In just two rounds, no guards dared to approach LOPO. She galloped forward, clearing a path through the crowd behind her. At that moment, her 1.585-meter-tall figure in a little dress with pigtails looked as majestic as a war god descending from the heavens.
Behind him, Yi Heye was initially a little absent-minded, but when he saw LOPO's valiant and skillful appearance, his jaw almost dropped to the ground.
—Song Zhouzhou definitely didn't marry an AI wife, he probably created a humanoid nuclear bomb as a bodyguard!
After breaking through the checkpoint, the crowd became excited and followed LOPO's figure, marching towards the high wall without stopping.
Despite the crowd's unusually heightened excitement, a strange order was maintained amidst the chaos thanks to the presence of numerous plainclothes security personnel and electronic guards from the command center.
They chanted unified slogans, marched in unison, and performed identical actions. At that moment, the crowd, who were strangers who had temporarily gathered together, were as orderly as a well-trained army.
They broke off electronic arms, overturned rows of fences, and smashed electronic guards one by one, advancing smoothly to the foot of the towering city wall without losing a single soldier.
Yi Heye remained in a state of extreme confusion throughout. He could vaguely sense that these electronic guards from Area A were consciously trying to avoid harming the crowd. After all, facing such unarmed civilians, just one guard would be enough to cause extremely horrific casualties. And their gun barrels were clearly filled with bullets, yet they were powerless to let the enraged crowd advance unstoppably and reach the city gate.
City gate.
As the group stopped, Yi Heye also looked up.
Normally, separated by several checkpoints, the wall would seem like a super tall building, but when Yi Heye actually stood at the foot of the wall, the immense pressure made him unable to breathe for a moment.
Soaring straight into the sky.
Yi Heye and the densely packed crowd were enveloped in the shadow of this towering wall that seemed to have no top. At that moment, even the bright August sun would feel cold and shiver under that enormous shadow.
As the crowd surged forward, they seemed to gradually realize what was happening. Looking at the wall that stretched endlessly into the distance, their earlier fervor cooled.
An eerie silence spread like a virus, and many people began to feel afraid.
Beside him, the student representative holding the megaphone stopped shouting slogans. He stood by the wall, gazing at the sky, his red volunteer cap falling to the ground with a thud.
But he quickly bent down, picked up his hat, and put it back on his face. At the same time, he held the megaphone he had put down back up in front of him: "Everyone! Do not be afraid to move forward!"
The crowd's scattered spirits were once again rallied by this resounding slogan.
The next second, several trucks rumbled in, each carrying a huge log.
People near the cart carried logs on their shoulders and passed them little by little to those near the city wall.
"one two three--"
A unified chant rang out, and everyone began to exert force in the same direction.
Smash it!
At the student representative's command, the log, which represented the combined strength of countless people, crashed onto the city wall with a loud "boom".
Whether it was the slogan that was too loud or the power that was too amazing, Yi Heye could even feel the ground beneath his feet shaking.
"One, two, three—" "Smash!"
Another loud bang, sand and dust flying everywhere. Yi Heye found it surreal; in such a technologically advanced era, to still see such a primitive method of siege warfare left him feeling dazed and disoriented.
"One, two, three—" "Smash!!"
Broken bricks were falling from the city wall with a clatter, and the high wall was on the verge of collapse under the powerful attack.
"There's hope! Keep smashing!!"
"One, two..."
Just a second before the fourth shout was about to land, a strange whirring sound of engine friction interrupted the uniform chanting.
A shadow loomed over, and everyone unconsciously looked up as a giant mechanical arm crossed the wall.
It grabbed the student representative waving a small flag at the foot of the city wall and made him disappear on the other side of the wall in full view of everyone.
The immense shock and fear froze the entire crowd instantly. They forgot to scream, forgot to run away, and simply stood motionless, as if consciously accepting judgment from an absolute power.
Then, the arm reached out from behind the wall again, easily grasped the huge log, and slowly rose in silence.
However, just as its arm was stretched into the air, a rope suddenly hooked onto its joint.
The next second, Yi Heye leaped up to the arm that was already far off the ground and threw the rope to Pei Xiangjin and his group who reacted quickly on the ground.
As the people on the ground successfully hitched a ride, the robotic arm continued to rise slowly, and they stood under astonished gazes, getting closer and closer to the other side of the wall.
Yi Heye pulled Pei Xiangjin over and quickly recited to him: "If the personal safety of citizens of our district is seriously violated in District A and the relevant departments in District A refuse to assist, a rescue can be carried out by crossing the border."
Pei Xiangjin immediately understood, reached into his pocket, took out his identification, and said to the crowd:
"This is the security department. We will cross the border in accordance with the law to carry out a full-scale rescue of the kidnapped citizens. We will hold a press conference afterward regarding the contents of the area behind the wall. Please leave the scene in an orderly manner now."
As the arm continued to rise, the blinding sunlight surged in from the other side of the wall.
—They came to the other side of the wall.
Author's Note:
Others: Wife snuggling
Song Zhouzhou: My wife is so awesome (?)
Chapter 154, number 154
Before scaling that high wall, Yi Heye had imagined countless possibilities—was the other side of the wall a beautiful paradise or an endless hell? Was it a treasure box of hope or a box of despair?
He considered that he might be greeted by a large number of electronic soldiers, or he might be his long-lost self.
He didn't even dare to turn around immediately; he felt he wasn't mentally prepared.
