He supposed this meant seeing Chen Pang as well, but he could tolerate that. He’d driven the man for years. He understood Chen Pang. The man simply didn’t comprehend how insignificant he was beside Su-Yong. He would with time.

On the plus side, it would mean seeing little Ling again. That he looked forward to. The girl was adorable, a little sister to every Fist who’d ever met her, full of her questions and her mix of ancient wisdom and childish naïveté. Bai grinned wider. Yes, it would be good to see Ling again.

Bai smiled as Yingjie drove them into the garage of the exclusive tower in the Pudong. He’d driven here so many times himself. The limousine took them to the bottom floor of the garage, where it was completely deserted. Yingjie pulled up directly to a lift, which opened immediately.

Of course. Su-Yong would want no one to see them yet, and she would be in complete control of the infrastructure of the building.

Bai piled out of the limousine with Lao and Peng and Quang. They hustled into the elevator, and then it was rising, rising, rising.

Long seconds later, the lift opened, directly onto the spacious upper-floor flat Su-Yong shared with Chen Pang. Bai’s eyes took in the wide-open room, so unlike the rest of China, the incredible visage of Shanghai beyond. He saw Chen Pang, saw Ling. His mind felt Su-Yong, felt…

What?

Ling smiled at him, smiled at him and Quang and Lao and Peng.

“It’s so good to see you all again,” she said.

And her thoughts were not Ling’s. They were Su-Yong’s. Or something like Su-Yong’s.

Bai felt consternation flow from his brothers. And he felt something else. A mind where no mind had been before, where there had been a man who steadfastly refused the nanites, a man who viewed himself as superior to them all.

Now there was a mind, a mind trapped, a mind tormented, a mind enslaved.

“Hello again, Bai,” Chen Pang said.

The thing in Ling’s body turned and smiled at what had been her… father? Husband?

The smile and the thoughts that came with it sent a chill of fear down Bai’s spine.

She turned back to Bai and the others.

“I can see you’re confused by the… changes,” she said.

This is my mother, Bai told himself. This woman gave me freedom. I owe her everything.

But… Ling… and even Chen Pang…

You’ll get used to it, the thing before him sent them all.

71
A Billion Weeds

Sunday 2041.01.06

“…protests have grown,” Deputy Security Minister Ho said, as the screen panned behind him. “Now more than a dozen university campuses. Four to five hundred students in the largest protests. Growth appears to be accelerating.”