Someone gently touched Pei Ran’s arm.
It was the man in the coat. He tilted his head toward the car, as if asking her: Shall we get in the car?
Pei Ran nodded, then turned her gaze back toward the direction of the street across.
Beside the ruins of the library, there was nothing. The metal sphere had already disappeared.
The man in the coat pressed his key, first opening the rear door to let his sister climb into the back seat. Pei Ran also got into the car, sitting next to the girl.
The interior of this antique car was also antique. The seats were soft, wrapped in genuine leather. The dashboard had only a steering wheel and a few dials, not even a screen, let alone any traces of high technology.
The man in the coat got into the car himself, sitting in the driver’s seat. As soon as he sat down, he first typed a line of text on the virtual screen of his wristband.
【Thank you. Thanks to you, we got the medicine, and without you, our car would have been stolen.】
This person was really too polite.
Pei Ran nodded at him, took off the backpack from her back, and pulled out the roll of tape from inside.
She peeled off the tape from her face, used her teeth to make a small tear in the tape in her hand, tore off a piece, and handed it to the man in the coat in the driver’s seat.
All three of them were in the car, too close for comfort. Pei Ran was very worried that a casual “thank you,” “sorry,” or “excuse me” from him could send them all to their doom.
Although the tape couldn’t completely prevent sound, it could indeed help keep mouths shut.
The man in the coat understood her meaning, took the piece of tape, and firmly sealed his own mouth.
Pei Ran tore off another piece and handed it to the girl beside her.
The girl didn’t react, as if she didn’t see the tape being offered to her. Her eyes were still fixed on the car window, lost in thought.
The man in the coat had no choice but to take the tape from Pei Ran’s hand, lean over from the front seat, carefully brush aside the hair on his sister’s cheek, and seal her mouth.
After finishing, he typed an explanation:
【Sorry. My sister isn’t usually like this.】
【At noon today, my mom noticed something was wrong and planned to go out to buy medicine for my sister. She got into the hovercar we usually drive, right in front of the two of us…】
He subconsciously glanced at the bloodstains on his coat.
The bloodstains on the clothes were from their closest family member.
They must never ride in a hovercar. The way they obtained this information was extremely tragic.
The man in the coat continued typing: 【We’ll take you to Hank Street first, then go home to handle my mom’s affairs.】
Who knows what affairs could still be handled after someone has been shattered into pieces.
The man in the coat couldn’t hide the sadness in his expression, but Pei Ran knew that he wasn’t the one with the real problem—his sister was.
The girl’s mouth was sealed, motionless, staring blankly out the window.
The man in the coat wrote: 【My name is Helan Ting, and my sister is Helan Yu.】
Pei Ran nodded, not intending to share her name, and simply wrote: 【Let’s go.】
Pei Ran: Big brother, can you stop chatting and hurry up? If we don’t leave soon, the precious medicine will be snatched up.
Helan Ting nodded, twisted the key, and started the car’s engine.
The antique car, without any AI voice, started quietly and safely, steadily moving forward—its four wheels firmly pressed against the road.
Although it couldn’t fly, it wasn’t slow either, quickly leaving the chaotic commercial district behind.
The car sped toward the city center.
The sun gradually tilted westward, the dim orange disk disappearing among the rows of towering buildings.
The entire city was without power. The once ubiquitous neon lights and virtual electronic screens were all extinguished, leaving only the skyscrapers rising from the ground like a vast, gray concrete jungle.
There were no cars, but there were people.
The number of pedestrians on the road had noticeably increased. People walked hurriedly, perhaps rushing to buy essentials or, in this chaotic time, hurrying to find their loved ones somewhere. Others dragged large and small bags of luggage, likely attempting to flee the city on foot.
Though there were many people, there was no sound of human voices. Between the gray buildings, people moved forward in silence, like countless quiet, soundless ghosts.
Helan Ting, probably worried about someone else trying to steal the car, drove at breakneck speed.
The car turned a sharp corner and almost collided with a family of three crossing the road. Helan Ting panicked and slammed on the brakes.
