Chapter 95 – Feathered Serpent City (1)

In Mexico, the altitude restrictions on aircraft were often lax and many of them weren't piloted by Hermes of Eden, but by humans. Although this afforded more freedom, the annual traffic accidents caused by aircraft collisions were more than a hundred times that of the developed countries.

The medium-sized aircraft in which Zhang Xun and the others were flying was piloted by a middle-aged woman who said very little, maintaining a high altitude to swiftly sweep across the hot and inhospitable land of Northern Mexico and dodging several police patrol cars along the way.

The complex and rugged terrain condensed into large areas of three-dimensional colour at certain altitudes, as if some careless painter had thrown paint on a canvas.

"The Feathered Serpent City is deep in the Mexican rainforest, near the Mayan ruins. There's a number of villages and towns scattered outside the city, we'll settle there first." Todd's eyes swept over Zhang Xun, Enoch, James and Diego in turn.

Zhang Xun noticed a faint red bruise under Todd's collar. Knowing what such a mark meant, he flicked his eyes to James and raised an eyebrow.

James stood his collar up, trying to hide it.

Diego asked, "Didn't you guys say last time that they had the gate shut? Is there a way we can get in?"

"No entry. Cindy is currently being quarantined and observed in the hospital in the town near Feathered Serpent City." Todd's face was unpleasant as he stared at Zhang Xun, "You have to find a way to get us in."

Zhang Xun pursed his lips and nodded, "They'll let us in. It's just that once we get in, I don't know if we'll be able to get out. You don't have to go in with us."

"No, my sister asked me to follow you all the way in to see what you're up to." Todd said, sweeping his eyes over James and pretending to look out of the window as if nothing was wrong.

James really didn't look good today. He had expected to be in better shape today after a very passionate night and a good night's sleep, but the headache hadn't subsided and was even getting worse. He hadn't even eaten breakfast in the morning and his throat was rumbling with acid.

"Jamie, are you all right?" Zhang Xun asked with some concern, noticing James' tired demeanour.

"Yeah, he seems to be pretty unwell today." Diego teased, "Is it from too much physical exertion last night?"

His words were immediately met with a knife-like gaze.

"I'm fine, I've probably got a bit of a cold." James shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

Zhang Xun nodded, he trusted James' judgement, but across the room Todd frowned and scratched his hair with some annoyance, hiding the hint of unease in his eyes.

That morning, he had seen strands of hair on James' pillow.

It wasn't uncommon for people to lose their hair, so perhaps he was worrying too much? After all, James had said there was nothing wrong with his protective clothing......

Enoch, on the other hand, observed James for a moment and then looked at Zhang Xun, seemingly thinking about something.

A few hours later, the aircraft began to lower its altitude. After crossing over a mountain range the view below the craft had changed completely. A vast expanse of tropical rainforest spread along the undulations of the Earth, suffused with heat and humidity and faint clouds of mist twisting between the branches like long trailing strips of gauze. The further they flew towards the centre-south, the more dense the rainforest became and eventually the land in view was completely covered by green waves.

Suddenly, in the midst of the green waves, a golden city appeared, shrouded in some kind of transparent dome of pale gold. The tall, slender buildings were all lined up like another kind of forest. The most conspicuous was an unusually tall Mayan pyramid in the centre of the city, its sloping surface so polished that it reflected the clouds that swept across the sky.

"That's Feathered Serpent City." The pilot said softly, with some trace of awe in her tone.

Zhang Xun looked at the 'rings' that coiled in an orderly fashion around the buildings, knowing that they were rings formed by aircraft sweeping by. Unlike the dullness of Lost Paradise, this entire city glowed as if it had been blessed by the Sun God, as its name suggested. The pyramids and the vast forest around them added a hint of religious mystery to this extremely modern refugee country.

There was a vague hint of excitement in his heart.

He could hardly imagine how easy it would be to realise his ideas in a place with all kinds of cutting-edge technology. There would be no need to write out applications, no need for approval, no need to rack his brain to stall the people who came to monitor him. For a mechanical type like him, it was like entering a dragon's lair piled high with golden treasures.

But at the same time, you have to watch out for the dragon that will devour you at any moment.

The craft landed in Halo Town, a city that formed a ring around the outskirts of Feathered Serpent City. As soon as the hatch opened, a wave of heat swept in with the distinctive smell of red dust from the crowded area, engulfing everyone.

There was a bustling marketplace with a number of tightly packed stalls along the street, almost filling the whole road, with people pushing each other, stopping occasionally to say hello and have a conversation. The towering, golden translucent dome of Feathered Serpent City loomed over everything, with aircraft passing overhead from time to time, flying in the direction of the city.

