The City That Never Sleeps.
This is a city built on the polar ice cap.
In the year 3285 AD, due to the rapid expansion of human civilization, the Earth finally reached its breaking point. The drastic rise in temperatures caused massive melting at both poles, with waves submerging much of the planet.
Humanity lost the Earth.
However, the resilient human race, already possessing the ability to colonize other planets, did not perish. They thrived on other planets and quickly rebounded.
Just like they did with other desolate planets, they re-engineered the Earth, restoring it to its former glory in record time.
Twelve super pumps, each spanning thirty-eight kilometers, were installed from both ends of the North and South poles. The immense power quickly stabilized the climate changes at the poles.
People moved mountains and filled seas, harnessing wind and moonlight, reshaping the environment, turning Earth into a paradise in a whole new way.
With grand ambitions, humanity declared that Earth was their permanent home planet, only to be used for tourism and recuperation purposes. No polluting heavy industry was to be established here.
This move received unanimous support from all of humanity.
The dream of preserving the beauty of the home planet finally became a reality after humanity's technology reached a certain level.
Four thousand years have passed.
The twelve super pumps at the North and South poles have been upgraded multiple times, and they still play a crucial role in regulating the weather. The personnel working around these six pump stations have increased from the initial three hundred and forty-two to fourteen hundred.
Soon after, this place became a famous tourist area, where people experienced the bone-chilling winter, admired the beauty of the aurora, spent long nights, and reminisced about the history of the polar ice. The human population also grew larger and larger.
Where there are people, there is prosperity, and the City That Never Sleeps gradually emerged.
In the six-month-long polar night, this city shines like the only light in the darkness.
However, even in the most prosperous city, there are places untouched by its light.
On the outskirts of the City That Never Sleeps lies a vast, cold, dark ice field.
This expansive ice cap covers an area of one hundred and fifty thousand square kilometers. Surrounding it are forty-eight towering icebergs, resembling real mountains, surrounding the City That Never Sleeps. These icebergs block the cold winds from the Arctic, maintaining a relatively warm environment in the city, while also regulating the continent's climate.
Due to the cold, no one stays on these icebergs for long.
The temperature of minus forty degrees Celsius is enough to deter most people.
But even in such extreme cold, someone sits on one of the icebergs with just a piece of super-fiber clothing.
Sitting on top of the glacier, Nora had two large boxes of beer in front of her. The silver super-fiber clothes sparkled under the faint moonlight. Super-fiber clothing, due to its superconducting properties in neural connections, did not provide much insulation. However, the cold wind had no effect on Nora's body, as if it couldn't reach her at all.
Not far behind her stood a man.
Stark!
He stood a few meters away from Nora, wearing only a single layer of clothing. A strange red light emanated from him, not very far, only about three meters around Stark, but it emitted a peculiar warmth.
When it fell on the ice surface, the ice gradually melted.
"Some things are just too simplistic to imagine," Nora suddenly said.
Out of the blue.
Stark didn't speak. He knew what Nora wanted to say, and he would say it.
Nora said, "I used to think that in the land of eternal night, people would get used to living in darkness, talking to each other, groping around, it's a sleepless paradise... But I was too naive. Look at the City That Never Sleeps, where is the real sleepless paradise?"
She shook her head, dropped a beer can, and it banged against the iceberg, making a clattering sound. It rolled down to the bottom of the ice, rolling a few times before gradually turning into a puddle of clear water, disappearing without a trace. These beer cans were made of environmentally friendly materials and would decompose automatically when empty, leaving no waste.
Opening another bottle, Nora continued, "Dreams are just dreams after all. If a dream is not reasonable, then the moment it is realized is the moment the dream shatters. You know what I mean, Stark?"
Stark scratched his head with some annoyance. "You and Reno talk too cryptically. I can't understand. But despite that, I can at least understand one thing, that the dream you mentioned should not only refer to this so-called sleepless paradise."
Nora sighed, "You always understand things that you don't need to understand, Stark."
