Chapter 1
The plain white room contained nothing but a psychologist and a girl, along with a table, a few chairs, and a door on one side.
“Sir—or perhaps I should call you Mr. Yage.”
The psychologist looked at the strange girl sitting before him.
“Of all the patients I have treated, you are certainly an unusual one. Why are you so determined to kill yourself?”
The girl avoided his gaze.
Her red hair was unnaturally neat—so neat that it was almost uncanny, as though it had been arranged by someone with obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Her eyes were clear and luminous, like pearls beneath the sea, or blue sapphires set into a crown. Faintly visible within them were mechanical structures.
Her skin was pale and smooth. Her shoulders were slightly raised, as though she were desperately trying to hide some secret beneath an expression that was pretending to be calm, yet could not quite conceal her nervousness.
The girl was just about to speak when the doctor interrupted her.
“I don't particularly want to hear things like ‘I feel empty’ or ‘I long to be free from this life.’ You don't look like someone whose life is meaningless. Young lady, you have something on your mind.”
The psychologist stood up and moved slightly closer.
His grayish-brown eyes met the girl's “sapphire” eyes.
Under the doctor's serious, inquisitive gaze, the girl could only look away.
“Doctor… uh… I-I really do feel empty…”
Her voice was noticeably weak, almost limp, as though proving the doctor's suspicion.
“Don't trust me?”
The doctor slowly withdrew his face from hers.
“That's all right. These things take time.”
“Doctor… um… actually, I'm much better now. Uh… I just need to stay here for a few days. Maybe…? Heh…”
The girl forced an awkward smile.
“Let's go. Today's language therapy session is over.”
The girl hurriedly checked the time.
Indeed, it was already over.
She left rather hastily, leaving the doctor alone in the plain room.
He watched her back as she disappeared, lost in thought.
The girl stepped out of the plain white room.
Before her was a large artificial residential community. There were apartment buildings modeled after those outside, facilities providing food, clothing, and everyday necessities, and an enormous “sky” covering the entire community, made from electronic screens. The ground was covered with artificial grass.
Today was her last day here.
She needed to pack in advance, because she would be leaving the following morning, departing this place and returning to the real world.
Yage returned to her sleeping quarters, packed her belongings, and then collapsed onto the bed.
Tomorrow, I'll be free, Yage thought.
She slept without dreaming.
The next morning, Yage got out of bed neatly and efficiently. After giving herself a quick wash and tidying herself up, she picked up her belongings and walked away without looking back.
There were still arguments going on inside the community.
Several people appeared furious. Someone was trying to pull them apart. Someone else was crying, their face buried deeply in their arms, tears soaking into their trousers.
The sky looked fake.
The clouds remained frozen in place. Upon closer inspection, one could even see the pixels.
Birds flying overhead were merely looping videos. A single bird could pass the same spot hundreds of times.
The buildings had been modeled after those outside.
But Yage did not want to care.
She only wanted to keep walking.
Perhaps Yage would return to this community someday. It was, after all, a place for people who had survived suicide attempts and for those suffering from psychological or psychiatric disorders.
“The Empire has established a comprehensive psychological support system, allowing mental disorders to gradually become conditions that can be diagnosed, intervened upon, and treated, just like physical damage to a mechanical body. The Empire safeguards the health of every citizen. The prosperity of the Empire is the glory of its citizens…”
Yage remembered the words of the Central Television host with perfect clarity.
Soon, she approached the boundary between the community and the outside world—the gateway leading outward.
A guard looked at Yage and checked her identity information.
“Yage Gentleman. Your treatment has been completed. You may leave.”
Yage walked out of the community.
She took a deep breath.
Then she began walking slowly.
The sky outside was brighter—almost painfully brighter—than the artificial electronic sky.
The clouds had no pixels. They moved slowly and changed constantly, taking on ever-shifting shapes.
The birds flew along random trajectories. None of them repeated the same path hundreds of times.
The broad streets were paved with clean, dark tiles. On either side stretched rows of buildings that seemed to extend without end.
