[CONTENTID1]CHAPTER THIRTEEN - THE FARM[/CONTENTID1]
[CONTENTID2]

"What are you ordering?" Hyoyeon asks as she reads the menu. The team is sitting in a fancy western restaurant, reserved for the richest in the country. Since the world has gone to , only high-list military personnel can afford to eat more than chicken chow mein and rice noodles. I look around the restaurant and see that there is hardly anyone in it; a few people here and there. Then there's my team, eleven individuals all clumped together around one table. It's no wonder that the staff are drawn to us like moths, treating us with the best service in hopes of getting a bigger tip. It also doesn't hurt that we're not the ugliest bunch.

"I don't know, I'm in the mood for steak. I haven't had steak in years," I muse, my eyes returning to the menu in my hands. "And I'll have french fries. I used to love French fries."

"Let's not speak of the French," Henry mutters and I gasp, his words hitting me like a brick wall. My mind is overwhelmed with the memories of last night and I slam my menu down, drawing everyone's eyes to me. "Or not. Damn, speak about the French all you want."

"You just reminded me of what I saw yesterday," I blurt out. His mention of the French reminds me of the virus, the virus reminds me of the counteraction of the Chinese and the Japanese - the AIs. "You'll never guess what I found out."

"Your drinks, ladies and gentlemen," a waiter says, interrupting me. We all smile up at him as he places them in front of each of us. I grab my glass and sip on my cola through the straw. I feel eyes on me and look up, seeing that he's watching me. "Can I take your meal orders?" He winks at me and I almost choke on my cola.

"Yeah, you can," Jackson bites out before entwining our fingers on the table. "What do you want, honey?" I feel my eyes widen and I'm at a loss for words. He purposely plays with my engagement ring (I'm forced to keep it on even after Yìfán's death so that I look loyal in front of both generals Xi and Li) and the waiter looks at it, his smile falling. Henry and BamBam bite back their laughter while Daehyun and Kyuhyun openly snigger.

"I'll, um, I'll have your ribeye steak with French fries and a side of salad," I cough out and the waiter nods, jotting it down in his notepad. "Can I have sliced boiled eggs in my salad?"

"Anything for you, miss," he replies with a slightly flirty tone and I fight the urge to roll my eyes. I simply nod once and, again, he writes it down. He then casts a look over the others and they give him their orders. "Your meals will be ready shortly." He bows and leaves. I realise that Jackson and I still have our fingers interlinked and I cough, drawing his attention to them. 

"Oh, sorry," he mumbles, releasing my hand. "I just got uncomfortable with him flirting with you." All I can do is smile awkwardly. My eyes wander over to Kyuhyun, who's giving me a knowing look. He glances at Jackson and wiggles his brows. I roll my eyes but I cannot help the anxiety growing inside me. 

Sehun senses me discomfort and speaks up. "You said you had something to say. Say it." It hits me again and I gasp.

"Right! So, yesterday, I went looking for Jackson, BamBam and Henry after they were called in by the generals to train the soldiers. I was walking through the east wing when I came across a hallway that's strictly off limits. It was a short cut," I explain and wait for them to motion that they're listen. A few of them nod for me to carry on. "So I'm walking down this hallway when I hear the sound of currents, like, electricity currents. I turn around and I see a flash coming from behind a door."

"Can you summarise or skip to the good part?" Kyuhyun interrupts and I flash him a glare. He shrugs unapologetically. "Sorry, not sorry." I flip him the bird. 

"As I was saying," I growl, rolling my eyes at him. "The door was locked and I needed a key to get in. I managed to get in while one of the scientists was getting ou--"

"Woah, scientists?" Daehyun asks and I glare at him. "Sorry, continue."

"I went into the room and hid behind tables and stuff. Inside glass cases, there were these people. Except they weren't people. One of them had skin on his face but nowhere else. The others were fully skinned but all of them had weird eyes."

"Cyborgs?" Henry questions and I hold my index finger up.

"That's what I thought...until I overheard two other scientists talking about them. They were saying how one of them couldn't be 'dispatched' because he had a conscience or something. The first one was perfect and he was ready to be trained. Two others, they called them their 'prime specimens'," I continue and their eyes are all fixed on me. I've got their undivided attention. "They were AIs." A few of them gasp and all of them look shocked beyond words. "They've been in production for a while now and more will be ready within the next six months or so."

"But we were told that they'll be ready in two years! And nothing was mentioned about them looking human," Jackson argues and I nod.

"That's what I thought, too. But I swear to you I wouldn't have known they weren't human if I hadn't seen them with shrapnel embedded in their skins. But that's not all there is--"

"There's more!?" BamBam demands and I scoff.

"You don't know the half of it. Wanna know who the 'prime specimens' were? Taekwoon and Hongbin." 

"NO. ING. WAY!" Hyoyeon exclaims and the other customers in the restaurant, and some of the staff also, throw her weird looks. She throws a hand over . "Oops."

"Taekwoon and Hongbin? The tall redheads?" Youngjae questions and I nod. "Jesus. But...they look so human!"

"And they're hot!!" Jessica and Hyoyeon say at the same time. They look at each other and laugh. 

"I know but it's the truth. But that's not all!" I reply and they all gape at me. "The scientist who programmed them worked for Yìfán, he's dead now and made it so that his orders could override all others. When Yìfán died, his power was passed onto me since I'm the only person in his will."

"Jesus Christ," Henry breathes. "What does that mean? You can control Taekwoon and Hongbin?" 

"Yep," I beam, popping the last letter. "That's why generals Xi and Li didn't want me going to the headquarters. It was in case I ran into those two and found out about my inheritance." He huffs out another breath and leans back in his chair. "We're being fed false information."

"This virus..." Yoongi muses. "We've been told it might be released in 2030. Does that mean--"

"It might be upon us sooner than we think," Sehun fills in. His eyes meet mine. "What are you going to do with this new information?"

"I haven't decide yet. I'll think about it after I find Jongin," I reply and pick up my glass, sipping some more of my cola. "He's my number one priority right now. Second is killing Luhan." The waiter returns with a female staff member and our food, both of them placing the dishes on our table. "Xiexie~" 

"Bú yòng xiè," they reply in unison. They bow and leave us to eat. The female looks over her shoulders, her eyes lingering on my male teammates. We have a moment of silence before digging in. 

"So, we finish eating and then what?" Jessica asks as she chews on a piece of chicken. "We're meeting the sergeant at seven, right? It's only...." She checks Yoongi's watch. "Five thirty-five."

"We can go sight seeing or whatever normal people used to do before WW3," I shrug, putting a French fry in my mouth. "You know what I don't get? Why French fries are called French fries, they're not even French." 

"Actually, the word "French" in that context refers to the cutting technique used to slice the potatoes. It should really be 'frenched fries' or 'frenched potatoes'," Youngjae answers and Kyuhyun lets out a d