The Decaying Dream of America: I Assemble Corpses and Confront Madness

The violent tremors, like a giant hammer, jolted Lin Zheng awake from the brink of consciousness.

My eardrums were ringing incessantly, as if countless tiny needles were piercing my brain all at once.

The world stretched and blurred before his eyes, then suddenly contracted and froze, each tremor like a tearing at his soul.

This is a ruin.

The twisted steel bars, baring their fangs and claws, each one like a struggling vein, were twisted into a horrifying work of art in the explosion, casting a shadow of death.

The once neatly arranged server wreckage is now scattered on the ground, and the shattered screens, like countless dead eyes, reflect the former prosperity and the present desolation.

The air was filled with a pungent, burnt smell, mixed with the distinctive acrid odor of formaldehyde, like a heavy lead plate, making it hard to breathe.

A cold wind blew in through the cracked wall, carrying the damp, rusty smell of the outdoors. It brushed against Lin Zheng's numb face, but could not dispel the chill in his heart.

Dust particles fell like snowflakes amidst the flickering of the broken emergency lights, each reflecting a faint red glow, adding an eerie tranquility to the chaos, as if the whole world was mourning silently.

Lin Zheng's body was extremely weak. Every breath was accompanied by a violent cough, his throat tasted metallic, and his chest felt as if it were being burned by flames.

He felt a burning sensation in his lungs, as if all his strength had been drained away, and even lifting a finger was extremely difficult.

He tried to focus his scattered gaze to perceive everything around him. The distorted reality became exceptionally vivid in his eyes, like a shattered kaleidoscope.

This perceptual ability was amplified with extraordinary clarity after he destroyed the core of Finch's fictional reality. He no longer merely saw with his naked eye, but touched, interpreted, and felt the microscopic vibrations and surges of information at every atomic level with his soul.

The ruins before him were no longer just collapsed buildings, but countless disordered fragments, each silently telling the story of how it was violently distorted. The fear and despair that had solidified in the air were now impacting Lin Zheng's senses as if they were real.

The once-precise structure now reveals deep-seated "structural weaknesses," appearing in Lin Zheng's vision as dense, bright fracture lines. These fracture lines are not simple physical cracks; they shimmer with a pale blue light, like scars left after the fragile blood vessels inside this world have been forcibly torn apart, foreshadowing a deeper collapse.

These were not purely physical fractures; they also contained spiritual imprints left behind after the energy dissipated. Each imprint was like a silent wail, whispering in his ear the struggle of a soul trapped in a "utopian fantasy."

He struggled to sit up, feeling that ancient, obscure imprint deep in his mind, which was unusually active at this moment, forming a strange balance with his damaged mental state, both providing anchor and tearing apart his remaining sanity.

It had never been so clear, intimately connected to Lin Zheng's soul, offering a strange sense of stability amidst the chaos. This mark was like a giant vortex, drawing his consciousness deep into the very fabric of the world, allowing him to glimpse truths inaccessible to mortals.

This power resonated within him, as if the entire workings of the world were pulsating within his consciousness, like a vast diagram woven from flesh and reason. He could clearly "read" the energy flows that the world considered chaotic, and the fundamental laws that constituted all things; everything became transparent.

He could "see" these fragmented data streams and feel the despair, hope, deception, and collapse they once carried. These data streams flooded into his consciousness like a tide, mixed with countless repressed emotions and distorted fragments of reality. With each bit he absorbed, his mind became more exhausted.

This clear perception gave him an unprecedented insight into the reality of the world, and also made him realize that he was gradually moving away from the realm of human cognition and into a fuzzy zone between existence and nothingness.

However, this insight was accompanied by an indescribable headache, as if countless pieces of information were forcibly flooding in, trying to burst his skull. A sharp pain spread from his temples, and he felt his consciousness being washed and pulled by an invisible torrent. Every thought was like dancing on a knife's edge, and the slightest carelessness would cause it to completely disintegrate.

Just as he was struggling against this mental erosion, a familiar voice, filled with anxiety and exhaustion, came from the side.

"Lin Zheng! How are you?"

That was Lena Kaplan. Her voice was hoarse, tinged with anxiety, but her concern was genuine.

She supported the heavily wounded Arthur Morgan, their figures appearing particularly disheveled deep within the ruins. Arthur leaned almost his entire weight on Lena, each step dragging slowly and heavily, like a walking corpse.

She supported the heavily wounded Arthur Morgan, their figures appearing particularly disheveled deep within the ruins. Arthur leaned almost his entire weight on Lena, each step dragging slowly and heavily, like a walking corpse.

