For the first time, the girl’s face was something other than blank. She smiled and declared with a hint of pride, “Then you don’t know the Rose Declaration.”

An Zhe inquired, “What is it?”

The girl turned around and lay on the railing, the sun rising in the sky. “Then you don’t know about the bacterial infection.”

“I know.” He knew about the disaster that killed most of the world’s humans.

She told him, “Only people with good genes survive.”

“Yes.”

Human treatment was ineffective against the strong mutant bacteria. They could only escape infection by virtue of innate immunity. A person’s genes could resist the disease and they could survive.

“Once those people survived, they found that very few living children were born in the world.” She reached out and combed her hair, pausing for a while like she was organizing her thoughts. “After the infection, the females who survived had defects in their fertility. There were only a few and the defects were relatively small.”

An Zhe didn’t speak. The girl wrinkled her nose and continued. “Scientists will give them a genetic test. If they score 60 points or less than they have completely lost the function of fertility. If it is more than 60 points, it is possible to give birth to a normal child. Then there was the Rose Declaration. You are a boy so the declaration doesn’t matter.”

“What is the declaration?”

“I just recited it. Do you want to hear it?” She suggested.

“Okay.”

Her tone was calm as she recited, “The 23,371 women with a fertility score above 60 in all four human bases voted to pass the following declaration, with zero refusals: I voluntarily dedicate my life to the fate of humanity, to accept genetic experiments and accept all forms of assisted reproduction to continue the cause of the human race’s struggle for survival.”

“That’s it.” she said, “Thus, I’m on the 20th floor. Now you know.”

“Thank you,” An Zhe told her. “Still, you should be careful not to come to such a dangerous place.”

“I’m not going to jump.” Then she wondered, “I come here every week and you aren’t here.”

She looked at An Zhe again. “I wanted to see the sky so I came here. Why did you come?”

An Zhe answered, “I can’t find my way back.”

“I know the way. I have a secret passage.”

An Zhe thought about it. “I also have no clothes to wear.”

“I also know where the laundry is.”

An Zhe requested, “Can you tell me?”

Rather than answering directly, she wondered, “Are you a lower class student?”

“I’m a teacher.”

“Promise me one thing.” Her eyes seemed more energetic as she spoke to An Zhe. “Promise me one thing and I’ll find clothes for you and take you to the secret passage.”

“What is it?”