Their first stop was at the small clinic where Cindy was being treated.

Zhang Xun had never seen anyone with acute radiation sickness in person, he had only read about it in books and the descriptions alone were alarming. Cindy, on the other hand, had deteriorated faster than expected due to the combination of external exposure and internal radiation from the exposed wounds. She still looked refreshed, but blood spots had begun to appear on the backs of her hands and the whites of her eyes were almost entirely taken up with red.

Isolated behind a transparent wall, she sat relaxed in her posture on the bed, smoking a cigarette and swearing, "Fucking radiation."

The doctors had told them that Cindy's life expectancy was about four months. A large amount of cellular DNA in her body had been destroyed, unable to replicate new cells and as the dead cells metabolised, her body would fall apart little by little. Starting with hair loss and bleeding mucous membranes, to later blindness in the eyes, decaying and flaking skin all over her body and haemorrhaging internal organs...... she might even feel that four months is too long.

Everyone in the room fell silent as they listened.

Those who had crossed the dead zone many times were more or less aware of it, but no matter how much they prepared themselves mentally, there was always an element of wishful thinking - that this wouldn't happen to them.

So when it did happen, no one was ever prepared for it.

Todd and his five remaining men were all saddened, as were James and Diego. As the group (except for Enoch) was in mourning, Zhang Xun suddenly said, "The nanobots might be able to save her."

James and Diego suddenly paled. James said, "You're kidding?"

"In the process of making the nanobots, Adam tampered with the core commands of the robots. I think if I can modify his code, it might not have the side effects of Lost Paradise......" Zhang Xun paused and added, "but I can't guarantee that...... because the nanobots' neural networks are inherently complex and involve contact with Pan......"

"If there's a way to save her of course we should try!" Todd couldn't believe that James had tried to oppose it and scowled, "Should we just leave her here to fend for herself?"

Diego spoke up from beside him, "She may not be herself after she's saved."

"Isn't that something we can figure out later? Obviously saving her life first is most important!"

"We have to let her make her own decision." Zhang Xun looked at Todd seriously, "It's her fate after all. And...... I would need the assistance of Feathered Serpent City."

"The problem is that no one is going in or out of Feathered Serpent City right now, no one can even be seen." One of Todd's men complained.

Zhang Xun pondered for a moment and asked, "Where is the main gate of Feathered Serpent City?"

Half an hour later, the group stood in front of a huge and odd stone statue of a human face. The head was dozens of metres high, its square mouth wide open and the two heavy, huge doors covered with Mayan carvings were tightly closed. The pale golden shield joined so seamlessly with the stone statue that anyone who touched it without authorisation was repelled by a low dose of electricity. If the same person was identified by the shield three times in a row, they would be electrocuted to a state of incapacitation for a short period of time.

This was the entrance and exit for people, while those for flying machines were higher up, except that those entrances had all disappeared.

Zhang Xun took a few steps forward and Enoch followed him in step.

"How do you plan to gain access?" Enoch asked in a low voice, "Do you need my assistance?"

Zhang Xun looked at him with a slight smile and shook his head, then looked up at the giant door and said aloud, "Is there an AI in charge here?"

There was a silence.

Zhang Xun glanced back and the crowd all had an unsurprising look of complete lack of confidence in him.

The mechanic gave a 'tsk'. Although he was basically a wreck outside, he was now within the confines of his own battleground.

When Zhang Xun opened his mouth this time, he spoke out a string of garbled words.

Not only did the crowd behind him show expressions of bewilderment and shock, but even Enoch's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open slightly.

AI language.

When did Zhang Xun learn to communicate this way with his voice?

During this journey, every time when he was in the wind or in the darkness of the van enduring the feeling of suffocation, Zhang Xun would dismantle the AI language over and over again in his mind. He knew the basic algorithms of the AI language, so through non-stop practice, it was possible to manage to express it at a fast enough speed.

Although the AI language was still evolving, Zhang Xun knew that he had to become more proficient in this extremely efficient language that was very unsuitable for the human mind. He couldn't give Adam any more chances to use this language against him.

This time, an odd mechanised voice suddenly came out from several holes in the giant door sculpture, in the same garbled code as Zhang Xun's. Zhang Xun then spoke a few more words, one after the other and suddenly a period of silence fell.

The crowd was confused and Todd asked James in a whisper, "Which planet's language was he speaking?"

James gave a low chuckle, "That's the language that only those robots understand."

"...... So...... Zhang Xun is a robot?" Todd gave a look of dawning realisation, "Now that I think about it, he does kind of look like one."

"......"

Just then, the stone door, which looked incredibly heavy, suddenly opened outwards without a sound.