Chapter 54: “Xiao Qing, why are you here?”
Xiang Nanli stood at the intersection waiting for the bus.
Xiao Fu curled its body into a ball, standing on Xiang Nanli’s shoulder, looking around curiously in every direction.
If it had a tail, it would surely be wagging by now.
This was the first time Gospel had ever been to the Underground City. Its current mood was: So many people oh~
Although some people had mechanical eyes installed, and others had mechanical legs, the humanoid creatures here still retained at least fifty percent human content.
Heh, back when it worked in the Omnic Legion, its surroundings were nothing but a bunch of cold, hard metal.
Do you know what kind of bitter days Xiao Fu lived through back then!
The transit lines overhead looked like the celestial rings of an armillary sphere, weaving overlapping phantoms into the sky. The facades of the skyscrapers played a variety of advertisements. To accommodate more residents, the buildings here were always built incredibly high.
The underground air still possessed that familiar freshness, carrying a faint, barely discernible sweetness.
Heh, ever since I got some money in my pocket, even the evil capitalist air has become sweet.
But Xiang Nanli quickly noticed something was wrong.
Xiang Nanli frowned: “Strange? Didn’t it used to be 0.001 credits per second? Why is it 0.00194 now?”
At this rate, the cost of his breathing fee for a single day had increased from 86.4 to 167.616 credits.
[It has increased to 0.002. However, because your body’s mechanization level is at 3, you receive a 9.97% discount.]
Xiang Nanli was shocked: “Even this can increase? Is it only me whose fee increased, or did everyone’s go up?”
He quickly got his answer.
Blinding pixels suddenly appeared in the artificial blue sky overhead. A bizarre matrix of bright lights flickered ceaselessly; the boundary between virtuality and reality became starkly clear in this moment.
“Clang—” This was the sound of a small patrol monitor plummeting from above.
The drone smashed onto the ground, erupting in a shower of sparks.
Across every single screen in Gusu City, the exact same massive text appeared—
“Refuse the increased breathing tax!”
“Refuse the Human Alliance’s bloodsucking!”
“We need air!”
“Gusu City is withdrawing from the Human City Federation!”
Beneath it all was a line of small text: [(We are just taking money to do a job, thank you for understanding)]
The signature read—Yggdrasil.
These few lines of text flashed continuously, growing from small to large, practically pressing right into everyone’s faces.
Xiang Nanli was forced to take off his electronic lens, feeling as though he was about to suffer a photosensitive epileptic seizure (even though he didn’t actually have the condition).
In the darkness, voices continuously shouted out: “Calm down! Calm down!”
But rather than panic, the people seemed to be reacting with revelry.
A black man standing next to Xiang Nanli even set off a party popper. With a loud bang, sequins and colorful ribbons fluttered down through the air.
This riot only lasted for two minutes. The sky and the screens quickly returned to normal.
The face of a middle-aged woman appeared on the screen. She was far prettier than the average person, exuding a natural likability; yet she wasn’t quite beautiful enough to rely solely on her looks to make a living. Her features possessed a perfectly balanced sense of design. She was the Mayor of Gusu City, one of the councilors in the Upper House, and she had been in office for 62 years.
“Just moments ago, Gusu City’s control system suffered an intrusion by the hacker organization ‘Yggdrasil’.” The mayor’s expression was calm, “Please rest assured, citizens. We have already regained control of the main system. Invading the city’s control system paralyzes the main control AI of various city infrastructures, increases the risk of citizens contracting Cyber-psychosis, and triggers a series of chain reactions resulting in massive losses of life, economy, and property.
“The development goal of the Human Alliance has always been the collective evolution of all humanity to combat the Omnic Crisis. Gusu City is a crucial component of the strategic layout of the 18 underground cities within the Human Alliance.”
Her tone grew severe: “Here, on behalf of the Human Alliance, I issue a solemn warning to Yggdrasil: the safety of the citizens is not your political bargaining chip, and the Human Alliance will not bow down to reactionary forces!”
A person standing near Xiang Nanli spat on the ground: “Stinky b***, a politician’s face is fouler than sewer sh*t. She grew up in Chang’an City; after a dozen more years, she’ll just finish her term and head back to the metropolis. Does she really care whether the people here live or die?”
Xiang Nanli didn’t state his own stance. Instead, he asked curiously: [And what is this Yggdrasil thing?]
