by N. Heller
Standing outside the doorway, Lin Sanjiu buried her face in her hands and wept silently.
"All the grief and pain in life is meaningless. There is no 'why'. You have to remember that it's God who wanted to torture you."
The moment she lowered her head, a voice rang out from the door, knocking them out of their reverie. They raised their heads in unison and realized a person was standing at the door.
"It's you?" Yun jerked up from the floor. His body tightened up. Right now, the president's body was on the floor, exposed to the sight of the comer. Yun tried to make the Vindice move, but it was in vain.
The teenager's face turned pale at the thought.
"Relax. I just want to give you something," the comer smiled. He bent his body over and placed a device on the floor.
That was the device Yunqian used to play the tape.
Before Yun could rush out to stop him, the man had already turned around and left, leaving his voice echoing in the corridor. "Watch the tape. I'm confident you will come to me eventually after you have watched it."
Throughout the entire confrontation, he did not even bat an eye at the president.
Looking at the familiar figure, Lin Sanjiu froze as if a bolt of lightning hit her.
Chapter 589 - Footage
Day 1
A young girl wrapped in bandages like a mummy was strapped to a chair with manacles. Her pair of azure eyes scanned her surroundings before saying warily to the camera in front of her, "Is this some kind of misunderstanding?"
"There is no misunderstanding, Ms. Yanjoe." A familiar voice chuckled from behind the camera. "I'm very confident that you are the one we are looking for."
Stunned, the young lady pressed forward. "Why? I'm innocent. I have no beef with you."
"Innocent, possibly. No feud, not quite," the voice behind the camera said calmly. "Didn't you mention me when you met with Steven this morning?"
"How did you..."
"You said you have never seen me in Sector 9 before, and you felt suspicious that an outsider like me brought back the AI command station. Steven said the same as well, and he was peeling an orange… Do you still need me to go on?"
Yanjoe began to struggle vigorously, and her tone turned fierce. "You were watching me!"
"Both of you," the voice answered indifferently before continuing. "Let me tell you something, Ms. Yanjoe. I believe you will understand my situation after knowing the truth."
The words did ease Yanjoe a bit. She stopped struggling.
"First thing, yes, I'm not a posthuman from Sector 9. I'm here to do Mr. Yunqian a little favor."
"A favor?"
"Yes, a favor. Aside from maintaining the command station, Mr. Yunqian also wants me to find out which one of you... is an AI."
All of a sudden, she laughed. "I have no idea what you are talking about. You think we are AI? That's the funniest joke I have ever heard. I—I—I don't even know what to say."
The voice behind the camera did not reply. Only when Yanjoe stopped laughing did he sigh.
"They have developed a type of AI that is almost identical to a walking man. I believe you already know that. I'm not saying that you two are suspicious… It's just that after we made ourselves known to them when I brought back the AI command station, they sent this kind of AI to infiltrate us. However, to develop an AI akin to humans, they had to sacrifice some of the performances. This kind of AI is weaker than the Vindice, but he or she is good at hiding. Until now, we still couldn't locate him or her."
"How did Mr. President know all of this?"
"He has dealt with this kind of AI before. That's why when your friend was attacked, he immediately understood what had happened."
"Hold on a second," Yanjoe interrupted, "Yun was attacked?"
The voice behind the camera sighed. "Yeah. That poor kid. He hasn't fully recovered from his injuries, yet he was attacked again. His condition is pretty serious now, and as far as I know, he is still in a coma."
Yanjoe sat on the chair and stared blankly into the air. She blinked her azure eyes a few times as if she could not believe what she had heard.
"According to the report from the Vindice in that area, there were no suspicious characters when that incident happened. However, before the attack, Yun said something."
"What did he say?"
"He said: Oh, hey, what brings you here? I haven't seen you in a while. Are you feeling better?"
Yanjoe was stunned. Her mouth opened and closed several times, but no words came out.
