A small chaos descended upon Guangzhou.
It was because of people going in and out of restaurants everywhere, searching for candy.
Half out of their minds over the candy, they were scouring place after place to get their hands on it.
Some sharp-eyed people had noticed the QR code printed on the wrapper and kept it,
but most had assumed it was cheap candy handed out by restaurants and had simply thrown the wrappers away without even checking the outside.
On top of that, thinking they could get the candy for free if they went to restaurants, it never occurred to them to pay for it.
Afraid someone else might take it first, they lost their reason in their haste.
Thinking they had to get to the restaurants faster than anyone else, they began searching restaurants and cafés.
They would rudely enter any random restaurant, rummage around the counter as if searching for candy, and if there was none, turn on their heels and leave without even an apology.
Angered by this, restaurant owners put up signs outside their shops saying there was no candy, and some even reported it to Public Security.
From the restaurant owners’ perspective, it was infuriating to have people barging in, loitering around the counter, and pawing at it. But from Public Security’s perspective, there was little they could do beyond telling them to stop.
People were frantic in their search for Ascend,
shop owners were irritated because of those people,
and Public Security could do nothing but leave things be.
Thanks to that, the chaos only grew worse.
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Designer Liu Mei.
She had created the best design, one that reflected the client’s demands one hundred percent while never losing its visual sensibility.
Even if it was only a signboard for a neighborhood jianbing shop—a representative Chinese breakfast dish made by wrapping ham, vegetables, and the like in a flour batter.
But the problem came afterward.
Unlike when she had eaten the candy, when every line and every color in the world had been vivid, now it felt as though the world had turned black and white.
To be precise, it was not black and white.
These were the colors Liu Mei had always seen.
She had returned to Liu Mei’s original world.
But Liu Mei did not like that world.
She wanted to see the colors she had seen then.
She wanted to feel the emotions she had felt then again.
She wanted to return to that world from back then.
The place Liu Mei was standing now was not the proper world.
The colleague who had handed me the candy seemed to feel the same way.
“Want to go back there?”
“Where?”
“The place where we got the candy.”
“Yeah. Let’s go right now.”
Without either of them needing to say who would go first, the two ran to the park where they had received the candy.
They walked all over the park, but there was no one handing out candy.
They searched the park thoroughly, but there was nothing like a dropped piece of candy.
Just when disappointment was draining the strength from them,
they found a candy wrapper on a park bench.
At first, they were delighted, thinking they had found candy; then they were disappointed when they saw it was only an empty shell; then they cheered when they saw the QR code on it.
“Finally… found it.”
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Junkai, who ran a convenience store, had been irritated since yesterday by strange customers.
Customers would come in with vacant eyes and blindly grab chocolates and jellies.
Like starving people, they were already tearing open the packaging as they brought the chocolates over.
They chewed noisily and brought them to the register.
Even when he told them not to spill anything, they did not listen.
Women, men, old, young—it made no difference. They all looked the same.
Whenever those bastards came and went, he had to clean the floor again, which annoyed him.
Because every last one of them kept dropping crumbs.
Several lunatics like that had come and gone again today.
Now he was sick of even trying to stop them.
At first, he had stopped them, asking what they thought they were doing, but their blank eyes felt as if they were in no state to listen to him.
They would not listen no matter what he said.
It was irritating.
Just now, some guy had come in, made a mess of a whole bunch of products, and left.
No matter how many times he told him not to, he did not listen.
After the guy left, Junkai went to straighten up what he had rummaged through.
Huh? The products were gone?
The chocolate bars, chocolates, jellies, and candies were empty.
That guy had rummaged around because he could not see any of that candy-type stuff.
Junkai had failed to understand the customer’s feelings as he tried to find the products, even by digging through everything, because there were no products left.
‘I was in the wrong.’
Junkai reflected on himself.
But when had all those candies sold out?
They had sold quite a lot today, but he had not thought it was enough to run out.
To check precisely, he opened the POS system and looked.
That was right.
They had all sold today.
Chocolates and jellies usually sold well, but they had never sold this much before.
It was fascinating.
This was not the time to be standing around.
He immediately opened the ordering system and began placing orders.
He ordered jellies, chocolates, candies, chocolate bars, and more.
It was three times the usual amount.
It was all consideration for his customers.
His customers must not be inconvenienced.
*******
Guangzhou Public Security Bureau.
Public Security officer Mingyu stood in front of the vending machine to get coffee.
As Mingyu was getting his coffee, his colleague from the same intake, Zihao, came up beside him.
“It’s been a while.”
“Seriously. We work in the same building, but it’s hard to even see your face. Want coffee?”
“Sounds good. Get me one.”
Mingyu got a cup of coffee and handed it to Zihao.
“Drink.”
“Thanks.”
“Did you just come back from being dispatched?”
“Yeah. I’ve been dispatched four times today alone. What kind of day is this?”
“Really? I went out three times today too.”
