White Rose Palace?
Bai Mo was taken aback momentarily, and couldn’t help but glance at Fu Yucheng out of the corner of his eye.
Fu Yucheng’s expression didn’t give anything away, he just wore an inexplicable smile. “White Rose Palace? I’ve heard of it. So, did you come from the White Rose Palace?”
“Not quite, I’ve only been there a few times… I feared you might not know the Ninth Ecoregion, so I just used it as a reference.” Francis shrugged. “My family used to be minor aristocrats. Since my brother achieved success—he’s an A class light manipulator—my father also climbed up the ranks,1 was promoted as an exception, and now he gained a title.”2
Fu Yucheng thought, so it turns out that he’s a minor noble, no wonder I couldn’t recall the surname ‘Mancini’ at all…
Francis smiled and said, “Since you are here, you’re my guests. We can’t just stand here and talk. Let’s go, I’ll take you somewhere nice.”
The “somewhere nice” that Francis referred to was indeed a nice place, with quality goods at a fair price.
This place could be regarded as a paradise, especially in the desert.
Fu Yucheng looked at the dilapidated but well-stocked ‘cafeteria’ in front of him, and couldn’t resist raising his eyebrows. “Not bad.”
It was a small supermarket with a cafeteria located in the subway station, a type of ‘two-in-one’ automated food hall that was particularly popular in the 22nd century. No waiters and no cashiers, the customers got self-service food, processing and payment.
Francis invited the two of them to go sit down in a booth. He grabbed a cart by himself and started piling up a lot of ham, sausages, dried tofu and other types of food from around in the supermarket and placing it on their table.
Then, he smoothly took out a small stove from under the table and lit it with a snap. “There is no electricity underground. This stove is my own DIY.”3
While talking, he put a soup pot onto the stove and added a big bag of broth into it. “Ham, tofu or whatever else, if you boil it with this broth, it’ll taste delicious.”
Fu Yucheng smiled and said, “You know how to have a good time.”
Francis shrugged. “It’s not easy to eat a good warm meal underground. I have been here for almost two years. If I only ate instant noodles and bread and what not, I would have collapsed by now.”
“Two years? Huh, then you’re really a survivor. I think I’d have gone crazy in a week.” Fu Yucheng couldn’t help but show his admiration.
“How should I say it… I can persevere, but it’s because I like animals. Earth’s ecology is very complicated, but also extremely interesting. Nevermind two years, even twenty years might not be enough to learn about it. Just in this New Sahara desert there are hundreds of mutant animals, and most of them have only ever been seen by a handful of people. I have stayed here for two years, and I have only figured out the behavior of the mutant hamster.”
As he talked, Francis put the ingredients in the soup pot, speaking proudly. “Don’t look down on those little guys! They resonate very strongly with my psionic field, and they can get anywhere. They can be used for tracking, drug detection, and many other things. They’re fascinating!”
Fu Yucheng raised his eyebrows. “The hamsters resonate with your field? So, are you a psionic manipulator as well?”
“Well, I’m a special type manipulator. I can communicate with animals. It’s just that my abilities are more limited, so I’m just a B class, far inferior to my brother.” Francis sighed. “My brother is a light type A class manipulator. He was selected by the White Rose Palace last year, and now he’s training in the Tower of Light in the Ninth District. In three years, he’ll go start a new Ecoregion.”
“Is he now?” Fu Yucheng lowered his eyes and took a sip of soup in silence.
Bai Mo passed him a piece of ham, and asked, slightly confused, “A new Ecoregion?”
Francis laughed and said, “You are from the Twilight Belt, so it’s normal for you not to know about the situation in the Central Empire. After the Lock-in Day, most people moved to Dyson Cloud, but the Dyson Cloud at the time was still under construction. There were only nine areas in total.”
He thought for a moment, and then simply drew on the table with his fingers. There was a thin layer of gray dust on the table’s surface, so it was easy to draw lines.
" "“So, the Dyson Cloud, right? It’s made up of pieces like this. Each of them is an incomparably big hexagon, hovering independently near the Sun. From a distance, they look a bit like honeycombs. The Nine Districts of the Central Empire are the nine pieces of the Dyson Cloud, and they house 12 billion humans.
“SInce the population density is too high and the equipment also needs to be maintained, 99% of these 12 billion people cannot live in the Ecoregions. Instead, they can only live in the Industrial regions.”
Fu Yucheng nodded. “Yeah, I know that much.”
Francis continued. “When the first Emperor of the Central Empire—that is, Rong Qian—first established the Empire, he set a rule to divide the people at the time into two classes: manipulators above F class were nobles that would live in the Ecoregions, while manipulators below F class and other ordinary people could only live in the Industrial regions.
“However, the children of ordinary people could turn out to be manipulators, and manipulators could have ordinary children as well. For the future of all mankind, Rong Qian formulated the Pioneer Project: every twenty years, a new Dyson Cloud will be built.”
