Act.2 · [Manual Tractor-ski]

Foreword:

Deceptive friendship is a painful wound, and false sympathy is a sharp, poisonous arrow.

[--Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov]

[Part 1: The Soviet Palace]

In the distance, nestled among the mountains, stands a magnificent palace.

Its base has four square, equilateral high walls, resembling layers of cake, divided into nine tiered palaces. Above that are twin towers facing each other. On one side is a sculpture of Albert Einstein raising his arm to the sky, while the statue on the other side is damaged and appears to be a portrait of a Soviet leader.

That is the Soviet Palace.

--The main building of the Albert Research Station.

The armed train wound its way down the mountain railway and into the spiral depression of the Grand Canyon.

Meteor leaned against the car window and saw the flickering lights at the bottom of the valley and the large statues of the Twin Towers.

He tugged at Xue Ming's sleeve, asking questions like a curious child.

"Ming Ge, why build a research station in a place like this? The environment here is too harsh. Aren't scientists supposed to be delicate and frail intellectuals? What if some terrible monster escapes from Niflheim? Wouldn't all these highly skilled people be doomed?"

"Because dark matter engineering requires this kind of environment." Jiang Xueming pulled Meteor closer and pointed to the city's scientific research monitoring base station. "Meteor, look—our motherland also has this kind of equipment, located about 8,000 to 10,000 meters underground. It can isolate most of the noise from outer space, allowing us to monitor and observe dark matter in this absolutely quiet environment. In addition, we also have a dark matter satellite working in conjunction with it; its name is [Wukong]—isn't that amazing?"

Meteor clung to Xue Ming's side, asking curiously, "Ming Ge, where did you learn all this knowledge?"

"Read more books and newspapers. I only know a little bit," Jiang Xueming explained. "The name of the Albert Research Station should refer to Einstein. During the Cold War, apart from nuclear physics, the Soviet Union wanted to steal a sliver of divine power at the gates of the land of death. This research station was their last remnant."

The meteor said, "But it failed."

Jiang Xueming: "It's not 'it,' it's 'they'—meteors. They were never a particular flag, a symbol, or an object; they were a group of people. It was humanity that created this city."

Meteor asked in surprise, "Could it be that this research station wasn't built by the BOSS and the giants?"

"It's a typical Soviet architectural style." Jiang Xueming's dark eyes reflected the blue glow of the buildings. "There are no porticoes or roads for giants to pass through. The dimensions of the palaces, buildings, windows, and doorways are all designed for humans. It's very similar to Armenia in the remote South Caucasus region, where many Soviet-era architects showcased their artistic sensibilities in this small country."

At this point, the train is about to arrive at the station.

On the platform's approach bridge, you can also see human-shaped staircases on both sides.

Jiang Xueming said, "Look, this is the design of the Socialist Ladder in Yerevan."

Bu Liuxing asked, "Ming Ge, how come you know a little bit about everything?"

Jiang Xueming vehemently denied it. "No, I was doing renovations for [JoeStar] before, so I took some time to research the architectural styles of various countries. The Soviets aesthetics had a kind of aloof and cold temperament, which left a deep impression on me. I couldn't forget it after just one look."

As the train slowly pulled up in front of the research station platform, after more than forty hours of travel, the group finally arrived at their first destination.

As soon as Jiang Xueming got off the train, he saw hordes of soldiers rushing up from both sides of the lonely railway tracks, filling the armed special train once again. In less than a minute, its iron wheels began to spin again, rushing towards the boundless Sauvage of Red Star Hill.

Su Ling Xue Ming, "These people are soldiers from the Guangling Zhixi Xue Ao Troops. We hitched a ride with them—this should be the last train. Before the BOSS gets through the harvest season, apart from the two transport teams I mentioned, no other trains will come here."

Xue Ming: "Understood. What do we do now, Leader?"

"I'm going to buy some things. You wait here for the contact." Su Ling grabbed Xiao Qi, pulling her apprentice away from the handsome man and dragging Xiao Qi's soul back to the cold reality.

