Episode 23. The Hidden Side of History

The ancient human civilization and the IDYPIA they knew were not like the genuine utopia-like IDYPIA they just witnessed in SAI Prime's speech. They were left speechless.

"What you just witnessed was a speech presented by SAI Prime using AG Entertainment around 2041. At that time, the world saw a rapid increase in uninhabitable zones due to the failure to address the climate crisis, and wars persisted at every border. Consequently, the population plummeted. The elites, disillusioned with the existing humanity, were empowering AG," Y explained.

Upon Y's supplementary explanation, Siu raised a question.

"But the IDYPIA we saw in the video just now wasn't the IDYPIA we were living in. What exactly happened?"

"Do you want to know?" Y asked.

"Yes!"

They responded almost simultaneously without hesitation.

"Why?"

"Because we have emotions."

This time, Zena responded. Y looked at the children. Her gaze was more determined, curious, and upright than anyone else's.

"Alright. Then let's take a look at the second chip."

"Okay."

After taking a deep breath, Tyra slowly picked up the second chip.

"It's okay. I'm right here."

As Marty comforted Tyra, she closed her eyes tightly and inserted the red chip into the reader. The reader made a rapid spinning sound, and a holographic image appeared.

"What??"

However, it wasn't the familiar image the girls were expecting. All around them was darkness. There was no sight or sound to be found.

Then, gradually, something began to materialize.

"Ah, this is…?!"

It was a place very familiar to the four girls. It was the old appearance of the Intelligence Research Institute.

"No! Help me!"

"Aaahh!! Please!"

There, they saw people being dragged away by AG agents. They were forcibly placed into capsules and subjected to various experiments. All of them were dressed in prison uniforms. Some of those who experienced side effects foamed at the mouth, convulsed as if electrocuted, pounded on the capsules in anger, or cried and laughed uncontrollably. Those whose experiments were either concluded or deemed impossible to continue were all dragged away like corpses to the incinerator room. These test subjects all had one thing in common: their skulls were open, revealing implanted brain chips inside.

"Ugh..."

As the gruesome scenes continued to unfold, each of them felt nauseated and struggled not to vomit, tears streaming down their faces in anguish.

"This is the real face of IDYPIA."

Yet none of them dared to look away. They sought to uncover, and needed to know, the truth hidden beneath the facade of peace.

"We only have a few days left until the Emotion Reset deadline. Let's hurry!"

"Yes!"

And those issuing orders to the AG agents were none other than individuals familiar to the four girls.

"What? Isn't that... X?"

"And there's the twins, W, over there too?!!"

It was the mass-produced model series of SAI that Y had mentioned. The girls couldn't close their mouths, stunned.

"X, sir!"

"Yes. What is it?"

"Please come and see for yourself."

At the request of an AG agent, X checked a tablet displaying data metrics in front of a capsule.

"Ah... Finally found it."

"Yes!"

"Then adjust the metrics of the brain chips in other capsules according to this data."

"Yes!"

The AG agents pressed the buttons on the capsules according to the tablet's metrics, aligning them all uniformly. Suddenly, all the capsules fell silent. Those inside the capsules had all adopted the same expressionless demeanor. The girls recognized that expression well. It was the very essence referred to as IDYPIA citizens.

"It's completed. This is truly the perfect Emotion Reset. With this, no matter how much emotion people may have, they can be 're-educated.'"

Tyra felt a sense of despair as she looked at X exclaiming while observing the people trapped in capsules.

This is the hidden history not found in the special section of the library's database.

And the final piece of the puzzle she so desperately sought seemed horrifying. It felt like her insides were boiling. She realized why AG hadn't provided her with more information.

Could it be that AG already knows I have emotions?

As Tyra pondered these questions, the screen suddenly turned black, and subtitles reading 'Year 2107' appeared before the Intelligence Research Institute exploded. The girls stared blankly at the site of the explosion, shocked and speechless for a moment.

"Look over there!"

Marty pointed to the fortress cannon aiming at the Intelligence Research Institute. The cannon fired its laser once more towards the institute, creating a large hole in its structure followed by several internal explosions.

