The Supernova Era

by Liu Cixin

It was 8:18 in the evening, but the children were standing in the blazing light of noon. They looked up into the blue and took in a cold breath. This was most definitely not the same blue as usual; the sky was a startling blue-black, like color recorded on ultrasensitive film. And it seemed unusually clean, as if a grayish-white layer of skin had been peeled off and the sky’s pure-blue flesh was liable to start bleeding at any moment. The city was lit bright by the light, and the sight of the sun made the children cry out in alarm. This was not humanity’s sun! The light that had broken into the night sky was too powerful to look at directly, but through the gaps in their fingers they caught glimpses of a sun that wasn’t round—it was a shapeless point like other visible stars, an intense white light emitting from some point in the universe, but it didn’t seem small. It had an extremely high brightness of −51.23, almost an order of magnitude greater than the sun, and its light scattered in the atmosphere, turning it into an enormous, blinding poison spider hanging in the western sky.

When the lightning had stopped, the children ran out of the classroom, where they found themselves in a phosphorescent world. Everything beneath the night sky, the trees, the buildings, the ground, all glowed blue-green, as if the ground and everything on it had been transformed into translucent jade and a green moonlike source deep beneath the ground was flooding light through everything. Green-lit clouds hung in the air as flocks of startled birds sped by like glowing fairies. Most frightening to the children was that they were phosphorescent, too, like images from a photo negative, or a group of ghosts.

A red light emerged in the northeast, and before long clouds glowing dark red rose in that part of the sky, as if heralding the dawn. “It’s daybreak for real this time!” “Idiot! It’s not even eleven!” The red clouds marched across half the sky, at which point the children realized that they were glowing with their own light. When they were directly overhead, the children could see they were composed of huge bands of light, like strips of slowly twisting red drapes hanging from the sky itself. “Northern lights!” someone shouted. The aurora soon covered the whole sky, and for the next week, night skies across the whole world danced with red bands of light.

When the auroras disappeared for good a week later and the glittering stars returned, one final, glorious movement of the supernova’s symphony was left: A shining nebula appeared at the very spot where the Dead Star had been just days before. The explosion’s dust cloud was excited by the high-energy pulse of the star’s remains and emitted synchronized radiation in the visible spectrum for humanity to see. The nebula grew until it was roughly the size of two full moons in the sky. This rosette-shaped radiant body, later given the name “Rose Nebula,” emitted a strange, harsh blue light into the heavens that shone over the earth with a moonlight-like silver, illuminating every detail on the ground with the brightness of a full moon, washing out the glow of the cities below. The Rose Nebula would shine over human history until the day the inheritors of the dinosaurs’ rule over the planet were wiped out, or were reborn.

Loved the description of how all the changes happened, observing an unknown star go supernova.

“Look,” he said, pointing at the valley. “That’s where we’ll play. Each of your twenty-four classes will be given some land around three to four square kilometers. That’s not a small plot! Every class will use that land—now listen—every class will establish a little country!” That last line seized the children’s attention. A thousand pairs of eyes focused on him. “The game will last for fifteen days. For fifteen days you’ll live off the territory you’ve been granted!” The children cheered.

Wow. lol, sounds like a anime

“An alliance is only stable when facing a threat comparable in strength. It will dissolve when faced with a threat that’s too big or too small.

“It’ll continue to grow for the next few decades. Astronomers predict that at its largest it will occupy a fifth of the sky, and will be as bright as an overcast day. Night will disappear.”

When the shocks wore off and the kids crawled to their feet, the Nebula Empire organized a second attack. This time, Sunland was actually running low on ammo. As they watched an imperial force ten times their size advance carefully along the river toward them, a kid exclaimed, “God, they’ve even got helicopters!” A helicopter was approaching over the hill, and when it stopped and hovered over the battlefield, an adult’s voice over a loudspeaker said, “Children! Hold your fire! The game is over!”

