Carl sat in the driver's seat, watching Wen Yu walk in with a small soldier beside him. He could not help but stare in surprise.
"Boss, are you serious?"
In Carl's view, if Wen Yu really wanted to send Lansi back to the sea, they could simply drive straight there. There was no need for Lansi to come out on patrol at all.
"It would be too conspicuous if we sent him home directly like this," Wen Yu explained.
Dr. Mourin was not a fool. At a time like this, he must already be watching everything closely.
If someone suddenly rushed to the beach, it would immediately look suspicious.
"But Lansi is a mermaid after all. Does he even understand any of this?"
Carl was still doubtful.
To him, making Lansi act as an orderly soldier and patrol the recruits' eggs was basically asking a fish to pretend to be human. It was far too difficult and far too easy to expose himself.
"No, I asked for it myself."
Seeing Carl's conflicted expression, Lansi hurriedly explained.
"I want to see what the world has become."
As he spoke, his mood dimmed slightly.
"I've been ashore for so long, but I still don't know what the world truly looks like now."
Ever since coming ashore, Lansi had learned from others that humanity was struggling, but everything he knew had only come from their words. He had never personally seen it with his own eyes or experienced it for himself.
Wen Yu felt uneasy about Lansi's request.
He also wanted to know: once Lansi truly understood the human world, what choice would he make?
Would he feel disappointed and completely abandon his identity as a human?
Or would he still believe humanity deserved to continue existing?
Wen Yu had never cared much about the existence of humanity. Yet after watching humans crawl from drinking blood in primitive times to eventually exploring the universe, even he had to admit that human beings possessed astonishing tenacity.
It would have been fine if humans had only reached that point.
But now, humans had set their sights on him, and Wen Yu found himself forced to reevaluate the entire race.
After learning that parts of him had been used for research, Wen Yu discovered, somewhat unexpectedly, that he was not angry at all. Instead, he found it interesting.
He was curious about what humans could possibly create using his genes.
Because of this, Wen Yu never stopped their research, nor did he wipe humanity from the universe through the apocalypse. Instead, he observed everything with detached fascination, like someone watching an ongoing experiment unfold.
Over the years, Wen Yu had witnessed both the ugliest sides of humanity during the apocalypse and the miracles humans created while struggling to survive together.
To him, it was all strangely novel.
And now, Wen Yu wanted to know what choice Lansi would make.
Because Lansi's experiences were far more complicated than those of ordinary humans.
He had once been human.
But now, he had become a mermaid—the most beautiful and coveted creature in this era.
Wen Yu liked Lansi's personality very much.
If Lansi could continue to preserve his innocence, Wen Yu wanted to know what kind of expression his Lansi would have after witnessing the nearly twisted state of human society today.
"Tsk. I've taken care of you for so long, yet I've never seen you speak up for me."
Carl snorted in dissatisfaction. Then he pulled a syringe-like device from a hidden compartment beneath the car seat and handed it to Wen Yu.
"Here."
"Okay."
At that moment, Lansi had been gazing curiously at the scenery outside the car window. When he turned back around, he noticed the gun-shaped syringe in Wen Yu's hand and immediately became curious.
"What's that for?"
"To inject an identity chip."
Wen Yu reached out and grabbed Lansi's right hand. He pressed the syringe-like device against the skin of Lansi's arm and pulled the trigger.
Lansi only felt a slight sting. When he looked down again, there was already a tiny red mark on his arm.
"Don't worry. The chip is implanted very shallowly. If you ever want to remove it, just rub away the top layer of skin until you see the small square chip underneath."
Carl explained while driving.
"I bought both the injection gun and your identity chip on the black market."
During the apocalypse, the Alliance had begun developing identity chips thirty years earlier in order to better control the population.
Every citizen was required to have a chip implanted into their arm, each one containing a unique identification code.
To prevent tampering or replacement, chips were normally implanted deep beneath the skin.
Originally, the system had only been intended to monitor population numbers and maintain the scale of humanity's survival.
But over time, it gradually became a symbol of class imprisonment.
On the black market, a clean and untraceable identity chip could sell for tens of millions.
By coincidence, Carl had managed to obtain the identity chip of a missing soldier through one of his own underground connections. That soldier just so happened to be named "Lance."
"The only problem is that your chip records show that 'you' were previously detained for causing trouble," Carl said.
Still, that was not considered a major issue.
After all, if Colonel Wen Yu wanted to keep a little soldier by his side, who would dare object?
Connections really were overpowered.
At that moment, Wen Yu reached over and rubbed Lansi's head before helping him put on his helmet.
"Memorize your ID number," he said seriously.
Lansi blinked. "Huh?"
Wen Yu then recited a long string of numbers and letters.
Lansi stared blankly at him for several seconds before saying weakly, "…Can you repeat that?"
Carl burst out laughing from the front seat.
"Boss, your memory only lasts seven seconds. Are you seriously expecting Lansi to remember a code that long?"
The two people in the back seat instantly fell silent.
…
After securing Lansi's new identity, Wen Yu began teaching him how to act as an orderly soldier.
In the end, however, all the lessons could basically be summarized into a single sentence—
Everything must revolve around Wen Yu, the superior officer. He must remain beside Wen Yu at all times, and under no circumstances could he stray farther than ten meters away from Wen Yu.
Carl, sitting in the front row, listened in silence.
He had always believed his boss to be a proper gentleman, but after hearing all this, he suddenly felt there was way too much personal bias mixed into the "training."
"You may need to stay as an orderly soldier for a while," Wen Yu said, half-truthfully.
"Once some time passes and the border opens, we can go to the beach together."
Lansi froze for a moment.
