Volume 8: A Trip to the Sick Village Chapter 358: Second Generation of Citizens
This was a young woman with long, messy hair that was so dirty that it had clumped together and hung down, emitting a strange greasy smell... Her radiation sickness symptoms did not seem to be too severe. At least her hair had not fallen out, which was rare in this sick village where most people were bald.
"Yes... yes, what about you?" Ke Lan asked.
"I came here three months ago." The woman's eyes rolled around, as if searching for something on Ke Lan. "Do you have anything to eat?"
"No." Ke Lan shook her head.
The woman uttered "huh" in annoyance and retracted her head.
"Can I ask you something?" Ke Lan reached out, knocked on the shelf of the upper bunk, and asked in a low voice.
The other party did not respond, but just turned over in the bunk. Ke Lan could vaguely hear the rustling sound of the bedding.
"I have no food, only this." Ke Lan took out a white round medicine from her secret bag and handed it over.
It was a painkiller that was once very common on the Ark. It was cheap, and a box of 100 tablets only cost more than 60 credit points. However, because it was highly addictive and had hallucinogenic effects when taken in large quantities, it was officially listed as a controlled drug by the Ark more than a decade ago. Although it was not discontinued, it was no longer available in regular pharmacies except for some special channels, and the price on the black market had increased several times.
The pill that Ke Lan handed over was snatched away in an instant. Because of the violent action, the woman's nails even scratched two shallow red marks on Ke Lan's wrist.
"This thing...where did you get it?!" There was uncontrollable excitement in the woman's voice.
"I, I stole it from the ship." Ke Lan lowered her voice even more, and the tone of worry about being discovered could be said to be perfectly disguised.
"Do you have any more?" There was another noise from the upper bunk. The woman's head popped down again, staring at Ke Lan with bloodshot eyes, "Give it to me!"
"I only have two pieces left." Ke Lan pretended to be reluctant.
"Give it all to me! Hurry!" the woman said sternly, "Otherwise I will report you to the priest for hiding precious supplies!"
As she spoke, she simply climbed down from the upper bunk and squeezed in front of Ke Lan: "Take it out!"
The woman was very thin, her arms were skinny and looked like a piece of dead wood. She was wearing a T-shirt that was so dirty that its original color could hardly be seen. It was also extremely ill-fitting. The T-shirt was at least three or four sizes too large, which further highlighted her thinness... and apart from this T-shirt, she was wearing nothing on the lower half of her body. Her exposed legs were covered with sores and blemishes. The nails of all ten toes had fallen off, and the toes were covered in blood.
Ke Lan hesitated for a moment, took out two more painkillers and handed them to her.
The woman snatched it away and threw it into her mouth together with the previous piece. She swallowed it down without even taking any water.
"Since you are sensible, I will give you a piece of advice. In this place, don't mess with the 'second generation people'." The woman's eyes when she looked at Ke Lan were finally no longer as fierce as before. She took a breath and sat down on Ke Lan's bunk.
"'Second generation people'? What does that mean?"
"They are people who were born in this hellhole. They grew up here and have never seen the Ark or Alpha. These people are like wild beasts. If you look at them for a few more times, they might kill you. If you want to survive, when you meet the 'second generation people', you should lie on the ground, lower your head, and never look at them."
After listening to the other party's explanation, Ke Lan finally understood what the "second-generation people" meant - unlike people like them who were sent to the space station by transport ships, the second-generation people refer to the true "indigenous people" who were born in this space station. These people have never had contact with human society, and it is even more impossible for them to have received any normal education. They basically do not have the moral concepts of normal humans in civilized society, so it is not surprising that they are cruel by nature.
But the strange thing is that the existence of the "second generation of people" itself is not a very reasonable thing.
Most of the miners who suffered from radiation sickness, both men and women, would lose their fertility. Even pregnant women who were already pregnant would miscarry as the disease progressed after they contracted radiation sickness. Even if they did not miscarry, even if the pregnant women lived to give birth, the fetuses would be deformed and the probability of premature death was almost 100%.
Even if there are one or two special examples occasionally, they are extremely rare cases. However, judging from what this woman said, it seems that the number of "second-generation citizens" on this space station is not small.
How did these "second generation" mothers get pregnant? And how did the fetuses survive and grow up in such a harsh environment? Ke Lan couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation no matter how hard she thought.
"Then... that 'priest', and the tall guy following the 'priest', are they 'second-generation citizens'?" Ke Lan tried to ask the woman.
“I don’t know,” the woman replied.
"Then how can I tell whether a person is a 'second-generation citizen'? If a 'second-generation citizen' looks similar to us, and I accidentally offend him, won't I die unjustly?" Ke Lan asked repeatedly.
"Why do you have so many questions?" The woman began to get impatient, but considering the three painkillers, she still answered Ke Lan's questions. "Generally speaking, the 'second generation people' look different from us... In other words, they don't look like humans. In addition, if the 'second generation people' get close to you, your skin will feel a tingling sensation. The closer the distance, the more obvious the tingling. At that time, you just need to kneel down and don't do anything else. Although sometimes they don't need a reason to kill people, if you dare to bump into them, you will be dead."
When you get close to a "second generation citizen", your skin will feel stinging? This should be due to radiation. It seems that every second generation citizen is a mobile strong radiation source, perhaps a creature like a ghoul...
However, in all the existing information related to ghouls, all ghouls without exception are transformed from healthy humans. Ghouls themselves are infertile, and humans exposed to radiation will not directly give birth to ghouls.
"Oh, that's right." The woman seemed to have thought of something again, "You must never say the name 'Second Generation Citizen' in front of them. In short, it's best not to talk to them when you meet them. If you must talk, remember to call them 'Sons of God'."
Son of God? Offspring of that great god?
Could it be that... the second generation of people on the space station were all born from that thing?
Ke Lan was stunned for a moment, but at this moment, the woman suddenly pounced on him and pressed him down on the bed!
Ke Lan had a chance to react, but because he was worried that the noise would be too loud and attract other people's attention, he did not take any resistance measures, but just pressed the secret pocket on the inside of his clothes with his elbow.
"You still have those pills, don't you? You're lying to me!"
The woman asked in a low voice. At the same time, her hand had already reached into Ke Lan's clothes and frantically groped around...
