On a quiet December night, 11:40 PM, Peter walked alone in the darkness, his steps careful not to draw too much attention from the 'night watchers'. These narrow, squalid alleys were the only access to the border of The Great Wall, a place that everyone avoided.

It wasn't without reason. The place was heavily guarded by well-trained and fully armed Zenith soldiers who wouldn't hesitate to eliminate anyone within a 5-meter radius if that person couldn't prove their affiliation with those inside the wall. No matter how miserable life was outside the wall, people wouldn't be so stupid to create trouble that would only harm them. However, Peter knew a secret unknown to most: after 11:45 PM, Zenith soldiers would patrol the area, and a highly advanced technology system would replace their duties in guarding the wall for 15 minutes before midnight.

This was a habit Peter had recently developed, once a week on Wednesdays, to meet his friend. A friend unlike him, from the world within the wall - a Zenith native, descendant of the privileged elite. Who was he? Just an outcast from the most squalid settlement in Neverland, surviving for the sake of an abusive father and a sick little sister.

But humans, no matter how their mindset has been shaped by circumstances, cannot deny the existence of instinct. The instinct to survive, the instinct to feel happiness... What could be expected from an 18-year-old to resist such a sweet temptation? Perhaps that was why Peter started this, maintaining this dangerous routine because he couldn't deny his deepest desire to escape the hell where he was born, to seek freedom through this girl for his own sanity.

Peter arrived a minute before the soldiers were ready to go on patrol. With his agility, he slipped into the bushes, creeping very carefully towards a small area in the CCTV blind spot that she had told him about. There he stood still, waiting in the darkness and silence. About 5 minutes later, a figure wrapped tightly in a brown fur coat emerged from a small emergency access door intended for one to two individuals. The main door was too risky for them.

The figure approached Peter, slipping a white scientist's coat and thick square glasses into his arms - items she 'borrowed' from her father. Peter quickly put on the coat and glasses, his messy hair combed as best he could to look a little neat. Then they entered the door leading to the corridor within the wall.

The corridor often made Peter nauseous—pure white as if endless, with dozens of CCTV cameras shining into every corner. Peter knew they weren't ordinary CCTVs; the red lights blinking from small holes inside them were equipped with rays that could cut through flesh and bone in a split second. Peter's hair stood on end a little, but she seemed unbothered as she took out two ID cards, scanning hers and her father's on the wall-mounted touchscreen.

"Native resident number 6102 and number 7894 verified. Please perform biometric fingerprint and retina scanning," announced an obnoxious voice from the speaker.

She extended her hand, her slender fingers pressing elegantly against the scanner. At moments like this, Peter sometimes caught himself watching her closely as she approached the scanner and showed her beautiful eyes. A strange tingling that had nothing to do with the nausea he had felt earlier fluttered in his chest, bringing a slight blush to his thin cheeks.

A second later, the screen flickered green and the iron door slowly opened, the cool Zenith air seeming to welcome Peter into the embrace of the night in that Utopia. She took his hand and led him inside the wall, far from the reality of the identity he possessed. Peter managed a sneer of mockery as the door closed behind them.

Arrogance. The superciliousness of supremacy through the system they idolized—after all efforts to build differences, no one would dare to defy the norms long set by the powerful. How wrong they were to equate humans with the intelligence they created.