Chapter 44: Someone Passed Away
Chapter 44: Someone Passed Away
The Year 52.
In that year, Qin Yu turned fifty.
By the life expectancy standards of this era, this age was beginning to enter middle age.
It seemed those above genuinely worried that Qin Yu focused entirely on research, neglecting his personal life.
So, during the Senior Leader’s visit to Research Institute 011 this time, he earnestly discussed this matter with Qin Yu.
However, after Qin Yu expressed that he truly had no intention of marrying, wishing solely to focus on the endeavors of this life,
those above respected his decision and never raised the issue again.
Particularly because in this era, people’s perception of marriage itself had fundamentally shifted.
In a lifespan of one hundred and eighty years, some marriages might last a hundred and fifty or even a hundred and sixty years,
but such cases likely weren’t the norm.
Therefore, in this era, the boundary between romance and marriage had become massively blurred.
Marriage was no longer a necessary thing.
Couple that with the prevalence of Collective Social Rearing, and traditional family structures also suffered severe impact.
Conversely, this further eroded the necessity of marriage itself.
Of course, for Qin Yu, there was another consideration.
If he were to marry, should he have biological children with a partner?
Never mind whether his state of Absolute Immortality created ‘reproductive isolation’ from a normal person.
Simply put, if descendants carrying his blood walked this world,
should he concern himself with their survival? And if so, how long? A hundred years? A thousand? Ten thousand?
Rather than bother with such vexing questions, it was better to avoid the situation entirely.
After all,
Reproduction is often a substitute for ‘survival’.
Yet he possessed Absolute Immortality. There was absolutely no need for him to produce the next generation.
…
That year, the first group of children raised by Collective Social Reaching, numbering over three million, also turned twenty.
Although in this time, people further extended their period of education –
only reaching their thirties did students typically complete university studies and enter society –
these three million twenty-year-olds remained mostly in school.
However, as this generation matured,
debates between the advocates of Collective Social Reaching (CSR) and Family Rearing (FR) became increasingly fierce throughout Huaxia Nation, even across Human Civilization.
CSR supporters called FR supporters leftovers who should be swept into the garbage bin of history, stupid, stubborn antiques.
FR supporters claimed CSR-raised children, motherless and fatherless, lacking genuine social bonds, were naturally potential disruptive elements.
CSR supporters countered that CSR children were true ‘property-less citizens’ at birth. FR supporters, they argued, were just people with “thrones to inherit”.
FR supporters retorted that raising their own children was entirely their freedom.
CSR advocates furiously accused FR backers of being controlling maniacs who didn’t see children as individuals, treating them as pure possessions.
FR advocates, in turn, vehemently denounced CSR proponents for tearing society apart, destroying the natural ties binding its members.
Between these two sides,
a decisive victory obviously wouldn’t be reached anytime soon.
However, in these years of debate,
the CSR faction, advocating for socialized rearing, consistently held the upper hand.
Crucially, most people who had chosen family rearing or planned to do so,
still supported the existence of the Collective Social Rearing system.
Because they understood clearly: in a society where CSR was prevalent and used by the vast majority,
society itself would necessarily be fairer.
They also knew that, compared to a CSR society, their own children might be disadvantaged in a traditional family-based society.
The core conflict, the real point of argument between them and the CSR advocates, was simply this:
They were unwilling to give up the chance to have their own biological child.
They wanted a better world, yes, but also wanted themselves or their descendants to enjoy their share of the benefits it brought.
…
That year, in September.
Qin Yu received a very special gift.
A crate of fruit. A sack of rice.
The fruit packaging was extremely sturdy, having traveled a long, complicated route to reach him.
The rice was new harvest, long grains, very plump.
Both items came from the large-scale cultivation plots in Shuling City.
Specifically, from the vast lands outside Shuling City – once barren desert, later transformed into fertile soil by the Yu-type Bacteria.
Some of this land had been reforested; some was used for farming.
After completing the massive desertification-control project around Shuling City, the project’s Shuling City section unit,
directly transitioned on-site into an official agricultural company. Its role was to cultivate these lands and, crucially, to maintain and sustain the improved soil, preventing its return to desert.
The promise made by that desert control project leader back then,
though Qin Yu hadn’t returned to Shuling City much recently,
they still found a way to send him products grown from that revitalized land.
