Chapter 50: We Once Briefly Defeated Death
Chapter 50: We Once Briefly Defeated Death
The impact of Qin Yu’s death spread from within Huaxia Nation to outside Huaxia Nation and throughout the entire world in a very short time.
Perhaps, since the start of this century and for a long time after, it would be hard to find any event that had such a big effect.
This news grabbed the attention center of all people around the world.
On the internet and in real life, it was overwhelming everywhere. For a while, it seemed you could only see news about Professor Qin Yu’s death and hear discussions linked to Professor Qin Yu.
Feelings of sadness, regret, and even shock spread all over the world.
Not everyone felt great pain over Qin Yu’s passing.
But almost all people felt dazed when they heard the news of his death.
People had seemed to forget by instinct in the past that Professor Qin Yu could die too.
In this era, in the world’s major media, whenever the name Qin Yu was mentioned, it always meant Professor Qin Yu.
Professor Qin Yu was not just a symbol of an era, but the one who made that era.
It was Professor Qin Yu and his research that shaped the world and Human Civilization as it is now.
At this moment, Professor Qin Yu’s death meant the end of an era for all people.
North Bear Nation’s news agency also reported the news of Qin Yu’s death as soon as possible.
Their report article was titled ‘We Once Briefly Defeated Death’.
Starting from the 2611 Longevity Injection, it summarized the great things Qin Yu did as a scholar in the Field of Life Sciences.
The report article wrote:
‘We, under Professor Qin Yu’s leadership, once briefly defeated death. Even now, with Professor Qin Yu taken from this world by death, it cannot be denied that this was a big win for people against death, for life against death.’
‘We believe Professor Qin Yu opened the start of fully defeating death for us, even though we haven’t yet found the path he left!’
‘Professor Qin Yu was a warrior who stood against death! He was a great science worker, researcher, and biologist!’
‘We must mourn and remember Professor Qin Yu’s leaving with heavy hearts!’
Perhaps when Qin Yu was still ‘alive’, some people outside Huaxia Nation often ‘complained a lot’ about him.
But now, after news of Qin Yu‘s death spread, parties all over the world seemed to start giving him praise freely.
Another party in the HCC, Moon Nation, also reported on the news.
They titled their report ‘The End of the Life Science Era’.
In the report, it wrote:
‘Professor Qin Yu left valuable treasures for this world; he made a whole new Field of Life Sciences and a fresh world.’
‘All he left, without doubt, will have a deep effect on this time and every time after. Professor Qin Yu‘s name is set to last forever with the history of Human Civilization; his work will forever build with Human Civilization itself.’
‘But we too must face one truth—Professor Qin Yu is no longer part of our world.’
‘What a sad thing this is.’
At this very time, there were still many people who might have thought they would feel good about Qin Yu‘s death.
But the fact was, many people paused in surprise and breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this news.
Then they felt mixed emotions.
Not to say more on that, when Qin Yu was alive, no matter his age or if he had left research work, as long as he lived, many held out hope that he might create better Life Extension Technology.
Now that hope was gone too.
…
At the HCC, a decision was made very fast.
To remember and mourn Professor Qin Yu, the HCC would lower its flag.
For this decision, not just in this era where Huaxia Nation had fully pushed down both North Bear Nation and Moon Nation, those two sides wouldn’t wish to annoy Huaxia Nation right then.
Also, they decided at the same time to name the next three new stars to be found after Qin Yu.
This was to honor Qin Yu‘s huge efforts in the science research field.
After this news came out, people around the world weren’t surprised.
Many even felt it wasn‘t enough.
Some eager folks thought the whole world should stay quiet in silence for Professor Qin Yu’s death, because most of the world enjoyed the good things from his research.
In reality, even without official push, such quiet moments of mourning were happening on their own in different places worldwide.
‘Professor Qin Yu gave you a hundred years; now, give him back one minute. Use that minute to mourn his going away.’
All over the net, the big effect of Qin Yu‘s death hadn’t faded since just a few hours passed.
Instead, as more folks learned the news, it climbed to its highest point.
