SOTOPIA: Artificial Pseudo-God

When she returned to the apartment after get off work, Caroline was sitting in front of the TV watching a handicraft program. The host's exaggerated expression, tone and exquisite craftsmanship really caught the eye.

Steven saw the brown paper bag on the low table at a glance.

"What is this?" He put the coat he had taken off aside, frowned and picked up the strange thing.The contents inside seemed damp, with some water stains showing on the paper bag.

"I don't know. I heard someone ring the doorbell and went to answer the door, but I only saw this at the door."

"Don't be so defenseless next time, what if it contains dangerous goods?" He complained, but his tone was soft and gentle.

The manila bag was unmarked, save for "To Mr. Krebs" scrawled in black marker on one corner.Frowning, he carefully unsealed the staples.Inside is a magnetic tape, on the white label, apart from the Arabic numeral "3" that looks like a serial number, there is also a line of words written in the same handwriting as the outside of the paper bag: For the man who seeks the truth (Forthemanwhoseekthetruth).

Alarm bells rang out in Steven's heart.He subconsciously glanced at Caroline who was still focused on the TV screen, picked up the things in his hands and walked into his bedroom.He dug out the Walkman that hadn't been used for a while from the drawer, plugged in the earphones, put the tape in it, and rewound to the beginning of the tape.The frictional sound of the plastic belt as it turns, and the somewhat distorted electric sound at the beginning of the recording, bring people back to that decadent and fanatical era in an instant.

Soon, Steven hears what the mysterious messenger wants him to hear.To be precise, this is a tape of telephone calls.As the reel in the tape continued to rotate, his face became more and more ugly, until there was a "click", and the tape turned to the end.Finally, he pressed the stop button roughly.

For a moment, Steven wanted to throw the tape from the apartment window into the street, and let the speeding cars run over him.He was pacing up and down the room like a grumpy bear.A few minutes later, he called Maynard.The content is concise and to the point, and the tone is decisive.

His first words were "Maynard, I'm resigning".The second sentence is "the third tape missing from the scene is here with me".The third and final sentence is "Mr. Greert has a problem".

"You're following me." The blond young woman was still wearing the black long-sleeved coat she wore when she went out, and her hair that was raised when she took off her hat hadn't been combed neatly.Her green eyes stared at the few photos that were taken on the table, and there were some complex emotions that could not be described in detail in her calm eyes. Others who did not know the inside story could not understand whether it was disappointment or guilt.

The red-haired cohabitant didn't look at her, but sneered at himself with his arms folded, and the index finger on his upper arm tapped unconsciously and quickly.

Kay is taller than Jacqueline and has a more solid figure. When her hair is tied up, she looks lean and powerful, reflecting an aggressive aesthetic.But by this time, unaffected indignation has transformed this temperament into an almost self-defeating pathos.

"You are Sotopia lurking in the LAPD." She said bluntly, with unspeakable sadness brewing in the blue eyes similar to Jacqueline, and even her usually calm voice trembled. "I'm going to tell you on."

Jacqueline was still standing in front of the table near the porch, not even putting down the hat in her hand.Her eyes moved, and her expression froze in the scene of hesitating to speak.She didn't raise her head to meet the furious Kai, and even when the other couldn't hold back her anger and pushed her to the corner for questioning, she just moved her lips without saying anything.

Some sundries were placed in the corner, which made Jacqueline's calf ache.During the pushing, a long umbrella and several cardboard boxes were knocked to the ground, making a dull sound.

Kai stared at her tightly, his red eyes seemed to cry in the next second. "Did you work for them in the first place, or were you bought later?"

Jacqueline was still staring at the photos on the table behind Kay that had been snapped of her entering and leaving the crime scene in disguise.After a long silence, she whispered, "I will leave here." After a few seconds, she finally raised her head and met Kai's eyes. "You can arrest me for that, too."

Kay froze.She dejectedly let go of the hands that grabbed Jacqueline's shoulders - the clothes on the other party were already wrinkled in this small conflict, and the back and hair also rubbed a lot of wall dust.Both of them were in a mess, both outwardly and inwardly.

