Atavism

Chapter 6

His face was completely covered by hair, and if he weren't smoking, it would be impossible to tell which side was the front.

Yes, he was smoking. The cigarette butt was glowing, and the bristles were hanging down on either side, looking dangerous and like he could easily get burned.

"You haven't shaved these past few days?" I asked.

Liu Er turned his head—probably. He flicked the ash from his cigarette into the ashtray, took another slow puff, stubbed out the cigarette, and the smoke slowly seeped out from his fur.

"It's pointless," he said casually. "It'll just grow back after you shave it, so it's pointless. Let it be."

"That's...it?" I stammered, unsure of what to say.

"Let's wait until it gets too long. I've found that once it gets long, the growth rate slows down."

I looked at Liu Er. His fur was long and thick, and I could vaguely see that he was wearing white shorts, but nothing else. However, his body was completely invisible; even the outlines of his hands and feet were almost gone.

Isn't this too long?

He became increasingly unfamiliar to me.

"I've taken a water sample and sent it to the X agency for testing. The results for your hair sample will be available soon too. But it would be best if you could provide a blood sample first, just a little bit. Are you not afraid of the pain?" I forced a smile.

Liu Er slowly stood up, revealing deep, dark eyes behind the tuft of black fur.

for a long time.

I stood at the door, facing him, unsure whether I should go in or not.

"Let's wait a bit," Liu Er said.

etc?

Liu Er turned and went into his room. It used to be my bedroom, but now this small space of a dozen square meters felt completely unfamiliar.

I slowly bent down, put on my slippers, and walked into my home.

Six Ears, something must have happened.

In the sweltering air, I thought to myself.

A few dark green tea leaves floated on the water.

I pushed the porcelain cup to Liu Er.

He picked up the cup; the water was scalding hot, but he seemed unconcerned despite the thick hair on his palm.

He brought the cup to his lips, took a small sip, and then put it down. Strangely, the long hair around his mouth didn't get much tea on it. I had assumed he would wipe it away with his hand while drinking.

"What do you want to talk about?" Liu Er asked.

I looked away from his chin: "The water is very hot, drink it slowly. Isn't it difficult for you to get around like this?"

"You'll get used to it." Liu Er held the rim of the cup and slowly swirled it around. "You have to get used to it eventually, don't you?"

"But won't it be too hot like this?" There was another thing I didn't say: Liu Er never turns on the air conditioner, which is really abnormal.

"I like the feeling of sweating, and I think I need to sweat some."

Do you like it...? At least I've never seen Six-Ears' fur soaked with sweat. Ever since he put the razor aside, his fur has always been fluffy. If I wore a fur coat on a summer day like this, the sweat would quickly soak through it.

"Six Ears, you've changed. You're acting strangely." I stared at him.

"Just a little strange?" Six Ears' smile was barely perceptible. His body swayed slightly, and his fur suddenly swelled up in a circle, like a black cat spotting its prey. "No, I don't think anyone is stranger than me. The one sitting in front of you is a monster."

He stood up, covered in fur, and walked back to his room, slowly disappearing into the darkness of the bedroom.

I threw the black bag into the trash can and walked back along the path. The newly installed solar lights from the property management company emitted a white light from the grass, a light I didn't particularly like.

The bags contained household garbage. Not long ago, I was throwing away bags of hair from Liu'er; I wonder where those bags are now. I hope they're just thrown into the stove and burned, so as not to cause any trouble.

The phone rang abruptly.

"Hello..." I pressed the answer button.

In my usual little coffee shop, Liang Yingwu was already waiting for me at a window seat.

"How's your partner doing?" He'd already ordered me an iced latte.

“Not much better.” I took a big gulp and smacked my lips. “It looks terrible to me. He doesn’t even shave anymore.”

Liang Yingwu frowned: "The test results for that bottle of water are in."

"Oh, how is it?" I asked eagerly.

"The content of various trace elements in the water is astonishing. Our conclusion is..." Liang Yingwu's face was somewhat gloomy.

“Our conclusion is that the water is of very good quality; it is excellent mineral water,” Liang Yingwu said, still managing to maintain a straight face.

"Damn, I actually got tricked by a guy with no comedic talent. But your deadpan comedic skills are not bad." I punched Liang Yingwu's shoulder hard, and he finally smiled slightly.

"The test results for that bag of hair are also in. No hormones were found, but..." Liang Yingwu's face turned serious again.

"But what?" I knew Liang Yingwu wouldn't fool me twice; he must have discovered something.

"We conducted gene comparisons and found that the genes in these individuals differ from those in normal humans by approximately 2.4%."

“2.4%…” I murmured.

Liang Yingwu tapped his fingers on the table, his brows furrowing even more deeply: "If you knew that gorillas and humans only differ by 1.3% in genes, and that rats share 99% of their genes with humans, you would understand what this 2.4 represents. Normal people share 99.9% of their genes, and among humans, a 0.1% difference in genes is enough to determine huge differences in personality, physique, and intelligence."

I gasped.

The genetic difference between Liu Er and a normal person is twice that between humans and mice!

Liang Yingwu paused, then continued, "From what we understand, the genetic differences between humans with special abilities, such as Lu Yun and Xiahou Ying, and ordinary people rarely exceed 0.3%."

"Did Liu Er undergo a genetic mutation?" I blurted out.

Liang Yingwu shook his head slightly: "It's hard to describe it even with gene mutation, because it has become too powerful. I don't know what caused it, but such a mutation makes it difficult to call it human anymore. Moreover, a considerable portion of these 2.4% are arrangements we have never seen before."

"Is Liu Er not human?" The thought flashed through my mind for a moment. Thinking of Liu Er, who had been hiding in the bedroom and whose behavior was becoming increasingly strange, a chill gradually crept up my back.