[Yggdrasil: The most famous hacker organization in the Human Alliance. They are active across multiple networks, including the Black Wall and cloud networks. Their own political stance remains unclear. They have spoken out on behalf of the Human Alliance, the Divine Court, Surface remnants, and the underclass masses. The founder once signed off as “Garcia” and was suspected to be a worshiper of Xiang Nanli. The organization has currently vanished from the virtual network for many years. Additionally, the Yggdrasil organization once claimed to possess partial authorization over the Black Wall.]
Xiang Nanli: “…???”
His English name was Lee Garcia, and he had used it for decades.
“Lee” was a homophone for “Li,” and “Garcia” came from the surname of his white grandmother on his ancestor’s side.
[The Ministry of Network Security finds this organization to be a massive headache. Historically, they have attempted to incorporate Yggdrasil members multiple times, all ending in failure. They have also launched offline manhunts against certain members of the organization. You currently do not have the authorization to access specific details.]
The breathing fee had gone up. From 0.001 credits per second to 0.002.
Um, currently, only the residents of Gusu City had their breathing fees increased.
Why the price hike?
The official statement claimed that the surface ecological environment near Gusu City had been destroyed by the Divine Court; several forested oxygen bars had been burned down, significantly increasing the difficulty of acquiring pure air.
The money deducted for the breathing fee would be uniformly handed over to the Human Alliance for centralized allocation, bypassing the financial systems of the individual cities.
Uh, as for where exactly this centralized allocation went… It was published once a year in March, but no matter how it was distributed, there were always people dissatisfied.
Luoyang City—the capital—received the most funding every year. Technological and economic development depends on Luoyang. We have a large population and pay a lot of taxes, so it’s perfectly reasonable for us to get more money.
Major Cities—We paid so much money, and it all got sucked up by the capital? Don’t give us that “strategic” crap, we don’t understand it. Luoyang City, give us our money back!
Medium-Sized Cities—What? Technology offsets financial allocations? (But after discovering that the technology is actually useful, they slowly lower their spaghetti).
Stepchild Border Cities (like Gusu City)—Imperial Court, where are my disaster relief provisions for this year?!
A small price hike, when pressed upon every household, became an unexpected catastrophe.
Some people hated the Divine Court more; others hated the Human Alliance more.
Xiang Nanli browsed through the cloud network for a bit, concluding that the Human Alliance’s internal politics were truly a spectacular show.
Ten minutes later, the bus finally arrived, sluggish as ever.
An hour later, Xiang Nanli returned to his civil servant residential compound.
Xiao Qing wasn’t there, and the domestic housekeeping robot hadn’t been shipped yet.
Xiang Nanli bought a bag of dehydrated vegetables from the unmanned supermarket at the entrance of the compound, planning to head back and boil some vegetable soup. He could slice up some of the braised meat Xiao Qing had made, and that would suffice for another meal.
He ran into an acquaintance by the checkout counter, which looked just like a bank ATM.
Rock, the investigator he had gone into the tunnels with before. A very tall, machine-modified human who looked a bit dispirited, buying a bottle of alcohol.
Xiang Nanli walked over, swiped his card to pay for him, and broke into a smile: “Brother Rock, long time no see.”
Rock thought for a moment before sudden realization dawned on him: “It’s you! Xin Zhui mentioned that Xiu gave you the apartment he was assigned in Gusu City to live in!”
Huh?
He had assumed Luo Xiu had bought it secondhand. He didn’t expect it to actually be the place Luo Xiu himself lived in.
“Mhm, I think so,” Xiang Nanli replied.
He exchanged pleasantries with Rock for a moment, and the two of them stood near the greenbelt of the compound, smoking cigarettes.
Xiang Nanli didn’t particularly enjoy smoking, but in social situations, he wasn’t entirely incapable.
With just a few words, he had Rock laughing uproariously, and he also ended up listening to quite a few middle-aged complaints.
For instance, after Xiu left, the members of their squad were assigned to different units. Although their salaries increased and the work was stable, because they were dropped in from the outside, they didn’t really get along with their colleagues… Rock, for example, had been assigned to the Public Security Bureau.
His wife wanted to buy designer bags, and his child wanted to go to high school in a major city, refusing to stay in Gusu City.
Rock continued: “Haha, speaking of which, I was actually planning to look for you. A month ago, a group of people went to the Surface to participate in some boxing tournament, right? Since then, a whole lot of them haven’t been reachable. Their workplaces and families have reported them missing. You just happened to be on the roster for that group, and you recently generated entry records. Your file got sent to my desk. What happened over there?”
Xiang Nanli was stunned. He thought to himself, Under big data surveillance, it truly is difficult to keep things hidden.