The buildings had dark-colored walls, enormous arched windows, and heavy cornices projecting outward in layer after layer of ornamentation. Large areas of glass served as display windows. Neon signs hung from sections of their walls.
They seemed to imitate an ancient architectural style.
Behind these buildings stood even taller towers. They had the same kind of walls, arched windows, and elaborate ornamentation.
The towers rose from the ground into the sky, their tops almost impossible to see, blocking portions of the sunlight.
At certain levels of the towers were platforms where people could enter and leave the buildings. People waited on these platforms for flying cars to pick them up.
The flying cars had streamlined bodies. Their surfaces were pitch black, with nothing resembling exposed propellers. A luminous metal plate was embedded beneath each vehicle.
Trains raced through transparent vacuum tubes that crisscrossed the city.
Though the trains traveled at tremendous speeds, the vacuum insulation kept their noise from reaching the streets.
People walked along the spacious roads.
Their clothes came in every imaginable style. Yage saw people wearing dresses of various colors, coats, jackets—but gentleman's attire was particularly conspicuous.
Yage herself wore an ordinary white shirt.
Nothing distinctive.
Nothing special.
She avoided making eye contact with anyone. Her head remained lowered as she tried her best not to attract attention, moving through the crowd.
She succeeded.
No one seemed to notice her.
Yage observed the people around her and noticed a man speaking to a woman.
“My dear lady, would you care to join me for a meal?”
“My dear, what do you think?”
The woman smiled and walked away with him.
Yage watched them as she continued walking.
Then she accidentally bumped into someone.
“Oh!”
“I-I’m terribly sorry, sir…”
Yage nervously raised her head.
Standing before her was a well-dressed gentleman.
He wore a charcoal-gray Chesterfield coat and a black top hat. The top hat was clearly well maintained, its smooth surface reflecting the light.
A small but distinctive badge was pinned to his lapel.
Yage could not make out exactly what the badge depicted, but there was something about it that struck her as unusual.
The gentleman held a black walking cane decorated with exquisite carvings.
Everything about him suggested that he was a man of status and position.
Beside him stood a young girl wearing a military-style pure-black coat and a wide-brimmed hat. A few strands of fiery red hair escaped from beneath the brim.
She looked radiant and cheerful, with a smile seemingly permanently fixed upon her rosy face.
“Ahaha! Surely the Presiding Officer won't blame a young lady like you for something like this, will he, Presiding Officer?”
The gentleman gave a light cough.
“Sir, just go.”
“Okay…”
Yage blushed and hurried away as undignifiedly as she could manage.
Yage eventually arrived at her home.
When she opened the door, a plump blue-and-white cat with soft, silky fur approached her as usual and rubbed itself against her leg.
“Meow~”
“Oh, Mimi.”
Yage gently stroked the cat's back.
“Wait…”
She looked at the door.
“What's wrong with this door?”
Yage tried to close it tightly, but the door remained loose.
She contacted the maintenance service.
“Um, sir? My door… well, it's broken. Could you, uh, send a robot over?”
“Sir, I've applied for a robot-use quota for you. One will arrive shortly.”
“Okay. Um… can I apply to… maybe modify the door so that it looks… cute?”
“Sir, you're very good at making jokes. Even graffiti on the door isn't permitted. This is a standard government-allocated residence.”
“Okay… Well, uh, thank you.”
Yage looked helplessly at the fat cat.
“Meow~”
After a while, the repair robot arrived.
It inspected the problem and proceeded with several repairs.
While the robot worked, Yage stood nearby stroking the cat.
The fat cat nestled comfortably in her arms.
“Repair completed.”
The robot emitted a notification tone.
Yage checked the door herself. Satisfied, she allowed the robot to leave.
The fat cat jumped out of her arms and went inside.
Yage followed and closed the door tightly behind her.
“Oh, Mimi. Come here.”
She poured some cat food into the bowl.
The fat cat slowly made its way over.
As it devoured the food, Yage happily stroked its back.
Suddenly, Yage stood up and walked toward the computer.
