Make a Wish

.Some people saythat therewasa belief inancient times thatLiudaokou—\"six ways crossing\"—wasan intersectionat the six pathsof reincarnation; othersmaintain thatitwas just oneofseveral numbered intersections—\"sixth crossing，\"then—which have sincebeen given morecontemporarynames.LiYingmeipreferred thefirst explanation.Amysteriousplacedeserves amysteriousname.

LiYingmei had learned aboutLiudaokou afterher son told her to downloadDouyin. She tookto scrolling throughshort videosduring her breaksat the pork plant. Therewasnowayto nap，anyway， since the sound of carcasses slapping down onto the conveyor belt was too noisy， even in the break room， so she took to flicking through the beautiful glimpses of the world that the app offered her：There weretowering whirlwindsof butterfliesrisingfrom South American forests， whalessinkingslowlyintotheocean，theNorthern Lightsblazing over theArctic.She realized that thesevideosalwayshadcommentsscrollingacross them， where people would toss wishes out into the digital void—awish for such-and-sucha person to strike it rich， or stay in good health，or have ahappymarriage...Theyfleckedthescreenlike whitecapsonwaves.Someonewouldinvariably say something like， “There'sno sense in making wishesonanapp. You need to gotoLiudaokou！\"

Atfirst，LiYingmeiassumed\"Liudaokou\"was anotheroneofthoseindecipherableslangterms that young people on the internet came up with， butafter hearing it spoken of so many times， and with so much confidence， she looked it up andfoundthatitwasarealplace.Someclaimed thattheNationalRandomNumberGeneration Center waslocated there.Since itwas completed in2027， the centertransmitted allof the country's randomnumberson encrypted cables.An algorithmbuzzingawayinLiudaokaodecided withthosedigitseverythingfromwhichquestions wouldbeaskedonstandardizedexamstowho would match with each other on dating apps.

Some people believed that the numbers coming fromtheNationalRandomNumberGeneration Center were not random at all， but the product ofapowerfulartificialintelligence—theSupreme AI—that was capable of calculating the outcomes of its choices in such a way that it could shape humandestinies-andsomewentfurtherin their claims， suggesting that the AI was discreetly benevolent.Itcouldrewardthevirtuous.The AI absorbed enough information from so many sources thatitmustbeaware of everythought and deed， but some held that the closer one got to Liudaokou， themoreattentionthedatareceived. That was why it made sense to make a wish at Liudaokou—the benevolentsupercomputerwas listening more closely to people in its proximity. Fuelingthesebeliefswasthe fact thatsomeone had installed at Liudaokou a wishing spot. Li Yingmei had seen in videos a stainless-steel plaque marked\"LiudaokouWishingSpot.\"

Li Yingmei didn’t tell her son that she was going to to make a wish.It wastwo months before her son was going to write the college entranceexam，andshewantedhimtodowell.If he knew she was going to make a wish，he would laughather， sheknew，soshe toldhimthatshehad been dispatched by the pork plant to a training seminarinthecapital.Theslaughterhousehad senta fewworkerstoatrainingsession， she knew， even thoughshe hadn't signed up. It was no big deal to get time off work，anyway. The slaughterhousewent throughseasonal waves， andithappenedtobeinaquiettimeofyear. She boarded a high-speed train to and arriveda few hours later.Itwas easy enough to followthe instructionsin thevideos onhowto take the subway toLiudaokou.From the station， itwasafifteen-minutewalktotheLiudaokou Wishing Spot.

Whenshe saw the plaque，Li Yingmei sighed with relief.She hadn'tbeen completely convinceditwasarealplace.Itdidn'tseemtobe aflashytouristspot，either.Ratherthanlayersof advertisements， the walls bore posters promoting spiritual civilization.Itput her mind at ease to see thestern security guard scanning visitors warily.Li Yingmei hadbeenscammed inthe past. She knew thatanyone who grinned at a stranger was already reachingfortheirwallet.