Arthur's old trench coat was soaked in blood on the shoulder, turning the rough fabric a dark red. The smell of blood mixed with the burnt smell of the ruins, making it nauseating.

His face was as pale as paper, his right arm hung limply at his sides, and his body trembled incessantly from pain and weakness. His lips were cracked, his eyes were sunken, and each breath was accompanied by painful spasms; he seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

The revolver still hung at his waist, its grip worn and reflecting a dim light, but at this moment it seemed more like a heavy decoration than a reliable weapon.

Lina's "Lina's Special Combat Suit" was covered in dust and debris, and there were obvious scratches on the outer shell of her energy shield, with even some tiny cracks appearing in some places, indicating that she had also gone through an exceptionally arduous battle and evacuation. Her arm muscles were taut, and the veins were bulging as she struggled to support Arthur's weight, her physical strength nearing its limit.

Her forehead was covered in sweat and dust, her breathing was rapid, and her eyes searched warily, trying to find her way in the dangerous ruins. Her gaze was sharp and weary, not missing any possible threat or chance of survival.

While supporting Arthur's heavy body, she tried to push aside the twisted steel bars blocking her way, each movement cautious, for fear of causing a more violent chain reaction that would lead to the further collapse of the already fragile structure.

Beneath their feet lay loose gravel and slippery mud, each step incredibly difficult, as if they were sinking into a swamp. Broken concrete blocks and shards of glass crunched under their feet, each step potentially teetering on the edge of an abyss.

A series of cracking noises came from above, accompanied by a rain of cement fragments and small stones hitting metal and glass shards, creating a piercing sound that constantly reminded them of the danger they were in.

Lin Zheng struggled to his feet, a wave of dizziness washing over him. He bit his tongue hard, using the pain to forcefully pull himself back to reality. He knew this wasn't the time to wallow in the pain brought on by his abilities; survival was the most important thing.

He saw Lina struggling to drag Arthur along, who was letting out a painful groan; the excruciating pain had nearly driven him into a semi-conscious state. Arthur's life force was rapidly draining away, his face growing increasingly ashen, as if he might collapse at any moment.

Arthur's lips were cracked from blood loss, and he mumbled incoherent words, seemingly struggling against his fading consciousness. Occasionally, he would utter a few indistinct curses, a powerless resistance against fate.

Lin Zheng knew that Arthur's injuries were far more serious than they appeared. Internal bleeding, fractures, and prolonged fatigue and mental stress were slowly consuming this resilient veteran.

This place was once Finch's "experimental building," the core area used to construct fictional realities. Now, however, it has been bombed and is riddled with holes, becoming a wreck that is both physically and mentally twisted, with every corner filled with the aura of death.

Besides the smell of burning, the air was also filled with a faint stench of decay—the odor of biological remains corrupted by a fictional reality and utterly destroyed in the explosion. It served as a reminder to Lin Zheng of the innocent lives manipulated by Finch. The smell made his stomach churn, as if he could feel the despair of those souls before they vanished.

From the depths of the ruins, unsettling metallic scraping sounds could be heard from time to time, as if the entire building was slowly and painfully groaning, every corner of it emitting its final lament, and it could collapse again at any moment.

Lin Zheng looked at the wreckage that was highlighted with "structural weaknesses". He found that some of the fractures were not caused by the explosion, but were torn apart by some kind of internal, non-physical force, leaving traces like the decay of biological tissue. In some places, he could even see the burning marks of energy erosion and the distorted spatial ripples.

These are all typical characteristics of "reality distortion." He perceived more clearly than ever that Finch's "utopian fantasy" was not just an illusion; it had caused profound physical damage to the real world, as if an invisible giant hand had left an unhealable wound on the foundation of reality.

He saw the severed cable hanging in mid-air, occasionally flashing blue-white arcs of electricity that momentarily illuminated the distorted shadows around it before fading back into darkness. Each flash was like the blinking of a tired eye.

The surrounding damaged equipment emitted a high-frequency buzzing sound, as if countless faulty electrical appliances were simultaneously wailing. It was the energy system's last struggle before collapse. They were once the key to constructing the fictional reality, but now they had become powerless scrap metal.

The sound carried a cold, mechanical quality, like a death knell, announcing the arrival of the company's "Reality Stabilization Department" cleanup force. Before their footsteps even appeared, the noise of the helicopters had already heralded the coming of judgment.

The sirens rose and fell, growing louder as they approached, converging into a wave of sound that made one's nerves taut. They seemed to be calling out to every life that should not exist under these ruins, like bloodthirsty hounds that had caught the scent of their prey, tightening their encirclement step by step, leaving no place to hide and no way to escape.