“Throughout these long twenty years, one million young manipulators get selected successively from the Ecoregions and Industrial zones from the nine major districts. They will conduct training in the Tower of Light in the Ninth District for several years, and then they will get stationed in the new Dyson Cloud.”
The zoologist sighed. “For manipulators from the Industrial regions, this is also the only opportunity they get to enter the upper class.
“For more than two centuries, the Central Empire has been opening up twelve new Dyson Clouds in addition to the original nine main districts, and sent away a full 12 million manipulators. Perhaps, with the expansion of livable places in space and the continuous advancement of technology, one day, no humans will have to live in industrial zones anymore… and at that time, the Dyson Cloud will become a real Garden of Eden.”
As he spoke about it, Francis’ face showed his enthusiasm. “Although people have mixed opinions about him and even his friend Mo Hanchuan turned against him, Rong Qian… was certainly an outstanding individual with a very forward-looking vision.”
Fu Yucheng couldn’t help but sneer. “Really now?”
Francis was obviously very passionate. He didn’t even notice the other man’s sarcasm. Instead, he nodded seriously. “At the start, Rong Qian overthrew the coalition government and established the Central Empire, which really made many people reject him… But the Pioneer Project is really great. It’s a great honor for my brother to participate in such a grand project that has lasted for hundreds of years.”
Fu Yucheng watched him for a long time, and then suddenly said softly, “Francis, have you ever thought that, since your brother has joined the Pioneer Project, that means… you will never see him again?”
Francis shrugged indifferently. “Doesn’t it always go that…? Those who participate in the Pioneer Project, once selected, will enter the Tower of Light for closed doors training, and then will be sent to the new Dyson Cloud fragment. The new district is too far away. Moreover, according to the regulations, these pioneers can’t ever come back, but we can still make video calls. The current holographic technology is so advanced, it’s no different from speaking face-to-face.”
Fu Yucheng smiled faintly, and said nothing.
Bai Mo glanced at him and realized that the man seemed to be in a bad mood, so he scooped a piece of tofu for him. “Yu-ge, try this. It’s soft and tender, it’s delicious.”
At that moment, the flame of the stove shook slightly and suddenly went out.
“What’s wrong?” Francis frowned. He tried to turn the knob and reignite the stove, but the igniter just wouldn’t emit any sparks.
He scratched his hair, irritated, and simply fished out a small bright red lizard from under the table. Then, he pressed hard on the lizard’s small head.
“Puff—” The lizard spit out a small flame, which immediately ignited the stove.
Fu Yucheng was curious. “This red lizard… it spits fire?”
Francis laughed. “Was it a surprise? Although it has a similar appearance, this isn’t an ordinary red lizard. This is an extremely rare fire lizard,4 and, of course, it can spit fire. I heard that, among all the fire lizards, there’s a Lizard King,5 and all the mutant lizards listen to its orders. And that Lizard King is able to level a building with just a mouthful of fire.”
“It’s that powerful?” Fu Yucheng raised his eyebrows.
He remembered the small bright red lizard, back in the underground factory, that often came to beg for food. Could it also be… a fire lizard as well?
“Mmhm, it’s incredibly strong. By the way, since we’ve been talking for a while, how did you two get here?” Francis picked up a large piece of ham from the pot and ate it in a single bite, speaking with his mouth full.
Fu Yucheng skipped over the important part and said casually, “We were driving nearby and our vehicle’s water tank had a leak. We followed a hamster’s route and arrived here.”
“Why would you be driving nearby? There is nothing near here…” Francis frowned. “In the last two days, a lot of cars have come around the desert… Did you guys come as part of a team? There is a large area to the north where the hamsters detected many armored vehicles and drones as well.”
Fu Yucheng and Bai Mo glanced at each other silently. “To the north?”
Francis nodded. “Mmhm. There are many armored vehicles and about a dozen drones in the north, all of which seem to have been sent there by Fort Hurricane, from the Twilight Belt. Those things keep making noise all day long, and it’s making many of the hamsters anxious.”
Fu Yucheng frowned deeply.
It seemed that this time, Mo Ziwei was really out for blood.6 There was no possible escape,7 and he’d definitely capture them…
If Francis’s information was accurate, then they couldn’t go to the north. They needed to get to the Devil’s Antarctic, but the only road remaining was to the south.
But… to the south was also the famous deathly quicksand stripe—the Kiss of Monsters.
Francis looked at his expression and stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Honestly, did you offend the Fort Hurricane Lord, Mo Ziwei, and got chased here? Don’t stare at me, I just guessed… After all, only he would be able to mobilize such a force.”
Fu Yucheng hesitated and nodded. “Yeah, he’s chasing us.”
Francis’ mouth twitched. “I called it. I could tell just by how wretched the two of you look… Then, what are your plans?”
“We plan to leave the Twilight Belt and go to the Devil’s Antarctic on the Eternal Night side,” Fu Yucheng said slowly.
