Infinite Nightmares

Amidst the bizarre and motley dark web, upon its sprawling network of lines, Zhang Wenda was stunned into place by a single sentence from the drone before him.

"A world that defies logic is the cruelest of all. It can’t be analyzed, it can’t be studied, and it can’t even be understood."

extended his hand past the edge of the cat-umbrella, letting the horizontal rain stream through his fingers.

"You might not understand, but rain isn’t supposed to fall sideways. Gravity doesn’t allow it. This world shouldn’t have things like ’tides of thought,’ either—it’s not logically consistent. The sun should be high in the sky, not stolen by someone."

continued, "The world is not supposed to be this way. The mission of us in the Third Line is to get the entire world back on track. That’s the very reason we were founded."

Zhang Wenda couldn’t help but grow excited. ’I get it,’ he desperately wanted to say. ’I get it all too well.’

’I thought the people of this world had long grown accustomed to everything here—to this bizarre space and strange time. I thought I was the one overreacting, that the natives considered this all perfectly normal.’

’But now I see that’s not right! Everything here *is* wrong! Meat shouldn’t be hanging on a television! The Youth Palace shouldn’t be a subterranean creature!’

Nothing 2826 had done before was nearly as tempting to Zhang Wenda as these few words.

Just as Zhang Wenda was on the verge of accepting the invitation, reason forced him to stop. "Does everyone in the Third Line think this way?"

’He even wanted to ask who founded the Third Line, and if they were from the same place he was.’

seemed to sense Zhang Wenda’s excitement and continued, "Yes, the vast majority of us do. We just want to create a logical world. Nothing more."

Down on the translucent Floating Island, Song Jianguo watched the two of them talking on the network line, growing impatient. "Hey, are you two coming or not?"

Zhang Wenda glanced at him, then continued downward with 2826, remarking with a sigh, "Going to such great lengths... It seems you in the Third Line are desperate for a logical world."

nodded. "Do you understand why? It’s like when we were in school. We could accept being punished for not doing our homework. We could accept being punished for being late. But we could never accept being punished for entering the classroom with our right foot first."

As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeve, revealing three lines on his arm: the Yellow Core, the Red Core, and the Blue Core. His Red Core was indeed longer than Zhang Wenda’s, but his Yellow Core was noticeably shorter.

Then, he held the flashlight up in front of Zhang Wenda. "It’s not that we haven’t tried to understand and accept this world in the past. We’ve used all sorts of models and formulas to explain it, and we’ve even produced some research results. The emitter is one of them."

"But it’s not enough. It’s far from enough. All this strangeness seems endless. No matter how many models we study or theories we overturn, new, illogical things always appear."

"What we want is very simple. We just want one plus one to equal two. Not three, not a fried dough stick, and not some other random junk."

After saying all this, 2826 put the flashlight away. Without another glance at Zhang Wenda, he continued walking. "I don’t know how much of that you understood. Maybe it means nothing to you. But that is the reason I joined the Third Line."

"I’ve said what I needed to say. If you don’t agree, I won’t bother you about it again. To each their own; I can understand that."

After a moment of thought, Zhang Wenda said, "I’ll... think about it."

This time, Zhang Wenda was being serious. He was genuinely considering it. It wasn’t just because of the Third Line’s invitation, but because he was discovering that their worldview was more aligned with his own. He wouldn’t be a fish out of water there.

Besides, he needed to start preparing for his future.

’Since this world is so bizarre, where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? I have to make plans for myself.’

’After seeing the adult world—the buildings constructed by ’prefabricated people,’ the inability to feel happiness, the shackles on everyone—he knew he didn’t want to live in a place like that.’

But if he didn’t go to the adult world, he had no idea where else to go or what to do.

’If the Third Line could really change this world back to how it was, returning to the world he once knew would be the best possible outcome. Except for the 996 work schedule and all the overtime, of course.’

’Even if they couldn’t succeed right away, at least it would give him a benchmark, a way to know how far he was from the past he remembered.’

’Speaking of which, if the Third Line really does manage to fix this world, and if I’ve joined them, wouldn’t that make me part of the establishment? The pay for a job like that definitely wouldn’t be bad, either.’

Zhang Wenda couldn’t help but start mentally calculating the purchasing power of 120 bucks from the children’s world.

’Of course,’ he had to admit, ’2826’s masterful control of the Tri-Core was also something he wanted. What man could resist the allure of Extraordinary Abilities?’

’Returning to a normal environment, but with Superpowers and a high salary on top of it all... Nothing could be more tempting.’

He wouldn’t accept something for free if it was being shoved in his face, but if the other party was being upfront and honest—not making empty promises or trying to manipulate him, but offering a fair deal—then it was certainly worth considering.

If learning about the ’tides of thought’ had been like lifting a corner of the veil on this mysterious world, then this conversation had pulled it back even further. He instinctively wanted to know more, so much more.

"Hey man, how are the Third Line’s preparations coming along? When are you going to make this world logical? How far along is the plan?" Zhang Wenda asked curiously, catching up to the quickening pace of 2826.

"Confidential." Just like that, 2826 was back to his old self, as if the person who had just given that long speech was someone else entirely.

"Don’t be like that. Didn’t I just say I’m thinking it over? So, how far has the Third Line’s research into this world progressed? Particle collisions?"

"Confidential."

"...Damn."

Just as Zhang Wenda was about to ask another question, he suddenly felt the black umbrella in his hand grow heavy. Then, he heard a series of hisses coming from the cats that formed it.

"What’s going on? What is this?" Zhang Wenda cautiously turned the umbrella over. He saw chunks of a viscous, jelly-like substance clinging to its surface. It looked sticky and slick, and it gave off a rotten stench.

It wasn’t just on the umbrella. The horizontal rain was now mixed with these translucent, jelly-like blobs, which splattered down with the drops.

The moment 2826 saw the substance, he instantly grew tense.

"Watch out! These are the remains of atmospheric creatures! Something’s wrong! Stay alert!"