Kaili, Guizhou | September 2025 | 02:00 PM POV: Tan
The late afternoon sun slanted sharply through the right side of the windshield, making the vehicle's console sizzle with heat. Jetdoe muttered a low grumble as he reached out to pull down the sunshade, trying to block the glare that nearly blinded his view of the G60 Expressway. He chewed his gum rhythmically, , while maneuvering the massive trailer truck as it wound along the mountain ridges, steadily pushing southwest.
We had recently departed from the city of Kaili... a city that Pai Pai had firmly insisted we visit. She was adamant that it was the nearest source for electronic equipment before we entered the Guiyang area.
“It’s so dark... but at least I can see the screen better this way.”
Juyeon’s voice drifted from behind the driver’s seat. She had tucked herself away in the shadows of the sleeper cab behind the truck's cockpit to escape the glare reflecting off her laptop screen. Her slender hands moved with practiced agility, assembling small components despite the steady vibration of the truck cruising at a constant speed.
“I’ve secured a high-quality SDR Dongle and a Signal Booster strong enough to intercept signals within a 5-kilometer radius,” Juyeon looked up and beamed at me, her eyes sparkling like a child with a new toy. “Plus, I’ve got a High-gain Antenna and a modified External GPU specifically for decryption. This time... it’s going to be fun.”
I watched the equipment in awe. I never knew before that Guiyang, our destination, was a world-class 'Big Data Hub.' The security system there isn't just a basic firewall; it’s an intelligent cloud network that interconnects the entire city like a giant spiderweb.
Jetdoe flicked his eyes toward the rearview mirror. Seeing us looking unusually alert, he couldn't help but throw a sarcastic jab, as was his habit…
“What a pointless fuss. This intern girl is just scaring herself over nothing. Who’s going to come hunting you in the middle of a city that big?”
He didn't believe the information Natalie had let slip, but Juyeon and I believed it without a doubt.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover, Bro. It’s not just tigers that can hunt.” I shifted my gaze from the windshield to focus on Juyeon instead. This woman intrigued me in many ways that I had observed—her calmness, her depth, and her decisiveness... If I were truly a villain, she might have died for revealing her identity, but the fact that she dared to show everything meant she had read people perfectly.
“Why did you bring that old ‘pig bone’ cell phone?” I pointed to the ancient-style phone that almost no one used anymore.
“I’m going to extract a certain signal module, Tan. It has a specific frequency that modern systems find difficult to detect.”
I saw everything as mere foreign objects. I had no knowledge of electronics whatsoever; if these things were in my hands, they would have turned into trash in a matter of minutes...
Juyeon deftly plugged a Network Cracking Card into the device, her eyes filled with a determination that was a far cry from the clumsy intern persona she had first shown. “With this... I’ll make Skynet go blind.”
I peered through the windshield at the trailer truck ahead as it disappeared into a tunnel, letting out a soft chuckle until Juyeon, who was busy with wires, had to glance up at me.
“What’s so funny, Tan?” Juyeon asked while expertly using a clip to secure the wires—one hand holding a tool, the other trying to steady herself from face-planting as the trailer truck rounded a curve.
“Nothing… I’m just wondering about Pai Pai,” I nodded toward Sawn’s truck. “Did you see? Every time Sawn sneaks a look at Natalie, Pai Pai’s eyes flare green at him instantly. Sometimes I even see her lips moving like she’s cursing him out, hahaha.”
“Hehehe! You’re quite the observer. Pai Pai is very beautiful, you know? She’s stunningly gorgeous. You should flirt with her.” She kept her head down, focusing on the blue wires while muttering… “The satellite signal hasn't come through yet.”
“I’m afraid of her mouth,” I replied.
She calmly adjusted a small satellite dish crafted from a soda can.
“Can you really receive a signal with just a soda can like that?” I asked, hesitating at the low-tech device. Even though I trusted her skills in my heart, the equipment looked completely unreliable.
She gave a faint smile while tuning the device… “This is actually better than what they manufacture for sale. The signal is here. Right now, Skynet is at $0.14258^\circ$ East. A moment ago, the signal was being jammed by this truck's GPS, but there are no problems now.”
