Jiang Ye genuinely felt like he was going to have lingering psychological trauma.
A room full of sex dolls identical to himself, displayed like a floral exhibition, each with its own unique flair. It was hard to imagine what psychological state Isabel was in to create such a peculiar spectacle, and even harder to imagine how long she had been doing it. A week? A month? Half a year?
"Any thoughts? Do you feel honored?" Isabel walked over to a sex doll lying prone and sat directly on its back, crossing her legs.
Honored my foot! You're a total pervert! Jiang Ye was going crazy. What do you need a room full of me for?
"Guess?" Isabel kept raising her eyebrows, smiling.
"I'm scared, Isabel. I solemnly warn you, stop producing these toys. They're incredibly perverted!" Jiang Ye covered his face with his hands. "Can you please not sit on that thing?"
"I even sleep with this thing, perverted, right?" Isabel laughed even harder.
Jiang Ye was about to lose his mind. "You were a normal person!"
"Alright, alright, I'm not teasing you anymore." Isabel laughed heartily. "This is actually an art exhibition piece. Our courier company recently held an art competition, and the winner gets a billion in prize money. This is my meticulously prepared entry."
"Art can be down-to-earth, but it can't be down-to-hell!" Jiang Ye was even more exasperated. "What kind of art is this room full of mannequins? The judges will probably deem you a pervert and disqualify you! Aren't you afraid of being fired?"
"Hey, that's where you're wrong." Isabel raised a finger and wagged it left and right. "Observe carefully, can you grasp the profound meaning of this artwork?"
Jiang Ye looked at the room full of Jiang Yes and became even more terrified. The more he looked, the more perverted it became.
"I can't grasp it," Jiang Ye said. "As the commander, I order you to rectify this within a time limit!"
"Don't rush. Let me explain. It seems you lack artistic cells and need artistic enlightenment." Isabel's expression actually became serious. "The name of this artwork is 'Time'. Ponder it further?"
"I truly lack artistic cells, but you've definitely contracted artistic cancer. The cancer cells have spread, it's terminal," Jiang Ye said with great grief.
"The different outfits and poses in this room represent all the snippets of time a person might experience in a year. For instance, the one lying there naked represents sleeping. The one sitting by the table is eating. And the one on the toilet." Isabel spoke eloquently, her expression serious, like a contemporary master. "A person has to attend formal occasions a few times a year, hence the suit. After work, one needs to enjoy a vacation, hence the beachwear."
"In short, by simply looking at the forms in this room, one sees a person's cross-section at different times. Presented panoramically in static sculpture, the entry point is the observation of time by a four-dimensional being, simultaneously calling for a more colorful life attitude and prompting serious reflection on the relationship between the passage of time and our lives." Isabel continued, "The past flows like this, day and night, without cease. And contestant Isabel's work allows us to examine time in another surprising way."
Jiang Ye was stunned. "What are you talking about?"
"This part I just recited is the evaluation from the preliminary judges. Out of a hundred points, I got eighty-five." Isabel smiled. "The photos of this artwork have passed the preliminary round and entered the finals. The results will be announced in a couple of days."
Jiang Ye was speechless.
"This can actually happen?"
"Art in this era truly goes down to the underworld!"
"No, I need to recover." Jiang Ye leaned against the wall. "You used my likeness without my consent, so you must compensate me. Go upstairs now and make me some food. I want to drink Tremella and lotus seed soup."
After drinking a bowl of Tremella and lotus seed soup, Jiang Ye left Isabel's house in a daze.
He first went back to the base vehicle and slept. He had been truly shocked and needed to rest properly.
Even in his sleep, he wasn't at peace. Jiang Ye had a terrible nightmare. He dreamt of a dark night, Isabel entering that basement, closing the door, and all the sex dolls in the room coming to life collectively, revealing eerie smiles.
It scared him awake instantly.
The sun outside was already glaring. It was eleven-thirty in the morning.
Still shaken, he drank some water, changed his clothes, and went out.
He had originally planned to go into the sex doll business, but after this ordeal, he didn't want to touch it for now. Jiang Ye decided to go out and expand his territory, to clear his head in the wilderness.
He drove a spider assault vehicle and headed straight for the military base.
As he neared the base entrance, as soon as he connected to the signal, Jiang Ye issued an order:
"Assemble all units, mission deployment!"
The military base alarm blared. All soldiers rushed out, heading underground to bring up the spider vehicles, forming ranks.
The squad leaders all connected to the combat sequence and reported their numbers to Jiang Ye. Everyone who should be there was present.
Jiang Ye was satisfied. The rapid response force was beginning to look like a proper army. However, training would need to be intensified in the future, as their assembly speed was still not fast enough; he had waited for over twenty minutes.
"Today, we will cross the Shale Mountains and continue to expand outwards," Jiang Ye said through the comms. "I will take half the men, and the fourth squad leader, Che Zhen, will take the other half."
"Yes!" Che Zhen was somewhat surprised but obeyed the order.
The expressions of the other squad leaders were somewhat subtle. They were all squad leaders, but today, the fourth squad leader was being made a leader. It was clear that Jiang Ye intended to promote him.
Clicking on the screen, Jiang Ye divided the combat sequence. Half the spiders were assigned to him, and the other half to Che Zhen.
"Alright, let's go!" he said with satisfaction.
Swarms of spider assault vehicles surged out of the military base, rushing across the plains like a steel torrent, kicking up a large cloud of yellow dust. Even from a distance, the clanging sound of countless mechanical legs stomping the ground could be heard, like a dragon covered in steel scales coiling its body.
Soon, the troops reached the tunnel.
The spiders entered in single file. The dark tunnel was instantly illuminated by blue light as the spiders quickly passed through the mountain tunnel.
A gray plain appeared before everyone's eyes, covered in rubble, vast and boundless. In the distance, some undulating hills could be vaguely seen.
It was quite desolate, a true wasteland.
"I'll head east. Che Zhen, you lead the team west. Maintain contact," Jiang Ye ordered via comms.
"Yes!" Che Zhen replied decisively.
The spiders dispersed, advancing in two directions. Simultaneously, the scanners on the leading spiders were activated, and various environmental data were refreshed on the channel.