*Pinnacles National Park*
3:00 PM, California
After approximately two hours of driving, Martin finally arrived at one of his favorite places in California, the Rocky Cave Park. Initially, Martin only intended to take a light tour around the area, but he couldn't stop thinking and restrain his desire to experiment and verify the credibility of "Aegis." Thus, he decided to head directly to one of the places he frequently visited with his family: Pinnacles National Park.
Martin began walking, and after purchasing a ticket, he continued up the mountain path before selecting a random rock to sit on. The humidity was high, and the temperature was about 30 degrees Celsius, but that didn't matter to Martin. He continued sitting, aimless and lost in thought, as time passed by. Martin did not notice that, a few dozen meters away from him, four young men of African descent were sitting and looking at him as a potential target.
Among them was a skinny, short young man whose body was covered in several tattoos. This young man said, "Hey Diesel, look at that white fool over there; he looks like a rich guy..." The large, dark-skinned man named "Diesel" responded with a wicked smile on his face: "You're right, why don't we go over there and ask him for some pocket money..." The large man replied with a sinister grin.
Before the four young men smiled and quietly walked towards Martin as if they were casually strolling in the area.
While Martin was lost in his thoughts, four shadows of different sizes appeared behind him. The skinny man named "Smokey," putting a knife to Martin's neck, said, "Hey there, young man, why don't you come with us behind the mountains so we can have a little talk…"
Due to his anxiety and distraction, Martin didn't notice the four individuals until they were at least 10 meters away from him. The path was already blocked, and it was too late to escape; Martin had only two options: the first was to use the gun, but that wasn't an ideal solution at the moment since he had run out of bullets yesterday and forgotten to reload it that morning before setting out. Therefore, Martin had no choice but to scare them and take a gamble.
Martin stood calmly, trying to move towards the place the skinny man had asked him to go, while subtly widening the distance before they reached the edge of a dangerous cliff. One could say that falling from it was certain. The skinny man removed the knife from Martin's neck and said, "Alright, that's enough; there's no need to worry. We are good people. You can hand over everything you have and leave… or else, I think the view down there is quite beautiful, don't you think?" The skinny man said, a dirty grin on his face.
Martin turned around quietly before looking around carefully and pretending to be extremely scared, "Alright, do you promise that I will leave unharmed if I give you everything I have?"
The four young men sneered before one of them replied, "What a coward… alright, there's no need to cry. Hand over everything you have, and I promise you'll leave alive…"
Martin calmly put his hand in his pocket before pulling out his unloaded gun and aiming it at the big man.
"Step back quietly... You're dealing with the federal police…" Martin calmly took out his brother Elon's badge, raised it, and shouted, "Guys, we've got the target, aim your snipers…"
The four young men raised their hands high, beads of sweat pouring down their faces, and their heartbeats racing. "Damn it, Steve, you fool, I told you we needed to stop this stuff! We've been tracked, and a trap has been set!" Smokey said, beads of sweat falling from his face.
They had been, along with their companions, engaging in these activities to make a living for a few months and did not expect the federal police to set a trap for them. Smokey and his friends didn't realize that no one was actually aiming at them from behind and that Martin's gun was completely unloaded, and Martin's gamble had indeed succeeded due to the rugged geographical conditions they had chosen.
At that moment, Martin looked at the four young men of African descent before smiling a sly smile. He had been thinking of a way to test the program for an hour and didn't expect to meet four of society's scum to serve as his test subjects.
"You, throw down your ID cards and place your hands on the ground…"
The four of them placed their hands on the ground before throwing their IDs to Martin. Martin took the skinny man's ID, glanced at the name, opened the "Aegis" app, and then entered the others' information one by one.
Name: Smokey J. Jackson.
Cause of death: Suicide by jumping off the cliff.
Name: Diesel Whitaker.
Cause of death: Suicide by jumping off the cliff.
Name: Thomas Fishtown.
Cause of death: Suicide by jumping off the cliff.
Name: Steve Crosby.
Cause of death: Suicide by jumping off the cliff.
Set the time to death: 30 seconds.
Martin's pulse started racing while the app updated. "Ding, the command has been executed."
29 seconds… 28 seconds…
15 seconds… 10 seconds… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1 second.
The four men's eyes turned foggy, and they seemed to have been hypnotized and started slowly moving towards the cliff's edge.
Martin continued watching them as they jumped one after another… without any attempt to resist, and his heart kept pounding violently. A mixture of bitterness and joy flooded his emotions simultaneously. Watching four lives end like this made Martin feel a sensation he couldn't explain…
An overwhelming sense of guilt rose before a strange ringing interrupted him.
"Ding, the death command has been successfully executed."
"The target has passed away…"
At that moment, Martin put his gun in his pocket before walking quickly and sitting for a while in a public place to avoid suspicion.
"This… damn it, everything is real…"
"They really died… this is the world I've always dreamed of, and it can be achieved…"
Suddenly, a mad smile appeared on Martin's face, and his heartbeat raced wildly.
"Damn it, calm down, Martin, calm down… there's still the obstacle of needing to capture the footage…"
Boundless thoughts began to swirl in Martin's mind before he stood up and decided to leave.