Diao Chan couldn't kill his mother—that was understandable—but he could certainly kill Zhao Meiyou. In reality, he might not have been able to pull it off, but in this lost state, he didn't even recognize who Zhao Meiyou was.
*It’s not like I’ll actually die anyway,* Zhao Meiyou thought, lying on the ground like a self-sacrificing Juliet, his mental calculator clicking away. *As long as he doesn't hit the brain, I’m golden.*
*I really am a little genius,* Zhao Meiyou mused, watching Diao Chan approach with the knife. He figured one good stab would be enough to sell the act; he just had to make sure his "death" looked convincing.
Suddenly, Qian Duoduo lunged forward, snatched the knife from Diao Chan’s hand, and with a clean sweep, decapitated Zhao Meiyou. He scooped up the severed head and bolted for the exit.
The move was so fast Zhao Meiyou didn't even have time to react. From above, he heard Qian Duoduo’s voice: "Zhao Meiyou, did you really think Diao Chan’s mother was the source of chaos causing the instability in this ruin?"
Zhao Meiyou wanted to nod, but doing so without a neck proved to be a high-difficulty maneuver. He settled for a verbal, "Yes."
"Listen closely," Qian Duoduo said, sprinting through the collapsing ruins. "Eliminating the source of chaos is indeed one way to wake a lost archeologist, but there’s an exception to that rule. It’s not in the employee handbook, and since you’re a rookie, I figured you wouldn't know."
"The person who eliminates the source of chaos becomes the new source of chaos in its place."
"Do you understand? By that logic, the killing never ends. The killer becomes the victim, and a new killer steps in to fill the void. There are only two ways to break the cycle: either the source of chaos commits suicide, or the lost archeologist is guided to kill the source of chaos of their own free will."
*So?* Zhao Meiyou didn't follow. Wasn't he just in the middle of guiding Diao Chan toward option two? Why the hell were they running?
"I don't know the exact nature of the relationship between Diao Chan and his mother, but those who are lost usually share a deep emotional bond with the source of chaos. By killing his mother, you’ve enraged him. Now, he wants to kill you."
"And it’s not just a matter of getting stabbed a few times and playing dead," Qian Duoduo said, emphasizing every word. "It’s total erasure. You will cease to exist on a physical level. Brain death."
Zhao Meiyou: "..."
In the A173 ruins, the old man had killed the youth, Liu Qijue, and then the old man had vanished into nothingness as well.
"That’s why rescue teams rarely kill the source of chaos themselves. It’s essentially a suicide mission," Qian Duoduo said, his voice devoid of emotion. "I suggest you get your IQ checked once we’re out."
Zhao Meiyou asked hesitantly, "...We can still get out?"
"At this point, Diao Chan is beyond saving," Qian Duoduo stated. "We can't let him kill you with a knife or anything like that. We have to draw out his gun."
Diao Chan’s ability was "Awakening." As long as they were shot in the head by Diao Chan’s gun, they could leave the ruins.
"What do you mean, Diao Chan is beyond saving?"
"In this situation, there are only two outcomes: you die and he lives, or he dies and you live. But even if your brain is damaged in the ruins, you won't actually die, right? So how else are you supposed to 'die'? If the source of chaos isn't eliminated, the archeologist stays lost. If you force Diao Chan out of the ruins now, his mind will completely fracture."
Zhao Meiyou: "..."
He had been about to argue that the previous incident might have been a fluke and that a brain injury this time might actually kill him, but Qian Duoduo seemed to anticipate his thoughts. "Earlier, you talked about capturing the leader to defeat the army, and I thought you actually had a plan. You’ve already been stupid once; don't do it again." He shot Zhao Meiyou a cold look. "Good boys should listen to their elders."
"...Fine, Daddy. Whatever you say, Daddy," Zhao Meiyou muttered. "So what do we do now?"
Qian Duoduo’s answer was to hurl Zhao Meiyou’s head away like a football.
