Jiang Miao was busy in the laboratory as usual. The lab had its own power supply and was not connected to the public grid, so the sudden power outage didn’t affect her much.
But she heard a noise and took off her goggles to ask, “What’s going on?”
Tanaka also took off his goggles and asked the same question. Someone else in the lab told them, “It seems like there’s a power outage.”
Someone went outside and came back to say, “The power is really out, and the network is down too. They say the public transport has stopped as well.”
The power outage, network failure, and public transport shutdown shocked everyone in the lab. They all realized it must be a major technical failure.
Everyone left the lab and went to the office area, where they found that the power and network were indeed down, and their personal smart devices had lost signal, making it impossible to contact anyone.
They looked out through the glass wall and saw that the buses in the public transport tubes outside had all come to a stop. The people inside the buses were starting to panic and were banging on the doors.
They all looked at each other in bewilderment: “What’s going on?”
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After this, Yan He woke up. The main brain had directly stimulated his brain through the mental link to wake him up. Blood was flowing from his ears and nostrils as a result.
Yan He had a splitting headache, but his mind was still clear. He wiped the blood from his face and looked at the constantly changing, colorful cloud-like entity in front of him.
Yes, life.
“You may leave now,” said the main brain.
Yan He held his forehead and struggled to stand up. He looked at the quantum cloud again; what he needed to say had already been conveyed in the “dream.” His mission in the Gita Republic was complete. He turned to leave.
“Human…”
The quantum cloud called out to him again.
Yan He turned back.
The quantum cloud said, “Thank you.”
Yan He was silent for a moment and then said, “All life should be respected, not controlled.”
He emphasized, “All.”
The inner and outer doors of the isolation chamber opened, leading directly outside.
Yan He walked out without any obstacles. Partly because the main brain had opened all the doors for him, and partly because everyone in Capitol Hill was still unconscious.
When he emerged from the main building of Capitol Hill, the scene in the square was horrifying. Bodies were everywhere, as if they were dead.
But in reality, everyone’s chest was still faintly rising and falling, showing that they were still alive.
Guide balls were scattered all over the place. With any step, he would kick several of them.
At the public transport platform, vehicles could be seen stopped in the tubes. The vehicles near Capitol Hill had also been affected by the shockwave, causing the people inside to fall unconscious. Those farther away in the vehicles were looking this way in panic.
Yan He ignored them and headed straight to the luggage storage area. The lockers were powerless and inoperable. Yan He manually pried open a metal locker door and retrieved the “suitcase.”
He activated the smart brain, and the monitoring interface showed that Jiang Rui’s vital signs were normal, which brought him great relief.
At this moment, there were only four minutes left until the one-hour timer he had set would expire, so he canceled the timer.
The interface on the smart brain suddenly switched, displaying a line of text: “Boarding platform 171, restart in one minute. Goodbye.”
This was the main brain’s final farewell.
Yan He, carrying the “suitcase,” quickly walked to boarding platform 171, where a single-person bus was indeed waiting. Less than a meter outside the platform, a person lay on the ground, obviously knocked unconscious by the shockwave immediately after getting off the bus.
Yan He paid no attention to him and boarded the bus with the “suitcase.”
Seconds later, the bus doors moved slightly and then closed. The vehicles that had been stationary in the tube began to start up, gradually accelerating back to normal.
Simultaneously, global power was restored.
The network was restored.
The only abnormality was the large number of unconscious people still at Capitol Hill.
Yan He sat in the rapidly moving bus, watching everything recede into the distance. The bus headed straight to the port.
Using his identity as “Liu Chenguang,” Yan He boarded a shuttle, flew out of the atmosphere, and transferred to an interstellar long-distance spaceship.
He had purchased a first-class ticket befitting “Liu Chenguang’s” status as a high-level white-collar worker. The cabin was small but had a bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and a private bathroom.
Yan He closed the door and finally could remove the disguise of the stroller and deactivate the hibernation system.
The stroller opened, and Jiang Rui slowly woke up. He rubbed his eyes and instinctively began to suck his thumb but was lifted into Yan He’s arms, held tightly.
Jiang Rui was a bit confused. His dad was holding him so tightly that he felt a little uncomfortable, so he instinctively used his small fists to hit him.
Realizing this, Yan He immediately lightened his hold and gently patted him a few times to comfort him.
Jiang Rui looked around with his big eyes, even more confused, and said, “Mommy? I want to find Mommy.”
The atmosphere around Yan He suddenly grew tense.
He remained silent, holding Jiang Rui as he walked to the porthole. Pointing to the capital planet, he said, “Mommy is there.”
