Chapter 21

Sera Westbrook's POV

In the evening, sunlight came through the Titan's windows—dim and warm—falling across the stacked cans and warming them through.

I moved the cans into the shade and sorted them the way Vera had taught me: water-purification capsules in one pile, compressed rations in another, medical kits set aside on their own, labels facing out.

When I finished moving the last of the soup cans, my hands suddenly stopped.

It seemed I couldn't feel my heartbeat again.

The inhibitor's effect must have been fading.

Vera crouched on the other side of the crates and looked up at me. "What is it?"

"Kyle said he'd come find me once the file was decoded." I set down a can of meat. "Half the day's gone and he hasn't come. He probably couldn't decode it."

Vera said, "Then wait a little longer."

I shook my head. "Waiting is worse than moving cans."

Vera laughed and pushed the crate at her feet toward me. "Then keep working. Let moving cans take over your thoughts."

With that, she went back to counting water-purification capsules, and I put a few cans of meat on the shelf in the corner.

When the light outside the window gradually dimmed, footsteps came from the stairwell. Kyle stood in the doorway without coming in. "We've decoded part of the file. Come with me."

For some reason, Kyle's footsteps seemed a little heavy.

I tilted my head and said nothing.

Maybe Kyle had something weighing on him.

Kyle Reynolds's POV

In the afternoon, the file was successfully decoded.

As Taylor decrypted it, the screen scrolled through two solid minutes of garbled text before finally stopping on just a few passages.

The first passage was the title: Chimera Project, Symbiosis Series, Sample Records.

The second was the numbering: K-7-01 through K-7-05, dated three years before the Fall.

When Taylor reached the third passage, he turned the screen toward me. "The samples showed high adaptability to the vampire squid genes, but after genetic integration, the subject's neural feedback pathway failed completely and required a second surgery."

"Neural feedback pathway completely failed?" Dorian's fingers stopped on the tabletop. "These symptoms seem very similar to Sera's… The vampire squid—that should be Sera, right?"

I gave a soft "Mm."

The two codes Sera had seen were both K-7. Barring any surprises, they belonged to the same organization.

I thought for a moment, then told them the facts. "Sera and I have both seen those codes before. Back at the military warehouse we went to, Sera's old wristband matched the warehouse's control panel. The military warehouse's designation was K-7. In other words, Sera is probably connected to K-7."

At that, Taylor looked at me in shock, but quickly returned to normal.

Taylor flipped through the file. "K-7-01 through K-7-05. Five samples in total. Is she K-7-01?"

"The file doesn't say," Dorian said. "K-7 is a batch. All five sample numbers are in there, but it doesn't say which number corresponds to which person."

I stared at those five numbers for a while. "The remains at the outpost—Sera found an old wristband on him. His code was K-7-03."

Dorian looked up. "So the dead man at the outpost was Sample K-7-03."

Taylor asked, "If they're the same batch, why did he die at the outpost?"

"Either he left on his own, or he was driven out." Dorian took off his glasses and wiped them. "That remains' power had already burst. Barring any surprises, he was a defective product, so he was discarded."

My mood grew very heavy.

I'd worked for the Combine, so of course I understood how those people operated—extreme self-interest, no method too low for the goal. But I'd never heard anything about K-7.

My position in the Combine hadn't been low. If even I didn't know, it basically meant that either the K-7 project was an absolutely classified internal program, or it wasn't planned by the Combine at all.

The corporate conglomerates?

After the apocalypse, the Combine's power had gradually shrunk, replaced by the conglomerates. Unlike the Combine—the old-era central government—the conglomerates were more like a new government that had quickly established itself after the apocalypse using vast resources and wealth.

Compared to the Combine, the conglomerates' methods were indeed more secretive, and the conglomerates were good at crafting a false image, putting on a kind appearance. A gene-modification program—the conglomerates would never admit to it.

What exactly had happened to Sera?

Dorian looked at the screen, then at me. "So are you going to tell Sera?"

I said, "Sera has the right to know the truth."

Dorian hesitated. "But I think this truth is a little cruel for Sera."

I shook my head. "One day, she'll know the truth."

Dorian sighed. "All right."

Just then, Taylor asked, "Captain, can you get Sera's old wristband? And Sample 03's wristband?"

I said, "Yes."

I stood up, walked out of the command room, went down to the second floor, and found Sera.

Sera was on the second floor moving cans. I held out my right hand to her. "Sera, where's your old wristband?"

Sera looked at me blankly. Whenever those pretty blue eyes of hers looked at me, I always felt an inexplicable ache.

Seven years ago, we'd been deeply in love, and she would always look at me with those blue eyes, smiling.

But after seven years of devastation—gene modification, memory loss, the disappearance of pain—what exactly had Sera been through? What had taken the light out of her blue eyes?

She was steady, she was calm, and at the same time, she was very soft.

But now she had changed.

She seemed colder, and colder toward me as well.

I sighed. "Taylor needs those wristbands. We've decoded part of the file."

Sera nodded without hesitation, took two wristbands out of her pocket, and put them in my hand.

I carried the two wristbands back to the command room, my heart heavy.

I handed the wristbands to Taylor, and Taylor immediately began decoding them.

Dorian looked at me. "So what now? Have you changed your mind? Are you going to tell Sera the truth?"

I closed my eyes for a moment, my tone even firmer. "I'll tell her all of it."

I believed those genetic engineering procedures weren't something Sera had done willingly.

Sera had to know those things.