At first, Zhao Meiyou thought the man had simply snapped in a fit of rage, but as he followed the arc of his flight, he saw Diao Chan standing not far off. Qian Duoduo’s aim was precise; he had landed Zhao Meiyou right within handgun sniping range.
Diao Chan faced them and drew his pistol.
Zhao Meiyou’s head was lined up perfectly with the barrel.
Qian Duoduo stood directly behind Zhao Meiyou.
At the critical moment, Zhao Meiyou suddenly manifested limbs for himself. Gravity took hold, and his body plummeted—he dodged the incoming bullet.
*Bang!*
Behind him, Qian Duoduo was hit. The shot was dead center, right between the eyes.
Qian Duoduo’s expression froze in a look of slight shock before his entire form dissolved into grains of sand.
"Sorry about that, Brother Qian," Zhao Meiyou said, waving toward the spot where he had vanished. "I appreciate the sentiment, but you go on ahead. See you in a bit."
"Alright, the nuisance is gone." Zhao Meiyou turned back to Diao Chan and clicked his tongue. "Come on then, let me ask you: who am I?"
Diao Chan: "...Xi Shi."
"Bingo," Zhao Meiyou laughed. "I'm right here."
Qian Duoduo had been wrong about one thing: a lost archeologist leaving the ruins wouldn't necessarily suffer a mental breakdown.
The Pillar from before was a perfect example. Even though he had completely lost his identity in his delirium, he was able to live a normal life after leaving the ruins.
Well, to be fair, for people like them, being "sane" or "insane" probably looked the same anyway. They were all a bit touched in the head.
Zhao Meiyou surmised that what truly caused a mental fracture wasn't the "lost state" itself, but "instability."
For instance, when he exposed the youth Liu Qijue as a creation in the A173 ruins, or when he recently tore away Diao Chan’s disguise as the old man—those acts triggered a total collapse of the ruins. People can live quite normally in a state of self-deception; madness usually begins the moment the truth is unveiled.
If the source of chaos isn't killed in time during a state of "instability," then the archeologist's mental state becomes precarious.
However.
The moment Diao Chan had plunged the knife into Zhao Meiyou’s heart, he had recognized him.
In that instant, the "instability" had been resolved.
As long as the instability was gone, it didn't matter if Zhao Meiyou remained the source of chaos. It wouldn't affect their real lives. At most, he just had a new identity within the S45 ruins. Once they were out, Diao Chan would be the same as always.
Zhao Meiyou looked at Diao Chan and smiled. "You predicted all of this, didn't you?"
Diao Chan, having just regained his senses, looked a bit disheveled. He coughed a few times. "I left enough clues. Others might not have noticed, but I knew you’d catch on."
The whole thing—from the moment the government official told Zhao Meiyou on New Year’s Eve that Diao Chan had "gone missing"—had felt like a glaring coincidence. Diao Chan had been an archeologist for years; why would he go missing now of all times?
Right at the moment when Zhao Meiyou had just become an archeologist and finished his internship.
To an outsider, there were plenty of explanations—childhood trauma finally boiling over, for one—but Zhao Meiyou didn't believe in coincidences.
Besides, this was Diao Chan.
Zhao Meiyou believed Diao Chan had old wounds he couldn't escape, but he also believed that unless Diao Chan intentionally let himself sink, he wouldn't get lost so easily.
So the question was: why would Diao Chan intentionally enter a lost state?
To get Zhao Meiyou into the S45 ruins.
There were surely many archeologists who could enter S45, but only Zhao Meiyou could decipher the metaphors and clues Diao Chan left behind.
But even if Zhao Meiyou received all the signals and successfully "saved" Diao Chan, wouldn't all this effort just bring them back to square one? It didn't explain why Diao Chan chose to get lost in the first place.
Qian Duoduo’s reaction provided the final answer.
Most archeologists—and even the government—labored under a misconception: that a lost archeologist would inevitably go insane without the added condition of "ruin instability."
