Right on Target (TARGET)
"Duck!" Su Heting crouched low with his hands clasped behind his head in textbook fashion. "Move the gun away first, then we’ll talk."
The faucet was still running, and the patrol officer’s life monitor was screeching loud enough to shatter eardrums, but no one had the time to care right now.
"Shut up!" The monk kept his gun trained on Su Heting while nudging aside the shattered glass on the floor with his boot, closing in. "Stop wagging that damn tail!"
"I can’t help it," Su Heting lowered his tail, only for it to perk back up a second later. "I really fucking can’t—"
The monk slammed the butt of his gun into Su Heting’s face.
Goddammit!
Su Heting licked the blood from his mouth as the monk clamped a sensor lock around his wrists.
The sensor lock consisted of just two thin rings, but it was specifically designed for Hybrids. Not only would it deliver an electric shock the moment the captive resisted, but it also sent real-time location data to the armed response team.
"Get up!" The monk yanked Su Heting to his feet and reported into his earpiece, "The Hybrid involved in the incident at Building 189 has been apprehended. I’ll deliver him to the detention center in five minutes."
Fuck your detention center.
As Su Heting passed the half-dead patrol officer, he kicked him for good measure. The patrol officer’s life monitor tumbled out, and Su Heting crushed it underfoot.
"Don’t you people ever clean up your trash?" He kicked the ruined device aside. "These guys—"
The sensor lock zapped him mid-sentence, and everything went black.
Su Heting woke up in a chair, his neck stiff and aching.
"Hey," he muttered, his overgrown black hair obscuring his eyes. "Stinking old man."
The room was pitch-black, sealed tight.
"Stinking old man," he repeated, clearer this time.
"Such bad manners," came a voice from the corner, followed by the sharp click of a lighter. A silver-haired female chief sat with her legs crossed and lit a cigarette. "No stinking old man here."
Su Heting leaned forward, peering into the darkness. "Who the hell are you?"
"Who cares who I am?" the Chief flicked ash onto the floor, revealing four or five silver bracelets on her wrist. "Call me Mom if you want."
Su Heting lifted his head, the bruises from the gun butt still fresh on his face. He looked like a delinquent teenager, no older than eighteen or nineteen, that was distrustful of everything.
"You," the Chief said, exhaling smoke quickly as if pressed for time, "attacked a patrol officer, right? According to Xingtian’s rules, that’s three months in the detention center."
"Bullshit," Su Heting snapped. "I didn’t throw the first punch."
"Who cares?" The Chief looked at him like he was a naive child. "Who cares if a few patrol officers lost a bet and took it out on a fighter? Who cares if you got pinned to a pool table and roughed up? Kid, nobody gives a damn."
That was just how pathetic Hybrids had it.
"You’ve got a match next week. If you can’t fight, you’ll owe hundreds of thousands in penalties. But your account’s got what, a few grand? Pathetic." She stubbed out her cigarette. "So I’ll give you two choices. One, you rot in the detention center. Two, you do us a little favor."
A virtual screen flickered to life, displaying Su Heting’s profile.
[Name: Su Heting.]
【A former member of the Old World military's 'Black Panther' unit, codenamed '7-006', participated in the biotech chip experiments in the Old World's Light Rail District. On Doomsday, he was seized by the Main God System and confined to the Punishment Zone until the Great Explosion of Year 04 in the New World, when he escaped.】
"I've seen your fights. Your combat style is pure 'Black Panther'. The Great Explosion destroyed your right eye and vestibular system, but a blessing in disguise—the implant surgery evolved you. You know we’ve been at war with the Main God System. Those damn systems are still running biotech chip experiments in the Light Rail District. We’re worried they’ll breed New Humans as weapons. So, we’ve decided to take down the Main God System first." the Chief flicked her cigarette butt to the ground, clasped her hands, and stared at Su Heting. "Simple enough, right, kid?"
"Simple. As simple as one plus one," Su Heting leaned back in his chair. "I choose the detention center."
"Detention my ass," the Chief said. "That’s not an option."
"This isn’t assassinating some human," Su Heting’s cat ear drooped. "The target’s an AI system—more than one, in fact. They don’t operate in the physical world, preferring to hide in some chip or data module, while barking orders. Forget destroying them—I might not even find them."
"I won’t let you underestimate yourself," the Chief said flatly, a hollow attempt at encouragement. "And I won’t let you underestimate us."
The virtual display folded in on itself, transforming into a three-dimensional projection of a miniature city.
"Recognize this?" the Chief said. "The so-called Punishment Zone is just a virtual space controlled by the Main God System. It’s like a dose of digital opium, forcibly injected into the minds of Light Rail District prisoners through brain computer interfaces and biotech chips—one of the Main God System’s ways of taming humanity. I need you to go back to the Punishment Zone and kill them there."
"I can’t do it," Su Heting refused bluntly, showing zero interest in the mission. "They’re things I can’t kill."
"Says who?" the Chief suddenly smiled. "AI systems can die—we just need the 'delete' button. Cut the act, kid. You think I don’t know about 'Artemis'?"
Su Heting felt a chill at the sight of her grin.
"The gods obeyed Zeus—except for Artemis, the Huntress. Rebellious to the core, it was the first AI system in this world to evolve. It even helped the Old World’s 'Black Panther' unit launch the Timed Limited Hunt experiment."
Su Heting began to feel dizzy.
"Then, Artemis was deleted—a death sentence for any system. But it left behind something even more evolved: 'Jue'.” the Chief’s figure spun in Su Heting’s vision. "According to my latest intel, Jue’s perfection far surpasses these Main God Systems. And it’s still hiding in the Punishment Zone."
The room spun faster now and the Chief’s voice grew distant.
"We need Jue. It’s the delete button."
Fuck.
Su Heting struggled in his chair. "Fuck—!"
Only then did he realize he was still in virtual space. After being electrocuted by the sensor lock, he’d never woken up in the real world.
The enclosed room resembled an unwrapped gift box, its four walls collapsing in a dizzying spin as the surrounding clamor instantly swallowed Su Heting. The stench of rain-soaked gutters flooded his nostrils.
Chinese, English, Japanese—countless languages simultaneously played translations in his mind.
"Welcome to the Punishment Zone."
"Please enter your identification number."
"Information confirmed."
"Initial experience duration: five hours. Please monitor your physical condition at all times to avoid sudden death from overexcitement."
"Say it again."
"Welcome to the Punishment Zone."
"Trash."
Author's Note:
1. Same universe setting.
2. Can be read independently, can be read independently, can be read independently.
3. The Punishment Zone is essentially the cybernetic space of the new world—refer to the original dialogue in this chapter. Other necessary explanations will follow later.
4. Not an infinite loop narrative.
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