'SEE YOU MORNING' 135 Malaya's Embrace

The exhibition the next day was indeed uneventful, with sparse attendance. However, Li Haojun noticed that the people coming and going were all strikingly handsome men and beautiful women, resembling a film set—there were simply no ordinary people.
In this light, it seemed he alone appeared out of place. But he didn’t care. He had his beloved and his own skills; his confidence never stemmed from whether his appearance could please others. He did not need to be the center of attention.
At his company’s booth, staff from other regions were fulfilling their duties on-site; there was nothing for him, a technical specialist, to do.
Instead, what caught his attention most was Malaya. She was still wearing that uniform, an outer smock. It seemed her uniform served some function; at least visibly, the small devices on her belt were more than mere decorations. Her wristwatch was both high-tech and stylish, and those little leather boots were quite playful.
After observing the exhibition hall for a while, Li Haojun realized this was a B2B trade show. He much preferred interacting with end-users rather than businessmen. He always felt commercial operations had little to do with him; he would rather use his knowledge to help real, tangible individual users.
Out of boredom, he suddenly noticed someone nearby misquoting the technical roadmap while discussing related products, and the sales colleague in charge hadn’t clarified the actual technical path. He turned his head and saw a woman asking questions. She had thin cheeks, high cheekbones, a pointed jaw, thin lips, dark purple lipstick, and short red hair reaching her neck—he wondered if she was a natural redhead.
Li Haojun actively stepped forward, joining the conversation without any tact, directly pointing out the issue and explaining it once through. Then he noticed a camera filming behind her.
Had he just interfered with someone’s promotional shoot? Thinking this, he could only smile at the lens before calmly stepping out of the shot. Turning back, he saw Malaya sitting in the corner watching him, beside a plant, just like she had been in New York. There was a smile on her face, but it seemed somewhat cold.
Li Haojun pulled over a chair and sat beside her, silently looking at her, waiting for her to offer some profound insight.
“Are you always like this with women?” Malaya asked with a smile, seemingly teasing him.
“No, I just can’t tolerate the spread of misinformation right under my nose.”
“Oh, so it’s OCD.”
“Heh, yeah,” Li Haojun laughed self-deprecatingly.
“The people here aren’t necessarily all sentient humans,” Malaya said calmly.
Li Haojun was taken aback but didn’t press further. Checking the time and seeing it was about right, he suggested taking an early lunch break.
Accommodation and meals were arranged by Malaya. Li Haojun followed her to a small Western restaurant. After sitting down and ordering simply, he looked around—there were no other customers. Gazing out the window, pedestrians were few and far between, though all were young or middle-aged and exceptionally good-looking.
“What are your thoughts?” Malaya asked from across the small table.
“None. Uh, I don’t know.”
“This area is actually private property,” Malaya explained unhurriedly.
Li Haojun listened silently, not interrupting her.
“The people you see might be clones or gene-edited beings. Their consciousness could be manipulated to complete certain tasks. So, you shouldn’t waste your emotions on them.”
“Oh, so it’s this cold here,” Li Haojun said with a laugh.
Malaya chuckled, teasing him, “Yeah, save all your thoughts for me and my sister. Putting them anywhere else would be a waste.”
Before him, the smile on Malaya’s face contrasted sharply with the neat yet desolate street outside the window.
“In fact, there are normal humans, they just don’t reside here.”
“They’re… the common class?” Li Haojun immediately realized.
“Yes.”
“And the top tier of society doesn’t live here either, so they have these clones do things for them here.”
“Mm,” Malaya nodded.
Indeed, as long as there is society, there will be class or group divisions. A world of universal harmony is merely an ideal state because individuals are inherently different. With a sigh in his heart, Li Haojun took out his terminal device to check local social media and see how the locals were doing.
Opening the local news, the first thing that popped up was a live broadcast of the quarterly awards ceremony for the esports game “Fighter Johnny.” This was a virtual reality online interactive game where players experienced American immigration, Prohibition, gambling, smuggling, loan sharking, and a series of black industry scenarios in VR. Players took on roles like mobsters, police, and various others, with awards given each quarter based on player role performance scores. Clearly, young people had an advantage in such action games and participated actively.
As Li Haojun watched, he shared it with Malaya, laughing at the highlight reels, “Haha, this significantly reduces societal crime pressure.”
“Yeah, the common man’s ‘opium of the people,’” Malaya hit the nail on the head.
“It’s simpler over in Kalispell. The residents there have implanted chips that interfere with brain waves; they go home and sleep, and even the population count can be precisely controlled. What about the situation here?”
