Defend Namsan Park

Chapter 91: Pain is worthless in this era
What kind of person is Wei Mao?
If Shang Lu were to answer, he was a dangerous person who looked harmless but was actually perverted. He was dangerous because he was emotionally indifferent and did not seem like someone who could make a decisive sacrifice for all of humanity. What was even more dangerous was that he still couldn't forget his sister after all these years. I don't know how the qualification review was done in the back - bastards! A bunch of bastards! His desire for my sister was obvious to everyone, and you put him in the cockpit of the giant machine! Put him on the front line against the angels!

Shang Lu cursed in his heart, but for the healthy growth of the giant machine Chaofeng - he endured it for the time being!
What kind of person is Wei Mao?
If anyone other than Shang Lu were asked to answer, Wei Mao was a simple man, taciturn, and a loner. He only dragged an old suitcase wherever he went, from 161 to 170 and then to 151, from Yibin to Bazhong and then to Chongqing. He only carried one suitcase when he came and went on combat readiness rotations for a period of time, ranging from three months to half a year. The protection provided by the human world to giant machinery drivers is almost unlimited, but Wei Mao wants nothing, and he usually stuffs the suitcase under the bed.

The giant machine "Dayi" is also equipped with two pilots, one on combat duty and the other on standby in the rear, but Wei Mao has never met his backup pilot and has never even asked his name. He doesn't care at all.

It's hard to imagine a man like him being obsessed with someone.

Not many young people today know the name Shang Jun. There are new people coming to the support base every year. They may have seen her photo on a wall during their induction training, education and homage to the predecessors and heroes. Her photo is listed together with those of academicians, directors and professors. Each photo is the size of a palm, three to five centimeters square. It takes less than a second to scan the photo. Perhaps someone will remember that the tour guide said that the young girl was the founder of Factory 314, but human beings today do not record history. In this turbulent era, three years can make the world forget someone forever.

The older generation still remember that genius girl and how she emerged out of nowhere to turn the tide. Without Shang Jun, they would not have been able to create the giant machine. The girl was only 28 years old when the Red Tide, the first usable giant machine in human history, was completed. Old Man Ji and his old friends must still remember the time when they helped in Shang Jun's research team. They must still remember her back standing high on the covered bridge illuminated by the backlight of the headlights. It was a crazy era.

No one knows which part of her Wei Mao remembered. When Shang Jun was in charge of the entire giant machinery construction plan, Wei Mao was only 21 years old and his mental state was only 13 years old. He was just a child.

The days of training were boring and hard. At that time, building giant machinery was not a respected business. Shang Jun brought a small team and established training bases in Wuhan, Chongqing and Chengdu respectively. Due to limited conditions, everyone lived in dormitories. The selected giant machinery drivers were basically between 10 and 25 years old. Although they were all young people, adults gathered together and children stayed together. Wei Mao was an adult physically but a junior high school student mentally, so no one could accept him. Everyone did not bully Wei Mao, but they did not talk to him either. From that time on, Wei Mao had serious language barriers.

Shang Jun may be the only person in the world who can communicate with Wei Mao without speaking. Strangely enough, they have not known each other for long, but Shang Jun can always tell what Wei Mao is thinking from his eyes and gaze. In the latter's words, "She she she she she she always knows."

This is the thing that Shanglu is most unhappy about.

Because he was also a child during the short time he spent with Shang Jun, Shang Lu thought that there could be no one in the world who loved his sister more than he did. But then Cheng Yaojin showed up unexpectedly, a stranger who dared to tell him shamelessly that he and his sister had a mutual understanding?
Shang Lu didn't care about the physical and mental growth history of a mentally retarded child. He had no interest in Wei Mao's childhood trauma. Who doesn't have some mental illness and childhood trauma these days? If you grab a random person on the street, he will cry and complain to you for three days. In this era, pain is worthless!
Shang Lu wanted to grab Wei Mao by the collar and spit at him: Stop pretending to be lonely here, forget about my sister! Go find a woman or a man to marry!

Forget my sister!
Go get married! Find someone you love, someone who loves you or doesn’t care whether you love him or not! You are so beautiful, if you don’t give birth to him, you will be sorry for your genes!
No matter in which base, no matter in the front line or in the rear, people who pursue Wei Mao are like crucian carp. Everyone says that children should not be born in this era, but if the target is Wei Mao, no one seems to care about the welfare of the next generation. For Wei Mao's handsome face, the children will suffer. The current social atmosphere is decadent and unrestrained. The military has discipline and it is acceptable. Local customs are open and morally corrupt. After the collapse, many social institutions and organizations have not yet established effective functions. The government, seeing the declining birth rate, just spread its hands and let it go.

But Wei Mao had no children, neither legitimate nor illegitimate. If you have one legitimate child these days, it means you may have nine illegitimate children. Tang Di once commented on Wei Mao: He is just like the Foucault pendulum in his office. He is like a pendulum, doing simple harmonic motion that others cannot understand day and night. Perhaps the lunatics have their own unique life trajectory. Even if the world collapses and human beings perish, they can still stroll in the deserted wasteland and ruins.

If Bai Shu were here, she would definitely say that Shanglu and Weimao are actually the same kind of people, both are Foucault's pendulums. They wander the world while thinking about and missing certain people. They achieve the purpose of possession through recollection. Shanglu cannot tolerate Weimao, probably because of the Pauli exclusion principle.

But the world is always strange. Shang Lu can't tolerate Wei Mao taking away his sister's love. He has to play the role of the person they both dream about to gain the support of the base for the giant machine Chao Feng. Bai Shu said that Shang Lu has a pair of eyes that are exactly the same as his sister's. As long as he wears a mask and puts on makeup, he really looks a bit like her from a distance. "Remember to call him Maomao."

Bai Shu said.

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When Shang Lu recalled that scene much later, he felt it was truly bizarre.

The weather in Chongqing, which is about to enter summer, is hot and humid, and the clothes seem to stick to the skin. It rained the night before, and the weather forecast said it might rain again today, so Shang Lu brought an umbrella. In addition to the umbrella, he also put on makeup, a wig and a mask, high heels, and a white coat. He stood on the side of the road in the evening - the specific location was at the gate of the requisitioned campus of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, under the huge yellow-green triangular school emblem. In order to avoid being recognized by acquaintances, Shang Lu deliberately took a small path.

The culprit who caused all this was standing fifty meters away, neither coming closer nor leaving, not speaking, and only looking up at the sky from time to time.

Shang Lu stood there for a long time, and he was getting a little anxious. What did this guy mean? He wanted to call the other party and ask, "What are you doing? I spent a lot of effort to get this outfit, are you satisfied? Why don't you say something, nod your head, and say something? You are just a stutterer, not a mute. Can we get the parts, equipment, fixtures and production lines for Chaofeng Giant Machinery?"
He fumbled in his pockets for his cell phone, when suddenly thunder rumbled in the gloomy sky above his head. Shang Lu had to give up his phone and hurriedly opened his umbrella.

As soon as the umbrella was raised, the rain began to fall. The weather in Chongqing was...

Through the rain curtain under the umbrella, Shang Lu looked at the blurry figure from afar, and suddenly understood in his heart.

He is waiting for the rain.

Only through the rain could he see the people he wanted to see.

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(Belated notice: At the end of last year, director Zhang Chiyu and I collaborated to produce an AI short film based on this book, titled "The Last Line of Defense". It is available on Bilibili, and those who are interested can go and have a look.

Also: Thanks to the leader of the computer class of the Fantasy Association.)