茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

A while ago.

Around 6:00 P.M. on New Year’s Eve.

A black GMC van was cruising steadily on a main road in Peng City.

The interior of the van had been radically modified, with only one seat remaining, which was significantly larger than the original and clearly customized.

All the other space was filled with various kinds of equipment. There were two parallel screens on the partition at the front, beneath which were numerous control buttons and levers.

Even more equipment was stored in the space at the back, with rows of micro and mini unmanned drones placed in fixed positions.

The “person” covered in a web-like golden luster “skin”, sitting in that single seat and watching the data on the screen was Mr. Liang.

After reading the data, Mr. Liang pressed the communication key linking to the driver’s cabin: “Old Xie, once you’ve dropped me off, you can have a day off.”

Upon hearing this harsh, gruff voice, the driver was silent for a moment before answering, “Mr. Liang, I don’t need a day off. I have… I have no idea what I would do if I had the time off.”

Mr. Liang suggested, “I can give you an extra two days off, maybe you can visit your family.”

The driver replied, “No need, Mr. Liang. They can’t recognize me as I am now. If we can’t recognize each other, there’s no point just lingering. It’s meaningless. But as long as I can watch them on the surveillance videos you arranged, knowing they are doing well is enough.”

Mr. Liang pondered for a moment, then asked, “Old Xie, how long have you been working for me?”

“Including today, it has been 2093 days,” Old Xie answered without hesitation.

“Over five years already. Aren’t you feeling tired?”, asked Mr. Liang.

Again, Old Xie remained silent for a while before confessing, “You gave me a new life. If it wasn’t for you, I would probably still be paralyzed in bed, a living dead, needing others to look after my every need and burdening my family. You enabled me to stand up again and also helped to take care of my family. The only meaning for the second half of my life is to serve you.”

Mr. Liang released the communication key and opened a small window on the partition leading to the driver’s cabin. Leaning back in his plush and large chair, his voice like metal grating against metal rang out through the small window, “Have you ever wondered why I became like this, and what is it that I’m really doing?”

This time, Old Xie swiftly retorted, “I haven’t been to school much, I’m not very well-educated and don’t know the deep secrets. But seeing so many PhDs, graduate students, and even professors working for you, I believe what you do must be significant. Since I don’t understand, I simply follow your directions.”

Mr. Liang began to laugh silently, his mouth splitting into a grin that stretched to his ears.

Shortly after, the black van entered the underground parking lot of a high-rise building. The vehicle headed directly to the lowest level, a parking lot that was solely and entirely occupied by Mr. Liang.

However, there were no guards at the entrance of this level. It was an automated barrier. When the surveillance camera had scanned the license plate, Old Xie lowered the window to let a scanner, attached to a metal arm, scan his face. One second later, the scanner retracted, and the massive barrier rose steadily.

The parking lot on the lowest level seemed much smaller due to the various modified vehicles, drones, and other equipment. Scattered around the place were a few maintenance crews dealing with the drones. However, from the structure of the adjacent area, it was evident that there were large segments of enclosed space on this level.

The van parked in front of a private elevator. Old Xie got out of the van and, after opening the van’s rear door, carried a suitcase to the elevator waiting area.

Old Xie was a large middle-aged man, with a broad face and a sturdy build, and the face littered with worm-like scars gave off an intimidating presence. However, the way he walked exuded a weirdly uncoordinated mood.

A moment later, a sound echoed from the elevator beside Old Xie. The elevator doors opened and soft footsteps could be heard.

Old Xie placed the suitcase in the elevator, then stepped out and bowed slightly in front of the elevator doors.

The elevator doors slowly closed, and it started descending—apparently, this was not the bottom-most level of the building.

From the start to finish, Old Xie never saw Mr. Liang getting off the vehicle. But he knew for certain that Mr. Liang had taken the elevator—only Mr. Liang was allowed inside this elevator.

Naturally, he also knew that in most cases, Mr. Liang was “invisible”.

After the elevator descended, Old Xie got back into the van and tidied up before heading to a room in the basement—this was one of his designated rooms. This was where he waited whenever Mr. Liang came to this place.