There were two lines on either side of the guard. Thoseinlineontheleftto enterthecenterwore seriousexpressions.LiYingmeicouldnotreadthe facesofthosewhostreamed outtotherightofthe guard.Shejoinedthelinetotheleftandshuffled forward with the crowd. When it came time to step acrossthethreshold，analarmblared.

\"You don't have an appointment，” the guard said. \"You didn’t know you needed to make one？\"

She apologized and found the booking app onherphoneundertheguard’sinstructions.It turnedoutthattheplacewasbookedsolid for the nextthreedays.

\"Try your luck at midnight，” the guard said.“That's when they open up slots for upcoming days.\"

II

Li Yingmei dreamed that she was the supreme AI.Justasecond earlier，she'dbeenlyingina capsule hotel bunk， franticallytrying tosnatch a wishingslotonherphoneforthreedayslater.In theblinkofaneye，shefoundherselfinabright white abyss. She couldn't tellif she was sitting or standing. She wasn’t even quite sure that she any longerhadabody.Sherealizedinaninstant that shewasthe supremeartificial intelligencecharged withshapinghumandestiny.Shewaited for people to cometoherwiththeirwishes.Shewould make her judgment.

Avoicecamefromadarkshadowbelowher： \"Most esteemed Supreme AI， my name is Zhang Zhongxin. In three days， my daughter will have surgeryforsynovialsarcoma.Mywishisthatthe operationissuccessfulandsherecoversfully.\"

LiYingmeithoughtback to the nightsshe had spentinthehospitalwithherownson.Shenodded intothevoid.Thedarkshadowturnedacolorthat LiYingmei wasnot sure how to describe.

\"Dearest Supercomputer，”Li Yingmei heard a voice call， “I wish for Sanmen Group stocks to rise and Dianjia'sstocks to fall.If you canmake Sanmen go up bya point and Dianjia fall by a point，Iwill transferahundredmillion yuanas adonationtotheNationalRandomNumber Generation Center.I give you my solemn vow. If I breakmy word， may lightning strike me dead.\"

Li Yingmeiwasdumbfounded.Even though shehad no particularconnectionto theNational RandomNumberGenerationCenter，shefelt insultedby theofferofabribe.Aftera moment， the shadowchangeditsformagain.

\"My name is Huang Zibing.Ibroke up with a girl named Du Yihan.She wascheating onme with a guycalled SunJingbo.Iwish， SupremeAI， for nothing more than forthemto getinacarcrash and suffer excruciating pain. They should have no chancetosurviveit.WhenIhearthatthey'redead， Ill kill myself.\"

Li Yingmei refused.

\"Mostcherished SupremeAI， Icome today to makea wish for my son Cheng Yuzhi.He'swriting his entrance exam this year， and I want him to get into TsinghuaUniversity.\"

JustasLiYingmeiwasabouttoassent，she recalled herown sonandhispreparations for the exam. She awoke witha jolt. When she glanced at her phone， she saw that it was 6：27 in the morning. She flicked open the booking app and saw that she had managed to secure a spot before falling asleep.

Li Yingmei went out to buy a couple of baozi for her breakfast.Even the modest stuffed dumplings cost twice asmuch in as they did back home. Shewentback to the capsulehotel and sat down inthelobbytoeat.Shecouldn'tgetthedreamout ofhermind.Sheoftendreamed，ofcourse，but nothing likethat！

A young woman sidled up to Li Yingmei.“You hadthedream， did you？\"Sheraisedan eyebrow.

\"How did you know？\"Li Yingmei asked.

\"Everyone who comes to Liudaokou has the dream-thedreamthatthey’vebecomethe Supreme AI.It's part of the alignment algorithm.\"

ThewomanseemedtohavecometoLiudaokou to make wishes before. She was only too happy for anexcuse to tellLi Yingmei herstory.Her name wasWangXia，andshehadcometoLiudaokou afterlosingherjob.She'd madenineteenwishes altogether. She wanted only to be veryrich. It hadn’t happened yet， but she managed to

find enough work in the Liudaokou area to stickaround.

