"..." That question made Mr. Seabird a little embarrassed. He scratched his head with his wing. "What feeling or taste can there be from eating those pieces of plastic and metal? It only gives you a sense of fullness. If the mouth hasn't been modified, eating them might even injure yourself."
"The creatures like us, who have been marked and undergone the first modification, will feel a special attraction when we enter a food store. This attraction makes us unusually focused, and it only fades after we leave the store with our stomachs full," Mr. Seabird said with a wry smile. "Maybe there's some special arrangement in the store? After all, just looking at that plastic, even after being modified, it would be hard for us to actually eat it. But inside that store, there's a special kind of magic. Those pieces of plastic, metal, and such turn into delicious food in our eyes. It's a very, very strong attraction. I can't describe it clearly, but… it just becomes extremely tasty."
This could explain why the marine creatures in that food store were so strange at first. Indeed, that food store had a problem, or rather, those fully modified plastic people were also problematic!
"Do you have friends who have been fully modified? What changes happen to them after the full modification?" Mu Anqi asked next.
"Of course there are. They… haven't really changed, I guess?" Mr. Seabird said, showing a confused expression. "My friends… they, I… I don't know, I, I… they haven't contacted me in a long time, and I haven't seen them. They're very busy…" By the end, Mr. Seabird looked extremely downcast.
Doesn't this mean that once someone is fully modified, they lose all their previous relationships!
"Before and after being marked and modified, do you feel like you've changed at all?"
One question after another. Mr. Seabird seemed to have gotten used to it. Hearing Xia Yun ask this, he thought carefully and hesitated before answering, "I don't think so? I survived, and I can feel full. Isn't that… good enough?"
At first, Fang Xunjiu wanted to ask—aren't seabirds supposed to eat fish? There are so many marine creatures here; how did you end up eating plastic? After all, in nature, survival of the fittest and the weak being eaten by the strong isn't that the truth? But then he realized that these marine creatures had all been anthropomorphized. Though they take different forms, in essence, they should already have become human, right?
Just like… the monsters in the Underworld don't eat other monsters.
"Have the organs in your body been mostly modified?" Fang Yunjiu couldn't help but ask, though it was purely out of curiosity. "If you eat plastic, can you excrete it?"
Perhaps because Mu Anqi and the others hadn't done anything excessive, Mr. Seabird seemed to relax. Hearing Fang Yunjiu's question, he even looked a bit shy, as smoke started rising from his head. "I've been modified, so I can. If I hadn't been modified, I'd have to go to the hospital often to clean out my intestines."
Mu Anqi thought for a moment and asked again, "After being fully modified, you're no longer a seabird. Can your family and friends still recognize you?"
"I guess… even though my appearance has changed, I'm still me, right? Or, I could take off my most beautiful feathers and pin them on myself?" Mr. Seabird scratched his head with his wing again, looking puzzled by Mu Anqi's question. At this moment, he seemed to have completely forgotten that he had just said those fully modified friends had lost contact with him. "Also, I'm a little frigatebird!"
Mu Anqi and the others didn't press further. After all… it seemed that once they hit a sensitive point, it would unsettle Mr. Seabird and throw him into confusion. In this brief exchange, they felt that under normal circumstances, Mr. Seabird behaved like a "normal person."
He wanted to survive, didn't want to die, and had hesitated when faced with the temptation of immortality, but his mindset seemed to have changed. He had also wondered whether he would still be himself after full modification, but in the end, his thoughts shifted to the belief that no matter how much he changed, "I" was still "I."
"How can you tell the difference between the original plastic people and the ones after full modification?" Wu Sansheng asked at last.
Mr. Seabird looked somewhat confused; he didn't seem able to tell either. But… "The one who saved us—his entire body looks like plastic. He's far more refined than the fully modified plastic people. I, I don't know how to describe it… His eyeballs can move, his facial features are three-dimensional. He's a very high-quality plastic product. If you remove the outer layer of his skin, you can see red and blue wire-like 'veins.' If you… see him, you should understand."
But ordinary plastic people were just plastic people. Even if metal and various gears were added, the later-made plastic people weren't as refined or flexible.
"Has he always stayed in the factory?"
"I don't know…" Mr. Seabird said. "He's the builder of this city, the 'god' who saved us. I haven't been fully modified, so I can't enter the factory." Aside from the period when the city was first built, he hadn't seen that being since the factory was established.
