SOP CH3: Refusing No One

Countless attacks accumulated outside the stasis bubble, and after the bubble shattered, they struck Quicksand like a violent storm. He felt a pressure like the crumbling of mountains and the splitting of the earth as multicolored signboards smashed down on him from high above. An egg falling from the eighteenth floor could fracture a human skull, let alone hundreds of these signboards.

Quicksand possessed a physique far surpassing that of ordinary time cleaners, yet his head was his Achilles’ heel. He suffered from severe mechanical rejection syndrome, making his chip-implanted cranium more fragile than that of ordinary people, unable to withstand excessive shock. However, very few knew of this weakness, and he had never exposed it in battle.

Now, pushing aside the broken signboards, he staggered to his feet among the debris. He only felt a creaking in his brain, dizzy and swollen, as if countless rusted gears were grinding inside. Illusions flickered before his eyes frame by frame. The winding alleys of the lower tier turned into ruins one moment, and into complete blankness the next.

He trudged forward like a walking corpse, striving to recall his purpose for coming to the lower tier: to capture the fraudster who had stolen a massive amount of time from the Group, someone carrying far more than five centuries of time on him.

But, he should have had another purpose for coming to the lower tier. What was it?

A scene surfaced within Quicksand’s blurred memories: inside a snow-white hall, he stood shoulder to shoulder with another person before a floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the scenery of Spiral City.

That person said to him, “Quicksand, do you want to intervene in this matter?”

He heard himself reply, “I want to find the truth.”

“Then go. Time jumps can only reach as far as the year 2026. Any points in time further back have been disrupted and destroyed by the rebel army ‘Clepsydra.’ Besides, look…”

He looked downward in the direction that person indicated. What exactly had he seen back then? It was like gazing into the abyss, like staring into pitch darkness. His memory was a chaotic blur, and he could only recall that person saying:

“The truth you seek no longer exists.”

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his head as an object slammed heavily onto his skull.

His memories seemed to be corroded and dissolved, his consciousness snapped, and he collapsed once again.

“Hey, person down there, are you dead? Make a sound!”

The voices came from above. The place where Quicksand had fallen was a massive scrapyard; he had wandered here by accident while in a daze. Multicolored waste piled up like gravel, forming continuous mountains. At this moment, several dirty little heads poked out from a makeshift shack perched up high.

Those were children who lived in the scrapyard. Plundered by people from the future, the people of 2026 did not live prosperous lives. These children were short and scrawny, barefoot, dressed in woven sacks and patched-up rags, filthy beyond measure.

One child said, “We’re done for; we’re done for! When we were moving the signboard just now, it accidentally fell and hit someone.”

“Let’s go down and see if he can still be saved.”

They ran over to Quicksand’s side, and feeling the young man’s breath, breathed a sigh of relief. To their surprise, he had only minor scrapes across his body. One child picked up his mask and revealed a handsome, clean-cut face, like an elegant hero in an old comic book.

“Who is he?”

The children exchanged glances, but no one could provide an answer. The theatrical mask was smooth and brilliant, and they hid it away as a treasure. Someone said:

“A grown-up dressed like an edge-lord.”

“Our hands slipped just now. Did the signboard that fell hit him?”

“He doesn’t have any obvious wounds on his head. He must be timid and fainted from fright.”

“Should we take him to a clinic?”

The children exerted all their strength to drag the young man, but with their frail arms, it was completely beyond their ability. In the end, they slumped to the ground, panting. A child said:

“Take him where? That’s a losing proposition! Why don’t we lighten his load first?”

With that, the children swarmed forward, taking his mask and stripping the expensive-looking cloth clothes off the cleaner, while the remaining body in dire need of treatment was completely forgotten in the heap of trash.

In the lower tier of Spiral City, there was a well-known bar called “Poker.”

Upon entering, one could see a large glass cylinder filled to the brim with snapped playing cards. The lighting was a soft, warm amber, casting a glow over small oak tables that carved out little worlds of their own. Behind the counter always stood an elderly woman in a black veil and a solid black bustle skirt, known as “Spades.” The old-fashioned cocktails she mixed had a rich, mellow flavor paired with a distinctive freshness. She was also like a vast and forgiving sea, accommodating all the grievances and sorrows people poured out to her.

