Trembling At A High Altitude

The director stopped.

Li Teng didn't ask anything more.

The two of them fell into a long silence.

"Didn't understand?" the director couldn't help but speak again.

"I understood, what you mean is, we're in a huge laboratory, and we're all lab rats in this laboratory, used to test some so-called 'meme', right?" Li Teng spoke up too. He had been pondering all this while.

"Yes, but all of this is just my conjecture and guesswork," the director nodded.

"To fight against genetic tyranny, you lock us in a laboratory to conduct various cruel experiments, and likewise, various individuals are sacrificed. It sounds like this meme is no better than genes. If that's the case, I'd rather continue to endure genetic tyranny," Li Teng muttered.

"You make a lot of sense, whether it's genes or memes, neither are good for us individuals," the director sighed.

"Thank you for telling me all this, it really is quite enlightening." Li Teng expressed his gratitude for the director's trust, but as for the viewpoints the director had previously expressed, he neither agreed nor disagreed. He needed to maintain his own independent and rational thinking.

"Telling you this is because I think you're smarter than me, you might think more and further. If we have the chance to meet again in the future, we can share our insights, and maybe we'll be able to uncover deeper aspects of Film and Television City," the director said with earnestness.

"Cough... I feel like I'm just a bricklayer, worrying about national affairs every day when what I should be most concerned about right now is where I'll have my next meal," Li Teng said, self-deprecatingly.

"The effort of one person is certainly limited, but what about the efforts of many people? Just like this time, if it wasn't for the combined efforts of you, me, even including Anna, and even Gao Fei, we wouldn't have been able to get the Supervision Department to notice Liu Huang's wrongdoings or ultimately take down a malevolent power like Liu Huang's. If we want to break free from the control of Film and Television City and return to our original lives, it's not something one person can achieve alone," the director spoke again.

"Right, the rise and fall of the nation is the responsibility of every individual." Li Teng replied to the director with a teasing tone, then lay down with his hands behind his head.

"Lying on the damp stone surface, you'll get sick," the director glanced at Li Teng.

"I'm tired, and I want to sleep," Li Teng was truly exhausted.

"You sleep then, I'll sit a while longer," the director obviously couldn't manage to fall asleep like Li Teng could in such harsh conditions.

After lying down, Li Teng quickly fell asleep.

…

In the later part of the night, Li Teng woke up.

He was roused by some movement at his side.

The sky had cleared, the moon was bright and the stars sparse, lighting up the stone pillars brightly.

It was the director's action of standing up that had woken Li Teng.

After she stood up, she glanced at Li Teng as though worried she had woken him.

Li Teng pretended to still be asleep and didn't move.

The director carefully tried to take off her down jumpsuit, after removing the upper part, she sat back on the top of the stone pillar, carefully removing the lower part.

Then, she covered Li Teng with it.

Li Teng felt a slight warmth in his heart. The top of the stone pillar was very cold in the latter half of the night. She wasn't wearing much, and by taking off the jumpsuit, she must have felt very cold; she probably thought Li Teng would be colder sleeping, so she took off her clothes to cover him.

Indeed, once she had taken it off, she immediately felt the cold, wrapping her arms around her own body.

Li Teng kept his body stiff and motionless, pretending still to be sound asleep, thinking in his mind how to convince her to sleep together, to huddle up for warmth.

Just when Li Teng was about to speak up, the director stood up again, cautiously.

Then she bent down to take another look at Li Teng.

Li Teng continued to pretend to be deep in sleep.

The director took a step toward the stone pillar and then reached down to his waist, slowly squatting down with his back to Li Teng.

Li Teng finally realized what she was doing.

As he watched the scene before him, Li Teng felt the genes within him stirring, seeking an opportunity to replicate.

Suddenly, the director turned her head around, her eyes meeting Li Teng's.

"The moon is so round tonight!" Li Teng exclaimed as he looked up at the sky.

"Are you awake?" The director was somewhat embarrassed and quickly stood up.

"It's not that scary, right? No need to waste a special rescue opportunity for something like this," Li Teng said to the director with a smile.

"I didn't want to wake you." The director looked to the side. How could it not be scary? Especially with a man lying right behind her.

It was not just scary, but also very awkward.

"The wind has been blowing for so long, the stone isn't that wet anymore. You should lie down and sleep for a bit too," Li Teng suggested to the director.

"No need," the director still shook her head, insisting on staying awake.

"Take off the mask. Here, no one cares whether you're beautiful or ugly, or whether you can control your feelings," Li Teng sat up and suggested to the director again.

"Alright." The director was silent for a while but eventually followed Li Teng's advice.

Li Teng curiously stared at the director. After such a long time, he had never seen her true face, and indeed, he was curious. Moreover, he didn't expect her to be so easily persuaded by him to take off the mask, which surprised Li Teng a little.

She couldn't be ugly, could she? Girls with fair skin couldn't be too ugly.

Li Teng had just seen how fair her complexion was.

"What are you looking at?" The director, who was about to take off her mask, paused.

"The moon is so round tonight!" Li Teng looked up at the sky again.

The director hesitated for a while longer, but finally took off the mask.

Li Teng hurriedly took another look at the director.

It was like men in the street; because everyone is clothed, those more lecherous men are curious about what is wrapped underneath their clothes.

But if all women went around without clothes, free for anyone to look, those lecherous men wouldn't be so curious, and after seeing too many with unattractive figures, they might even feel nauseated.

Because the director always wore a mask, Li Teng was curious about what she looked like.

Same principle.

The director, realizing Li Teng was staring at her, rolled her eyes at him, yet her expression carried a hint of shyness.

"Actually, you're not ugly at all!" Li Teng commented.

The director indeed was not ugly, possessing a serene and elegant classical beauty, perfect for playing the role of an ancient beauty. It was similar to the image and temperament of a certain female protagonist that Li Teng envisioned while reading one of the Four Great Classical Novels.

So being a Wen Qing was not surprising.

"Is it up to you to say if someone is ugly or not?" The director reproached Li Teng.

"Half-drawn Xiang curtain half-shielding the door, ground ice for soil, jade for a basin. Stolen are pear blossoms' three parts white, borrowed is the plum's soulful fragrance. Moon grotto fairies sew silken robes, autumn boudoir's lady dries her tear stains. Modest and speechless, with whom shall she confide? Weary, leaning on the western wind, night has already dimmed." Li Teng looked up to the sky and recited a poem.

Following what the director had said earlier, Li Teng's act of reciting poetry was also his genes at play—trying to showcase talents, flatter her, captivate the genes within her, and then replicate together or something like that.

It can't be helped, who makes humans the slaves of genes?