Vitalik's Sci-Fi Novel "Snow Moon" Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Viridia · 3724 Frosttime 5

Zei, Bai, Gradias, and Deng sat in a small enclosed cabin of the aircraft, Zei and Bai facing forward, Gradias and Deng facing backward. All four gazed quietly out the window, admiring the flat green landscape. The main visible features were a row of low hills and, in the background, the city of Merdan.

An alarm sounded. Only then did the four snap out of their daze and prepare to listen.

jo hen jei fe fei go de di mei dan du

"Gradias, your turn to translate!" Zei urged.

Gradias churned through his mind, trying to grasp the words as quickly as possible so he could give an answer before the next sentence began. After a moment, he blurted out:

"Everyone, welcome to Merdan, Viridia."

ti zun no tei li ze fo fi shi ci cin ho li ze ci bia tei gei ka fiu den min ba fia zui

"Local time is seventy-four thousand, temperature is seven degrees. It won't be long before the aircraft lands."

ti tei li dzai hen fe lo kin fe hai bun

"Now is a good time to enjoy the beautiful scenery outside."

hai ka sho kin ce fe fei go de bun ji dze kai zui liu

"Outside now, you can see the beautiful green plant-covered land of Viridia."

"Green plant scenery," Zei gently corrected.

biu ka di ge le bo gai dei li lia

"To the right are the Glebor Mountains."

cen hai ka ge le bo gai dei de dziu hai ka ce kin fe di mei dan du ci ti li sa dzu du fe fei go

"Far outside, continuing past the Glebor Mountains, you can see Merdan City. This is the capital of Viridia."

di mei dan du li bai

ci di mei dan du de jan zi li pa pi pa fi ha

ci dzen fe gi hie pen

"Merdan is a large city. Merdan's population is 1.1 million. It has many different districts."

dzu ka kin ce fe bia gai dei

ci fia sai pen ka dan fe gi jan

ci sei sai pen ka jen bin pei de pen li pai

ci mui dau fe ti li cin pin cu bun

"In the middle is a hill. The lower half has many homes, the upper half has government buildings. Climbing it is both joyful and beautiful."

gai dei de zei biu ka pai hui pen li bia

ci pai hui pen fei ka fei go de gi bai pai hui li lia

ci sa dzu pai hui li dzen fe ten min de bin dai cu man jei cu su kun gau

"To the east of the hill is the commercial district. The commercial district has many large companies. The main industries are computer software, finance, health protection, and so on."

gai dei de zei gei ka di ka lia mai pen li lia

ci ti pen li lu fe bai kai zun

ko ti dzen fe gi pui gau ji dan

"To the south of the hill is the Kalima district. This area looks like a forest, but many hidden houses are concealed within it."

gai dei de zei dzun ka gi dan pen li lia

co ti ka gi jan li san cu sun cu mo

ci ti ju fe gi kai de sai hui cu gi dau kin zun

"To the west of the hill is a very large residential district. Many people sleep, study, and eat here. There are many kinds of delicious food here, and many places worth visiting."

"Tourist attractions."

ti li tin bia pen fe di mei dan du de ce kin ji gi mui sun jui

ci di mei dan du fei ka ji gi shan jin tei ka jan ki su

te zen hu ka ki kia sin fe ti du

"This is only a small part of the many interesting things in Merdan. Even if a person lives in Merdan for many years, they will not fully understand the city."

jie fe lo cin pin fe lo di mei dan du cu fei go li bun

"We hope you enjoy the beauty of Merdan and Viridia."

"Well done. Only two months, and you're almost a local."

Zei paused for a moment, then slowly spoke again.

"ci jie fe lo cin pin fe di pa fo gai du"

"I really like Pafogai Du."

"I hope you can come back."

"Of course I will!"

"Wait, I just realized... Pafogai means 'Fourteen Stones'? Where did that name come from?"

"Think of the periodic table."

The aircraft stopped. Through the window, they could see a dozen large buses and cars approaching.

"The larger black one is ours. To protect our privacy, we will disembark last," Deng said.

Zei, Gradias, and Bai nodded. The four leaned back in their seats and waited.

About ten minutes later, their cabin door opened automatically. The four immediately stood up, grabbed their carry-on luggage from under their seats, and headed toward the front of the aircraft. As they passed through the aircraft, they could see that all the other cabin doors were already open and empty, with used blankets, empty bottles, and cups scattered across many tables and seats.

