Strange

The Supervisory Bureau's cars surrounded the Lixing Building. Members of the Supervisory Bureau, wearing its insignia, dispersed the taxis near the building. At the back door of Lixing, they saw an old, black 02, a model that was about to be phased out. A member of the Supervisory Bureau shouted at the car a few times, but no one answered. He walked over and heard loud music blaring from inside.

"Hey!" The Supervisory Bureau member knocked hard on the car window.

The window rolled down. The driver lowered the volume of the music and said, somewhat fearfully, "Hello..."

"What are you doing parked here?" The Supervisory Bureau member took out his Communicator and motioned for the driver to look at the lens. "First, an information scan."

"I'm waiting for a customer." The driver, lacking confidence in front of the lens, raised a hand to push back his greasy hair a few times. He forced a smile, one that held a fawning quality towards the Supervisory Bureau member.

Based on the image, the Supervisory Bureau member saw the driver's information: Lin Bobo, a resident of the Docking Area, 26 years old, professional taxi driver, no regional demerits.

"Lixing is temporarily sealed off. No one will be coming out of here." The Supervisory Bureau member took two steps back. "Alright, you can go now."

"Okay," the driver stammered slightly, "okay."

There was some noise from the trunk, but the driver's expression was natural. He was just the type of ordinary resident who was a little afraid of the Supervisory Bureau. As he turned the car around, he cranked the music up again. Once the car entered the main road, the noise from the trunk grew louder and louder.

"It's, it's okay," the driver said, as if reassuring someone. "This time, I—I'll definitely become famous."

......

Yan Junxun took a chocolate from the fruit platter. On his way downstairs, he tore open the wrapper and broke off half for Shi Shanyan.

"Let me ask you a question," Shi Shanyan said, taking a bite of the chocolate. "What were you thinking about when you were preparing to commit suicide?"

Yan Junxun stuffed the rest of the chocolate into his mouth, gulping it down. After swallowing, he replied, "I wanted to scare him to death."

Shi Shanyan had already thrown away his dirty suit jacket, and his shirt was unbuttoned at the top. He watched Yan Junxun in the elevator mirror, and after a moment, he slowly started to smile.

Yan Junxun finished the chocolate and asked, "Have you ever thought about suicide?"

"Oh, I don't do suicide," Shi Shanyan said, one hand in his pocket. "I will only be murdered."

"Oh," Yan Junxun said. "It's good to have that kind of awareness."

"It's a small wish of mine. I always think about it when I'm bored," Shi Shanyan said with a smile. "I've already custom-ordered my own funeral."

Yan Junxun's stomach felt a little better. He asked, "Are you inviting friends to attend?"

"That's too disgusting," Shi Shanyan said, a little annoyed. "That's the annoying thing about dying, you can't be your own master. That's why I chose to order it in advance." He emphasized, "I found a reliable company."

"I'll attend."

"Maybe you'll be lying there with me?"

The two of them looked at each other. The elevator was silent for two seconds.

"You're too dangerous," Yan Junxun asked in confusion. "Are you going to kill me?"

"Let's assume," Shi Shanyan said in his usual tone, "that I'm not dead yet."

"I want to be in a coffin alone."

"Don't be like that," Shi Shanyan coaxed, as if speaking to a child. "Ghosts will harass you."

Yan Junxun emphasized, "We can only be neighbors."

"Living alone is lonely," Shi Shanyan said. "Besides, neighbors can't kiss."

Just then, the elevator doors opened. Piao Lin, who was waiting at the entrance, immediately said, "You two—"

He thought he had misheard.

"...Uh," it was Jue who filtered out the main point. "Are you two going to be neighbors?"

......

"Our support was too slow," Jue said dejectedly to Yan Junxun, who was sitting opposite. "Lixing blocked my vision. I'm sorry for letting you go into such danger. It was too dangerous."

Yan Junxun was unwrapping a piece of candy. He had been sitting here and had already heard Jue apologize five times. He replied patiently, "It's fine."

The Supervisory Bureau was very busy today. The people arrested from Lixing filled their interrogation rooms, and the operations team sent to the docks had not yet returned.

Jue was filled with self-reproach. It told Yan Junxun, "This was a terrible arrangement... Are you okay?"

The last sentence was asked very carefully.

Yan Junxun's fingers, which were folding the candy wrapper, didn't pause. He hummed in affirmation and said, "Very good. Are you okay?"

Jue became even more dejected. "I'm not. I lost my memory for a while... Piao Lin said it was a terrorist attack from the Stagnation Zone, and the Main Management System is currently handling this issue." Its voice grew quieter. "I might have a BUG."

"Everyone has BUGs," Yan Junxun said, folding the candy wrapper into a shape. "It's a common problem with second-generation systems, not your fault. Has the Main Management System reported it?"

"It's been reported," Jue typed out a 'face in hands' emoticon on the light screen. "7-006 said Black Panther will send a system to resolve it."

Yan Junxun's eyelid suddenly twitched. He asked, "Black Panther only said they'd send a system to resolve it?"

"Yes," Jue said. "That's what Su Heting told me. His information is quite reliable."

'Why hasn't Fu Chenghui reacted?'

Yan Junxun felt a slight stinging pain in his head; it was a precursor to his chip activating. He grabbed the ice water on the desk and took a few large gulps.

Jue asked, "Am I being too noisy?"