The premier said, “As you’re all aware, a month ago there was a supernova in the vicinity of Earth. You’re all familiar with the details so I won’t go into them. Instead, I’ll tell you some things you don’t know. After the supernova, health agencies the world over studied its effects on humans. We’ve received reports from authoritative medical institutions on all continents that match the conclusions of our own domestic institutions: namely, the supernova’s high-energy radiation destroys chromosomes in human cells. This radiation has a penetrative power never seen before. No one was unaffected, even if they were indoors or down a mine shaft. But in one population group, chromosomes have the ability to repair themselves when damaged, ninety-seven percent in thirteen-year-olds, and one hundred percent in those aged twelve and under. Damage suffered by everyone else is irreversible. They’ll survive only for another ten months to a year at most. Visible light from the supernova lasted for a little over an hour, but the invisible radiation continued for an entire week—that’s when the sky was filled with aurora borealis. The Earth completed seven revolutions during that time, so the whole world was affected identically.” The premier spoke with a calm solemnity, as if discussing something more ordinary. The children listened numbly for a while as his words sank into their minds. For a long time it didn’t make sense, and then all of a sudden it did.

Wow. Now I understand the situation. Interesting. Scientifically kinda makes sense, it wasn't radioactivity but some high frequency radiation. And in younger people repair rate is much higher. So I don't know how accurate but it has a basis.

For an entire week high-energy rays had traversed every part of the solar system, and high-energy particles battered the Earth like a rainstorm pouring down on land and sea, tearing through human bodies at unimaginably high velocity, penetrating every cell. And the tiny chromosomes in each of those cells were buffeted like fragile crystalline threads by those high-energy particles, which unraveled the DNA double helix and sent nucleotides spinning away. Damaged genes continued to operate, but the precise chain that had evolved through hundreds of millions of years of copying life had been snapped, and the mutated genes now spread death. Earth revolved humanity through a deadly shower, winding up the death clock in billions of bodies that now ticked slowly away. . . . Everyone above the age of thirteen would die, and Earth would become a children’s world.

“My god. . . .” She was close to fainting. The president came up to her and said, “Your students may not agree with you. You only know them in ordinary times, but not in extreme situations. In times of crisis, people, children included, can become superhuman.” The president turned to address the children, who had not yet entirely grasped the situation. “Yes, children. You’re going to lead this country.”

Yes this is totally an anime which noone really asked for.

“Ms. Zheng, when your baby is born you’ve got to write to tell us where he ends up, so we can take care of him,” Wei Ming said, and then shook her hand forcefully before boarding the train without looking back, resolute in his final farewell. As she watched the train depart, she again broke down and had to cover her face to hide her tears. She had now become a child, but her students had grown into adults overnight.

The premier said, “Fascinating. But how will your sky train take off and land?” “It’ll be able to,” Specs said. “Precisely how, I don’t know. But there’s a historical precedent for it. In World War Two the Allies used a transport plane to tow a chain of gliders carrying paratroopers.” The president said, “I remember that. It was to seize a Rhine bridge behind enemy lines. Operation Varsity. The largest airborne operation in history.” The premier said, “If conventional-powered transport planes can be towed too, the thing might have real-world significance. It has the potential to cut air transport costs by ninety percent.” The president asked, “Has anyone in the country suggested an idea like this before?” The premier shook his head. “Never. Children clearly aren’t at a disadvantage on every front.”

I think sky trains can fly, I don't know about them turning though. As long as it can go fast in one direction it will fly. Also constraints will be different.

Xiaomeng said, “That’s what adults are like. They can control their emotions. You can’t, Huahua.” “So what? Is there something wrong with letting others see me for who I really am?” “Self-control doesn’t mean being fake. Your emotions affect those around you, you know. Especially kids—they’re easily influenced. So you should find some self-control. You can learn from Specs.” “Him?” He sniffed. “He’s only got half the normal number of nerves in his face—it’s always that same expression. You know, Xiaomeng, you’re more of a teacher than the adults.” “That’s true. Have you noticed that the adults have taught us very little?”