"We'll split up. Meet at the Red Nail Hotel." Xia Xia grabbed 3301's sleeve and Xue Ming, "Don't stray too far from the railway line. There are no satellite signals or electromagnetic signal base stations here. You'll have to call us by landline if you want to contact us. Stay with your contact."

The two VIPs rushed out and disappeared without a trace in no time.

Only Xue Ming and Liuxing remained on the huge platform, along with a pile of luggage.

Bu Liuxing made an assumption, trying to guess the VIPs' thoughts from the most malicious angle.

"Ming Ge, is it possible—I mean, is it possible—that Ms. A Ling simply didn't want to carry her luggage and made up an excuse to go shopping?"

Xue Ming carried the luggage of the two distinguished guests and walked towards the exit.

"No need for assumptions, they made it very clear, it was practically written all over their faces: '[Girls should do the hard labor,'"

A Xing scratched his head, grabbed Xia Xia's large iron box, and couldn't lift it for a while. Then he mustered all his strength, his face turned red, and finally he held the long, smooth, rectangular iron box, which was more than 1.5 meters long, in his arms and walked forward shakily.

As soon as the two stepped out of the station, they saw the training ground and drill ground in front of the Soviet Palace.

There were few people on the open-air avenue, mostly security guards. The city was constantly battered by cold, strong winds, and the outdoor environment was not suitable for human habitation.

Then a thin young man approached Xue Ming and greeted him.

"Hello, are you from Nine Realms Station?"

He was a boy, only about twenty-five or twenty-six years old. Xue Ming would have to call him "brother" when he saw him.

This man had a timid expression, spoke cautiously, had eyes like two pieces of jade, a head of dry, golden hair, sunken cheeks, prominent brows, and bulging temples.

It's like being in a state of neurasthenia for years, having to grit your teeth and persevere, but not being able to eat high-quality fats; the jaw muscles on both sides of the skull are well-developed, but there's not much oil on the cheeks.

Xue Ming extended his hand. "Hello, comrade, what's your name?"

It seems this is the liaison officer that Ms. A Ling was talking about.

"Diamond." The young man first reached out his hand, then hesitated and nervously withdrew it. He wiped his hand clean on his cotton sweater, and as if it wasn't clean enough, he took out a bottle of wine from his clothes and used the wine to wash the grease off his hands. His skin was red from the cold wind, and you could see the cracked lines. Finally, he shook hands with Xue Ming's warm hand.

Xue Ming: "Is he Russian?"

Diamond was stunned for a moment--

--Then he mentioned his Russian name.

"Dear Comrade! My name is Avde Vladimir Glunia Veronka Diamond!"

Xue Ming: "Okay, Brother Dai, my surname is Jiang, you can just call me Xiao Jiang."

Diamond immediately emphasized to Xue Ming, "Comrade, do you think my name is too long and complicated to remember?"

Xue Ming told Liuxing, "Just call him Brother Dai."

Meteor said with a grin, "Hi, Brother Dai! My name is Bu Liuxing! What's your zodiac sign?"

Diamond didn't think much of it and Xue Ming.

"Xiao Jiang, come with me. There's no public address system here. We're going to the place Iason agreed to meet."

Who is Iason?

Meteor started to feel confused when she heard this unfamiliar name.

It wasn't until Xue Ming discerned a clue from the other person's Russian accent that things became clear.

He explained to the meteor.

"This is another transliteration of [Jason]. Dai Ge is Russian, and there are regional differences in interpretation. It's normal for them to like to break down words into their sounds."

"Oh! I thought I made a new friend!" Meteor hurried forward, clutching her luggage.

The three of them plunged into the snowstorm and headed towards the East Street of the Soviet Palace training ground.

Diamond was a talkative man. He was 1.88 meters tall and stood like a resilient poplar tree in the gale. He took a woolen hat out of his bag and handed it to the two passengers, then began to talk about Jason.

"After Iason returned to the research station, he remained as strange as before; his illness was still not cured."

