Chapter Five: Blue Blood (Another chapter coming tonight!)
Chapter Five: Blue Blood
That morning, Chen Xiao spent a great deal of patience teaching Yaya how to survive in this house—a phrase that might sound exaggerated, but the process was by no means easy.
At the very least, Chen Xiao managed to teach Yaya how to use some household appliances—provided they were plugged in! Yaya seemed to have no concept of the power cords behind devices like the television or microwave. She didn’t understand that you needed to plug them in to make them work; instead, she habitually reached out to touch them—as if she enjoyed generating electricity herself.
Chen Xiao hurriedly stopped her, sternly instructing her not to discharge electricity unless absolutely necessary.
Yaya nodded simply, responding with a soft “Oh.”
“Huh? Aren’t you going to ask why?”
Yaya gave a small, apologetic smile, her delicate voice barely above a whisper. “I know. Last night, I asked so many questions that you seemed a bit troubled. So... I won’t ask anymore.”
“Actually...” Chen Xiao wanted to explain, but on second thought, perhaps it was better this way; he couldn’t explain much anyway.
He successfully taught Yaya how to use various household items—the toothbrush, how to run water from the tap, which foods in the refrigerator were for eating, which drinks were for drinking.
To Chen Xiao’s surprise, the girl was incredibly intelligent! She only needed to see something once to learn it immediately. Tell her something once, and she’d remember it right away!
Was it truly photographic memory?
Smacking his forehead, Chen Xiao hurried into the study—this was the old house his parents had left him. Both had been highly educated intellectuals, so naturally the house was full of books. He dug out a copy of “Everyday Life Encyclopedia” and handed it to Yaya.
“Read this; it should be useful for you.”
Once again, Yaya surprised him! The book was over three hundred pages, but she finished it in less than an hour. When Chen Xiao, half-doubting, quizzed her on a few points, she recited them fluently, even backwards!
“You...” Chen Xiao looked into Yaya’s innocent eyes, muttering to himself, “I’m starting to suspect you’re not human.”
At noon, Chen Xiao prepared lunch. Living alone, he usually kept things simple, but now that he had a female guest, he couldn’t just serve instant noodles. He personally cooked a serving of fried rice and sliced two tomatoes for a soup.
But with Yaya standing nearby, watching him with an eager, studious look, Chen Xiao felt somewhat self-conscious. He was used to being watched by the girls at the fast-food restaurant where he worked, but Yaya’s beauty was on another level entirely, her gaze exponentially more piercing...
The result—
“Ah!”
Chen Xiao had cut his finger.
Yaya watched as Chen Xiao cried out, noticing the thin slash on his finger. Fortunately, it wasn’t deep, but blood was flowing steadily. Sighing, Chen Xiao turned to fetch a bandage, only to see Yaya staring at his finger with a strange, indescribable look.
“What’s the matter?” Chen Xiao frowned. “It’s just blood... Don’t tell me you’ve never seen blood before?”
Yaya shook her head, then glanced at Chen Xiao with caution. “May I ask a question?”
“You may.”
“Please...” Yaya seemed worried, “Why is your blood red? Have you been infected with a virus? Are you going to die soon?”
...
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Chen Xiao met Yaya’s eyes and spoke calmly, “First of all, human blood is naturally red...”
Seeing that Yaya wanted to say something, Chen Xiao waved his hand. “Let me finish.”
He looked into her eyes. “Second... Since you asked, what color do you think blood should be?”
“Blue,” Yaya replied without hesitation.
As if to prove her point, she swiftly picked up the kitchen knife from the counter; before Chen Xiao could react, she had already pricked her fingertip!
Chen Xiao’s pupils contracted sharply! Whether he believed it or not, the truth was undeniable: from Yaya’s fingertip, blood welled up—a deep, luminous blue!
Just like her ice-blue eyes.
A blue-blooded human?!
He vaguely recalled reading about blue blood in a science magazine, but the details escaped him now.
Stunned, Chen Xiao masked his agitation, tore open a bandage, and wrapped Yaya’s finger, then rushed back to the study. He turned on the computer, logged onto the internet, opened Google, and searched for “blue blood.”
The search results were somewhat troublesome: most pointed to the famous novelist Ni Kuang’s book, “The Blue-Blooded People.” Still, Chen Xiao found some useful information.
Quickly skimming through, closing irrelevant pages, his focus settled on one article:
“...Certain rare organisms lack a particular enzyme, causing their blood to appear blue. Such creatures—for example, some mollusks living three thousand meters deep in the ocean—have blood in which a blue protein called hemocyanin dissolves. This blue protein is also the main oxygen carrier, hence their blue blood.
“For a century, whether humans with blue blood exist has been a controversial topic. Analysis shows that the oxygen content in hemocyanin is far lower than in hemoglobin. If blue-blooded humans truly existed, their blood’s low oxygen-carrying capacity would be insufficient to sustain normal human physiology. Thus, academia largely denies the existence of blue-blooded humans.
“However, another hypothesis suggests that if hemocyanin cells are indeed low-oxygen, one could infer: as is known, one of the main causes of human aging is that oxygen in our cells leads to oxidation—the same process that causes metals like silver and iron to corrode in air. If blue-blooded humans truly exist, their bodies would metabolize much more slowly due to lower oxygen content, resulting in slower physical development and aging.
“Whether blue-blooded humans exist remains unproven, but the author found records that in the early twentieth century, a scholar claimed to have discovered blue-blooded humans in a mountainous region. Unfortunately, due to the passage of time, no verifiable records remain...”
The article was signed by a German biology professor.
Chen Xiao had always done well in his studies, especially biology. He knew that when people breathe, oxygen is absorbed so that hemoglobin in the blood can carry it, maintaining normal bodily function.
Similarly, oxidation is a process to be wary of: metals, like silver and iron, rust when exposed to air, which is oxidation.
If blue blood truly existed—on the one hand, it could sustain normal bodily function; on the other, it would resist oxidation and aging...
In other words, blue-blooded people would... never grow old?
Well... “never grow old” might be an exaggeration, but aging slower than normal people seemed plausible.
His heart pounded: Yaya, a blue-blooded person, actually existed! Right here in his home, standing vividly by his side!
Yaya watched Chen Xiao rush back to the study, sitting in front of the computer and staring blankly at the screen. She quietly followed and stood beside him.
After a moment’s hesitation, Yaya asked with some curiosity, “What’s wrong? Are you really infected with a virus?”
A virus?
Wait, hold on!!
A thought struck Chen Xiao!
Never mind that Yaya didn’t know the basic fact that human blood is red; what she’d said just now was odd as well!
Her exact words were: “Are you also infected with a virus? Will you also die?”
That single word—“also”—gave the phrase a much deeper implication!
Staring at the girl, Chen Xiao’s expression grew serious. “What did you mean by ‘also’? Do you know others, besides yourself, whose blood is blue? Why do you believe red blood is caused by a virus?”
At the question, a faint sadness appeared on Yaya’s delicate face. In profile, her features were shadowed with sorrow; her long lashes trembled slightly.
“Before... Number Six, Number Eleven, and Number Fourteen all had blue blood, just like me. But later, their blood turned red...” Yaya’s voice was tinged with grief. “They told me that Number Six, Number Eleven, and Number Fourteen died because they caught a virus.”
Chen Xiao keenly noticed that when Yaya mentioned “they” again, her body trembled unconsciously, her tone betraying a deep and unshakable fear.