“I checked the background information. There are no electronic control chips implanted in the public here, but, as you know, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. They don’t work, which means they are being fed. Targeted feeding with specific purposes has long been achievable.”
Looking at Malaya before him, Li Haojun suddenly realized that in this vast city, people were so lonely. Only she, right in front of him, remained his own kind. Her fluttering eyelashes, clear eyes, and gentle lip line dancing with her words stirred ripples in his heart, drawing him closer to her.
Looking at the empty lunch plates on the table, Li Haojun didn’t know what else to say.
“Malaya, after this training, you won’t need to carry weapons for your job, will you?”
“No, I won’t need to carry weapons.”
“Good,” Li Haojun replied softly, his voice barely above a whisper. His mind thought of taking her hand, but she had grown up; she was no longer that little girl Malaya. He didn’t know if he should do it.
Exiting the restaurant, the scorching sun beat down overhead. Whether it was the overly cold air conditioning in the restaurant earlier, or the chill of the loneliness and detachment between him and Malaya, standing now in the heatwave of the blazing sun made him feel his blood vessels dilate, warmth flowing to his limbs’ extremities, as if he had come back to life.
Walking back the way they came, they hadn’t gone far when Li Haojun vaguely heard the screech of tires rubbing against pavement behind them. Instinctively, he guided Malaya by the arm toward the roadside, turning his head back sharply.
A white semi-truck cab was rounding the corner, speeding straight toward them.
“This way!”
While keeping an eye on the truck’s movement, Li Haojun pulled Malaya into the roadside green belt, dodging out of the dangerous path of the truck’s trajectory.
Fortunately, the truck wasn’t out of control; it kept correcting its path and posture. However, it wasn’t just a cab; it was pulling a long hazardous materials semi-trailer. The wheels of the trailer left black rubber marks on the curbstones and sidewalk.
The hazardous materials trailer finally didn’t crash. Li Haojun breathed a sigh of relief and asked Malaya,
“What hazardous material? Liquid nitrogen or liquefied hydrocarbons? Did you see clearly?”
“Liquid nitrogen. Why would it be here?”
“Yeah, it should be heading to the industrial zone.”
Watching the truck barreling down, it still wasn’t under control. The oscillation between the trailer and the cab eventually caused it to veer off the road and crash into a building by the roadside, rupturing the container.
Li Haojun exchanged a glance with Malaya, hurriedly grabbed a handful of sand from the green belt, and tossed it into the air—they were downwind.
“Run!” Saying this, he grabbed Malaya’s hand and ran along the road toward the next intersection. Glancing back, the liquid nitrogen spilled on the scorching summer pavement was already boiling and foaming, a layer of white mist close to the ground spreading with the wind.
Grabbing Malaya’s hand, Li Haojun didn’t sprint at full speed initially, instead trying to ease into it gradually. Firstly, the situation wasn’t extremely urgent; secondly, he judged that the liquid nitrogen would spread widely—this would be a retreat requiring a balance of time and space.
Upon reaching the intersection, they began running laterally away from the diffusion direction. The layer of ground fog had grown larger, but Li Haojun knew full well that gaseous nitrogen is colorless and transparent—an invisible urgency.
“Let’s pick up the pace, okay?” Saying this, he released Malaya’s hand to allow her to swing her arms freely for running.
Malaya didn’t make a sound, just staying by his side. Li Haojun checked her condition from time to time. Although her limbs were slender, her strength and conditioning seemed quite good; her strides were powerful.
Gradually, Li Haojun’s breathing grew somewhat labored during the run. Judging the gas diffusion range, at the next intersection, between pants, he managed only two words,
“Turn right.”
On the contrary, Malaya’s breathing was barely audible, still keeping pace beside him. At this point, Li Haojun realized her running ability was superior to his own. Relieved, he began to focus on adjusting his own running and breathing rhythm.
After several turns, the two finally put enough lateral distance between themselves and the accident site. In the distance, sirens wailed as fire rescue vehicles raced toward the scene.
Li Haojun was drenched in sweat. He grinned foolishly at Malaya; her forehead was also beaded with sweat. He thought, perhaps this young lady’s wish had come true? Wasn’t this starting an adventure together?
“How was it?” Li Haojun was curious how she would answer.
“Not bad.”
“We’re safe now.”
“Mm.”
With a beaming face, Malaya stepped closer and gave Li Haojun an embrace, her sweat carrying the unique scent of a young girl.