Chapter 164: Incinerator |
On the final day of his vacation, Wu Nian shouldered his backpack and headed to the mountains near the town for a hike.
Working at a facility affiliated with the Charity Foundation was a good job, but it was undeniably a bit boring and highly dependent on luck. If the Charity Foundation had relocated to a bustling area like the top five districts, he could have gone on vacation trips during his time off. However, for the next three years, he would have to find his own amusement in this small town in the Ninth District.
Truthfully, there was no point in visiting the nearest city, either.
Setting aside the fact that the sluggish public transportation was never on time and a round trip took an entire day, the atmosphere in the city had become increasingly oppressive ever since the civil unrest in the Ninth District intensified. Homeless refugees littered the streets, and even the barren wilderness outside the city had been overrun by them.
Whenever someone recognized that he came from the "Charity Foundation's territory", they would stare at him with eyes like ravenous wolves, to the point where he no longer dared to go into the city alone.
At the very least, the mountain scenery was decent.
Although the Incinerator followed the Charity Foundation wherever it moved—meaning the nearby mountains would inevitably be covered in a layer of ash within a few months, ultimately becoming barren and lifeless—as long as he focused on the rugged black and brown peaks, he could always find other scenic views.
When he reached the highway leading out of town, he noticed a fleet of buses parked there.
A large group of children, destined for the First District, were lined up under the guidance of the staff, getting their names called before boarding one by one.
A Mobile Task Force soldier disguised as Charity Foundation security personnel stopped Wu Nian. After coming over to check his ID and realizing he was "one of their own", the soldier nodded in greeting. "This road might be locked down for two hours."
"It is fine, I can take the trail up the mountain—"
"The mountain is off-limits too. There are sentries posted. Find somewhere else to take your walk."
Wu Nian nodded emphatically.
He understood, of course. After all, he had left the orphanage affiliated with the Charity Foundation in a very similar manner back in the day.
The ones who escorted him to the airport back then were also Mobile Task Force soldiers from Beta-3 "Dongfeng Express", though he had been stationed at the campus in the Second District at the time.
"Are these the children going to adoptive families in the First District?"
"Yeah. They sure are lucky."
"Really nice, winning right at the starting line."
Standing outside the cordon line, Wu Nian looked at those young faces—some laughing and playing, some whispering to each other, and others looking anxious about the future—and felt a deep sense of nostalgia.
Under the guidance of their caretakers, the "orphans" of the Charity Foundation would choose their own names based on their ethnicity. They could change these names freely before leaving the headquarters, but which of the ten major districts they ultimately ended up in depended entirely on luck.
After leaving here, they would receive a set of fake local records, undergo one final memory alteration, and then truly become "native-born" orphans of that region.
A few children noticed Wu Nian and waved vigorously at him and his prominent ID badge. "Goodbye, mister!"
"We are leaving now!"
They did not know him, but the staff responsible for cultivating their personality traits had surely poured all their affection into them.
This was one of the few positions within the Management Bureau that allowed for showing care and affection toward the subjects being raised.
Wu Nian waved back with an affectionate smile. He had wanted to offer them some words of blessing, but when he caught sight of the pale pillar of smoke rising against the azure sky from the corner of his eye, his smile instantly vanished.
Wu Nian watched the convoy gradually depart and decided to find another place for his nature walk.
He knew of another decent hiking trail. After taking a winding route to get there, he ran into someone on the road just before the trail entrance—or more accurately, a car and a person.
The man was struggling to hold a paper bag that was about to burst open. He had his foot turned sideways to block a few oranges from rolling down the highway, but because of this, he could not shove the paper bag into the crammed trunk. Afraid to bend over, he was stuck in this awkward posture, unable to move.
"Hey—hey, buddy! Can you give me a hand?" The stranger noticed Wu Nian walking by with his backpack and hurriedly called for help.
"Do not panic, I am here to save you and your oranges."
Working together, the two finally managed to shut the trunk, and the runaway oranges were successfully recaptured.
"Thank you so much." The stranger proceeded to shove the oranges into his hands. "Are you heading out for a picnic? Take these to eat."
Wu Nian did not refuse. Given the current situation in the Ninth District, fresh fruit was incredibly difficult to buy, not to mention how lovely these bright golden fruits looked. He stuffed the fruit into his bag and noticed the other man also had a work badge. "Are you from headquarters?"
"From the facility—Payne, C-Class, I do clerical work."
"I think I have heard of you. Did you not win the Outstanding Employee Award last month? That is amazing—Wu Nian, also C-Class, I guard the warehouse."
The two shook hands.
Payne was very talkative and immediately started chatting. "How many days do you have left of your vacation? I have to go back to work next week."
"This is my last day."
"Oh man, then I cannot waste your time. I drove over here planning to have a picnic, but looking at the situation on the road, I think I will just stick to hiking and getting some exercise."
"What a coincidence, I am going hiking too. They blocked the road. Want to go together?"
"Sure."
Payne—or rather, Shi Rang—naturally had no reason to refuse.
He had driven all the way here tracking the location of Wu Nian's Communication Device, holding the paper bag while constantly predicting the other man's route up the mountain. After waiting for over an hour and genuinely losing several oranges in the process, he had finally managed to intercept him smoothly.
Through Shi Rang's investigations, he confirmed that the strange warehouse did indeed exist. The relevant information within the Management Bureau Main Station was so sparse that he had completely overlooked it before.
His lurking in the chat channels had not been entirely fruitless. From the scattered words and phrases of the employees, he had gathered two key pieces of information:
First, the security level of the warehouse was quite low.
Second, the personnel guarding the warehouse were exclusively "Prefabricated Humans"—in other words, artificial humans.
