the art of naming the night

chapter 5:extraordinary status

Sergio Q. had once wondered if anyone else had a countdown appearing on their arms.

Now, it seemed his speculation had become reality.

How many time travelers were there? Hundreds? Thousands?

There must be no shortage of people who had traveled from Earth to this world, considering that this prison alone housed two of them, not to mention the world beyond its walls.

"The new guy seems interesting, probably a fool," someone mocked as they watched the crumbling youth, laughing, "I heard he got sentenced to 7 years for tax evasion?"

"Anyone who dares to mess with the tax collection agencies these days is nothing but a fool..."

Sergio Q. looked towards the source of the voices, spotting a young man with mechanical legs. The man, seeing Sergio Q.'s gaze, smirked and said, "Hey, newbie, are you ready?"

Laughter erupted from the crowd.

Sergio Q. frowned but ignored them, turning his attention back to the youth surrounded by drones. He had seen him before.

Sergio Q. was 17 years old, a junior at the City L. Foreign Language School.

And the distressed youth was a sophomore.

This made Sergio Q. wonder if the proximity of their locations before traveling affected their destinations after, bringing them closer together here as well.

Another thing Sergio Q. noticed was that everyone here spoke Mandarin, without a single dialect in sight.

At that moment, robotic guards were charging up the stairs, leaping five steps at a time with the distinctive sound of hydraulic transmissions.

The young man was now crying uncontrollably.

Normally, encountering a fellow townsman in a strange place would give one a sense of security.

But Sergio Q. didn't feel that way. Looking at the youth on the verge of collapse, he realized that "fellow townsmen" might not always be of help but could sometimes be a burden.

Not everyone could remain calm when faced with this new mechanical civilization for the first time.

Sergio Q. stood still, surveying the prison fortress.

The nine robots that had just rushed in from the outer gate were now taking the panicked youth away.

The plaza downstairs was spacious, divided into several areas: a dining area, a fitness and entertainment area, a reading area, a video area, and so on...

And around the edges of the plaza were four large steel gates.

Suddenly, Sergio Q. froze. He noticed three people had appeared at a dining table in the plaza below, seemingly out of nowhere.

A middle-aged man in his forties sat there, while two young men, all smiles, flanked him, looking up with interest at the prisoners above.

In front of the middle-aged man was a chessboard set up with an endgame scenario.

Most astonishingly, beside the chessboard on the table, lay a cat dozing off, its paws tucked underneath. It was grey, with tufts of fur pointed at the ears, resembling a lynx but not quite.

A Maine Coon.

Cats in prison?!

Sergio Q. was taken aback. His attention had been on his "fellow townsman," so much so that he hadn't noticed when these three people and the cat had arrived at the plaza.