Then, the next morning, Dabiqi hurried to the general hospital near the community on the pretext of telling his wife to go for a walk.

Damn, he was just as sluggish last night!

When Dabiqi walked out of the hospital, he was extremely confused and in pain.

The attending doctor, who had transformed 80% of his body into machines, issued a "notice of failure" to Dabiqi.

"This is a strange disorder, and the medical community still doesn't understand how it occurs.

"I have dealt with more than a hundred such patients. In our network data, the total number of such patients in history is only a few thousand. Unfortunately, you are one of them.

"You will not be able to fulfill your mission of reproduction in the future, and neither will IVF."

Dabiqi felt that the whole world was rapidly collapsing.

He walked on the street, wandering aimlessly, with a simulated clear sky above his head;

The couple chatting and joking that came towards him made his heart sting like two steel needles.

He suddenly had the idea of ​​​​ending the rest of his life.

A familiar street scene appeared in front of him. Dabiqi slowed down and stood in front of a school painted with pink walls. He saw the baby bureau next to the school.

The laughter of children came from the school, which temporarily cured Dabiqi.

He put his hands in his trouser pockets and wandered away from the school area to avoid being caught and questioned by the patrolling police as a suspicious person.

This city is called Dark City, and it is a post-disaster city developed underground.

History textbooks explain in detail that their ancestors once lived on the surface, but with the deterioration of the surface environment and attacks from extraterrestrial civilizations, they had to move their homes underground.

Today, on the surface of the earth, viruses specific to the characteristics of their species are floating in the air, making it impossible for them to survive at all.

The mission of each of them is, first, to become a screw in the current society, and second, to start a family with a beloved partner, give birth to one or two babies, and send the babies to the Infant Administration Bureau for unified training to keep them uninterrupted.

labor capacity.

Resources are limited and this city cannot support idle people.

Likewise, this city does not need infertile people.

He is the second type.

"I might as well end myself."

Dabiqi murmured. He looked up at the buildings everywhere, looking for an area where he could jump down enough to fall to death.

In the center of the city is a big dark tree.

The trunk of the big tree has a diameter of several hundred and a height of several thousand meters. The crown of the tree is hidden above the simulated sky and cannot be seen.

It is the lifeblood of this city, the technological crystallization of the surface civilization era, providing energy and light to this city.

That thing is called the sacred tree.

Dabiqi didn't understand that the Dark City, which was based on science and rationality, named it "Sacred Tree".

"How about going to the edge of the sacred tree and dying?"

Dabiqi immediately dismissed this idea.

This kind of behavior will bring shame to his family, and it is blasphemy against the sacred tree.

So, he found a nearby tall building and slowly climbed up through the fire escape. When he reached the rooftop, he was exhausted, but he still climbed over two low walls tenaciously and reached the edge of the rooftop.

Looking down, I saw floating vehicles speeding past on the suspended lanes, and many pedestrians walking on the ground sidewalks. Everything was orderly.

"I should wait a while to avoid killing others and bringing bad luck to other families."

Dabiqi thought so.

He sat down on the edge of the rooftop, leaned against the cold low wall, let his heels hang in the air, and quietly recalled this ordinary life.

The first shadow of memory

For example, in the Baby Management Bureau, he lived a carefree life every day, playing with his friends, laughing, crying, and making noises, learning basic knowledge structures, and understanding the Dark City and his own ethnic group.

After leaving the Infant Administration Bureau and returning to his parents, the trajectory of Dabiqi's life is clearly visible.

Go to school, graduate, work, get married, have children, work until retirement, provide for old age, and bury your ashes in the cemetery under the sacred tree.

——This last step requires his children to help him.

Thinking of this, Dabiqi felt extremely gloomy.

Is this the punishment given to him by the sacred tree?

To punish him, he was in a daze for the beautiful female teacher when he was in junior school. To punish him, when he was in senior school, he witnessed two men sticking together and cowardly did not stop them.

The wind on the rooftop became more and more noisy.

They seemed to be urging, urging Dabiqi to end his half-life of humiliation.

"Maybe I should divorce my wife first, so that her reputation won't be affected... Oh, that's not right either. She can still inherit my property and loan."

Dabiqi sighed dejectedly and slowly rubbed forward.

The moment his butt hangs in the air, he can be relieved from this pain.

"Want a drink?"

A slightly hoarse voice suddenly sounded.

Dabiqi turned his head and glanced, and was startled by the old man who appeared on the low wall at an unknown moment.

This is a homeless man, wearing a tattered dress, with rusty mechanical arms, curly hair that is tangled with each other, and a red and swollen tip of his nose that should be caused by a skin disease.

Dabiqi remembered seeing this man before.

This homeless man likes to sit on the street corner in the afternoon, looking at the sacred tree in a trance, and then sighs for a long time.

"No need to persuade me," Dabiqi smiled miserably, "my life has lost its meaning."

"Me too," the homeless man shrugged, holding a can of beer that seemed to last forever, "Want to tell me your story? Sometimes impulse can't solve anything, it will only leave irreparable regrets.

Do you have anything to hide?"

Dabiqi moved his butt forward a lot and said firmly: "You might as well kill me directly!"

"Oh! Oh! Don't do this! I can't tolerate people doing this!"

The homeless man said hurriedly:

"Think about it, think about your parents. When they pass away in old age, if there are no heirs to help them bury their ashes next to the sacred tree, their lives will definitely be a lot darker."

Dabiqi said firmly: "I have completed this ritual."

"Oh, think about it...do you have children? If you don't even have children, you are not qualified to seek life and death, young man."

child……

Dabiqi's expression turned gloomy instantly, his butt moved forward a lot, and he was about to jump off the rooftop immediately.

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Oh my god! I've hit your sore spot, haven't I?"

The tramp shouted loudly. Seeing that Dabiqi had no intention of turning back, the tramp yelled in desperation:

"This is all fake! This city is fake! If you feel something strange, I can take you to find the real world!"

Dabiqi paused.

He turned to look at the homeless man and frowned:

"What are you talking nonsense about? I have seen too much news about this kind of conspiracy theory since I was a child. If you keep walking towards the edge of the city, you can see some jumping squares, and you can see the difference between reality and virtuality.

border.

"I walked the so-called real road. When I was in intermediate school, my friends and I walked straight outside. At the end of the city edge was a rock formation. We were in an underground city!

"You have to believe in science! Sir!"

Dabiqi’s last words were serious and thoughtful.

"This is science."

The homeless man smiled mysteriously:

"Things that can be thought of so easily, the Creator who created this place and us, can certainly also think of the rocks on the edge of the city.

The level is also false, it is just a setting made to allow young people like you to live in peace of mind.

"I know a door to reality, and that door to reality is nearby. This won't delay your efforts for long.

"Come on, come with me and have a look, maybe you will change your mind about ending your life easily.

"I hate to say it, but each of us, everyone in this city, is a miracle, a scientific miracle."

Dabiqi opened his mouth, was stunned for a few seconds, and slowly moved his body back.

Damn curiosity.

(Four)

"Shhh! Walk quieter!"
To be continued...