\"Have you ever heard of AI alignment？\" Wang Xiaasked.“That'showthe SupremeAI regulates itself—learningfromhumanmorality，in this case-so it doesn't go rogue. Basically， the AI inchargeofwisheschecksitselfagainsthuman judgments，sendingafewwishestodisinterested strangerstolearnhowtheyrule.\"

\"Can AI even get into our dreams？\"

\"It'shard to imagine， isn'tit？\"WangXia said.Shelowered her voiceand wenton，\"It's the phone. That's the secret. Once you make a booking on the app， your phone starts hitting youwithelectromagneticwavesandsomekind of ultrasound.It puts you to sleep and guides yourdreams.\"

Wang Xia winkedatLi Yingmei， who clutched her phone to herself.

\"Now，” Wang Xia said ina voice just above awhisper， “if you getmywishin yourdream， make sure you agree to it. I'll do the same for you. Let'shelp each other out，make our dreams come true...Don't forget my name： Wang Xia.\"

III

Before arriving in ， Li Yingmei had not considered howawishshouldbestructured.\"I hopethatmysoncanexceed expectations\"—that mightbehowthey'dsayitonaTVdrama.But afterherdream，sherealized thatthewisheswere abitmorecomplicated.

Shenoticedthatmostofthemwentlikethis： arespectfuladdresstotheSupremeAI，followed bythewishitself，thenavowofsomeactionto becarriedoutafterthewishwasgranted.She explainedthisthree-stepplantoWangXia，who saiditsoundedgoodtoher.

Li Yingmei found herself disappointed by thecity.ShehadseentheDouyinvideosof Tiananmen， the Palace Museum， Tsinghua， and PekingUniversity，butticketsforthoseneeded tobebooked daysinadvance.Shedidn’twant tomakethesamemistakeasshehadatthe Liudaokou Wishing Spot. She crossed those places offher list.She tooka trip to the former imperial gardenand ruinsat Yuanmingyuan， butneithertheflowersandtrees，northeold buildings，impressedhermuch.Shehadthesame things back home.In the evening， she visited Nanluogu Lane. She found in the shops all the samefoods—Changshafermentedtofu，miniature BeefWellington，seafoodboils，rose lattes—that she saw the influencers in her hometown eating. The only difference between the food back homeandthefoodherewasthatitcostfive timesasmuch.

Theintelligent industry center on the west side ofLiudaokao，where AI enterprises were gathered inasprawling skyscraper complex，was more impressive.She had seenvideos of itonline.People called it\"the center of the universe.\" The videos wereimpressive，butitwasonlyafterwalking amongtheglassand steel giants，herhead tilted up totrytofigureoutwheretheyended，thatshehad a sense of the weighty power gathered there. The buildings glowed like fish bowls full of stars， the glassseeming alwayson the verge of splitting open andreleasinga monstrousdeluge.

LiYingmei didherbest tosee thecity，but shewaspreoccupiedbytheproblemofmaking a wish. She couldn't stop herself from studying the faces of people in the crowd， trying to figureoutwhattheirprivatedesireswere.The elderly people who gathered in the gardens of Yuanmingyuan would have wished for good healthand grandchildren，she imagined.In Nanluogu Lane， she watched the young people rushing around in their fancy clothes， chirruping toeachotherthewholetime.Shecould read on their facesmany sortsof emotions，but Li Yingmei guessed thatmanyof themwould have made their wish for true love. They were still at theagewhenlove seemed more important than anything else.The peoplearound theintelligent industry center were harder to gauge. Onall of their faces，whether themanagersin sharpsuits or the programmers shouldering rucksacks， therewasafresh，rawanxiety.LiYingmeiwasn't quitesurewhatwason theirminds，but she guessed that most of their wisheswould mention significantpromotionsandbigraises.

