Abyssal Wanderer

Chapter 6 NO.0006: Another Life

Surrounded by a void of nothingness, it seems to be a concrete embodiment of the concept of infinity.

And that human form made up of countless changing color blocks just floated in this nothingness, like a god living above infinity.

Just looking at it, Jiang Zhou felt his hairs stand on end that didn't exist at the moment.

"Uh... hello?"

He suppressed the uneasiness deep in his heart, and tentatively said hello.

The other party didn't respond.

"What exactly are you?"

Jiang Zhou continued to ask.

There was still no response, as if the other party couldn't hear him.

Could it be that this guy is currently initializing and still needs loading time?

Looking at this abstract human figure with countless color patches constantly changing, Jiang Zhou thought suspiciously.

After hesitating for a moment, he used the eye tracking system to call up the menu interface stored in the upper left corner of his field of vision.

After clicking "Create a Substitute", a slightly thin body was quickly outlined in the void, carrying Jiang Zhou's consciousness.

Another (stand-in) program, referred to as A program - creates a movable body in the virtual cyberspace by scanning the user's real body. At the beginning of the development stage of the "Janus Project", this was an operation interface built to allow the uploaded digital personality to communicate and interact with the outside world.

Today, this technology seems to be used as an interaction between the computer and the brain.

Jiang Zhou looked down at the hand that was being outlined. Compared with the rough development version at the beginning, the reality and fluency of the stand-in modeling are now at least ten times stronger.

But this is also within Jiang Zhou's expectation - if he can't reach this level after a hundred years, he really has to wonder if the technology of human civilization has been locked up by some alien civilization.

After trying to grasp it, Jiang Zhou didn't feel the slightest delay or blockage, as if it was his original hand.

Nodding his head, he controlled the stand-in, walked up to the color-blocked man, and slowly stretched out his hand towards the other's face.

Maybe there will be a reaction if you touch it with a stand-in.

he thought.

It was also at this time that the other party made a movement.

It was as if someone had pulled out a few frames, and the movements of "Janus" changed abruptly—it bent down slightly, covered its thigh with one hand, and the countless fine color blocks that made it moved rapidly. trembled.

"I—hiss—sizzling—I...wouldn't..."

"Janus" made an intermittent sound as if severely disturbed.

Seeing such a weird scene, Jiang Zhou's outstretched hand stopped in mid-air.

He asked carefully:

"You don't know what?"

"Will... hiss-zi-die in-zi-this..."

The more and more intense electric whistling came out one after another, until the piercing sound reached an unbearable peak, just like the radio finally adjusted the signal, forming the color of "Janus". Chun suddenly stopped trembling.

All the color blocks are put together like a jigsaw puzzle, and then become one as if being caressed by an invisible big hand. In a few breaths, that "Janus" quickly changed into a young man in his early twenties—he was very handsome and looked very familiar, but Jiang Zhou swore he didn't know him.

"You..."

I don't know if he heard Jiang Zhou's words, that person slowly raised his head and "looked" at him.

This time, it said in an extremely clear voice:

"I will not die here."

After speaking, its hands grabbed Jiang Zhou's arm like lightning.

…………

"I will not die here."

"Zi-boom!"

The gunshot rang out, and the opponent fell to the ground.

The old snake looked at the young man who fell on his back, and was a little dazed for a while.

He didn't intend to kill.

After entering the house, he first shot the opponent in the thigh, cutting off the man's attempt to escape. Then, he pointed the gun at the opponent's head, and slowly explained his purpose.

Under normal circumstances, the entrustment ends here. Everyone is doing this business just to make a living. If there is a way to survive, there is no need to risk your life.

But this time the old snake missed - the other party was not frightened by him at all, but endured the severe pain in his thigh, and greeted all his female family members fiercely.

And after the old snake started threatening death, the other party shouted "I will not die here", and rushed up, trying to take the gun from his hand.

He pulled the trigger almost unconsciously.

The light blue pulsing beam hit the guy in the head, causing him to fall on his back.

already dead.

The old snake thought to himself.

Even though he hadn't checked the opponent's vital signs yet, unless he was a specially strengthened adjuster, there was absolutely no possibility of him surviving a shot in the head.

"Is everyone in Icarus so stupid..."

Looking at the guy's body, Old Snake took a sip of the nicotine atomizer.

He swore that he didn't intend to kill anyone—he had been a street mercenary for almost five years, and he rarely took wet jobs. In the past five years, the number of people who died in his hands was not even two hands.

The entrustment he received this time was just to ask the kid to hand over a memory. He didn't want to kill the other party, he couldn't figure out why this guy reacted so violently.

Or is it true that people in the "Icarus Liberation Front" don't care about money or life. Everyone is like a fanatical religious believer, or a loyal virtual idol fan...

After two more puffs of the nebulizer, the old snake walked up to the corpse and squatted down, reaching out to touch the memory slot on the other's neck.

If he had a son, he would be as old as him, right?

The old snake suddenly thought of it for no reason.

Being stared at by this young man's unrepentant eyes, he suddenly felt a little taboo, so he covered his eyelids with his free hand:

"Little guy, you rushed over to grab the gun yourself. Don't blame me, and don't come to me if you become a ghost..."

He whispered to the dead man.

Not knowing if the other party heard his words, the dead man struggled to open his eyelids again.

The person who should have died tilted his head to look at him under the old snake's horrified eyes.

"Fuck!"

"Fuck!"

Then, the two let out exclamations at the same time, as if they had seen a ghost.

…………

The outstretched hand of "Janus" penetrated Jiang Zhou's temporary substitute like a ghost. At the moment when the two came into contact, Jiang Zhou felt that a huge amount of information was forced into his mind, which made him fall into a sober and absurd dream.

