The haze of power armor enveloped the two, feeling as heavy and cold as it had the previous days, only this time the gun was not aimed at Ning Yongxue's head. After a moment's scrutiny, a voice with a mechanical tone asked, "Were the two of you abandoned by your parents together?"
Although Ning Yongxue's head was still dizzy and he couldn't speak for a moment, he knew that the idea of a yellow child and a white child being siblings was just too absurd. It wasn't like they were crossbreeding cats and dogs and giving birth to offspring of different purebred flower colors.
Ning Yongxue felt that either this person was dizzy, or he was having fun with the child. If he really wanted to have fun, I'm afraid the conversation that followed wouldn't have been too friendly.
That girl didn't seem to notice the end of the other party's words, and considering her age and experience, her common sense of logic was probably lacking as well. After struggling for a while just now, she was now a bit dizzy.
Only to see her stuttering and speaking, "Yes, yes, we are together ..." said and dropped her head, no longer speaking.
This girl was stained from head to toe, not much cleaner than Ning Yongxue, and the clothes on her body were tattered and torn, not much better than Ning Yongxue's. To be honest, normal people wouldn't want to come and pay attention to two dirty scavenging little beggars. However, Ning Yongxue had seen this man beat a man's head and chestless with his own eyes, and now that he had come to talk to the witness for a few minutes, it wasn't really that strange, and it was naturally normal for him to have a bit of fun along the way.
The other man was impassive, probably having seen that the girl was lying. "Where did she come from?" The man asked in an interrogation-like tone, "Why is she pestering you?"
"I'm not sure, probably because she wanted to take my nutrients." Ning Yongxue replied.
The man immediately turned to the girl, who immediately shrunk back. "You're stealing?" His voice was stern with a strong hint of intimidation, which was usually effective on children.
"Everyone is hungry." Ning Yongxue answered on her behalf, subtly throwing the question back, "No one teaches us the law or tells us what we should and shouldn't do. Who exactly do you think is to blame for this?"
The man paused, half-speaking and not immediately retorting. He glanced at Ning Yongxue through his helmet, then spoke, "You sound like an old pickpocket, scavenger boy? So is this a case of empathy? You're afraid you'll end up in the detention center with her as well?"
Though many ironic words had been spun in his head to pounce on the guy's personal attacks or to dumb down every sentence, the occasion at hand wasn't the right one to make a big deal out of it. There wasn't much use in reasoning at the moment, and it was best to look at the situation yourself.
So Ning Yongxue lowered his head and fell silent.
"Quotas are rationed, everyone eats what they deserve." Seeing that Ning Yongxue didn't open his mouth, the man continued, "In any case, this is Spindle's rule, and they don't want to get into unnecessary legal disputes. If you haven't eaten yet, settle your share quickly."
Ning Yongxue wanted to act as much like a sophisticated street kid as possible. If reasoning didn't work, then talk to this person about morality. "But ... but she woke me up. Are the rules really harsh? I'd like to share some nutrients with her as a token of appreciation." He said.
The other man shook his head and tapped his knuckles on the spherical drone hanging in mid-air. "It's not really particularly harsh, kiddo, these humane rescue guys rarely care how you interact in private. You can give as much as you want, but I think you need to replenish your calories, it'll help with recovery."
Seeing Ning Yongxue's blank expression, the other party actually smiled, his attitude seeming to loosen. "I have a good thing here," the man said, "It's definitely not bad, probably better than nutrients."
As the words left his mouth, he pulled an oddly shaped metal flask out of the drone's box that looked like a large silver-plated chili pepper. The man had just unscrewed the cap of the bottle, and a strong scent of alcohol hit his nose.
Ning Yongxue reconfirmed that the other party was indeed having fun with children, and that his mind was really bad enough. However, he didn't care. So he took the bottle and poured in a few mouthfuls.
The bottle was filled with about whiskey, not spicy, but with a punchy flavor that made one's body heat up, suitable for easing pain in cold weather. Before Ning Yongxue could comment, the little blonde girl next to her immediately reacted. Only to see her reach out and grab the bottle, mimicking Ning Yongxue's actions and pouring it violently into her small mouth.