Lower-tier people gathered here in twos and threes, reminiscing about days gone by amid the antique ambiance. No one dared make trouble in this peaceful haven, for rumors had it that this place was closely linked to the rebel army “Clepsydra,” and the guardians here were more terrifying than demons:

Madam Spades, who tended bar at Poker: rumor had it that her hands could blend extraordinarily fragrant cocktails, but could also concoct deadly poisons capable of claiming tens of thousands of lives. Hearts, the leader of the Clepsydra rebels who frequented this place: his body was pieced together from wild beasts and steel, possessing boundless strength that could rival a hundred men. The mysterious operator behind the scenes, Clubs Cat: some guessed she was a young woman, rumors said she was a genius hacker, and others claimed she was the leader of the androids, pulling the strings of the entire lower tier with an invisible hand.

And outside the spotlight of public attention, there was one more person worth mentioning.

This noteworthy figure was currently opening his eyes in a room on the second floor of Poker Bar.

The fraudster Diamonds’s gaze was like an aimless moth, fluttering about the room before finally settling on the clock on the wall. The minute hand and second hand spun round and round, endlessly. He suddenly felt that the clock and the Penrose stairs had much in common: seemingly moving forward, but in truth falling back toward midnight, completing a full circle only to return to the starting point. All of them were prisoners trapped in time, circling endlessly on a staircase with no finish.

Diamonds sat up, furrowing his brow in pain. Looking down, he saw that the wounds on his body had already been carefully bandaged. He recalled that he had just escaped the pursuit of a time cleaner and returned to the safehouse.

The room he occupied was cramped and cluttered. A large pine wardrobe took up half the space, and on the windowsill sat a freshly opened bottle of Zhiwaya tiger wine, an old radio, and a photo frame, surrounded by a dozen scattered shell casings, with a row of medicine bottles bearing various labels. Glued to the walls were sticky notes with fluorescent doodles, old newspapers, and a calendar marked “2026.” Items were piled haphazardly everywhere, as bustling as a flea market. Neon light soaked in through the window, casting the chilly blue hue of late-night business, cold and desolately quiet.

Diamonds picked up a jagged fragment of a diamond-shaped mirror from the bedside table. Reflected in the glass was the pale face of an exhausted young man. Turning it around, he forced an energetic smile, and the reflection in the mirror transformed back into a vibrant, radiant visage, the diamond stud beneath his eye sparkling brilliantly.

Perhaps because of his earlier blood loss, his head was heavy and groggy. He managed to stand up, only to collapse by the windowsill. Medicine bottles tumbled down, different colored pills scattering across the floor in a mixed mess.

“You’re awake, Diamonds?”

The robust man pushed open the door and entered. It was Hearts, the gentleman who had disguised himself as Diamonds earlier. Diamonds gave a start and swept the pills into his palm. Hearts looked toward the floor, furrowing his brow, and asked, “What are these?”

“Skittles.”

“Who are you kidding? That’s medicine. You have a lot of pill bottles in your room. Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

“I feel very unwell right now, beaten black and blue by that time cleaner.” Diamonds stood up and returned the pills to the bottle. In the blink of an eye, he reverted to that frivolous demeanor. “Boss Hearts was the one who brought me back, right? Thanks. We can skip the thank-you gift; after all, who are we to stand on ceremony?”

“I had a doctor examine you. You were unconscious ever since you got back, and two days have passed since then. The time cleaner hasn’t been seen either; he probably left. If you feel hungry, come to my room. I just prepared dinner for Clubs Cat, and there’s a portion for you too.”

“Does a patient who just woke up only deserve to eat cat food?”

“Haha, as long as you return that year and a week of time to me, you can upgrade your combo.”

“I’ll eat cat food,” Diamonds replied immediately, casually picking up his shirt and putting it on.

The time cleaner was nowhere to be seen? He felt this was very strange, but having just woken up, his stomach was growling fiercely and his brain was sluggish. So he didn’t dwell on it and followed Hearts into another room.