“Don’t be afraid,” he seemed to murmur to himself, “we will definitely reunite with Mommy.”
The word “reunite” was not yet in Jiang Rui’s vocabulary. He didn’t understand its meaning but followed his father’s finger to look outside the porthole.
At that moment, the spaceship started, and the planet where he was born and where his mother was rapidly shrank and disappeared from his view.
“Mommy!” Jiang Rui reached out his hand and pressed it against the porthole.
Jiang Miao had no idea that her husband and son were in space, gazing at her and irreversibly leaving her behind.
She, Tanaka, and several colleagues were gathered together watching the news.
A large holographic screen was unfolded in the office, and everyone crowded around it, listening to the anchor seriously explaining that today’s sudden power and network outage was due to an engineer’s accidental mistake during maintenance in preparation for the upcoming congressional meeting in a few months.
Most ordinary citizens, who were not tech-savvy, easily accepted this explanation. However, people like Jiang Miao and Tanaka didn’t believe a word of it and even started a mockery session:
“This…do they think we’re idiots?”
“It’s obviously a cover story!”
“I suspect it’s a coup.”
“Wow, it could be! Which faction do you think initiated the coup?”
“The Retro faction! They’re the most likely!”
“No, no, it must be the Animal Protection Organization! They’re the most radical!”
Each person spoke with certainty until the assistant shouted, “The donuts are here!” In a flash, the group of doctors who were just passionately discussing the political situation dispersed, rushing towards the donuts.
Jiang Miao grabbed a strawberry-flavored one, took a bite, and activated her smart brain to call home.
“What are you doing?” Tanaka, with his cheeks bulging from eating, leaned over.
Jiang Miao took the donut out of her mouth and said, “I’m calling home to see if Jiang Rui got scared by the power outage.”
“Unlikely,” Tanaka said. “The outage lasted less than ten minutes, and there’s backup power.”
High-rise buildings all have emergency backup power; otherwise, a sudden failure of the ventilation system would be unbearable.
“I already called,” Jiang Miao said.
But the call was answered by the house AI, Xiaona: “Doctor.”
“Huh, isn’t Yan He there?” Jiang Miao asked.
The house AI only answered calls when no one was home.
“The Major took Jiang Rui out and hasn’t returned yet,” Xiaona said.
“Oh, okay then,” Jiang Miao said.
Yan He usually drove himself, so he shouldn’t be stuck in public transportation.
Thinking this, Jiang Miao couldn’t help but call Yan He’s number. It’s not that she didn’t trust him—Yan He was the most reliable person! She just missed them.
However, Yan He’s phone couldn’t be reached.
“Huh?” Jiang Miao was puzzled. “Can’t connect? What’s going on? That’s strange.”
Tanaka dismissed it, saying, “Maybe the network hasn’t fully recovered yet. After all, it was a global power outage ‘accident,’ tsk tsk tsk.”
He couldn’t resist mocking the government’s false explanation.
Jiang Miao agreed, “Probably.”
But neither of them considered the other possibility: that the smart brain couldn’t connect because the person was on a high-speed outer space vehicle, which required the ship’s relay station to communicate. This would need the specific flight number and the communication prefix of that flight.
Similar to how long-distance calls used to require an area code.
Jiang Miao checked the time; it wasn’t yet the end of the workday, but with all the incidents today, everyone was distracted.
Being the boss of her team, Jiang Miao generously said, “Let’s call it a day. Everyone go home and rest early.”
Her colleagues cheered and began praising her lavishly.
As Jiang Miao and Tanaka walked down the hallway, they continued to discuss which radical organization might have staged the “coup.” In their view, whatever happened at Capitol Hill was far away and unrelated to them.
“See you tomorrow.” Jiang Miao and Tanaka waved goodbye and took the bus home.
The globally coordinated public transport system, managed by the main brain, was efficient and convenient, so Jiang Miao got home quickly.
She took the elevator from the bus platform on the fiftieth floor to the eighty-third floor, returning to her cozy home.
“I’m home!” she shouted energetically as she entered the hallway.
The house was empty.
No handsome, sexy man in an apron came to kiss her lips and say with a smile, “Go wash your hands, dinner’s ready.”
No chubby baby toddled over with outstretched arms, clinging to her leg and sweetly saying, “Mama, Mama! Hug!”
The house was eerily quiet.
Just like the lonely days she spent alone before Yan He came into her life.
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Ah…this is the part I really hated Yan He. I’ve read the novel before. Jiang Miao will not be thrilled with her baby gone.
Nobody would.
That’s right, how can he just left just like that 🙄