Love Code at the End of the World

I looked at my dad with confusion and he sighed, saying, “After you went missing, we went through a lot of investigations. The cameras at the parking lot were severely disturbed by electromagnetism, so there weren’t any records. But, the scientists found some sort of… photon movement where you disappeared. The Chinese Academy of Sciences believes that there was a wormhole, but our relatives refused to believe it and insisted for us to receive psychological treatment. Heh…” He shook his head and continued, “Your disappearance hit your mom hard. She was diagnosed with depression. The psychiatrist suggested for us to have another child to redirect her attention. So, that’s how he came about.” My dad pointed at Loki.

“What do you mean, ‘came about’?! I’m not an object,” Loki pouted. “I grew up in the shadow of a sister I never met named Luo Bing. Mom always boasted about how outstanding and amazing my sister was. She wanted me to become a scientist to find my sister. I lived my entire life for you!” Loki huffed, aggrieved.

“Loki, be polite to your sister!” My dad yelled again, returning to his dignified self.

Loki looked away unhappily, complaining, “She only appeared today! I don’t know her. She wasn’t here when something happened to Mom, too. I can’t be nice to her!”

“B*stard!” Dad raised his hand, wanting to hit him. I immediately stopped my dad, saying, “Dad, he should be angry at me. I’m angry at myself too. We’re going to see mom now. Don’t let Mom see us arguing. Mom dislikes seeing us argue the most…”

My dad and my younger brother fell silent, and the car continued forward. I looked at the city outside the window. It looked so familiar, yet foreign. The speed of technological advancement on Earth was astonishing. Maybe the people living on Earth didn’t feel that way, but it had been twenty years since I’d last been here. The changes I saw were tremendous.

The smart robots that had once only appeared on entertainment shows were everywhere. They’d become traffic police, drivers, recycling workers on the roadsides, and the like; but of course, they were of a different level compared to Ice Dragon and Noah. Still, robots had taken over a lot of high risk jobs for humans.

Cars were installed with smart emergency brake systems too, which could greatly reduce the occurrence of car accidents.

I couldn’t help but ask, “There are smart emergency brakes. How did Mom get into a car accident?”

“There are different levels of ‘smart’ too. Plus, don’t you know that we Chinese love knock-off versions? The other person’s car was crappy and broken. That ridiculous mother and daughter pair!” Loki complained, slamming the steering wheel angrily.

Soon, we arrived at the hospital. The Central Hospital was even bigger than it had been twenty years ago, and it was fully refurbished. The car park had been relocated from the basement to a raised area, and robots were responsible for parking cars.

We rushed into the elevator and I saw that the walls had been replaced with LED screens playing news. The news was showing a major discovery from NASA. “NASA is doing a detailed investigation of the damage to their base on the moon. It was reported that the last image taken by the base station before the damage shows a cloud of mysterious glowing objects…” The screen was immediately filled with a cloud of blue lights, and I was stunned.

“As for what the blue glowing object was, the scientists from NASA have yet to give any explanation. This is possibly the clearest report of a mysterious alien object appearing for the first time in human history…”

“How was that alien driving? It even knocked into America’s moon base,” my younger brother complained, pouting.

My dad added seriously, “It must be unfriendly…”

“About that…” I spoke, and both of them looked in my direction. I pointed at the cloud of blue light, saying, “That’s me.” Both of them looked at me, gawking. I coughed into my fist, explaining myself. “Ahem. I knocked into it… by accident…”

“It was you?!” My brother pointed at my face in disbelief. He looked at me suspiciously, saying, “No way! If you have such advanced technology, you should go and save mom!”

Dad was shocked, reprimanding him angrily, “Loki! Do you want your mom to see you behaving like this?! We have to accept reality! There’s no superpower that can revive the dead!” Loki’s eyes grew dull as he lowered his face in agony.

“Ding.” The elevator door opened. He was the first one to rush out.

Dad let out a heavy sigh, and I went forward to hug his shoulders. He was only over sixty years old, but he looked as if he were in his seventies. His hair was all white… My heart was broken. My handsome dad had become a hunched old man. What responsibility weighed down on my dad, who used to be a mountain?

Dad led me forward slowly. He couldn’t fight back his tears, saying, “Your mom… will definitely be very happy… to see you… She can die in peace…"

“Dad…” My tears flowed out uncontrollably too. I couldn’t believe that mom would leave me just like that…

We arrived at the ICU, and Loki was standing at the door. He glared at me. He lowered his face, opening the door and saying, “Go in. Cousin brother-in-law is going to remove the tube for mom soon…”

Tube removal…

I immediately barged in. I saw mom lying on the white sickbed, with tubes all over her body and in her mouth. The middle-aged woman sitting next to mom’s sickbed, wearing a police uniform, stood up in shock. Next to her was a middle-aged doctor.

“Mom…” My tears flowed down like rain, pouring toward mom’s sickbed. I held her scrawny hand and my throat was dry. I held her hand gently, as if it were going to shatter if I were to squeeze it too hard. I said, “Mom… I’m back… I’m back… Wake up… Look at me… Would you look at me…”

“Lil’- Lil’ Bing?!” The woman sitting across the bed exclaimed in surprise.

“Mom won’t look at you because she’s brain dead!” Loki cried angrily.

“Hong!” My mind went blank as I stood next to the sickbed.

“Why are you here?!” Suddenly, the woman across the sickbed yelled, “Go away! Go!”

“What?! Hey! The police officer is rude! She’s going to hit us!” A sharp voice resounded from the door. Who was interrupting my mom’s sleep?! Anger churned in me and I glared at the door.

“Cousin, ignore them!” Loki stopped the middle-aged policewoman.

I looked at the woman. Cousin?! My cousin became a police officer?! The cousin who once led me into a perverted world became a police officer?! Anything can happen in twenty years.