"One, he or she must be somebody Yun knows. Two, they haven't seen each other in a while, and three, this friend of his is injured," the voice behind the camera said matter-of-factly. "The suspects we could think of that match all three criteria are you and Steven. Yesterday, an unidentifiable burnt corpse was found in the drain outside of the governor's mansion. We turned the entire Sector 9 upside down, but we found that nobody was missing."
Yanjoe screamed, "It's Steven! Has Steven been murdered?"
The camera went silent again.
After a short while, the voice behind the camera said nonchalantly, "The first reaction of Steven was that Yanjoe had been murdered."
Then, there was silence for a good while. After she had digested the words, Yanjoe shook her head vigorously. "I—Him—No, this isn't right—I cannot believe it.
"If you suspect either of us of being an AI, you can just run us through an X-ray scanner or cut open our bodies and take a look inside," Yanjoe screamed, her eyes swelling with angry tears, "Go! Get a knife or something! Both Steven and I are not afraid of pain. And I want to see Mr. President. I will not believe a single bullshit thing you say unless it's coming out of Mr. President's mouth."
"Mr. President will be here soon, don't worry. As for your suggestion, I'm sorry. For some reason, we cannot do that," the voice behind the camera said slowly. "After all, there's a probability that you're an AI, so I cannot tell you everything. But you have a 50% chance of blinding us with your lies, so good luck on that."
"Stop bullshitting! I'm not an AI! I am not!"
The footage of the first day ended with the young girl's angry screams.
On the second day, the president appeared with a few Vindice strolling behind him. He comforted Yanjoe and repeated the same thing the voice behind the camera had said yesterday. He encouraged her to try and think of a way to prove that she wasn't an AI. "I believe that you aren't an AI, Ms. Yanjoe. Your straightforward eyes tell me that you're a human, but I cannot let you go based on that alone. I hope you can understand my difficulties."
Yanjoe's face was crowded with tears and snot. She nodded and said with a lumpy throat, "Mr. President, is he… is Steven dead? No, I don't believe it. It's impossible… He wouldn't get killed that easily."
The president sighed deeply and went forward to squeeze her hand hard in his large hand without minding the opposition from the man behind the camera. Yanjoe's sobs intensified. The president soon released his grip, and before he left, he ordered, "Try to make her feel as comfortable as possible. It is bad for the bones to sit like that without moving for a whole day."
The footage of the next five days was about the voice behind the camera interrogating Yanjoe about Steven's behavior.
Day 7
"I've said it many times. I can't remember…" Compared to the first day, Yanjoe's voice sounded much weaker now. Her usual appearance did not return even though she'd removed most of the bandages. She looked very miserable, as if she were a human with one foot stepping into the grave.
Her couch tilted a little backwards, making her feel a bit comfortable.
"Please, I beg you. Let me sleep." Her eyelids felt heavy, and her lips were parched. Every plea that escaped her lips was feeble. "Just 10 minutes will do… I can't take it anymore."
"I'm sorry," the voice behind the camera spoke sincerely, "Not letting you guys sleep is one of our ways in identifying AI. Once you have proven your innocence, I'll let you get the rest you deserve."
"F.u.c.k you!" Yanjoe exploded, but with her current strength, one short burst was all she could manage.
Huffing, she took a short rest before beginning to talk again. This time, her voice was even weaker. "Where is Mr. President? I want to see him. He would never allow this… I haven't slept for six days…"
"The president is very busy. Besides, what can you say to him when you see him? Are you going to tell Mr. Yunqian that you are unhelpful to us?"
Yanjoe did not reply. Her eyeballs rolled back till they showed only white; she looked as if she was about to pass out. The voice behind the camera said something, and a Vindice walked forward, blocking the camera. A few seconds after the Vindice walked away, Yanjoe once again opened her eyes with a hysterical mood. From the camera, it could be seen that her eyes were bloodshot.
