Happier
Xiaohui Liu The glasshouse, covered with colorful glazed tiles, was sitting in the
midst of the wood like a beautiful prop from a Chinese shadow play. The
summer wind brought the scent of freshly cut grass and lilac to the living room, where Captain was checking her equipment as usual. She was a
young, tall police officer with short hair and eyes like amber glimmering
in the darkness. Her fingers went through every detail of the gun, as she
imagined aiming, pulling the trigger, and hearing the delightful noise made when the bullet hit the target
“Today’s highest temperature is 25 C. ” NeuroGreen reminded her in
her head, “Your health code is green. Your mental health score is 98, or
99th percentile.” Her score was always in the 99th percentile. It was one of the reasons she made it to her current position at such a young age.
NeuroGreen made another beep in her head, this time much more loud and urgent.
She drove her car straight to an abandoned office building. The area was already evacuated. Today’s target was totally her type: a former mayor in
his late 50s. She loved hunting down powerful people because they were more self-delusional and thus always resisted the most. But not today
though. It was a fairly new team and she wanted to see how her officers performed.
They located the target easily near the third-floor entrance, hiding
underneath a big pile of chairs and tables. The target vigilantly stuck
his head out, and a yellow health code glowed above him like a strange
halo. Apparently, he thought that the chairs would somehow protect him, and they did. Before they knew it, he quickly found an exit in this bizarre labyrinth and started running.
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