“It seems your human partner doesn’t trust you,” Chen Dang said.
Xing Bi leaned back in his chair, his body already immobile.
“His brain still isn’t working well,” Xing Bi looked at him.
“What do you mean?” Chen Dang tilted his head.
“He doesn’t trust you guys,” Xing Bi said.
“Is he afraid we’ll control you?” Chen Dang said, “Then he still doesn’t trust you; he doesn’t believe you can resist being controlled.”
“At least you know now,” Xing Bi said, “Even if you control me, it’s useless.”
Chen Dang looked at Xing Bi, seemingly puzzled.
After a long time, he asked, “Why? Humans aren’t strong. Yun City will soon be destroyed, and the people it shelters will die with it. In such a world, they can’t survive, but we can. The things you want to protect are fragile; you know that.”
Xing Bi looked down at the ground, not speaking.
“Maybe we have a way to unlock those memories of yours,” Chen Dang said.
Xing Bi remained silent.
“Humans don’t see us as friends,” Chen Dang said. “Those memories will tell you that. If you need, maybe we can give you the truth.”
Xing Bi continued to be silent.
“We didn’t just now figure out how to coexist with the infected. We always knew we could coexist,” Chen Dang said. “But humans saw us as a threat. The bioroids want to replace humans, and only they can dominate this world.”
“Isn’t that the case now?” Xing Bi said.
“This place is different,” Chen Dang said. “We hope to coexist with humans and have no intention of replacing them. All we want are friends.”
“With those immune humans?” Xing Bi asked.
“Ordinary humans are friends too,” Chen Dang said. “But it’s inevitable that non-immune humans will disappear.”
“Including killing them?” Xing Bi said.
“Humans kill, too,” Chen Dang moved closer to him. “Humans kill, and they kill bioroids too.”
“So,” Xing Bi looked at him, “you still want to become human and replace humans.”
Chen Dang said nothing.
Qiu Shi ran around the stairs twice, then jumped over the railing, grabbing the handrail with one hand and swinging down two floors. Then, he jumped out the same way again, and in just three tries, he leaped from the treehouse to the ground.
Hu Xiaoling didn’t have that ability, but he had Qiu Shi’s gun.
He pointed the gun at Mayor Luo, using him as a shield as he slowly walked down the stairs, “Don’t move. If I see anyone move while I’m going down, I’ll shoot. It’s so dark, and my nerves aren’t as good as Qiu Shi’s. If I get nervous and hit you somewhere, it’s up to fate.”
Qiu Shi had already rushed to the treehouse where Xing Bi lived.
There was a person standing at the door of the treehouse. From experience, Qiu Shi could tell it was a bioroid and fired two shots at his feet.
The bioroid quickly stepped aside, forced away from the treehouse door.
The gunshots alarmed nearby villagers, who came running with torches.
Qiu Shi fired a third shot at the bioroid, aiming for his neck.
The bioroids reacted quickly, probably anticipating his target and dodging the shot in advance.
“Qiu Shi!” The man pulled out a gun too, but pointed it inside the house.
“Idiot.” Qiu Shi raised his hand, releasing Xing Bi from control.
The next second, Xing Bi rushed out of the house, knocking the gun out of the man’s hand.
There were still people aiming in the dark. Qiu Shi turned the gun on himself, pressing it to his own head.
“Qiu Shi! Don’t be so childish!” Mayor Luo’s voice came from behind, no longer gentle but stern and low, “Do you think this will threaten anyone?”
“You.” Qiu Shi said.
If it really didn’t, how could he justify them tricking him all the way here?
“Xing Bi!” Qiu Shi shouted from below, “Come down!”
“This is why.” Xing Bi whispered in Chen Dang’s ear and then went down the stairs.
Chen Dang looked at him, silent for a moment before raising his hand to make a gesture.
The people in the dark retreated.
“Why didn’t you climb down?” Qiu Shi asked as Xing Bi walked up to him.