The room was simply furnished with a bed, a table, a chair, and a cabinet, though all of them exuded a certain quality. The table could be raised and lowered electronically and adjusted at multiple angles. The chair was ergonomically designed, and due to efficient ventilation, the air in the room was fresh.

He sat in the chair, woke up the sleeping computer, opened software on the desktop, and a nine-grid control interface, like that of a surveillance system, appeared.

He clicked on one of the windows, where a video of two teenagers playing XBOX on a TV was playing. Judging from their dialogue, they appeared to be brothers. The room they were in was well-decorated, with high-end electronics, suggesting they were living comfortably.

Old Xie watched the two boys play, then saw them called over to the dining table by a middle-aged woman to eat. He switched to another window for a different angle, revealing the presence of three elderly people—the boys’ grandparents—at the dining table.

Watching this large family enjoying a reunion dinner, a New Year’s feast, a smile unconsciously twitched at the corner of Old Xie’s mouth, softening the fierce aura on his face.

Reaching the bottom-most floor in the dedicated elevator, the doors opened, and the figure of Mr. Liang reappeared.

Compared to the parking lot before, this place was a little more spacious, almost half the size of a football field. The ceiling was lined with large rectangular white grilles that resembled gigantic bricks. When all the lights were on, the various pieces of equipment that filled the space appeared very futuristic-like a superhero’s base from a movie.

However, apart from Mr. Liang, no one else was here, giving the place a cold and desolate feeling.

Mr. Liang carried his suitcase to the central operation table and sat down. He opened the box and took out a wooden rabbit carving covered in damage and placed it at the edge of the platform like an ornament.

At the same time, several screens dropped down from the ceiling, each displaying live feeds from drones operating in different corners of the country or surveillance footage from inside buildings.

The screens showed the specific situations of various teams still at work, including Fang Pingfang’s team spending New Year’s Eve in a villa near Wushu Mountain. However, the video was transmitted from a drone above the villa, rather than the inside.

But by switching to infrared thermal-imaging mode, the positions of the people moving near the windows could be seen.

Indeed, if he wished to, he could also activate the microphones on the devices carried by the team members inside, and monitor their conversations directly. But he chose not to do so.

The surveillance footage on one of the screens suddenly disappeared, replaced by a video call request. This was an internal communication system used by people like Fang Pingfang, Mijoe, and other key researchers and heads of the secret divisions of Divine Technology to contact him. A special piece of hardware was needed to use this system.

However, the person requesting the video call now was not any of his subordinates in the secret divisions, but the big boss of Divine Technology—Lu Cheng’an.

Mr. Liang hesitated for a moment before accepting the call.

Of course, as with his communications with Fang Pingfang and others, he could see the other party, but they could not see him.

On the screen, an elder with dyed black hair, neatly groomed, emanating an aura of authority popped up. He frowned slightly at the camera, “Ah Liang, turn on your video too.”

Mr. Liang’s unpleasant voice replied, “No need, you should know what I look like now”

On the screen, the founder of Divine Technology fell silent, then said, “Ah Liang, tonight is New Year’s Eve.”

“I know,” said Mr. Liang.

Both sides lapsed into silence once again.

Half a minute later, Lu Cheng’an sighed, “Ah Liang, come back and celebrate with us.”

Mr. Liang’s gaze shifted from Lu Cheng’an’s video. His eyeless eyes looked at a blank screen. Reflecting his current appearance due to the lighting, his voice became somewhat low, even more unpleasant to hear.

“It’s too late, I can’t go back.”

Lu Cheng’an’s expression tightened. He said after a moment, “Occasionally… come back to visit your mom.”

“I have her picture,” said Mr. Liang.

“You know what I mean…”

“Ashes and photos are both just tokens of remembrance for her, there’s not much difference.” Mr. Liang’s silhouette suddenly disappeared from the seat, entering an invisible state. Even though he hadn’t turned on his own camera, Lu Cheng’an couldn’t see him.

Lu Cheng’an’s brow furrowed, he asked, “Ah Liang, are you still thinking… about bringing her back to life?”

“The dead cannot be resurrected, I know. Even if it’s through genetic cloning to create another person, she still wouldn’t be the same.” Mr. Liang paused slightly and then said, “I just want to control my own destiny.”