There were three rooms on the second floor of Poker Bar, belonging respectively to Madam Spades, Hearts, and Diamonds. Hearts’s room was spacious, with a large one-way glass window outside of which flickering lights formed a brilliant starry sky. Plush toys, cartoon rugs, knitted teddy bear bags, pink painted walls… ordinary people would find it hard to reconcile this cute-style room with the impression of Clepsydra’s leader, a hulking man nearly two meters tall.

Against the wall sat a semicircular water tank containing a doll’s head. It looked like a seven or eight-year-old girl, with pearl-smooth skin and lips as red as roses. Diamonds walked over and greeted her listlessly first, “Hello, Duoduo.”

Lounging in the center of the room was a snow leopard with grayish-blue eyes, an elegant posture, and sleek, supple fur like fine satin.

“Hello, Clubs Cat.”

Diamonds also turned his head to greet it.

“Damn liar, I’m a snow leopard, not a cat.” The snow leopard spoke, surprisingly uttering human speech in the domineering voice of a young girl.

“I’m a liar. Liars only tell untruths, which is why I call you a cat.”

The snow leopard swiped hard at him with a paw. It was a genetically modified creation of the Group, possessing human consciousness and an implanted cluster of symbiotic nanobots. It could manipulate the nanobots through thought and decode the low-level protocols of electronic devices. The vehicle that came to pick up Diamonds and Hearts earlier had been under its control. Diamonds was nearly swiped into the afterlife by that blow, and his freshly bandaged wounds almost split open.

The snow leopard asked, “When the cleaner was chasing you earlier, the connection was severed. What happened?”

Hearts hurriedly shot Diamonds a glance, and Diamonds caught on: “Nothing much, just bad signal. The car wasn’t wrecked either.”

“That’s a blatant cover-up. The car is definitely broken. Without a car, you’ll be the one carrying Boss Hearts on your back next time.” The snow leopard swiped at him again. After some playful banter and chasing, they sat around a small round table. Hearts brought a large plate of banana chicken salad for the snow leopard and set a bag of baked cat food in front of Diamonds.

“Come on, Boss, are you really making me eat this?”

“Isn’t this what you just ordered?” Hearts had changed into a leather jacket painted with hearts, stretched tight over his muscular frame. “Alright, we should summarize our current situation and discuss what to do going forward.”

Diamonds grabbed a handful of cat food, shoved it into his mouth, and at the same time pulled the platinum pocket watch from his pocket and placed it on the table. “Earlier, I took on the identity of the Time Entropy Group’s client Bumblebee and stole this time cleaner ID. Isn’t Clepsydra about to launch an assault on the Group? Before that edge-lord kid reports it missing, let Clepsydra use this to unlock the Group’s doors and raid their nest.”

Hearts nodded. “That’s a good idea, but I believe extracting the cleaner’s ID code and clearance information stored inside is more crucial. Let’s hand this pocket watch over to Clubs Cat for analysis for now.”

The snow leopard spat, “You two bastards! I’m not a cat.” Even so, it obediently took the pocket watch in its mouth and hid it beneath its paws.

“Speaking of which, where did that time cleaner go? He didn’t go leak information to the Group, did he?”

“What are you scared of?” Diamonds leaned comfortably against the snow leopard like a pillow. “Every time-jump carries high risks and consumes roughly the amount of energy required for the Earth to rotate once. Without absolute certainty, they won’t mobilize their full forces to this point in time.”

The snow leopard said, “I checked the surveillance cameras. I don’t know if he walked into a blind spot, but after you broke hundreds of signboards, no trace of him was found. Either he left, or he got lost.”

Diamonds chewed on the cat food. “If it’s the latter, I hope some kind-hearted soul from the lower tier takes the opportunity to harvest his kidneys.”

The two men and the leopard looked at one another. They naturally knew that shaking off a time cleaner’s hunt wouldn’t be so easy. A bloody battle between the Time Entropy Group and the Clepsydra rebels was inevitable; right now, the lower tier was merely experiencing the calm before the storm.

