It was the year 2100. Lots had changed since the 21st century for the humankind. Change... truthfully, humans were always cycling themselves in the past. As an old Chinese proverb went, "A long separation results in unification, and a long unification results in separation.". By the end of the 21st century, the human world was dominated by 3 major powers: Asiana, which originated from the Asian continent and was formed through a long bloody struggle between the Sun Empire and the People's Republic; Europia, a byproduct of the European Union; and the last one was the smallest, yet the most interesting power, Euphoria, an artificial island which formerly belonged to the Earth Robotics Company. After the destruction of the Americas in 2059, refugees fled to this island, and since developed and flourish this spot of land in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.
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The great war between the Sun Empire and the People's Republic ended with half of Asia covered in toxic nuclear waste. The only habitable area was far north, where Mongolia used to be.
Xijing was the new capital of Asiana. It was an enormous concrete and steel bunker capable of surviving a direct nuclear attack. Under hundreds of meters of armour, Xijing was the largest underground city that ever existed: it had a population density of 1000 people per 100 meters squared, a depth of more than 60 kilometres below sea level, and a layers system similar to Hell. This system allocated the population in such a way that the poorer you were, the closer to the surface you would live. It is a reasonable design: there's no point in sacrificing important leaders at the sake of class diversity within the society.
East Wind is the largest and only party ruling this toxic land of pollution. East Wind was the successor of the Red Party of the People's Republic, after Yi Jin, the 20th leader of the Red Party, started the largest inner party purge ever after the great war. This resulted in 900000 citizens being deported to labour camps in the coastal wastelands. Under Yi Jin, the Red Party was reformed into the East Wind Party.
As all the posters said, "Keep raging, wind; bring destruction to those who are the people's enemy. On the eastern horizon, a new sun is rising. It will shine through the poisonous mist, it will brighten this world. East Wind, the one and only."
"One and only..." muttered the young boy, "the only one."
Zone A, the top layer of Xijing. The streets were scattered with used fuel cans, broken vehicles, and trash from the underground cities. There weren't many pedestrians around. Most citizens were sheltered away at home, probably fearing the possibility of being buried permanently under a fallen trash hill. The boy, who was about 18 (he wasn't sure when his last birthday was), was staring at the propaganda poster of the party. He checked around him for security cameras, then spit bitterly below the poster (there were sensors on the posters).
Like many of the youngsters in Zones A-F, he was one of those rebellious boys who would soon be sent to the Education Centre and return as a completely remodelled person who loves the party dearly. Teasel took out a small notebook made of scrap paper. One month left... until he would be sent to the Education Centre. To him, it was like a wait for his death sentence, but there was nothing he could do.
"The Party forgives. They will make enemies into friends who'll sacrifice their lives for The Party without a second thought."
Teasel kicked a broken tire on the ground, and pain shot up his foot. Pain... just another sensation he'd lose after the Education. He hated it, but it was one of the few things that proved he was alive. The boy walked down the narrow path between the trash hills. There was one last thing he needed to do before his death/rebirth.
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"That's why I hate these new portals," Mary complained as she stepped out of the swirling purple vortex into a small alleyway. "Every time when I'm teleported, I feel about to vomit."
"You'll get used to it," Jelly smiled at her friend. "Put this on." She handed a silver cloak to Mary. "We don't have much time here."
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The invisible cloak was one of the revolutionary gadgets that came with technological advances. It allows light rays to bend around it, reflecting a virtual image of the background to whoever looks at it. Mary wrapped herself in the cloak and automatically became invisible to the human eye.
"Good," Jelly looked at Mary through her infrared glasses which she just put on. "Do you still remember how to use the BD-X5?"
"Of course!"
Jelly opened her box and took out two pipes. She passed a simple security test, and a light cracking sound came from the pipes. They started to extend, forming two long barrels which each had a closed end and a large screen to indicate battery level. Jelly threw one to Mary, who caught the rifle-like object easily and twirled it around. "It's much lighter than the X4," she remarked.