A green indicator light blinked in response before the screen displayed a flurry of data that I would never understand. Memorizing law textbooks, which I thought was difficult, couldn't compare at all to the characters she was tapping out with her fingers without even glancing down.
“You once mentioned that you were a supervisor for the Tame 30 conference, right?” I stared at the green light reflecting on Juyeon’s composed face. Her fingertips moved rapidly across the keyboard like a classical musician performing a demonic masterpiece.
“Yes! That event felt like unlocking the world. Tame 30 is a gift from heaven. Did you know... they even gave it away for free?” Juyeon’s eyes sparkled as she recalled the grandeur of that conference in her hometown.
“Gave it away for free?” I asked, my ears perking up as I quickly repeated the question.
“Yes! In that conference room, there was nothing but smiles and celebrations. Everyone saw it as the end of suffering—the unplugging of fear... I even secretly thought how good it would be if my parents could receive this vaccine, too. But…” She paused for a moment, her fair, smooth face darkening briefly.
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It clicked for me then… This must be it! This was why I noticed tears welling up in her eyes when she stopped to watch that elderly Chinese couple teasing each other while we were buying equipment in the city.
I turned to my big boss…
“Did you hear that, Bro? They gave it away for free! So why did our country budget hundreds of billions to buy it?!”
I raised my voice to stir his thoughts. The government he looked up to was riddled with routine corruption.
“You actually believe this Korean girl?” He looked away.
“I didn't run away because I thought it would be fun. I saw it with my own eyes that day... Leaders from Southeast Asia were bowing their heads asking for loans even before the speaker announced it was free!” Juyeon retorted instantly.
“That leader certainly wasn't the leader of my home. My country has plenty of money and never bows to anyone,” he bragged, overcompensating in a way that was truly irritating.
“Do you know how rotten our country’s corruption index is, Bro? We’ve recently dropped to 116th in the world! Even Laos has overtaken us in terms of transparency!”
“Those numbers are just guesses made by Westerners. Why are you getting so worked up over them?” He snorted arrogantly. Nothing could diminish his unwavering confidence.
“It’s not just numbers. It’s hundreds of billions of vanished funds. It’s scholarships for children. It’s the healthcare for our society... Or is this the standard of honesty you’re so desperate to protect, Bro?”
“You’re accusing me again. I love my nation,” he said, glancing through the rearview mirror at Juyeon… “Hey, North Korean girl, didn't anyone teach you that you aren't supposed to reveal information from a leadership summit to the outside world?”
“And now you’re coming at me?” Juyeon looked down, letting out a soft, amused chuckle. “I’m just saying that the information I heard that day… is completely contradictory to what Natalie is telling us now. That’s the topic I was trying to bring up.”
“Hahaha!” I didn't want to waste my breath arguing with him anymore. Talking to Juyeon was much more entertaining.
Jetdoe turned to glare at the two of us and blurted out… “At first, I was almost ready to believe that Tame 30 couldn't cure anything and had side effects, since Sawn is over there scratching himself like a monkey. But when Natalie claimed she was just an intern and then dropped that Doctor-whatever’s name as a reference… I almost wanted to poke my own eyes out with my chopsticks.”
“Ahahaha!” The two of us burst into laughter, filling the truck.
Juyeon looked at me and shook her head with a smile. “Don't mind him. He probably didn't notice Natalie’s expression when she begged us not to get vaccinated.”
“Hmm!” I thought back to that moment. Natalie had hesitated, speaking with the weight of someone carrying the entire world on her shoulders.
“Are you going to change her information in the database?” I asked, reaching out to help steady her laptop screen as the trailer truck swerved sharply to avoid a pothole.
“There are constraints… You have to walk her to the airport rail link. I need to calculate the timing because we have to finish the hack within five minutes.”
“You guys sure are gullible,” Jetdoe snarked.
“It’s done, Tan…” she replied in a flat voice, her sharp eyes fixed on the download bar hitting 100%. “Now, we just wait. In the Guizhou Provincial security system, ‘Natalie Park’ is now a real estate tycoon from Hong Kong with a scheduled meeting with the Governor of Guiyang… The system won't dare touch a single hair on her head.”