After finishing dinner, Hearts smiled and said, “Diamonds, head downstairs and see Madam Spades. She has something to assign to you.”

Stepping onto the wooden stairs, Diamonds descended to the first floor of Poker Bar.

The bar was packed with people, smelling of alcohol, cheap leather jackets, and rubber shoes. Lower-tier people loved that an old-fashioned cocktail could be bought here for sixteen minutes of time, and every night was filled to capacity.

The crowd’s eyes landed on Diamonds as he walked down the stairs, and a burst of cheers mingled with whistles erupted:

“Diamonds!” “Diamonds!”

“Mr. Fraudster, heard you showed off your might right in front of the Time Entropy Group’s lapdog?”

Diamonds smiled, bowing as if taking a curtain call. “A minor trick, nothing to write home about.”

“You’re not going to show us your skills tonight and cheat us out of our time, are you?”

“I only con loaded fat cats, and you folks don’t quite seem to qualify. Here’s wishing all the bosses here get rich soon, so I can cheat you out of some pocket change.”

“Get outta here!” The crowd roared with laughter, and someone tossed peanuts at him.

“Diamonds, stop being so smug and come over here.”

Amid the uproar, Diamonds heard a voice speaking coldly from a corner. He turned his head and saw a tall, elderly woman wearing a black veil gesturing elegantly toward him.

Diamonds walked over and took a seat at the bar. “What’s the matter, Madam Spades?”

Madam Spades was the person in charge of Poker Bar, and Diamonds was merely a junior before her. Shaking her cocktail shaker, Madam Spades said, “A few days ago, did you get into a brawl with a time cleaner and snap over a hundred neon signs?”

Her piercing gaze was like a dagger, boring through her veil toward him. Diamonds suddenly looked like a child caught doing something wrong, his eyes darting evasively. “Seems like… that happened, and seems like… it didn’t.”

“Those signboards are everyone’s livelihoods, and you smashed every single one of them. I’ve received a blizzard of complaint letters.” Madam Spades grabbed his lapel coldly. “Where’s your wallet? Cough up the compensation.”

Diamonds was shaken so vigorously that he grew dizzy. “Calm down, Madam. No matter how much you shake me, no money is coming out. All that’ll come up is stomach acid and cat food.” Madam Spades huffed and tossed him back onto the seat.

“I know you deserve credit for driving off that time cleaner, but you cannot dodge the corresponding responsibility. Go reinstall everyone’s signboards. The lower tier is completely wrecked right now; you crashed your car into nine trash cans, sixteen water pipes, and a hundred and forty-six signboards. Everyone is cleaning up after your mess.”

“Dreadful cleaner!” Diamonds slammed a theatrical fist onto the counter. “Causing endless trouble for the people at the bottom and dumping the blame squarely on my head!”

“Don’t break the counter. This is expensive slate. If you damage it, you’ll pay with nine days of your lifespan.”

Madam Spades admonished him patiently, as if instructing a schoolchild. “In any case, repairing the site isn’t just your job. Hearts and Clubs Cat will help, and I’ll go during the day too. You’re an injured patient, so rest for a few days, finish the medicine I prepared for you, and then get to work.”

She turned and retrieved a glass bottle from an ash wood liquor cabinet. Diamonds saw that it was filled with a medicinal liquid as murky as swamp muck. When she popped the cap, a pungent, bizarre stench hit his nose, looking every bit like a witch’s brew.

“No… no need, my wounds have already healed.” Diamonds’s expression contorted. Making him drink this concoction was worse than drinking concentrated sulfuric acid.

He stood up and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Rest assured, Madam, I won’t shirk the work I’m supposed to do. It’s just that I often feel our bar is too short-handed. The moment anything happens, we all have to mobilize.”

“Little liar, is your lazy streak acting up again? If you don’t want to help, go find a substitute. Aside from the damage you caused, there are past messes left behind by time cleaners that haven’t been cleaned up either. The entire lower tier is mobilized right now, and we’re short on hands.” Madam Spades poured the drink from the shaker into a stemmed glass. “If you think our bar lacks manpower, feel free to recruit forty-eight didi and expand to fifty-two people, just enough to complete a deck of cards.”