So far the book has been doing quite well. The author has done well job in the past of painting in detail some unimaginable worlds- World where a civilization starts at center of a planet, even a world with multiple dimensions. There are just so many possibilities how a world governed solely by children will turn out to be, I looking forward to it.

Specs nodded. “Even the most ordinary things become marvelous in large quantities.”

What's up with this being a frequent hightlight. This isn't a quote people, it's common sense.

“Children, all of it is only enough for a single day.” “One day?” The three children stood wide-eyed in shock for a moment, until Huahua laughed awkwardly at the premier. “You’re joking . . . ​right?” The president said, “At one gram of MSG and ten grams of salt per person per day, it’s a simple matter of arithmetic: these train cars hold sixty tons, and there are one-point-two billion people in the country. You do the math.” They wrestled with the long chain of zeros for a moment, and realized he was telling the truth. Xiaomeng said, “But that’s just salt and MSG. What about oil? And grain?” “The oil would fill the pond over there. Grain would pile up into the hills around us.” The children stared at the pond and the hills and said nothing for a long time. “God!” said Huahua. “God!” said Specs. “God!” said Xiaomeng.

That was another effect of the supernova: the disappearance of winter. Temperatures stayed above 18°C, and plants remained green in what in effect was a very long springtime. As to the cause of the rising temperatures, scientists had two theories. One, known as the Explosion Theory, held that heat from the supernova caused Earth’s temperatures to rise. The other, the Pulsar Theory, held that energy from the pulsar in the remains of the supernova caused the temperatures to rise, through mechanisms far more complex than the Explosion Theory posited. Observations had detected a strong magnetic field, which astrophysicists hypothesized might also exist around other pulsars, unobserved owing to the great distances involved, but at a distance of just eight light-years, the solar system was situated within this magnetic field. Earth’s oceans were an enormous conductor that cut through the field’s force lines as the planet moved, inducing current. In effect, Earth was a rotor in a cosmic generator. Although the current was far too weak to be detectable by oceangoing ships, it was present throughout the oceans and had a considerable overall effect. It was this induced ocean current that raised the planet’s temperatures.

The two couples went downstairs where a coach filled with passengers was waiting. Two girls came running over. They were Zheng Chen’s students, Feng Jing and Yao Pingping, who were now working in the nursery. They seemed so feeble to her, as if they themselves would have a difficult time without anyone to look after them. They had come for her baby, but Zheng Chen held her four-month-old tightly as if afraid they were child-snatchers. “This little boy loves to cry, so give him lots of attention. He takes ninety milliliters of milk every two hours, and then goes to sleep twenty minutes after eating. If he cries when he should be sleeping, it means he’s hungry. He doesn’t usually cry if he’s wet or dirty. He may have a calcium deficiency, so I’ve put calcium supplements in this bag. Remember to give him one every day, or else he’ll get sick

When they stepped into the hall on the morning of the fourth day, however, the children felt the heavy dread of stepping into a tomb. Dawn had not yet come to the dark hall, and the green light of the past three days had all but disappeared. Within this darkness they saw just one patch of green lights remaining on the Epoch Clock, like remote stars on a cold winter’s night, and it was only after turning on the room lights that they could breathe easier. No one took a step away from the clock the entire day. They counted the dots again and again as they dwindled in number, fear and sadness gradually tightening around their hearts.

A short buzzing sound was followed by a line of text appearing at the bottom of the map: PORT 79633 CALLING. PORTS CURRENTLY AT CALL STATE: 1 On the map, a long red line linking Beijing and Shanghai appeared, with a label at its midpoint displaying the channel number: 79633. At the same time, a boy’s voice said, “Hello? Beijing! Beijing! Beijing? Is anyone there?” Huahua answered, “We’re here. This is Beijing!” “You’re a kid. Are there any adults?” “There aren’t any adults here. Or anywhere. Didn’t you see the Epoch Clock run out?” “There aren’t any anywhere?” “That’s right. Where are you?” “I’m in Shanghai. I’m alone in the building.” “How are things over there?” “How are things? Do you mean outside? I don’t know. I can’t see anyone on the street out the window, and there’s no noise. It’s all cloudy here, and it’s raining. There’s blue light coming through the clouds. It’s scary!” “Hey, it’s just us left now.” “What should I do?” “How should I know?” “Why don’t you know?” “Why should I?” “Because you’re Beijing!”