Xue Ming took the woolen hat and put it on his head, tucking the earmuffs into the thick fur collar.

"He has a mental illness? You mean nervousness? Then it's definitely not cured."

Just as Meteor was about to speak, poisonous ice flowers flew into his Barry, causing him to spit out several mouthfuls of saliva.

Diamond covered his mouth and nose and shouted, "It's not just nervousness, Comrades-in-arms—this guy also has delusions!"

Xue Ming pressed further, "Tell me in detail?"

The three of them were moving very slowly. Without Teacher A Ling's protection, Xue Ming and Liuxing felt like they couldn't move an inch in these terrifying Dashan.

Diamond gasped for breath and walked about three hundred meters before finally having a chance to speak.

He always dreamed that a beloved girl was waiting for him here.

"What?" Xue Ming's eyes widened, struggling to understand the meaning of those words. "What did you say? Brother Dai?"

Diamond, acting as a parrot, replied, "I said! Iason! This time he went back to the research station to Red Star Hill to find his sweetheart, but that girl doesn't exist! I've never seen her before!"

Xue Ming leaned close to Dai Ge, wanting to get to the bottom of things.

"You mean, Wendy Mills is a fake? She never existed in the first place?"

Diamond didn't know what to say; he'd never even heard the name before. He simply recounted Jason's past to Xue Ming.

"Three years ago, he came here alone, procuring equipment and weaving clothing. He was going to the Red Star Hill outpost to complete a VIP trial mission. But for some reason, he kept saying that there was an attendant helping him with errands and tasks—the people at the research station all thought he was crazy."

Diamond pointed to his head and gently tapped his temple with the back of his finger.

"He's mentally ill."

This is not an insult.

--It's more like calmly stating the facts.

"Iason was a good man. He was older than me and told me many historical stories when I was feeling discouraged. He said I was a brave and savage Russian, a descendant of the Soviets, and that I would surely overcome the snowstorm—but the girl or the Soviet Union he spoke of may have died before I was born. I don't have Inspiration insight, so I can't see the ghosts in these history books."

Xue Ming was surprised. If the cook's sweetheart had simply disappeared, there were clues to follow, whether he was alive or dead.

What if Wendy really is, as Diamond says, a figment of Jason's imagination?

He hesitated for only a moment, then continued resolutely forward.

What else can we do?

Let's take it one step at a time.

[Part ②: Fake Friendship, Fake Loyalty, Fake AK]

Let's go to the hotel and find out first. If the secondary objective of this trip can't be achieved, there's still a primary objective: to help Jason complete his unfinished mission.

Diamond talked the whole way.

"I'm a surveyor in the engineering section. My job is to drill tunnels. I've been drilling in this place for thirteen years. Actually, the engineering section and the entire organization are practically on strike. Except for the dark matter detection research institute, which is still operating, the engineering work has long since come to a standstill. When I was born, my mother died in childbirth. My father thought I wouldn't live past seven months, so he abandoned me at the Red Fingernail Inn. The owner took me in, and I've been doing meaningless things with everyone else."

Xue Ming: "Meaningless?"

"It's literally meaningless. Most of the industrial facilities here have been acquired by Ming De. The coal used for boiler heating has been replaced with nuclear power. We, the younger generation, can't find suitable jobs. The talent in research institutions is all brought in from outside. Occasionally, someone will go to Sky Station to study and seek knowledge, and then never come back. But Albert Research Station needs people, even those who are just waiting to die." Diamond's tone was dejected, but his expression was resolute. "If the population of the entire research station falls below a certain threshold, the terrifying spiritual pressure from Niflheim will destroy the lonely spiritual world of the researchers in the research station—we are like a human wall surrounding them. Ming De gives us supplies and currency, and sends in new movies and games, just in case we leave."

Brother Dai smashed a path through the wind ahead, allowing the two juniors to take cover behind his tall, thin body.

"If we also leave, I'm afraid this Soviet Palace, with its more than seventy-year history, will become a ghost town, a historical site many, many years from now. Although I don't know who built it, to be honest, I feel lost every time I see it. It existed before I was born, and perhaps even after I die, I won't know what it was used for."

