“You don’t need to bat your eyelashes at me; I’m not interested in men,” Zhao Meiyou said, glancing up at the official across from him. “You can dial back the drama.”
“Furthermore,” he continued, stretching his limbs and crossing his legs, “from your tone, it sounds like you’re implying *I’m* the living being brought back from a Ruin.”
The official’s face turned a shade of sickly green as he forced a smile. “You can rest assured on that front. The Metropolis has yet to produce an Archaeologist capable of breaking two Ruins Laws in a row.”
Zhao Meiyou recalled the four laws. He had broken the second: his brain had been damaged, yet he was fine. That meant the one who broke the fourth law—the one who carried something out—was someone else.
“That living person brought out by an Archaeologist,” he said, his interest piqued. “Can I meet them?”
“This lifeform is classified as ‘Unknown’ in government records. It vanished immediately after emerging; the interception failed,” the official explained. “Site A173 has a high exploration rate. Aside from familiarizing yourself with the workflow, your mission is to attempt to find clues regarding this missing lifeform—ideally, to determine its identity.”
“Wait, this is a bit far-fetched,” Zhao Meiyou countered. “If you’ve never even seen it, how can you be so sure it’s a lifeform?”
“The government maintains a comprehensive observation system over all known Ruins,” the official said. “The precision is limited, but it is the pinnacle of current technology. While it cannot monitor everything that happens inside a Ruin at all times, it can detect the vital signs of anything entering or exiting.”
Zhao Meiyou looked down at the dossier in his hands. The final page was stamped with a large, red ‘Warning’ seal. Bold black text read: *...Lifeform observed exiting Site A173; vital signs do not match stable models.*
The system had judged it to be the first instance of a lifeform being carried out of a Ruin. Its origin: the quantum field threshold.
“The Archaeologist who successfully brought the lifeform out was named Li Daqiang. His file is in the documents provided,” the official said. “However, immediately after sending the lifeform out, he returned to the Ruin and never emerged. He has been missing ever since.”
“Fine, I get it,” Zhao Meiyou said after a moment of thought. “When do I start?”
“In three days. Since this is your first exploration mission, the government will assign another Archaeologist to coordinate with you.”
“Can’t Diao Chan do it?”
“Citizen Diao Chan holds a higher rank and generally has his own fixed Ruins to explore. Saving you last time was an emergency measure, a necessity of the moment. Once your rank increases, there will be opportunities for collaboration.”
***
Upon returning to the Lower District, Zhao Meiyou’s first order of business was to give Diao Chan a beating—or rather, they engaged in a mutual brawl until they both felt like vomiting. Once they’d cleared their systems, they went out for a meal, arms draped over each other’s shoulders. Dead drunk, Diao Chan turned to him and said, “Xishi, I’m sorry.”
“No need for apologies,” Zhao Meiyou slurred. He would have done the same. If he were the one with the special constitution and Diao Chan were an ordinary person, concealment would be the best form of protection unless things turned dire. The fight was just a way to vent the frustration of being kept in the dark for so many years. Now that the knot was untied, things could go back to the way they were.
He and Diao Chan had known each other for a long time, but "a long time" wasn't "forever." Before they met, Diao Chan had a life that Zhao Meiyou hadn't been a part of.
Mutual respect was key.
“By the way, what’s the deal with my sister?” Zhao Meiyou asked, his tongue heavy. “Is she an Archaeologist too? Surely the government doesn’t hire child labor?”
“Under certain special conditions, ordinary people can enter a quantum field threshold. But not physically—they enter in a mental state, similar to a very vivid dream,” Diao Chan said, so drunk he was practically sliding under the table. “That’s what happened to your sister. She’s a normal person, but that disc player was indeed brought out from a Ruin. The Lower District is full of all sorts of chaotic junk... An official has already performed a psychological suggestion on her. She won’t remember.”