The girl ignored Xiaomeng completely and continued to munch noisily. Huahua went to switch to another location, but when he looked up at the map, he stopped in surprise. A dozen new lines had appeared, and more were being added, most of them from major cities. Some cities had two lines, and all of them pointed toward Beijing. The screen showed that more than fifty ports were calling (not all of them displayed on the map), and the number was ticking upward. The children stared in shock, and by the time they recovered enough to patch in another city, the map had more lines than it was possible to count. More than thirteen hundred ports calling, according to the display. And this was just one of the NIT’s ten web addresses, so what they had received was only the tip of the iceberg. All of the country’s children were calling Beijing.

So the supernova era finally begins.

The phone rang. Feng Jing dashed to pick it up. A boy’s voice said, “Hello. This is the central government. According to the computer record of your nursery, you’re a two-person team, Feng Jing and Yao Pingping, in charge of four infants.” It was a heavenly sound. Tears streamed down her face, and she was too choked up to say anything. After a moment, she managed a “Yes.” “Your area is not currently in danger. According to the most recent records, you have sufficient food and water. Please take care of the four little boys and girls in your charge. I’ll let you know what to do next. If you have any questions or emergencies, please dial 010-8864502517. No need to write that down. Your computer is on, so I’ve put the number up onscreen. If you want someone to talk to, you can call me. Don’t be afraid. The central government is with you at all times.”

This part seems to be spot on.

“Five minutes ago I linked up with the central computer at the municipal water plant and discovered that a monitoring program in the purification system malfunctioned from being unattended, and despite a reduction in water volume, chlorine was added according to the volume of ten hours ago, meaning that tap water for the eastern half of the city contains chlorine levels nine-point-seven times the safe maximum. As a result, many children have been poisoned. You are one of them.” I remembered that I’d started feeling ill after my thermos ran out and I began using tap water. “A kid will visit you in a little while. Don’t drink any water in your house before then.” Just as he finished speaking, the door opened and a girl I’d never seen before came in holding a medicine bottle and a thermos filled with boiled water.

So this isn't just a children owned word anymore. Rather it is an AI governed world. (Although children are still in control, AI so far is the tool to help, a very powerful and helpful tool)

SUPERNOVA ERA, HOUR 6 Although a large number of red points remained on the map, the report from Digital Domain announced that the country as a whole was no longer in danger. At the start of the Supernova Era, human society underwent shocks and changes more drastic than any in history; periods were reckoned not in the decades or centuries of the previous era, but in days or even hours. To later historians, the first six hours of the new era were treated as a single period, known as the Suspension.

On the first day of the inspection, a kid in Tianjin showed Huahua a copy of his daily schedule: Rise at 0600, eat a quick breakfast, humanities class at 0630, grade 5, primarily by self-study. At 0830 start work. Get off work at 1700. After dinner, at 1900, begin specialty classes in job-related knowledge and skills. Finish at 2200, add another hour of humanities. The day didn’t end until 2300. The kid said, “I’m tired. Just tired. My greatest wish these days is to sleep all the way till doomsday.”

This book had 3* on GR, so I was expecting it to be just good enough. The first impression- idea was quite good, so at least an short story would have been worth it. Second- Now that execution has started, it is living up to it. This being a nove makes sense upon seeing the detais required. Now- This thought is interesting- Children are getting worn out working with no motivation but just because they 'have to'. I wonder how CG will keep them working. Also makes me think about motivations in real world. Also, is there an hirarchy by age in SE? Surely adults should have defined new age limits to go to schools and when to start working. If there is a model for this, author hasn't gone in detail yet.

