[2086] Beta-testing

22nd March, 2086. Late night.

After Crystal and Langka had their major break, both Madame Butterfly and Levana were nowhere to be found.

Crystal relied on Singkut, or Apaimanee, to keep in touch with Levana as her secret lover. However, Levana knew not where Madame Butterfly went, saying that only her brother would.

“Why can’t Butterfly just stab herself and die?” Apaimanee would find himself scoffing when he was alone. “No matter. We can proceed as planned. She’ll take the bait, eventually.”

He started testing the Demon Pacifier out in early February, with a beta system lacking Nil’s improvements.

He took down Ploenchit, where there was a huge intersection with dense traffic, and caused major accidents related to self-driving vehicle. Some people with enhancements also keeled over.

He watched the whole grid succumb to chaos, and thought that the system had to be more specific next time he tried. He saw a woman in uniform and intentionally met her eyes for a few seconds before retreating.

The next time, he tested it in Yaowarat, Bangkok’s Chinatown and street food hub. It was a success. People were confused, and his name swept through social media. People began coming up with conspiracies relating to the folk song he played, although he knew that only his target would get the message.

He went out a few more times, with similar results.

After his latest excursion in Thonglor, one thing bothered him. He saw Suwan. He was aware that his younger brother became an investigator and was on his case.

He could not let the old Apaimanee come back. Not yet.

“Am I afraid of seeing Suwan?” He chuckled.

Suwan never changed, and imagining the current him talking to his brother was terrifying. So, he laughed it off.

“Your Demon-Pacifying went off without a hitch.” Malee came into the monitoring room. The electricity and signals on the different grids slowly came back on.

“Are you still using that stupid name?”

“Why not? Operation Stone-Butterfly-to-Death sounds way too obvious to be a secret mission.”

“I didn’t know you could crack a joke.”

“How long have you been with me, Apaimanee? You should know by now. Even your sons know.”

Apaimanee’s expression shifted at the mention of his sons. Malee knew why.

“Will you ever fix it with Sin?”

“He doesn’t consider me his father anymore. I don’t see the point.” The man sighed. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever loved that girl. He loved her all along and I just brushed him off. I’m disgusting.”

“That means you are still human.” She gave him a comforting look. “Even if he is Butterfly’s son, you can still have a true family with him if you choose to. Chan can, so I do not see why you cannot.”

Apaimanee did not know how Chan could look at Sin and not be reminded of the person that stole his twin’s body.

“Because it’s Chan. He’s better with people than I am.”

Apaimanee rolled the pi in his hand and got up.

“It’ll soon be over, right?”

“That depends.” Malee crossed her arms. “I will get Huren and Levana, one way or another. Madame Butterfly is a different story, but she cannot hide forever.”

Apaimanee was glad he was not on this woman’s opposing side.

Levana and everyone else in Langka thought that Nil betrayed them. Only Huren knew that Nil did it to buy Crystal’s trust, in order to destroy Crystal from the inside.

In his brain, he had a switch that Nil gave him. Activating it would cause the ‘real’ virus in the system to start destroying everything Malee built up over the years.

He had an eye on Singkut, and knew that the man would eventually betray them. No matter, he used Singkut to bring Nil back into Crystal. That was enough.

Huren was aware of the man’s relationship with Levana, so he told her to cut all ties with him. Levana said she would do so, but he did not know if he could trust her rebellious streak. No matter, Levana knew what she was doing. Maybe she could use Singkut for other purposes that he could not think of.

He placed his hand on the glass window of his penthouse. He knew who sent Singkut. It was easy enough to guess.

“Langka will not be destroyed, Malee. You cannot have this country all to yourself.”