"Yeah," Jelly attached the BD-X5 to a polymer holder on her left arm. "It is 50% lighter, and its probability calculations are insanely fast."
"Come on, let's go!" Mary rushed towards the exit of the narrow passage where they just teleported from the walls, "We must get 50 souls today!"
"Wait up!"
Zone L, one of the business zones of Xijing. Most of the individuals here are part of the finance sector. Unlike the streets of Zone A, Zone L's streets were packed with people. It was hard for the two devils to go through the crowd without exposing their existence by knocking into someone. Mary and Jelly stopped once they were at the centre of a road, "This is a good spot." Jelly pressed a red button on the barrel of the BD-X5 and pointed it a middle-aged man.
"Aha, That's someone who deserves to die. He's an officer of the Wind Pharmacy, who polluted the upper zones with pain killers," Jelly read out happily from the BD-X5 display panel.
"Take a shot," Mary smirked.
A low vibrating noise came out of the machine, and the percentage on the screen increased to 100. "Yup. He's dead."
The man hurried his way across the street towards a grand building that was labeled the Wind Pharmacy.
Nothing happened.
Then bam!
A large delivery truck rammed into the man's body at full speed as pedestrians backed away in horror. He was thrown forward like a ragdoll and landed with a sickening crack. His skull had fractured like an exploding watermelon. For a split second, the only sound to be heard was from the crackling flames from the businessman's remains. Then everything came to life again, with some people chattering indistinctly while rushing away from the scene, while others gathered around the ashes in the middle of the street.
"Ooof," Mary exclaimed. "That was lit!"
"I know, right?" Jelly smiled as the crowd started to gather around the dead body." The BD-X5s are much quicker and more reliable than the BD-X4s."
"Let me have a try!"
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The BD series were a collection of weapons specially designed to harvest human souls. However, according to the latest Hell-Heaven Treaty, page 1, line 1: "No member of neither Hell or Heaven is allowed to directly cause the death of a human." This maintained a balance between the number of souls each side could obtain as well as sustained the human population.
Since Hell was a highly mechanised world, there was always the problem of the growing energy gap. Until one day, a leading mathematician/psychologist (or the so-called Mentelprobabiligist) from the Infernal Institute of Technology, Mark Tsoi, found a loophole in the treaty which led to the development of the BD series. Basically, if a human was killed by their own actions, this wouldn't be seen as a violation of the treaty. BD was designed to detect the emotions of a human, then based on the surroundings, amplify the ones that would most likely result in the human cause his own death.
For example, take a person who is rushing to work. BD has the ability to strengthen his fear of being late. This will cause the person to have a higher probability of rashly crossing the road without looking at the traffic light, and the obvious will happen.
The genius thing about the BD series is that they are able to bypass the treaty by acting as an evil adviser rather than a killer.
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"Yeah," Jelly remarked tiredly as they watched the wreckage they had created. "Mary, sometimes, you should actually try and chill. You've caused more than 30 traffic accidents here in 8 hours."
"HEHEHEHE," Mary didn't pay much attention to Jelly's words, as she watched a party guard accidentally trip over a wire and get crushed by an ambulance.
"Seriously," Jelly stepped cautiously towards the over-aroused girl. "Mary, this is way too many deaths in one location. I know it's fun to watch humans die in tragic ways, but you might attract the attention of one of those annoying angels."
Hearing this, Mary suddenly stopped waving her X5 around like a madwoman. "Could that really happen?" she asked in uncertainty.
"Pretty sure it can," Jelly packed up her BD-X5 into its small tubular case. "Jenny was attacked by one three days ago. It took a whole gallon of structure plasma to mend all fifty cuts on her body."
"Fine," Mary unwillingly packed her tool. "That's why she should not transform into her dragon form when fighting those fast-moving opponents."
"Let's go."