Imagine if one day you meet someone on the street who looks exactly like you. Your first reaction is definitely not to go up and shake hands with that person… Of course, it’s impossible to encounter this scenario in reality. After all, the law limits the development of cloning technology, and modern society will not permit this type of experiment to be carried out.
When Jiang Chen took Lin Yi back to the Fishbone base by helicopter, it was already nighttime. It was inconvenient to arrange accommodations for Lin Yi, and he worried about her safety, so he took her home.
And a problem soon ensued, Lin Lin was going to encounter a sister she never met before.
“Who is she!”
Standing in the living room of the mansion, when Lin Lin saw Lin Yi, her eyebrows raised up in anger and said with vigilance.
Lin Yi seemed to be startled by Lin Lin’s action as she shrunk back behind Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen expected Lin Lin to react this way. He let out a sigh and put his hand on Lin Yi’s head to comfort her, before gently pushing her in front of Lin Lin.
“Your…sister?”
(Somatic cell cloning, should she be considered your sister?]
Jiang Chen didn’t know how to define the relationship between the mother and the clone, and even this statement ended with uncertainty in his tone. After all, no reference existed for such a case.
“I don’t remember having a sister!” Lin Lin looked at Jiang Chen seriously and had a rare stern expression on her face. Then, she said a word at a time, “Tell me, where did you find this woman!”
He felt something weird with this question coming from Lin Lin, but he couldn’t explain why.
Perhaps they heard the noise downstairs, Sun Jiao and Xiaorou also came down out of curiosity.
When Sun Jiao saw the little girl standing behind Jiang Chen, she was obviously stunned, and then she looked at Lin Lin with a strange expression.
“Your long lost sister?”
Different from the reaction of her sister, Xiaorouo was intrigued by the situation. The pair of beautiful pupils focused on Lin Lin for a while before moving to the little girl hiding behind Jiang Chen. She began to giggle, “Ah… it seems that we have to add a pair of chopsticks at the table?”
Lin Lin seemed to be ticked off by this sentence as she became enraged.
“Impossible! How could I possibly… How could I live with this person who looks exactly like me! This is too strange, there must be something wrong… Wait! No electronic eyes, she should not be a digitalized human… NOO!”
Lin Lin jumped beside Lin Yi and ignored the startled eyes. She reached out her devil claws and began to examine the “counterfeit” all over. But the more she examined, the more she was depressed and sad because of inexplicable jealousy and a mixture of other emotions.
A pair of chopsticks?
Jiang Chen’s expression became awkward.
He didn’t tell Lin Lin that at the bottom of Poyang Lake, there were 1,999 more clones still lying in the hibernation chamber; ones who used her as the blueprint…
In the living room of the mansion, the head of the family, Jiang Chen, decided to hold the first “family meeting” in a long time to discuss what to do with Lin Yi. Even Yao Yao attended the meeting in her loose nightdress and bunny slippers, overwhelmed with sleepiness.
He didn’t remember what they discussed about the last time they had a meeting.
Those attending held expressions of curiousity, inquiry, anger, or sleepiness. Jiang Chen cleared his throat, cleared his mind, and began to narrate the story. From the conversation with the director of Fallout Shelter 118 to the “treasure” he opened at the bottom of Poyang Lake.
“…this is what happened.”
Half an hour passed as Jiang Chen explained what had happened. Jiang Chen looked around at the women with helplessness. “I want to hear your opinions on this little girl…”
Jiang Chen paused and looked at Lin Lin, who was sitting next to Lin Yi, pouting.
“Of course, the most important thing is Lin Lin’s opinion.”
Lin Lin didn’t expect Jiang Chen to suddenly put the focus on her. She immediately blushed and became embarrassed, “Me, me?”
“After all, they’re your clones. There are still 1,999 more sleeping at the bottom of Poyang Lake cloned from your somatic cells.” Jiang Chen looked at Lin Yi, who was sitting in the corner of the living room not far away. “You have the power to decide whether to accept her or not.”
When Lin Lin heard Jiang Chen’s words, she lowered her head in distress.
What should she do? She was also unsure.
Although Lin Lin likes to badmouth people, she has good qualities, and could even be described as kind.
Although she couldn’t accept the “counterfeits” cloned through her own DNA, both physically and psychologically, she also couldn’t make the cruel decision about their fate.
After some internal battles, Lin Lin bit her teeth and finally made up her mind.
“Accepting them…is not impossible.”
When he heard Lin Lin’s words, he let out a sigh of relief and thanked her with a smile.
Lin Lin’s face turned red and she looked away, whispering.
“This is not… not for you, don’t overthink it.”
Two thousand scientists would be really important to Jiang Chen, but he couldn’t completely ignore the feelings of the people around him. Lin Lin accepting them would be the best possible outcome. If not, he wouldn’t force her. They could still prove to be valuable if isolated away from others in the bottom of Poyang Lake or Camp 027.
However, the efficiency would be lower, and it would remain as something in Lin Lin’s mind.
Since Lin Lin expressed her willingness to accept the 2,000 cloned sisters, Sun Jiao, Xiaorou, Yao Yao naturally didn’t disagree.
Only after solving the big problem of “stay or leave”, there was still a big issue in front of everyone.
“The key is where are they going to live?” Sun Xiaorou’s index finger gently touched her lower lip as she said, thoughtfully, “If there are only one or two pairs of chopsticks, it doesn’t matter, but two thousand more pairs of chopsticks…”
Sun Xiaorou looked at Jiang Chen with concern and raised a very real problem. “Even if our mansion doubles, I am afraid we can’t fit so many people.”
Where are they going to live? This is indeed a problem.
It was impossible to put 2,000 “Lin Lin’s inside the mansion, but anywhere else, it would be hard to be reassured. After all, their minds are no different from children. They are not ready to be contact with survivors yet.
However, Sun Jiao brought up a good proposal.
“How about we build a research institute behind the mansion? These 2,000 Lin… clones are all scientists in different fields? Living in the institute is probably better than running around outside,” Sun Jiao suggested.