Lu Cheng’an sighed deeply. After a long silence, he asked, “Ah Liang… are you still my son?”

When there was no response after a long wait, Lu Cheng’an ended the call in disappointment.

Mr. Liang’s figure gradually reappeared in the seat, all the images on the screens disappeared simultaneously, the screen ascended, and retracted back into the ceiling.

Then he looked toward the center of the spacious room where a 3D holographic projection constructed from old video footage appeared. It was a video of a young couple celebrating the toddler son’s birthday. The little boy appeared lively and adorable. The young couple, although not extraordinarily handsome or beautiful, had a remarkable demeanor and were being affectionate with their son.

Watching these scenes, Mr. Liang’s harsh voice, with a metallic grainy sound, resonated:

“I will always be your son.”

Star City, at Liu Shiling’s house.

After having a New Year’s Eve dinner with only her daughter, Shiling’s mom couldn’t help wiping away her tears while cleaning the dishes, telling herself that she mustn’t cry.

Today, she had another argument with Shiling’s dad over the phone. She thought as long as the three of them were together it would be enough. They had already sold their previous house and could easily buy a new one in Star City. Compared to their former city, the housing prices in Star City are more reasonable.

With a house in place, everything else could be arranged easily. After Liu Shiling started primary school, she could also start working and earn money.

But Shiling’s dad was still clinging onto his former company and wanted to “struggle” a bit more, intended to pursue his previous career, so much so that he couldn’t come back even for New Year’s Eve dinner with his family.

This problem had already led to multiple arguments, one time even scaring their daughter into running away from home.

Thankfully, their daughter had become sensible now. After asking once in the evening, “isn’t dad coming back?” and not receiving an answer, she didn’t bring it up again.

After cleaning the dishes and tidying the kitchen, when Shiling’s mom returned to the living room, she was puzzled to see a small wooden board in the center of the room, a jar of sunflower seeds and a bottle of cola seated next to it, and her daughter was leaning by the shoe cabinet.

“Liu Shiling, why are you lounging around on the floor?” Shiling’s mom asked hastily.

Liu Shiling pointed at the small wooden board in the center of the living room, saying, “Mom, that’s your seat, prime location! I’m about to show you a performance before the Spring Festival gala begins, sit quickly! Have some sunflower seeds, drink some cola!”

Shiling’s mom was stunned, she sat down awkwardly on the small wooden board that her daughter usually sat on, and almost fell over because it was so low to the ground that she had to quickly prop herself up on the floor to maintain balance.

“Mom, are you sitting right? Get ready, I’m about to start!” Liu Shiling shouted from behind the shoe cabinet.

“Alright, I’m ready. What performance are you giving?” asked Shiling’s mom, completely at a loss.

“I’m performing a magic show… umm… paper man battle! Mom, you’re the first one to see!” Liu Shiling declared proudly.

Shiling’s mom chuckled slightly, her heart warmed. She knew this was her daughter’s attempt to cheer her up.

No matter how her daughter’s performance turns out, she’d be happy with her considerate intentions.

“I’m starting!”

Liu Shiling said, placing a paper crane on the shoe cabinet, let go of her hand, and said seriously:

“A long, long time ago, there was a beautiful, adorable crane. Her name was Wang Zai, and she lived happily in Happy Valley!”

The paper crane looked different from a normally folded one, appearing plumper. The joint of each wing was resting on the shoe cabinet, providing support.

As Liu Shiling narrated, the paper crane on the shoe cabinet astonishingly started moving its wings from left to right, slowly shifting on the shoe cabinet.

“Ahh?! Oh my…” Shiling’s mom was taken aback, she subconsciously attempted to stand up, but given how low the wooden board was, she wasn’t able to get up in one go and almost fell over again.

“Mom, sit down properly and watch, I’m performing!” Liu Shiling’s slightly dissatisfied voice sounded from behind the shoe cabinet.

“Alright, alright, I’ll watch properly.” Shiling’s mom could only comply and sit back down, looking wide-eyed at the chubby paper crane on the shoe cabinet, her maternal indulgence giving way to curiosity.