In the screeching sound of the brakes, the mother in the family of three was also startled. She scooped up her little daughter, held her tightly, and retreated to the sidewalk.
Out of the corner of her eye, Pei Ran noticed that Helan Yu, sitting beside her, suddenly moved.
Covered in blood, with tape over her mouth, she began to cry.
The sound was trapped behind the black tape. She cried silently, yet it seemed as if she was crying with all her might.
Comfort was useless.
The world was desolate and cruel. No one could truly help anyone else. In the end, everyone had to learn to face things on their own.
Pei Ran turned her head and continued to calmly gaze out the window.
After driving for a while, the antique car finally turned a corner. Helan Ting freed one hand from the steering wheel and gestured toward the intersection ahead.
They had arrived at Hank Street.
Helan Yu had stopped crying, only occasionally taking silent, shuddering breaths.
She turned her head, her red and swollen eyes looking at Pei Ran.
Pei Ran knew what she wanted. She took out the tape, tore off another piece, and handed it to her.
Helan Yu silently accepted it, peeled off the tape on her face that had been soaked with tears and was half falling off, and used her sleeve to wipe away the tear stains.
She carefully placed the tape from left to right, covering her mouth, sealing it tightly, and pressed it firmly.
Seeing her actions, Pei Ran knew that this girl would survive.
After driving a little further, a familiar white sign with blue letters appeared at the intersection. Wolin Pharmacy had arrived.
This was the main branch of Wolin Pharmacy, much larger in size, occupying the entire ground floor of the building. Unlike the smashed-up branch store, its doors were tightly locked.
It also had the same “glass” doors, with dents and marks on the metal frames from attempted break-ins. Clearly, someone had tried to force their way in but failed.
Helan Ting parked the car, got out with Pei Ran, and opened the screen on his wristband.
【Can I go in with you?】
Pei Ran didn’t wait for him to finish typing before nodding.
When he had kindly offered to take her to Hank Street, Pei Ran had already known what he was thinking.
Helan Yu relied on daily medication to control her condition. They had only managed to grab two boxes of medicine from the pharmacy cabinet earlier. With no telling how long this chaos would last, having as much medicine as possible was crucial.
By following Pei Ran to the main store, he might be able to find more life-saving medicine for Helan Yu.
Pei Ran’s own situation was even worse than Helan Yu’s—she didn’t have a single pill yet.
The spot where the mechanical arm connected to her shoulder ached intensely, making the metal limb feel like a foreign object attached to her body, more conspicuous and heavier than usual.
She needed to get JTN34 as soon as possible.
Helan Ting was still typing:
【I never thought I’d be robbing a pharmacy one day, but all the security bureaus in the city have collapsed. We can’t speak, and there’s no way to call a hotline for help…】
Pei Ran didn’t have time to listen to his psychological journey of breaking through moral barriers, transforming from a law-abiding citizen into a thief. She walked straight to the pharmacy entrance.
The glass door looked much thicker than the cabinet door at the branch store. Pei Ran clenched her fist and slammed it against the door.
A dent appeared on the door, accompanied by a web of fine cracks.
It looked promising.
But the force of the impact sent sharp pain radiating from her right shoulder joint, spreading across her entire back in waves.
Pei Ran loosened her grip, taking a moment to ease the soreness in her shoulder.
A chocolate bar was handed to her.
It was Helan Yu. Her dark eyes quietly gazed at Pei Ran as she extended the chocolate further.
Replenishing energy would help her exert more strength.
Pei Ran hadn’t eaten anything since waking up and was starving. She took the chocolate bar, peeled off the tape, devoured it in a few bites, reattached the tape, and steeled herself.
She clenched her fist and punched, one blow after another.
Spiderweb-like cracks rapidly spread across the door until a hole finally broke through. Pei Ran widened the hole further.
Suddenly, a mechanical voice sounded from behind.
“Warning! You have violated Federal Security Regulation…”
On the eerily silent street, the sudden sound of a voice felt bizarre and unsettling. Pei Ran immediately turned her head.
About two or three meters behind her, a small sphere hovered at chest height.