“Were you dispatched because of that too? The candy?”
“Yeah. That’s right. What even is that damn candy, for people to cause such a fuss over it? People are making a scene saying they have to find the candy, and restaurant owners are making a scene asking us to stop those people from coming.”
“Tell me about it. But from what I heard, they put the candy on counters as samples, and people wanted more of it.”
“I heard roughly the same thing, but then can’t they just buy it?”
“But they don’t know where it’s sold.”
“What?”
“They want to buy the candy, but they don’t know where it’s sold.”
“Didn’t they do marketing to sell it and put it out as samples?”
“I don’t know. Why they’re doing it like that.”
“Maybe…”
“Maybe what?”
Mingyu glanced around to make sure no one was nearby and spoke quietly.
“Maybe it’s a drug?”
“What??”
“No, think about it. Would that many people really make such a fuss searching for one piece of candy? That’s exactly the pattern of addicts.”
“That’s true.”
“That’s why I keep suspecting it might be a drug. I heard a while ago that a new type of drug had been discovered in Macao.”
“Really?”
“We’re geographically close to Macao here. It’s a perfectly possible story.”
“That’s true, but if it’s a drug, would it be possible to spread it around in such large quantities like that? It must be hard enough to bring in, and they’re scattering it randomly like that?”
“That’s why I can’t conclude that it’s a drug. Even a neighborhood kid knows that in China, if you’re caught selling drugs, you get the death penalty. There can’t be people recklessly spreading drugs like that. So I keep wondering, is it really? I keep tilting my head.”
“If we could get some and analyze the ingredients, that would be the end of it, but we can’t get any.”
As they talked and drank coffee, their cups reached the bottom.
Just as the two were about to part, Mingyu’s junior came to the vending machine with an exhausted expression.
“Coffee? Want me to get you one?”
“I’ll gratefully accept.”
“Why do you look so tired? Are you coming back from a dispatch?”
“Yes. What even is that damn candy? This was my third dispatch today alone.”
“Hahahahaha. We were just talking about that until now.”
“But did you hear this too?”
“Hear what?”
“They say that candy was found in Shenzhen, Xiamen, Fuzhou, and Shanghai too.”
“What??”
The two shuddered with an indescribable unease.
*******
Li Wentao, a city hall civil servant, had finally obtained the candy.
Getting the candy was not as difficult as he had expected.
If he scanned the QR code on the candy wrapper, it took him to Ascend’s social media.
From there, he could go to the purchase site written on the social media page and pay.
Payment had to be made with something called Candycoin, but the process was not difficult.
He probably would have done it even if it had been difficult,
and even if it had been written in a foreign language, he would have used a translator, but it was kindly written in Chinese.
Once the payment went through, several photos were sent to him.
They told him the drug was there, so he should go and find it.
When he reached the place shown in the photos and stretched out his hand, there was a small bag containing Ascend.
There were ten pieces inside.
They did not sell them one at a time.
Ten was the basic unit.
At fifty yuan—ten thousand won—per piece, it was not cheap, but he could not help but pay.
He had judged that this was far faster and more effective than wandering through restaurants and streets in search of candy that might be anywhere.
When he put another piece of Ascend into his mouth, the sweet taste came again, and with it, a thrilling sensation spread through his entire body.
‘Yes, this is the feeling.’
His body overflowed with vitality, and his mind became organized.
Everything that had been complicated calmly sorted itself out.
Information related to the flower market rose in his mind like a monitor screen.
Place this here, assign the security personnel like this,
that’s right. If he changed the flow of traffic here like this, it would be far more effective.
Only then did he understand the meaning of the report that had seemed like a cipher.
He became able to decipher the report he had written himself but had wandered over for ages because he could not understand it.
When the drug’s effect was about to wear off, he ate another Ascend.
His mood began to improve again.
Completely cut off from the outside world, he fell into a world of his own.
As if playing a city-building game, as if assembling Lego.
Li Wentao became a perfect creator and was making his own world.
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.
‘Whew. Finally finished.’
He did not know how much time had passed.
One night? Two nights? He did not know.
He had simply wanted to put every situation that came to mind into the plan.
To avoid being cut off midway and seeing that cipher-like screen again, he kept taking Ascend as he worked.
As a result,
he perfectly completed , , , , , , and even .
He even prepared a PPT for the report in the midst of it all.
By page count alone, it was an enormous volume of over five thousand pages.
The operational plan was piled like a mountain on one side of his desk.
Just looking at it made him proud.
‘I made this.’
This must be what it meant to feel full without eating.
Before reporting to the section chief, he reviewed the materials one more time.
They were perfect.
Even after checking again, they were excellent.
The best.
Knock, knock.
“This is Li Wentao. I’m here to report on the flower market operational plan.”
“Come in.”
Among the documents that amounted to over five thousand pages, Li Wentao took the basic operational plan and the presentation PPT and entered the section chief’s office.
