Top edge chapter 5

The macho men hotel

his skin seemed to be immune to pain.

The damp clothes stuck to his body made Shen Siwei uncomfortable. The coat didn’t serve any purpose; it just made him look a bit better.

There were only Klet and Shen Siwei in the car.

After leaving the music square, several off-road vehicles separated at the nearest intersection. The others went to other areas in the city center, while Klet drove Shen Siwei to familiar roads.

It was the same road Shen Siwei took before.

“Where are we going?” Shen Siwei asked.

“I’m sending you away,” Klet’s response was not surprising.

Outside the car window, a large AI cleaning vehicle was dealing with the bodies of two robbers and scattered small robot parts by the roadside. The shop owner must have thought it was a sign of bad luck and closed the door, no longer in business.

Shen Siwei knew that Klet’s answer meant refusing to negotiate, but it didn’t mean he had to turn back.

“It’s pointless for you to send me away,” Shen Siwei looked ahead calmly, “I’ll come back anyway.”

 As long as Shen Siwei wanted, he could find various ways to come back unless Klet personally guarded the roadblock, watching it for twenty-four hours.

The massive off-road car suddenly stopped, and caused Shen Siwei’s body to lean forward because of the impact.

He thought Klet stepped on the brakes to make a bold statement, but it turned out that the man casually lit a cigarette, and then… looked at the red light ahead.

There were almost no vehicles passing by on the road. When they came, Barn ran the red light all the way.

Honestly, Shen Siwei didn’t think there was any need to wait for the red light here, but it seemed that Klet was more law-abiding than he had imagined.

“Did you enjoy what happened just now?” Exhaling a puff of smoke, Klet held the cigarette in his left hand, casually resting his arm on the car window, turning his head to look at Shen Siwei.

The four windows of the off-road vehicle were not closed, creating an open environment inside the cabin. The oxygen mask isolated the faint smell of tobacco, and only the deep voice of the smoker reached Shen Siwei’s ears.

“I didn’t enjoy it,” Shen Siwei said in a flat tone, “but I have a negotiation task.”

“No negotiation,” Klet bluntly dropped two words, stepped on the accelerator, and continued driving towards the city outskirts.

“Why?” Shen Siwei asked.

Klet replied, “Boring.”

Clearly, Klet didn’t want to gain any benefits from the upper class, or perhaps, they couldn’t give him what he wanted.

They encountered another red light ahead, and this time, Klet directly stepped on the accelerator and drove through it.

Shen Siwei suddenly found his previous thought of him being “law-abiding” somewhat amusing. It seemed that this person only stopped at the red light to find an opportunity to light his cigarette

“If you don’t talk to me,” Shen Siwei turned his head and looked at Klet, with a hint of threat in his tone, “I’ll talk to Barn.”

Shen Siwei had to stay in the city in order to carry out his investigative mission.

Of course, he didn’t want to deal with Barn , but if klet insisted on sending him away, he could only resort to that..

From the atmosphere just now, it seemed that Barn didn’t think highly of klet as the boss. And klet probably didn’t want Barn to have contact with the negotiator, so as not to cause him trouble.

Sure enough, just after Shen Siwei finished speaking, klet stepped on the brakes again.

But what Shen Siwei didn’t expect was that with just that simple threat, klet actually pulled out a gun from his waist and pointed it straight at him.

Why is he so irritable?

Shen Siwei furrowed his brows slightly and calmly stared at klet’s hand movements, but something unexpected happened.

The gun muzzle didn’t aim at his head as Shen Siwei had expected, but was raised in front of him and a shot was fired out of the car window.

The shell coming from the barrel, and a faint breeze brushed Shen Siwei’s cheek.

Having long been accustomed to gunshots, Shen Siwei didn’t even blink his eyes. He instinctively followed the direction of the bullet and saw a woman holding a baby standing several meters away on the sidewalk, with a dead refugee in front of her.

The bullet hit the refugee’s head, and blood mixed with brain matter sprayed onto the woman’s face, making her stare wide-eyed and tremble uncontrollably.

The woman held a bag of medicine in her hand, and the child in her arms didn’t look well. Judging from the situation, she must have taken the risk of bringing the child out for medical treatment.

As for the deceased refugee, there was no need to guess, he must have caused trouble for the woman.

“Pick up his gun,” klet tilted his head and spoke to the woman across Shen Siwei outside the car window. “Shoot anyone who bothers you.”

The woman obediently picked up the refugee’s gun and continued to stare at klet, as if waiting for further instructions.

But klet obviously had nothing else to say and impatiently asked, “Why aren’t you leaving?”

Only then did the woman organize her thoughts, quickly holding the child and left.

Shen Siwei knew that Klet was helping the woman.But after saving a person, he started swearing. It was just like running through the red light earlier. Every time Shen Siwei felt that Klet might not be so bad, he would soon find out that he was wrong and that he acted entirely based on his own temperament.

“What did you say just now?” Klet put away the gun and looked at Shen Siwei, asking.

Apparently, Klet didn’t hear Shen Siwei’s threat at all.

But at this moment, none of those things mattered to Shen Siwei.

He shifted his gaze from the woman’s figure and frowned as he asked Klet, “Is she carrying a newborn baby?”

“Yes,” Klet flicked away the cigarette butt in his hand, “Is there a problem.

Originally, there were two core power stations in the Tree of Life, one built on the top floor where the Marg people lived, and the other in the sea outside the East District’s walls.

Fifty years ago, the sea-based core power station was destroyed by a deep-sea monster. Since the monster would attack humans, the power station could not be repaired and had to be abandoned.

The energy supply in the Tree of Life dropped, and it was during that time that a series of energy-saving policies were implemented by the upper levels, including the termination of public transportation in the lower levels after 8 p.m.

