Yurina exited the large stone door to look for the head. Daechir saw her from a distance and shouted, "Yurina, I'm over here."
When the two met, they looked at each other and smiled. All past unpleasantness became a thing of the past at that moment. Yurina took out two energy spheres and stuffed them into Daechir's mouth. "Qiqi, Eagle's Nest is back in our hands."
"Thank you, Yurina. Without your help, I wouldn't have survived until now." Yurina hung the head in a pouch on her chest and returned to the Garden of Eden on her hands. The two were now ready to begin modifying their bodies. More than two months passed in the blink of an eye. Yurina finally had a lower body, though it was no match for her original one. Still, it was much more convenient, and she no longer had to crawl on the ground like a spider. Another half a year went by, but Daechir was still just a head; they couldn't find suitable materials. "Qiqi, why don't we use Ares as a vessel for you?"
"No, I don't want to be a man. Besides, he was prepared for Father. How could I use him?"
"Then shall we go find Ronnie? Do you know where he is now?"
"He should still be in the Pampas grasslands."
"Let's just take the time machine there, what do you say?" As the two were talking, a sound came from behind them. It was Ares. In Eagle's Nest, he appeared and disappeared like a ghost; he had also appeared once half a month ago. Daechir's head was mounted on a wheeled machine, its direction controlled by her voice. Seeing the lifeless Ares, Yurina's brow furrowed. "What are you doing out here again?"
He glanced at her but didn't answer, continuing on his way. "Stop! I'm talking to you, why don't you answer?"
Yurina, already annoyed at being interrupted, was further enraged by Ares's attitude. She stepped forward, lifted him up, and was about to scold him when, with two hissing sounds, he opened his mouth and spat a torrent of flames. "Ah..." Yurina screamed and fell backward. Daechir, on the side, was so frightened she quickly turned to flee. Without arms, she couldn't help even if she wanted to. She just never expected the little guy to have a fire-breathing function; it seemed she had underestimated him. "Don't let me see you again!" Ares shouted at her retreating back.
Daechir fled into passage number nine. She didn't know what had happened to Yurina and didn't dare go back to check. The little guy's last words left her with a lingering fear. Another two months passed before she dared to quietly approach the Garden of Eden. What she saw shocked her. Ares was still there, staring blankly at the dried corpse on the ground, motionless. The robot dog lay beside him. Yurina was still lying where she had fallen, her face burned black beyond recognition. Daechir returned to passage number nine and hid in the gold warehouse, the safest place since Ares couldn't enter. Sonita and her mother had long since died, huddled together, their bodies decomposed and emitting a foul stench. Daechir wasn't picky now. She set herself to restart every ten years, planning to act after Ares completely lost consciousness. This day should come soon, because the small passage was blocked, and the robot dog could no longer get in to retrieve energy spheres. Time flies like an arrow, years pass like a song. Half a century went by, and the year was now 2711. Daechir, in the gold warehouse, woke up for the fifth time. "I don't believe the little guy is still alive!" she muttered to herself. The moment she opened the large stone door, she got a huge fright. Ares was standing right in front of it. It was too late to close the door, but he didn't seem to have any intention of entering. After a moment, she looked closely and felt relieved. Ares's eyes were tightly shut, his body stiff; he was clearly immobile. Exiting the stone door, Daechir headed for the Garden of Eden. She didn't see the robot dog along the way, which put her at ease. Yurina was still lying in the same spot, covered in dust. What was to be done? Half an hour later, she came up with an idea. She found a thin wooden stick, held it in her mouth, lowered her height, and stirred it around inside Yurina's mouth. Her efforts paid off. The other woman woke with a cry of "Ah! I can't see anything!"
"Don't worry, I'll fix it for you," Daechir comforted her.
"Qiqi, you saved me? Where's that despicable guy? I'm going to kill him."
"He's lost consciousness. You don't need to do anything." When Yurina heard that fifty years had passed, she was stunned. To her, it felt like it had just happened. Without eyes, the head was hung on Yurina's chest again. "Turn left, watch your step, a little higher." These were the phrases they often used while coordinating, handling every task with great默契, but some delicate work was still impossible, and restoring her vision was a hopeless endeavor.
"Qiqi, let's take the time machine to find Ronnie!" Yurina would think of this man whenever she ran into trouble.
"You locked Sonita and her mother in the warehouse, and they destroyed the time machine." After a pause, Daechir added, "But don't be disappointed. Father should be in Africa now. We can go find him directly without the time machine."
"That's great! Let's go out now!"
"What about Ares? We have to take him with us."
How could they take him? The two fell into deep thought. A moment later, Yurina gave a strange cry, "I've got an idea!"
"What's your brilliant idea?"
"We can just install the chip from your head into his body." Daechir struggled with the decision for a long time but finally agreed; she couldn't think of a better way. The two immediately set to work. First, they cut open Ares's skullcap and removed his chip, then they operated on Daechir. Three hours later, the small figure was moving again. "Are you Qiqi?" Yurina asked.
It nodded. "Yes!" The new life seemed startled by its own voice, because it emitted a robotic tone. "Can you restore my eyes now?"
The small figure nodded again, deciding to speak as little as possible. But Yurina, unable to see, thought he hadn't answered her question and said angrily, "Why aren't you speaking?"
Only then did Daechir realize and replied in a low voice, "I can, but it's impossible to make them exactly like they were."
After saying this, she even hated the sound she made herself; it was truly awful. Over the next few days, Daechir worked on restoring Yurina's appearance and eyes. When everything was done, the two left Eagle's Nest. The moment they emerged, the sight before them left them astonished. Not far away, by the lake, a dozen or so people were camping. They looked young, both men and women, dressed in strange clothes, clearly not decent folk. Several tents were pitched nearby. The two of them quickly ducked down, hiding in the tall grass. To avoid revealing the entrance, they quietly retreated back into Eagle's Nest a short while later, planning to come out after these people had left.