Since he could not find relevant information about the warehouse online, he decided to tackle the problem offline.
And Wu Nian was a thoroughly excellent target.
[Personality Evaluation: Enthusiastic, friendly, highly compassionate, and possesses a strong sense of cooperation. Can be cultivated for loyalty and placed in classified positions related to the Veil Project. Grant Level-2 clearance for relevant secrets, and conduct regular stress tests.]
This near-perfect personality made Wu Nian an excellent target for infiltration.
Thanks to the exhaustive background checks the Charity Foundation conducted on those transferring to become Management Bureau employees, Shi Rang had spent an entire night profiling Wu Nian. He memorized the man's hobbies, interests, and daily routines, meticulously plotting a script to approach him.
Now, his plan was already half successful.
The two walked in single file up the sparsely traveled mountain trail. Every step they took on the thick sandy soil crunched softly. The low-lying shrubs did little to obstruct their view, and the summit was just ahead.
"Did you watch the Pan-Continental Cup finals last night?" Shi Rang brought up proactively.
Football was exactly Wu Nian's favorite pastime.
Wu Nian, who had initially been slightly aloof, had his eyes light up. "Of course! I pulled an all-nighter yesterday, I was too excited to sleep! Sigh, it is a shame my favorite team did not win the championship, but they will definitely get it next time. Which team is your favorite?"
"It has to be the Fourth Knights. Barsaggio, Derby... there are too many, I cannot even list them all. Every single one on the team is an ace!"
"Exactly! A Pan-Continental Cup without the Knights is not the Pan-Continental Cup at all!" This completely struck a chord in Wu Nian's heart.
Shi Rang pressed the advantage. "I thought since you use a name from the Second District, you would support the Second District's representative team."
"Uh, I do support them, but, um... fine, I admit it. Every year I bet against them, it earns me enough for some drinking money."
The two burst into laughter together. They continued chatting about football and trivial matters until they reached the mountain peak.
After reaching the higher altitude, the air did not seem much fresher.
On a windless day like this, the high ground was saturated with a lingering smell of smoke that made them cough, forcing them to finally stop talking.
The scenery up here was quite bizarre. Standing atop the small hill, far from feeling relaxed and joyful, one instead developed an illusion—as if the surrounding rugged wilderness was merely the residue of some shattered mineral. The gray rocks and black cliffs appeared utterly desolate and hollow.
The pleasant conversation ground to a halt. The joy faded from their hearts as the cruel world once again gathered the two men in its embrace.
Behind this mountain range, a war was taking place on this haggard and impoverished land, plunging the people living upon it into even more miserable circumstances. The only reason they could stand here and admire the view was because this particular spot was a lucky sanctuary.
Shi Rang unconsciously shifted his gaze toward the pillar of smoke.
Regardless of day or night, rain or shine, the pillar of smoke never ceased. Now he knew it was the smoke drifting from the Incinerator at Facility 009.
After noticing this, the cargo trucks frequently traveling the main highway also entered Shi Rang's field of vision—truckload after truckload of combustion residue being hauled away as waste, only to become raw materials for products made by subsidiaries under the Charity Foundation, ensuring everything was utilized to its fullest.
The primary Containment Object at Facility 009 was the "Human Manufacturer". In that case, what exactly were they burning over there?
Why did the subsidized orphans stare at it?
"Does that bother you too?" Wu Nian asked him suddenly. "I thought only someone like me would stare at it with such anxiety."
The script he had prepared flashed before Shi Rang's eyes, along with another half-truthful lie. In the end, he blended them together. "I have a friend... she has always been terrified of riding in cars because, in her memory, her parents died in a car crash. The car was smashed to pieces, but she insists that a fire broke out after the crash, along with very thick smoke."
Wu Nian's eyes widened slightly. "Is she also... like me, a sponsored beneficiary?"
"Yeah. I did not know how to comfort her, and eventually, we... drifted apart. Later, when I came to work here, I seemed to understand a little bit, but not completely—I do not have that much clearance." Shi Rang lowered his head, the sorrow flashing in the depths of his eyes completely genuine.
Ying Shang had agonized over a fabricated accident for many years, and he had been able to do very little to help her.
"...I am sorry."
"It is fine, it is all in the past. I just never understood why. Ever since then, I have always been very sensitive to fire and smoke."
Wu Nian looked at him for a moment before finding a rock to sit on. Carefully selecting the details he was allowed to share, he spoke slowly, "That was not your fault. It is not just a simple trauma. All the orphans are like that."
"All of them? But shouldn't you all... have your own individual backgrounds?"
"In theory, yes." Wu Nian was not surprised that his past was fabricated; the Management Bureau had told him as much a long time ago. "But in the end, we all remember the same things—fire and smoke—every single one of us is the same."
Shi Rang's stomach twitched slightly, but he did not show much reaction on his face. He sat down as well to lessen the sense of distance between them.
He did not continue to pry. Getting Wu Nian to say this much was already an unexpected surprise, and the man was clearly regretting it a little—this information was already treading dangerously close to the red line of confidentiality.
Therefore, Shi Rang gave Wu Nian time to put his guard back up, taking the initiative to share the beef jerky and canned beer he had bought in advance.
His thoughts continued to follow the thread of what Wu Nian had just revealed.
All artificial humans were fully formed in a single day and could leave the headquarters in less than a month. The Management Bureau must have used various suggestions and hypnotic techniques to make them accept their implanted memories—just like Ying Shang.
If the memories of all artificial humans shared the exact same specific element, that meant...
Shi Rang stared fixedly at the pillar of smoke.
Was the Incinerator at Facility 009 being used to burn the byproducts of the Human Manufacturer?