Xing Bi smiled but said nothing.
“Go to my place,” Qiu Shi put away his gun and turned to leave. When he passed Mayor Luo, he stopped, “Just tell me what you want. Don’t talk to me about my background; I’m not interested. If I don’t hear what I want tomorrow, I’ll leave. If anyone tries to stop me, they’ll die. And if anyone makes me unhappy, I’ll make sure they get nothing.”
“Have a good rest.” Mayor Luo said, “If you need anything, you can tell the people below.”
“I sleep very well. If no one disturbs me, I can sleep till noon tomorrow,” Qiu Shi said, then patted Hu Xiaoling on the shoulder, “Let’s go.”
Back at the treehouse, Hu Xiaoling looked down, “No one’s here.”
“Bullshit,” Qiu Shi said, “Eyes are watching from all sides.”
“Were you really going to shoot yourself just now?” Hu Xiaoling asked.
“What do you think?” Qiu Shi looked at him.
Hu Xiaoling stared at him, nodded, “I think you would, but you’d better not.”
“Sleep.” Qiu Shi entered the house, taking off his jacket and throwing it onto a chair, a bit annoyed.
“It’ll be cold,” Xing Bi said.
Indeed.
This place was much colder than Yun City, and the treehouse had no heating. Qiu Shi felt the chill as soon as he took off his jacket.
He picked up his jacket and put it back on.
“You should use sleeping bags,” Xing Bi said.
“Who is this?” Hu Xiaoling finally found a chance to ask.
“Xing Bi,” Qiu Shi said, “You were just calling his name enthusiastically. He’s the partner Li Feng assigned to me.”
Hu Xiaoling didn’t say anything. He looked Xing Bi up and down: “This bioroid looks much better than those of Chen Dang and the others… I knew there were bioroids in Yun City! There really are! Damn!”
“Chen Dang?” Qiu Shi turned his head.
“The one you missed three shots at just now,” Hu Xiaoling said.
Xing Bi sat down in the chair and laughed.
“With that brain of yours,” Qiu Shi said, “it’s true that I shouldn’t have come to save you.”
“How do we sleep?” Hu Xiaoling looked at the only small bed in the treehouse.
“Squeeze together,” Qiu Shi said. “Where do you usually sleep?”
“Do you want me to leave?” Hu Xiaoling asked. “I stay at a human’s house.”
“Stay,” Qiu Shi thought for a moment and then looked at him. “A human’s house?”
“Yeah,” Hu Xiaoling nodded. “They seem like ordinary people, former townsfolk here, willing to live with bioroids and the newcomers, so they haven’t been…”
Hu Xiaoling lowered his voice, “killed.”
“Did you get any information out of them?” Qiu Shi asked.
“No,” Hu Xiaoling said. “They won’t talk to me at all. They’re scared. What if they say something they shouldn’t, and I can’t keep it a secret?”
“Did they tell you about my background?” Qiu Shi sat on the edge of the bed and asked Xing Bi.
“They did,” Xing Bi said. “You have a brother here too.”
“Do you think that’s possible?” Qiu Shi frowned.
“They really want you to stay,” Xing Bi took the map still on the table. “They should be telling the truth.”
“Is the great-grandmother real too?” Hu Xiaoling was surprised. “Is there really a great-grandmother?”
“Then why does it have to be me?” Qiu Shi said. “If I have a brother, how different can he be from me? And according to them, I’m not exceptionally talented, and I’m not the only one immune.”
“Have you seen the general?” Xing Bi asked.
“Which general?” Qiu Shi didn’t respond immediately.
“The general of Yun City, the one commanding an army,” Xing Bi said.
“Is that someone I could meet?” Qiu Shi said. “To me, he’s like Mr. Long, a person who appears in city celebration videos once a year.”
“What about Xiaoling?” Xing Bi looked at Hu Xiaoling.