‘…I was born after the 1980s last century; I am only 90 now. When I was younger, I didn’t fully get what the 2611 Longevity Injection Professor Qin Yu first brought meant to people. But I know, without the spread of the 2611 Longevity Injection, by this time I might have passed away, not still being in my middle years, with life just half over.’
‘Since childhood, since knowing death, I feared it a lot. History books say old folk lived only about seventy years, and I found that pitiful. Just thinking if I lived only so short, it scared me. Thank you, Professor Qin Yu… at least, we can now live to one hundred eighty years.’
‘Actually, it’s not just about living longer… to keep alive that long, thanks go to Professor Qin Yu. The desert falling back fixed wide areas thanks to Yu-type Bacteria spreading, adding billions of farmland acres; the grain grown feeds over one-third of what we eat and use now, the key base to having all food we need in this era… sigh… now Professor Qin Yu has left, I once dreamed of meeting him…’
‘Go now, see Professor Qin Yu one last time, later… you won’t see him again.’
As dusk came, many people in or near Lingchuan City couldn’t wait until tomorrow.
They gathered at Lingchuan City Funeral Home.
Even though the memorial wasn’t ready and they couldn’t see Professor Qin Yu, folk carrying flowers refused to go.
They chose to wait on the place outside the funeral home.
More and more people kept coming to the spot, but the mood wasn’t lively like normal with big crowds.
Instead, it was very quiet and heavy with sadness.
Even though not every person there felt deep sorrow,
it was hard to smile or talk loudly at that moment.
As night deepened, someone lit candles in the square.
Then, candle after candle, like flickering starlight, lit up the entire square.
On the first night after Qin Yu’s passing,
people came and went in the funeral home’s square, but many stayed the whole time.
Outside the funeral home, the crowd kept growing.
People remained there voluntarily all night, standing vigil for Professor Qin Yu.
By the next day, as dawn light appeared over the horizon, those who had kept watch all night
heard the mournful music start to play within the funeral home.
Perhaps the grief-filled music was too overwhelming,
an elderly person unable to bear it, began to sob.
The doors to the memorial hall opened.
In the heavy atmosphere, the first group of people entered the funeral home to lay flowers for Professor Qin Yu.
They saw
that familiar Senior Leader, the head of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and others, standing to the side in place of Professor Qin Yu’s family.
They saw Professor Qin Yu,
lying surrounded by flowers, draped with the national flag.
Because so many people came,
while many were meant to lay flowers briefly and leave after paying their respects,
they stood frozen before Professor Qin Yu’s face,
lingering unwilling to move for a long time, only snapping back when someone nearby nudged them.
At that moment, many people truly felt it,
Professor Qin had really left them.
Amid the continuous sorrowful music, the memorial service continued like this.
…
Naturally, not only people from Lingchuan City and its surroundings came to Qin Yu’s memorial,
people continued to arrive from much farther away, steadily and ceaselessly.
On that day, all flights to Lingchuan City were sold out.
All appropriate flowers in Lingchuan City flower shops were completely gone.
Perhaps not everyone shed hot tears upon seeing Qin Yu’s body,
but wave after wave, the sound of crying inside the memorial hall seemed to never stop.
Many countries, including the North Bear Nation and the Moon Nation, sent representatives, or even their officials in person.
Leaders of several small countries that had once suffered severe land desertification rushed to attend Professor Qin Yu’s memorial service.
Even though the memorial continued for seven days,
during those seven days, day and night, people mourning and honoring Professor Qin Yu filled the space inside and outside Lingchuan City Funeral Home.
In fact, from the first day until the very last,
the crowd remained large under the heavy mood, still filling the venue,
and many others were still on their way there.
The memorial was forced to extend for three more days.
Only after ten days had passed,
did Huaxin News Agency, authorized, publish an article asking people
who had not yet managed to join in the memorial for Qin Yu not to rush there anymore.
They hoped Professor Qin could be laid to rest soon.
Those arriving later could pay their respects at Professor Qin Yu’s grave after the burial.
This finally brought the ten-day-long memorial service to an end.
…
The following day after the memorial ended, Qin Yu’s body was to be buried in the designated cemetery in Lingchuan City.