Lin Zheng took a deep breath; the pungent smell made his lungs ache even more. He knew they didn't have much time left. Every second they delayed meant their chances of survival dwindled.

He endured the excruciating headache and looked at Lina. Although her eyes were weary, they still burned like an inextinguishable flame, radiating an indomitable will.

Lina's eyes showed obvious fatigue, but remained resolute. She looked at Lin Zheng, a hint of worry hidden in her eyes, for him, and for their current predicament.

"Hurry, Lin Zheng," she urged. "We need to speed things up; they're almost here. Once the company seals off this place, we're finished!"

She tried to pull Arthur through a pile of collapsed beams, but Arthur's body was too heavy, and his injuries further hampered their movement, making every inch of movement feel like an exhaustion.

A broken steel bar blocked their way, like an insurmountable barrier. It was thick and hard, deeply embedded in the ground, and could not be shaken at all.

Lena tried to pry it open with her hands, but the steel bar wouldn't budge. Her hands were scraped painfully by the rough metal surface, but she was helpless and anxiously looked around for another way out.

Lin Zheng stepped forward, stretched out his hand, and ran his fingertips across the surface of the steel bar. He "saw" the stress points connecting it to the surrounding structure, and those microscopic energy nodes that were imperceptible to ordinary people were now clearly visible.

He twisted his hand hard, and with a tooth-grinding metallic scraping sound, the base of the steel bar emitted a piercing scream before shifting to one side. This was not pure brute force, but rather an insight into the essence of the structure and microscopic intervention, which consumed a great deal of his mental energy, causing cold sweat to bead on his forehead.

Lina paused for a moment, then looked at Lin Zheng with gratitude. She knew he wasn't in good shape, and that such precise and efficient abilities must have taken a huge toll, yet he was still clearing a path for them.

"Thanks," she said softly, her tone carrying a hint of relief and barely perceptible admiration, before carefully helping Arthur through the newly opened gap.

The three continued on their way, and Lin Zheng's mental state deteriorated further. He felt as if he were walking between two realities, his body seemingly on the verge of disintegrating, torn apart into countless fragments of himself made up of information and pieces, each fragment emitting a silent scream, tearing at his soul.

The piercing wails and despairing cries from Finch's hallucinations, along with the desperate memories he had read, played on repeat in his mind, like maggots clinging to his bones, constantly tormenting him with pain and chaos. He could even "smell" the rotten stench of those mental remnants, a nauseating odor.

He knew perfectly well that these were the remnants of Finch's spirit, the last struggles of those lives devoured by his "utopian fantasy." Every sound was like a thorn, piercing his nerves and making him feel the pain of those souls.

He tried to use his "mental re-engineering" ability to format the chaotic information, but his physical weakness made the operation extremely difficult. His mental energy was rapidly depleted in the struggle against the massive flow of information, and each attempt brought a more severe backlash.

Each forced formatting was accompanied by a violent drain on his sanity, like carving a bloody, mangled path through a mental wasteland. He felt his thought processes becoming blurred, like worn-out gears, sluggish and painful in their operation.

He began to feel cold, not from the wind seeping through the broken walls, but from a chill that seeped into his very bones—a fear of his reason being slowly stripped away. This cold was not a temperature, but a lack of existence, a profound premonition that his self was about to dissolve.

With each step he took, he seemed to hear the cold whispers of the "Sacrifice Guardian." In this world, the shattering of every "hope" provided nourishment for some grand existence, and Finch's "Utopia" was nothing more than a tool used to harvest souls in this grand ritual.

He realized the true nature of the "American Dream," a meticulously crafted, enormous lie whose very existence was an unconscious national-level sacrificial ritual. The dreams and hopes of countless people were the offerings of this ritual, ultimately converging into unimaginable power.

The collapsed laboratory before us was merely a small, sacrificed altar in this ritual. The energy and spiritual remnants released during the explosion were also absorbed by an invisible force, becoming part of this massive machine.

With Lena's support, Arthur Morgan moved with difficulty. His body swayed precariously, but the occasional flash of determination in his eyes still revealed his warrior instincts, even though those instincts were being eroded by excruciating pain.

His gaze was already somewhat unfocused, and his breathing was heavy, but he still held Lina's arm tightly, trying to maintain his last bit of consciousness so that he wouldn't completely collapse and become a burden to his companion.

"They came...they came so fast..." Arthur said hoarsely, each word accompanied by intense pain. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, soaking his chin, a horrifying sight.

As Lina surveyed their surroundings, she whispered reassurances to Arthur, "Hang in there, Arthur, we're almost out of here." She gripped Arthur's arm tightly, trying to transfer her strength to him and give him some support.