“Same,” Hu Xiaoling said. “If Brother Shi hasn’t seen him, how could I have seen him? I just know he’s very powerful. He and Mr. Long are the symbols of Yun City, the backbone or something. As long as they’re around, Yun City can still hold on.”
“Do you understand?” Xing Bi asked Qiu Shi.
“You know the quality of refugee schools outside the city,” Qiu Shi lay on the bed. “Do you think I can understand?”
Xing Bi didn’t say anything.
Qiu Shi lay for a while, then sat up and sighed, “You’re saying the people of Donglin Town want someone like a general, a symbol.”
“Yes.” Xing Bi responded.
“My brother can’t do it?” Qiu Shi said.
“There must be something that doesn’t fit.” Xing Bi said.
“Can I sleep first?” Hu Xiaoling asked. “You two keep talking, it won’t bother me.”
“Everyone sleep,” Qiu Shi said.
Hu Xiaoling took the sleeping bag Xing Bi gave him, lay down on the ground, and crawled in. He closed his eyes immediately.
“You sleep on the bed,” Xing Bi said. “I don’t need to lie down.”
“You should lie on the bed; it’s easier to talk,” Hu Xiaoling said. “Besides, Brother Shi is a light sleeper. If I move, he’ll wake up for sure.”
The treehouse was this small. When Hu Xiaoling lay down, his head was right by Xing Bi’s feet.
Xing Bi had to get up and sit by the bed.
Qiu Shi crawled into the sleeping bag, wriggled a bit, and made space: “I’ve done my best. This is all the room I can make.”
“Okay.” Xing Bi lay down, resting his head on his arm.
“Talk or sleep?” Qiu Shi asked.
“You sleep first,” Xing Bi said. “Your eyes are red.”
*
When Zhang Sihai was brought into the supervisor’s office, his face was still covered in mud, and he looked very tired.
And just by looking, you could tell he smelled bad.
Li Feng sighed, “Director Zhang really has a tough heart.”
Zhang Sihai looked up sharply when he heard his voice, “Brother Feng?”
“Don’t come over,” Li Feng pointed at him. “Just stand there.”
“You…” The expression on Zhang Sihai’s face went through various changes in those few seconds, from joy to control, and then back to stubbornness. He looked very conflicted. Finally, he gritted his teeth, “I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not in trouble…”
“Shut up and say less. I’m dead tired,” Li Feng interrupted him, signaling the supervisor to leave. “I’m not here on behalf of your father. I won’t take you with me when I leave. Once I step out of this door, I won’t know where you are.”
“What do you want?” Zhang Sihai glared at him.
“How many places have you changed?” Li Feng asked.
“Three,” Zhang Sihai said. “Breeding farm, power well, sewage.”
“Have you noticed anything unusual?” Li Feng couldn’t stand his muddy face and took the clothes the supervisor had left on the chair and threw them at Zhang Sihai. “Wipe your face.”
“What’s unusual?” Zhang Sihai wiped his face.
“Don’t give me your city of sin nonsense,” Li Feng said. “Anything unusual aside from the wicked Yun City rulers persecuting refugees.”
Zhang Sihai looked at him, deep in thought.
After a while, he hesitated to speak, “I don’t know if this counts.”
“Speak,” Li Feng said.
“At first, I just thought it was a bit strange,” Zhang Sihai said. “But then, when I thought about it more carefully, I realized it wasn’t just this once…”
“Get to the point!” Li Feng said. “With your expression, it’s a wonder anyone watches your videos.”
“Today, when I was shoveling sludge, I noticed three people acting very strangely,” Zhang Sihai looked at him. “Their movements were exactly the same, identical, like… puppets, the kind that are on a frame, like those in the city celebration performances. Also, speak to me more respectfully. I’m not your subordinate. You need something from me right now!”
Li Feng didn’t speak. The information Zhang Sihai provided indeed shocked him.
And it made his back feel cold.
“Anything else? Other things,” he asked.