Then, the voice behind the camera said calmly, "To this day, your friend is still in a coma. The doctor said he might have to spend the rest of his life on the bed, wandering in the void, unable to return to our side anymore. What are you going to tell him when you see him?"
A guttural noise came out of her throat. Nobody could tell if she was laughing or crying, as the sound that tumbled out of her lips meant nothing to them.
The footage fell silent.
"I… I don't know…" Her face was devoid of any expression, and her eyes were blank when she opened her mouth to speak again. Tears seeped from the corner of her eyes, but it seemed that she did not know she was in tears.
The voice behind the camera sighed. After that, the sound of rustling paper wafted over the footage. "On May 13th, 9.40 p.m., before we began the monitoring, Steven came out of your room after three hours of conversation. Here is a compilation of all the conversations you guys had in those three hours. I'll go through it one by one with you to see if any of them help spark your memory."
She stared blankly to the front; her face was as pale as a dying ember.
"Did Steven tell you everything?"
Day 12
"Good morning, Ms. Yanjoe. Are you sure about what you told me last night?" the voice behind the camera asked in a pacified voice.
"I… I think so…" answered Yanjoe. Her eyes stared unblinkingly at the ceiling. She looked much calmer and more cooperative compared to five days ago.
As if something had broken inside of her, her face showed to be calm and passionless like a statue. Her voice sounded flat, and her eyelids felt so heavy that she needed to muster strength from her body to lift them.
"Great. So we finally found something from your side that doesn't match up with Steven's statement," the voice behind the camera said. "I have to admit, Ms. Yanjoe, you're one hell of a partner to work with."
Yanjoe leaned her head against the couch and did not say a thing. If she did not keep her eyes open, people might think that she was already dead.
"But Steven pointed out a few questionable points in your testimony. First, he said he's never invited you to visit Yun, and he said it was your idea. Secondly, he said you weren't in the room in the afternoon of May 10th. He went to find you twice, but you weren't there."
"Is he implying that I'm suspicious?" Yanjoe asked with a deadpan face. Twelve days of interrogation had utterly worn her out. She was so tired that she did not have the energy to manage the expression on her face. She continued to say, "If he said he could not find me in my room… Then he must be the AI you guys are looking for…"
"Why?"
"Because we were together at that time…" Yanjoe said, word by word. If Steven was an AI, then the real Steven was dead. Perhaps she had forgotten about this, or she was too exhausted to care about other people. She no longer said anything after that.
"How should we prove this?"
Day 15
"Ms. Yanjoe, Steven is here."
Then, the footage lit up.
Today, Yanjoe wasn't tied up. She wore a navy blue long blouse as she curled up on the couch. It had been merely fifteen days, but already she had lost all the qualities that labeled her as a 16-year-old girl. Her hair was dry and brittle, and her body withered. She didn't look too far off from a skeleton in a long blouse; nobody would question it if she told them that she was fifty-years-old.
On the contrary, although Steven was physically worn out, he could still walk. Being the tall and emaciated man he was, he was held between two Vindice as he entered the room. Like Yanjoe, he wasn't tied up. After all, neither of them could do anything in their current physical condition.
He was tall, yet he did not make any sound when the Vindice threw him onto a couch.
"I hope you two can talk this through to help us find a clear answer and do justice to your friend."
Neither of them looked at each other.
The door slammed shut.
Day 16
"You're the one, right?" Yanjoe's mumbles rang out when the hour hand of the clock pointed at midnight on the sixteenth day. "Admit it… Just tell them you are the AI… I want to sleep."
Sitting on the couch, Steven did not make any comments.
"Why…" Tears began to seep out of the corner of her eyes. "Why is this happening…"
Then she went silent as well.
A Vindice would walk into the room every 30 minutes and use an unknown technique to make sure they weren't asleep. Fast-forwarding the footage, after the Vindice left the place for the fifth time, a noise rang out.
A human was incapable of making that kind of sound. Yanjoe needed some time to peel open her heavy eyelids and stare at the source of the noise.
