In Queens, New York, at 11:25 p.m., Lin Li strolled alone down the streets, still wearing his black coat and smart glasses.
However, he had pulled the hood attached to his coat over his head, hiding the tentacles connected to his neck and temples. They were appendages of a creature transformed from a seagull, linked to the nerves in Lin Li's brain and spine, allowing the two to share each other's senses.
As Lin Li experienced the creature's senses, he realized that the world was different from before. He could hear cars speeding by several streets away and see the electromagnetic waves that were everywhere in the air. Waves of different lengths and frequencies appeared as different colors to him—a perception beyond the trichromatic vision of human eyes.
The sheer volume of information should have overwhelmed his brain, causing it to overheat and suffer damage within seconds. But now, after being processed by the tentacles, it was simplified into images and sounds he could understand.
Combined with his brain, which had always been devoid of emotion and unlike that of ordinary people, Lin Li could now build a three-dimensional simulation in his mind of everything within several kilometers, with himself at its center. It made him seem even more like a biological robot.
Lin Li thought, Tentacle monster, I can certainly sense more things now, but how am I supposed to feel other people's memories, like your master said?
An exasperated voice rang out in his mind. Don't call me Tentacle Monster. I gave myself a name. Call me Abu Kapo Amoeba! And you're my master now. That was my former master!
Lin Li replied without the slightest change in expression, "All right, Abu."
"You! You're driving me crazy! But you can't get angry, so now I'm even angrier!"
Lin Li's black coat seemed to stir slightly in the evening breeze. Abu, hidden inside his clothes, was wiggling its tentacles.
Abu had now become a thin, round pancake, nearly the same color as Lin Li's skin, wrapped around his back. A small pink sphere sat in the middle.
That was its thinking core. Hundreds of other tentacles extended from it, connecting to Lin Li's internal organs and the muscles and bones throughout his body.
Abu grumbled in Lin Li's mind, "Don't underestimate human technology. We can't let humans discover us yet, so even if I let you experience emotions, we have to avoid the surveillance devices. The chance of me being detected is small, but it's not zero."
"Just as I can talk to you through my tentacles, I can use them to read people's thoughts in real time, though I can only connect with up to ten people at once. If I link you to someone, you'll be able to feel their sensations and emotions."
After hearing Abu's explanation, Lin Li understood. He nodded and replied in his mind, "So we're going to a bar. The bars and nightclubs in Queens belong to local gang bosses. They have an arrangement with the police, so there's no government surveillance there."
There were plenty of gang bosses like those in Queens throughout New York. They controlled bars, nightclubs, and other entertainment venues, ran businesses in the gray areas of the law, and took in many people with nowhere else to go.
Things weren't like they used to be. With artificial intelligence and a drone defense system, the NYPD could wipe out these gang members without even leaving home. Most criminal gangs had become little more than the police's lackeys.
But with the enormous wealth gap, countless people were unemployed or homeless. These destabilizing elements couldn't simply be eliminated, so the gangs became an appealing refuge for them.
The entertainment venues became a lawless zone understood by both sides. People seeking excitement came here to indulge desires they couldn't satisfy during the day, and many white-collar workers showed a side of themselves they kept hidden in the bars at night.
"Right," Abu said. "And alcohol stimulates their brains and releases their emotions, which will help you experience them."
A few minutes later, Lin Li arrived at a bar in the next district over. Its neon sign, glowing bright purple in the dead of night, read Breifne; it was clearly visible from far away.
Imaging devices mounted on either side projected brilliant lights and dancing women outside. Several people in black suits stood by the entrance, checking everyone who came in for concealed firearms.
Lin Li took off his hood. There were no surveillance cameras here like the ones found everywhere in residential areas, and Abu's disguise could easily fool these seemingly professional gang members. Human senses weren't all that effective, after all.
Lin Li entered the bar with ease, wearing the same slightly excited, carefree expression as the other patrons. Beneath the dim, flashing lights and the deafening music, he made his way to the counter amid the shouts of the crowd, ordered a martini, and headed to a booth as if he knew the place well.
He didn't understand emotions, but he could imitate them. Drawing on what he'd observed in his coworkers, Lin Li could easily act like a charming, high-income young bachelor who'd come to a bar to unwind and look for a one-night stand after a stressful day at work.
In just a few minutes, several pretty girls had gathered around him. Lin Li clinked glasses with them again and again, downed the expensive drinks, and occasionally hugged and kissed one of them. The girls' laughter and his own rang out, drowned beneath the bar's music and chatter.
There were no cameras. The setting was dim, the lights flashed, and alcohol had made their minds foggy. Abu's tentacles had already connected to the girls' heads without making a sound, reading their brain activity.
Lin Li held a Latina woman close with his left arm and kissed her passionately. Abu's transparent tentacles continually sent him her emotions and physical sensations.