Because Research Institute 011 remained classified,
while the whole world knew such a place existed, few knew its actual name – Research Institute 011.
Besides those with clearance, hardly anyone knew its location.
Therefore, the crate and the sack first ended up at Lingchuan University.
Qin Yu still held the title of Professor at Lingchuan University, even if he rarely worked there any more.
From Lingchuan University, it was forwarded to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Finally, it was brought to Research Institute 011 when Academician Shen Yaoguo next visited Qin Yu.
Remarkably, even the fruit remained fresh.
When Qin Yu opened the crate now, the contents were still intact, perfectly preserved, without the slightest bruise.
Inside were several apples and several pears.
Qin Yu took out two, ate one himself, and casually offered the other to his life assistant nearby, Wei Muyun.
“Isn’t this apple too precious? Is it right for me to eat it?”
Wei Muyun exclaimed with surprise, accepted it with both hands, then asked.
The fruit itself wasn’t worth much money, but the meaning of this box was truly extraordinary.
“Go ahead and eat, everyone present gets to share. After eating, please take the rest and distribute it to the researchers in Institute 011 who previously worked on the Yu-type Bacteria. It’s not much, just let whoever gets it first eat it.”
“Alright, Professor Qin.”
Hearing Qin Yu say this, Wei Muyun didn’t act coy,
but she wasn’t in a rush to eat the apple in her hand either, first busying herself with what Qin Yu had asked her to do.
Qin Yu didn’t pay any attention to these matters.
There was no need to worry about the safety of the fruit here, anyway.
Before it reached his hands, this fruit had surely been checked many times.
Holding the pear, he just wiped it off, not bothered.
Qin Yu directly took a bite.
It was very juicy.
Although the taste might not necessarily be better than other pears,
it had a unique flavor and seemed particularly refreshing.
Holding the pear, Qin Yu narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled.
Even Qin Yu felt a bit of accomplishment right then.
Hah, Qin Yu the genius biologist, seemed pretty decent.
…
“Assistant Wei, what do you think of the achievements I’ve made in my life?”
Waiting until Wei Muyun returned from outside later, she saw Qin Yu had already finished that pear he was eating.
He seemed to be thinking about something.
Wei Muyun hadn’t planned to disturb his thoughts, until Qin Yu suddenly asked the question.
She stopped what she was doing, then paused again for a moment.
She didn’t know why Professor Qin Yu would suddenly ask such a question. She could only think carefully before answering cautiously,
“Professor Qin, you are still very young. At fifty years old, in this day and age, you haven’t even fully entered middle age yet. Judging your entire life’s work seems a bit too early, doesn’t it?”
“I believe, and many others believe, that in the future, Professor Qin, you will achieve even more breakthroughs.”
Qin Yu smiled at her words but said nothing.
Wei Muyun looked at Qin Yu, thought for a moment, and then added,
“Of course, speaking just from now, Professor Qin, you are already undoubtedly the most outstanding scholar in the field of life sciences in this century, indeed perhaps ever. Most of your accomplishments are goals that excellent scientists might not reach in their entire lifetimes. If I really had to find one word to sum up your achievements, I would say, you are a giant, a great man, a giant in the scientific world, specifically the field of life sciences.”
Wei Muyun spoke from her heart.
This was essentially, the impression most people in this era held of Qin Yu.
Hearing this, Qin Yu smiled again.
“Professor Qin Yu, can I ask why you brought this up so suddenly?”
“It’s nothing. Fifty years old, just looking back on the past a little.”
He asked this,
of course, because Qin Yu felt it was time to consider stepping back from this life.
Or to be more direct.
Having lived fifty years in this life, Qin Yu felt a little ‘tired of living’.
Perhaps it was knowing that his future held an extremely long time,
while others might fear death approaching,
he knew clearly that decades had passed, yet he hadn’t actually moved a step closer to death.
He also knew he would have more exciting, more varied life experiences in the future.
But now, the identity of the genius biologist, the Father of Human Longevity Technology, constrained him too much.
To be precise, it wasn’t that he was tired of living, but just tired of continuing life in this particular identity.
Under the titles of Father of Human Longevity Technology and Father of the Human Reproduction Device,
even though only decades had passed, Qin Yu had already done enough.
As for how to make his ‘exit’ from this life,
Qin Yu chose ‘natural aging and death’.