But the young leaders were most worried about the children’s mental state: their fascination with the novelty of their work had long since evaporated, and they had realized that the vast majority of the work was mindlessly dull. Their immature minds had a hard time conceptualizing their lives in a planned, systematic way, and they lacked the motivating presence of a family, which meant they had a hard time grasping their work’s significance.

He never made public speeches, and when a major company had pressed him to speak during a visit, he had said simply, without expression, “I’m responsible for thinking, not speaking,” which became a popular quotation thereafter.

Specs is cool

Pan Yu’s cartoon avatar opened its big eyes even wider in surprise. “What, you can’t see anyone?” The three leaders looked about them, but could see no one. Pan Yu seemed to realize something, and said, “Let’s go down.” He moved the mouse, and the four of them began descending toward the desert. Before long, the sand below them resolved into intricate structures, and then the three of them realized that every grain was a cartoon character. It impressed upon them the sheer scale of the number: the vast desert consisted of 200 million cartoon characters. Most of the country’s children were here.

That is one hell of a strong quantum computer.

Big Quantum distilled these 200 million messages into one sentence that was uttered by Virtual Citizen 1, representing 96.314 percent of the members in attendance: “We want a world of fun!”

As the blue crystal ball drew closer, they realized how huge it was, and eventually the gigantic blue planet filled all the sky, and the children could see clearly the borders between oceans and continents. Now all of Asia was visible at once, and a twisting red line appeared on the brown land, a closed loop demarcating the borders and coastline of that ancient country in the east. Its territory drew nearer, and they could begin to make out the ripples of mountain ranges and veinlike rivers. Then Big Quantum spoke: “We’re now in orbit at a height of more than twenty thousand kilometers.” Earth slowly rotated beneath their feet, and they seemed to be flying toward something. Xiaomeng suddenly shouted, “Look! It’s like there’s a thread up ahead.”

I am liking this world but just now I realized although world given to children was given a reason, this sudden presence of powerful AI wasn't given one. I can't believe adults didn't realize this AI/server's potential. I hope the children element remains.

Big Quantum replied, “This was produced using one of the virtual country’s gaming programs, an old city simulator. The virtual country uses plug-ins provided by a component library to build the virtual world, and it can create virtual images on its own.” They looked carefully about them, at every blade of grass and every pebble, all of them true to life. “An immense amount of work went into this building,” Huahua exclaimed. Virtual Citizen 1 replied, “Of course. More than eighty million children had a hand in its construction, and more than a hundred million designed their own homes.”

Lol, minecraft

Citizen 1 explained, “These elevators can reach speeds of sixty thousand kph, making the journey up from the ground in a little over twenty minutes.” Specs snorted. “Judging from the deceleration we just saw, I’m afraid the passengers were smashed to a pulp.”

Also, suppose 2 lifts are enough for 20 (per floor) *20 people for 2 minutes wait time. The same thing for 200 million with one trip an average 30 min - number of lifts have to be huge.

Huahua said, “Set aside the building’s feasibility for the moment. What’s the point of it? Why do all kids in the country have to live in one building?” Virtual Citizen 1 said, “To leave all the other places for playing in!” Many years later, historians found profound significance in the notion of the supertower, tracing it to the loneliness common to every child’s heart when the Epoch Clock ran out.

Then two giant wheels popped out of the roller coaster, one on each side, churning the balls into motion with a strange gurgling sound. The virtual citizen informed them that the ocean of balls covered nearly a thousand square kilometers. “It’ll use up all of the rubber in the country. How will we make car tires after that?” Xiaomeng asked, but the virtual citizen didn’t answer, clearly uninterested.

lol

“The idea behind these consoles is new. To play, you’ve got to go inside, where the setting is all holographic or made of actual devices. Each game begins from the console’s bottom floor, and you work your way up until the conclusion at the top floor. You don’t play with a mouse or joystick like you used to, but you’re actually part of the game world and are running around and fighting all the time. Like that castle console: it’s a royal palace, and you’ve got to defeat tons of enemies before you become king. The one with all the holes is a monsters’ den, and you use your laser sword to kill monsters like poison dragons and rescue the princess. Of course, these games are for the little kids. Since they’re so small, they can only run small-scale games.”

