Baby Manual
Afternoon sunlight filtered through several green trees, casting dappled shadows across the ground.
In a row of cribs painted different colors, babies slept soundly. Nurse Zhang Chunjuan held a small towel soaked in disinfectant, carefully wiping each tiny clenched fist.
Every baby's hand was clutching a piece of paper tightly, the crumpled pages reveals white corners gleaming with a translucent sheen.
A single sheet lay quietly on the floor, its garish red characters striking: Baby Manual.
Nurse Zhang muttered under her breath as she picked the manual up. The chubby infant kicked his legs, waving two plump little hands, grunting impatiently.
"There, there. Once we take the manual off, you can go see Mommy and Daddy."
Nurse Zhang coaxed the baby in the crib, then stepped on another baby manual. The infant in the next crib was fast asleep, one small hand dangling limply over the edge.
After matching each manual to its respective baby by name, Nurse Zhang pressed the service bell on the wall.
This was the Baby Factory.
Every newborn was sent here, to wait until their Baby Manual grew in and fell off before they could be returned to their parents.
Room 305 was steeped in gloom.
Albert Bai unfolded the Baby Manual once again; it was slightly damp with his sweat.
[Generic Name]: Baby
[This Baby's Name]: Marcus Bai
[Ingredients]: Flesh and blood
[Description]: This baby is a six-pound-eight-ounce chubby boy, naturally scented with milk; the scent will dissipate as he grows older
[Adverse Reactions]: Not yet determined
[Precautions]:
(1) This baby is fated for a short life; water is his key danger word
(2) Stay away from crowds to avoid many unnecessary troubles
(3) Will die immediately upon expiration of the validity period
[Storage]: Seal tightly and keep in a safe place
[Validity Period]: 20 years
The woman on the hospital bed had tears in her eyes. The tiny baby in her arms slept sweetly. "Why is our baby so unfortunate? He can only live twenty years... and we can only have one child—does that mean our family line ends?"
"Ruby..." Albert took a deep breath. "Even though the manual's accuracy rate has reached 100% so far, as long as we protect him well—keep him away from water and crowds—maybe we can extend his life beyond..."
"I hope so."
"I will make sure our son lives the richest twenty years possible."
2
"Boycott the profiteer Victor Vane!"
"Victor Vane disregards human ethics, defies heaven's will, and puts all of humanity's fate at risk!"
"The Baby Manual is equivalent to placing a death countdown on every human's head... it not only snuffs out all human possibility but also increases the crime rate!"
"Disgusting capitalists collude with the government, making the manual exam a mandatory prenatal checkup and stripping people of their basic rights..."
Angry crowds marched through the streets holding colorful banners, a black mass of humanity like a tide, wave after wave of emotion surging forth. Their target seemed clear—the tallest building in the city.
Victor Vane stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows of his office, looking down at the ant-like masses below. He let out a cold, mirthless laugh. "Ungrateful! I help these people grasp their once-ephemeral fate in their own hands again, and instead of thanking me, they treat me as an enemy. Where in the world is such logic?"
"Boss... what about..."
"Ignore them. The intelligent robot research is progressing too slowly. Push them to speed up."
A little boy crouched on the ground, poking at ants with a small stick. He heard a tidal wave of shouting in the distance, but he paid it no mind.
Until a flash of red appeared at the mouth of the alley. The boy immediately turned and ran upstairs, his footsteps pattering.
Soon came the sound of a key turning in the lock. The boy stood timidly at the bedroom doorway, blinking his large eyes at the woman.
"Little Bright, Mommy's home. I bought your favorite fish today. Mommy will make you tomato fish soup for lunch." Ruby Liu held up a plastic bag. "Want to come help?"
"Mommy." Marcus Bai peeled the skin off a tomato and carefully pushed it aside. "Why can't I go to school like the other kids? And the girl next door—Xiao Hong—showed me her Baby Manual, and it says she'll live to eighty-four. What about mine..."
"Little Bright." Ruby wiped her hands on her apron. "Your Baby Manual—Mommy and Daddy accidentally lost it. But it says you'll live healthily to one hundred. Don't worry."
"Oh." Marcus lowered his head, visibly glum.
After lunch, Marcus spread his textbooks across the table. Ruby patiently explained the lessons, then picked a few problems for him to work through.
Marcus propped his chin on his hand, idly drawing circle after circle on his scratch paper.
After dinner, Marcus took a small alarm clock into the bathroom. This was his personal bathing timer—though he didn't know why, every bath was strictly limited to ten minutes by the clock's insistent ringing.
3
The attic was piled high with layer upon layer of useless items. Marcus pushed aside a large waterproof tarp and moved a delicate but dusty nightstand out of the way.
In the very back, he discovered a small box.
A lock still hung from it.
But this was no longer any challenge for Marcus. He fished out a thin piece of wire and popped the lock in seconds.
He took several deep breaths, then lifted the lid.
A Baby Manual lay quietly inside. Marcus's attention was seized entirely by the number "20." No wonder—he'd always been confined to the house, even his baths were timed...
He was seventeen years old. Only three years left until his predicted death.
Marcus had previously researched the Baby Manual. In 2058, technology tycoon Victor Vane invented the Future Ultrasound Machine. He claimed that babies born after their mothers used this machine would carry a Baby Manual—a page that, as if torn from the Book of Life and Death, could reveal each baby's cause of death and lifespan.
At first, no pregnant woman dared to be the first to use the Future Ultrasound Machine. Women watched cautiously from the sidelines, fearing it might harm their unborn children.
Then Victor Vane's own daughter became the first.
Her son's Baby Manual stated that the child would die at age five, with fire as the fatal factor. The entire nation held its breath, waiting to see whether Victor Vane's prediction would come true.
The child was protected from every angle, growing up healthy. But on his fifth birthday, the candles on his birthday cake suddenly burst, and a searing tongue of flame shot straight at the child's forehead.
Victor Vane's prophecy had been fulfilled.
After that, the nation split into two camps. Some called it a conspiracy, claiming Victor Vane had deliberately killed his own grandson to make the prediction come true. Others believed the Future Ultrasound Machine had something real to it—that it might actually help calculate a child's fate.
Ten more years passed. Every child predicted to die had perished without exception. The government stepped in, making the Future Ultrasound Machine a mandatory prenatal exam item.
A new social class was born.
With Earth already in peril and resources severely scarce, long-lived children received priority access to educational resources. They were cultivated to become the nation's future pillars, spending their long lives building brilliant futures.
Their parents also basked in reflected glory—whether their waists were thick, crooked, or stiff, they could instantly stand ramrod-straight like trees.
Short-lived children, meanwhile, were deemed unworthy of investment. Even pouring resources into them would never yield appropriate long-term returns.
They became society's discarded children.
Those who were prematurely sentenced to death simply gave up, collectively single-handedly driving the crime rate to unprecedented heights.
Class stratified by lifespan—it was one of the great absurdities of human development.
After snapping two photos of the Baby Manual, Marcus locked it back in the box.
He exhaled heavily. How absurd—that his fate could be so easily decided by a single sheet of paper.