The young woman walked through the passage, arriving at a door. With a 'drip,' she opened it, and a sickening stench assaulted her nose, met by profound darkness.
In the darkness, the sound of a creature crawling emerged. The creature crawled on the ground, its skin grating against the smooth floor with a teeth-grinding noise. 'Hum-sniff, hum-sniff' echoed, its breathing as heavy as a beast's.
"Truly disgusting," she muttered.
The young woman shone her light forward. The moment it saw the light, the creature showed intense pain, letting out a wretched cry, wanting to retreat into the darkness but having nowhere to hide from the white light.
Only then did the creature's appearance gradually become clear.
It was a human.
His body was several times thicker than a sumo wrestler's, his pale flesh rippling like water, flowing down in rolls. Pastry-like food residue clung to his folds, and the intense stench emanated from within.
He cowered in the corner, so much so that if one didn't look closely, they might think a sarcoma had grown on the wall. Having lived in darkness for so long, this human's eyes had long since atrophied, and his facial features were slack and fused together.
The scene before her reminded Chun Sanyue of a movie she had seen called 《Okja》, whose premise left a deep impression on her: humans used genetic technology to combine the genes of hippos, dogs, and domestic pigs, creating a 'Super Pig' with an extremely high meat yield. Okja was one such Super Pig, and the film's content roughly revolved around the healing and touching story between the protagonist Mija and the Super Pig Okja.
Of course, this human was not as honest and cute as the 'Super Pig' in the movie; only their size was comparable.
That human had long lost the ability to speak, capable only of instinctive cries. Not far away was his 'nest bed,' a device resembling a large swimming pool, filled with transparent liquid, and lined with tubes at the bottom.
Evidently, he had sensed that something was amiss with the young woman before him.
He didn't know what was happening outside, why the obedient bionic he once knew would suddenly display malice towards him.
The man struggled, trying to crawl back to the nest bed. He had to quickly connect his consciousness to the Hera Network to trigger an alarm, making the autonomous units aware of the anomaly here; drones would tear this intruder apart!
"Having become like this, what meaning does life still hold?"
Chun Sanyue walked over and crouched beside the man, resting her chin in her hand, watching with interest as he slowly crawled towards the nest bed.
"What's the difference between being dead or alive? You still think you're the master of Skyline City, but you're clearly no different from a bionic's pet. 'Being cared for'? I'd say it's more like being farmed like a pig."
"Immersed in the virtual reality matrix cage built for you by bionics, what are you like in that virtual world? A successful businessman, a knowledgeable scholar, or a superhero saving the world?"
Chun Sanyue's tone rose: "In truth, you are merely livestock trapped in a hive, not even worthy of self-respect."
This statement undoubtedly deeply stung the man's self-esteem. He crazily opened his mouth to bite the young woman beside him, but instead bit down on an incredibly hard metal sphere, nearly chipping his teeth.
"Hey, hey, don't be mad. Have some candy." Chun Sanyue pulled a pin, stood up, and retreated a few steps with a chilling smile. "I'm here to free you; you should be thanking me."
The man covered his mouth in terror, a red light flickering within.
Boom! A flash of fire erupted from somewhere on the floating platform. The entire platform trembled with the violent explosion, and piercing alarms echoed throughout the Ark.
Chun Sanyue calmly watched the rolling fireball plummet downwards.
If nothing went wrong, the autonomous units had already received the alarm, and fully armed drones would arrive at her location in thirty seconds.
Chun Sanyue looked up, gazing at the thousands of cells embedded in the walls before her. Countless cells collectively formed this colossal hive, and behind each cell wall were humans like the man, being 'cared for'.
Her index finger twitched slightly. Looking closely, countless fine threads connected to her fingertips, and as she gently pulled them,
A crisp sound resonated in the air.
The densely flickering red lights contrasted sharply with the cool, glowing walls. The young woman stood on the floating platform, as tiny as a speck of dust. Before her, tens of thousands of red lights flashed in unison, like the eyes of ancient gods opening in the deep-sea darkness.
Silence flowed, death whispered.
"How beautiful," Chun Sanyue whispered to herself. The next moment, darkness receded, and blinding white light swallowed the world!
Countless cells burned and disintegrated, sparks wrapped in ash rose and tumbled, waves of heat assaulted them, and the air was scorched and twisted, like a devil grinning. The blazing flames spread wildly to every part of the steel bastion, and the sky plunged into a scorching shadow!
A fierce wind howled, tearing away all obstacles and rushing into the floating platform. The roar was deafening, but the young woman was already gone.
"What in the world is happening?"
"Quick, Sector D1782 is under attack! Immediate support needed!"
"Under attack? How is that possible? Hera didn't issue any alarms before this!"
Amidst the chaos, Chun Sanyue yawned as the panicked crowd rushed past her. Just as she was wondering how to use this bionic body to bypass Hera's surveillance and escape the fully locked-down Ark, several figures intercepted her,
They exchanged glances, their faces full of ill intent.
"Boss, what about her?"
"Yeah, yeah, she's special, not like the other disciplinary officers."
The members of the Golden Navigator looked at Nanjiamu, who stood in the middle, and offered their suggestions.
Nanjiamu also carefully sized up the young woman before him. She was dressed like any ordinary bionic in a standard uniform, but her two pigtails made her particularly easy to spot in the crowd.
Just as well, they were completely lost, winding through this wretched place, and needed a bionic to guide them.
"Don't be scared, little sister, we're good people, hehehe, as long as you come with us obediently, we won't hurt you."
"No, don't forget we're human. These bionics are supposed to obey us."
"You, lead the way for us now, or you'll die, understand?"
Chun Sanyue's mouth twitched.
The land-air vehicle shook off all its pursuers and stopped on a street.
The five quickly exited the vehicle. Lively shouts drifted from afar. Looking at the red lanterns and colorful ribbons hanging around, and the street filled with cybernetic fireworks, they thought they had taken a wrong turn, a hint of hesitation appearing on each of their faces.
A dimly lit pavilion bridge spanned overhead. Before them stood a forest of tea houses, theaters, pawnshops, archways, temples, and many familiar traditional buildings. Xu Xiaoyou was momentarily disoriented.
"This is Nine Dragons Street," Cervantes said, seizing the moment. "It's crowded and noisy here, with complex terrain. I think it's most suitable for your current situation."
The other four members of the team exchanged glances, but Angelina alone remained full of questions, not understanding what was happening to them.
"Let's go," Xu Xiaoyou said, snapping out of it.
Rate on N.U.