“But Mo Ziwei has already blocked all the routes to the Devil’s Antarctic. How do you plan to get there?” Francis asked in disbelief.
Fu Yucheng thought for a while. “Francis, if I want to go to the Devil’s Antarctic, how far can these subway tracks take us?”
Francis picked up a piece of sausage and chewed it with relish. “Well, this is a subway track, not an underground river system. The farthest it can go is just a dozen or so kilometers. It can’t reach the Devil’s Antarctic…”
“That’s right, ah.” Fu Yucheng sighed, with a frown on his face.
Bai Mo looked at his worried face and suddenly whispered, “Alternatively, you could stay here… and I will sneak back there and kill Mo Ziwei.”
Fu Yucheng glanced at the other silently. “There’s no point on courting death without even a plan.”
Francis thought it was interesting and laughed out loud. “This kid doesn’t lack courage, he’ll be outstanding in the future!”
Fu Yucheng thought for a while, and then he simply instructed the quantum brain. “Noob, bring up the 3D map, I want to check out if there is any other way.”
“Beep beep beep——” The green light on Noob flashed, and a large, light blue three-dimensional map slowly appeared on the dining table.
Fu Yucheng traced the map carefully, and his slender fingers slowly slid to the south. “This large area is all a stripe of quicksand… but it’s the only place where Mo Ziwei can’t track us and set up an ambush.”
Francis shook his head and said, “The quicksand stripe is too unstable. It swallows anything that gets on it, leaving no trace… Besides, the data in your map is decades old, isn’t it? The quicksand stripe no longer looks like this.”
“How do you know?” Fu Yucheng glanced at the other man.
Francis pointed at a spot on the map. “I just inspected this place a while ago. In the past year or so, due to hurricanes and the type of terrain, the neck of the quicksand stripe—right here—the elevation in the sand here has suddenly decreased by over twenty meters… Think about it, this kind of terrain that can change drastically at any time is too dangerous.”
“Right, before the Lock-In Day, the quicksand stripe was a coastal area, so the terrain is particularly unstable…” Fu Yucheng said, deep in thought.
He paused, and suddenly recalled something. “Wait, you just said that the neck of the quicksand belt—the narrowest section, had the elevation of the sand layer drop by more than twenty meters?”
Francis replied, confused, “So what? Even if it went down by more than 20 meters, the sand layer in this area is still dozens of meters thick, it doesn’t make a big difference.”
Fu Yucheng didn’t care to respond to him. He quickly adjusted the map. “No, the thing in question isn’t the sand layer… Noob, give me the latitude and longitude of the neck of the quicksand stripe, and compare it with the area with the same latitude and longitude in 2019.”
“Beep beep beep—the latitude and longitude of the neck of the quicksand belt: Parallel North 22… Longitude 113… Beep beep beep—initiating comparison with same latitude and longitude in the year 2019…”
Fu Yucheng listened carefully to the data reported by Noob. After a long time, he finally let out a slow, relieved sigh. “Little Mo, let’s take the quicksand stripe and head to the Devil’s Antarctic.”
Bai Mo didn’t even ask him a single question, he simply nodded without hesitation. “Alright.”
Francis’ eyes grew wide. “Fu, what did you just say?”
Fu Yucheng slowly said, “Francis, according to what you just said, the height of the sand layer at the neck of the quicksand stripe has been lowered by more than twenty meters… I calculated the latitude, longitude and altitude. If the data is correct, there is a structure at that spot. The structure should now be exposed on the sand’s surface—this big structure can help us pass through the quicksand stripe.”
“But, Fu, the narrowest section of the quicksand stripe is about fifty kilometers long… What huge structure could help you cross a fifty kilometer quicksand? Fu, have you been dehydrated for too long, is your brain not working right? Are you crazy?” Francis didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and he kept shaking his head constantly.
Bai Mo, feeling unhappy, frowned slightly. “What did you just say?”
“Little Mo, it’s okay.” Fu Yucheng paused, and then told the computer, “Noob, adjust the data of the 3D map to year 2019, following the latitude and longitude of the quicksand stripe. That was the first year the structure was officially operative.”
“Beep beep beep—Adjusting… Missing data… Adjusting… Missing data…”
With the clear voice of the computer, Noob, the translucent 3D map changed rapidly, and the boundless desert gradually became a blue ocean and a prosperous coastal city.
However, due to time and a large amount of missing data, the picture of the 3D map wasn’t clear, and many places were covered in big mosaics.
Fu Yucheng took a deep breath and moved his hands to the sides to enlarge the 3D map.
He stared at a spot on the map in a daze. There was a huge structure that had a very vague silhouette, but was magnificent nonetheless.
Fu Yucheng’s voice was deep and clear. “Little Mo, let’s go over here— to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.”8
Author’s note:
Due to the lack of map data, poor Chengcheng, at this time, did not know that a section of the HZM Bridge is a cross-harbour tunnel…
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