Diamonds glanced around the bar and asked, “Are any of you bosses willing to be my new didi and tape the neon signs back up with scotch tape?”

The rowdy bar suddenly went quiet. Everyone buried their heads in their drinks, keeping their mouths shut. Diamonds turned his head and shrugged at Madam Spades: “Alright, there are no suitable new recruits here. I’ll head out and post a hiring ad.”

The lower tier of Spiral City was dark and cramped. Electric wires were as dense as cobwebs, and buildings were stacked together like crowded shipping containers. At this moment, figures resembling spiders clinging to a web were deftly securing signboards back in place and connecting the copper-gold wires.

Diamonds sat on the edge of a windowsill, watching signboards light up one by one: “Wanfu Diner,” “Liu’s Chocolate Ice Cream Hotpot,” “Super Cheap Clinic”… Dazzling lights reappeared in the alleyway, and his idle, carefree demeanor provoked public outrage:

“Diamonds, get over here and work!”

“My rheumatism flared up. I can’t move.”

“How old are you, kid?”

“Sixty minus forty.” Diamonds lay down, limply draping himself across the windowsill. “Then a fracture, then. I just suffered a sudden fracture. Keep it up, everyone! Once it’s done, I’ll buy drinks for everyone using Boss Hearts’s wallet.”

Not all members of the Clepsydra rebels were deferential toward this young man. This kid was a member of Poker Bar, and although he stood on equal footing with the rebel leader Hearts, he did nothing all day but flap his lips with an attitude of sheer laziness.

“Leave Boss Hearts out of this! You lazy, scheming con artist!” someone yelled indignantly, climbing up toward Diamonds. But along the way, he tripped over an electric wire and screamed as he tumbled off the building.

Just as he was about to hit the ground, he felt his body float upward. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was enveloped in a transparent stasis bubble, halting his fall. Diamonds waved at him from the windowsill, toying with the Mauser in his other hand; the stasis bubble had been fired from that very barrel.

The stasis bubble popped, and the man landed gently on the ground. Stunned, he completely forgot his previous insults. Diamonds said with sleepy eyes:

“I just had a sudden lumbar strain. I’ll step away for a day or two and come back once I find someone to replace me. Sorry to inconvenience everyone.”

He turned and left, and this time no one dared stop him. The man saved by the stasis bubble rubbed his face awkwardly and went back to work.

Diamonds descended to the ground floor, picked up a wooden splint from the scattered junk on the floor, aligned it against his arm, and secured it with a plastic bag, looping the handles around his neck. Turning left, he ducked into the “Super Cheap Clinic” that had just hung up its sign. Leaning against the doorway, he called out in a drawn-out voice:

“Doctor Hua, are you in?”

An old man with a goatee, his back bent like a carpenter’s square, poked his head out through the curtain, only to pull it right back. “I’m in… Wait, why is it you again, kid? Then I’m out.”

“Please, prescribe me some painkillers. I woke up to find myself fractured by that time cleaner, completely unable to use any strength.”

“Who are you kidding now? Trying to get medicine from me to scalp it, aren’t you?” The old man walked over and felt his arm, his expression turning somewhat serious. “How did it actually fracture?”

“Who knows? That cleaner struck like a gust of wind. Once it was over, I realized I was bleeding and fractured.”

Diamonds watched as the old man set the bone, his brows furrowing slightly from the stinging pain. He had only noticed this injury yesterday when he collapsed in his room. The old man handed him a bag of medicine. “Come back when you have some spare time. The lower tier is busy cleaning up right now, and we’re really short on hands.”

Diamonds took the medicine and left the clinic. Rounding a corner, he stepped into “Wanfu Diner.” The proprietress said to him, “Young man, we don’t have time to open today. Go next door to eat.”

The clerk at “Liu’s Chocolate Ice Cream Hotpot” slung an arm around his shoulder familiarly. “Old Fang, go buy us some chocolate sauce. Since your arm is fractured anyway, you can’t climb up and down hanging signboards, but you can probably run groceries, right? Please, we’re so busy right now one person has to do the work of two.”