Honestly, liked this idea. I always had one idea where the console will be inside of a huge sphere (or conveyor) so person can just walk around, there could be magnetic material which can make up real objects and then the person would be using an VR. At least horizontal movements work out. Only solution for vertical movements is for space to be tall enough and then person can actually climb the magnetically formed stairs/ladders which actually decelerates down slowly enough to keep user unaware.

“Well, if you do it that way, our country doesn’t have nearly enough territory.” “And that’s why Zone Five only contains one small project.” “There’s a Zone Five?” “Right. Candytown.”

I see, all this minecraft building is why children society didn't break out lol, all this in less than a month!!

Later Supernova Era historians devoted considerable research to the Candytown concept, first of all to the puzzle of why, when children of the Common Era didn’t care much for candy, were they so captivated by it in the new world of their imagination? Maybe candy was for children a representation of something adults could never understand, a symbol of beauty.

From their analysis of Big Quantum’s original records, historians learned that the architects of the New Five-Year Plan and the virtual country were mainly children between the ages of five and eleven, bolstered by younger children, and by sheer force of numbers they held an unbeatable advantage under the statistical and inductive principles of the New World Assembly. Disappointment with the real world led a significant proportion of older children to join them, and in the frenzy that gradually developed, only a minority of children maintained any sense of rationality.

Finally, whole thing makes a lot of sense. This is an hard to deal with situation- Yes children above 11-something should govern and decide but minors have huge numbers to force things.

And so the country launched into a huge debate, the biggest ever seen in human history, in which direct participants numbered more than 200 million. Across the vast territory of the country, children could be found on the phone or at their computers shouting or typing away, each of them vying to contribute their 1/200,000,000th part toward the world of their dreams. The smaller of the two competing groups of children had a larger average age, but tragically, Big Quantum’s summarized statements did not (or could not) take age into account, and so the larger group held an absolute advantage. And thus, with a huge number of younger children taking part in the debate to determine the fate of the country, the least rational and most capricious formed a highly dangerous social force.

The timid voice of Virtual Citizen 2 (8.792%) ventured, “Don’t listen to them, Huahua, Specs, and Xiaomeng. That’s just the jeering of a group of ignorant babies who only care about playing. I recommend that the assembly’s rules for tabulation and summarization should be altered to incorporate an age-based weighting.”

Yes please. On other hand it will equally entertaining either way.

It wasn’t long before the children were tired of playing. They learned that nothing in the world was fun forever, nothing was eternally delicious, and when everything was easily attainable, it quickly lost all flavor. The children were tired, and gradually, the games and feasts turned into a type of work. And they didn’t want to work. Three days later, the child army entered the city with the task of protecting state assets. Food and other life necessities had to be divvied up according to actual needs, and a stop was put to profligate indulgence. The situation was brought under control more easily than anticipated, without erupting into large-scale bloodshed. But subsequent events did not improve in the way that the young leaders had hoped. Every development in the children’s world revealed a new, strange face entirely beyond the imagining of the adults in the Common Era. The Candytown period entered its second phase: Slumbertime.

Some historians described the forty-odd days of Slumbertime as “an ordinary night extended a hundredfold,” which is an accurate comparison. Even though most people are asleep at night, society continues to operate. Other people felt the country was in a coma, retaining essential life functions even while unconscious.

“Work . . . ​what’s the . . . ​point? You’re good kids. You . . . ​you can work.” “Hey! Hey!” Huahua shouted. “What’re you yelling for? Can’t you see we’re drunk and sleeping?” Huahua got angry. “You drink and sleep and drink some more. Do you know what you are? You’re little pigs!” “Watch . . . ​watch your mouth. You’re up there cursing at us all day. What kind of class . . . ​class monitor are you?” “Class Monitor” was the children’s nickname for Huahua; they called Specs “Studies Rep” and Xiaomeng “Life Rep.” “If you want us to listen to you, fine . . . ​fine. Now it’s time for you to down . . . ​this bottle!”