While walking，Li Yingmei refined what shewouldsay.Itwentlikethis：\"Mywishisfor mysontoexceed expectationsonhis entrance exam. If he is successful， I promise to give up my job at the pork plant.\" She knew there was a sayingthatwentsomethinglike，“Putdown the butcher'sknife;becomea Buddha inaninstant.\" Slaughteringanimalswascertainly nota wayto winmeritinthislife.Althoughshehadnever actually killed a pig herself-they were suffocated inacarbon dioxide chamberbefore being sent down the line for processing-and robots did most ofthework，shewasstill involved：Shehad to racetothelinewhenthemachinesfailedtoslice anoverlythick joint，orasetofribssnappedand snarled the mechanism， oranundersized organ failedto beregisteredbythe scale.She decided thatshewasimplicated deeply enoughinthe slaughter toofferher job asa bargaining chip.

Thatnight，exhaustedfromtheday，sheell into a deep sleep and dreamed again that she was theSupreme AI.

IV

The second time she took the role， she already knew what to do.Li Yingmei was an experiencedSupremeAI.Shewaitedforthe shadowstoapproachandmaketheirwishesand then disappear， just like hogs rolling down an assembly line.

\"I want to bebeautiful，\" called one of the shadows.\"I don’twant acne ever again.And I want Ah Bo to loveme forever.\"

\"I wish for my experiment to be a success. If my p-value isn't under point zero five， I'll never graduate.\"

\"I want our country's Gini coefficient to drop a bit further.\"

\"Please make the price of real estate go up. I don't want to be underwater by the time I pay off my mortgage.\"

\"Insteadofwater，Iwantitto rain pure ethanol.'

LiYingmeisenther thoughts into the void.She admittedthatsomeofthewishesmadelittlesense toher，andshewasunsureofhowtojudgetheir merits.Thevoiddidn'tanswer.Shedecidedthat nothing too crucial would be left to the judgment of aporkplantworker.

Another voice： “Let my daughter get into Tsinghua. I promise to go vegetarian for three years.\"

Li Yingmei could not imagine staying vegetarian forthreeyears.Shehadlovedmeatsinceshewas a girl.When she got the job at the pork plant， it felt like destiny. To give up all meat for three years seemedtooweightyasacrifice-andshewasn't even sure itwas the sort of thing she should be encouragingasthe SupremeAI.If vegetarianism spread， not only would the pork plant go under， but shewouldnolongerbeabletoeatherfavoritefood.

\"Bring my son back to me， Supreme AI. I want himthewayhewasbeforehewenttouniversity in .Ifhe'd never gone to the city，he wouldn't havekilledhimself.\"

Li Yingmei wasn’t sure that she could bring someonebacktolife.Butshenodded her head， anyway.

“I—Li Sanjun-want to be the richest man in the county！\"

Yingmeithoughtbacktoheragreementwith Wang Xia. She worried that granting this man's wish for wealth mighthavea negative impact on her desire.

\"I want my son to get into a triple first-class school. You can choose whichever you like， but I'd prefer one in our province.\"

Li Yingmei wastakenaback.Sheknewthe hierarchywell.Herson'sclassteacherhad explainedittothemataparent-teachermeeting once： The top schools were Tsinghuaand Peking University，followedbythetriplefirst-class universities，thenthedouble first-classuniversities， andfinallythesingle first-classinstitutions.Her son'sschoolhad neverbeforesentanyoneto Tsinghua or PekingUniversity，buta triple firstclassschool wasareasonablegoal.To getin，her son would need to be among the top five thousand studentsin the province.If she granted theman's wish，herownson'schanceswouldbeeverso slightlydiminished.

Shedecidedto be selfish.Shedenied the wish. She could imagine how disappointed the fatherwouldbe，butshecomfortedherselfwith the thought that her judgment could not be takenasfinal.