Her eyes swept over the damaged technological equipment—the intricate circuit boards, the glowing transistors—all reduced to rubble in the explosion. She knew that these devices, once representing the pinnacle of human technology, were now nothing but meaningless remains.

She knew in her heart that these remnants of "high-tech elements" might hide more secrets about the company's mind control, but at this moment, those secrets seemed too distant, and survival was the only priority.

But at this moment, all she could do was to escape with Arthur and Lin Zheng, to leave this hell that had devoured countless lives and reason.

The sirens and the roar of helicopters grew closer and closer, seemingly hovering overhead. Each sound wave made my eardrums ache, and I could even feel the low-frequency vibrations from the propellers in the air, indicating that the enemy was getting closer.

A strong gust of air pressed down from above; it was a helicopter conducting low-altitude reconnaissance over the ruins. The dust and debris it kicked up poured down like a torrential rain, making the already blurry environment even more chaotic.

Dust and debris were whipped up by the airflow, forming a small sandstorm that stung the eyes and filled throats with dry sand. Lina had to stop temporarily, shielding her face with her hands and holding Arthur tighter to prevent him from collapsing in the tremors.

She knew this meant the company's cleanup force was about to begin its airborne operation, and they had very little time left; they might only have a few minutes to catch their breath.

At this most critical moment, a piercing static suddenly came from the communicator on Lin Zheng's waist. The static was so intense that it almost tore his eardrums, but in this atmosphere of despair, it was unusually noticeable.

After the static, Ava Sterling's calm yet anxious voice came through the intermittent static of the radio, like a faint but firm ray of hope piercing the deathly silence of the ruins and bringing information from the outside world.

"Evacuate immediately... Coordinates sent..." Ava's voice was urgent, carrying an unquestionable command. In the background, there seemed to be sounds of intense fighting and alarms, indicating that she was also in danger.

Lin Zheng's headache reached its peak. He tried to focus his mental energy to capture every word and every syllable, but the electromagnetic interference around him was unusually strong, and the signal was intermittent, as if someone was deliberately blocking it.

"...Also, 'Shadow' intercepted an abnormal data stream..." Ava's voice was tinged with urgency and confusion, as if she had discovered some astonishing secret and was trying to tell Lin Zheng at the last minute.

"rustle--"

Ava's voice abruptly stopped, leaving only the cold static of electricity raging in the communicator, followed by a brief silence, as if the voice had never appeared, leaving only a suspenseful period and a heavy question in Lin Zheng's heart.

Lin Zheng's hands trembled as he gripped the communicator tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. Ava's sudden disconnection made his heart race, and an ominous premonition arose within him.

"Abnormal data flow..."

"Evacuate..."

These two vague yet crucial words echoed repeatedly in his mind, like some kind of mysterious prophecy, hinting at a greater unknown and a glimmer of hope for escape. Evacuation was the only chance of survival, and the data stream was the only clue; their simultaneous appearance signified a completely new situation.

Lin Zheng looked up at Lina, who also looked astonished, clearly having only caught a few words. Her eyes were filled with doubt and worry, unsure of what this sudden information meant.

Arthur, nestled in her arms, seemed to hear something and stirred slightly, a glimmer of clarity appearing in his eyes. But this was quickly overwhelmed by the intense pain and exhaustion, and he once again fell into a semi-conscious, chaotic state.

Lin Zheng knew that Ava wouldn't have cut off communications for no reason. This meant that she or her team was facing some kind of emergency, or that their communication signals were being suppressed by the electronic warfare capabilities of the "Reality Stabilization Department," and neither of these was good news.

This cast a deeper shadow over his heart. He knew that the secrets buried beneath these ruins were far more complex and vast than they had imagined, and that the data stream Ava had discovered might point to the most core secrets of the entire "American Dream" company.

The evacuation order meant survival, while the "abnormal data stream" represented a new clue pointing to a larger conspiracy that might surpass Finch's. Lin Zheng knew that if they could successfully escape, this data stream would be key to their counterattack against the company.

He felt a strange sense of heaviness. It was as if every step they took was not just an escape, but an invisible force pushing them into a bottomless vortex, drawing them into a vast game of chess far beyond their personal grudges.

The ruins ahead still reeked of dust and decay, and the sirens blared nearby, urging them to make a quick decision. The hope of survival and the unknown threat intertwined, forming a vast net that trapped them tightly.

What exactly is hidden in that data stream? Will it be their salvation, or will it lead them into a deeper trap?

Can they find a way out? Can they break free from this concrete cage before being completely surrounded by the company's troops?

The answer, like the ruins about to crush them, is both suffocating and captivating, awaiting their choice on the brink of death.