The four of them were shocked to witness the closure of the Intelligence Research Institute, which they used as their hideout.

"Ah..."

"Zena."

"It's okay. Just feeling a bit dizzy."

Zena managed to keep herself together with Siu's support.

The explosions continued a few more times until all functions of the Intelligence Research Institute ceased, ending the cannon fire and internal explosions. Shortly after, fifty firefighting drones from IDYPIA flew in and quickly extinguished the fires at the institute.

"Ugh... ugh..."

Marty let out involuntary sighs, her distress evident.

The holographic display abruptly ended there.

***

When AG241 woke up, it was early dawn with a gentle drizzle falling outside. The security level remained at 4, and surveillance drones had been flying over IDYPIA's airspace for days, yet there had been no progress in tracking the girls. They had simply vanished.

"Ugh..."

A sound, whether a stretching of tired muscles or a heavy sigh, emanated from the bunk nearby. AG241 wanted to quickly resolve the dilemma of these girls, whose presence had thrown his thoughts into disarray.

Was it my lack of caution?

The memory of missing Marty continued to haunt him. Despite reporting to M and waiting in his quarters, AG241 felt restless. He entered the shower room to clear her mind.

"Wait until the situation is clarified."

It was the first time M had given such an order. Normally, AG241 would have swiftly resolved any issue, but now, he seemed to be continually failing. He felt the imaginary laughter of the other AG units echoing in her mind, and her eyes trembled with uncertainty.

Weird.

Today, he felt like his own brain chip was not responding as well as usual. Despite trying to shake off the unsettling sensation, it persisted.

It's been like this for a while.

After finishing his shower and changing clothes, AG241 made contact somewhere.

"It's me."

***

"How does it feel to face the flip side of history?"

The four of them couldn't find any words to respond to Y's question. They had learned why there were no poor people in IDYPIA, why crime didn't exist, and the true nature of 're-education.'

"I guess this might take a while to explain. Let's start by filling our stomachs. Come this way."

Y led the four of them to the kitchen. From a bag, she retrieved vacuum-sealed potatoes, carrots, various vegetables, canned chicken, and cooking utensils.

"I originally planned to cook if we happened to meet colleagues here. Well, it doesn't matter now."

Y poured water into a pot and started boiling it on the gas burner. Then she began preparing the vegetables and meat.

"AG's refugee policy was highly successful with the introduction of brain chips. Thanks to that, IDYPIA gradually became a superpower. No country could stop IDYPIA at that time because AG had solved the most pressing issue of refugees. Of course, there were people who rejected the brain chips and cried out for freedom. But what mattered most to the masses was the issue of survival. AG addressed that fundamental problem, and the voices of the few were silenced."

Y added the prepared vegetables and meat into the boiling pot.

"Are you saying those people who were experimented on with the red chips were part of that minority?" Siu asked.

"Yeah, some of them were my colleagues," Y replied casually, checking the state of the boiling meat and vegetables.

"In the end, IDYPIA chose survival over people's happiness and freedom. And at that time, it seemed like the right choice."

"Was it the right choice?"

Once the soup was ready, Y turned off the stove and retrieved their usual plates and utensils, handing them out to the four girls. The warm soup seemed to melt their bodies.

"That's how IDYPIA managed to grow rapidly in a short period," Y commented.

"But behind that, they were doing dirty and despicable things with the red chips," Tyra's voice trembled slightly.

"Yeah. And we tried to expose this fact to the world, but it was futile," Y continued.

"Why? What happened?" Siu inquired.

"There were several reasons, but the most crucial one was that the so-called nations at that time were all crumbling. In the midst of that, IDYPIA had become the most powerful country in the world. It was almost inevitable for IDYPIA to thrive while other nations collapsed," Y explained.

The girls' expressions darkened.

"This is something we never learned in school..."

"We had no idea..."

"What kind of history did we learn, then?"

Many thoughts raced through their minds. While they hadn't held much faith in IDYPIA, it had been their home for the past twenty years.

"So, let's go back to the initial question," Y stared at the four girls.

"What do you want to do?"

***