Thirty-Six opened the exit's iron gate, which creaked loudly from years without maintenance.
Though the sun had not yet risen, the sky was already brightly lit, and the glow of dawn was showing in the East.
He had carefully chosen this time, for after having stayed so long underground, he likely couldn't have tolerated intense sunlight.
Not far from the exit stood an off-road vehicle, where Jiang Yu was leaning against the car, smoking, and chatting with Jiang Shiliu, who had his arms folded.
Thirty-Six knew about Sixteen's name change to Jiang Shiliu.
This meant that he had developed a sense of belonging to this world.
Jiang Yu was the first to notice Thirty-Six and waved to him in greeting.
Now, Thirty-Six too had grown up, his face showing fewer of the retrograde signs; he was just very thin, appearing somewhat malnourished.
There were also Thirty-Six's worn and ill-fitting clothes, and his tattered backpack, making him look every bit the refugee.
Jiang Shiliu smiled, "Have you finally figured things out?"
Thirty-Six shook his head weakly, "No, just nothing left here to linger for."
Perhaps due to years of speaking infrequently, he had to consciously enunciate to produce the right sounds.
Jiang Shiliu seemed to understand something and glanced deeply in the direction of the iron gate, "Get in the car!"
The three of them got into the back seat, and the driver set off with the off-road vehicle, joining the convoy of armed police, heading towards the airport.
Jiang Yu said to Thirty-Six, "You should be resting, but I'm just about to make a trip to the Great Northwest, and you're coming with me."
Thirty-Six nodded, "No problem."
Jiang Yu asked another question, "We haven't seen each other in five years; have you reached any new conclusions in your thinking?"
"Our future lies in space!" Thirty-Six said slowly, "We came from space, and we will return to space. It's like the Buddhist concept of 'entering into the world'; having gone through great cultivation, we will certainly achieve tremendous results."
Jiang Yu was somewhat surprised, "Weren't you reflecting on wisdom? How did you jump to life itself?"
Thirty-Six said expressionlessly, "Humanity belongs to a very insignificant form of life; wisdom is just a small part of life.
"The subject I've always been thinking about is life; thoughts about wisdom merely came with the flow.
"If wisdom is to be further enhanced, it must go to the vastness of space, to re-experience its coldness and cruelty."
Jiang Shiliu, however, asked, "You seem to be quite certain that we come from space."
Thirty-Six pulled out a photograph from his ragged bag.
Jiang Yu was startled; the photo depicted a strange-looking figure.
Behind a pane of glass, his skin turned a greyish-black, resembling an exoskeleton.
His eyes were bulged out, his eyeballs resembling those of a dead fish.
His nose and mouth were unusually lengthy, akin to the peculiar head of a bird species.
Jiang Shiliu immediately recognized him, "Isn't that, isn't that Thirty-Nine?"
Thirty-Six nodded, "Look at his facial features; in a vacuum, they can seal instantly.
"Long ago, ETO conducted an experiment at the base, and Thirty-Nine could be exposed to the vacuum of space for five minutes without any threat to his bodily functions!
"Look at his skin; it's very special—not only can it instantly create a sealed environment, but it also withstands high temperatures and radiation!
"But he can only survive in a sterile environment; otherwise, Earth's bacteria would quickly kill him.
"Over a month ago, he committed suicide because the growth rate of his skin was too slow; his muscles and organs had already filled up the space inside his skin."
"This caused him unbearable torment, and he ultimately shattered the glass cover that protected himself."
Jiang Yu looked at Thirty-Six for a long time without speaking, not expecting ETO to have such a special test subject.
Thirty-Six said indifferently, "I guess the research done by the Trisolarans at the scientific base was not just about transferring Genetic Modification Technology to ETO—it was that simple!"
"They must be using this technology as bait, searching for the hidden powers deep within a life form's genes!"
"That's why they deleted all the research data in the end."
He pointed at Jiang Shiliu, "You and I are both lucky; our genetic mutations are not significant."
"I think you must remember those subjects who grew animal organs and died young."
"Although we have evolved to humanity's level, in our genetic memory, there still lies the memory of the process of evolution and its breadth."
"If I'm not mistaken, the farther back this memory goes, the harder it is to find."
Jiang Yu gestured, asking Thirty-Six to wait a moment before continuing, as he needed time to digest the information.
Jiang Yu had to admit that every deep conversation with Thirty-Six revealed that Thirty-Six's thinking was entirely beyond his own scope of consideration.
After thinking for a while, he said, "So, you're suggesting that our genes actually store all the memories from the evolutionary process of life?"
"It's not exactly storing," Thirty-Six corrected, "It's more like a record of the biological state, completely different from the way we have recall or memory."
"For example, if we want to understand the origin of the appendix within our internal organs, given the right methods, we could use genetic technologies to trace its origin."
"Genes are like a designer, with different cells in different organs of the human body all dividing and growing according to its design."
"So, if we could communicate with this designer, we could get the 'blueprints' of the human cell."
"The human body, this complex organism, is considered a rather high-end 'product'."
"The designer probably still keeps the design drafts of the 'lower-end products' as well; if we use the right method, we might also get the design drafts of the 'lower-end products'."
"This theory is kind of similar to Sixteen, oh, Jiang Shiliu's 'Information Convergence Point' theory."
"I believe that genes are 'Information Convergence Points' in terms of life, that even within our three-dimensionality, we can access all information about life."
Jiang Yu couldn't help but ask, "Are genes really that miraculous?"
He always thought genes were just for curing diseases, cosmetic purposes and stuff; could they also possess such vast power?
Thirty-Six replied, "The Trisolarans have already proven this point for us; it seems they haven't yet found the correct method to unlock this power, which is why they used a random approach to use us, the forty people, as test subjects."
"After this round of experiments, it's unknown whether they found the method or not?"
Then he returned to the main topic, "Thirty-Nine was an exception. It seems that the genetic memory about the state of space was awakened in him, so his body was constructed to survive in space."
"Unfortunately, he was born on Earth, doomed to die in agony."
"From Thirty-Nine, I can almost infer that life also has its forms in space, but they should be completely different from our life forms."
Jiang Yu laughed, "What an eye-opener!"
Then he asked, "Why don't the Trisolarans experiment on their own planet? Why do they conduct experiments here on Earth?"
"I would guess they don't have as many moral constraints as we do when it comes to becoming stronger, right?"
Thirty-Six said, "I suspect that in their struggle to survive, they have already exhausted all the 'thickness' of their life!"