“Sure, sure, next time for sure,” Diamonds brushed him off.

Short on hands. Short on hands. Everywhere was lacking manpower, and everyone wanted to drag him into working. Diamonds walked past shop after shop, expressionless.

In the end, he arrived at the scrapyard. Passing showers had begun falling from the sky, though fortunately the acidity wasn’t high. A group of children spotted him and, like ants catching the scent of honey, sprinted down from the garbage mountain in the distance, waving their arms:

“Xiao Fang, Xiao Fang!” “What are you here for?”

Diamonds pulled out his Mauser and fired a stasis bubble into the sky. The rain slowed above them, looking as though a transparent umbrella had opened over their heads. Diamonds was swarmed in a tight embrace by the children and smiled, “I’m here looking for a helper.”

“Tch.” The children released him in disgust. “We thought you came to feed us. No way are we helping.”

“There’s a reward. Whoever helps me fix the signboards gets a bottle of juice.” Diamonds took out the small medicine bottle Madam Spades had given him and shook it before the children.

“Blech! Damn liar, isn’t that the swill made by old witch Spades?”

“Fine, I’ll take a step back. Whoever’s willing to help gets room and board, and I’ll graciously cook for you.”

“Xiao Fang, you big liar! The food you make is like dog food. We’re not your pet dogs. Come back and say that once you find someone willing to eat your cooking.”

A child suddenly clapped his hands. “Right! A newcomer arrived here, a dummy. If you don’t mind, take him away.”

Diamonds asked, “Can he work?”

“He’s very tall, a grown-up dummy. Connecting signboards shouldn’t be a problem.”

The children led Diamonds into the shack. Broken iron railings and colorful plastic boards enclosed a crude shelter, and beside mountains of plastic bottles, a young man sat hugging his knees.

The young man wore a black sleeveless vest. His features were handsome and well-defined, his waist and shoulders lean and muscular. Though hunched over, he looked like a wild beast poised to strike. His pupils were an inorganic gray, resembling a somber, overcast sky.

When the children spoke to him, he did not respond, merely staring blankly into the distance.

Seeing him, Diamonds’s eyes trembled slightly.

“Look, that’s him. The other day when we were stealing signboards, one accidentally slipped and fell downstairs, hitting him.”

Diamonds scrutinized the young man: gray pupils, tall build, and hands with distinct knuckles and calluses, clearly accustomed to gripping weapons. He turned around, pulled the children aside, and smiled:

“Do you know where he came from?”

“Even he doesn’t know! Maybe we damaged his head when we dropped it; he doesn’t even remember his own name and can barely talk.”

“Could he be…” Diamonds’s gaze flickered for a fraction of a second, “…a time cleaner?”

“Silly Xiao Fang, could a cleaner really be knocked silly by a signboard? That’d be way too pathetic.”

Diamonds said, “Indeed. If that were really the case, his brain would be far too delicate.”

He walked up in front of the young man. As if sensing something, the young man raised his head and locked eyes with him. Diamonds recalled that night fighting the time cleaner, when the other party masked his face with a flame-patterned visage and bore eyes brimming with murderous aura. Yet this man was downtrodden and bewildered, completely different from that cleaner.

The time cleaner kept his eyes wide. The violent impact of being crushed under hundreds of signboards several days ago had damaged the chip in his brain, leaving his mind foggy and unable to recall anything from the past.

He looked at the person standing before him: soft platinum-blonde hair, dressed in a white suit, with a bright red diamond stud under his eye, like a patch of pure white snow completely out of place in the lower tier. His heart suddenly pounded uncontrollably, as if this were not their first encounter. The cleaner spoke hoarsely:

“Who… are you?”

The fraudster Diamonds looked down at the cleaner, his gaze calm and detached as if weighing every word. Behind him, the rain wove into a dense sheet, neon hues diffusing across the stormy downpour. Standing right in the middle, he looked like the protagonist on a movie screen, extending a helping hand to a stray dog.

After a long while, an expression formed on Diamonds’s face, like a drop of water blooming across paper. A sly smile surfaced on his features:

“Your owner.”