At that moment, he seemed to have lived a broken and regretful life.

My name is... Liao Qi.

I was born on the bottom of the dark Nord settlement. I didn't see the real sky until I was twelve years old.

My father was a worker at the sewage treatment plant in Nord, and my mother made a living reselling simian films.

When I was young, because of the bankruptcy and reorganization of the government in the resettlement area, the Nord sewage treatment plant was contracted to an enterprise. My father was fired because the level of prosthetic body modification was too low, and because he couldn't repay the "prosthetic body loan", he lost his prosthetic hand for labor.

Although his original arm is still preserved in the "biological bank", the operation fee for reconnection is an astronomical figure for our family.

Forced to do nothing, my father found an unlicensed veterinarian to help connect the original arm, and he eventually died of surgical infection because of that quack doctor.

A few years after my father died, my mother also went insane.

Today, she is immersed in simulating movies all day long, fantasizing that she is the glamorous but ill-fated daughter in the movie.

Now she no longer recognizes who I am, even her own name has been forgotten.

Frankly speaking, my mother is crazy, and I am mostly responsible for it. After her father died, she worked day and night, and used her meager income to pay for me to go to the talent incubation center run by Pluto Deep Diving Company—she hoped that I could stand out from the crowd and be recognized by the company Interns will become a decent official company employee in the future and become a big shot in everyone's mouth.

God testifies that I tried my best, but maybe I was born with no talent in learning, or maybe I wrote down the things I read for a week at night, not as much as someone else plugged in a high-end memory to sleep. In short, I failed again and again. But my mother sent money to my account time and time again, asking me to continue working hard.

It doesn't matter, just try to go ashore next time.

Every time she fails, she will squeeze out a smiling face to comfort me, or comfort herself.

As long as you go ashore, our life will become better.

I realized very early on that my mother was actually doing useless work, but when I discovered that this untouchable hope was the only support for her to live, it was too late—before I told her that I would never be After going to the talent incubator, I hate that place, she went crazy.

In the days that followed, in order to support myself and my crazy mother, I made a living on the street.

On the streets where the wild and the advanced are intertwined, I am far more handy than in the ivory tower of the talent incubation center: stealing parts, engaging in fraud, stealing data, moving corpses... At the bottom of the resettlement area after the government has outsourced all public services, I am even very handy. It's hard to find a few jobs that aren't illegal.

Originally, I was supposed to spend my whole life in such a muddle. I died in some unknown sewage pit when I was less than forty years old. The implants on my body were all removed by scavengers. How to fight against this ridiculous world.

But because of a coincidence, I joined the "Icarus Liberation Front". And there, I welcomed the second freshman.

I have a home again, a big warm family based on common beliefs rather than blood ties; I also have family members again, many like-minded partners who are willing to sacrifice their lives to resist the company's order.

The six months I spent as an Icarus Liberation Front rebel were more meaningful than my entire life put together. We ignite the flames of rebellion everywhere - destroying the company's facilities, exposing corporate scandals, accumulating the power of resistance, and talking about a bright future...

At the climax, we even blew up the intelligence control center built by a top company like Pluto Deep Dive in the Nord resettlement area, paralyzing 70% of their drone power here. And followed the clues to burn the brains of their regional managers, announced our existence to the world, and raised the fire of rebellion.

Then, the fire was immediately snuffed out by the slightly more serious Pluto Deep Dive—even with the most pessimistic expectations, we still far underestimated the power of the enterprise.

Just like a giant trampled to death a nest of ants, my new home was once again destroyed by the company.

Most of my non-blood family members were either killed or captured by the company's armed forces-the calm and cautious Commander Kreit died; the stable and reliable Black Falcon-136 brother was captured; but I guess usually Qian Xiaying, who has never been coaxed by scolding and never slowed down, should have escaped, she can always escape...

But it doesn't matter, there is still hope now.

Although the enemy shattered most of Icarus' power, they did not destroy the heart of the organization, the cornerstone that allowed Icarus to exist.

The key to restart Icarus passed through those victims, and finally passed it to me and locked it in my memory slot.

I am the last hope.

For this, I must find my surviving companions, I must inherit the will of those victims, I must continue to fight...

For this, I must live.

I can't die here.

"I can't die here."

"Zi-boom!"

The moment I fell down, the firing of the pulse pistol was stretched infinitely, and my consciousness also became long, long enough for me to look back on my life...

My name is Liao Qi.

I can't die here.

My name is... Liao...

i can't die in...

...

Whose memory is that?

As if waking up from a long nightmare, Jiang Zhou regained his consciousness.

At the same time, the memories of those "Liao Qi" who belonged to the bottom-level protesters in the Nord resettlement area were turned into pure records and sealed up. If he doesn't take the initiative to recall, then that memory will only be revealed as pure information.

Jiang Zhou suddenly opened his eyes.

Then, he saw an unforgettable scene in his life——

In the blank virtual space, the previous color block human figure turned into a turbulent stream of data and merged into his substitute. At the same time, an electronic prompt accompanied by scrolling subtitles reminded him:

"Theseus, your Mandala has been authenticated successfully, and it will automatically connect to the subnet of No. 3 deep dive chamber in ten seconds."

But at the same time, he was in a messy apartment with a musty smell in the air. On my left thigh and forehead, I felt pain as if being pierced by a red-hot steel bar.

He fell to the ground on his back, looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling, and a middle-aged man with a beard and an electronic cigarette in his mouth.

The other party was looking at him with eyes like seeing a ghost.

Almost at the same time, he and the bearded middle-aged man with an electronic cigarette in his mouth exclaimed:

"Fuck!"

The electronic cigarette fell to the ground and made a "click".