Mr. Seabird rubbed his head, looking somewhat puzzled. When… did that being come to this city? It seemed not long ago, but exactly how many years… he couldn't remember. It felt like quite a while, as if that being had been there for as long as he could remember, but he was already so old when that being arrived. Life before that being… why couldn't he remember it at all?
A few vague fragments flashed through his mind: an endless sea, a blue sky dotted with white clouds, fish leaping from the water, and… what was it?
Hadn't he lived in this city from the very beginning?
Mu Anqi and the others let Mr. Seabird go and didn't insist on taking him to the factory with them.
"Are all these marine creatures in the Black Mirror vortex really existing, or are they illusions created by the vortex?" Mu Anqi wondered. Thinking back to the paired creatures, the White Paper Residents, in the City of Seven-Day Samsara, could these marine creatures here be the paired creatures of the plastic people? But if they were, wouldn't the plastic people have absolute control over them? Why would they still need to consider whether to undergo full modification themselves? And if they aren't paired creatures, what's the purpose of creating such marine creatures…?
Mu Anqi recalled what little Xia Fenghua had once told her: in the general's original copy, the general initially used her own will to condense people who had existed in life, giving them unique emotions and personalities, and then let the player experience their lives from "her" perspective. As long as the process could be safely completed, it counted as a clear pass. Later, the general got tired of making it so complicated and just changed it into a standalone "Bloodbath in the Palace" scenario to vent.
So, was this Black Mirror vortex meant for them to experience ocean pollution? All kinds of trash dumped into the sea, marine creatures endangered, some deformed by plastic, some starving to death. Over time, certain species go extinct, affecting the food chain, so the marine creatures have nothing to eat and can only survive on plastic? Mu Anqi's mind wandered. This setup—survive if modified, die if not—is also very peculiar. After modification, how can you still be considered yourself? Maybe the part of you that's modified is still you, but if your whole body becomes plastic, even your brain and heart gone, "you" might achieve immortality, but wouldn't "you" also be considered dead the moment the modification completes?
The factory…
Xia Yun raised her flight sword, ascended into the air, and looked around, searching for the factory's location.
Among all the bottles and boxes, that factory really was the most unique building—instantly recognizable at a glance. Xia Yun noted its approximate location and was about to descend to tell Mu Anqi and the others when the plastic bags on the sea surface suddenly seemed alive! They moved like jellyfish and lunged at Xia Yun! What was even more puzzling was that their movement wasn't slow at all. Xia Yun immediately set up a sword formation to try to control the plastic bags, then descended quickly. But when the sword formation struck the plastic bags… uh, it caused no real damage, probably because they were in water?
Fortunately, as soon as Xia Yun landed, the plastic bags drifted back.
No wonder the marine creatures never swam around freely or to the surface. They just lived in this city. At first, Mu Anqi had thought the Black Mirror vortex limited these creatures to walking, but it turned out that swimming to the surface would get them attacked by the trash.
"In that direction." Xia Yun pointed, then looked up at the colorful plastic bags drifting above—no longer calm like before. She didn't know what would happen if they were truly surrounded, but it certainly wouldn't be good. "But before that… let's eat something." She was hungry too.
Mu Anqi glanced at the storage space and couldn't help but sigh, "Fang, you really helped a lot!" That day, Fang Yunjiu hadn't randomly baked a bunch of pancakes thinking that if monsters attacked someday and they couldn't cook, it might come in handy. Now, they were truly in the dark. "I don't know if the cured meat can be eaten raw… the ham seems fine. Does anyone want a few slices?"
Mu Anqi took a bucket of water and placed it on the ground. This world was really interesting—water from the bucket and the seawater in the city didn't mix. She took out a large piece of ham, sliced it with a dagger, and shared it with the pancakes. Then she dug out a bunch of oranges from the storage and distributed them. "If you're really hungry, I also have candy here. You can eat some to hold you over."
Everyone gathered around the bucket and had a big meal. Driven by hunger, the pancakes with ham tasted even better, even cold. After finishing, they scooped some water to drink and ate an orange, which was quite enjoyable.
When they were done, Mu Anqi collected the orange peels and put them back into the storage space, making sure no trash was left behind. Then she clapped her hands and took out some candy from the storage: "Marshmallows, apple gummies, and bell-shaped hard candies— which one do you want?"
"Give me a bit of everything," Fang Xunjiu mumbled. "I'm not picky. As long as there's something in my mouth, I'm happy. I like them all!"
No one had a particular preference for candy, so Mu Anqi gave a bit of each type for everyone to eat on the road.