"You go, move away as soon as possible." Kay took a few steps back, threw herself back on the chair, raised her arms to block her eyes, until the weight of her limbs caused strange light spots to appear in front of her eyes. "I won't report you to Maynard."

She heard Jacqueline whisper "thank you" before going into her room.

Waking up from the chaotic memories of more than half a month ago, Kay found himself lying on the steering wheel, surrounded by sparse vehicles on the open-air parking lot of the nursing center.She is still on a mission commissioned by Maynard.

"God, what did I do then." She buried her head in her arms, the skin under her emerald eyes slightly blue from the fatigue of the day.The departure of Jacqueline, the appearance of Moskevich, the strange movements of Roberts, the mysterious envoy from the headquarters, the bizarre hijacking of the Fuxing Building, and the man-made car accident that killed the Meyers several years ago, all these There is no doubt that it is logically related, but the inside story is murky.

The existence of Sotopia itself is already a huge mystery, but she, Steven, and even Maynard, who is the middle-level person in charge, are just pawns used by the top management to play against Sotopia.The unavoidable risks and the embarrassing situation of being in the game but knowing nothing have become the tacit common difficulties among these chess pieces.Sometimes, when she gazes at the picture of Jacqueline on the wall of her apartment, she even thinks about the delicate relationship between Steven and Moskevich — although the differences between the two groups are obvious.

From a distance of more than ten meters, she noticed the actions of Alexander who had just walked out of the gate.The man walked out of the gate of the investigation center, carefully observed the surrounding situation (although this place is theoretically in the FBI's alert area), and then walked to the ordinary car he parked in an inconspicuous corner.

Kay had done preliminary research on the car.Since it was a stolen vehicle from the FBI's local branch, she was unable to track down more information through the owner's information; as for "Alexander", his ID seemed flawless, but his identity was too innocent.For this reason, she deliberately bypassed Roberts' eyes and ears in Los Angeles, and retrieved the personnel information of the original department involved in the official files, but the result of the inspection was "no such person was found."

There is no doubt that whether it is Roberts Greert or Alexander, there may be not only doubts on him, but also irrefutable stains.

Alexander drove the car out.Kai looked at the cursor on his laptop computer that started to move along the road, and after ensuring a distance of more than [-] meters between the two cars, he started his tracking task.

She placed a GPS transmitter on Alexander's car—although it may not have played the most critical role.The car in front seemed to realize that he was being followed, and held Kay around the huge Los Angeles with great interest.The traffic in the bustling urban area is congested, and the blocking time is even longer than normal traffic, which makes Kay, who claims to be full of patience, feel restless.Across the traffic, she couldn't directly witness Alexander's situation, so she could only use the cursor on the screen to judge the location.

Soon, Alexander's car returned to Kay's familiar track—that was the road leading to the Los Angeles Regional Bureau, but he didn't stop at the branch.Keeping a certain distance, Kay followed the car in front and drove into the underground garage of a shopping center near the precinct.It was dim, and she had to turn on the headlights.

She quickly spotted the vehicle she was following.An ordinary-looking black car was parked in a corner of the basement, and the people in the car did not move for a long time.Kay drew his sidearm and rushed quickly and cautiously to the driver's seat of the car.She slammed the door open and pointed the gun at the driver.

There was only one stranger sitting in the car, and the mobile phone he was holding in his hand fell to the seat in fright.He raised his hand reflexively to the gun in Kay's hand, trembling with fear.

Kay froze.She immediately came back to her senses, held the gun in one hand, and took out her ID card in the other: "FBI, where were the people in the car just now?"

Inexplicably frightened by the foreign driver who was involved in danger, he raised his voice. The thick accent made Kay almost unable to hear what he was saying: "I don't know! I'm just a driver! The agency just arranged this order for me, I just drove this car!"

"Shit!" She couldn't help cursing, and angrily turned on the intercom system to contact Maynard for a report. "Damn it, we've been played on both sides."

And this was the last time Alexander appeared before her eyes.