"Hah! A businessperson?" Jetdoe let out a dry laugh, slapping the steering wheel. "Are you a hacker or a novelist? Where exactly does that intern girl look like a businessperson? Tan... don’t be so gullible. Once you get to that train station, you’ll be the first one dragged off to jail."
“At least we made it past the military checkpoints because of Juyeon, Bro,” I replied. I had nearly pissed myself when I saw those soldiers last night.
"Yeah, yeah! You're all so talented, aren't you? You 'kindred spirits' fleeing the country surely understand each other well," Jetdoe cursed nonchalantly, though I noticed he was trying to drive as smoothly as this giant trailer truck possibly could.
"Bro, helping someone in trouble—don't overthink it." I knew he wasn't cold-hearted; his sharp tongue was just his defensive weapon.
"You better check those hunks of scrap metal carefully, Tan." He gestured with his chin toward the stark white camera poles standing tall alongside the road. "This province isn't like Bangkok, where you can walk around holding a protest sign and get away with it. Guiyang is a real-life open-air prison. Here, they raise a monster called Skynet on every street corner."
I was caught off guard by this new piece of information. "What do you mean?"
He rested his heavy hand on the steering wheel and turned to stare me in the face. "Do you know that when you were protesting in Thailand, the leaders gave you several chances before thinking about getting rid of you? But here... those cameras are smarter than any undercover agent in the world, and they won't give you a second chance."
I was stunned, looking at my older brother in confusion. Was he insulting me or warning me?
“The cameras don’t just memorize your face; they memorize you down to your bones... the way you sway your hips when you walk, or even the twitch of a muscle when you lie. Those algorithms can calculate it all into a conduct score. If you misstep or break a sweat at the wrong moment, the alarm at the police station will go off instantly. And within two minutes... you’ll be snatched away into a building with no windows.” He whipped his face back toward the road, acting as if he didn't care.
Juyeon immediately retorted, “He’s right, Tan. Here, they control every step you take, but it’s traded for convenience.” She spoke with eyes as still as ice. I felt it instantly—the protests I had joined in the past were just kindergarteners practicing how to shout.
“Do you see now that I actually know what I’m talking about? Even the North Korean girl admits it,” Jetdoe smirked. “They don’t manage people with laws here; they manage them with Social Credit... If you don’t have enough points, you won't even be able to buy a train ticket. Especially if that intern girl is ‘trash’ in a system like this—taking just one step is like poking them in the eye.”
I swallowed hard. The bravado from a moment ago vanished, replaced by a crushing weight of pressure… “Are you saying we have no way out at all, Bro?”
“That’s why I told you not to act tough. Let her go and let’s just head back home,” Jetdoe said, looking me straight in the eye. His sharp gaze held nothing but genuine concern.
“But if she was really being tracked by the central government, we wouldn't have survived all the way to Guiyang,” I countered.
“I think the same as you, but it’s better to take precautions,” Juyeon supported immediately. “We have no way of knowing who is behind all of this, but I can guess they are someone with great power.”
From steep mountain ranges and tunnel after tunnel carved through the peaks, the elevated roads stacked in multiple layers like veins crossing the valleys... Both sides of the road began to thicken with skyscrapers and the futuristic buildings of massive Data Centers, standing tall amidst the curtain of mist and dim neon lights. It was a city that looked like it had been pulled straight out of the future, yet it was cradled by dark green limestone mountains, giving off a feeling that was both cutting-edge and oppressive at the same time. It was a concrete jungle so modern it was chilling... and the Skynet system we feared was watching us from every dark corner of those buildings.
“Pshhh! Pshhh! Clunk!” The trailer truck pulled over to the side of the road on the outskirts of the city. He cut the engine and turned back to give my shoulder a hard slap.
“Tan! I know you well. You’re the kindest person I’ve ever met in my life. But this decision will define the rest of your life forever. Think carefully, little brother.”
He hopped down from the truck, leaving me to stare at the Korean woman I had just met for the first time last night amidst an uncomfortable silence.
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