Unsurprisingly, the girl choked on the wine on the spot, probably because she didn't even know what was in the bottle. Only to see her pinch their thin neck straight shake his head, want to spit out but can not, just keep making "whimpering" sound. Then she reached out and covered her mouth, forcing herself to swallow the wine.
Children always liked to imitate older children, but some things weren't learned that way. By the time Ning Yongxue caught the bottle and handed it back, the bottle was actually already empty, with only a few drops still leaking out.
"This stuff is kinda expensive, if I had known I would have ..." The man's tone carried a hint of regret. Apparently, he was more concerned about how much less of his famous liquor he had than he was about fooling two kids into drinking whiskey. "Well, how did you get here, brunette brat? Why aren't you registered for a UN Citizen ID?" he then asked.
It was a crucial question, but the truth didn't make sense here.
"I've never met one that asked me to register either." Ning Yongxue replied, "Can you blame me?"
The man laughed out loud at that, and Ning Yongxue couldn't see his expression or guess whether he believed it or not. This kind of lie couldn't be too specific, otherwise it would look suspicious instead. A bit of whining was most appropriate, and as for specific information, the less the better, of course.
"It's true that it's not hard to stay alive alone, but it's different when you bring along a little one." The other said meaningfully, but with a distinctly intimidating tone. "Well, now it's your turn, blondie." He continued to speak, his tone casual, "Speak for yourself, how did you get here? Who are you?"
The blonde girl managed to swallow her drink, and Ning Yongxue saw that the whiskey had already ignited a blush on her face, and wondered if there were any laws against underage drinking here.
Then again, the way the man addressed the two of them as "brunette" and "blonde", it seemed that the distinction between skin color and ethnicity no longer mattered in this day and age. Perhaps it is not only the division of countries, but also the national and racial narratives of the past that have long been abandoned by this era.
However, Ning Yongxue still remembers the conversation between this man and his colleagues on the dirt floor - "asteroids with sick pigs" is really not a good word. In this case, perhaps the narrative of the past has simply been replaced by another similar narrative, or, rather, by a larger category of racism, giving a marvelous sense of the cycle of history.
"I don't have much of a memory." The girl whispered, "But my name is Ikarus." Her voice was small and a little giddy.
"You say you don't have much of a memory? Good, good, and that's a funny thing to say." The man seemed to smile. He sounded casual, as if he was trying to describe the harsh truth in a casual tone.
"This place is close to space orbit," the man continued, "and because of that, the garrison is close enough to be policed fairly well. But where I come from, if a pretty girl your age wanders off, she'll most likely be caught by the local gangs and sent to sell her body. When your belly gets big, they'll send you underground to rest for a while. But when you give birth to a child, they'll kick you back into the business. Usually, the baby won't belong to you, but to the local gang, you understand?"
"I think that's too complicated for her." Ning Yongxue spoke up.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the power armor's helmet twisted around.
"There are times when scavenging teenagers like you are more popular, do you know why?" The man didn't seem to be waiting for him to answer, "Because you won't get knocked up, - they can keep using you until you grow a beard on your chin and wrinkles on your face. With luck, you'll turn into a gangster's punching bag; with bad luck, you'll be a junkie thrown in the garbage."
It seemed like this guy had been born in one of them and had managed to escape. Ning Yongxue eyed the man as he walked over to them, and saw him again as he called up a round of blue light screens on the metal wall-an interface that seemed to manage the drug inventory. The man operated the interface, opening a drawer embedded in the wall and taking out a row of white hoses.
"Is this extra nutrients?" Ning Yongxue asked after some thought.
"No, it's a special acidic ointment that's harmless." The man replied, "Do you know why this was put here? Any idea what it's used for?"
"I don't know, but I think it hurts when it touches the skin."
"That's right, boy!" The man said, "It's Spindle's patented wart cure, commonly known as 'Go to Hell Ointment'. Many similar drugs work better than it, and there are some that can cure it, but none are cheaper. And of course, none of them hurt more than it does. So guess why they put this here?"