Xue Ming asked the key question, "That Iason, you knew Jason three years ago?"

Diamond answered immediately.

"That's right. I've been working very hard, fearing that one day Ming De will weaken and be unable to distribute supplies and money. In that case, our station will probably be the first to die out—it's hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest human habitable trade transit station."

"I kept digging and digging, drilling down with the drill bit, hoping to find more gabbro to send to Ming De as the base material for their pyroxene project. That way, I could at least be of some use and not become a casualty when the station system faces a huge risk. When a company encounters a financial crisis, aren't the first to be laid off the departments that are just coasting along? Don't you agree? That's what I learned from the movies."

"But my work group and foreman didn't understand my ideas. They called me [Diamond who only knows how to dig holes] – they isolated me, ostracized me, and treated me as another kind of labor thief. Every payday, when I could exchange gabbro for more money and supplies, people would come to extort me, threatening me with knives and sticks."

"Three years ago, Iason helped me get rid of these people. I saw him beat sixteen men to a pulp with his bare hands, and then he told me— Wendy Mills did it."

"I don't understand, I just think this guy is strange, but also very capable."

Walking onto East Street, protected by the buildings, the wind subsided.

Xue Ming returned the woolen hat to Brother Dai.

"Thanks."

Diamond put away his hat and continued leading the way.

"You're welcome, Comrade General. I can speak Chinese; I've been studying it for a very long time. I know that China and the Soviet Union are like brothers, but you don't seem to like Russia very much. I haven't figured out the difference between the Soviet Union and Russia yet. When I have the opportunity to study at the Great Library, I will definitely understand."

Xue Ming wanted to say something, but couldn't bring herself to speak.

Diamond continued, "Iason said the same thing to me: if I have trouble or difficulties, I can ask the Chinese for help. You like to calculate favors rather than repay them with money. You are clever, cunning, and gentle. The clever part is that favors are hard to calculate; you will never let go of any advantage you can get. The lovely part is that once you accept a favor, you will definitely remember it, and if you can't repay it, you will probably feel guilty for a very long time."

Meteor immediately grinned and said, "Definitely! Brother Dai! If anyone dares to bully you in this area, I'll be the first to object!"

The three walked towards the Red Nail Inn.

Diamond continued.

"The last time Iason came to this place, he haggled with the people in the city, trying to buy chariots and winter clothes. After all the workshops stopped, there were still artisans in the clothing, food, and housing trade trying to make a living. The prices they quoted to outsiders were all outrageous—he knew these tricks, so he made his own winter clothes and asked me to ask someone at the steel mill to get him an old chariot. Iason and I clearly repaired this chariot together, but he said it was Wendy Mills who was very skillful. The clothes we were wearing were all made by Iason, but he said it was Wendy Mills who was intelligent and kind-hearted—in short, he often talked to the air, he kissed the air, he embraced the air."

Diamond paused at this point.

"Occasionally, you can still hear him sleeping in the hotel, sounding like he's sleeping on air."

Jiang Xueming's brain went blank for a moment.

"What exactly do you mean?"

Diamond blushed, like a shy boy who had never been with a stranger before.

It means exactly what it says.

After saying this, the Russian man strode forward and knocked on the door of the Red Fingers Hotel.

A blast of warm air rushed out from inside the door, and as soon as Diamond entered, he was grabbed by a large hand.

A burly man with a fat head and big ears, wearing a white vest and overalls, grabbed Diamond.

"Isn't that our scab Diamond?!"

The burly man grinned, a cigarette between his fingers, his mouth full of yellow teeth interspersed with bits of vegetable and meat.

"How many stones have you dug this month? How much money have you made? Are you trying to insult us with money?"

His thick arms gripped Diamond's neck tightly as he questioned him aggressively.

"Diamond? Why did you choose a Western name? Like a sparkling diamond? Or have you become a lackey of capitalism, toiling away like a zombie for the Ming De Corporation? Have you long forgotten our lofty ideals?!"