They left the aircraft through a doorway directly connected to a staircase, then entered a narrow room that was clearly also the interior of a bus. The room had an entrance they had just passed through, an exit on the other side, and two passage doors blocking the way in the middle.

Zei and Gradias stepped forward first. Each pressed their watch against the green circle on the side of the door they needed to pass through and looked at the camera ahead. After a few moments, both doors announced almost simultaneously: "Welcome to Viridia."

The doors opened, and Zei and Gradias stepped through. The exit at the other end of the room led directly into the interior of a large black car they had previously seen through the aircraft window. The two walked in and found another person already seated inside.

"Senator Verdo!"

"Welcome home, Gradias!" Verdo replied, his facial expression and tone warmer than any Gradias had ever heard from him. He immediately looked beside Gradias. "And you must be Zei."

"Nice to meet you, Senator."

Zei and Gradias had just sat down when Zei already heard the footsteps of Bai and Deng approaching. They too stepped through the opening and entered the car.

"You two must be Bai and Deng!"

"We certainly are," Bai replied.

"Well then, let's sit down. We have a lot of work to do."

All four took their seats. The opening connecting the car and the entrance room closed. Almost immediately they felt the car begin to accelerate.

"First, Gradias, I have some very good news to tell you."

"Oh, what is it?"

"It seems we know where Lily is."

Gradias's eyes widened.

"Sera went to great lengths to contact me, and she told me the whole situation. Zwen kept in touch with Lily, and she admitted to him where she is: she has crossed into the Arctic-occupied zone, in the Northern Woodlands."

"Then we scanned information from all surveillance cameras—the ones you cleverly suggested the Zhegoans hack. A few days later, we found her. She's at some kind of boarding school established by the Arctics. About one kilometer from Great Plum Harbor."

Gradias sighed. "At least we know where she is. Getting her out of the Northern Woodlands will be difficult, but at least Febrik and Hreida are there too, so we can rescue them all together."

"Yeah, if you really want to go, you could go to the Northern Woodlands now—though the gates of Great Plum Harbor are still closed."

"The Arctics recently began allowing two-way communication and travel between the North Shore and other parts of Viridia. They've opened clinics in the Northern Woodlands, offering some of the most advanced treatments to extend lifespan and enhance performance. It seems they've decided to try to make Viridians voluntarily join the Arctic Empire by offering us their shiny technology."

"That's a good strategy."

"Zei, what's your line? Is it convincing to manipulate someone into doing something by showing them how it serves their interests?"

"Efillion would certainly see it that way. Of course, Silka would be furious, saying they're hiding the hidden costs—if you can live longer, but it depends on continuous infusions of Arctic-patented drugs, you'll be dependent on them for life, you'll become their slave. Though Efillion would say, being dead—in a coffin, unable to move a single muscle or think a single thought—is the worst slavery of all. And this isn't just true for one person; it's true for a civilization as well."

"If we want Viridia to succeed and prosper, we must find a path that synthesizes both. We can acknowledge that the Arctics do some things well, and their pursuit of a radically different bright future can be a healthy motivator. Viridia's North Star cannot simply be maintaining the status quo, supplemented by less greed and better social bonds. We need to make real progress and absorb the good parts, not the bad. We need to recognize success and reward it."

"But first, we must give ourselves breathing room. That means defeating the Arctics on the North Shore."

"Exactly. To do that, we must be willing to learn from the outside—from our enemies in the Arctic Empire, from our friends in Free City and Zhego."

The car slowly came to a stop. After a moment, the door opened, leading directly into the interior of what appeared to be a government-run hotel.

"Friends, get a good night's sleep. Zei, Deng, you two have something big to do tomorrow morning. After that's done, we'll meet again to discuss the big plan. Viridia will rise again."

Gradias and Zei got out of the car first. Almost immediately, Gradias saw a woman waiting in the far corner of the room. She turned toward him and began running toward him with open arms.

It was Sera.

Merdan, Viridia · 3724 Frosttime 6

Zei sat in a chair, the gaming console before him looking very similar to the consoles he had played all Mingpeng Tai championship games on. The main difference he could see was that this time, there were no anti-cheat detection drones buzzing around.

He put on his headset and glasses and spoke into the microphone.