But the government didn't know that. And since Zhao Meiyou was a "bug" who couldn't die, it led to an inevitable conclusion: in the eyes of the public, the archeologist Diao Chan would be unable to leave the S45 ruins.
That was Diao Chan’s ultimate goal. He needed a legitimate reason to stay inside S45, and his lost state served as a deterrent, ensuring no one would dare intrude upon him.
Diao Chan patted Zhao Meiyou on the shoulder. "Good work, Xi Shi."
It could only have been the two of them.
What a massive gamble.
"Nice teamwork," Zhao Meiyou chuckled. "So, is this really the 22nd century?"
There weren't many logical reasons for Diao Chan to set up such an elaborate scheme. The most obvious reason was that he had offended someone in reality and needed to take refuge in the ruins.
But given Diao Chan’s background and power, only two forces could make him go to such lengths: the Diao family, or the government.
Combined with the internal state of the S45 ruins, this was the 22nd century.
The 22nd century, where human technology had reached its absolute limit.
Neither the Diao family nor the Metropolis government would be able to resist 22nd-century technology.
Diao Chan must have discovered something critical in the ruins—something that both the Diao family and the government, or perhaps both, craved. Something that would bring a death sentence to anyone who held it.
So, his only choice was to stay in the ruins. This was his home field; his chances of survival were much higher here than in the Metropolis.
If Diao Chan believed the things he had found were real, then it meant—this really was the 22nd century.
Diao Chan asked, "Zhao Meiyou, do you know what a 'ruin'—a quantum field threshold—actually is?"
Zhao Meiyou replied, "Please, feel free to answer your own question."
"No one knows," Diao Chan said, shaking his head. "After years of investigation, archeologists have gathered some clues. For example, while consciousness influences the quantum field threshold, and an archeologist with creation abilities can completely remodel a ruin, every ruin has an underlying background."
"This underlying background is materialistic; it doesn't change based on human will. In other words, if you dig deep enough, or build upon the ruin with the correct logic, you can restore the 'ruin' to its original state."
"The underlying background of S45 is the 22nd century. I’m certain of it. I found the journal of the very first archeologist to explore it. She said that when she first entered, it looked like it had been ravaged by war, and amidst the rubble stood a single building."
"She looked up the historical records for that building and discovered it was the Mercury Building."
"Since then, S45 has served as the home field for three archeologists. I am the fourth. We’ve all tried different ways to remodel it. Someone turned it into the 21st century—that’s when the Mercury Building was actually constructed—but the logic was wrong. It wasn't until the third archeologist, who committed suicide, left a note with only three words: The Orion War."
"So when I took over, I started trying to reconstruct the entire ruin using 22nd-century logic. I don't know how many times I failed, but eventually, I built the Ideal City."
"The key to restoring a ruin isn't designing every detail. You just have to place the most vital elements."
Zhao Meiyou asked, "What made you think you succeeded?"
"Because things appeared in the city that I couldn't possibly have known about," Diao Chan said. "You’ve been to A173. The Consort was practically a god in that ruin, but there’s an ironclad rule: he couldn't create anything that exceeded the scope of his own knowledge."
"He could create dragons, or rockets, but you couldn't take the rocket apart. If you did, it would vanish—because the Consort didn't actually know how a rocket was built or what was inside it. He only knew that rockets fly, so the rocket he built could fly, but it couldn't be dismantled."
This matched Zhao Meiyou’s own thoughts. Diao Chan had indeed obtained something in the ruins that no longer existed in reality.
Zhao Meiyou asked, "What did you find?"
"Zhao Meiyou, you know I’m a clone. I was born because of the Diao family’s twisted inheritance mechanism—the head of the family is replaced once they pass their golden years. But have you ever wondered why the Diao family doesn't just use androids? That would solve the lifespan issue entirely."
Zhao Meiyou said, "I don't believe it for a second, but since you’re asking, maybe the Diaos are law-abiding citizens who strictly follow the Metropolis ban."
"You said it yourself: you don't believe it. The Diaos already make clones; why would they stop there?"