“I also encountered something at the breeding farm. One person was loading materials onto the truck,” Zhang Sihai said. “Another person also took materials but dropped them more than a meter away from the truck. At the time, I thought he was just tired, but after seeing those three people, I felt that the actions of these two people were also the same.”
Li Feng was silent for a while, then walked towards the office door: “You shouldn’t go back to work. I’ll have someone send you home.”
“I’m not going home!” Zhang Sihai stated firmly.
“Find a few people,” Li Feng said to the supervisor standing outside the door, “and send him home. If he resists, tie him up, knock him out if necessary.”
“Are these situations true?” Colonel Xu was visibly shocked.
“I’ve already instructed the supervisor to control the number of people. The workplaces are now entry-only,” Li Feng said, “but since we don’t know the purpose and aggression of these things, we haven’t taken any action yet.”
“Purpose?” Minister Liu looked at him. “Normally, infected individuals are unconscious, right?”
“They are unconscious,” Li Feng said, “but Qiu Shi mentioned to me that the infected individuals are more like puppets. They wander, gather, and attack, not necessarily on their own. It looks more like they are being controlled.”
“If that’s the case, then someone is controlling these infected individuals, similar to the symbiont form?” Zhang Qifeng was very calm at this moment, perhaps because he had slept well or because Li Feng had sent Zhang Sihai home.
“Now we need the assistance of the City Defense Bureau and the military,” Li Feng looked at Zhang Qifeng. “Seal off the area. If they are being controlled, any action we take will alert the other side. If they want to do something, they might act in advance. The refugees have limited activity areas in the inner city, but we can’t rule out…”
“The City Defense Bureau will deploy personnel to key locations in the inner city to find out their purpose and mode of action as soon as possible,” Zhang Qifeng looked at Colonel Xu. “We also need the military to send some personnel to ensure the security of the outer perimeter.”
“Have the refugees in these places been infected?” Minister Liu asked, then turned to Curator Wu. “Is there a risk of universal infection?”
This question made Zhang Qifeng tense up instantly. He glanced at Li Feng.
If there is such a risk, Zhang Sihai, having mingled with these people for so many days, could very likely be infected as well. No matter what measures are taken later, he would have to be dealt with too.
“There shouldn’t be a major problem,” Li Feng said. “The refugees outside the city have been gathered for a long time without a large-scale infection. Director Zhao estimated about twelve when he inspected the situation.”
“The samples sent to the exhibit hall are being tested by my people,” Curator Wu said. “So far, as long as there are no large-scale ruptures and splashes, the transmission method remains the same as previous infections.”
“If we need to take cleaning measures, how do we relocate the refugees? Where to relocate them?” Colonel Xu asked.
“They can’t be relocated,” Li Feng said. “Whether we take the infected individuals away or the healthy refugees, it will alert the other side.”
Everyone at the meeting table fell silent.
“Does Director Li have any ideas?” Minister Liu suddenly asked.
Li Feng glanced at him: “If it needs to be dealt with, then deal with it all at once.”
*
“Do bioroids snore?” Qiu Shi sighed, resting his arm.
On the ground, Hu Xiaoling was snoring loudly, perhaps because he was too nervous and tired earlier. Now, it sounded like he was blowing a bugle.
“No, they don’t,” Xing Bi said.
“That’s nice,” Qiu Shi said.
“I can make him stop,” Xing Bi said.
“Knock him out?” Qiu Shi said. “Forget it. The kid’s had a hard time, staying in this hellhole alone for so many days.”
“I can knock you out too,” Xing Bi said.
Qiu Shi paused and then laughed, “You bastard.”
“Qiu Shi,” Xing Bi called him.
“Yeah?” Qiu Shi turned to look at him.
“Why did you suddenly control me?” Xing Bi asked.
“Mayor Luo said you were chatting with your… kind,” Qiu Shi said. “There are symbionts here, so they definitely want to control you.”
“Yeah,” Xing Bi responded.
“You can’t move, so they can’t control you,” Qiu Shi said.
