law of courtship

This year's winter seems to be extraordinarily long, and it still snowed heavily until the Bud Moon came. At the end of autumn, the migratory birds away from this land showed no signs of returning.

The strong wind whipped up the unstable small trees outside the manor, and Song went out to deal with them. The paper-sized snowflakes completely covered up his footprints in two to three minutes. The quiet suburb seemed to be a world of its own, leaving only accumulated Frozen ground covered by snow.

Zhilan heard from Grandpa Mao that if the winter is too cold, it is God who is going to take people in.

Corresponding to the "choice" in natural selection, the Creator not only has a benevolent side, but also screens the good and the bad through extreme weather, cruelly taking the lives of the elderly.

The heating furnace in the manor continued to burn, and it was another snowy evening. Zhi Lan saw a piece of bad news through Weibo. Grandpa white rhinoceros, the number one rare species, passed away.

The third-ranked Zilan clan received such attention, not to mention the only remaining white rhinoceros humanoid in the world. For a while, public opinion turmoil was raging, and all of them pointed their finger at the research institute responsible for ensuring the reproduction of species.

Zhilan has heard a little about the story of this white rhino grandpa. He has not been able to leave a son or a daughter in the past few decades, which directly caused this species to go from critically endangered to extinction.

The reason is simple, he is a beta.

Although ordinary betas have a low fertility rate, fortunately, they have a larger base and more opportunities to choose a mate. During the limited reproductive period, they can always seize one or two opportunities to have offspring.

But the gender of beta is fatal to rare species. The reproductive isolation that is already difficult to overcome, coupled with the low fertility rate, is almost a game of life against tiny odds. Obviously, this white rhino will eventually die. lost.

Zhi Lan seemed to be suffering from nervousness. Almost every two hours, he kept on the phone with his parents in the city to confirm that they were staying in a warm room, that they had sufficient food and water, and that they were not in any discomfort.

He was terrified of the heavy snow, afraid that God would take away the old, weak and innocent lives again.

This is the first time that Zhilan has witnessed the cruel word "extinction", and he can't help crying as if empathizing with him, asking over and over again:

"Is there really no baby rhino? Maybe there are still baby rhinos hidden in the research institute, just like our eggs."

Song couldn't answer him. The white rhinoceros was not as lucky as Zilan's. The lonely beta was sterile for life, leaving no embryos, and even the so-called "defective products" did not exist.

"This is a law of nature. We can't stop it, not even the research institute..." Song's voice gradually weakened, and finally disappeared completely.

Because he saw Zhilan weeping silently, but his eyes didn't know where to look. Zhilan seldom cried like this. Crying is his way of expressing emotions. It's been so quiet.

Song forced himself to hold back his heartache, and it was only at this time that he began to slowly understand that the innocence and aseptic paradise of the little blue bird had collapsed, and Zhilan had learned to truly feel sad, sympathetic, and empathetic with grief.

This is the growth that Zhilan must experience, and there will be more setbacks waiting for him to face in the future.

As his alpha, Song knew that he should lead him out of the vacuum and explore the essence of things, instead of whitewashing the peace and continuing to treat him like a baby bird.

Song observed Zhilan's expression with a sullen face, seeing that his tears were still falling, so he tried to stroke his shoulder: "Xiao Lan, do you still remember the barrel of wine you 'owe' me?"

Zhi Lan raised his face in a daze: "Huh?"

He stroked the back of his head once and again, without any reproach in his tone: "Do you know why it is important?"

Zhilan stopped her tears: "Because it is something left by my uncle's master?"

Song nodded: "It represents a death. My master passed away, so it is very precious to me, because death is irreversible."

"I'm sorry," Zhi Lan lowered his head, hid his eyes in his wet forehead, and whispered, "Is it like the death of Grandpa Bai Xi?"

Song's Adam's apple rolled, and he answered him earnestly: "Well, when a person's vitality is exhausted and he dies quietly, he is dead; when a species loses its ability to reproduce, it decreases one by one until it returns to zero, which is what everyone calls extinction. "

Zhilan shed two more tears: "Is everyone going to die?"

Song gently combed his blue hair with his fingers, "Yes, everyone dies, just like every moment a new life is born, I don't want you to be afraid of it."

"Death and rebirth are two parallel lines, and they will not go hand in hand forever. It is like the moon. Not everything can maintain vigorous vitality. One day it will grow old. Death is only short-lived. Rebirth is inevitable."

Zhilan slowly digested the point of view that Song had given him, and wiped away the tears on his face: "The new students... are they like Mr. Lu's triplets?"

"Yes," Song said softly, "Xiao Lan, you have witnessed the new life and faced death and extinction with your own eyes. This is a very precious experience for you. Promise me, don't be afraid of it."

Zhi Lan understood these words and silently remembered them in her heart.

It's just that neither he nor Song thought that the tragedy was far more than that.

On the fifth day when the door was closed due to heavy snow, bad news came again. The news of the death of Zilan's grandfather, who was over [-] years old, also appeared on Weibo's hot search.

The number of Zilan's remaining in the world has changed from 4 to 3. Due to the complete extinction of the white rhinoceros, and because the black crested ape couple who ranked second in the past have successfully bred two cubs, the remaining number has changed from 4:2 It became 3:4, the entire ranking of endangered species was reshuffled, and Zilan was pushed to the No.1 position overnight.

