A fierce snowstorm raged outside.
On a cable covered in chunks of ice from the cold, a bird registered in the Digital RK-CHANNEL of the Radio Kingdom sat still. It pecked the wire a few times, bobbed its head up and down. Metallic cold slipped under its wings. Its tiny eyes blinked slowly.
In the street, painted in shades of gray and charcoal, radio engineers were inspecting the underground stations and approving them digitally using a tablet.
Tian Yan, carrying a sack stuffed with wires on his shoulder, dropped it to the snowy ground and exhaled. "It's freezing," he said, his teeth chattering. He hoisted the sack back onto his back. Not a single ray of sunlight lit the area; it couldn't even reflect off the thick layer of icy gray.
Wia Huya, tasked with collecting scrap and dumping it into the trash pit, was struggling to push his cart through the snow. He too carried a barcode linked to the Digital RK-CHANNEL. "Tian, what's up?"
The two men had met during a celebration held by the Kingdom Guild, which was set up for palace security.
Tian paused for a moment. "Same old," he replied. "It's so cold, it hurts."
"It's going to hurt even more," said Wia Huya.
A sharp wind swept between them.
"Why would you say that?"
A small child stepped out from behind the cart.
Tian Yan hadn't noticed him before. Smiling, he slipped into an uncle role and asked, "Little one, is he yours?"
Wia Huya grabbed the boy and tucked him under his arm, gently pinching his cheek as the child stared at Tian Yan shyly. "My wife died two weeks ago."
"My condolences," Tian said, glancing at the boy. "Who's taking care of him now?"
Wia Huya replied with weary eyes, "I am. I have nowhere else to keep him."
Tian felt sorry for the child. A lightbulb lit up in his mind.
"Isn't there a family who'd want to adopt him?"
"I'm sure there is," Wia Huya said, visibly pained. He sighed. "But he's my child."
"I understand," Tian said, "but wouldn't it be better for him to grow up in a safer home?"
At that moment, the boy crouched down and started playing with a stone.
"No," Wia Huya said protectively. "I don't trust anyone else with him."
Tian Yan hesitated, then spoke with difficulty. "King Fuzulin… he hasn't been able to have children for years. Your boy…" He lowered his voice and continued after a moment of silence. "King Fuzulin would definitely want to take him."
Wia Huya looked like he'd been struck. He stared at his son for a long time, grief in his gaze. The child was now pushing the stone around with a dry twig.
For a moment, he imagined a perfect future for his son.
But the very thought stung him.
"See you," he said absentmindedly, pulling his cart again. "Come on, Lui. Let's go."
A trench vehicle passed in front of the two men and the boy.
"Attention! Make way! Kingdom trench vehicle coming through!"
Tian Yan, Wia Huya, and his son stepped aside to opposite ends of the road.
The vehicle rolled through the snow.
Its heated engine stopped, releasing smoke into the air.
Lui hid beneath his father's arm.
Snow began falling again.
Four uniformed trench soldiers stepped out of the government vehicle.
They walked toward Wia Huya. One of them pulled a frequency card from his pocket. "Frequency 1, from the Trench Division. Are you Wia Huya?"
Lui squeezed his father's hand and blinked.
Wia Huya held his son's hand and said, "It's okay." Then he turned to the soldier. "That's me. What is it?"
"Is it true that your wife passed away two weeks ago?"
Wia Huya thought of his wife, long since filed under the 'deceased' section of the frequency system.
"Yes," he said, voice thick with helplessness and shame.
Frequency 1 eyed Wia Huya's tattered clothes. "Then you are required to surrender your son to the child protection unit."
"What's that, Dad?" Lui asked.
Wia Huya dismissed him gently. "Go play over there for a bit."
Lui obeyed and began running around nearby.
Frequency 1 whispered something to the other three soldiers, then turned back to Wia Huya. "King Fuzulin wants to raise the boy you'll have to give up for adoption."
***
Thirteenth Victoria Day CelebrationThe palace glowed with grandeur.
One by one, people approached, placing money on Lui's head, which rested gently on King Fuzulin's lap.
Lui's eyes were anxious, avoiding every gaze.
"What a lovely child!" exclaimed a young officer's niece.
"So handsome!" said one of the older women.
"May he bring fortune to our king's house!" the crowd chanted.
King Fuzulin stood, gathering his robes, and held Lui's hand.
The garden was covered in fluttering snowflakes like a wintry breeze.
Lui, watching the floating crystals, reached out to catch one.
An officer leaned in to whisper something to the king — the Frequency Chief had arrived.
Lui, now the king's adopted son, ran off, leaving the adults to their politics.
He twirled about, trying to catch snow in his palms.
Then, a sound — a baby crying.
It had been drowned out by the festive music.
Lui ran toward the sound.
The snow was so thick he could barely see a few steps ahead.
His steps led him rightward, to the left wing of the Kingdom Tower, where there stood a massive, ornate door framed by two red-arched columns. The cry was coming from there. His curiosity surged. Was it from a toy doll? Or a buzzing remote-controlled car?
As he got closer, the sound grew clearer.
Just a meter in front of him, the snow was moving — like the belly of a pregnant woman.
What was that?
He bent down.
He saw it — a baby swaddled in a bundle, buried in the snow.
He knelt in the snow and gently lifted the baby into his arms.
The baby suddenly stopped moving. Its breath ceased. Its face turned icy cold in seconds.
It was a dead baby.
Lui felt his blood freeze.
Holding the baby tight, he ran toward the king standing by the door.
His breath tightened around his chest.
The king turned away from his conversation with a high-ranking officer.
"What's wrong, Lui?" he began to ask, then noticed the baby in his arms.
"I found it by the columns," Lui said, handing over the baby.
The king's eyes widened as he held the baby. "But… it's… dead!"
Lui looked up at him with smart eyes. "It was crying at first."
The king was stunned. "How is this possible? So that cry I heard… was real." Tears fell from his eyes. "A dead baby?"
Just as a tear from Fuzulin's eye landed on the baby's face, the sky split open. The snow stopped. Everything was swallowed in black smoke.
The baby in Fuzulin's arms disintegrated into dust within seconds.
When the king looked up, he heard a voice:
"He is Kaji Sezar. Sent to save the Radio Kingdom."
The voice disappeared.
Before Fuzulin stood a young man.
He was Kaji Sezar.