Stark said, "What concerns me more is, how are you sure Reno can find you here? You said the sleepless paradise refers to the land of eternal night, but you didn't say it's the Arctic. Okay, I know the Arctic is the only land of eternal night now, but you didn't say it's the City That Never Sleeps. Okay, I also know the City That Never Sleeps is the only major city in the Arctic, but you didn't say you're not in the city."
Stark's incessant talk made Nora's lips twitch.
In a slightly hoarse voice, she spoke again, "Reno knows I'm not in the city. I came here... to seek darkness."
"What if he doesn't remember?" Stark asked.
"Then he's not Reno."
Stark fell silent.
He didn't know what had happened between Nora, Claire, and Reno, but he knew that in such matters, it's best for a man to ask fewer questions.
"Alright," he said. "I hope you're right."
Nora was right.
An hour later, the light from a flying car appeared at the far end of the ice field.
The flying car did not enter the City That Never Sleeps but circled around it, searching around the ice peaks.
The smooth ice peaks shimmered with holy light under the illumination of the lights, without any concealment.
The lights swept across, one after another, along the ice peaks, coming closer.
Nora watched from afar, sitting there motionless, not calling out.
When the flying car swept past the sixth ice peak, Stark finally couldn't bear it. The red light on him began to enlarge, like a dim yellow light in the eternal night.
The flying car began to fly directly towards them.
Nora glanced back at him, and Stark spread his hands, "I didn't call him."
Nora didn't say anything.
The light from the flying car fell on Nora.
A fleeting moment.
Lights out.
The flying car circled and landed on the ice peak.
Reno walked out of the car, followed by Claire.
The appearance of this woman caused Nora's eyes to suddenly contract.
The look in her eyes fell on Reno, he was stunned for a moment, then realized something, and called out, "No!"
He stepped forward, pulling Claire behind him.
To his surprise, Nora didn't rush forward but took a few steps back.
Then her figure disappeared.
Completely disappeared into the endless darkness, leaving no trace.
Reno
stared in astonishment, his mouth unable to close in shock.
Stark also realized what was happening and shouted, "Nora, don't!"
The instinct of danger made Reno instinctively throw himself, embracing Claire and falling onto the cold ice surface.
Slash!
A sharp blade pierced the darkness, stabbing Reno's shoulder.
Blood gushed out!
"Reno, you damn bastard, how dare you betray Claire!" Nora's figure appeared in the darkness, holding an ice dagger. It was astonishing that there was still a trace of black mist lingering on the ice dagger.
Her eyes were filled with fierce killing intent as she swung the ice dagger down again.
"No!" Stark rushed over and grabbed Nora, pulling her forward.
Nora struggled hard but couldn't break free from Stark's massive strength. She flipped her wrist downwards, and the ice spike pierced Stark's thigh.
"Ah!" Stark let out a painful cry, the pain making him roll his eyes, but the next moment, flames erupted from his thigh wound, melting the ice spike with a touch.
Nora took the opportunity to break free from Stark. With a flick of her right hand against the ground, a piece of ice rose along her hand and ultimately turned into a new ice spike, stabbing towards Reno again.
"Enough!" Reno shouted, waving his hand back, and Nora's forward momentum was blocked, unable to move forward again.
She gnashed her teeth, and her figure disappeared again.
Reno knew it was bad. He pushed his hand forward, and there was a bang on the ice surface, followed by the sound of something moving on the ice. Then Nora's figure appeared in the distance.
She was thrown out more than ten meters by this blow.
She wanted to rush again, but Reno rushed over and said loudly:
"Alright, Nora, I haven't done anything to betray Claire. Clarice is my neighbor at the sanatorium. I escaped with her help. She and I are innocent... just like between you and me."
At the last sentence, Nora froze.
She stood there for a while before finally letting go of the ice spike.
Looking at Clarice, she said, "If there's anything between you and him, I'll kill you."
Clarice retorted without politeness, "You already tried once."
Stark complained, "Okay, can we stop being entangled in these jealousy issues? Shouldn't we talk about what happened to each of us first? Oh, right, it seems we have already seen each other's abilities?"
At this moment, he seemed to have become enlightened.