The digits "817" had tormented Mantis for a long time. He had analyzed them for ages using various steganography tools, encryption tools, and frequency analysis utilities, yet failed to extract even a shred of other content. This made him all the more uneasy. The completely normal operation of everything made him feel that things were increasingly abnormal. Mantis felt he could wait no longer; he wanted to take direct action.
Back when Mantis was locked up in the psychiatric hospital, an eccentric, mystical man named Wu Changxing had spoken many things to him. One of the sentences was: "If something is too normal, then it's utterly abnormal. There is nothing wrong with us."
Mantis was deeply worried about the current overly normal responses. Take United Systems, for instance—every so often, this arms dealer looked to cross ethical boundaries and produce something new. Recently, however, the several projects it submitted to the Artificial Intelligence Committee all appeared extraordinarily deferential to regulations. For example, their latest police system called "Xingtian" had actually proactively built in a geofence-like constraint system, utterly barring its own autonomous decision-making; "Xingtian" had to make decisions strictly in accordance with the parameters defined inside that fence.
Mantis decided to start with United Systems. By nature, this company fell within Jiao Huanqi's sphere of influence, and Wade had previously allocated funds to them. Now, it would be best to observe the crux of the problem in person and see what was really going on.
So, Mantis once again put on his blind man's gear to go investigate. This disguise was sometimes useful—people lowered their guard because he appeared blind, yet at other times, being blind left a rather strong impression.
That day, Mantis walked past the R&D department building of United Systems. He walked very slowly, the detector in his hand relaying information about his surroundings into his ear.
Suddenly, he noticed a group of people entering the R&D building amidst a throng of escorts. The man leading them was none other than Lu Youqi.
Mantis smiled, thinking to himself, "He really had already planned an inspection tour of the plant. There's always someone who thinks faster and is better at pinning down the crux of the problem."
Consequently, Mantis decided against infiltrating the plant. He simply waited outside until Lu Youqi emerged.
Halfway along Lu Youqi's route home, Mantis intercepted him. Lu Youqi said helplessly, "Following me again?"
Mantis said, "I'm blind; I merely ran into you on the road. Tell me about the situation at United Systems."
Lu Youqi looked at Mantis and said, "Why don't you go see for yourself, equipped as you are with all that high-tech gear of yours?"
Mantis remained silent, simply blocking the path.
Lu Youqi chuckled in exasperation: "Oh, you. Do I look like an intelligence gatherer to you? You're the professional; I only do intelligence analysis. The batch of products United Systems is manufacturing right now must be the suicide squads of Jiao Huanqi's faction. They're making moves with such fanfare now—what does that tell you? It tells you their operation is already underway, and victory is firmly in their grasp. Don't block my way; I need to hurry over to Zhang Beihai's side. Satisfied?"
Mantis nodded and said, "Just a few parting words: remember the number 817. If I find the files, I'll hand them straight to you. Furthermore, should the situation take a turn, you go to Zhang Beihai, and I'll go find Wade."
Mantis stepped aside to let Lu Youqi pass, but then suddenly called out to him from behind, slipping a small token into his hands.
Lu Youqi was taken aback and said, "I don't usually wear jewelry."
Mantis smiled and said, "It's a gift from me. Wear it, and just take a look at the characters on it when you have time. It's solar-powered."
Lu Youqi also smiled and said, "First time I've ever received an accessory from a man; I suppose I'll have to wear it and see. It doesn't have a tracking device you planted inside, does it?"
Mantis, however, was struck dumb: "Uh, actually, it has my tracking device in it. You should be able to figure out where I'm headed."
Lu Youqi nodded and said, "I hope it doesn't come down to the final measure between us."
Mantis kept walking without looking back. He could never agree with some of Lu Youqi's statements and methods. Given the current predicament, they were perpetually one step behind their adversary. How could they speak of choices or a 'final measure'? To turn the tables, he might need to seek out an old acquaintance—Wu Changxing.
In 2079, after his attempted suicide following the game *Setting Sun*, Mantis had been subjected to mandatory government psychiatric treatment. During his treatment, he met Wu Changxing. The last time Mantis visited him was back in 2088. The first thing Wu Changxing had said upon seeing him was: "You must remember: an individual is fragile." People in psychiatric hospitals all had this way of talking, but Wu Changxing seemed somewhat different. Mantis still remembered when he had just arrived there, he had been profoundly depressed and completely indifferent to everything. At the time, Wu Changxing had said something bizarre to him: "You have seen too few archetypes, which is why you can't adapt." Those words set Mantis to pondering what he meant—what archetypes? Why too few? That thinking had spared Mantis a great deal of mental agony.
Over the years, Wu Changxing's words would echo in Mantis's ears from time to time, as though Wu had become a sort of unorthodox pastor to him.
Yet today, Mantis did not find Wu Changxing. The doctors and nurses in the hospital had been completely replaced, and most people had no recollection of anyone named Wu Changxing. The head nurse held great respect for Mantis; while apologizing that the hospital's assistive devices and inquiry systems for the blind were lacking, she led several interns to meticulously comb through the records, pulling up data spanning the past twenty years. However, after searching for an hour or two, they couldn't uncover even a trace of Wu Changxing, as if the man had never existed. For a few fleeting moments, Mantis wondered whether this person had existed only in his hallucinations, until he asked several longtime residents of the psychiatric facility. Only then did those few confirm that such a person had indeed been there. But the nurses and orderlies nearby didn't believe them, dismissing their words as crazy talk, since the name Wu Changxing had never appeared in the hospital's patient records.