Zhao Meiyou was too drunk to stand, let alone go home. The two of them crashed in a hospital ward for the night, and the next day was business as usual—chaotic and frantic. Old Man De had developed a sudden obsession with high-pitched opera singing. His range was so piercing that Zhao Meiyou couldn't have matched it if his life depended on it. This infuriated the old man, who spent the entire afternoon chasing Zhao Meiyou down the hallway with a kitchen knife, threatening to castrate him to "fix his pipes."
Two days passed in a flash. On the night before his mission, Zhao Meiyou dumped all the medical records onto Diao Chan’s desk and splashed some water on his face. He intended to sit down and sort through everything that had happened from start to finish, but his grand plan collapsed halfway through—he fell asleep at the desk.
There were simply too many loose ends.
For instance, how could they be sure the reality they lived in was the *true* reality?
Could it be that Archaeologists within the Ruins were also exploring *them*?
And then there was his brain. Perhaps the reason he hadn't suffered brain death wasn't a special constitution, but because his brain had been replaced.
If so, was he still the original Zhao Meiyou?
How many Archaeologists were there in total? How were they screened? How many "unregistered" freelancers like he had been were still out there? Were there private organizations?
Was his sister’s incident truly an accident?
Who was lying?
*Stop.* Zhao Meiyou finally cut off his train of thought. He couldn't think about it anymore.
There was a saying in the Lower District: *Ignorance is a rare blessing.* It was also the guiding principle of their mental asylum. One must be muddled; the Tree of Knowledge was not the Tree of Life.
The depths of the starry sky would always hold the unknown.
Don't ask too much, or you'll go mad.
Zhao Meiyou decisively abandoned his thoughts and went to sleep.
His last thought before drifting off was: *I hope tomorrow’s partner is a beauty.*
The next day, looking at the massive, stout man before him, he said with total sincerity, “Just kill me now.”
“What?” Taizhu looked at him, bewildered. “Zhao Meiyou, what kind of death wish are you nursing this early in the morning?”
“How are *you* an Archaeologist too?” Zhao Meiyou massaged his temples. “Who else do I know that’s in on this?”
“No idea. Archaeologist files are non-public even internally. The government doesn’t stop colleagues from interacting, but they won’t tell you who everyone is,” Taizhu said. “Every man for himself.”
“Then do you know...”
“I know about Diao Chan. We’ve collaborated before,” Taizhu said.
“Do you know anyone else?”
“No.”
“For real?”
“For fake.” Taizhu shot him a look. “Don’t like it? Fight me.”
Zhao Meiyou didn't fight him. Opera performers were notoriously agile and skilled, and he’d only recently stopped being chased by Old Man De’s cleaver. He needed a break.
Diao Chan had mentioned that the methods for entering a Ruin were complex and varied depending on the situation. Zhao Meiyou had imagined they would be in some government building, passing through a door in a pitch-black room filled with magnetic fields, or perhaps the old-fashioned way—heads covered in electrodes after drinking a cup of barium...
In short, not like this.
They were in the 777th District. Some districts in the Metropolis were not open to the public; their true purpose was known only to authorized personnel. They had taken a private express lift up; the entire floor was deserted.
“The 777th District is the gateway to Site A173,” Taizhu explained. “This entire floor is the entrance.”
They stood at the edge of the rooftop. The city was built so high that the levels below seemed bottomless. The boundary between the Middle and Upper Districts was a vast expanse of holographic glass, currently projecting a massive body of water where golden-red koi fish glided between the eaves of buildings. From their vantage point, it looked like a clear pond suspended in mid-air. For those in the Middle District, that water’s surface was their entire sky.
And in the depths of that pond lay the sea. In that eternal, sunless abyss lay his home of flickering lights.
Zhao Meiyou sat down on the edge, his legs dangling over the void. “How do we get in?”
“Jump,” Taizhu said.
“Excuse me?”
“Jump,” Taizhu repeated. “Literally. An Archaeologist won’t die from falling here. See that holographic glass on the 660th floor? We’ll vanish into thin air before we hit it, entering Site A173 vertically.”
