War of Intelligent Machines

Chapter 26: From Hell to Heaven

Chapter 26: From Hell to Heaven

Jiang Yuesheng increasingly realized how invaluable the prosthetic limb his mother had made for him truly was. Without it, he would have had no effective way to deal with the barbed wire—his hands would have been torn and cut to shreds. In fact, when he was supporting his grandmother during their climb, it was the strength of his prosthetic fingers gripping the steel beams that had allowed him to hold on for so long. Without it, he would never have been able to endure.

The barbed wire at the base of the chimney, though taller and denser than the wire at the top, was no match for Jiang Yuesheng. Once again, he leveraged the advantages of his prosthetic limb, tearing open a large hole in the wire and squeezing through.

Though both he and his grandmother were utterly exhausted, they dared not linger at the mountaintop. Under the moonlight, they stumbled their way down the mountain. By dawn, they finally reached the base and saw a stretch of farmland in the distance, with a few houses beyond it.

"Yuesheng, we can't stay here. They might be chasing us," his grandmother warned.

"Right. I'll go check the village for a vehicle. You wait here," Jiang Yuesheng replied.

He approached the houses and spotted an electric tricycle parked outside one of them, its key still in the ignition. He unplugged the charging cable, turned the key, and saw that the battery had enough charge for 150 kilometers. Releasing the handbrake, he twisted the throttle with his right hand, and the tricycle started up quietly, unlikely to wake the owner.

He quickly drove the tricycle to where his grandmother was hiding. Once she climbed into the back, he accelerated toward Xiapu County, following the road signs along the mountain path.

After about forty minutes, with Xiapu County in sight and the sun fully risen, they parked the tricycle at a prominent intersection and made their way into town. Jiang Yuesheng hoped the owner would find their missing vehicle on their own.

"Grandma, let me treat you to some morning tea!" Jiang Hui said, spotting a Cantonese-style teahouse sign not far away.

"Great, I'm starving!" Jiang Yuesheng replied.

After a night of intense exertion, their energy reserves were completely depleted.

As they sat down in the restaurant, Jiang Yuesheng thought it was crucial to inform his mother of their escape as soon as possible. Not only would it ease her worries, but it would also help her better handle any threats from their captors. Although he wasn't certain that the kidnappers' goal was to coerce his mother, he knew he was her greatest vulnerability.

He took out his phone, opened the special app, and sent a brief message: "Mom, I'm in Xiapu."

...

Jiang Yu had prepared a more detailed version of the Forbidden Fruit Project to send to the kidnappers, though most of its contents were outdated. Sending this version was the organization's decision, as their current research had far surpassed the level described in the document. The potential loss from sharing it was minimal.

Just as she was about to click "send," her phone vibrated. She immediately picked it up and opened the special app, seeing the message from her son: "Mom, I'm in Xiapu."

Without hesitation, she deleted the email she had been about to send.

...

Ravenous, Jiang Yuesheng devoured two bowls of porridge and two servings of buns, finally satisfying his hunger. As he and his grandmother finished paying and prepared to leave the teahouse, four or five masked men armed with laser guns suddenly stormed in, surrounding them.

"Don't move!" one of the men barked. "Come with us!"

Seeing no way to resist, Jiang Yuesheng and Jiang Hui raised their hands and stood up. One of the men quickly bound Jiang Yuesheng's hands behind his back with zip ties. Noticing his prosthetic arm, the man rolled up Jiang Yuesheng's sleeve to inspect it but found nothing unusual. He then shoved Jiang Yuesheng forward, ordering, "Move!"

They had only taken a few steps toward the door when another group, dressed in camouflage and numbering in the dozens, burst in from the windows, the kitchen, and the entrance, surrounding the masked men.

"Don't move! Drop your weapons!" the leader of the new group shouted.

The masked men froze in shock.

"Drop your weapons!" the leader repeated, aiming laser sights at their faces.

With dozens of laser dots trained on them, the masked men immediately surrendered, kneeling and placing their weapons on the ground. The camouflaged group swiftly disarmed them, restrained them with zip ties, and freed Jiang Yuesheng.

"Retreat!" the leader commanded.

In moments, the group had carried away the five masked men and escorted Jiang Yuesheng and Jiang Hui into a nearby alley.

Given that Jiang Yuesheng and Jiang Hui's identities had been compromised again, the organization decided to relocate them to a military base for protection. This base, however, was far larger than the one on Brave Island—more like a small society, complete with facilities for work, living, and entertainment.

Deep in the uninhabited northern region of Tibet, at the southern foot of the majestic Muztagh Ata Mountain, lay a beautiful lake called Snow Mountain Scenic Lake. Jiang Yuesheng and Jiang Hui's new home was on its shores.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Jiang Yuesheng would never have believed such a massive structure could exist. On the northern shore of Snow Mountain Scenic Lake stood an enormous building spanning over ten kilometers, nearly matching the size of the lake itself.

Jiang Hui was equally awestruck. Though she had seen the vastness of space from the Moon, the sheer scale of this structure was a different kind of awe. Despite the altitude sickness, she stepped out of the Jeep and gazed down at their new home.

"This is actually a super greenhouse," the officer accompanying them explained. "The offices, factories, research institutes, and living quarters are all underneath."

"The air pressure inside is the same as outside, but the oxygen concentration is more than double. You'll feel fine once you're in—no altitude sickness. The entire structure is sealed, with hundreds of oxygen generators supplying air."

Soon, they arrived at one of the entrances to the super greenhouse. After passing through a security checkpoint, they stepped inside.

Jiang Yuesheng looked up. The ceiling was about fifty meters high, supported by silver-gray steel columns and diagonal cables suspending a translucent fabric that stretched like waves into the distance, seemingly endless. Below, wide streets crisscrossed, complete with overpasses. Buildings of various sizes dotted the landscape.

What struck them most was the vegetation. Tropical plants like towering palm trees and coconut trees lined the streets, alongside artificial lakes and green parks. It was hard to believe they were in a high-altitude desert over 4,000 meters above sea level.

Jiang Hui, who had been suffering from altitude sickness moments ago, now felt completely at ease.