"Such a mutation is difficult to explain using existing evolutionary theories. Its cause and effect are huge topics. Therefore, the institution hopes that he will voluntarily come for testing and treatment."

"Treatment? Is gene mutation reversible?"

Liang Yingwu paused for a moment, then silently shook his head.

I sighed: "To be honest, I also hope he can come here, but he doesn't want to. What can I do? Kick him out of his house, or have you come and arrest him? After all, we're friends, and I can't do that."

Liang Yingwu glared at him: "Then how long do you plan to drag this out? We don't know the cause of the mutation yet. If it's genetic, that's fine, but what if it's caused by some kind of virus? What if this virus is contagious?"

"Contagious?" I was startled. "Don't scare me, I'm fine now."

"You're fine now? If the incubation period were one, five, or ten years, of course you'd be fine now."

I was stunned. If hair grew on my body, would I even want to live?

Liang Yingwu's stern face relaxed slightly: "Of course, this possibility is not very high. With such a rapid development speed, the incubation period is usually short. If it were easy to spread, we wouldn't have discovered just one case."

I had just breathed a sigh of relief when Liang Yingwu spoke again.

"However, I maintain that it is dangerous for him to live here with you like this. Regardless of genetic mutations, it is easy for a person to develop psychological problems after experiencing something like this, and since he stays at home and is in a claustrophobic state, he is even more prone to problems."

Considering Liu Er's changes over the past few days, I couldn't refute Liang Yingwu's warning. After a moment of silence, I sighed and said, "What you said is very likely. In fact, I already feel that something is wrong with him. But I really can't tell him to 'move out.' He came to me when he was desperate. Let's see. I'll try to persuade him again."

Liang Yingwu nodded: "You should know your limits."

I suddenly remembered the question I hadn't had a chance to ask earlier: "You said that both the cause and the result are research topics. The cause is easy to talk about, but what's so interesting about the result?"

Liang Yingwu hesitated before speaking. He looked at me and said, "His current condition is certainly frightening, but compared to that 2.4% genetic difference, don't you think that the changes we've seen might not be the whole story?"

"You mean there will be new changes, or some changes that I haven't seen?" Liang Yingwu's judgment made my heart skip a beat.

"I hope I'm just overthinking it," Liang Yingwu shrugged, then called for the bill.

Calling journalists "uncrowned kings" is a term that's been used for all the wrong reasons, and it's a rather over-the-top compliment. In reality, journalists have many frustrating experiences to deal with.

Several reporters from the social affairs department were quite frustrated today. Their hard work investigating the case was completely ruined by a ban issued by the propaganda department. Yang Hua, a veteran reporter covering the police, felt the tip-off might be difficult and lead to his being blacklisted. Shanghai has always been very wary of major criminal cases, and this one was related to organized crime. Actually, the official stance is that Shanghai doesn't acknowledge organized crime; it should be called an illegal gang.

It's said that Yang Hua discussed his concerns with Blue Head, asking if they should consider the feng shui before proceeding. Blue Head smiled at Yang Hua with a condescending air: "Young Yang, you're not that old, why are you so worldly? Reporters need drive, not hesitation. Even with only a one percent chance, you have to give it your all. If it were an Associated Press reporter... not to mention them, even reporters from Hong Kong and Taiwan, though a bit like paparazzi, still have a spirit we can learn from."

Our mobile department's territory is right next to the social affairs department. When the blue-headed guy disappeared from sight, we heard him complaining: "Hong Kong and Taiwan don't have a propaganda department that doesn't allow anything every day."

Yang Hua rushed out with two intern reporters and didn't return until evening. He was only halfway through writing his article when the director of the social affairs department placed a notice from the publicity department in front of him with a regretful look on his face.

Then I heard a very powerful "Damn!"

“Hey, Tang the devil.” I turned to Liu Tang, who was sitting next to me and had straightened his neck because of that “damn”.

"Damn it, calling me that again. That's an insult to a nationalist!" His voice sounded weak and feeble now, a stark contrast to his earlier "damn it." Ever since this kid dyed his hair a dark red, he'd been linked to Liu Tang, the Red-Haired Devil from Liangshan Marsh.

"The notices from the publicity department usually arrive in the afternoon; it's mostly the editor-in-chief's office that's only now remembering to send them to the social affairs department."

"Damn, Yang Hua is so pitiful."

"I'll go comfort him." I stood up and walked over to Yang Hua's seat, but to my surprise, he was still typing nonstop.

"Hey, why are you still writing?"

"Why not write it?"

I immediately understood, and leaned down to whisper, "Give it to an outside newspaper? That would earn you more than the Morning Star."

Yang Hua's fingers flew across the screen: "No media in Shanghai dares to publish this, but many people in other provinces are interested."

I nodded. These days, any inconvenient information will be leaked to media outlets in other provinces. It's the same everywhere. That's how all the big news stories come about.

Later, I heard that Lan Tou verbally praised Yang Hua's journalistic spirit at the meeting, saying that he was an excellent journalist under the leadership of an excellent leader.

I'm planning to try something different tonight, so I bought two servings of pork rib rice cakes and half a pound of pan-fried dumplings. I wonder if Liu Er will like them.

I put the food on the dining table in the living room and went into the bedroom to call Liu Er.

He wasn't in the bedroom.

He wasn't in the study either.

I was startled and went back to the bedroom to check again with the light on. There really wasn't anything there.

He left? That's impossible. Where could he go looking like that?

Remembering Liang Yingwu's words, Liu Er's sudden departure actually made me feel much more at ease, but also somewhat empty.

"Pan-fried buns are delicious."