This No.1, no one wants to have.

Zhilan was anxious about this, he didn't know what this change meant, so he could only browse the real-time news related to it through Weibo, wanting to know the latest trends of the institute.

He could vaguely sense that the fate of their family might have gone awry.

The first outside information that Zhilan received came from the Bazhou Institute.

Dr. Yu told Zhilan over the phone that the five major research institutes have encountered unprecedented pressure from public opinion, and the Bazhou Institute will be completely closed for a period of time. They may not be able to come to visit in the near future, and they can only distribute the necessary medical supplies for Mother Lan by mail. Drugs and Nutraceuticals.

The lively and happy atmosphere in the Liuhu Xingwang wechat group also disappeared, and it became depressing.

[milena]: Xiaolan, you should already know that the institute has suspended all temporary access permissions. I can’t come to see you recently. The weather is too cold. You should stay at home obediently and don’t go out.

[Xiaolan]: Thank you sister, I know

[Lu Laosan]: Hey... the two old ancestors left all at once, and everything outside is turned upside down

[Boss Crab driving an excavator]: Hey...what's the matter?

【milena】: Don't worry, Xiaolan is already very sad

[Boss Lu]: Everyone is having a hard time. My family’s triplets were also taken away. My daughter-in-law has been crying for two days without closing her eyes.

[Peacock Little Fairy]: I heard from the caregiver that the higher-ups may assign heavier breeding tasks to the research institute. If effective rectification results cannot be seen, the higher-ups will not let it go

[Lu Er Er]: No way, how much more heavy?

[Peacock Little Fairy]: I don't know the specific situation. The current situation is already broken enough. I can't think of any worse possibility.

[Red wolf is not a matchmaker]: Let fate, we can't make decisions

Song held Zhilan in his arms and watched the phone with him. He thought that Zhilan would break down after receiving these bad news one after another, but Zhilan didn't.

Zhi Lan moved her fingers calmly, and in turn comforted her companions.

[Xiaolan]: Don’t worry, everyone, these are only temporary. When the snow stops, the institute will be unsealed. There will be no old people passing away, and we can still play together

Song quietly watched him typing, as if it was a childish declaration of wishful thinking, which was already the best that Zhilan could do.

Song didn't expect Zhilan to cheer up so quickly. This little bird was clearly in the center of the typhoon's eye, but it was stronger than anyone else.

"Uncle," Zhi Lan withdrew from Song's embrace, and said seriously, "Thank you for scaring me by shaving your head before."

Song's throat choked: "Why do you say that?"

Zhilan: "Because it taught me a truth, you must anticipate the worst possibility in advance."

Song: "So?"

"So..." Zhi Lan showed his first smile these days, it was really forced, it could be considered ugly: "No matter what happens, I won't be afraid anymore."

Song felt uneasy: "What worst consequence did you think of?"

Zhi Lan shook his head, and smiled naively: "I can't say it, the mouth of a parrot is the same as that of a crow, if you say it, it will come true."

When night came, Song Wei Zhilan filled the bathtub with hot water, and patiently told him to take a bath carefully, and wash the crevices between his toes, and he will check it later.

Zhi Lan didn't understand his intention of doing this, but she nestled in the bathtub obediently, using a small towel to clean the seams between her toes one by one.

Song closed the bathroom door, his gentle brows and eyes instantly became sharp.

An hour ago, he received a message from Dr. Yu, a draft that had been drafted but was still waiting to be sent. The content of that draft was——

#白麻is still there, waiting for the dawn#

[Over the years, the Institute has been committed to the research and improvement of assisted reproductive technology. We have preserved some frozen germ cells and somatic cell samples of white rhinos to wait for the opportunity.

With the multi-party cooperation and efforts of the five major research institutes, the scientific research team took out 8 germ cells from a close relative of the white rhinoceros and artificially cultivated them, and finally cultivated 2 embryos.The two precious embryos are now stored in liquid nitrogen and will be transferred into the mother's body for incubation in the near future.

Once this operation plan can successfully breed new white rhinos, it will be a milestone and great move, and it also means that the original human beings have a new turning point on the road to protecting endangered species. Please wait and see, the dawn of dawn close at hand. 】

Song knew that Dr. Yu was warning them that the radicals had already taken that step, abandoning the natural way of breeding, and artificially manipulating the blood and genes bestowed by the Creator on all creatures.

Maybe it is really the dawn of rare species, which can save species that are destined to become extinct, but Song doesn't want such a thing to happen to Zhilan.

So he wants to take Zhilan away and hide his treasure.

The author says:

The white rhino is a real species and one of the sources of inspiration for this article.

The northern white rhino was completely extinct in 2018. It is called Sudan, the last male northern white rhino in the world. Its story is very sad. Interested friends can Baidu "The most famous white rhino in the world is gone" to have a look.

About the prototype of the species "Zilanshi", it became extinct in the wild around 2000. It is called the little blue macaw, and its scientific name is Spix's macaw. There are still 60-80 little blue macaws surviving in cages. Breeding remains the last hope for this species.Baidu guides the way: "The little blue macaw is extinct in the wild, and there will be no Rio adventure since then."

They are really beautiful, I hope these cute talking babies can lay more eggs and live well!