Li Yingmei woke up at nine o'clock the next morning，stilltired.Shefeltasifshe'dhadtoo muchtodreamthenightbefore.Staringatthe ceiling ofher capsule，she suddenly realized that her own wish was flawed. If she were willing to coolly reject pleas for kidsto get into good schools， then other people would do the same. And vowing to giveup her jobat the pork plantseemed suddenlyabsurd. Who would careifshe quit the slaughterhouse？

Whether she wished for her son to get into

Tsinghuaoratriplefirst-classschool，itseemed likelythatanyonewithavestedinterestwouldturn her down. Li Yingmei felt as if her pilgrimage to had gradually become meaningless.

She decided to spend her final day in the city at the Zoo. She had seen thepandas on Douyin.Shepaid theextrafive-yuanadmission forthePanda Houseand stood among the visitors toseethebears.Asheetof glassseparatedapair ofpandasfromthecrowd.Asshewatchedthe animalsmethodicallygraband gnawstalksof bamboo，LiYingmeihadtheimpressionshewas watchingaloopedvideoonascreen.Thecrowd filed closer， snapped photos， then shuffled out.

Thepolarbear， lying motionless on the concrete boxthatheld the enclosure'sairconditioner， was nothinglikeshehadseeninthevideosonline. The golden eagle paced itscage restlessly. The giraffe tried in vain to nibble the bark of a tree wrapped inwire.The snub-nosed monkeysclambered overafakemountain.Hadanyof theseanimals madeawish—awishtobeconfinedtothiszoo in ，withalltheirfellowanimalsasneighbors， with plentyto eat...？shewondered.Maybesome of them wanted to get out of the forest and seetheworld！

Li Yingmei realized how ridiculous that sounded.No animals wished to come here. They were here onlybecause people wished tosee them.

The city was powered by desire.AsLi Yingmei rode the subway home， she looked out on 's nightscape.Lightsstreakedbyonbothsides

鳯

GUO HE 郭鶴

Guo He is an emerging Chinese sci-fiwriter whose short stories have been published in the prestigious Science FictionWorld magazine，including \"Makea Wish\"and \"A Meme asa Pet.\" Outside of writing，she enjoys birding and works in Al research to makea living， despite the potential risks it poses to humanity.

ofthe train，each point oflight， eachwindow representinga fortune in real estate.She thought ofthevideosshehadseenonDouyinfrom people trying to makea livingin the capital，and theastronomical figuresthey gaveforrentand amortgage.Shewantedto see intothewindows rushingby outside，and to get somesense of what made life in so special， but the train was going too fast. She couldn’t see anything clearly. A millionpointsoflight—amillionbundlesofreal estateassets-blurred intoanunbreakingstream， likeraindrops flowing into a river.

V

Theday finallyarrived forLi Yingmei tomake herwish.Shespentasleeplessnight，worried that she would blank on her wishat the last second， thatthewordingstillwasn'tquiteright，thatthe Supreme AI would，like a movie devil， twist her desires in some wicked way...She managed only a doze-not quite awake， not quite asleep-in which she imagined herself sometimesas the SupremeAIandsometimesasthepetitioner.

ShearrivedanhourearlyattheLiudaokou WishingSpot.She knewthat entrywas only granted a half hour before an appointment， so she took a seat on some nearby steps and ate some baozi. The buns in were bland and expensive.The porkfillingtasted freezer-burnt. She wished erscould geta taste of the fresh pork baozi sold from the shop across the street from the slaughterhouse.

TheLiudaokou Wishing Spot had two security checkpoints.At the first one， petitionersneeded to provideproofofanappointment.Li Yingmei slipped throughwithoutanyproblem.She recognized the security guard，but he seemed to have forgotten her. At the second checkpoint， petitionersneededtoshedanyelectronicdevices theymightbecarrying.LiYingmeiputherthings into one of the lockers provided for that purpose.