It’s quite possible that a children’s world might be a play-based world.” Xiaomeng said, “But how’s that related to the breakthroughs and advancement for civilization? Will play be able to produce those?” “How do you imagine human civilization advances?” Specs shot back. “Through hard work?” “It doesn’t?” “Ants and bees are industrious, but how advanced is their civilization? Humanity’s dim-witted ancestors cleared the earth with crude stone shovels, and then when they found that tiring, learned how to refine bronze and iron. When they found that tiring, they wondered whether they could find anything to do the work in their stead, and so they invented steam engines, electricity, and nuclear energy. Then even thinking became tiresome, so they looked for something to do it for them, and thus computers were invented. . . . ​Civilization progresses not due to humans’ hard work, but because of their laziness. One look at the natural world will show you that humans are the laziest of all creatures.”

For example, in the adults’ time, the majority of people couldn’t rationalize paying two-thirds of their life savings for a trip to space, but in the children’s world, most people would, under play principles. This would propel space travel to a pace of development equal to that of information technology in the adults’ time. Play principles are more innovative and pioneering than economic principles; play means traveling far, it means constantly finding out new mysteries of the world. Play will develop toward a high level, just as economics in the adults’ time promoted scientific development, but this will be a far greater driving force, and will ultimately lead human civilization to an explosive leap, meeting or exceeding the critical velocity for survival in this cold universe.”

Just before daybreak, the young president stood up and went to a corner of the Queens’ Bedroom where a large video-game machine had been set up. The device paired oddly with the room’s classical décor. He set the machine humming and clanging in an interstellar battle, getting more into it the longer he played, until the sun was high in the sky and his former self-confidence had returned.

Honestly, Vaughn explaining his theory to Davey was okay but all this took away the momentum the book had.

A few children came running from a grassy slope opposite the road. They threw their weapons down into a pile and helped the others move sandbags. Before long an opening was made. When they were done, the Blue Devil children picked up their guns and headed back, but the shaved-head kid called after them, “Don’t go yet. Help us rebuild the fortification in a bit. Also, two of us got injured just now.” “So what? We didn’t break the rules.” “True. But when the game restarts we won’t have even teams. How do we know who wins?” “That’s easy. Mike, you stay on this side. This time you’re with the Red Devils. Of course you’ve got to play for them as hard as you would for the Blue Devils. But you can’t tell them our battle plans.”

Yeah, good description/take on America's candyland.

Mitchell spread out his hands. “My apologies to you all. I can’t speak for the government here. The president spoke on TV last night about these questions—” “What’re you afraid of? There aren’t any reporters here.” “I heard that Congress is going to impeach him. If that happens, that’s the end for you Democrats.” “The Republican leader promised on TV last night that if they come to power, they’ll let kids play with all of the army, air force, and navy’s big boys.”

Lolol

Huahua asked, “What are American kids up to?” Beneath the car’s dim red overhead light, Mitchell appeared extremely irked. “What’re they up to? I’ve received dozens of national leaders and that’s what you all ask. They’re kids. What’re they up to? Playing!” Huahua said, “Our kids don’t play like this.” “Even if they wanted to, they don’t have the guns.” Du Bin leaned over to whisper in Huahua’s ear. “This is Candytown in America. The entire country is playing violent games.”

“Then clear out all heavy weapons in a twenty-kilometer radius!” Mitchell shrugged. “That’s not realistic. Carrying out a search and then imposing military controls over such a large area will be tricky. It’ll give those Republican bastards an opening. Sir, we’re a democratic country.” “A democratic country? I feel like I’m in some twisted pirates’ den!” “Your country isn’t much better off, sir. A soccer game has broken out in Buenos Aires with more than a hundred thousand players on a playing field that covers the entire city, with two enormous goals bigger than the Arc de Triomphe set up at either end. A hundred thousand players with a single ball, surging after it wherever it goes.

See! Some good imagination and great dare. Kudos to you Cixin!