Faulty Utopia

"Because people change." When he heard Father Sun Jieke's words in the video, Sun Jack's expression turned extremely ugly.

He had never imagined that his clone would refuse the overlapping of consciousness, which was more horrifying than hearing about the Expeditionary Army's involvement initially.

At that moment, Father Sun Jieke continued, "I am your clone, indeed, but too many things have happened along the way, enough to completely change me into another person."

"I promised her I would protect her for life, and besides, you have so many clones, one less wouldn't—"

"No!" Sun Jack said forcefully, cutting the other off.

"We've managed to hold on till now because of the absolute trust between our clones! If you can refuse, does that mean the other clones can too? Then the organization built up by Sun Jack's clones could just disband! We might as well lead our own lives!"

"Boss..." AA said softly, sounding aggrieved.

"Don't call me boss! If you really consider me your boss, you should understand what's more important!"

"What does she have to do with this!"

Father Sun Jieke's tone grew harsher. "I told you, this is the only condition, and for everything else, I will still help you unconditionally, just like the other clones!"

"We can't let this precedent be set! If we open this door, it's all over!"

As the two argued, AA's eyes gradually reddened, and her lips puckered in distress.

Hearing the escalating voices, Tapai hurried over to mediate. "No need for this, no need for this; everyone, stay calm."

After muting the sound, he whispered in Sun Jack's ear, "Dude, we can't afford to totally offend him now; he's our only ally now."

"Besides, even if someone refuses, you can't just force overlapping of consciousness, right? If you do, and if Liberation Theology does not acknowledge it, wouldn't that cause a huge problem?"

Sun Jack quickly calmed his breathing and started pondering a strategy.

Though he hated to admit it, Tapai was making sense; in the current situation, they needed to unite all the forces they could.

After carefully weighing the options, Sun Jack set a few conditions: no children allowed, unconditional assistance with all his plans, and no contact with anyone other than himself from this side.

Once the other agreed, Sun Jack spoke to Father Sun Jieke, "I hope you keep your word; some things are always above damned love."

Relieved to hear the original give in, Father Sun Jieke replied in a deep voice, "This isn't just about love; it's about responsibility."

"Thank you, boss! Boss, I love you!" At that moment, AA was obviously overjoyed, having worried about this for a long time.

Seeing the matter resolved, Tapai teased AA, "Ayo~ when you grow up, the priest might not want you anymore~"

"Hmph! That won't happen!" AA clung tightly to Father Sun Jieke's neck.

The communication screen turned off, and an irritated Sun Jack sat down and was about to light a cigarette, only to discover that he had run out.

Tapai held out two lit cigarettes to Sun Jack with both hands. "Steady, no panic; I don't think this is such a big deal."

"What do you think? Do you think that matters at all?" Sun Jack, who was smoking, disdainfully glanced at him.

"He's been away from you for too long, definitely leading to a misunderstanding of self-awareness. In fact, he was exactly like you initially. If he's wavering, doesn't that prove you're wavering too?"

"How can you expect others to achieve what you yourself can't?" Tapai leaned his elbow on Sun Jack's shoulder and tilted his chin toward him.

"I'm not worried about him, I'm worried about the other clones. Although I can overlap consciousness, now that there are 30,000 people, I'm starting to struggle with the overlap," Sun Jack said anxiously.

"It's fine, hasn't he refrained from rebelling? It's just minor problems with small details."

"It's only a small problem for now, but what about later? I can feel it. As the time he spends apart from me grows longer, he will undoubtedly become someone else altogether—not just him, but all the clones."

"If one day, we have conflicts in our decisions, the trouble will be significant."

But after much thought, Sun Jack couldn't come up with a good solution.

Considering this, Sun Jack extinguished his cigarette butt with his fingers, his eyes quickly filled with determination. "We don't have time to waste. We must find a way out of this predicament before it's too late."

"You're the boss, whatever you say goes," Tapai responded.

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In Delhi City, Wood, wearing a transparent raincoat, stared blankly at the muddy street in front of her. The events of this period had unfolded so rapidly she often couldn't catch up.

Not long ago, she and her people were rummaging through garbage heaps, trying to survive on trash. But in just a short while, their once narrow world had suddenly expanded immensely.

The so-called Land of Hope was nothing more than someone else's garbage dump in their city.

It turned out that she and her former tribespeople were living even worse than the primal humans of the past, existing simultaneously in a city where some did nothing yet had everything they needed daily.

In the city, people could modify their bodies to be impervious to weapons or control machines larger than houses.

It turned out that her tribespeople and these city dwellers belonged to the same species; the reason her people had such a hard life was that for hundreds of years, no one had cared about them.

It all happened too quickly.

"Wood!" Hearing the voice beside her, Wood quickly responded, "I'm here!"

"Boss is here, gather at Seafood Alley." Upon hearing this, Wood's pupils constricted, and she said excitedly, "Yes! I'll be right there!"

She hurriedly packed up the various electronic drugs she was selling on the ground and headed toward the nearby canal. As she walked out from under the low awning, the Cyber City built over the water appeared before her—that was Delhi Town, a city built above the water.

Various crude neon lights and holographic ads reflected off the water surface, the intense light pollution almost causing people to suffer from photic sneeze reflex syndrome.

Wood, draped in a raincoat, grabbed her chest-hanging second-hand oxygen mask and covered her mouth with it before plunging into the water with a splash.

As her body hit the water, the chaotic noise outside instantly became muffled, and the glow strips on her raincoat lit up, illuminating everything underwater.