Love Code at the End of the World

The flying corpse fixed her gaze upon me as she followed closely behind to enter the underground city. Raffles opened a side door and said, “This way! There are many people in the square, which might startle her. Just in case she hurts anyone.”

I nodded in agreement since the flying corpse only trusted me at this point. She and I had formed a unique trust as we had relied on one another in the life-and-death situation. I didn’t want to take the risk of her hurting anyone else either.

The flying corpse and I walked through the side door into a very broad tunnel. Raffles was leading the way in the front and the flying corpse didn’t seem to repel him. I asked casually, “Did you heal her injury?”

“Yeah,” said Raffles as he walked while looking at the flying corpse excitedly. “We gave her a sedative before I got close to her. This is my first time walking this close to a sober flying corpse. Luo Bing, you are so incredible!”

“That is because you have never treated them as humans,” I glared at him coldly as I spoke.

Raffles paused and looked at me blankly. I held the flying corpse’s arm and walked past him while he was in a trance. I looked at the flying corpse and said, “Can I call you ‘Second Sis?’ My second cousin always took care of me when I was young, and she would always take the cane for me…”

The flying corpse looked at me but I wasn’t sure if she understood what I just said. Still, from that point on, I started calling her Second Sis as we continued walking ahead.

Raffles caught up with us, but he was walking close by my side because he was still afraid of the flying corpse. As he was walking, he took out his booklet and started calculating again without saying anything.

There was an exit in front of us. The door was round and heavy and it looked just like the watertight doors on battleships. Raffles ran forward and pressed a button. The door rumbled and moved to the side revealing a cabin behind it. Once the door opened, the cabin lights were turned on, displaying many instruments and thick cable wires that crawled all over like a spider’s web.

In the middle of the instruments, the escape pod that I was in the night before had been dismantled beyond recognition. 

“The flying corpse’s claws are amazing as they could pierce the escape pod,” Raffles was profuse in his praise as he entered. He picked up a random piece of metal with a hole, “This is an amazing evolutionary phenomenon.”

Second Sister followed me inside. Raffles touched the escape pod that was beyond recognition. His expression was as though he was touching his beloved girl, “You hide so many precious things. No wonder they are looking for you.”

“What is that?” I asked casually. Second Sis stood by my side while she calmly looked in the front.

Raffles hadn’t even replied to me yet, but he was already excited. He moved around the escape pod and said, “It contains information on Silver Moon City’s technology. It’s very valuable! I can crack their code and use it in Noah City! Most importantly… !” Raffles slowed his footsteps as his eyes glowed with joy, “There is the precious blue crystal energy! Oh yeah! You lost your memory. Blue Crystal Energy could absorb solar energy and extend its usage time. It could also allow our flying vehicles to travel further, to explore further places!”

Explore further places? What’s going on? Why do they use the word ‘explore’? Are they trapped here? Are they not from this planet? Is that why they want to explore other places? But they don’t look like aliens who have the power to shuttle between the interstellar space because they doted on the escape pod.

Unless something happened to this world!? Are humans trapped in this certain area and unable to go to other places? Oh yeah, how could I forget? There’s radiation. It must be radiation that hemmed them in or quarantined them from the others.

I didn’t quite understand, but I wasn’t in a hurry to ask again because I was going to stay in this world anyways. Finding the answers to those questions would be the target of my own exploration, and I would find the answers eventually.

He looked at me and then carefully stole a glance at Second Sis, “She can stay in here for now. There are many people outside and she might hurt them.”

I nodded and looked at the flying corpse. I ran my hand gently over her arms and said, “It’s safer here. You can stay here for now.”

Second Sister was quiet. She looked around and saw a pile of wire rods, which looked just like a nest. She walked over and curled up to sleep on it. Then, she rubbed her belly gently. There was tenderness in her white eyes and her expression was really touching. 

“You are right…” Raffles walked next to me. I looked at him in suspicion. Why am I right? He was looking at Second Sister and his grayish-blue eyes revealed that he was touched by the sight, “She is a human. She wants to protect her child… Oh! I understand now!” He suddenly got excited. He looked in front of him again as his eyes shimmered with joy, “There is an increase in her maternal instincts because she is pregnant! That’s why she is protecting you. That must be it! Thus, my reverse theory would work! I definitely can turn them back into humans again! But… their evolution might not be reversible. Would their wings remain…?” He started talking to himself. It seemed like there were many parts about his experiment that were bugging him.

*Gru-u-u.* My stomach growled. It was only now after everything had settled down that I felt hungry. And I was very hungry! Since the previous night, everything had been like a nightmare. A nightmare that I could never wake up from.

“Here,” someone handed me a black bread. It was Raffles but he turned away to avoid looking at me. He extended his hand to pass me the bread. The black bread looked more like a piece of charcoal against his fair hand. 

I looked at the black bread, and felt bad about losing control and venting my anger at him earlier. “I’m sorry. I lost my temper earlier.” I took the bread as he maintained his posture, “It’s okay. I would do the same if I were you— amnesia, getting an injury, worried about not surviving for another minute in this world…” He sounded depressed as he reached the end of the sentence as though he had recalled a bad memory.

*Gru-u-u.* I was very hungry and I immediately started eating the bread by taking a big bite. It was tough and it got stuck in my teeth. It was basically tasteless! There was no sweetness of sugar nor fragrance of wheat. Neither was there any saltiness in the bread. There was absolutely no taste at all. What exactly am I eating?

I realized that Second Sister was looking at me, so I broke the bread in half and gave a piece to her. Second Sister started eating as well. After all, she was eating for two and had to eat more. In this broken world, even food tasted bad as though it had gone through radiation. 

I suddenly saw Raffles looking at us blankly. He looked at the remaining bread in my hand and swallowed his saliva. His Adam's apple rolled as he gulped.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked him as I ate. He pouted and blinked his eyes with his head hanging low, “No, nothing.” He then looked crestfallen.