Before going into the section chief’s office, he ate another Ascend to loosen his nerves.
Courage rose in him.
Confidence welled up.
The materials I made are the best.
He pulled up the PPT and gave a passionate presentation for over thirty minutes.
But the expression of the section chief listening to it was not good.
Before he had even presented half of it, the section chief cut Li Wentao off.
“Wait. Just a moment.”
“Yes. What is it? If you have any questions, I will explain.”
“You worked hard. I can tell you made it well. But listen. Did you write this thinking Chinese people would follow order?”
“Pardon?”
“Look here. It says things like ‘enter in order’ and ‘enter sequentially after number tickets are issued.’ Did you make this thinking that would be possible?”
‘Ah! Fuck. I didn’t think of that.’
“And here too, ‘allow autonomous use’? What does this mean? Are we only holding the event for one hour and ending it? If we leave it to people’s autonomy, someone will take it, break it, or damage it.”
“……”
“And how can you put the bathrooms all the way down there? If people don’t want to go, they’ll just shit anywhere. What are you going to do about that?”
“……”
“I know you worked hard for several days, but this seems a bit difficult to apply. Revise it and bring it back.”
“……”
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Li Wentao was angry.
Extremely angry.
They were rejecting such a perfect plan?
He was angry at the section chief, who could not understand this plan, flawlessly arranged from A to Z.
He was telling him to revise such a seamless and perfect plan?
When all they had to do was execute it as it was?
The civic awareness of Chinese people?
Why would that be a problem?
If people don’t act that way, isn’t it the role of us civil servants to make them act that way?
Why become a civil servant and then try to avoid that role?
The reason this didn’t pass wasn’t because Li Wentao’s plan was lacking, but because the section chief was incompetent.
The section chief was too stupid to properly understand this plan,
and lacked the ability to execute it, so he couldn’t even think of trying it.
The reason this plan fell through was not Li Wentao’s fault, but the section chief’s.
Li Wentao had done nothing wrong.
Li Wentao was not wrong.
Li Wentao firmly believed that.
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The painter Zhou Yuhang was heading to the gallery with his painting, a confident look on his face.
It was the greatest masterpiece of his life, created over several days of work.
Though he had received a bit of help from Ascend, he was still certain it was a work he had made himself.
“You’re here?”
The director greeted Zhou Yuhang.
“Coffee?”
“No. I’d like to show you the painting first.”
“Oh? You sound confident. Then let’s look at the painting first.”
Zhou Yuhang placed the painting on the easel with an air of overflowing confidence.
And when he removed the wrapping paper, a painting was revealed.
Upon seeing the painting, the director set down the coffee he had been drinking, stood properly in front of the painting, and looked at it again.
“Did you really paint this yourself?”
“Yes. I painted it over the past few days. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it the greatest masterpiece of my life.”
“There’s not a trace of your style in it. You know I like your paintings, so I’ve been looking at them for quite a long time. I’ve sponsored you, too. But this is far too alien.”
“This time, I drew out and expressed the form of my abyss. So it may feel a little unfamiliar.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“In that case, it might not be bad to keep some of it hidden. The painting is quite repulsive.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I don’t want to look at it. I feel like I’m going to throw up. I’d like you to put the painting away quickly.”
“How could you…”
“If you’re going to keep painting things like this, I don’t think you need to come here anymore.”
“…”
“Then you can go.”
He left the gallery as if he had been chased out.
But Zhou Yuhang did not bend his will.
The director didn’t know how to appreciate paintings.
He didn’t understand art and only saw it in terms of money.
Zhou Yuhang thought it had merely revealed the shallow level of a director who only knew how to buy and sell paintings.
His work was still great.
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This sort of thing wasn’t happening only to Li Wentao or Zhou Yuhang.
It was appearing all over Guangzhou, all the time.
“How could this food possibly not taste good? Do you not have a tongue?”
“You don’t understand this? Can you even read?”
“If you can’t understand this logic itself, is there any need for us to talk?”
“You think this is difficult? Then the problem is your level.”
“You say I’m wrong? No, you’re the one who’s wrong.”
The problem was with the things they created after taking Ascend.
They said the things they made after taking Ascend were the best, but the people who saw them did not agree.
They used expressions like “hard to apply in reality,” “difficult,” and “hard to understand,” but what they meant was that it was trash.
Even so, the Ascend users did not bend their will.
They thought what they had made was the best.
The more people like that there were, the better Junkai’s convenience store did.
He had simply filled one wall of the convenience store with high-sugar sweets, candies, chocolates, and the like.
The people who came into the convenience store devoured them ravenously.
All Junkai had to do was ring them up.
Good grief.
The chocolate was already running low.
And he had thought he had ordered plenty.
He picked up the phone and began placing another order.
“I’d like to place an order. Yes, yes, yes. No, I think I’ll need ten times the last order… And how much are jellies going for these days? What about candy? Yes, yes. Please deliver it quickly. Yes~”