“Fine, I’ll take your word for it.” Zhao Meiyou lit a cigarette. “But I’m curious—how do you get into the other Ruins?”
“There’s a solid gold trash bin in the Municipal Building; stick your head in the slot and you enter Site A79. There’s a well in the Middle District that’s officially claimed to be full of nuclear waste, but it actually breeds a very specific kind of human-faced fish; eat it raw and you enter Site S24. I think there’s an entrance in a restroom on some floor... oh, and that famous suspended maglev track in the Lower District with the abandoned train...”
“Wait, what?” Zhao Meiyou was stunned. “But that train was gutted and turned into a street!” His own home was on that very track!
“You have to walk to the very front of the train. There’s a brake lever you can only see on rainy days. And the most important condition is that you can’t be wearing underwear when you pull it,” Taizhu added.
“Is there a single *normal* way?”
“Stop pretending. Your face says you’re dying to try every single one of them.” Taizhu knew exactly what kind of person Zhao Meiyou was. He paused. “Ruins come in many forms. Usually, a rookie will settle on a type they’re compatible with after trying a few, and then they only explore that kind. Most Archaeologists spend their entire lives exploring a single Ruin. Diao Chan is one of those.”
“Is there a catalog or a manual for these Ruins?”
“No. They’re non-public. The government doesn’t stop colleagues from talking, but they won’t tell you what the Ruins are. It’s all down to your own capability,” Taizhu said. “Usually, every Archaeologist knows a different set of Ruins, but there is one that is public knowledge within the trade.”
“Which one?”
Taizhu silently pointed toward the sky.
In the Metropolis, that gesture of pointing upward, akin to an act of worship, meant only one place.
The 990th floor. The summit of the Metropolis.
Among everyone Zhao Meiyou knew—even a wealthy scion like Diao Chan—no one knew what sat at the very top of the city.
Taizhu suddenly asked, “Have you ever been to the First Floor?”
The First Floor. The very bottom of the Metropolis, the place where the city was first founded.
“I have. It’s pitch black,” Zhao Meiyou said. “The foundations are buried deep with basic power systems. They say the entire city’s operation depends on them.”
“Then did you ever see an escalator?” Taizhu used his finger to draw a diagonal line. “Not a sealed vertical lift, but the kind of escalator where you can see the view.”
Zhao Meiyou thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“There’s a rumor among Archaeologists that such an escalator exists in the Metropolis, running from the First Floor all the way to the 990th. From that escalator, you can see a cross-section of the entire city. Its only entrance is at the very bottom; you can only see it if you go to the deepest depths,” Taizhu said. “In the industry, it’s known as Heaven’s Gate.”
Taizhu looked into the distance.
Zhao Meiyou followed his gaze and saw several colossal golden statues of deities. These were cultural construction projects of the Upper District that had been under renovation for a century and were still unfinished.
The largest statue spanned hundreds of floors. It was said that high-purity gold leaf was used for its body, and fine flakes of gold dust often drifted down from above like a microscopic solar rain. Children would catch it in washed porcelain bowls, believing it would grant them the blessing of light.
“Alright, time to go.” Taizhu suddenly slapped him on the shoulder. The cigarette butt fell from Zhao Meiyou’s hand as a powerful force slammed into him—
Taizhu had kicked him straight off the ledge.
***
### Glossary
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
--- | --- | ---
李大强 | Li Daqiang | An Archaeologist who went missing after bringing a lifeform out of a Ruin.
台柱 | Taizhu | Literally "Pillar of the Stage" (lead actor). Zhao Meiyou's mission partner, an opera performer.
天门 | Heaven's Gate | A legendary escalator rumored to run from the 1st to the 990th floor.
A173号遗址 | Site A173 | The specific quantum field threshold (Ruin) Zhao Meiyou is assigned to explore.
遗址法则 | Ruins Laws | The four fundamental rules governing the exploration of quantum field thresholds.
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