Wanderer of the Zerg

Chapter 68: Bone Fragment

Xi Tian logged onto the political forum and saw an overwhelming amount of information about the two party candidates.

The conservative faction typically consisted of the nobles from the Zerg Star royal period. With the rapid advancement of technology, some nobles fell into the ranks of commoners. However, some leveraged the tech boom to amass wealth and power, maintaining their influence in Zerg Star politics through their upper-class status.

Over the past fifty years of policy reforms, some commoners have emerged as the middle class, dissatisfied with current policies and seeking political status. This group formed the backbone of the reformist faction.

As the presidential election entered a critical phase, the political forum updated almost hourly, while the hot topics forum was abuzz with speculation.

Xi Tian glanced at it but quickly lost interest and set it aside.

He searched for “Hasang Song” in the search engine, which returned the same nursery rhyme.

Thinking for a moment, he deleted “Song,” revealing a page for translating between pinyin and ideograms.

Hasang, ideographically, meant Hui.

Song Hui.

This was a typical male name.

Xi Tian slapped his forehead, wondering why he hadn’t thought of it earlier.

However, searching “Song Hui” returned thousands of results.

Double-character names were just too common.

The sound of the election vehicle outside made him increasingly irritable.

Buma, as usual, was his guide for the day. After lunch, he came to Xi Tian’s house, suggesting they visit another local elder.

The election vehicles continued to parade noisily outside.

With his questions still lingering, Xi Tian changed his mind and decided to revisit the building on Tasca Mountain.

Upon arrival, he didn’t inspect the interior as it was too clean, with nothing to examine.

He went to the dry well behind the building.

In his dream, it was this well where a male child sat at the bottom, reciting a nursery rhyme, saying, “Wait for you to find me.”

The well was covered with thick sand and stones, with the wellhead only an arm’s length from the stones and sand below.

Xi Tian unbuttoned his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and jumped directly into the well, using his hands to scoop out the sand one handful at a time.

Ellis wanted to stop him but was sternly ordered to stand aside and hold Xi Tian’s clothes. He watched as Xi Tian, usually so meticulous about his appearance, became covered in dust and sand.

After an unknown amount of time, Xi Tian had cleared a large section of sand at his feet. His forehead was covered in sweat, his hands dirty, and sand was embedded under his nails.

Eventually, he felt something hard among the loose sand. He quickly brushed away the surrounding sand to reveal a small piece of bone with sharp edges.

It was a small bone fragment!

Carefully, Xi Tian picked it up, held it in his hand, and jumped out of the well. “Let’s go back,” he said.

Xi Tian wanted to return quickly to have the bone fragment analyzed by his mentor.

The story Buma told last time had merged with his dreams, and returning to this well brought a vague suspicion to the forefront of his mind. He suspected that the research facility had conducted inhumane experiments on young male children, and what Buma’s grandfather saw were the researchers disposing of these children in the well and using strong acids or bases to destroy the evidence.

His mind was feverish, and he could only see the young boy from his dreams, who swung his legs and sang, saying, “I’ve been waiting for you to bring me back to the light.”

After walking for an indeterminate amount of time, Xi Tian’s mind gradually calmed, and his pace slowed.

Was the bone fragment he found really from a young child?

Thirty-five years had passed since the facility was abandoned. If there was evidence, would it really just wait for him to discover it?

He had only dug a shallow layer of sand; how could he prove the bone fragment wasn’t from another wild animal?

Why didn’t he keep digging? At least finding a skull would have been more convincing, right?

These questions cooled his heart.

He stopped, and Ellis stopped beside him.

Buma, who was leading the way, quickly ran back when he noticed they had stopped, asking what was wrong.

“Nothing, let’s keep going,” Xi Tian decided to continue, planning to return home and consult his mentor.

Familiar scenes reappeared as they finally descended the mountain.

Buma’s house was closer to the mountain. From a distance, they saw a tall female standing in the yard, and Buma ran with a cheer.

The female motioned for silence, as he was holding a small child, walking back and forth in the yard to lull the child to sleep.

They should have parted ways here.

However, as they passed the female, Xi Tian’s ears caught a familiar melody.

He suddenly rushed into the yard, startling the female who was soothing the child.

“Sir, is there something you need?” the female asked softly and politely.

“That tune you were humming just now,” Xi Tian panted, “can you hum it again?”

“Ah? Sure.” The female was momentarily stunned but quickly complied, humming the lullaby completely. The little child in the arms murmured in response.

“Hum the climax part again!” Xi Tian demanded.

The female hummed it for him twice more.

“Where did you hear this tune?” Xi Tian asked.

Since he was very young, this melody had been in his memory. He had searched for many years, asking music teachers, looking through music books, questioning classmates, teachers, and deans. He had even uploaded it to forums, but always received the same answers.

Xi Tian always believed that finding the source of this melody would lead him to clues about his biological family.

No one had ever heard of a song with this melody. No one knew where it came from.

But here, on this ordinary secondary planet he once dismissed, he had heard the melody from his memories. How could he not be excited?

Buma stepped forward to take his already sleeping younger brother. “Mr. Xi Tian, this tune is a lullaby sung to young children in my female father’s hometown. All my brothers can hum this tune.”

Buma then said to his female father, “I’ll take him inside. Female father, tell Mr. Xi Tian everything you know. He is a writer, here to gather material.” Before leaving, he even winked at his father.

The eccentricity of males, the eccentricity of writers.

The female immediately understood Xi Tian’s previous odd behavior.

So, he patiently explained about the hometown and the origin of the lullaby.

As dusk gradually fell, smoke rose from the chimneys of every household.

Someone’s television was turned on, the sound blaring: “The results of this investigation by the Bureau seem to be covering for them, but Yuwen will use this situation to support his position. You see, I once worked for the authorities. Although Yuwen is young and a male, his use of confirmation bias is masterful. We must not underestimate any presidential candidate…”

(T/N: I don’t understand how 辉 Hui and 哈桑- Hasang could be related Ideographically(pictographically). It seems quite different to me. ( T_T ) )