Lin Li felt as if he now had two separate minds. One half of him was acting without the slightest emotional fluctuation; the other was filled with desire, stirred by alcohol and hormones.
So this is what it feels like.
For the first time in his life, he felt an emotion—desire for his own body. It almost made him feel something strange. Unfortunately, the emotions he sensed had been borrowed from the girl beside him. He was still the same puppet-like person he'd always been.
They parted. In the dim light, the Latina girl gazed at the man before her. Her wheat-colored skin was flushed, whether from the alcohol or from the lack of air after kissing for so long.
She had just felt as if she and this man had become one during their kiss, something she'd never experienced with anyone else. She no longer wanted just a free drink and a one-night stand. In those few dozen seconds, it seemed she'd already fallen in love with him.
Lin Li felt her "love," along with the various thoughts and emotions coming from the other girls. For a moment, it was as if he'd split into several people.
The next moment, a bald white man walked over with a bottle and slammed it down on the table in front of Lin Li.
A tattoo of Tom Cat covered his arm. He raised his fist in front of Lin Li and said menacingly, "Hey, kid, your first time here? Look at those scrawny arms of yours. The ladies don't like skinny monkeys."
Abu's tentacles connected to the man's brain. Lin Li felt the man's mind, soaked in so much alcohol it was like it had taken on water, and his courtship drive overflowing like that of a rooster. He reached out and casually pushed the man's arm aside. The bald man lost his balance and landed hard on his backside.
The bottle tipped over, leaving Tom Cat sprawled in a puddle of liquor. He sat on the floor, looking at the girls laughing loudly beside him and Lin Li gazing down at him with scorn. Blood rushed to his head. He got to his feet and swung at Lin Li's face.
"You bastard! I'll kill you!"
This time, Abu didn't need to read his thoughts. The man, furious over his failed attempt to court the girls, shouted out every emotion he felt, completely forgetting the strength Lin Li had displayed when pushing his arm aside.
Abu's voice rang out in Lin Li's mind. "Anger, alcohol, the desire to mate, and the humiliation of failure. When emotions run wild, they can turn a Homo sapiens into a stupid beast. Right now, he's no different from a male monkey."
Lin Li kept a mocking expression as he watched the bald, burly man. After forming a neural link with Abu, he thought and moved dozens of times faster than an ordinary person. He could even study the man's expression in detail as he swung his fist, while savoring his anger and shame in his mind.
Lin Li's expression turned into a smile. This simple but powerful emotion was easier to understand than the complicated, vague feelings of the girl before. It seemed he could finally grasp what emotions were.
"Thanks."
His lips formed the word. The foolish white man couldn't read lips, but Lin Li still meant to express his gratitude.
Lin Li's right hand struck the incoming fist at superhuman speed. The collision ended in the man's utter defeat. His wrist and knuckles were crushed; his fist bent backward at a 180-degree angle, and his face twisted from anger into agony.
"You bastard! You bastard! My hand—it hurts like hell!"
Watching Tom Cat writhe on the floor, Lin Li carefully felt the fear and terror brought on by physical pain, along with the girls' complex and shifting emotions—fear, awe, admiration, and more. Once again, he smiled from the heart.
The bald man, still rolling on the floor, caught sight of the Asian man's expression and shuddered. Pain finally cleared the alcohol and blood from his head. He'd picked a fight with the wrong person.
Tom Cat rolled over, jumped to his feet, and hurried out of the bar.
The men and women still embracing and indulging their desires paid no attention to the commotion. Hormones sparked brawls here several times a day. As long as nobody died, no one cared.
Lin Li sat back down among the girls. He picked up his glass and gulped down the liquor. His brutal display had made the others wary of him, so none of them acted as casually as before. Only the Latina girl he'd kissed so deeply continued to gaze at him with adoration.
She wrapped her arms around Lin Li's and leaned close to his ear, shouting, "Lin, you're amazing! You knocked down a guy that big with one blow!"
Lin Li put down his glass, pulled her into his arms, and smiled. "Yeah, I've trained in martial arts. You could send five more like him, and I'd take them all down."
His smile now seemed genuine. Unlike his false act before, Lin Li had begun to feel something after experiencing emotions. He was gradually becoming human, leaving his puppet-like existence behind.
Lin Li looked at the woman in his arms. She had healthy, wheat-colored skin, an unremarkable face, and a few tiny freckles on her cheeks. He asked, "What's your name?"
"Galina Yate. I'm at xx Community College..."
Lin Li interrupted her introduction, lowered his head, and kissed her deeply again. They embraced tightly as he carefully tried to understand the feeling—something he'd never experienced when he was with Aierxue.
He asked Abu in his mind, "Is this love?"
Abu replied, "Romantic love between men and women arises from humanity's reproductive drive, but it's more than just a hormonal desire. It's a special and complicated emotion. It can even make people give up their most basic instinct to survive for someone else..."
Lin Li: "Get to the point."
Abu: "I've never been in love. How the hell would I know?"