However, as they slowly descended to the ground, the others fell silent, which made him feel a little strange.
Yi Heye finally turned around, but he also fell silent along with them.
Contrary to the bizarre and wondrous sight he had imagined, the area in front of him, which was described in such a fantastical way, seemed no different from the streets they usually saw.
Neat asphalt roads, rows of border guards, and checkpoints everywhere...
It seems that if this wall were to be dismantled, the two undisturbed pieces of soil could be seamlessly integrated without any sense of incongruity.
Needless to say, everyone present was somewhat disappointed with the scene before them.
Their imagined "ideal land" shouldn't be so ordinary.
Pei Xiangjin was the first to break the silence. He frowned, looked around, and then asked, "Where is that student?"
He reminded everyone that their primary mission here was to rescue the student representative who had been kidnapped by the robotic arm.
Everyone followed his gaze and looked around, finally realizing that something was amiss—
On the other side of the wall, there was nothing much to hide. It had been less than two minutes since the student was brought in. In such a short time, where could a living person be hidden?
The group exchanged bewildered glances, unsure of what to do. Yi Heye frowned, tilted his head, and said, "Shall we go inside?"
Of course they wanted to go further in; that was their real purpose for coming here. However, the sudden disappearance of the student representative made them all subconsciously more vigilant.
Seeing Yu Yili instinctively shrink his neck, Pei Xiangjin sighed, cocked his pistol, and led the team to the front. Yi Heye, whose reactions were always a beat slower than others, finally realized what was happening when he saw Pei Xiangjin walk to the front, and his childish competitive spirit began to take over again.
So he quickened his pace with a cold face, deliberately overtaking Pei Xiangjin by half a body length, as if using such a idiotic way to suppress him would bring him a good mood for the whole day.
Compared to Yi Heye, whose mental age is just like that of a kindergarten graduate, Pei Xiangjin is relatively mature. Seeing this guy like this, he couldn't help but scoff at him and let him be the pioneer.
Yi Heye, basking in the hard-won joy, was instantly recharged.
He looked around at the road ahead, and like the parade before, he rushed through four or five checkpoints in one go. He led his group around the street corner, and suddenly frowned at an intersection—
"Wait." He stopped in his tracks, and then said nothing more.
His companions behind him stopped as well.
“…I think I’ve noticed that too,” Yu Yili said.
After a long pause, Pei Xiangjin concluded, "They're the same, aren't they?"
They had a premonition when they passed through the checkpoints, and now, looking at the familiar large screen in front of them, they finally confirmed their guess.
The world inside the wall seems to be a mirror image of the world outside; even the pedestrians walking on the street are perfectly replicated one-to-one.
On the large screen at the crossroads, news reporters were reporting on the live broadcast of SHEEP, and the crowds of protesters poured in from every street corner, holding signs like mushrooms after rain.
On the same side of the street, a neatly armed team marched past them in perfect unison. Under their intense gazes, the officer in charge finally turned around and greeted Pei Xiangjin: "Captain Pei? Didn't you go to climb over the wall? What are you still doing here?"
This question made everyone's hearts tighten simultaneously. Pei Xiangjin opened her mouth, but still couldn't answer—
What happened?
Amidst a real-life upheaval, four people were going against the flow of people. Except for the emotionless LOPO, everyone else looked terrible.
At that moment, Yi Heye's phone rang. He hurriedly picked it up and answered. Li Ju's voice came from the other end—
"What happened, Xiao Yi?" Director Li's voice was tense. "I heard that a student representative was taken away? Someone just said they saw you on the street, didn't you go after them?"
As soon as the words were spoken, everyone looked at the wall again—
What does this mean? Did they really climb over that wall? What happened? Why is it like this now?
Everyone was filled with questions, but no one dared to voice them—at this moment, it seemed that any wavering could shatter their precarious beliefs.
After a long, long time, Yi Heye's call was naturally disconnected, and LOPO finally asked, "Should we continue going in?"
The girl's clear voice, like a thunderclap, abruptly shattered the three men's endless confusion. They snapped back to reality, finally grasping once more the thread of reason that had nearly slipped away—
They really did climb over the wall, all four of them together, absolutely.
“This must be SHEEP’s trick. He wants to trick us into climbing back over the wall.” Yi Heye tried to speak as casually as possible, but found his voice was a little hoarse. “Let’s not be fooled by him. Let’s keep going.”
Although this statement is somewhat weak, it still served as a very significant boost to morale.
Pei Xiangjin and Yu Yili nodded and followed Yi Heye as they continued their journey inside.
It seemed that the psychological suggestion from before had taken effect. When they realized that this was an "illusion" or a "hoax," the ground beneath their feet seemed to change imperceptibly.
This change is difficult to detect with the naked eye, but they can definitely feel it. What usually takes nearly an hour by car now only takes less than five minutes by walking.
—It's as fast as moving around a map in a game.
Unbeknownst to them, they had walked from the suburbs to the municipal center of District B, where they saw their respective workplaces—the area they were most familiar with for studying, working, and living.
Unlike Pei Xiangjin and Yu Yili, Yi Heye had little affection for Area B and was not familiar with it.
He walked quickly forward, and just as he was about to turn around, he discovered that the two of them had each headed towards the fork in the road behind them, going in different directions, while LOPO, who had been following closely behind them, had long since disappeared.
Yi Heye panicked and turned around to call out, "Where are you going? Where's LOPO?"