Doomsday Wonderland

“Can you take the bandages off already?” asked Yunqian, who sat on a sofa. His elbows rested on his knees while his two hands were clasped firmly in front of him. In such proximity, the president looked even taller. The dependable and robust aura about him was so dense that it made people have a hard time breathing.

“Yeah, the doctor said it’s about time,” answered the teenager. He raised his hand and ran his fingers across the back of his head, only to be stopped by Yunqian.

“Allow me. It’s hard for you to see.” As he halted him, he rose to his feet from the couch and cut the bandage behind the teenager’s head open.

It was a rare sight to see a tough guy like him having such a soft side. His action was careful and tender as if he was touching a fragile porcelain doll. As the white bandages were unwounded and dropped on the bed, the teenager’s face, which was now crawling with scars, was gradually revealed.

Yunqian leaned forward, shortening their distance as he observed the teenager’s cheeks up-close. The teenager could feel his warm breath tickling his skin even though half of his facial nerves had been destroyed.

“The scars are much lighter than they were last time,” Yunqian said with a hint of relief in his voice. He teased, “I guess it won’t take long for those scars to fade away. Then, our good-looking young man will soon resume his journey to capture the hearts of the girls in Sector 9.”

“Oh, please don’t make me laugh, Mr. President. I’m not a girl. It doesn’t matter to me anyway.” Yun smiled while caressing his cheek. “How is Yanjoe doing, by the way? Have the blood vessels on her face faded? I hope that she’s fine now. After all, she wasn’t born beautiful like me.”

“I’m going to see her later on, and I certainly will convey your concerns to her,” Yunqian teased him again. He spun his body halfway around, then picked up a can of ointment sitting next to him. “Is it this one?”

“Yes, this is the one, Mr. President. It’s a shame that you still have to take care of the three of us while you are so busy with your work.”

“There is an influenza pandemic going around the city that has kept virtually everybody inside the house. Since I’m the only posthuman who is healthy enough to wander around, of course, I have to pick up more responsibilities.” Even when Yunqian was smiling, it did not soften his sharp facial lines in the slightest. He lifted the teenager’s chin and smeared a soothing gel onto his cheek. “I hope that you can get well soon.”

“Thank you, Mr. President.” Yun remained completely still. His long and slender eyelashes fluttered as he positively choked on emotions by Yunqian’s speech.

“You youngsters’ bodies sure are something. In just a matter of a few days, your wounds have healed to this extent,” Yunqian marveled as he withdrew his hand. “Okay, done! Stay put and don’t scratch it.”

The teenager smiled, revealing his pearly white teeth. However, he was incapable of making a full grin as he had injured the network of the right side of his nerves. There was a smile on half of his face while the other half was expressionless.

Yunqian’s gaze lingered for a moment before he nodded and turned towards the exit.

Just when the president was about to step out of his room, the teenager suddenly remembered something and asked hastily, “Oh yeah, Mr. President, is there any news from the posthumans?

“One returned this morning,” Yunqian answered, his hand frozen on the door handle.

The teenager’s eyes glowed. “That’s great! May I know who it is? How is he now?”

The president’s two bushy brows furrowed at the center of his forehead in a tight knot. “His face is pretty familiar, but I can’t place him. I’ll have to go through the name list and let you know later. He was in pretty bad shape. He fainted the moment he stepped into the city, so I’m not sure whether he succeeded in getting the information or not. Be that as it may, the most important thing is that he’s returned and is still alive. That’s the only thing that matters to me.”

Compressing his lips, Yunqian paused for a moment before speaking again, “If too many posthumans have lost their lives due to this mission, it would make me a sinner to Sector 9, and I’ll never forgive myself.”

After that, the president stepped out of the room. Lin Sanjiu looked at the west-bound sun and sighed. “Another day, another dollar.”

As Lin Sanjiu crept across the outer wall of the building, bathing under the sepia glow of the giant egg yolk in the sky to return to the attic that she temporarily claimed as her humble abode, she had a feeling that she had transitioned from a stalker to a freak.

‘It’s a good thing that nobody has noticed me yet. I don’t know how I’ll explain myself if somebody finds out about me.’

As long as Puppeteer was in full possession of his faculties, Sector 9 was relatively complete and worked perfectly fine just like any other world outside. Perhaps Puppeteer had received more information during his period, so there were fewer loopholes in his memories. Lin Sanjiu had no idea, as she was too tired to think.

Ever since Lin Sanjiu entered the Veda’s territory, she had never once closed her eyes. Whenever she thought about the Veda spying on her in the dark, she could not bring herself to let her concentration slip even for the briefest second.