Ning Yongxue knew what that meant, but he didn't quite want to pick up on it. He'd already heard that the stuff was a special medicine for syphilis and other similar conditions, and that the treatment was most likely to be an acidic ointment applied to all warts visible to the naked eye, and that the recipients would be in excruciating pain. They would need to endure the pain for a while until all the fleshly warts were eroded away. Considering that this stuff can't be cured, they may have to do the "hell experience" more often. Every time they do it, Spindle Humanitarian Aid sells one more of their cheaper products. Considering how messed up some groups are with this kind of thing, the demand must be high.
What does the term "humanitarian aid company" even mean? Is it industrialized philanthropy and free advertising? Is it really a private pharmaceutical company?
"If you ever feel like you're going to die, you'll need to have this stuff on hand, stray boy." The man said, "There's always someone who doesn't like to do safety measures."
Despite the profound statement, the man was practically terrorizing children. After a while of reminiscing about the past, or terrorizing children, the man seemed satisfied and continued his question, "What was the last thing you remember, Ikas?"
The girl covered her forehead and shook her head vigorously, seeming even more dizzy and wanting to fall asleep on the spot. But the man had no intention of taking care of the child, only to slam his hand armor against the wall, and the girl immediately winced in shock.
Ikarus still looked dazed and groggy. Then, Ning Yongxue heard her mumble, "I was sitting behind a tree, and the sky suddenly lit up with so much lightning, red lightning, and white lightning."
The man was thoughtful, "You're seeing a power reactor explode in the wild? It's a wonder you didn't go blind. So what happened after the explosion, do you have any recollection of it?"
It sounded like the terrorist attack centered around the power supply reactor explosion, Ning Yongxue thought to himself. Considering the context of the times, this would be a controlled fusion reactor. Then again, considering the reach of a nuclear explosion, the slums were probably only affected, and the real center of the disaster was somewhere else.
Come to think of it, a specific attack on the slums would be ridiculous; in fact, they were all suffering from an unmitigated disaster.
The drunken girl's head got even dizzier, and she looked like she wanted to fall backwards. Ning Yongxue thought that the man would continue to pursue his questions, but he didn't expect him to suddenly answer a few sentences, his tone extremely impatient.
"Do you know how busy I am?" The man yelled into his radio contact, "Our immediate forces are dealing with an asteroid belt terrorist plot to subvert the world, and you're asking me to meddle in a local gang fight? Are you out of your mind? Isn't this kind of mess a matter of incompetence on the part of the police agencies?"
To be honest, Ning Yongxue felt that he was too idle to do anything. Taking whiskey to two scavenging kids for fun was already idle, taking acidic ointment and discussing the treatment of warts with them was even more so, and as for following up with a little girl who was about to pass out from drunkenness to ask about her impressions of the reactor explosion, it was simply hard to describe how ridiculous it was.
I'm afraid no one in this place has more time on their hands than he does, except for the refugees paralyzed in their hospital beds. The man repeatedly emphasized how busy and tired he was, claiming that he was taking care of business and had no desire to do anything else, and then proceeded to launch into a commentary on the incompetence of the police agency.
Ning Yongxue saw him spouting righteous nonsense while opening the drone's panel as if nothing had happened, performing a series of operations on the virtual screen that extended outward. The characters on the panel were fleeting, but Ning Yongxue still captured the key information: because of the reactor accident, the security in some areas of the place had become extremely chaotic, and it was rumored that there were also lurking exoplanet terrorists aiding in illegal underground activities. The result was that the police riot control unit was understaffed and needed to approach the garrison for help.
This place wasn't as safe as he made it out to be.
In the ruins of the post-apocalyptic world, two children who have lost their identities - Ning Yongxue and Ikas - are confronted by a power-armored soldier who appears to be ruthless but harbors complex emotions. The dark side of society is seen alongside the light of humanity and the faint glimmer of hope in the midst of despair. The soldier's warning and sharing is both threatening and caring, which is the difficulty and helplessness of survival in a chaotic world.