Many who attended the memorial the previous day simply didn’t leave that night.
They waited until the next day when the hearse carrying his body left the funeral home.
Many others, knowing Professor Qin Yu was to be buried that day, also gathered there.
As the fleet of hearses carrying his body drove out from the funeral home,
people swarmed forward.
They did not block the hearses’ path, but refused to stay too far away.
The hearses could only move slowly.
Starting from the funeral home,
all along the road stood continuous lines of people gathered on both sides, paying their last respects.
Some held photos of Professor Qin Yu, others held flowers.
Mostly, people stood in silence, watching as the hearses arrived and then passed by again.
Until the hearses reached the foot of the mountain where the cemetery lay.
…
“Incoming news: Professor Qin Yu’s body has been laid to rest at the cemetery in Lingchuan City…”
Online and offline, even after Professor Qin Yu’s burial ceremony ended,
the impact of this event was still far from over.
The lasting effects were certain to spread for a long time to come.
The next day,
Qin Yu’s alma mater, the School of Life Sciences at Lingchuan University, announced
it would erect a statue of Professor Qin Yu on campus to commemorate his immense contributions to the field of scientific research.
Two days later,
Huaxia Nation further announced
the creation of a scientific research award to be named after Professor Qin Yu, ensuring his memory would last forever.
Then, one week later,
a previous proposal for naming newly discovered stars came into effect.
Following the two stars named after Qin Yu long ago,
three more stars were named Qin Yu C, Qin Yu D, and Qin Yu F.
The same week,
Our main broadcasting service announced plans to produce a three-episode documentary on the life of Professor Qin Yu,
drawing on existing historical records.
On the second night after Professor Qin Yu’s burial.
Qin Yu, in his intangible form, phased straight out of his own tomb.
One had to admit, the state of Absolute Immortality was truly extraordinary.
Even after using his Disguise ability to remain utterly motionless for over ten days, Qin Yu hadn’t accumulated too many bad feelings or found it particularly agonizing.
And the Disguise ability itself was indeed powerful enough—disguising aging, disguising death.
Now, having emerged from his grave,
Qin Yu, maintaining intangibility, remained unseen and untouchable by anyone.
Even at this late hour,
a few people still came to visit his gravesite.
Qin Yu glanced at his own tombstone, then at the visitors paying their respects.
Silently, he watched this group of people complete their mourning rituals before his grave, leave fresh flowers and fruits, and depart.
Waiting for the gap after one group left and before the next arrived,
Qin Yu used Disguise to take on a younger man’s appearance,
and stood directly in front of his own tombstone.
He looked at the items arranged before the grave—flowers, fruits, even snacks, and contrast photos showing what was once barren desert transformed into a green oasis.
Pausing briefly, Qin Yu reached out, took an apple, and took a bite.
Not many people get to eat offerings meant for themselves, huh?
He smiled wryly at his own tombstone.
Inside his grave now, naturally, it was empty.
As a scholar in the Field of Life Sciences, he certainly had ways to conceal this.
Yet Qin Yu decided to leave it just as it was.
Nobody would discover it anytime soon anyway.
Perhaps one day far in the future, someone would suddenly realize the tomb of the Father of Human Life Extension Technology was vacant.
Consider it leaving an unsolved mystery for them.
How could the tomb of the Father of Human Life Extension Technology possibly be empty?
Could he never have died in the first place?
Ha ha!
Laughing softly, Qin Yu finished the apple in his hand.
Then, well before the next group of mourners arrived, he simply walked away.
Strictly speaking,
at this very moment,
Qin Yu had indeed undergone a death in every practical sense.
Professor Qin Yu, the brilliant biologist, was dead.
But simultaneously, a new life—unfettered and undeniable—belonged solely to Qin Yu, had truly begun.
In the past, the identity tied to the name “Qin Yu” had bound him.
Now, at the dawn of this new existence,
nothing could hold Qin Yu back anymore.
So for this lifetime,
what should he do?
Beyond his ongoing mission of helping Human Civilization endure longer?
Beyond shaping Human Civilization steadily into the vision he held?
Should he perhaps seek something more?