Wen Yu's actual plan was to take advantage of the upcoming conscription period. By then, the slums would inevitably descend into chaos. The more chaotic things became, the easier it would be for Lansi to leave unnoticed.
And at the same time, it would allow Lansi to clearly see the true nature of this world.
Today's inspection of the wealthy district was merely an appetizer.
As a colonel, Wen Yu only needed to patrol the wealthy district once a day.
His duties were simple, which naturally meant Lansi's duties were simple as well.
Since the three of them already knew each other well, this outing felt less like Lansi accompanying Wen Yu in his role as an orderly and more like Wen Yu personally escorting Lansi on a tour.
Wen Yu patiently taught Lansi how to distinguish the roads throughout the wealthy district and how people lived within it.
A massive barrier surrounded the entire wealthy district, covering it completely.
The barrier regulated the weather and temperature within the area, which was why the greenery there was exceptionally well maintained. The lush plants and fresh air made it difficult to believe this was the apocalypse.
Instead, it felt more like one of the high-end residential communities from Lansi's memories fifty years ago.
Inside the district, people could occasionally be seen jogging in the morning, while heavily armed soldiers patrolled the streets.
"Lansi, don't underestimate the plants here."
Seeing Lansi constantly staring out the window, Carl explained,
"These were specially researched and preserved. Just moving a single potted plant from here into the slums would sell for several hundred credits at minimum."
"The slums and the wealthy district…"
Lansi could not help asking,
"Don't the two areas exchange goods with each other?"
"Of course not. Things from the slums never enter the wealthy district. And as for things from the wealthy district…" Carl burst into laughter. "Come on, how could those arrogant rich people possibly allow the stuff they've used to end up in the slums?"
Wen Yu added calmly,
"Besides, items from the wealthy district are extremely expensive. People in the slums can't afford them anyway… so the black market exists."
Lansi fell silent.
The topic felt too heavy. Combined with the terrible impression the black market had already left on him, he no longer wanted to continue discussing it.
"Then what exactly do patrol officers do?" Lansi asked curiously instead.
"They patrol," Wen Yu answered concisely. "If someone seems suspicious, they question them."
He paused briefly, seemingly thinking about the murloc incident from before, then added,
"And they deal with emergencies."
"What—"
Before Wen Yu could finish speaking, a woman's scream suddenly rang out from a street corner ahead of them.
Everyone looked over.
A middle-aged woman dressed in extremely plain clothing was being surrounded by three patrol officers who were shouting at her aggressively.
Lansi immediately turned to Carl.
"Aren't you going to stop them?"
But Carl and Wen Yu both appeared completely accustomed to scenes like this. Their expressions barely changed.
"It's nothing serious," Carl replied indifferently.
However, the patrol officers' behavior quickly became rougher and rougher.
They knocked over the woman's basket and pulled out a cloth-wrapped bundle from inside.
The woman was shoved to the ground.
When she saw the patrol officers picking up the bundle, she immediately burst into tears and began explaining frantically.
The patrol officers all looked impatient and contemptuous. They opened the package, glanced inside, and instantly began yelling at her even more harshly, as though she had committed some unforgivable crime.
When the woman struggled to stand and explain herself, one of the patrol officers slammed the butt of his gun into her head.
Blood immediately streamed down her face.
"That's not right!"
The entire incident had happened in less than ten seconds. Lansi could no longer endure it. Frowning deeply, he said,
"How can they beat someone like that? We should stop them and find out what's going on!"
"You want to interfere?"
A trace of amusement appeared in Wen Yu's eyes.
"…Probably."
Lansi did not understand why Wen Yu was asking him this, but after hesitating for a moment, he still nodded firmly.
Wen Yu laughed softly.
He instructed Carl to pull the car over into a concealed area, then opened the door and said to Lansi,
"Go ahead."
Lansi did not dare hesitate. Before he could even think about why Wen Yu had suddenly agreed so easily, he rushed over.
"Stop!"
The patrol officers, who had still been harassing the woman moments earlier, all looked up at once. When they saw Lansi running toward them, they immediately broke into mocking smiles.
One of them grinned at him.
"Where did this recruit come from?"
Experienced patrol officers could recognize the uniform at a glance. The outfit Lansi wore belonged to a reserve soldier.
In other words, he had not even officially completed conscription yet.
The beaten woman looked at Lansi in panic, tears still running down her face.
"You… you shouldn't be using violence like this."
Lansi stepped between the woman and the patrol officers, trying to create enough space for her to breathe.
"The hell do you know?"
The tall, skinny patrol officer holding the package sneered as he showed Lansi what was inside.
It was a piece of meat.
"Look. This was hidden in her basket."
Lansi froze.
The so-called "evidence" was only a fist-sized piece of cured bacon.
He could not understand why something like this would provoke such a violent reaction from the patrol officers.
"This is real bacon, not synthetic meat."
The patrol officer spoke proudly as he held up the piece of meat. He even tore off a small strip and stuffed it into his mouth to taste it.
"I had some once before, and I still remember the flavor. This has to be real meat."
A nostalgic expression appeared on his face.
Then he turned and pointed at the woman.
"She's a poor person. How could someone like her possibly own real meat? She must've stolen it."
Lansi fell silent.
Suddenly, he remembered the deep-sea fish he had eaten every day back at the villa.
If even a tiny piece of meat could cause such a commotion, then how valuable must the fish he had been eating actually be?
"No, no! My employer really gave it to me!"
Seeing Lansi remain silent, the middle-aged woman hurriedly defended herself.
"It's true! You can ask my employer directly!"
"The crime of theft among the poor," the patrol captain said coldly while holding the meat, "is punishable, in serious cases, by permanent expulsion from the upper city."
He sneered.
"You should be grateful we're not executing you on the spot."