A thought holds rationality only when it is needed.
The journey passed in silence.
Li Yuyi rested his eyes, though Ke Yiyi knew he wasn’t truly asleep; still, she said nothing.
At this moment, feigning sleep might have been the best option. Unfortunately, she was driving, making it impossible to pretend she hadn’t heard anything.
Li Qiwei’s curiosity was simply too intense. Asking Gan Lan such a question in front of so many people left Gan Lan no graceful way to answer.
Moreover, these weren’t official inquiries but deeply personal matters. Gan Lan had no obligation to answer her. Why pose questions that were destined to remain unanswered from the very beginning?
Gan Lan was an adult, with the right to decide with whom she engaged in sexual relations, and the right to refuse answering any questions about such acts—unless, of course, they pertained to official matters.
In fact, all players, regardless of their apparent age, were legally deemed adults. This established a fundamental criminal principle: that a player’s wanton killing was considered an ‘adult crime,’ not a ‘minor’s crime.’
Beyond that, other considerations also played a part. For instance, before the Academy of Sciences came into existence, a basic criterion for judging certain actions taken by the rampant players was established, and Li Qiwei’s question fell precisely into this category.
Ke Yiyi was reluctant to view Li Qiwei’s question from a specific angle—that Li Qiwei’s true intention was either driven by morbid curiosity to pry into someone’s privacy or to judge the rightness or wrongness of Gan Lan’s actions from a familial ethical standpoint.
Yet, some matters… people might not speak of them, but they understood them implicitly.
Gan Lan and Mu Xuanming hadn’t known each other for just a day or two; their acquaintance stretched back a year and a half. Given the current social climate of Vega, even if something had transpired between them, it was hardly cause for alarm.
Perhaps the only noteworthy detail was the fact that Mu Xuanming had a wife… and Gan Lan was aware of it.
‘My head is a mess…’
Ke Yiyi abandoned her thoughts, focusing solely on driving.
She was a driver now, not a disciplinary officer, nor did she represent public morality.
A driver should simply do their job—drive.
Sixty-One Workers City was now within sight, its towering factory buildings faintly discernible.
Before the war, this city had been larger than Worldly Affairs City. As the industrial hub of the Cloud Mountain Peninsula’s western region, Sixty-One Workers City held significant weight in the peninsula’s metallurgy, iron smelting, and other industries. Regrettably, during its fall, only a small portion of its population and industry could be evacuated.
Judging by Worldly Affairs City, it was probable that Xuanji Star had also relocated the industries here, leaving behind only dilapidated and broken factory structures.
Due to some personal experiences, Ke Yiyi knew more about Sixty-One Workers City than Worldly Affairs City. In the later stages of the war, Vega had failed to capture the Great Promontory Region before the armistice was signed, but it had briefly penetrated the outer areas of Sixty-One Workers City. Although swiftly repelled by Xuanji Star, this was considered a significant victory in the offensive against the Great Promontory, rescuing many civilians who were still engaged in guerrilla warfare in the area. It was also through this event that the story of the Yunhua Middle School Youth Combat Team spread.
After the usual inspection, they entered the urban area.
Compared to Worldly Affairs City, this place was not dominated by skyscrapers, but by towering chimneys and blast furnaces. Despite the ravages of war, Xuanji Star valued the industries here highly; many factories bore signs of repair. Although they now stood deserted, it was clear that Xuanji Star had utilized these factories for production after their occupation—both during and after the war.
This once-thriving industrial center now lay derelict. Perhaps it would see a resurgence in the future, or perhaps, to remain distant from Xuanji Star, it would never again serve as an industrial hub.
Ke Yiyi was not a government official; she neither knew nor could influence their thoughts.
All she could do was observe… watching the desolate factories before her recount the demise of an era—an era that belonged to them, and to Vega.
The hotel, familiar in style, still stood opposite the main square.
However, the situation in Sixty-One Workers City was unique; Xuanji Star was still bustling with activity in the square opposite the hotel.
It was a colossal statue of Long Xiao, standing over thirty meters tall.
Xuanji Star was in the midst of its dismantling operations. They would never leave any symbols of their great leader for Vega, not even a single photograph.
This statue was a later addition. Originally, a sculpture group depicting sixty-one lumberjacks stood here. It was destroyed by Xuanji Star during the war, and after the conflict, this statue of Long Xiao was erected to replace the original workers’ sculptures.
Ke Yiyi had read the story behind that sculpture group. Unlike other cities that inherited ancient town sites, Sixty-One Workers City had no prior urban foundation before its construction; it was entirely barren land. Due to the discovery of metal ore deposits nearby, Vega began building a city here, adhering to the principle of proximity for transportation.
In the early stages of its development, sixty-one workers felled trees and built roads here. To commemorate these founders of the city, it was named Sixty-One Workers City, and later, the workers’ sculpture group was erected as its emblem.
During the subsequent wave of name changes across Vega’s cities, this city retained its name. The designation ‘Sixty-One Workers City’ was already highly ‘scientistic,’ and the locals cherished it, negating any need for alteration.