Diamond looked like a chicken being choked, his face turning bright red.

"Let me go, let me go. Let me go."

He weakly patted the burly man's arm, feeling the savage and powerful strength of the working class.

The burly man just pouted, his eyes full of innocent curiosity as he pressed on with questions.

"I can't hear you! I can't hear you at all! Start over! I can't hear you!"

Jiang Xueming pulled a gun out of his pocket--

--The moment the AK12 was revealed.

About thirty-one people on the first floor of the small inn pulled out guns from under the tables and pointed them at the unfamiliar guests standing in the snow outside the door.

These disheveled men all held AK-47s in their hands, with stamped receivers and mahogany stock, very old-fashioned.

People started screaming when they saw the weapon in Xue Ming's hand.

"What kind of freak is that?!"

"That gas duct! That handguard! That Picatinny rail!"

"Why would anyone add so many tactical modifications to an AK?!"

"My God! By Gun Jesus! What an utterly evil devil this is!"

Meteor didn't dare to breathe. They weren't wearing bulletproof vests, Flash Butterfly Armor suits, or heavy armor. The thirty-odd guns in the hotel could definitely kill them.

Xue Ming first put away the gun and then spoke to Liuxing.

"Relax, what these people are holding are just models. There are no bullets in the guns, and no complete firing mechanism—they're just a bunch of wooden and scrap metal made to look like replicas."

Upon closer inspection, Meteor could occasionally see the cold sweat of guilt on the faces of these bluffing fellows.

The burly man at the head pulled out a kitchen knife, grabbed Diamond by the neck, and spoke coldly to Jiang Xueming.

"You're from the Nine Realms Station too? You're not welcome here, get lost."

Xue Ming pulled out a stick, ready to beat someone up.

Meteor immediately shouted, "Put my friend down first!"

The burly man immediately exclaimed, "This guy's your friend? Diamond! You've actually become friends with passengers at the Nine Realms Station? Good heavens! I can't believe it! How could you do such a thing?! Deceitful friendship is a painful wound, and false sympathy is a sharp poisoned arrow! You've betrayed our hearts!"

Diamond's fingernails dug two red marks into the burly man's arm, but he still couldn't speak.

The burly man continued to scold.

"First you dug tunnels in the mines, stealing the legacy of our Soviet ancestors, and now you want to associate with these shameless and ungrateful passengers. Just how many bad things have you done, Diamond? How many more times are you going to hurt us comrades?"

He put Diamond down and spat on him freely.

"Our supplies have dwindled again this month! Do you even know that?! Ming De is exploiting us like this! It's all because of you! Because you sent gabbro to the station—these greedy bastards want to promote you as a labor idol and force us to work our lives in the mines! Otherwise, we'll starve! We'll die!"

Diamond was finally able to breathe. He felt that his fellow citizens were incomprehensible, as if they had been breathing dioxins for a long time and lived in an area with abnormal spiritual pressure, and were close to going mad.

"No, no, no! That's not how it is!"

Xue Ming forward with his stick, but Diamond immediately stopped him.

"No! No! No! Comrade! Don't hurt them—they're just like Iason! They're sick! If we live in a place like this for twenty years, we'll all get sick!"

Right now, at this very moment.

Jason slowly walked down from the second floor.

His face was gloomy, as if he could suck all the beautiful things into his wicked eyes.

The men on the first floor immediately dropped their arrogance upon seeing this fierce-looking man, as if they had been thoroughly beaten up by this Western petty bourgeois more than once.

Jason's footsteps on the solid wooden floor on the first floor were enough to shut up these noisy "comrades".

Xue Ming immediately began packing her luggage, handing one of the bundles to Jason.

Jason saw Diamond, simply nodded, took the bundle, checked the winter clothes, and Xue Ming.

"Diamond didn't tell you anything strange, did he?"

Xue Ming has always been straightforward.

He said you're a two-dimensional person, Wendy Mills is a virtual idol costume in your head.