"I… I believe it wasn't you," Steven said. It was hard for him to produce a clear sentence in his current state.
Yanjoe looked at him blankly. Her eyes were dull, absent of light.
"I can feel it... You... I know that," he said slowly. The longer he spoke, the more vitality returned to him. "I'm not an AI, either. Do you trust me?"
Yanjoe did not reply.
"Yesterday, the thing they gave me… It didn't affect me," Steven continued to say in a throaty voice. His high cheekbones casted a shadow on the lower part of his face. "I drifted off… A few minutes… Then everything clicked into place. There is no AI… From the beginning… No AI at all."
"Then… Why…"
"I don't know," Steven said while turning his eyes to lock gazes with Yanjoe, "But… If we want to escape, now is our chance."
They maintained their conversation at a very low volume, so the video's audio could only catch some indistinct sounds. After a while, even though she had no strength left, Yanjoe struggled to stand up from the couch. Her head began to swim, and her vision blurred, which made even the simplest of tasks, such as standing up, insurmountable. She stopped midway more than ten times, and there were times she almost fell to the floor.
At last, she finally managed to get up from the couch. After having been tortured for so many days, Yanjoe sobbed. She waddled her way to Steven and spoke in an undertone, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault. You're just too tired."
Steven could not help but weep. He c.a.r.e.s.sed Yanjoe's back with his hand. Yanjoe nodded, and then, she stopped moving.
She lowered her head to see blood blossoming on her c.h.e.s.t.
Her eyes widened with sheer astonishment. She couldn't close them even after the light had left her eyes. Steven, his hand full of warm human blood, pounced on the door, slammed it with his fists, and yelled with all his might, the exhaustion and weariness long gone. "I have killed the AI! I have killed the AI! She's dead! Release me now!"
The door creaked open.
Then, the familiar voice behind the camera came again. "Ah, so she's dead. This means that she's not an AI. So, Mr. Steven, you're the AI."
Steven stood in a trance.
The rest of the footage was left unknown, as Yun crushed the camera against the wall. Half of his face writhed in anger, and his body shivered vigorously.
Just as he began to walk towards the door to exit the room, a clamor, one of both outrage and thrill, bu
rst out from outside the mansion.
When the teenager finally heard what they were shouting, his body stopped trembling completely.
"Give us the president! Give us the president! Purge the traitor! Kick him out of the city!"
Chapter 590 - The Purpose
On the second floor of the governor's mansion, there was a balcony that directly faced the city square. Whenever there was a conference, succession ceremony, or any activity, the mayor or president would come out of the mansion and enter this balcony to receive the praises of the public and interviews from the press.
It was 10:30 at night. The citizens of Sector 9 should have been in bed, but right now, there was a crescendo of loud sounds coming from the square. The intensity was so high that the bal.u.s.trade shook.
Yun stood behind the door to the balcony, hiding his presence under the floor curtain. He grabbed the thick curtain as he stared fixedly at the masses below. The moon tonight was full, and the snow-white tiles on the balcony shimmered in the cold moonlight.
Half of the teenager's face shone brightly under the moonlight while the other half hid in the dark shadows. Both sides were bereft of any emotion.
"What did you say to them?" he asked suddenly.
The black figure came to an abrupt stop, seemingly surprised by the teenager's keen observation. He waited for a moment before sighing softly. "I just told them the truth."
The teenager gave the person a half-turn while pursing one side of his lips. "The truth? Mind if I ask which part of the truth you are talking about?"
"Does it matter?" the black figure said. "Regardless of what I say, they will merely believe what they see as the truth."
"What do you want?" Yun said through gritted teeth.
The black figure raised his head and glanced at the curtain, which now trembled in the teenager's tight hold.
"I merely want to offer you my help." His voice still sounded the same—full of affection and cordiality. "Also, based on the fact that you did not attack the moment you saw me, is it safe to say that you have already thought it through?"