East of Eden

I don't know if you are interested in knowing about Su Huang's animal life.Today is my fifth year of work and my birthday, which is one of the few memorable days.

Many people think that people who work in the government must be cold-blooded and ruthless. In fact, we also wear the wrong slippers when we go to work and squeeze the subway.

The alarm clock rang on time at 07:30, and the melody had no beauty at all, like a dagger poking a big hole in a dream.Turning over, he stretched his left hand out of the quilt with difficulty, fumbled wildly on the bedside table three times, and finally turned off the noisy watch.I live in a capsule apartment in District B (a middle-income class district). The distance from the bathroom to the bed is 4.3 meters. This road is especially long in the morning when I go to work.

It has been more than a month since the day and night, and the residents of Haven City are used to the continuous rain.I wash my face in cold water, take a quick 10-minute cleanup, swallow two nutritional chewables for breakfast, and put on my Clough blue tie with a White Tower emblem in front of the mirror.

The White Pagoda is the symbol of the Suhuang government. In addition to the badge, each employee's home "enshrines" a statue of the White Pagoda.In fact, it is a machine with a wide bottom and a narrow top in a triangular shape with clean lines. I need to complete ten seconds of neural training with it before going out.

"Hello, Mr. B3055."

"Start training." I ordered directly, so as not to listen to its nonsense.

"Okay, sir." The White Tower machine began to play music that the government believed to be soothing, but which was actually quite provocative: "Training begins."

"Hurry up, please." I can't wait to move my neck - I won't be able to catch the subway if I'm late.

It stuck for a while and said, "Dove." I immediately replied, "Shards."

"Political platform." "Qingquan."

"Lover." "Connect."

"Procreation." "Cycle."

"The people." "Service."

"Death." "Rebirth."

"Nineteen eighty-four." "Freedom."

"Training is complete." The White Tower made a "beep".So I packed my briefcase and umbrella, turned on the recorder implanted in my retina, and started my day.

"The doors are about to close, the doors are about to close—"

"Sorry! Squeeze!" "People go inside! Don't block the door!"

Every morning rush hour is a tough battle. I braved the "fire of bullets" and went straight to the car door that was about to close, trotting past the woman's torn long hair and the man's distorted expression.When my leather shoes stepped on the floor of the car, the door slammed shut behind me. Whenever I was at this time, I would be thankful for my thin body—although it was too thin for a mature man, but it was not enough for catching the subway. Significant advantages.

The carriage was full of men, women and children, among them were many Su Huang employees wearing blue ties and gray jackets.Because of the regulations, we can’t do things that “damage the image of the government” in public (the recorder will record everything), so despite being sleepy and tired, we still have to maintain a vigorous appearance: meticulous hairstyle, tight Open eyes, rigorous and straight standing posture...Of course, sometimes, we also convey comfort to each other with our eyes.

Hi, I have to go to work today too.

Yeah, exhausted.

There is no way, it's all for making money, so let's persevere.

The high school students in the seats couldn’t understand our pain. They plugged in their earphones and stepped on the ground with their canvas shoes—it was a beautiful age when they didn’t have to worry about livelihood, which was really enviable.The subway passes through the transparent tunnel at the bottom of the Yangtze River, and I can see schools of fish swimming around. I am not surprised when I see more.At this moment, an old woman stepped onto the subway with a bouquet of flowers under her arm, causing a little commotion.Flowers are a luxury in this day and age, so we all carefully avoid her so as not to crush the flowers.

"Ding dong—the 1521 Industrial Park has arrived."

is where I work.A group of Su Huang employees and I got off the subway, and the carriage was one-third empty at once.All the buildings in Su Huang are simple and abstract, using glass, steel bars and white lines. I am caught in the crowd and walk with them to the first fork. At the first and third forks, there were fewer and fewer travelers. When we came to the No. 18 elevator, there were only five people left.

The White Tower logo on the wall scans our faces to confirm our identities one by one, and our names become a series of numbers.

There is a huge eid energy supply device built under every city. People call it "eid field", and we call it "ring".I work in the "Ring" on the 33rd basement floor as a cleaner and mechanical engineer.

The "Ring" covers the entire city and is so huge that each person can only be responsible for a small part of it. The part I am responsible for is labeled B3055, which is also my name.It is not accurate to say that it is working in the "ring". In fact, the "ring" is buried extremely deep underground. It is an eid radioisotope particle collider. The high temperature and high pressure generated can instantly overturn the ground, so a lot of cooling has been added to the outside The column, where I work is Cooling Column B, which has a huge concrete dome like a postmodern cathedral.

"Beetle 1, report surface temperature."

"Report air pressure."

"Report the reaction process."

"Report quality and energy changes."

...

My job is to steer these semi-intelligent red beetle-like robots to ensure that the reactions in the "ring" run smoothly.The "ring" has been running smoothly over the years, and there has never been a slight deviation, so this job is leisurely and uninteresting, but one thing worries me, the energy of "eid" has spiritual radiation, and people who have been exposed to it for a long time will eventually become insane .

Often, colleagues around me will disappear inexplicably one day, but within a few days everyone will forget about them.We habitually forget, memory becomes a one-way train, driving us to the distance without turning back.

12 noon is a wonderful lunch time, we can go to the revolving restaurant on the third floor to enjoy the buffet.It's my birthday today so I allowed myself to indulge a bit with a tuna sandwich, yogurt pudding, strawberry cake, and deep sea crab, with my friend B3058 sitting across from me, who obviously didn't remember my birthday, munching on organic veggies Praise me that "the second spring is rejuvenated, but it is really edible".

