The Creatures that We Are

The man stepped forward and kicked the woman in the abdomen. She rolled away with a cry of pain.

Before she could rise, he stomped on her head, forcing her face into a pool of dirty wastewater.

“Fucking bitch, watch your mouth when talking to me. I can kill you now and frame this Jupiter Maddog. Don’t you think the police will happily go with that story? Then your daughter will be all alone. How heartbroken she will be. Don’t worry. I’ll comfort her well…”

The woman blanched. Even while choking on wastewater, she said, “I’m, I’m sorry…ack, ack. Don’t kill me. Spare me. I can still be useful…I’ll continue to bring people to you. I only need 5 credits—no, 2 credits.”

“Good. You learn quickly.” Satisfied, he lifted his foot and transferred her two credits. “Remember, you’re just a dog of mine. This is food remains I treat you to out of the kindness of my heart.”

After humiliating the woman, the man turned to Gao Yang, who lay prone on the ground, unable to get up. Killing intent flashed through his eyes under the wolf mask. “Although no one will believe a Jupiter Traveler, to be on the safe side, it’s better to just kill him…”

“No, don’t!” The woman panicked. “If the police come…”

“Then you better deal with the body. Aren’t there those body merchants? Just put this on them.”

“I don’t know people like that! Even you don’t dare to get on their wrong side. I’d sooner run away than get to know them…”

The metal baseball bat clinked against the ground as the man approached Gao Yang. Looking down, he raised the weapon with both hands. “Jupiter Maddog, I’ll make it quick for you. No need to thank me. I’ll consider it good karma…”

Gao Yang barely heard him. His fading consciousness felt no fear—only amusement.

What kind of lame story is this? Dying so soon? I wonder what happens next. Will I wake up, or does another dream begin?

A siren suddenly pierced the air. Harsh light flooded the alley, catching the masked man in an inescapable spotlight that reduced him to a harsh outline of discolored lines.

“Drop your weapon! Surrender!”

“Last warning! Drop your weapon! Surrender!”

“Or I’ll shoot!”

The blonde woman looked up to see a triphibian motorcycle, its rider a fully armed high-ranking police officer.

Without hesitation, she grabbed the manhole cover with her right hand. Though her old mechanical arm lacked fine control and sensation, its raw power served her well now as she yanked the cover free and slid down the opening like a discarded rag.

“Don’t shoot!” Under the motorcycle's glare, the man cast aside his bat. He dropped to one knee, raising his hands behind his head in apparent surrender.

Two seconds later, his left fist clenched.

Clack. The hand detached, erupting in blinding white light.

When the glare faded moments later, only two cracked footprints and a half-melted robotic hand remained, steam rising from its surface.

His augmented legs, built for explosive power, had launched him into the sewers the instant his flash-grenade hand detonated.

In Moon City, everyone knew: to escape the police, one needed only to vanish underground like a rat.

The siren fell silent. The triphibian motorcycle descended slowly beside the unconscious Gao Yang, then disappeared with a soft hum along with its officer, leaving only a baseball-sized device hovering a meter above the ground.

It was shaped like a typical UFO. Colorful light rippled out of it like it was a disco ball.

At a deliberate pace, a dark figure walked into the depths of the alley. He was around 1.7 meters tall, on the slimmer side, dressed in leather clothes and pants covered in stubs.

A holographic mouse skull masked his face, purple electric currents flickering in its eye sockets.

He snapped his fingers. The flying device returned to him, and he pocketed it.

“As expected of the sixth generation drone developed by Cloudland. The projections are just like the real deal. It’s the shit!” the man mumbled as he came up to Gao Yang.

He kicked him lightly to make sure he was completely out.

“I just happened to run into this. Lucky you.”

He raked his fingers dramatically through his blonde broomhead hair.

…

Beep—beep—beep—

Gao Yang slowly came to. His first reaction was: have I returned to the bed in the rehabilitation center, restarting the dream?

As his vision cleared, he found himself not in the center but in a dark, empty basement, strapped to a surgical bed surrounded by medical instruments. He tried to move, only to find himself tightly restrained.

A mechanical hum approached. Shadowless light illuminated a cybernetic arm rising above him, its dozen-plus surgical appendages wriggling and spinning in preparation. The sight chilled the blood.

“Oh, you’re up!”

The man with a blond broomhead came over, now wearing a surgical mask, gloves, and surgical garb.

Gao Yang paused for a second, lips twitching. “Right. It’s about time that you show up.”

“Oh? Do you know me?” The broomhead perked up.

“Electric Mouse,” Gao Yang said.

“It’s Lightning Mouse!” He bristled. “Hmph, my reputation precedes me in this area. It’s not a surprise that you’d guess it.”

“I also know your real name,” Gao Yang said, his weak voice tinged with a teasing edge. “Wu Dahai, isn’t it?”

“Shit! How did you know?!” Wu Dahai jumped. No one knew his real name outside of his mother, and his mother had passed away before he came to Moon City.

“Oooh! Right!” Wu Dahai found a legitimate explanation for it. “That’s your superpower! Amazing! I picked up a nice corpse today!”

Gao Yang looked at him questioningly from the bed. He might look dead, but what corpse could speak?

Then realization dawned. He'd escaped the frying pan only to land in the fire.

Wu Dahai cackled. “See, my friend. I’ve saved your miserable ass earlier and allowed you to live for another two hours. It’s common in this city of kindness, Moon City.”

“So following the rules of Moon City, you should be paying me back now. Makes sense?”

“Yeah, makes sense,” Gao Yang said easily.

“You’re brave!” Wu Dahai gave him a thumbs-up. “Now I’ll give you a painless death, and every valuable part of your body will feed into my dream!”

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