He answered: “The Combat Club hired me as their team mechanic. The club wasn’t very strong, and they got eliminated right after the preliminaries, so they didn’t need me anymore. I hitched a ride and left early, then made a bit of money on the Surface.”
Xiang Nanli blinked: “You know what my profession is…”
Rock patted him on the shoulder: “You’re still working as a black-market technician? It’s a good thing the inspections aren’t strict right now. Gusu City hasn’t been very peaceful lately; try to leave the city less. Alright, I’ll log this down. No need to summon you in person, it’ll save you from having to pay a fine.”
Working as an unregistered technician off the books meant that if caught, one had to surrender all illicit earnings.
“Thanks, brother. If you or any of your friends or relatives have broken stuff, just come straight to me~” Xiang Nanli beamed with delight.
Rock gave a double grunt: “It’s not like your brother here is someone who can’t afford repair fees. Why are you acting so polite? Alright, I’m heading back to the precinct for work—”
Xiang Nanli hurriedly called out: “Wait, brother. There’s one more thing I’d like to bother you with.”
Rock took a deep drag of his cigarette and turned his head.
Xiang Nanli knew time was precious, so he said it all in one breath: “This matter might require Brother Xin Zhui’s help. This time on the Surface, a doctor saved my life. His relative is in the Gusu City Prison. Inmate number ***, currently serving a life sentence. I don’t know the exact details, but since he did save my life, I want to see if it’s possible to help him out.”
Rock narrowed his eyes: “Are you sure?”
Perhaps because Xiang Nanli had saved him, or perhaps because he was the clone of “Xiang Nanli,”
Luo Xiu had once told Xin Zhui: “We can help him one more time.”
And so, Xin Zhui had given Rock’s contact information to Xiang Nanli. He was very busy, and Luo Xiu even more so. They were willing to help, but they had no desire to involve themselves in Xiang Nanli’s social circles.
Rock thought to himself, Xiang Nanli probably doesn’t even understand the true weight of Luo Xiu’s promise. Money was never the issue; problems that could be solved with money were easy. There are far too many things in this world that money simply cannot accomplish. Not to mention, the Human Alliance’s money is just electronic data.
A favor that could even pardon one’s own death penalty, and he wants to use it on someone else?
However, Rock didn’t feel obligated to point this out.
Xiang Nanli foolishly replied: “Yes.”
“Alright, I’ll contact Brother Xin Zhui. I’ll get in touch when there’s news.”
Rock replied, polite as ever, before turning and walking away.
Xiang Nanli rubbed his cheeks, which were stiff from smiling so much, and shook off the smell of smoke clinging to his body. Only then did he return home.
He opened the door and called out into the empty apartment: “I’m back.”
Xiao Fu rushed into the room and rolled around on the sofa.
The sensor lights flickered on, illuminating the space brightly.
Xiang Nanli changed his clothes, then took a shower. When he came out, he discovered that a massive cardboard delivery box had somehow appeared in the room.
Xiao Fu stood next to the box: “The delivery robot came by. It told Xiao Fu that this is the access cabin.”
An access cabin, an external device used to log one’s consciousness into the virtual network. Suitable for all programmers who hadn’t installed neural-computer interfaces… essentially the new era’s equivalent of a PC.
The delivery box even bore the Immortality Tech logo.
300,000 credits was enough to buy the highest-tier nanny robot, yet it could only purchase a low-to-mid-tier access cabin.
Xiang Nanli dried his wet hair with a towel, walked over to the delivery box barefoot, and sliced open the cardboard with a utility knife.
A highly futuristic-looking access cabin was revealed before Xiang Nanli. White, accented with emerald-green light strips. Its exterior looked like a metallic massage chair you could sit inside, and its interior was outfitted with numerous neural connection interfaces. Besides that, it also came with an instruction manual, which could be read by scanning a code. The reading method was through “consensus.”
Xiang Nanli read the manual and got a general understanding of how to use it.
The manual also warned that there would be a slight pricking sensation in the brain during the first use, which was perfectly normal. The access cabin utilized very low currents and was extremely safe, equipped with auto-eject safety protocols.
Additionally, there were warnings regarding symptoms of Cyber-psychosis and personality dissociation.
Using the access cabin allowed one to connect their consciousness into a virtual space, where they could participate in all sorts of network activities. Surfing the web, experiencing the metaverse, playing holographic games—everything was possible. Some people even relied on mechanical modifications or IV drips to lie in the access cabin for five or six years straight… as if that virtual world was the true reality.
