Chapter Fifty-Nine: Marcus

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Following the soldiers to the holding cell, Wang Jing finally laid eyes on the so-called Terminator.

Before him, a man was pinned to a steel plate. There was something familiar about this man, as if Wang Jing had seen him somewhere before, though he couldn’t recall exactly where.

“Let me out, you bastards!” the man strapped to the steel plate screamed hysterically.

Watching the man’s animated expressions, Wang Jing instinctively thought it impossible that this could be a Terminator. Only the T-5000 models were capable of such complex expressions.

But if he were a T-5000, he would have broken free and massacred everyone by now—he wouldn’t be wailing here like a lost soul.

“What’s going on here?” Wang Jing turned to Song Guohua for an explanation.

In response, Song Guohua handed him a CT scan. “This was discovered during an examination. Aside from their heart and brain, all their other organs have been replaced by machinery.”

Hearing this, the man strapped to the steel plate cried out in disbelief, “Impossible! I’m human, not some monster. You must be mistaken!”

“There’s no way we’re mistaken. The CT images were printed individually, and metal is much denser than bone—it shows up clearly in the scans. Plus, your weight confirms it. Given your height, you should be much heavier if you were all flesh and blood, but you’re nothing but muscle; you don’t have an ounce of fat on you,” Song Guohua pointed out.

Rendered speechless, the man shook his head desperately in denial. “No, no, I can’t be a machine!”

“We never said you were a machine,” Wang Jing spoke up then.

He looked at the man and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Marcus,” the man replied.

“Did you wake up one day and discover the world had changed completely?” Wang Jing continued.

“Who are you? How do you know all this?” Marcus asked, his voice trembling with excitement.

He had been searching for answers ever since he awoke. Now, confronted with someone who seemed to know the truth about him, Marcus wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip away.

“Let him down,” Wang Jing said, returning the CT scan to Song Guohua.

Though he didn’t understand Wang Jing’s reasoning, Song Guohua nodded to the soldiers, who released Marcus.

As soon as he was free, Marcus hurried over to Wang Jing. “You know what’s happened to me, don’t you?”

Wang Jing nodded. “I do, but are you sure you want to hear it? The truth may be hard to bear.”

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Marcus nodded solemnly. “I’m sure.”

“Very well, follow me. I’ll explain on the way,” said Wang Jing, heading out with Marcus close behind, listening intently as Wang Jing summarized his origins.

“In simple terms, you’re a pawn created by Skynet—a lure meant to make the Resistance reveal their position.”

“Before Judgment Day, you were a convict, sentenced to execution. But because of a single kiss, you signed up for a medical experiment. That company belonged to the creators of Skynet. But before the experiment began, Judgment Day struck.”

“You were frozen for decades, until Skynet found you and transformed you into a half-human, half-machine infiltrator, intended to get close to John Connor, the Resistance leader—or rather, he isn’t the leader yet, but he will be.”

“Skynet also modified your brain. The urge you feel to find your creator is actually a command Skynet implanted in you, compelling you to return to its global production facilities.”

“But if the Resistance found out what I was, why would they ever let me return?” Marcus asked, bewildered.

“That’s why Skynet made you this way. It believes that the best way to get close to John Connor is through emotional connection.”

“Do you remember the boy you met earlier?” Wang Jing suddenly changed the subject.

“You mean Kyle?”

“That’s right—he’s John Connor’s father,” Wang Jing answered.

“His father?” Marcus was stunned.

“Yes, though the details are complicated. All you need to know is that he is John Connor’s father.”

“Skynet issued a kill list, and Kyle is at the very top.”

“That’s how Skynet discovered your group’s hiding place.”

“Originally, a Resistance aircraft should have intercepted the aerial hunter sent for Kyle, but would have been destroyed. One of the female pilots was supposed to bring you to the Resistance headquarters.” At this, Wang Jing paused, turning to look at the disheartened Marcus.

“But now that we’re here, none of that will happen.”

“How do you know all this?” Marcus asked Wang Jing, his gaze intense.

Wang Jing didn’t reply. He simply smiled mysteriously and walked into the temporary shelter behind him.

The shelter, a gymnasium hastily converted for this purpose, was bustling with people. As soon as he entered, Wang Jing called out loudly, “Kyle! Does anyone know Kyle?”

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Everyone who had been gnawing on bread looked up at the doorway, but no one stepped forward.

Wang Jing scanned the room and quickly spotted the only little girl among them—Star. Dressed in new clothes, she looked like any ordinary child, except for the wariness in her eyes.

He walked over to Star and glanced at the boy beside her, his head hidden beneath a hat—Kyle Reese.

Wang Jing approached, lifted Kyle’s hat, and, having confirmed his identity, asked, “Do you know where the Resistance base is?”

Kyle looked up and shook his head, eyes wide and innocent.

With a sigh, Wang Jing said, “We’re looking for the Resistance because we need information about Skynet’s bases. If you tell us, I can guarantee your sister will have bread and milk every day.”

Tempted by the promise of food, Kyle hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll take you, but first I need to know who you people are,” he said firmly.

“Agreed. I’ll tell you what I can.”

“This isn’t your world anymore. This is another Earth, in another universe—one without Skynet, without Terminators.”

“We can travel between different realities. The machines who rescued you from the Terminators are silicon-based lifeforms from another world. They yearn for peace, so they joined us,” Wang Jing explained.

“What do you want from the Resistance?” Kyle asked, clearly bewildered by Wang Jing’s words.

No one could blame him. It had been fifteen years since Judgment Day; Kyle had been just a child then. How could he understand parallel worlds or silicon-based life? All he really understood was that he wasn’t in his old world anymore, and that the man before him was a friend.

“To destroy Skynet, once and for all,” Wang Jing replied, his words simple and direct.

At that, everyone present looked at him in disbelief—even Marcus, who had followed them inside.

“How are you going to destroy Skynet?” Kyle pressed.

“I can’t tell you that,” Wang Jing refused.

If he revealed that he planned to use another artificial intelligence to destroy Skynet, these survivors—including Kyle—would surely think him mad and do everything in their power to stop him.