Yang Guang
The air was filled with the sweet, metallic smell of rust mixed with the smell of burning, and Yang Guang was enveloped in a warm embrace.
"Awake?" It was Mom. She always spoke softly, with her eyebrows curved. All her friends envied her.
Because he was the only one who didn't get a beating for knocking over the coal basket. His mother would just smile and wipe his face, which had turned as black as coal, clean it, and then help him pick up the coal.
"Okay, Mom, I can walk by myself."
This time, Mom's voice didn't sound as composed; it was somewhat hoarse.
"Does Ah-Guang still want to play hide-and-seek?"
"Hide and seek?" Yang Guang was a little confused. "Now?"
"Hmm, Guang always plays with his friends, but he's never played with his mom before, right?"
Yang Guang frowned: "But aren't we going to find Daddy?"
"Dad will turn off the lights before he comes home from get off work and goes to the door to pick us up. Shall we play while we wait?"
His mother rarely makes demands of him, but he is still very happy, which shows that his mother is also his friend.
"Okay, I'll play with you for a while. Mom will count, and then I'll go hide."
He struggled for a moment, trying to get his mother to put him down, but she was holding on too tightly.
"Mom, it hurts."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, A-Guang."
"Mom, count, I'll go hide," he said again.
Mom smiled, but it looked like she was still crying.
“You’ve been so naughty since you were little, always running around and making your mom look for you for ages. How about this time you look for your mom?”
He rarely served as a "sergeant," and after thinking it over, he slowly said, "Alright then, I'll listen to Mom."
Her mother's hands were cool. She put Yang Guang down and gently patted his back: "Quickly hide under the rock and count. Count for a while. This is Mommy's first time hiding, so give Mommy more time. Count to two hundred, okay?"
Okay, okay, sometimes I need to go along with Mom a little, otherwise Dad will always say that he makes Mom angry.
Let's count for a while then.
"one two three,……"
The sound of Mom's footsteps was a bit distant, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. It seemed she really wanted to win, otherwise she wouldn't have stayed so far away.
"Forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine,..."
I can't hear my mother's voice anymore. Is she hiding well? There's too much noise, and cannons are flying everywhere in the sky. Chenchen says they're called bombers, but he doesn't know what they are.
"One hundred and eleven, one hundred and twelve, one hundred and thirteen,..."
Yang Guang's eyelids started drooping. His mother was being unreasonable, even though she knew perfectly well that he would fall asleep as long as she counted to one hundred to lull him to sleep. Now, he was barely able to stay awake any longer.
So sleepy...
Someone persistently patted him while he was fast asleep, for a very long time.
He was getting a little irritated.
"I'm sleeping soundly," he thought.
But then he realized something was wrong.
Why am I sleeping here?
Yang Guang opened his eyes groggily and saw a burly officer in military uniform with a child about his age beside him.
"Auntie, he's alive."
The first thing Yang Guang heard was what the child said.
"Gu Yan, go and fire the signal flare."
The child ran away. The officer, whom the child called "Auntie," touched his forehead; his palm was rough and warm, completely different from his mother's.
Are you the child of one of the soldiers at the outpost ahead?
Outpost? That's where Dad works.
"Dad is here. Dad is fighting the androids and protecting me and Mom."
"And what about your mother?"
"Mom is a wounded veteran." He didn't really understand what "wounded veteran" meant, but it meant that his mom could stay home with him all the time.
The officer turned his head to press the communicator to his ear, whispered something, and then turned to look at him.
That look was so familiar; he had dreamt of it since he was a child. Only after he grew up did he realize that this look was called pity.
Yang Guang hadn't had this dream in a long time. Stepping out of the dream, all he could see was his familiar, dimly lit base.
This is good; it feels familiar and makes me feel safe.
Someone knocked on his door.
Liwen timidly poked her head in and said, "I made dinner." Her cheeks were flushed, but that was all she could manage to say before she quickly closed the door and ran off.
When Yang Guang appeared before everyone, his face was as black as a coal mine west of Shenwan.
"There's only canned food here. What kind of food did you cook? Don't mess up my base."
He didn't see any canned goods, only a crucible bubbling away.
"Is there a problem with the fire I lit for her?" Gu Yan asked, glancing up at him as she typed on her keyboard.
It tastes like vegetable soup.
"Ella and I found some dried vegetables in the storeroom. They didn't have a year on them, but at least they weren't moldy. It's dry enough here."
Livin sat next to Ella Zero, seemingly watching her tune Siefers. Ella Zero didn't shoo her away.
Seeing him come out, Liwen eagerly went to get a bowl and spoon to scoop out the soup.
So I'm the only truly evil one? Yang Guang almost ground his back teeth to powder.
"Eat it. At worst, you'll mutate. You won't die. I can provide first aid."
He gave Liwen a nasty smile, and she stood awkwardly in place, holding a soup spoon and bowl, looking completely lost.
"He won't give it to me."
Liwen turned around, and Ella reached out her hand to her.