Everything was fine until she came to Mistral. Watching the sun rise and set every single day, Lin Sanjiu’s biological clock had adapted to the flow of time in Mistral. She felt like at least a month had passed; no posthuman could resist the urge to sleep. Lin Sanjiu pinched herself hard to stay awake. She could not help but think this might be what the Veda had been going after all along—waiting for her most vulnerable moment to strike when she fell victim to the sleepiness.

The tingling sensation did nothing to chase away the sleep bug. After she sat down in the attic, the lassitude that had been building up all this time began to engulf Lin Sanjiu in its gaping maw. Her head felt heavy, and the temptation to close her eyelids was too hard to fight. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and dwell in the land of Nod. Puppeteer? Screw him!

Just as Lin Sanjiu was nearing that border between sleep and the waking world, a quick succession of footsteps echoed through the wooden floor and snapped her awake. She listened closer. Upon realizing that more than one person was heading to the attic, she jerked up from the ground and looked around her surroundings before jumping out the window.

There were barely any footholds on the wall for Lin Sanjiu to stand on. As such, she grabbed a green vine and stepped on the ledge of the next floor to stabilize herself.

Then, the door to the attic, which was built on that floor, was pushed open with a creak.

“Mr. President.”

“Yun?” Lin Sanjiu was startled as she whispered to herself.

“Is it fine to put it here?” Yun asked.

Lin Sanjiu wondered how long she was passed out. The memories were flowing at a faster rate. She repositioned herself and looked inside through the window of the attic.

Even though the attic in the governor’s mansion was large compared to other houses, it became extremely cramped the moment Yunqian walked into it as if it could not accommodate the tall and calm president. He was standing in the middle of the attic, facing away from Lin Sanjiu. Through the evening twilight, Lin Sanjiu could only see the darker side of his back.

The air was filled with dust particles that turned golden-red due to the ray that pierced out of the glowing globe of fire in the sky like molten gold. Yun was carrying an iron case that seemed to put a lot of strain on his arms. Huffing, he placed the case on the floor, stirring up a cloud of dust that choked him. His cheeks blushed as he coughed.

Yunqian patted his back and queried in concern, “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Just feeling a little stiff on the right side.”

Yunqian then squatted in front of the iron case. He stroked the case as if he was caressing a newborn infant. The words that slipped from his lips were full of affection, “This is it… This is the one. I’ve been searching for it the whole time, but I never succeeded. I never imagined that I’d be able to see it again one day.”

“It’s all thanks to you, Mr. President. If it weren’t for your persistence, there’s no way we could have pulled this one off. Ah, and also Brother Gong… we have to thank him properly for carrying this back to Sector 9 from Sector 1.” The teenager squatted beside Yunqian, offering him a half-toothy grin. Then, he turned to look at the case and wondered out loud, “But… is this case really gonna work? It doesn’t look that special to me.”

Yunqian stretched a trembling finger out to reach for the case. He gulped down a mouthful of saliva to calm himself down. “Yes, yes, of course. I’ve already activated it.”

“Already?” The teenager was shocked again. He studied the case for a while but could not see anything, “It did not make any sound… I thought there would at least be a screen. After all, the AI command station is a high-tech product, is it not?”

Yunqian looked at the teenager, giggling as if he found the teenager’s remark amusing. “Yes, yes. It has everything we need.”

Without waiting for Yun to ask any more questions, Yunqian got back to his feet and strode towards the staircase. “Let’s get going. The time isn’t ripe yet.”

The teenager stared in blank incomprehension as Yunqian walked down the stairs. He quickly followed after him, and both of their footfalls got further and further away.

Lin Sanjiu went back into the attic. She pondered for a moment and abandoned the thought of checking the metal case and followed them down the stairs. This world was a replica of Puppeteer’s memory. There was no way the Veda could completely restore what Puppeteer did not understand. Hence, even if Lin Sanjiu went up to see the case, she would not get anything.

She just thought that the introduction of the metal case would catalyze the development of the story. She waited for half a day, yet nothing happened. The president visited Brother Gong and chit-chatted with him until midnight. Concurrently, Lin Sanjiu had been following Yun for the entire day. She watched him receive physiotherapy, finish reading a book, and go to bed after having dinner and taking a bath. Lin Sanjiu did not realize that she was pretty talented at being a stalker.

A crescent moon hung high in the dark sky. After Yun had fallen into a deep slumber, Lin Sanjiu returned to the attic. She had no idea whether or not she could survive through the night without falling asleep. She was too sleepy and tired.