"Can you hear me, Deng?"

"Yes, loud and clear. I think I'm in the room right below you."

Zei playfully stomped his foot.

"Can you hear that?"

"I only hear you through the headset."

"I think your soundproofing is pretty good!"

"Alright, Zei, let's go through the entire operation again."

"Location: Red County, Presidential Residence. Objective: Rescue our target—the President's son, Tafindel. Strategy: Our insider gets the target onto the balcony, we fly in, drop a rope, have him tie it around his waist, grab on, and fly out before the Arctics can react."

"Right, that's the main plan. What about the contingency plan?"

"If Arctics appear—soldiers or drones—we shoot them. If he doesn't come out to the balcony, there's no backup plan, we're done—if our drones have to land directly on the building, they won't survive. If the drone carrying the rope is shot down, we have a second drone, and even other combat drones might be able to pick up the target again, though their design isn't as good for it. The only dangerous window is if the drone is shot down within moments of grabbing the target—then the backup drone won't have time to dive in and catch him before he hits the ground."

"What's my responsibility?"

"Oversee the main plan."

"What's yours?"

"Oversee combat and contingency operations."

"Mu, are you there?"

"Yes, I'm monitoring reconnaissance. I'll make sure we learn about any unexpected developments as quickly as possible."

"Mu, how are you here!?"

"Zei, I was on the same plane as you yesterday. Just in a different cabin, in a different car into the city. Privacy precautions."

"Well, I'm glad to see you! Or, at least, hear your voice."

Through the glasses he was wearing, Zei checked the various numbers on the display.

"Fi le gei tau fa," he shouted, imitating the announcer's voice counting down at the start of every Mingpeng Tai match.

Then he consciously adjusted his emotions and focused his attention on the battle about to begin.

Zei stared intently at the screen. The drones drew closer to the parliament building, and more drones appeared on the screen.

Twenty moments later, the dark yellow triangle on the screen turned into a bright yellow checkmark. Tafindel walked onto the balcony on time.

Another thirty moments passed.

"mu gu gei tau fa," he said softly. The battle would begin in fifty moments. In a sense, the battle had already begun, but he was waiting for the moment Tafindel grabbed the rope. That, he thought, was when the real challenge would start.

Another twenty moments passed.

Suddenly, the checkmark turned back into a dark yellow triangle.

Zei zoomed in on the video. Someone had grabbed Tafindel and pulled him back inside.

Almost at the same moment, Arctic drones began firing.

Zei immediately heard Deng's voice in his headset.

"I'll figure out what happened to the target, Zei. Oversee the battle."

Zei nodded instinctively. The headset automatically translated the nod into a checkmark icon, which flashed on Deng's and Mu's displays.

Zei groaned. Three of his drones had been hit.

"Evasive action, return fire on the enemy. All damaged drones, if you can still function, land on the ground and play dead."

He realized that Arctic surveillance was more powerful than he had imagined.

Just then, an "X" appeared above his fourth drone—the one that was supposed to grab the target. A moment later, that drone disappeared completely from the display map. Zei checked the raw footage. Direct hit, exploded in midair.

Zei screamed in despair. The evasive techniques they had learned in previous missions hadn't helped much. It looked like this mission was going to fail—and perhaps Kungopay's credibility would collapse along with it.

The next moment, he heard Mu's voice in his headset, speaking intensely.

"New plan. Everyone fly low, under the buildings and trees. Fly through the streets. That's where their shooting capability is weakest. Then I have a trick up my sleeve."

Zei nodded and relayed the instructions to all drones. Within ten moments, four surviving and fully functional drones were all close to the ground. Zei indicated that another damaged drone playing dead was already on the ground—it had been there for over half a minute.

Suddenly, in Zei's view, the streetlights and the lights inside the buildings began flickering chaotically. Arctic drones started firing in all directions, confused about the opponent's position.

His drones continued flying forward. Just as they flew within one hundred meters of the Presidential Palace, Deng spoke.

"I need a collision at these coordinates."

A new yellow triangle appeared on the side of the building. Zei immediately directed his drones to dive there at full speed. Four moments later, the drones crashed into it, triggering a massive explosion and thick smoke.

Ten moments later, the yellow triangle turned into two bright yellow checkmarks.

Zei was baffled, but immediately did the only thing that made sense. The drones were too low for the rope to work. Instead, he