This sentence acted as a fuse, and Yang Guang's attention was successfully and completely shifted to Ella Zero. He glanced back and forth between Ella Zero and Sivers and scoffed.
"Your 'friend' is here again (by the lunar branch). You're lucky to be his friend."
She punched cotton, then disinfected her hands with alcohol before gracefully sipping soup with a spoon.
She wasn't sitting in the dark, abandoned basement, but in the garden restaurant at the top of the central tower.
Gu Yan called out to him, "We've completely cut off contact with the neon cocoon. I'm checking if the pass A209 gave us is still valid. It's best not to make any rash moves in the next few days; the central tower's authentication system is being reshuffled."
He looked over at Ella Zero, who was engrossed in drinking her soup.
The conversation seemed to have crossed a line, and Yang Guang subconsciously glanced at Li Wen.
Livin looked around curiously among the group. Ella Zero helped her treat her wounds, but the old scars were still conspicuous, and she didn't think about covering them up.
“I found out some information on the top-floor dance floor before. Aren’t you interested?” Gu Yan asked Ella Zero.
The other two also watched Ella Zero, who finished the last sip of soup.
"It's delicious, thank you."
Yang Guang discovered that she was extremely particular about the order of events.
Ella Zero then turned to Gu Yan: "You can say that's your freedom, but I won't accept repaying the favor I did by saving him with this 'little' piece of information."
Yang Guang understood: "You think you can keep me under your thumb forever just because you helped me out?"
Gu Yan raised his hand to stop him from continuing: "Dr. Lowry has been unofficially detained, and the neural network has not yet connected to this news. They are probably only discussing it in the neon cocoon, and the content will not be leaked."
Ella Zero returned to her work, this time completely disassembling the outer ring of the Sivers K902.
"Theoretically, the longest period of informal detention is 48 hours, but I have checked the surveillance footage at the exit of the central tower, and the doctor has never come out."
“I thought checking only the exits was something only laymen would do,” Ella Zero said.
“Wait a minute,” Yang Guang stepped forward, “Are you mocking us?”
"I know of three secret passages, and I've checked them all. If you have any other relevant information, please feel free to share it."
Ella Zero removed Siefers' peace sensor.
"Time is limited, and this is all the information I have at the moment." Gu Yan waited for Ella Zero's response. "You can tell me your views or demands, anything is fine."
Ella Zero was blunt: "We must get into the central tower."
"Because of the doctor?"
“Because of Sivers.” She held up the peace sensor she had just removed.
"Honestly, can't we kick this person out before we talk? What role is she playing here? Taking meeting minutes?"
Yang Guang snapped at Li Wen impatiently.
“I still have something to ask her.” Gu Yan seemed to finally remember this person. “How many more humans like you are still living in neon cocoons?”
In terms of the level of defense that the neon cocoon placed on Liwen, she was by no means special.
“I don’t know either… There are a lot of new faces, but I usually don’t see them a second time…” Liwen trembled as she recalled the neon cocoon.
She clenched her fist, then slowly relaxed it after a long while, whispering, "If you don't behave, you'll be a faulty Krista, and you'll be dealt with. Some adults don't like Krista, they like... like..."
"Humans?"
Liwen bit her lower lip, tears welling up in her eyes.
Gu Yan didn't press her for too much; it was better to proceed gradually. Li Wen quickly wiped away her tears, served everyone a bowl of soup, and then left with the crucible.
"In short, we will proceed only after ensuring safety. We hope you can give us a little more time."
Ella Zero put down her tools.
"where you go."
“She was emotionally unstable, and I judged that she needed comforting.”
Yang Guang exclaimed incredulously, "What? You're going to interfere if I bring home a stray cat or dog?"
Ella Zero glanced back at him, but aside from that look, she didn't say another word before leaving.
"Can you do something about her? Stop doing everything to me." Yang Guang scratched his hair in frustration.
"Is it that serious? Liwen doesn't know the exact location of this place, but I can assure her that she won't leak any information."
"It has nothing to do with this Livin. She trusts humans too much, but not us. Don't you find that strange?"
Gu Yan continued staring at his holographic screen: "I don't quite understand the logic of your conversation."
Yang Guang suddenly fell silent.
The silence was so profound that Gu Yan's fingers tapped on the table afterward.
“I dreamt again about the day you and Aunt Jiang found me.”
Gu Yan finally stopped what she was doing and looked up at him.
"Is that why you treated her so strangely today?"
"What does this have to do with her?"
Gu Yan crossed his arms and carefully considered his words.
"I don't dislike her as much as I did a few days ago."
Is there?
Yang Guang listened to his words and began to think about them seriously. Of course, Yang Guang had never been a big fan of thinking, so he gave up after only three seconds.
"What are you talking about? Why would I hate her? I only hate androids, she... she's not one."
"Oh, I thought you would say that after all, they saved you."
Upon hearing this, Yang Guang jumped up in anger: "I haven't even settled accounts with you yet! Did you tell her we were going to set up a neon cocoon?!"
"No."
Gu Yan seemed afraid that Yang Guang hadn't heard him, so he repeated, "No."
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