“And then?” Xing Bi asked. “If that’s really the case?”
“You can’t move but are controlled?” Qiu Shi said. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it. I just don’t want them to control you easily.”
Xing Bi smiled.
“I will find a way to get out,” Qiu Shi said. “I’ll drag you out if I have to.”
“You can carry me, or you can lift me,” Xing Bi reminded him.
“Dream on,” Qiu Shi said. “I’ll find a box, stuff you in, and drag you back behind a cart.”
Xing Bi laughed.
Qiu Shi laughed for a while and then stopped, looking at him: “These bioroids here, haven’t they been locked with as many memories as you?”
“Yeah,” Xing Bi also turned to look at him. “They are the ones who stayed at the base initially. Later, that place became unmanageable for humans.”
“If you… want to know something,” Qiu Shi spoke with some difficulty, “or they… they would definitely tell you, right?”
“Yeah,” Xing Bi looked at the roof. “But sometimes, I don’t want to know everything.”
“Really?” Qiu Shi thought for a moment. “Maybe. It’s like how I never knew my background, who I am, where I came from. Not knowing was just not knowing. Now that I know, I don’t feel particularly happy.”
“What about the great-grandmother?” Xing Bi smiled.
“She looks kind, but her eyes are not. The old man is the really kind one,” Qiu Shi clicked his tongue. “The old man wouldn’t be some relative of mine too, right… I used to want to know what’s up with the old man, what relationship he has with me. Now, I don’t want to know anymore.”
Hu Xiaoling’s snoring finally stopped after he turned over.
“Finally, peace,” Qiu Shishu exhaled and closed his eyes, “Goodnight.”
Xing Bi paused for a moment before saying, “Goodnight.”
But tonight was destined to be anything but peaceful.
In less than five minutes, a loud bang accompanied by a bright flash came from afar, shaking the treehouse.
Xing Bi leaped up the moment the flash appeared, and as the bang followed, he yanked the sleeping bag off Qiu Shi.
Qiu Shi rolled out of bed, swiftly pulling the gun from his leg, and together with Hu Xiaoling, they rushed out of the treehouse with Xing Bi.
The sound came from the direction they had entered the town. As they reached outside, another flash of light followed by another explosion echoed, this time clearly discernible as a blast.
The bright light illuminated the night sky over there, casting an eerie yellow hue on the dense canopy.
“What’s going on?” Hu Xiaoling ran out, clutching his stomach.
Hearing some faint sounds behind him, Qiu Shi turned and raised his gun, only to have it pressed down by Xing Bi. “It’s Chen Dang.”
A figure flew over on a zipline from the canopy, releasing it mid-air and landing on the platform outside their small house.
It was Chen Dang.
“We’re under attack,” Chen Dang said.
“By whom?” Qiu Shi asked.
“Symbionts,” Chen Dang said, tossing a long gun to Xing Bi.
Hu Xiaoling, unable to focus on anything else, stared at the gun in a daze.
“Symbionts?” Qiu Shi was puzzled, “Don’t you have them too? Fighting yourselves?”
“They are all symbiotes,” Chen Dang said, “We only have a few.”
“Not on your side?” Qiu Shi recalled the symbiote they encountered controlling Xing Bi on the road.
“No,” Chen Dang looked at Xing Bi, “Help us.”
“Why should we?” Qiu Shi said.
“Their targets include Yun City,” Chen Dang replied.
*
A muffled rumble came from below, audible throughout half the inner city.
Li Feng, who had just changed into his pajamas and lay down, jumped up from bed.
As he stepped out from the lounge to the office, the secretary stood pale-faced in the middle of the room holding a glass of water. “Director, what’s happening?”
“Stay here, don’t go out.” Li Feng grabbed his coat and rushed out of the office.
There was no way to sleep now.
———
Author’s Note:
Director Li, you’ve changed pajamas twice, but haven’t slept a wink. Learn from Brother Shi, he doesn’t even change his clothes to sleep.