Unlike the silver metal sphere she had seen twice before, this one was slightly smaller and differently colored. Its surface was painted a deep navy blue, with the words “White Harbor City Security Bureau” in small white letters and a serial number “CT007” below.
The sphere spoke clearly and emotionlessly: “…Article 132, Section…”
Boom.
The sphere exploded into fragments.
Anything that could speak was doomed.
The regulation number it was reciting was too long; otherwise, it might have left a few more words as its last testament before being obliterated.
Helan Ting looked puzzled and wrote to Pei Ran:
【This is a new AI patrol robot recently deployed by the Security Bureau in the past few months. It’s meant to maintain order. They’re still operational?】
The Security Bureau was gone, but the AI meant to maintain order was still patrolling automatically.
Helan Ting wore a worried expression, likely concerned about leaving a criminal record.
But there was no need to worry too much. The sphere that had witnessed their misdeeds was already in pieces. Besides, with their incessant chatter, it wouldn’t be long before all the remaining spheres in the city were blown to bits.
Pei Ran cleared away the broken glass and climbed through the large hole in the door.
She had just stepped one leg inside when another voice sounded behind her.
“Warning! Illegal intrusion is a Level L9 criminal offense…”
Another patrol sphere from the Security Bureau, with the same blue base and white lettering, its serial number was “CT008.”
“…Please immediately…”
Before CT008 could finish its “immediately,” there was another boom.
They died one after another, so relentlessly that even Helan Ting fell silent for a moment.
Helan Ting wrote: 【It seems the Federation recently passed a law allowing these AI to arrest people.】
Pei Ran had already heard about it on the bus. The Federation had passed a new law permitting these AI robots to arrest suspects, use tranquilizer guns, and, in emergencies, even directly eliminate extremely dangerous individuals classified as Level L16 or higher.
The sphere had said that illegal intrusion was a Level L9 crime, which might warrant a tranquilizer shot.
Without the medicine, she would die. Under the threat of death, a tranquilizer gun was nothing. Pei Ran crouched and climbed through the hole in the door.
Helan Ting was still typing:【I heard these robots patrol in pairs, just like humans. These two were probably a team…】
Patrolling in pairs, both chatterboxes. Pei Ran wondered if they ever chatted with each other.
Pei Ran was already inside the pharmacy.
The power was out, and the windowless pharmacy was dimly lit, but Pei Ran immediately spotted the familiar cabinet, right next to the cash register, against the wall.
She turned to Helan Ting, asking with her eyes: Is it in there?
Helan Ting, who had also brought his sister inside, nodded immediately.
The cabinet’s structure was identical to the one in the previous pharmacy.
Once was unfamiliar, twice was familiar, and by the third time, it was like an assembly line. Pei Ran worked swiftly, quickly creating a hole in the cabinet door.
She turned on her wristband screen, using its light to see a familiar small box on the top shelf of the cabinet.
Pure white, extremely plain, with only one line of text: JTN34.
Not only was there JTN34, but on the shelf below were two small yellow boxes—Helan Yu’s medication.
Pei Ran reached in and took out the box of JTN34 and the two yellow boxes.
Something seemed to be reflecting light near the door.
Pei Ran looked up.
Another Security Bureau sphere, this time numbered “CT105,” had just crawled through the hole in the door. It floated a few meters closer to Pei Ran and hovered in mid-air.
“Warning! You are suspected of illegal intrusion. Please immediately drop the items in your hand…”
Boom.
Another one shattered.
Pei Ran: “…”
At that moment, another Security Bureau sphere appeared, also floating in through the hole in the door. Its serial number was “CT106.”
As soon as CT106 entered, it was caught off guard, sprayed head-to-toe with the remains of its companion. It seemed to hover in mid-air, momentarily stunned.
Pei Ran saw, in the dim pharmacy, the small red light above its large eye flash.
Almost simultaneously, driven by instinct, Pei Ran dove to the side.
With a bang, the gunshot illuminated the pharmacy. The spot where Pei Ran had just been standing now had a charred hole in the already damaged cabinet door.
This was definitely not a tranquilizer.