Of course, in the wake of the Qiming Star-style renaming trend, other cities had successively changed their names, moving from ancient appellations to more ‘scientistic,’ ‘modernist,’ and ‘artistic’ ones. The true purpose behind this was that the original names of these cities often carried localized connotations, many being derived from Oceanwind, Cloud Mountain, or even Blaze languages. To avoid ethnic bias, it was deemed necessary to make these city names more ‘neutral’ and ‘de-ethnicized.’
Correspondingly, there were also efforts to transform and integrate various ethnic cultures, as well as to purify and functionalize objects by stripping away cultural elements, such as in clothing, writing, and language.
Take Ke Yiyi, for instance: when she participated in an event in Slat House City, she wore traditional Oceanwind attire. Despite being of the Blaze Clan, no one found this inappropriate. Traditional attire from the Blaze Clan, Cloud Mountain Clan, Oceanwind Clan, Morning Cloud Clan, and indeed, all ethnic groups worldwide, could be worn by anyone in Vega. There was no notion that being of the Blaze Clan meant one *had* to wear Blaze traditional clothing and boycott other ethnic styles.
Clothing was merely clothing, completely unrelated to the wearer’s ethnicity—this encapsulated Vega’s Qiming Star-style values.
The car pulled over, and the five occupants quickly disembarked.
Before Gan Lan exited the vehicle, she didn’t forget to reassemble her long staff. Carrying the staff in the car was cumbersome, thankfully it could be taken apart into two sections.
Ke Yiyi also wondered why Gan Lan didn’t always keep it disassembled, instead carrying the long staff around, which seemed unwieldy. She’d observed that Gan Lan didn’t take long to assemble it, only a moment, which fueled her curiosity.
However, this fleeting doubt quickly passed. Perhaps Gan Lan kept the staff assembled to remain ready for combat at all times. Ultimately, it was Gan Lan’s personal affair, and Ke Yiyi was no longer a detective; there was no need to dwell on it.
Despite the silent journey, Ke Yiyi’s attitude towards Li Qiwei remained as usual, showing no signs of rejection or estrangement. This, in turn, slightly reassured Ke Yiyi, at least ensuring no friction or conflict would erupt between the two.
A thought occurred to her: given Gan Lan’s personality, if a conflict were to break out with Li Qiwei, Gan Lan probably wouldn’t be able to win an argument. Li Qiwei was quick-witted and mischievous…
She called out to Li Qiwei, indicating she had something to say.
Gan Lan glanced back at the two of them, said nothing, and entered the hotel with her head bowed.
‘At least I stopped them from going in together…’
Li Yuyi said nothing, following Enfinietta into the hotel.
He had no interest in women’s intimate conversations, nor was he one to pry into others’ private discussions. Of course, he admitted he had overheard some things he shouldn’t have in the car, such as Li Qiwei’s question to Ke Yiyi…
“Sister Ke…”
Li Qiwei seemed to guess what Ke Yiyi was about to say, and she leaned closer, her head bowed.
“Xiaomei, I don’t mean to scold you, but you shouldn’t have asked Gan Lan that question. It’s private.”
“I know… I just couldn’t control myself at the time. I thought of it, so I asked.”
Li Qiwei stuck out her tongue, leaving Ke Yiyi feeling helpless.
Ke Yiyi, nearly twenty centimeters taller than Li Qiwei, felt as though she were facing a child who had misbehaved. Though she wanted to lecture her sternly, a thought quickly reminded her that she wasn’t even a police officer anymore; what right did she have to preach to others?
‘Was this her personality even when she worked in archives? Yagami Saichi also worked in archives, but her personality wasn’t this impetuous… Or was that just the style of the Technical Council?’
‘Before, when Gan Lan was questioned by the disciplinary police, she cared more about Gan Lan than anyone. So why now…’
It suddenly occurred to Ke Yiyi: could it be precisely because she cared for Gan Lan that she wanted to know everything about her?
The thought brought an involuntary sigh from her.
“In any case, don’t ask Gan Lan any more questions related to Mu Xuanming. She… she’s an adult, capable of handling her own issues. We shouldn’t delve into that; give her her own space.”
Li Qiwei nodded, and Ke Yiyi didn’t press the matter further. After all, Li Qiwei was also an adult, and saying too much wouldn’t be appropriate.
As she walked towards the hotel, she heard Li Qiwei’s voice from behind.
“That may be true, but ‘all players are adults’ actually refers to their ‘physiology,’ doesn’t it? That is, ‘the individual possesses the full capacity for adult behavior.’ But Gan Lan… psychologically, she’s still a child!”
Ke Yiyi paused, startled, and turned to look at Li Qiwei.
Gazing at that childlike face, she sighed softly.
‘If that’s the case…’
‘Then isn’t Li Qiwei just like Gan Lan…’
‘She’s also a child…’
‘A child… who won’t grow up…’