Xiang Nanli felt a surge of doubt: “What’s the manufacturing principle? And what exactly is the difference between data and a soul?”
Unfortunately, the instruction manual didn’t provide much technical explanation.
Even though Xiao Fu was quite intelligent, its body was obviously incapable of going to the kitchen and whipping up three dishes and a soup.
Xiang Nanli finished cooking for himself and took a bite. He didn’t understand how he had managed to make even the dehydrated vegetable seasoning packets taste like pig slop. Getting that housekeeping robot delivered was a matter of utmost urgency.
It was now 8:00 PM.
Xiang Nanli hooked Xiao Fu up to the charging cable, threw all the trash into the bin at the end of the hallway, and then stood in front of the access cabin.
He spoke up: “Xiao Zhi, do you know where Xiao Qing has gotten to? Could you send him a message?”
As an officially registered “Synth” within the Human Alliance, Dongfang Qingdi had his own social media accounts.
Xiao Zhi: [Understood.]
But perhaps he had entered a signal dead zone, as Dongfang Qingdi didn’t reply.
Xiang Nanli sighed softly. He changed into a specialized outfit (a skintight suit that came free with the access cabin, designed to better conduct bioelectric currents) and lay down inside the access cabin.
The access cabin powered up. The neural sensor lines unexpectedly activated on their own, adhering to Xiang Nanli’s body like tiny metallic tentacles.
Xiang Nanli had to suppress a shriek and fight the urge to jump back up—What kind of bizarre kink play is this?!
White metallic discs attached to his body: his forehead, his spine, his wrists, and his ankles.
[Scanning. Scan complete.]
[Detecting. Detection complete.]
[Loading…]
[Loading…]
[Loading…]
Xiang Nanli’s body abruptly stiffened; he had been shocked by electricity. Then, he instantly plunged into a deep slumber.
Calling it a deep slumber didn’t quite seem accurate either. Xiang Nanli’s consciousness felt hazy, like recalling a dream while fully awake.
He saw a river of stars.
Xiang Nanli stood blankly within the flow.
All around him was pitch black. The glowing, endless river passed straight through his transparent body, surging forward, flowing toward an unknown terminus.
Xiang Nanli reached out and scooped a handful of water from the blindingly bright river. The current was actually composed of continuously flowing numbers; countless 0s and 1s slipped through the gaps between his fingers.
…Where is this?
Why didn’t this look anything like what he had seen in the instruction manual?
Xiang Nanli turned his head and spotted a thin wall amidst the torrent. This wall was situated right in the center of the river, causing the current to divert around its sides.
Through that thin wall, he saw a familiar face.
The face looked somewhat gloomy and listless, eyes cast downwards, like a trapped beast or a prisoner.
Ah, the “standby mode” of an Omnic. Xiang Nanli had seen it several times before.
It seemed to sense something.
Alpha raised his head—it was an upward-looking posture, because Xiang Nanli was positioned above him.
Light filtered down from above. Even if it was merely false fluorescence, it looked so incredibly like the sun.
Xiang Nanli reached a hand toward him, and surprisingly, his hand easily passed straight through that thin membrane.
Alpha’s pupils slowly constricted. Instinctively, he raised his arm, wanting to grasp that hand.
He was trembling, desperately trying to maintain the stability of the virtual space. Yet the surrounding river of stars was violently churning; colossal waves surged seemingly out of nowhere across the once-calm surface.
Alpha heard Xiang Nanli’s voice drifting in from the outside, sounding ethereal and hollow: “Xiao Qing, why are you here?”
A data tsunami crashed down, flooding the space in the very next second.
—Xiang Nanli snapped his eyes open. He was collapsed on the floor, unable to control the physiological tears streaming down his face.
Xiang Nanli wailed unconsciously. The spasms in his mind were excruciatingly painful; every single nerve had been stretched to its absolute breaking point.
It felt as though someone had jammed a stick into the back of his head and was ruthlessly stirring his brains.
Xiao Fu tore free from its charging cable, circling around him in a panic: “Xiang Nanli! What’s wrong, Xiang Nanli?! Why can’t I get through to the ambulance number?!”
The room was pitch black, and the noise outside was chaotic and deafening.
It took a long, long time for Xiang Nanli to recover enough to reply through his tears in the darkness: “I’m fine. I’m fine.”
He had triggered the system’s safety alarms and had been ejected by the access cabin.
__
Author’s Note:
[Unlockable Intel]
Yggdrasil Organization: The most famous hacker organization in the Human Alliance, active in diverse networks such as the Black Wall and the cloud network.
