Chapter Eighteen: Life Television

“Savior...” Jin couldn’t help but stop. An extremely severe question now faced him. If he abandoned this world, then faced with another invasion by extraterrestrial beings, how would humanity evade it a second time? Without him, who would protect them?

Yet even as he pondered, R suddenly rushed toward the mysterious woman. Jin swiftly turned to block him, standing protectively in front.

“Do you believe this woman’s words? Yet you do not trust your own inner choice?” R stared fiercely at Jin and demanded.

Jin said nothing.

“In truth, you know nothing of her identity...” R sneered coldly. He turned to the mysterious woman and mocked, “No one has ever entered my ten-meter range without my notice. How did you appear?”

The mysterious woman regarded him with cold indifference, offering no reply.

“Hmph!” R had never expected an answer. He studied her in silence, then said, “What are you exactly? Let me test you.”

With that, he lunged at the woman. Jin spun and seized the hem of R’s coat, but R was no ordinary opponent. He lowered his stance slightly, gathered his arms, and slipped free of the coat in one fluid motion, continuing forward without pause.

Jin moved in behind him. After tossing the coat aside with his left hand, he reached out with his right to R’s shoulder while driving his freed left fist hard into R’s face.

Bang!

R twisted instantly, blocking with his right arm and then unleashing a rapid barrage of leg strikes. Clearly a professional trained in combat, R’s close-quarters skills rivaled Jin’s and K’s. Unlike K’s flashy style, R fought with the same swift, ruthless precision, his strikes relentless and overwhelming.

Forced into retreat, Jin tried to withdraw his hand, but R seized it and pinned his stance, then kicked viciously at the bend of Jin’s right leg. Each blow grew harder. At first Jin held his ground, but after several impacts his body bent forward involuntarily.

R then clamped Jin’s fist, spun, and executed a flawless over-the-shoulder throw, sending Jin sprawling.

“No one will force you...” R looked down at Jin coldly. “You should follow your own heart. And I do not believe this woman is human. Anyone with the slightest caution would doubt her true nature.”

Those words were spoken as R glanced coldly at the mysterious woman before turning back to Jin.

With nothing left to say, he snorted and left with Hui Zi.

“I hope you can come there too. I will wait for you.” Hui Zi gazed at the man who had been helped up, eyes brimming with expectation.

Soon, under R’s urging, she waved reluctantly and departed.

“Are you all right?” The mysterious woman helped Jin to his feet and asked with genuine concern.

Jin could not shake his suspicion. From the beginning he had doubted her identity. How had she survived the explosion without any escape plan? Yet he knew little of his own background; how could he probe another’s so deeply?

The woman seemed flustered by his silence. “Please do not believe them. There is no utopia; everything they say is a lie.”

Jin pursed his lips without speaking. He shook his head faintly and turned away.

“Agent R...”

In Jin’s dim room—a secret meeting place for Jin and K—the dim light remained unchanged. K lifted his gaze from the notebook computer and examined the photo Jin had placed before him.

“This is the photo taken by the miniature camera sewn into my coat. This man is extraordinarily skilled. His combat ability surpasses even ours.” Jin paced the room while voicing his judgment.

“Agent...?” Jin heard K’s assessment and turned back, surprised.

“Hmm...” K set the photo aside and recalled with quiet sorrow, “He vanished a year ago. His name was R.”

“Do you know the reason for his disappearance?”

“I do not.” K shook his head. “But why would he be linked to the kidnapping case?”

They did not pursue the matter further. Instead they discussed the underlying causes that drove people to vanish. K’s thoughts remained fixed on the channel. Jin, too, wanted to understand what had gone wrong with it and felt a measure of interest.

“Static?”

“Yes.” K nodded. “Many victims reported seeing noise on the Life Space Television.”

Jin’s attention took a different turn. “Life Space Television? What is that?”

K gave a helpless smile. “It is merely a television equipped with special functions. It supplies information while recording people’s movements.”

Jin remained silent, yet a new realization dawned upon him: government surveillance permeated every aspect of life. At work, cameras watched. On the streets, the same. Even at home, where no private space existed, the Life Space Television allowed constant monitoring.

It was as though invisible chains bound every soul, locking each moment under unyielding observation.

Were it Jin, the thought of another pair of eyes tracking him through a screen—from the moment he left home to his return—would have been terrifying.

“I once visited the missing Hui Zi’s residence. The Life Space Television there was broadcasting this channel. I researched it afterward.”

K’s voice grew serious. “This is a shared trait among all the victims.”

He tapped the keyboard, attempting to analyze the data, but failed. With a dejected sigh he concluded, “The records list all disappearance causes as ‘unknown.’”