Chapter 00004: That Girl
# That Girl
Chapter 4
Novel: After the Myth
Chapter 4: That Girl
After leaving the school, Ding Huan quickly turned onto a path he rarely took, remembering something important.
In his previous life, on this very day, he had been deeply disappointed after failing to secure a position as a teaching assistant at Heluo Shangwu University.
Even when he was stripped of his status as the heir to the Baiyu Group by Ding Jie, he hadn't felt such despair.
So, he had gone to a small restaurant near the school to drown his sorrows in alcohol.
Just as he stepped out of the restaurant, a car hit him.
He heard someone shout, "Quick, take him to the hospital!" But when he woke up, he wasn't in a hospital.
Instead, he found himself lying beside a garbage dump.
His legs had been broken, but that wasn't the worst of it.
The most horrifying part was that his eyes had been gouged out.
If it hadn't been for the old man who collected garbage, he would have had no future after that day.
On a planet where genetic mutations and ferocious beasts ran rampant, the death of an insignificant student like him wouldn't even make the news for more than a few minutes.
Even the destruction of an entire town by beasts would barely warrant a mention on the evening news.
The old man who picked him up took him to some unknown place.
Ding Huan remembered the old man saying, "This kid is one of the rare hetero-gene affinity types, with an affinity rate of at least 80%. If you want him, he's worth a thousand alliance coins."
At the time, Ding Huan couldn't speak, but he heard the old man's words clearly.
He knew he wasn't a hetero-gene affinity type.
Such individuals could not only fuse with most gene serums but also had a much lower chance of dying when exposed to faulty gene serums.
In short, they were perfect for testing new gene drugs.
This made them incredibly valuable.
With the proliferation of gene serums, truly effective ones were rare.
Every time a new gene serum was developed, it needed to be tested.
Each successful gene serum was like a money-printing machine.
A thousand alliance coins to buy a true hetero-gene affinity type? That was a dream.
Even with his legs broken and eyes gone, Ding Huan was immediately taken from the old man.
Ding Huan suddenly thought of that old man.
The garbage collector was definitely not ordinary because, later on, he realized he truly was a hetero-gene affinity type.
A taxi approached from the distance, and Ding Huan flagged it down.
No matter who wanted him dead or who that old man was, he needed to leave immediately.
"Where to?" the driver asked.
"Qianjiang Gate," Ding Huan replied.
It would take about twenty minutes to get to Qianjiang Gate from where they were.
As the taxi neared the destination, Ding Huan suddenly said, "Stop here, driver. I'll walk the rest of the way. I need to buy something first."
Concerned for his life, Ding Huan had to be cautious.
After getting out of the taxi, Ding Huan quickly entered a relatively crowded street.
An hour and a half later, he arrived at Yujiang University.
...
"You're here to report?" A middle-aged woman in the personnel office of Yujiang University stared at Ding Huan in disbelief, wondering where this guy had come from.
Yujiang University was on the brink of collapse, unable to even pay salaries.
Yet, here was someone coming to report for duty?
Ding Huan placed his identification and assignment letter in front of the woman, smiling warmly.
"Sister, do you think this assignment letter allows me to report?"
The woman subconsciously touched her face.
"Sister?" This handsome young man calling her "sister" was quite flattering.
She glanced at the documents Ding Huan had presented and said, "Do you even need an assignment letter to join Yujiang University now? With a graduation certificate from Heluo Shangwu University, you're guaranteed a position as a teaching assistant. But let me be clear, the school's finances are tight, so you won't be getting a salary for now."
Not just Ding Huan, even she hadn't been paid in a while.
The only people still at Yujiang University were those who stayed out of loyalty or because they had nowhere else to go.
Most were waiting for the day Yujiang University would merge with another institution, hoping to become employees of that new school.
"Is there a place to stay?" Ding Huan knew there wouldn't be any salary here.
"Plenty of places to stay. You can eat in the cafeteria too, but it's not free," the woman said as she handed Ding Huan the employment forms.
The registration went smoothly.
Even if Yujiang University was once prestigious, no one would come to report for duty right after leaving school.
Since Yujiang University had many empty buildings, Ding Huan could even move into a small row house.
Of course, there were dozens of such houses in a row.
Yujiang University might be at the bottom in terms of rankings and academic disciplines, but in terms of area, it ranked in the top ten nationwide.
This was because Yujiang University was located in the suburbs of Heluo City, not far from Qianluo Mountain.
As long as the university was willing, it could expand further into the mountain.
Yujiang University had done just that.
When the budget allowed, they expanded into Qianluo Mountain every few years, building rows of villas and independent houses to attract talent.
Unfortunately, the Earth's environment had changed.
Genetic mutations in plants and animals, along with the rise of ferocious beasts, had shattered Yujiang University's bright prospects.