"Then there’s only one possibility," Zhao Meiyou followed up. "The Metropolis government and the Diao family don't actually know how to build a true android."
As soon as he said it, the realization hit him. "Holy shit."
The clones made by the Diao family and the technology held by the government were both missing a crucial piece. This was even reflected in the Ruin Laws that archeologists had to follow.
Ruin Law Number Two: The brain must not be harmed.
A major reason why the Diao family’s clones were limited by their lifespan was that their brains would deteriorate once they passed their prime.
The Metropolis’s primary research focus: technology cannot manufacture a brain.
The brains of clones like Diao Chan were actually just as blank as a newborn’s at the start; the only difference was whether they were lab-grown or born from a womb. The problem the Metropolis faced was how to manufacture a brain identical to the original, possessing the same personality and memories.
In the 22nd century reconstructed within S45, the "Brain-Marrow Program" of the cyborgs seemed capable of achieving this. But in the current Metropolis, that technology had long been lost.
Zhao Meiyou remarked, "...The Consort would get on his knees and beg you for this."
"Then I might have to disappoint him. Don't tell anyone about this yet."
"Just kidding." Zhao Meiyou knew full well that knowing this secret would put him in the same desperate position as Diao Chan.
"So you still haven't told me why you brought me in here," Zhao Meiyou said. "All this runaround just to say goodbye?"
"Is that not allowed?" Diao Chan looked at him. "There has to be at least one person who knows how I died."
Zhao Meiyou: "...Funeral costs in the Lower Sectors have been skyrocketing lately. What’s your bank password?"
Diao Chan: "Zhao Bujiao’s birthday."
Zhao Meiyou: *Who the hell is Zhao Bujiao? Oh, my cat—my cat has a goddamn birthday? I don't even have a birthday!*
The two of them went back and forth, trading nonsense until the atmosphere finally lightened. Diao Chan suddenly said, "I discovered something about artificial brains."
Zhao Meiyou listened in silence.
"The human thought system can be described as a program. First, there’s an initial blueprint, and then variants are derived from it. Cultivating that initial blueprint is the hardest part. It requires the program to interact with a living subject over a long period, synthesizing data from collected samples. This process is incredibly long; it even requires the two parties to live together like family so the data is authentic enough."
"And when the number of samples reaches a certain threshold, it breaks through the Turing Threshold, gaining emotions and autonomous consciousness..."
Diao Chan’s explanation was filled with technical jargon that Zhao Meiyou didn't understand. But because he couldn't grasp the details, he was able to see the overall outline of the situation, and it felt strangely familiar.
"...In short, you’ve probably realized it by now," Diao Chan finished, looking at Zhao Meiyou.
"It’s remarkably similar to the Diao family’s heir cultivation mechanism. Numerous clones providing real-time living data to the system at every moment."
"And my 'Mother' ultimately chose self-destruction. That is the first step of a human brain program: possessing emotions and autonomous consciousness."
"I always thought the key to the Diao inheritance was the cloning technology. Now it seems that understanding was completely backward. What the Diao family truly values is the 'Mother' of each heir."
"That holographic system named 'Mother' has already completed the preliminary construction of an artificial brain."
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
---|---|---
混乱源 | Source of Chaos | The entity or object causing psychic instability within a ruin.
动荡 | Instability / Turbulence | A state where the ruin's reality begins to collapse due to the archeologist's mental state.
水银大厦 | Mercury Building | A landmark building within the S45 ruins.
猎户座战争 | Orion War | A historical event from the 22nd century mentioned in the ruins.
图灵界限 | Turing Threshold | The point at which an AI achieves true consciousness/human-like emotion.
脑髓程序 | Brain-Marrow Program | A lost 22nd-century technology for creating artificial consciousness.
西施 | Xi Shi | One of the Four Beauties of ancient China; Diao Chan's nickname for Zhao Meiyou.
赵不叫 | Zhao Bujiao | Zhao Meiyou's cat (literally "Zhao Doesn't-Meow").
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