Chapter Twenty Three

“Skye, where are you bringing us?”

“You know agents like that get safe houses right? I’m going to the safe house he’s currently in.”

“And where is that?”

“We are going to take a vessel to the Northern Metropolis.”

“Northern Metropolis?” According to the maps, Northern Metropolis is on the other side of the globe. A metropolis is a cluster of villages in which the people interact with each other. There are a few big metropolises across the world — the Northern Metropolis, the Equatorial Metropolis, the Oceanic Metropolis, the Tropical Metropolis, and the Central Metropolis — and the Northern Metropolis is one of it. It’s about eighty times the size of Jessica’s Village, and the land size, being so gigantic and vast, makes the metropolises a hard place for them to invade but an easy place for them to hide.

“Yes, we are going there, now. I already fabricated two fake Identity Drives for us.” As Skye is saying this, she snatches out two USB drives. They look exactly the same as the normal Identity Drives, appearing with the same silvery luster and the cylindrical contour, and the mass, weighing exactly 50 grams, feels identical to the official ones.

We have walked for almost a day before we reached the vessel terminal on the nearby village (The one in our village is destroyed completely). Despite the small size of the village, rows and rows of aircrafts are lined up outside. Surprisingly, nobody in this village seems to realize that their neighbor is almost eradicated from existence, and it would have if I wasn’t there. How ignorant those normal humans are! An ant can’t notice the approaching danger because it isn’t able to stand tall enough. Maybe for this once humans and ants are similar to each other.

I have to admit the bird view of the whole place is still pretty great. The flashing rays and the glowing lights from infrastructures dot on the canvas of nature. Intertwining yellow and red beams mark the border of the villages. As the wind blows, the willow trees sway to the natural rhythm and the leaves produce their own acapella. The moonlight centers onto a small organic garden, created by nature’s own beauty, and the petals of the flowers slowly drift downwards and land peacefully on the grass. Dew drops are forming on the young green leaves of bushes, with the moonbeam bouncing from one droplet of water to the other, refracting a rainbow. I have always loved night — the serenity, the peace, the modest beauty. The villages around were also displaying such beauty with their own lights and life .

I couldn’t help but stare at the village I last saw Jessica in, the one where we first met, then separated, then met again, then separated again. Our stars of destiny orbit in an irregular pattern; our constellation of fate changes its shape every hour. I wonder where she is now, lost in the blobs of lights. Would she be finally living a normal life now? Or is she still protecting humanity from their conquests. Is she in one of the houses, studying the blueprint of war? Or is she finally living her own life, away from the chaos?

Memories of the village invasion flood my head. They are flowing smoothly until an abrupt stop comes after the day I was led into the injection room. I see the clearing that the RPG cleared even more, and I witness the soldiers shooting innocent civilians, and I watch the resistance putting up a fight but stood no chance. The soldiers burned down houses, yet they didn’t take nor ravage; they just purely destroyed everything. They razed most of the above-land buildings to the ground and set up their own bases, and they infiltrated the underground city and battled more insurgencies there.

If all the above-land buildings were destroyed, why would there be so many lights now?

“Skye! Skye!” I call out to her, no response. I desperately need to share this discovery with Skye. Anxiety gushes through my system. I have no idea what this means but I am so certain that this means something.

I sprint to Skye’s room and charge through the door, almost breaking it.

“Oh my god! Andrew can you not just break in like this? You need to knock before entering a girl’s room!”

Skye is at the corner of the room. Her jacket is lying on the bed, and her closet is open.

“Oh sorry… I didn’t realize you are changing. But you have to see this!” I have not yet realized that I just broke into a girl’s room, but that will only be of trivial importance comparing to this.

I run over to the window and pull open the curtains. “There Skye! Look at there!”

“Yeah, and your finger is pointing at the middle of nowhere.”

“No I mean there. The village. The one we invaded last year. That one.”

She contemplates for a second and understands what I mean. “Oh shoot.”

“Do you remember in the base, what lights they used?”

“White LED”

“And this is yellow. The human lights.”

“Do you think this is an illusion created by them?”

“Ever since I was in the base, my whole life is an illusion.”

“What could they use though? To create such a big illusion that nobody would notice?”

“Skye, the Infinite Cage. That’s it. When I was trapped in the cage, I saw repeating trees and lands. The walls of the cage blended into the environment, and I thought the walls were real nature. It took me a long time to figure out that I was running in cycles in a trap because the walls of the cage projected such a realistic illusion.”

“So if they reversed the walls…”

“And presented the illusion on the outer walls…”

“Then nobody would notice that there are chaos in the village!”

So this is their master evil plan. They isolate the villages one by one, and without the neighbors’ knowing, they construct a giant barrier that besieges the village. Once the barrier starts functioning, they throw in bombs and soldiers, but to the outside world the village remains unchanged. Divide and conquer. Divide and conquer.

I am swimming through the thoughts as I lie on the bed. My thoughts are suddenly interrupted as Skye walks over.

“Andrew, this is my room. You should get back to yours and have a rest.”

I am too immersed in my thoughts that I haven’t noticed I’m still in Skye’s room.

“Sorry,” I sit up mechanically and head for the door.

As I walk out of the door, a familiar smell strikes my nose. Gunpowder. I am immediately awakened from my reverie. Turning around, I scan the nearby perimeter for any signs of weapons. Negative. I slowly wander to my room and shut the door.

“AN128, long time no see.”