She sat down in front of it and pressed the power button.
The noise of the cooling fans began filling her auditory sensors.
When the familiar interface appeared, Yage opened a function.
A chat window naturally appeared and blended into the desktop.
Yage: Um, Zhizi, I think there's something wrong with this computer. I might need to replace it…
Zhizi: Don't worry, Yage. I'll send you a new one later. Who could resist someone as cute as you?
Yage: Okay.
Yage sighed.
Zhizi: Yage, you don't seem to be in very good spirits lately. Take care of yourself, okay?
Yage: I know. Oh, right. Zhizi, I want to have dinner with you… and talk for a while. At our usual place, three in the afternoon.
Zhizi: I'll be waiting for you there!
Three o'clock arrived.
Yage sat at a table in a restaurant, waiting for Zhizi.
The restaurant was lit by warm orange lights. The lamps were shaped somewhat like chrysanthemums.
Several people were sitting inside, drinking black tea and eating pudding while talking about something. Every now and then, they broke into laughter.
The seats around the tables were covered in soft fur, making them exceptionally comfortable.
A few minutes later, Zhizi arrived.
“Sorry, Yage. I'm late. Looking at that adorable face of yours makes me feel even more guilty.”
“Uh, it's fine, Zhizi. Let's order something.”
Zhizi sat across from Yage and stared out the window.
“I never thought you'd choose a table by the window. Don't you think there might be a giant lobster staring at us from outside?”
“What?”
“It's an old meme, Yage. Basically, there was a series of pictures showing a gigantic lobster staring through a restaurant window at people eating lobster.”
“Hmm… Zhizi, I might need to spend more time online.”
Zhizi's skin was yellowish-brown compared with Yage's. It was equally smooth. Her long black hair was tied into a ponytail.
Her eyes were an ordinary brown. She had a small nose and a relatively sharp face.
She was about the same height as Yage.
“Yage…”
Zhizi leaned toward Yage's ear.
“The Imperial government is already becoming suspicious. I saw on the news that the police are intensifying their investigations. If they discover intelligent beings from other civilizations being concealed here, they'll be arrested.”
“Mm. I know. I think… the others are okay, right?”
“So far, nothing has gone wrong. Yage, you may need to move again if necessary. I'm looking for somewhere new.”
Yage nodded lightly.
Zhizi sat back down.
“By the way, Yage, what do you think about painting?”
“It's okay.”
“‘It's okay’? With several million subscribers?”
Zhizi paused.
“Oh, right. Let's order something first.”
She looked through the menu and casually ordered several dishes.
A few minutes later, the food arrived.
Zhizi cut off a small piece of dragon-fruit-flavored cake and placed it in her mouth, savoring it carefully.
“It still tastes a little different from real dragon fruit. It's okay.”
At that moment, Zhizi suddenly began rummaging through the bag she had brought with her.
She pulled out a bottle containing a strange mixed liquid, its overall appearance pitch black.
“Yage, you haven't ‘eaten’ yet, have you?”
“Thank you.”
Yage took the bottle and drank a small sip.
Her mouth immediately filled with the metallic taste of iron, titanium, and other metals.
“Yage, have you heard? The ‘Wulai’ people have been causing trouble again. Yesterday they held a street demonstration shouting ‘For the Future,’ and the police arrested them! Um… do you know who Wulai are?”
“I haven't really looked into them.”
“All right. Basically, they're an organization called the ‘Infinite Future Association.’ They keep talking about ‘the future’ and ‘infinite universes.’ They took the two ideas—‘infinite’ and ‘future’—and shortened them into the nickname Wulai, which also means ‘without a future.’ Funny, isn't it?”
“Mm.”
Yage stood up from her chair.
“Yage, even though looking at your adorable face makes me want to pinch your cheeks, I have to go home.”
Yage stood up as well.
She hugged Zhizi.
“Bye.”
“Bye…”
Zhizi said goodbye to Yage and left.
Yage remained standing there for a moment.
“‘Infinite Future Association’…”
She whispered the name to herself.