On the other hand, due to the extended human lifespan, the population inevitably grew substantially.

With a decrease in energy supply and an increasing population, a new energy crisis was almost foreseeable.

At this time, the Marg people came forward advocating for everyone to sign the “Declaration of Refusal to Reproduce” to ensure the long-term use of existing human energy.

The current interests obviously outweighed the future interests of the race, and everyone in the Tree of Life unanimously agreed to sign the “Declaration.” Everyone injected sterilization drugs, and from that moment on, there were no newborn babies in the Tree of Life, nor were they allowed.

“How could she be pregnant?” Shen Siwei asked the question in his mind.

He thought this was a consensus among all people, but Klet showed a surprised expression. He raised an eyebrow and taunted, “Are you still living in the previous century, negotiator?”

Shen Siwei calmly asked, “What do you mean?”

“In recent years, there have been newborn babies, and measures are currently being put in place ,” Klet adjusted his sitting posture to observe Shen Siwei’s expression clearly, “How come you don’t know about this?”

Klet’s words contained a lot of information, and Shen Siwei couldn’t ask directly, so he had to analyze it himself.

It seems that the human body is constantly adapting and evolving, eventually breaking through the limitations of medication. With an increasing number of newborn babies, the upper levels cannot directly order their extermination and can only discuss new strategies.

Wait a minute.

Exterminate… newborn babies?

Suddenly, Shen Siwei’s nerves seemed to be pricked by needles, and vague flashes appeared in his mind.

Before being cryogenically frozen, his life had no connection with the term “newborn baby.” He should be quite unfamiliar with this concept.

However, for some reason, he had a feeling as if newborn babies were on the timeline of his memory, and they were very close to the time he was cryogenically frozen.

“Negotiator?” Klet’s voice brought Shen Siwei’s thoughts back.

Shen Siwei dismissed the fuzzy fragments in his mind and said casually, “I don’t pay much attention to these matters.”

Klet nodded thoughtfully, seemingly accepting Shen Siwei’s statement. But then he suddenly asked, “Did you receive any military training?”

The topic came too suddenly, and Shen Siwei’s mind hadn’t completely detached from the newborn baby yet. Without much thought, he denied, “No, I am a civilian.”

“Is that so?” Klet looked at Shen Siwei with a meaningful gaze, “But you seem quite accustomed to the sound of gunfire.”

Caught.

Only then did Shen Siwei realize that he had exposed a flaw.

Klet had just fired a gun in front of him, and he remained calm without even blinking, clearly indicating that he was not someone unfamiliar with guns.

Before Shen Siwei could figure out how to defend himself, Klet suddenly stepped on the accelerator, turned the steering wheel, and made a U-turn with the off-road vehicle.

“Where are we going?” Shen Siwei asked.

“I’m taking you to a hotel,” Klet glanced at Shen Siwei, and his deep eyes held a hint of curiosity, “Don you want to leave?”

Fine.

Now Shen Siwei was very certain that Klet had become suspicious of him.

But that was fine.

He accidentally exposed a flaw, making Klet doubt his identity. At least now he didn’t have to think about how to stay any longer.

Before long, the off-road vehicle stopped in front of a deserted hotel.

Shen Siwei got out of the car wearing Klet’s coat and looked up at the hotel sign. It turned out to be a self-service hotel.

The hotel had outdated facilities and was empty. The lobby flickered with dim neon lights, giving off a very cheap vibe.

Shen Siwei couldn’t help but wonder if Klet thought he couldn’t afford a better hotel or if he simply didn’t think he deserved one.

The thought flashed through his mind, but Shen Siwei didn’t dwell on it. After all, Klet was someone who didn’t play by the rules, and his thoughts were impossible to figure out.

“Come here and register,” Klet walked over to a LCD screen. Whether it was because he thought that Shen Siwei was an “old-fashioned person” or not, he asked, “Do you need me to teach you?”

Of course, his “kindness” sounded more like sarcasm.

“No need,” Shen Siwei wasn’t really an old-fashioned guy. He clicked the “accommodation registration” button on the screen but didn’t proceed further. Instead, he lifted his head and stared straight at Klet.

There was a line indicating where to queue one meter behind Shen Siwei. Polite people wouldn’t lean next to someone while they registered their identity information, blatantly trying to peek.

But Klet was completely oblivious, he lifted his chin and urged, “Continue.”

Now Shen Siwei finally understood that the reason Klet brought him to the self-service hotel was to check his identity.

His wrist approached the scanning port, and with a “beep,” his identity information immediately popped up on the screen.

—Of course, it was a fake identity.

“Ivan?” Klet crossed his arms in front of his chest, still lazily leaning against the screen.

He probably didn’t find anything suspicious and didn’t want to make the identity check appear too serious. He looked back at Shen Siwei and said something utterly meaningless, “Hello, Ivan, I’m Klet.”

Shen Siwei couldn’t be bothered to play along with Klet’s childish social game.

He continued to select a room on the screen but found that there were no other guests in this hotel.

This wasn’t normal.

Perhaps some of the refugees had their own places in Zone Z of the western city, but the vast majority of them shouldn’t have a fixed residence and would stay in hotels.

Moreover, this was a cheap hotel without a defense system, and most could even stay here without paying.

“Why are there no guests here?” Shen Siwei asked.

“It’s normal,” Klet said, “self-service hotels don’t have special services.”

Shen Siwei was puzzled, “Special services?”

Klet raised an eyebrow and once again gave Shen Siwei a look as if he were an old-fashioned person.

“Or,” he asked, “would you like to try a macho-themed hotel?”

Shen Siwei: “…” So that’s what it meant. Special services equaled adult services.

He withdrew his gaze expressionlessly and continued operating the display screen, “No need.”