One of the psychiatric patients took offense and said, "Of course you can't find Wu Changxing! He definitely deleted all his information before he left, you fools. Back then, he even buried his pet right under the window of 1221B, how would any of you know?"
Mantis asked, "A pet? Pets shouldn't be allowed in the hospital, should they? As I recall, the Animal Protection Law stipulates..."
"Stupid again! Did I say it was an animal?" The patient wore a look of utter disdain. "His pet was a flower. You don't even know that! You'd better just get out!"
Apologizing all the while, the orderlies led the old patients away to eat, explaining that because the hospital's management system had grown increasingly complex, querying legacy data might require a specialist. They offered that he could make an appointment now and come back in a month to check where Wu Changxing had ultimately gone.
Mantis expressed his thanks with a smile, but internally he was somewhat shocked. Could Wu Changxing really be so capable? As a psychiatric patient, to have completely erased all of his own records before departing this place...
Mantis also vividly recalled that 1221 was precisely the ward Wu Changxing had stayed in back then. These psychiatric patients weren't fools; their patterns of thought were simply beyond ordinary comprehension.
That night, Zhang Beihai slipped into the garden opposite the window of 1221. Following his intuition, he dug down beneath a banyan tree, thinking as he dug, "If the hospital staff catch me like this, will I be considered mentally ill too?"
Before long, Mantis was drenched in sweat. When the large hole reached about a meter deep, Zhang Beihai found the wooden box. It was exquisitely crafted, carved with patterns that seemed to evoke the style of a former game. Mantis traced the patterns carefully with his fingers to identify them, his hands trembling violently from the intense exertion. Mantis discovered that these were motifs typical of the game *Setting Sun*. In that instant, he felt both terrified and warm. He strove to calm his breathing, not daring to guess what lay inside the box. Recalling what the patient had said, he dreaded it being that flower, yet longed for it to be that flower. After all these years, Mantis still could not forget. Steadying his resolve, Mantis couldn't resist opening his eyes and cautiously unlatched the box. In that split second, the item within struck Zhang Beihai like a seismic shockwave, leaving him dizzy. It was a flower—identical to the one Shizuko had gifted the player in *Setting Sun* back then, only its play of light and shadow appeared dimmer than in the game. Mantis's tears streamed down like rolling beads. Just like in those days, he could not distinguish whether he was inside the game or in real life. Mantis closed the box and buried his head in the dirt, the muscles throughout his body tensing up—regret, remorse, joy, helplessness, every emotion of a lifetime converged at this single moment. Mantis thought quietly to himself that if the entirety of a lifespan was meant for this moment, it was worth it.
That night, Mantis cradled the box, intoxicated beneath the moonlight.
Mantis was astonished that his emotions were so stirred. He had thought that after twenty years, he had long forgotten the past and could laugh off everything that had happened. Unexpectedly, this still touched the softest place in his heart; Wu Changxing, that psychiatric patient, had delivered him a remarkably gentle blow.
Upon reaching home, Mantis couldn't resist opening the box to gaze intently at the flower. It was lifelike, crafted from what appeared to be jade, yet astonishingly light. There was no telling where Wu Changxing had obtained the material, nor how he had crafted it, but it seemed he had poured immense effort into it. With such an authentic flower sitting before him, Mantis was all the more unable to tell illusion from reality. In his ears, he could almost hear Shizuko's voice from the game: "My favorite flower, yet I know I can only give it to you."
As Mantis thought, he laughed and wept in turn. This world truly belonged to madmen; how remarkably thin the line between reality and hallucination was. If a madman like Wu Changxing could delete all of his own records, what could stop powerful entities like Logistics and Public Relations? Mantis no longer fixated on deciphering technically what 817 meant. He would confront his adversary directly. Direct action: the adversary's actions inevitably followed a trajectory, and he ought to lie in wait along their path instead of squandering time here. Wu Changxing was right—an individual is fragile, but an individual is also powerful.
Five hours later, Mantis took a flight back to Sydney. But as the plane was about to touch down, he witnessed a sight beyond belief—even more unbelievable than the flower in his hands. The ground crew were clad entirely in white protective suits, a sprawling sea of stark white, as the captain's announcement crackled over the intercom:
"Distinguished passengers, this is the captain of Pinellia Airlines. We have just received a supreme directive from the Epidemic Prevention Department of the Coalition Government. Due to the discovery of a highly infectious novel coronavirus, the situation has now escalated into a global pandemic. To curb the spread of the outbreak, in accordance with the Intercontinental Aviation Epidemic Prevention and Control Regulations, our aircraft has entered Level-1 Medical Quarantine status. Please put on protective masks under the guidance of the crew and cooperate with temperature checks. We will be landing at Sydney International Airport, where local disease control personnel will place all individuals under a 72-hour centralized quarantine observation. During this period, please remain calm and be patient. We will do our utmost to cooperate with government prevention and control efforts to safeguard everyone's life and health. If you experience any health issues, please notify the flight crew immediately. We will weather this epidemic storm together. Wishing you all good health."