Only in the stillness of the night did she hear the faint whirring from the iron case in front of her. Something was moving inside. Facing a technology that she had never seen before, Lin Sanjiu felt like a barbarian that was seeing a television for the first time. She paced around the iron case in a circle, yet she still could not understand why they called this block of metal the AI command station.

Just when Lin Sanjiu was overcome with boredom and sat on the floor, a slow clicking of the doorknob moving caused her nerves to tighten.

The noise disappeared as soon as it appeared, causing her to think that her mind was playing a trick on her. Her ears pricked up and she listened with rapt attention. This time, she caught very faint footfalls from the corridor a floor below. Jerking up, she stormed down the stairs and went straight for the sound.

The dream was a chaotic jumble like a mess of fruits thrown inside a large mixer. Yun tossed and turned about on the bed. His smooth and long breathing echoed in the night. He felt a ticklish sensation radiating from the right side of his cheek as if a colony of ants was biting him. Then, a warm object fell on his face, and Yun dreamed of the president’s hand stroking the AI command station.

Yun opened his eyes, and his heart skipped a beat to see a tall figure standing beside his bed.

“Who’s there?” asked the teenager in a nasal voice. However, before he could move, the hand moved away from his cheek and gripped his neck.

“Don’t move,” commanded the figure in the dark.

Yun was startled. For a moment, he seemed to have lost control over his own body.

“In the past, I’ve been to Sector 9 a couple of times when I was touring.” Perhaps it was due to the night that the familiar voice seemed dark and raucous. “Even with the AI, Sector 9 is still a slum. Everybody keeps saying that Sector 9 is hopeless, and there’s nothing we can do to change it, but I disagree. I have very wonderful memories here. The poorer and chaotic a place is, the higher the chances I can get what I want.”

The teenager was dumbstruck. In the dark, he could feel the grip loosen, but the large hand did not move away. The body of the figure was cold like a snake clinging to Yun’s warm body.

“After Sector 1 had fallen, humans were getting fewer and fewer day by day. Every time I got out, all I see was AI. Although they have the appearance of a human, they are different.” The voice was getting lower and lower as if it were about to merge with the dark, but the teenager could sense a startling undercurrent of aggression in the sound. “Oh… Humans. I can assure you, Yun, no one loves humans more than I do.”

“Mr. President…”

“Shh.” Yunqian lowered his head and whispered into the teenager’s ear, “I don’t need you to talk, and I don’t need you to move. Listen carefully, Yun. The AI command station has already been activated. The AI has already taken over the defense and weapons system of this city. To be honest, I didn’t expect it to be so easy to take over this city.”

The teenager’s heart raced like the galloping of horses in the wild.

The cold hand ran across his Adam’s apple to the back of his neck. When he sensed the teenager’s skin crawl with goosebumps, Yunqian giggled. “Are you 16 this year? Or 17? You have a tiny Adam’s apple. Your Evolving Ability can only control puppets, correct?” His hand felt like a snake that slithered around, but it suddenly stopped.

In the dark, the teenager’s whimper rang out intermittently.

“Why are you crying? Are you scared?”

Yun was gasping for air. The tears that filled his eyes further blurred his vision. He cursed himself for shedding tears, but he could not stop the fear that suddenly ballooned from his heart. He wanted to vomit and cry. He said in a hoarse voice, “I… I… I saved you…”

“Yes. And I appreciate that.”

“Then, why are you—”

“Don’t you wish for Sector 9 to become a better place? Everything has a price. If you want to turn Sector 9 into a better place, you have to pay the price,” Yunqian said with an ever-soothing voice, “I can turn Sector 9 into a utopia just like the golden age with AI. You know I’m not lying.”

The teenager turned around and punched the figure in front of him. Yunqian grabbed his fist effortlessly and laughed. “Darling, didn’t I tell you not to move?”

“Screw you!” Yun jumped up again, only to be stopped by a hand that suddenly landed on his shoulder. In the blink of an eye, he lost all his strength. Like a floodgate that broke loose, all his strength flowed towards the hand on his shoulder. His limbs gave in, and he could not even support his body.

Cold sweat oozed from his forehead. His cheek trickled with tears as his heart tightened and shrunk to the size of a needle tip. However, no matter how much he struggled, it was useless.

“The power of a president is in making his people obey his order.” A grin appeared on the dark figure’s face. “Twenty Vindice, 70 droids, and 15 mobile artillery stations have responded to my call this afternoon after I activated the command station. A moment ago, the first batch arrived.”

This did not stop Yun from struggling. Then, the next word he said froze the teenager into stillness.

“Your friends. They are sleeping soundly under the watch of Vindice.”