"I want to make a call to 7-006," Yan Junxun said, putting the folded candy wrapper into his pocket. "To ask him for the details."

"Okay," Jue said. "I'll go wander around outside."

Its voice then vanished.

Yan Junxun stood up, walked to the window, and looked outside. The parking lot in front of the Supervisory Bureau building was packed with cars. He used his own battered Communicator to call Su Heting. The call rang for a while before it was answered. Yan Junxun asked bluntly, "Has Fu Chenghui called you?"

"No," Su Heting said, sounding like he had a cold. "Why would he call me?"

Yan Junxun lowered his voice. "There was a blackout in the Light Rail District last night."

"Yeah," Su Heting said, swiveling in his chair. "The system was running a new experiment last night. The blackout was an accident. How did you know?"

Without pausing, Yan Junxun lied, "I heard it from Jue."

"Your Docking Area has it worse, right?" Su Heting coughed a few times. "The Clown escaped again, and he even attacked the Docking Area's Main Management System. This morning's news was talking about it."

'This is too strange.'

Yan Junxun avoided the sunlight from the window, falling into contemplation in the shadows.

"I'm starting to suspect The Clown isn't human," Su Heting said, tapping on his keyboard a few times. "He disappears too quickly, abnormally so. If he's a system, then that would make sense. That's why he can move through the Docking Area unhindered."

Yan Junxun asked, "Can you catch it?"

Su Heting hesitated for a moment before saying, "I can. But it can't be shut down, otherwise it's just like logging off directly from a game."

'That's useless. Yan Junxun could catch it too, but it really does log off, just like last night.'

"Who is it, exactly?"

"A second-generation system incubated by Artemis," Yan Junxun thought for a moment. "That's not accurate enough. It should be called a second-generation system that was once incubated by Artemis. Artemis was deactivated, but it didn't disappear."

"Simple," Su Heting said. "It's just like all the second-generation systems running now. Once they're 'born,' they become independent. They can separate from their 'parents' by transferring their data."

At this point, he let out a "wow."

"I knew it! It's Artemis's illegitimate child!"

'This is too contradictory.'

Yan Junxun frowned.

'Fu Chenghui took Artemis, deactivated Artemis, and then used Artemis's data to build the Docking Area's system, like Jue—Jue is also very special. Its autonomy is clearly higher than other systems. Just now, it even felt dejected because of a failed plan. To some extent, it bears a shadow of Artemis; it possesses 'consciousness.''

'If that's the case, then a defective second-generation system like 'The Clown' should have been deactivated or put to use, but it's still running wild. This means someone took it, preserved it, and is still indulging it.'

Yan Junxun voiced his biggest doubt of the day: "Is Fu Chenghui sick?"

"Nope," Su Heting said, puzzled. "The day before yesterday, he attended some super important meeting or other. He looks like he could live to be a hundred."

Yan Junxun moved the Communicator away from his ear, somewhat doubting if the Su Heting on the other end was real.

"I have to hang up," Su Heting said, fiddling with something. "I have to work overtime tonight. Bye-bye."

Yan Junxun looked out the window again, listening to the dial tone from the Communicator.

'The world was calm and peaceful, without the turmoil he had anticipated.'

Jiang Lian pushed the door open and saw Yan Junxun standing by the window in a daze. He closed the door and said, "Are you okay?"

"Not really," Yan Junxun turned back, silhouetted against the light. "Mite and Lixing are both outside the scope of my duties. I'm only responsible for Bai Jingqing's case, so I want to deal with it as quickly as possible and continue my vacation."

"Here's Lihua's testimony," Jiang Lian placed the file on the table. "It's a good thing you didn't kill Qi Shi. He knows a lot."

Yan Junxun nodded. He glanced at the door and asked, "Where is Shi Shanyan?"

"The interrogation room," Jiang Lian said, looking at Yan Junxun. "He killed someone at Lixing."

"I killed someone too."

Jiang Lian paused for a moment, then said, "You acted in self-defense."

Yan Junxun put the Communicator back in his pocket. "He also acted in self-defense."

Jiang Lian forced a smile at Yan Junxun. "No, you might not know, but he shot one of them four times. Junxun, this person is really not normal..." Jiang Lian looked at the assessment file. "He has no emotions to speak of."

......

Shi Shanyan was playing with a pen.

The projection of Inspector Xie Zhenshu appeared. He sat opposite him and said, "We meet again. You've killed someone this time."

Shi Shanyan didn't spare him a glance. "I had to fight back."

"SN 7-020 has not yet been expelled from Black Panther," Xie Zhenshu said, looking up at Shi Shanyan. "You shot a teammate again."

"I've already been expelled," Shi Shanyan stopped spinning the pen. "And that piece of trash wasn't my teammate."

Xie Zhenshu said, "He said 'I'm sorry' to you."

Shi Shanyan's eyes were bottomless. He said, "And I politely replied, 'It's okay'."

"The affection from your partner isn't strong enough," Xie Zhenshu said, flipping through the file. "He didn't teach you the importance of moderation. You must learn restraint. As required, you will continue to wear the Restraint Lock."

Shi Shanyan remained expressionless.

"The message from Black Panther says," Xie Zhenshu read the message in a flat voice, "'There had better not be a next time'—like that."

Shi Shanyan placed the pen on the table, and then snapped it in two.