The interior of the wishing spot reminded Li Yingmeiofhercapsulehotel.Thereweredozens ofchambers off thelonghallway， each with an electronic signboardoverthedoor.Shelooked for the chamber with her name-number thirtytwo.Her name cameafter Xie Chengbo，Xue Jinghan，Liu Dongzhi，and Peng Jianguo-the peoplewho had comebefore her to make their wishes.Everyone was given three minutesalone inthechamber.LiYingmeididabitofmath in her head： The wishing spot was capable of serving more than ten thousand people a day.

The four guests forchamber thirty-two came andwent，andthenitwasLiYingmei'sturn.She stepped inside.Thedoorlockedshutbehind her， sealing outall noiseand distraction. The lightsin the room came up. Therewasno sound. Shesaw asinglechairarrangedinfrontofher.

\"Please be seated，\" a voice said.\"You may make your wish.\"

Thesound seemed to be coming from the screen that had just lit up in front of her， showing the three-minute countdown.

Shesatand tooka deepbreath.

\"EsteemedSupremeAI，mynameisLi Yingmei，andmywishisforhealthandhappiness formy family， especiallymyson.Inreturn，Iwill do my best to be a good person. I will work hard. I willbekindtothosearoundme.Iwillhelpthosein need.And I'll do mybest to raise my son to be the sortof personthatcancontributeto society.\"

Exceptforthedigital tonesoftheseconds falling from the countdown， there was silence in the chamber.

The time ran out.

\"I have received your wish，\" the voice said. “The fulfillment of your wish depends on your own choices and your efforts.\"

Thechamber darkened，and the door slid open Li Yingmei knew that it was time to leave. She collected herthingsfrom thelockerand joined the crowd shuffling out.

Itwasnine thirty in the morning， rush hour for Liudaokou. Thestreetsbetween the subway exits and the tech companies were full of young people in glasses and backpacks， the crowd sweeping along likeacurrent.Li Yingmei quickened her paceto matchthestreamof people.Somewhere upahead， she spotted a signannouncing the NationalRandomNumberGenerationCenter. It washoused ina semi-transparentcube of glass， withasignoverthedoorwayreading，\"Restricted area.No entry.”

AmemorycametoLiYingmei：Manyyears ago，“merit seekers”usedto show up at the pork plant waving signs and holding up the livestock trucksdeliveringhogstoslaughter.Forawhile， theprotestersproved to be quite disruptive.The workerssometimescameouttoarguewiththem. Therewasevenoccasionalviolence.Butthe manager of the plant came up with a solution： Rather than resisting the protesters，he told the security guardsto take themasideand negotiate adeal—forafewthousand，theycould\"liberate\" one of the pigsbeing delivered by the trucks. Thepigstrottedofftowardtheforestbehind the plant，andthemeritseekerswentawaysatisfied. Of course， the workers at the plant always went the next day to get the pigs back. All of the swine endedupbutchered.Butthemeritseekerswere already gone by then， their work complete.

WastheLiudaokou Wishing Spot the same sort ofscheme？Withoutaplacetomakewishes，would thesamepetitionersbemarching ontheNational RandomNumberGenerationCenter？They'd probablyholduptheirphonetolivestreamthe whole thing， barging into every office， dropping to their knees，and praying to the employeesmaking such a scene that no one could get anyworkdone.

LiYingmei wasn’tsure.

She stopped by Daoxiangcun to buy some pastries.Her son had a sweet tooth，and Wang Xia had recommended the jujube paste cakes. Sheboarded her trainat noon. The skyscrapers gleaming in the sun slowly receded，but the city stillblazedwithitshundredmillionstars.

Author's Note：

Back in early June 2024，my friend and I decided to check out ZamZam，the famous Pakistaniand Indian buffet at Liudaokou，.On our way there，thename “Liudaokou\" set our imaginations running wild.Iwas brainstorming a story about wishes at the time，and that mysterious name seemed like the perfect backdrop for it.And just likethat，the story began to take shape.Oh，andby the way，if you ever find yourself there，be sure to try the fresh mint iced drink-it hasa trulyone-of-a-kind flavor！