Looking at the three figures lying on the ground, Alice asked, "What do we do now?"
"We hand Daechir over to the police. They'll leave the island, and then we'll be free."
"No, we can't do that."
"Why not? She's just a robot, she can't die. If we don't, the people below will come up here. They might even level the whole island. Is that what you want to see? I'm due to give birth in a few days. Without her here, I can go to a hospital." Alice thought for a moment but still rejected the proposal. As the two stood at a stalemate, the people below began to shout. "Listen up, people on top! Surrender immediately, or we will destroy your balloon." Shortly after the words were spoken, three helicopters appeared, circling in front of them. "Aunty, make a decision, quickly! They're really going to make a move."
Ares walked out of the cabin with his hands raised high. "Don't shoot! We're all hostages! I've captured the wanted criminal, Daechir. Please, come and take her away."
"Little Ronnie, are you really going to hand Daechir over?" Alice asked urgently.
"Do you have a better idea?"
Twenty minutes later, Daechir was taken away. The island finally quieted down. Ares walked up to Vega. "Please give me back my gun." In his heart, he was cursing, You female swindler, I will never forgive you.
Vega lowered her head and said nothing. "Hurry up!" Ares urged.
"And what will you do to me if I don't give it back?"
At that moment, Vega held two guns. One was a standard model, and the other was only effective against robots. She had used the standard one to take down Daechir. Ares failed to get his gun back. He could sense that this woman was insidious and cunning, not someone to be trifled with.
The chain-link passageway was reopened, and Alice took Vega to the hospital to await childbirth. While Number Three was unconscious, Ares reprogrammed him to be his own robot again. Without Daechir, he planned to leave. He couldn't go back to the city-state, but where else could he go? He was momentarily lost in confusion. When Beyondbear learned he wanted to leave the island, he asked happily, "Buddha, are we going to rescue Daechir?"
"Did I say that?" Ares asked weakly. "I really want to go save her."
Of course, Ares wanted to as well, but he knew he didn't have the ability. Trying to rescue her would be a suicide mission. "How do you plan on saving her?" he asked.
"You'll definitely have a way," Beyondbear replied.
Ares said irritably, "After all that talk, it still comes down to me, you fool."
"You're the Buddha, you'll definitely have a way. You can do it!" Beyondbear said, making a gesture with a clenched fist. Hill walked over and snuggled up to Ares. "I want to go home. Can you take me back?" Ares pushed her away. "You two, shut up! I'm the boss here. I'm not interested in your plans."
At a maternity hospital, Vega successfully gave birth to a baby girl, whom she named "Zoe." She looked at Alice and asked, "Aunty, where do we go now? Should we go back to Mexico?"
"Alright. We can go to 'Shire Town'."
Vega smiled. "The 'Shire Town' of today is not the same as in our time." Alice took out a time-phone that Uwa had given her before leaving. "In the future, Catherine lives in Shire Town. Talking to her like this makes me feel closer to her."
"If only we could go back," Vega sighed.
Alice smiled without saying a word. She felt that she and Vega were greedy. They had gained their youth in the crystal ball at "Lake Turkana," regained their freedom after escaping, and then married and had children. Now, they were thinking about returning to the future. Seeing her smile silently, Vega asked, "What are you smiling about?"
Alice didn't voice her thoughts, lying instead, "I was just thinking about how we can get back to Shire Town."
"We can take a plane!"
"You've been in the hospital for over twenty days. We've spent almost all of our money."
"It's all gone so quickly?"
"Yes. There are no city-state hospitals around here."
"Then how about we join a city-state first?" Vega suggested. "No, I still want to go back to 'Shire Town'. We can live by the sea. There's a cave where Ronnie and I used to live. I really want to go see it. If no one's there, we can live in it."
"Okay, I'll go with you."
They used their remaining money to rent a single room. Alice sat on the edge of the bed with her brow furrowed, trying to figure out how to earn money for plane tickets to Mexico. In the evening, she went out alone. Under the dim yellow streetlights, she wandered forward, turned a corner, and came to the main street. It was lined with shops on both sides and was much livelier than the previous street. Directly opposite was a restaurant with a few small vendors sitting by the entrance. Alice decided to try her luck. As she got closer, she saw a sign on the door that read "Open." The door was ajar, and she pushed it open and walked in. The moment she appeared, all eyes in the restaurant turned to her. A man even whistled. Alice suddenly felt as if she had walked into a wolf's den, and she was the delicious meal in their eyes.
A man who looked like the owner came forward. "Excuse me, miss, is there anything I can help you with?"
He spoke in the local language, which Alice could roughly understand and speak a little of. She asked, "Are you the owner here?"
The man nodded. A flicker of joy appeared in Alice's heart, and she continued, "Are you hiring at your restaurant? I really need a job."
"Well..." The owner hesitated. He didn't actually need anyone, but he was captivated by Alice's beauty and was thinking about which unlucky person to fire so he could hire a beautiful woman to work instead. Seeing the owner's difficulty, Alice was a little disappointed and said, "Then I'll be going."
"Please wait! How would you like to be the restaurant's manager?"
"Manager? I get that position as soon as I arrive?" On the day Alice started her job, a man in his forties glared at her. She later learned that he was the original restaurant manager and had now been sent to the kitchen to work as a helper. After Alice came to the restaurant, business improved significantly. Many people came specifically to see her.
Vega opened her shirt to breastfeed her baby. Her breasts weren't large, but her milk was plentiful, and the baby grew plump and fair. Their room was very close to where Alice worked, and every day at noon and after work, Alice would bring her back food. One day, it was already past nine o'clock at night, and Alice still hadn't returned. Feeling worried, Vega picked up her baby and went out to look for her. She had only taken a few steps when she saw her aunty passionately kissing a man. She quickly retreated. "Who is that man? He looks even younger than Aunty." The person kissing Alice was a handsome, eighteen-year-old student who was a regular customer at the restaurant. After they parted, Alice reluctantly returned home.