Chapter One: Return to 2035

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Zhou Yongtai lifted his head and looked at the girl sitting on the railing of the spiral staircase. Above the girl’s head was a huge circular opening, revealing the lush tropical plants and the blue sky with white clouds beyond. This place was originally an air shaft of the British underground command center during World War II. Later, due to its unique structure and picturesque view, it became a famous attraction in Fort Canning Park.

It was said that when the world was still ruled by humans, female tourists from various countries loved to come here to take photos when visiting Singapore.

“Why is she sitting on such a dangerous railing?” Zhou Yongtai whispered to Ada beside him. “That’s at least four meters above the ground. If she fell and got hurt, repairing her would be troublesome. Or maybe their bionic materials aren’t afraid of falls?”

Ada shook her head. “I don’t know either. And these tourist enhanced humans look just like real girls who love taking pictures. See, if the photos don’t turn out well, they even scold their boyfriends. Ah Tai, it turns out enhanced humans outside the island have a high boyfriend rate.”

Ada’s tone wasn’t as sarcastic as her words suggested. She was simply reporting the facts she observed, processing them through her analyzer and relaying them to her master.

She continued, “But the facial materials of these enhanced humans should be my great-great-grandmodel. They have no wrinkles like human skin and their faces are swollen like steamed buns. Plus, they appear to be of Mongoloid descent, but the shape of their eyes and the lines of their nose bridge are very strange. Which small company is still producing such outdated products?”

Zhou Yongtai pursed his lips noncommittally, his gaze drifting to a group of dark-skinned women descending the stairs.

“The faces of these products don’t have that stiff silicone feel; they look very much like you humans,” Ada remarked. She turned her head to look at Zhou Yongtai and noticed his expression suddenly growing strange.

“Ada, they are living people. I’ve seen them in the photo albums left by my grandfather,” Zhou Yongtai said. “They’re called Filipino maids, who take care of children or elderly for their employers. They get one day off a week and like to dress in the latest fashions to go out in groups like this.”

Ada’s internal chip responded to Zhou Yongtai’s words in less than a second.

“So, we didn’t come to Singapore in 2085?”

“Yes, Ada. Because after 2050, there were no more live maids in Singapore.”

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Zhou Yongtai was born in July and had just celebrated his 20th birthday this year.

No—judging by his current situation with his mechanical servant Ada, he was actually 20 years old fifty years later.

“Singapore’s 70th National Day.”

“The 2035 Global Artificial Intelligence Industry Conference.”

“Sentosa Island Music and Arts Festival.”

After leaving the tree-hole scenic spot in Fort Canning Park, Ada looked up and read aloud the words on the streetlight advertising banners.

Zhou Yongtai also read those words.

Not bad—he recognized both Chinese and English, not losing out to his mechanical servant.

Moreover, when he saw the slogans “Artificial Intelligence Makes the Future Better” and “Go to Hell AI, We Want Real Music,” which belonged respectively to the tech conference and the music festival appearing side by side, Zhou Yongtai could even detect a wry irony in the juxtaposition.

He was not illiterate among the children of his generation.

The books his mother left him, both in Chinese and English, had accompanied him through his lonely youth on the Indonesian island.

Well, it wasn’t truly lonely, because on the island there were Ada and the Komodo dragons.

“A Tai, obviously that passage—whether a wormhole or some other kind of phenomenon—brought us to Singapore in 2035, the year your mother was born,” Ada said to her master in a cool tone.

Even when dragging Zhou Yongtai to evade pursuit from the enhanced human strike team, she maintained this calm demeanor.

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Mechanical servants differ from enhanced humans; they lack the emotional fluctuations of humans.

Zhou Yongtai looked around in bewilderment.

Next to Fort Canning Park was Singapore Management University, with the conspicuous “SMU” logo visible everywhere.

Zhou Yongtai’s gaze followed the students and faculty coming and going.

The last time he saw so many living people was in his childhood.

Back then, he was about five or six years old, and the images in his memory were filled with many faces as young as the students before him.

But those faces were smeared with blood and full of despair.

Zhou Yongtai shuddered.

“Ada, I’m hungry,” Zhou Yongtai said.

Ada received and understood the command in less than half a second.

She scanned the surroundings with her eyeballs.

“A Tai, there are so many trees here, but none of them bear fruit.”

Zhou Yongtai pointed to a row of buildings not far away. “Ada, there’s a sign—food court.”

“I know, but we don’t have… no human currency.”