“I’m helping you,” said the officer, “and your comrades.”

His hairline receding, brows thin, and eyes sharply defined by black and white, the man wore smart glasses, giving the impression of a stern schoolmaster. This was the so-called “good cop.” After enduring a round of scolding from the “bad cop,” Wang Nian silently mulled over the situation.

“If we arrest them before they reach the Legislative Council, the charges would be limited to violating the anti-mask law or disturbing public order. But if they vandalize the Legislative Council, the consequences will be far more severe.”

Wang Nian knew exactly what he meant. Bad laws beget worse ones. The most terrifying thing wasn’t the harsh clauses in the law, but the ambiguous wordings ripe for interpretation by those in power. Public punishments under the sun were fearsome, but far more chilling was being sent through that dark narrow gate named “national security,” only to disappear without a trace.

“How did you discover my identity?” After a night of silence, Wang Nian finally spoke. The officer, smug, glanced at the surveillance camera, flashing a triumphant look to his colleagues on the other side.

“That’s classified, but I’ll let you in on a bit. First, ‘SkyNet’ aggregated data from various markets, identifying someone acquiring raw materials for explosives. We traced each transaction back, but because you changed identities with every action, each transaction appeared isolated, making it hard for the system to find patterns. Fortunately, a young man named Wang Nian who frequented protest groups on the dark web, recently researched information of explosives, and he was not adept at concealing his online tracks. When one shipment of ammonium nitrate overlapped with your activity, the system made a critical connection,” the officer pointed at Wang Nian’s nose, “and found you. Now, isn’t it time you told me something?”

“If I cooperate, can you promise not to harm them?”

A faint smirk crossed the officer’s lips before broadening into a seemingly warm smile. “Rest assured, as long as they haven’t committed a major crime, we have no reason to punish them harshly. New Harbor City is, after all, a place of law and order.”

Wang Nian bowed his head, wrestling with his thoughts.

“Don’t hesitate any longer. In less than two hours, the Legislative Council meeting will begin. Your comrades are likely already on their way.”

Wang Nian nodded slowly, as if his head weighed a thousand pounds.

“We never depart from a single location. Instead, we scatter and converge from multiple directions…” he began.

---

In a cinema, the film had yet to start. A man sat in the back row, observing every patron entering the hall.

Wong Chi-tsung entered and took a seat in the front row. With thick eyebrows, high cheekbones, bleached blond hair, and a trendy black jacket, he stood out. The observing man rose, blending into a group of students streaming in, and slipped into the restroom, evading the surveillance cameras in the hallway.

Inside a stall, he locked the door and pulled an identical black jacket from his backpack. He then spread a cloth bundle on the toilet lid, revealing over twenty facial masks, wigs, and head coverings. He applied one of the masks, transforming his face to resemble Wong Chi-tsung’s—thick brows, prominent nose, high cheekbones. After inserting a mouthpiece to alter his jaw shape and donning a blond wig, the transformation was complete within sixty seconds—imperfect under close scrutiny but sufficient to fool algorithms.

The cinema’s surveillance cameras showed “Wong Chi-tsung” exiting, crossing the street, and entering the subway. Surveillance inside the station watched him board a train bound for the Legislative Council.

Elsewhere in the city, a woman named Liu Li entered a hotel. Fifteen minutes later, she exited wearing a blue baseball cap and took a taxi toward the Legislative Council.

All appeared ordinary.

How many more face-borrowers were moving through the city? As long as deviations remained within certain thresholds, “SkyNet” would detect nothing. It was too preoccupied with petty criminals, dissidents, and the socially noncompliant.

But today was different. Today, the Legislative Council was set to pass the “Zero Blind Spot Surveillance Act,” and SkyNet’s algorithms had been heightened to maximum sensitivity.

---

“It’s easiest to fool SkyNet’s facial recognition. Once you understand the key facial metrics—eye spacing, nose shape, cheek width, jawline—you can use simple disguises to evade detection. By preparing masks with average facial features, one can quickly assume any identity in thirty seconds or less.”

“The challenge is the tracking system,” Wang Nian continued. “SkyNet generates daily movement profiles for every citizen. Deviate too much, and it raises the alarm. Masks or an unrecognized face? Immediate alerts. Appear on one street, then suddenly on another? Alarm triggered. So we can’t just create random faces or steal any citizen’s identity. We must track their routines and assume their identity in blind spots.”

The officer chuckled, amused by Wang Nian’s candor. “Standard method, clumsy but effective. Now, tell me their names and whose faces they’ll borrow.”

“Our operations are decentralized. Members don’t know each other. We use aliases online, and by the time we act, we’ve changed faces. Only the group leader knows the identities, and even then, the hacker assigns faces on the day of the action.”

Just as the officer expected. He leaned back, satisfied with his progress.

“What’s the plan to approach the Legislative Council?”

Wang Nian’s silence returned. His body shifted, brow furrowed, and eyes darted. His vitals flickered nervously on the officer’s smart glasses.

“Don’t stall. Every second you waste brings them closer.”

“By air.”

“The rooftop? Impossible. No buildings adjoin the Council.”

“I won’t say more!” Wang Nian snapped. “You figure out the rest.”

The officer knew this hesitation well. It indicated inner conflict—a vulnerability he could exploit.

“You accuse the government of surveillance, yet you steal faces. Hypocritical, isn’t it?”

“It’s entirely different. The government monitors the entire city. We only borrow faces briefly. If the mission succeeds, we remove the masks and disappear. If caught, those whose faces we borrow remain innocent.”

“You’ve become part of the surveillance arms race. Isn’t that what you’re opposing?”

Wang Nian smirked. “Every law tightens control—anti-mask law, real-name internet use, face tracking. SkyNet will evolve into MindNet. Until then, our resistance buys time.”

The officer sighed. “Conspiracy theories. The government only reacts. Violence drove the anti-mask law, cyber unrest led to internet control, and guerrilla attacks demanded face tracking. After the Ge Ming Incident left hundreds dead, how could we not act?”

“Ge Ming?” Wang Nian’s face faltered.

A crack. The officer leaned back, confident he had broken through.