While some darkly humorous ideas were interesting, any of them seemed likely to cause chaos across the whole world.
For Qin Yu, he could accept some chaos in the world, but there was really no need to create it.
Natural ‘death’ from aging suited him just fine.
During this process of ‘aging and dying’, he could still do a few more things.
Make some arrangements, and perhaps write a book?
“Assistant Wei, help me record and arrange something to notify people. Come to think of it, I’ve always held the title of Professor, but I never properly taught any students all these years. In the next year or two, I’ll take on a few students.”
Qin Yu spoke up then, addressing Wei Muyun again.
Wei Muyun paused in surprise once more.
She seemed quite taken aback today, as Qin Yu’s words constantly surprised her.
Professor Qin wanted to take students?
If she hadn’t known it wasn’t suitable, she would have asked if she could be one of Qin Yu’s students.
It was no exaggeration to say that with Qin Yu’s current achievements, becoming his student was something worthy of being written on a person’s tombstone.
“I remember the first batch of children raised under Collective Social Rearing should be around twenty this year? During the preliminary screening, we can pay a bit more attention to them.”
“Alright, I understand, Professor Qin.”
Once she recovered her composure, Wei Muyun nodded quickly in agreement.
…
Of course,
that year when he was fifty, Qin Yu didn’t actually immediately take on a student.
For him, it wasn’t urgent. If he found someone suitable, he would teach them and guide them a bit. If not, then forget it.
Instead, starting from that year,
Qin Yu began writing a book.
He called it “Life Science”,
a sort of academic work.
Just like the researchers at Institute 011 had once said,
Qin Yu, standing at the very pinnacle of the entire field of life sciences, was quite well-suited to teaching.
And just as the academic world noted, right then, Institute 011’s lead in the field of life sciences over the broader academia was so vast it constituted a generational gap.
Well then, before his exit, the genius biologist Qin Yu could leave a bit more for the world.
He could build a more complete theoretical structure for life science, on top of existing knowledge?
Honestly, the significance of this for the world might not be any less than the concrete research results he had produced earlier.
Moreover, at this time in history, there likely wasn’t anyone else more suitable for this task than him.
In just a few decades,
Qin Yu’s ‘Super Brain’ had allowed him to master almost all known knowledge across the various branches of the field of life sciences.
Furthermore, from the 2611 Longevity Injection, to the birth of the Yu-type Bacteria, to Gravity Protective Fluid, each signified that Qin Yu had pushed the boundaries of existing knowledge outward quite a bit.
This academic work, once completed, might really refresh the academic world’s overall understanding of life science.
Qin Yu had stood on the shoulders of giants in the past to do his research.
Now, it was time to let future generations stand on his shoulders too.
Of course,
Qin Yu wasn’t in any great rush to finish this academic work.
After all, as Wei Muyun had said, he was only fifty that year, and this life still had much time left.
He hadn’t completely withdrawn from research work, so in the years ahead, more new ideas and discoveries were bound to appear.
For Qin Yu, he could take it slow with the writing.
When he felt like tossing this academic work out into the world, he would simply throw it out.
…
Year 60.
Qin Yu applied to add two more institutes within the Negentropy Research Institute:
a Materials Research Institute and a Geological Research Institute.
Before his exit, Qin Yu definitely wanted to build the initial ‘framework’ for this Negentropy Research Institute he’d always led.
His request was approved directly from above, without any fuss.
Essentially, because it didn’t really cause any loss.
The research projects the Negentropy Research Institute would undertake were ones the Huaxia Nation needed to push forward anyway.
Although, within the Negentropy Research Institute, because of its founding ideas, it had certain… inclinations.
For example, its Geological Institute might prioritize researching geological disasters, with the long-term goal certainly being to discover and understand their patterns.
The Materials Research Institute was just what it sounded like.
Except, at that stage, the materials team at Negentropy mainly worked with Institute 011 to conduct research on bio-materials.
Then next,
Year 64.
That year, someone Qin Yu knew passed away.
This person was Qin Yu’s own graduate advisor, Professor Chen Anmin.
As the first person in the world to use the 2611 Longevity Injection,
Professor Chen Anmin had already lived much longer than most in the era before the 2611 Longevity Injection became common,
but had ultimately reached the end of his lifespan.
Before Professor Chen Anmin passed away, Qin Yu had gone to visit him.