched his heart.

He couldn't say anything.

Qin Qin looked at Gao Xing, then at Qi Wan, wondering if she should leave now.

She's here...and...she looks so radiant...

Qi Wan glanced at her.

Qinqin covered her entire face with the first-aid kit, then quietly slipped away along the wall.

Now only the two of them are left.

Gao Xing lowered his gaze.

He dared not look Qi Wan in the eye now.

After a long silence, Qi Wan finally spoke first.

"Am I something that doesn't matter?" Qi Wan didn't say anything else, just asked him this question.

It was as if he was just confirming a long-overdue answer with Gao Xing.

Gao Xing's throat was blocked by something.

He blinked awkwardly, trying to dispel the sudden condensation that appeared in his vision.

"You're not." Gao Xing tried to force a smile, but couldn't manage it. He pursed his lips and added, "But love really isn't the most important thing to me."

He didn't have a good birth, but he did meet many good people.

Qin's parents gave him a place to stay, raised him, and gave him a family warmth he had never felt before. Qin Qin had some troubles, but they were still his family, giving him unconditional love and support from childhood to adulthood. And those who treated him with kindness and encouraged him—his superiors, comrades, the personnel department, and the military doctor—all lent him a helping hand during his most difficult times.

If he hurts Qinqin's family and all the people who helped him for the sake of love, he will never forgive himself in this lifetime.

Qi Wan is very important, but they are just unlucky and can't be together.

Qi Wan: "..."

Gao Xing felt a little short of breath, and he stiffly forced a smile: "You're unlucky to have met me. I'm sorry."

Qi Wan is really unlucky.

He's such a jinx. How could Qi Wan, who had a smooth life for the first thirty years, be so unlucky to run into him?

Gao Tian was still waiting to be saved; he didn't have much time to waste reminiscing about the past or trying to explain those regrets that were hard to explain and couldn't be undone.

The Prince's ship was still waiting; he had to leave.

Gao Xing nodded to Qi Wan as a farewell, and then quickly walked past Qi Wan.

Qi Wan stood still, neither turning around nor moving, slowly listening to Gao Xing's footsteps fade into the distance.

He wanted to say one last thing, but in the end he didn't. He listened as Gao Xing's footsteps quickly walked away and disappeared, and the corridor returned to silence.

Qi Wan stood there motionless, like a stone statue frozen in time.

He really wanted to tell Gao Xing:

He never felt tired of loving him throughout his entire life.

......

************

......

Antarctica.

The eternal ice plains covered the continent, and the extreme cold winds and frost, carrying ice particles, howled across the unshielded ice cap, turning into a Force 12 gale.

This is the end of the world, a forbidden zone for life, where the earth's oldest secrets are hidden.

The Zerg Prince ship descended over Antarctica at an extremely high speed. A special launch device slowly opened beneath the ship's hull, aiming at a precisely calculated point on the ice sheet below where sampling would not cause the earth's crust to collapse.

Antarctic star explosion.

The slender, specially made alloy star-shaped projectile, 5 centimeters in diameter and tens of kilometers long, was launched directly from the Prince's ship.

"Thump—!"

With immense energy and acceleration, like a divine needle falling from the sky, it heavily descended to the ground, penetrating the Antarctic ice sheet and penetrating deep into the Antarctic continent, reaching beneath the Earth's crust.

The Zerg's specially made alloy starbursts are inserted into ice and rock layers like chopsticks into butter; ice chips and rock powder are pushed away at high speed, creating surprisingly smooth holes.

Ignoring all obstacles, the tip of the star rushed rapidly into the depths of the earth's crust.

Several kilometers.

Ten kilometers or so.

Tens of kilometers.

Eventually, the slender star disappeared completely into the ground.

The thickest part of Antarctica's crust is about 62 kilometers, and the average is about 40 kilometers. This single star is enough to sample the entire crustal layer.

The recycling process has started.

The slender star-shaped finial was slowly pulled out from the ground.

The hollow internal cavity brought back a sample of the entire geological stratum profile that it traversed, like a straw inserted into a multi-layered cake, perfectly extracting the growth rings of each layer.

After the starfish was recovered, another system was activated. A special rapid-solidifying material quickly filled and solidified the pit from the bottom up, sealing the geological strata pit that was tens of kilometers deep and preventing any possible leakage of underground materials.

The robotic arm slowly retracts.

The hollow cavity of the starfish opened segment by segment.

Each complete sample from different depths of strata is arranged layer by layer in sequence.

"Start segmenting immediately! One meter per segment, number them! Quickly!" the geologist commanded.

An AI robotic arm meticulously divides this geological cake, stretching for tens of kilometers, into sections, meter by meter, for separate testing.

Various X-ray scans, spectral analysis, gene probes...

Use every available means.

There are so many virus samples preserved in Antarctica that we don't know which one is the correct one.

It was a constant process of screening and experimentation.

Time passed second by second, and sample after sample was eliminated.

Hope, despair, hope, despair, hope is like a faint candle flame, flickering in the wind.

The testing chamber for sample segment number 17910 (corresponding to a depth of 17,910 meters) suddenly sounded its alarm!

The results appeared quickly on the analysis screen next to it.

Amidst the alarm, the AI ​​broadcast a calm electronic voice: "[Warning: Unknown organic structure detected! Strong specific response to Alpha-mimicking genes!]"

[Warning: Unknown organic structure detected! Produces a strong specific response to Alpha mimic genes!]

[Warning: Unknown organic structure detected! Produces a strong specific response to Alpha mimic genes!]

......

Qin Qin, Gao Xing, and Lu Jianan rushed to the light screen of the analysis cabin almost simultaneously.

This image of a rock stratum specimen, magnified billions of times, reveals tiny viral particles embedded within the nearly 20,000-year-old rock layer.

Once removed from the low-temperature, dry environment, they act like awakened demons, exhibiting strong activity towards externally simulated Alpha genes.

"That's it..." Gao Xing's voice was hoarse, "I recognize this feeling...that's it..."

Qin Qin immediately ordered: "Isolate this section and the samples from adjacent rock strata! Highest level of biohazard protection! Conduct live animal matching experiments immediately! Quickly!"

The virus was detected in adjacent rock strata spanning ten meters above and below each other. Even after being removed from the low-temperature, dry environment, they maintained good activity and showed a very strong response to the alpha gene.

These are them.

Finally, nearly 20,000 meters below the Antarctic ice sheet, in this ancient biological stratum sealed by time, they found it.

They found the bedtime story that Gao Tian had told Lu Jianan, a rumored doomsday virus that would destroy the world.