"Hey, did you hear that?" After a while, 3058 swallowed the vegetables and lowered his voice: "A while ago, many people were transferred to the capital, and they were all the most senior technicians in Haven City. The situation is a little delicate."

Su Huang's capital is Tiangong Island, a man-made island in the middle of the Guthras Ocean, and it is also the center of the world map. The average person can't go there once in a lifetime.Those who have the ability to stay on Tiangong Island are all Su Huang's top executives, such as Xiaowan Edifence, the commander of the Military Affairs Academy.

I said: "Maybe to perform some new tasks."

"Not only our Haven City, but people from all over the world are transferring people to the capital." 3058 paused for a while, as if hesitating whether to speak, and finally he rubbed a napkin in his hand back and forth: "My master is also in the recruiting team , he mentioned a secret, I don’t know if it’s true or not... Su Huang once discovered some ancient technology deep in the desert, brought this technology back, and blocked it on Tiangong Island.. ...."

"Don't think about it, idiot." I quickly interrupted him, tearing apart a crab leg: "Rumors about ancient technology have been spreading since I was in elementary school, and only you and the idiots of the Weaver Party will believe it. rice bowl."

"Okay, I know." He spread his hands, "I was just joking, to spice up our precious lunch time, but you're a boring man."

After I finished eating the crab legs, I packed the cake in silence.

"3055, I appreciate you, you know."

"Ok?"

"You have special survival skills in this world."

"How can I have any skills? Except baldness and premature aging."

"And obedience and silence."

5:00 pm, get off work on time.

At dusk, the streets began to become dangerous. Under the cover of rain and dim street lights, there were "marginal elements" such as Weaver Party, wanted criminals, gangsters, world-weary high school students, prostitutes...they Wearing a black raincoat, I looked like a mouse on the street, hurrying along, and my eyes, with rust-like blood, swept across my face, leaving a cold touch.

I hate this road from the subway station. It is congested during the day and undercurrents at dusk. Many Suhuang employees were assassinated on the way home from get off work. I was always afraid of being one of them.

Holding an umbrella, zippered to the highest, through a long culvert, the train speeding past overhead.There are dark green lights in the culvert, and the lamp tubes are full of dead moths, resulting in very weak light. The walls on both sides are occupied by large and large graffiti. The graffiti has been cleaned many times, but they are still superimposed one after another: mutant chimpanzee, Women's thighs, clowns, bloody brains, and the Suhuang White Pagoda with many black crosses.

Sometimes, I saw some youths of the Weaver Party holding a rally under the culvert, like a small mass, their black poncho hats were pointed, and they bowed their heads to some symbols that symbolized the sun and muttered something, and when they saw someone passing by, they were as frightened as birds. There are also some street gangsters who attack passers-by regardless of the occasion, just to vent their dissatisfaction with their lives.

Today, my birthday, I unfortunately ran into trouble.Five street gangsters appeared from nowhere, armed with iron rods and electric batons, and threw me to the ground without saying hello.I was dizzy from the beating, nosebleeds poured into my mouth, pedestrians passed us, my head touched the ground, and I saw colorful leather shoes, but no one stopped.

"How much do you want?" I rolled up my sleeves with difficulty, revealing the ID code on my arm: "I'll give you money."

They ignored it and kicked me in the face again, what can I say about this feeling... My nose may be sunken in the face.

"Fifty thousand, is fifty thousand enough!" I said hoarsely.The louder I yelled, the harder they beat me, yelling, "Squawk! Dog!" The strawberry cake I was carrying in my pocket to eat at home was trampled, and a puddle of pink cream bloomed on my chest. Cake crumbs scattered here and there.

"Hurry up." I silently prayed: "Hurry up." It's not the first time to be beaten by gangsters, let them feel good about beating up, and if you give them some money, they won't bother you in a short time.Of course you can call the police, but calling the police means being prepared to accept more cruel revenge.

At this time, a loud brake sound pierced the darkness, and a red motorcycle stopped in front of us, and then I saw a pair of black leather Martin boots stepped down.There are four rows of buckles on the Martin boots, the laces are looped around and tied at the back, black overalls, followed by a sweater jacket, with a shiny tag on the chest.

I looked up and saw that it was a tall dark-haired man, but I didn't get to see his face because he was already punching the thugs hard on the front teeth.His legs swiped over my head, kicking the strongest of them over, leaving a short gust of wind, three of them pounced on his back, and he ducked out of the way, grabbing his motorcycle helmet at them Shake it off your face.

The black-haired man moved cleanly, just like a picture in a fighting game. In a blink of an eye, those who had besieged me before fell to the ground, wailing everywhere.Roll, roll, the blood-stained helmet rolled down to my hand, I gritted my teeth and got up, trying to pick up the helmet and return it to him, but the man took it back first.

"Thank you." I gasped in embarrassment and said, "I'll pay you back."

"No need." He put on the helmet, pushed down the windshield, raised his head, and snapped the buckle on.I noticed that the curvature of his chin and neck, his Adam's apple and collarbone are neat and good-looking, and his eyebrows and eyes are deep. He is the type that both men and women will look more often when walking on the street, not to mention the pure black hair and eyes.

Seeing him start the motorcycle, I didn't care about getting dirty, and quickly grabbed his sleeve: "Wait, at least leave a contact information?"

"...You can call this number if you want to order coffee." He pointed to the cartoon number sticker on the motorcycle with a blank expression: "I'm just an ordinary delivery man."

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The author has something to say:

Takeaway Brother Xing is online!

The opening poem is quoted from Nabokov's "Pale Fire"