In the cornfield, two men in black had already collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious. John Chou and I quickly tore off their white epaulets—the fake insignias on our shoulders vanished as we replaced them with new ones. While no one was paying attention, we tossed the two black-clad men into the black pool, then went back to laboring in the paddy field.
We’d already visited the edge—just behind the pool, past a small patch of greens, was the boundary of this massive sphere. We were inside a giant glass globe, and in the darkness beyond, countless spheres like ours sparkled like dazzling stars, stretching out in every direction.
Near the forest at the center, we saw a huge number—blood-red digits, 982, stamped directly on the ground.
Each giant glass sphere contained a small world. We’d tried to break through the glass, but it was impossible. Some spheres held deserts, some lakes, some mountains.
All the natural things from the Living World were scattered throughout these glass spheres.
It must be some kind of experiment. Why we ended up in this test field, we still couldn’t figure out. We had too little information. John Chou had tried talking to the black-clad attendants, but they ignored him. He kept trying to strike up conversations, but found these people were like lumps of wood—only capable of working.
Just then, by the string of numbers, we saw a shadow—a figure with a Silver Epaulet coming our way. As expected, their target was John Chou and me. We kept picking stones out of the paddy.
"You two, come here."
John Chou and I carried our small buckets, walking over the ridge. Our feet were caked in mud.
"Are you two soldiers in Test Field 982?"
We nodded silently. The man with the silver epaulet studied us for a moment, then thoughtfully touched the epaulets on my shoulder and John Chou’s. After a pause, he spoke.
“Get back to work. In the next few days, clear out everything in this test field that’s harmful to the crops and plants. Remember, remove only the big stones—leave the small ones.”
The man with the silver epaulet left, but what puzzled us was how he managed to leave. We should be like them now—shadows—but when John Chou and I tried to walk away, we couldn’t.
We returned to the edge of the paddy field. John Chou threw his small bucket roughly, crushing some of the seedlings. My heart skipped, and I glanced around, swallowing nervously. The black-clad figures kept working, not paying us any attention.
“What’s going on?”
I asked, sitting on the ridge between the fields. John Chou gave a helpless smile.
“They must have wiped out our personalities. It makes controlling us easier. All we have to do is answer the officer’s questions. Remember, brother, why did he notice us at first? Because I answered too much. From now on, when questioned, only respond to what’s asked.”
I grunted in response.
“Aren’t we being watched?”
“They don’t have time for that. Look at these people—they’re no different from robots. They don’t rest, don’t sleep, just work endlessly. No one cares about anything except checking the state of the test field. Come on, brother, let’s take a look in the forest.”