Across the globe, countless villages had been wiped out by beasts, forcing humans to gather in cities.
Regardless of size, every city that still existed had to build protective walls.
Smaller cities might have simple walls, but larger cities like Heluo had laser net walls and cutting-ray barriers.
Yujiang University, located on the city's edge, was protected by these walls.
However, if a beast tide broke out, it would be the first to bear the brunt.
Coupled with poor management, the talent Yujiang University had worked so hard to attract had left, leaving many buildings empty.
...
After the middle-aged woman who showed Ding Huan to his new place left, he took a look around his small courtyard.
It was indeed small, no more than twenty square meters.
Inside, the house had one bedroom, one living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom.
There was a bed with bedding, and the kitchen had pots and pans left by the previous occupant.
For Ding Huan, this was more than enough.
Sitting on the bed, Ding Huan finally relaxed.
At least today, he wouldn't suffer the same tragedy as in his previous life—having his legs broken and eyes gouged out.
The tension in his nerves eased.
Once his mind relaxed, Ding Huan couldn't help but wonder who had wanted him dead in his previous life.
At first, he had thought it was Ding Jie.
But after much reflection, he felt Ding Jie had no reason to kill him.
Ding Jie, adopted by his father, had already legally taken control of the Baiyu Group after his father's disappearance.
Killing Ding Huan seemed unnecessary.
But who was that garbage-collecting old man? In this era, it was unthinkable for a stranger to save someone from a garbage dump.
Of course, the old man hadn't saved him out of kindness.
He had sold Ding Huan to an unknown organization.
What was that organization? Why had he woken up in a branch of the Gene Alliance? Had the organization sold him to the Gene Alliance? And how had the old man known he was a hetero-gene affinity type?
These questions swirled in Ding Huan's mind, leaving him confused.
He didn't feel grateful to the Gene Alliance.
They had saved him only because he was a hetero-gene affinity type.
After being saved, he could have died an even more miserable death.
In his previous life, at the Gene Alliance, Ding Huan had seen too many test subjects die horribly after failed gene fusions—bodies exploding, heads bursting, flesh rotting...
For a gene test subject, a peaceful death might have been the best outcome.
Ding Huan's thoughts suddenly stopped, focusing on a voice he could never forget...
"After I die, please donate my eyes to him. He's so young. Let him see the beauty of the world through my eyes..."
Ding Huan clenched his fists.
He didn't know her name, her background, or what she looked like.
But her voice, filled with despair yet holding a glimmer of hope, was forever etched in his memory.
It had been half a year after he was sent to the Gene Alliance.
His legs had mostly healed from the surgery, but he was still lying in the lab.
Even without fully recovered legs and no eyes, he was still subjected to regular gene serum fusions.
Despite undergoing numerous gene fusion experiments without his body failing, Ding Huan's spirit had long since died.
Almost every day, someone died a gruesome death from failed gene fusions.
Ding Huan knew he could be next.
One day, about half a year later, Ding Huan heard several people enter the lab.
This was routine.
Apart from him, most gene fusion test subjects didn't last more than a month.
Newcomers were constantly brought in.
Among the newcomers was a woman.
When she saw Ding Huan, her voice trembled with tears, "Why are they so cruel? Not only did they break his legs, but they also gouged out his eyes. He's so young..."
No one answered her.
She didn't seem to realize that she, too, was a tragic figure, destined to die in this lab.
Despite her own suffering, she couldn't bear to see others in pain.
Perhaps seeing Ding Huan resonated with her own tragic fate.
For the first time, Ding Huan's numb heart was stirred.
Before this, he had known that all his friends and classmates had only befriended him for his family's status.
Apart from his mother, whom he had never known, the only person who truly cared for him was his father, Ding Baishan.
Today, he realized there was another stranger who had cried for him.
Ding Huan could only hope that this girl, like him, undergoing gene experiments, would survive.
But fate was not kind to her.
Like many others, her first gene fusion ended in failure.
Ding Huan didn't know which gene she had been testing, but he could feel her despair and pain as she died.
Even in her final moments, she whispered, "After I die, please donate my eyes to him. He's so young. Let him see the beauty of the world through my eyes..."
Everyone knew she was talking about Ding Huan.
Though he had never seen her face, her voice told him she was young too.
Ding Huan's empty eye sockets felt sore.
In this world, there was still a stranger willing to give him her eyes.
From that moment, her voice was forever engraved in Ding Huan's heart.
It was the most precious sound he had ever heard.
And from that moment, Ding Huan decided to live—not just for himself, but for that girl whose name and face he never knew.
He would live to see the beauty of the world through her eyes.
(Please support with recommendation votes! Thanks to old friend Yingyuan Di Liming for the alliance leader support.
Yingyuan Di Liming is also a silver alliance leader of our "Abandoned Universe.")
(End of Chapter)