Cyber ​​Ghost Record

Chapter 111-110: Born
The boy picked up a beet from the conveyor belt, scanned its purplish-red leaves, then used a tiny probe on his fingertip to pierce the beet's root, analyzed its components, and placed it on another conveyor belt. He repeated this process continuously, deciding the beets' destination.

Some beets are sent to the cultivation room, some are sent to beet extracting alkaloids to be sold to illegal pharmaceutical factories in Yingchuan City, and some are sent to the mixer to extract nutrients such as vitamins and sugars. As raw materials for staple food, they appear on almost every table in Yingchuan City.

The bright edge of the conveyor belt reflected his image. His head was unchanged, but his torso had been replaced. This was his own body, more befitting his age. His left hand remained its original form, while his right hand had been entirely replaced with a prosthetic—equipment provided by the factory, its forearm imprinted with a yellow-green interwoven gear heart.

He bears many traces of modification, each representing a different work experience. For example, he volunteered for drug trials for a long time, and to combat the side effects, he underwent liver, pancreas, and kidney transplants. In total, the cost of these modifications exceeded his income from that job.

His most expensive prosthetic body part is his left eye, which cost most of his savings. This prosthetic eye has an "InsightX" watermark below the iris. Although it is a counterfeit, it can be used normally as long as it is not connected to the public Internet. Although it is occasionally invaded by forced advertisements, it can use various media to form images, which has helped him avoid many robberies and also allowed him to play the role of a qualified prey.

He had worked part-time at the hunting grounds for two years, and now the olfactory cilia in his nasal cavity and the taste buds in his mouth had been bio-modified, becoming exceptionally sensitive. He knew of several special restaurants on Shewei Street that catered to upper-class patrons. These restaurants hired people with keen senses of taste, implanted neural potential acquisition devices in them, and then fed them the food, collecting firsthand culinary experiences to provide to other diners.

As the boy sorted the beets, he made plans in his mind. He knew there was a skilled dentist near Deer Park, and he planned to go check him out. If it was suitable, he would get himself an artificial stomach with an acid sac, which would allow him to digest large amounts of food in a short time. If he could get a part-time job at a restaurant, he should be able to save some money. He had heard that working at such restaurants was a quick way to make money.

When it comes to making money, nothing beats being a smuggler, but he never ventured deep into the dark web. He also protected his head well, only having a brain-computer interface implanted, while the various systems of his brain remained intact.

Six hours later, he grabbed his rations and left the underground greenhouse. It was four in the afternoon; beneath Yingchuan City, there was no distinction between day and night. The underground passage was cold and damp. He stepped into the elevator; the brass-colored floor rose, and a static hum could be heard through the walls. The elevator doors opened, and he walked through the greasy neon lights, along the edge of the skybridge, towards his rented capsule apartment.

Several streaks of light flashed past the railing where the anti-rust paint was peeling off. He turned his head and a group of colorful flying fish swam over. Their soft, glowing tail fins swayed and brushed against his shoulder. He reached out and grabbed one of the fish tails, as if he were grabbing the hem of a celestial maiden's skirt. The touch was like silk.

He suddenly took flight.

He followed them through the darkness, flying towards the city's heights. From the pale blue haze, the outlines of eaves and towers emerged, and light shimmered between the glazed tiles. He flew in, entering that blissful paradise, where a woman stood in the light, as if she had been waiting for a long time.

"Spirit Realm".

The boy murmured to himself as he stood on the overpass, gazing at the city skyline. The beautiful fantasies, like the flickering light of flying fish, vanished into the pale blue haze, and he remained standing there.

He looked away, lost in thought, and crossed the overpass. The capsule apartment was dimly lit, the concrete walls were covered in graffiti, and the street corner and garbage cans reeked of urine.

The steel structure of the staircase was covered with blue recycled boards. The boy, halfway up, suddenly stopped and looked up. At the corner of the stairs stood the profile of a man. The man, who had been observing the streetlights across the street, noticed the boy's gaze and turned to look at him.

In that instant of eye contact, the boy felt as if the man was looking at him, yet also as if he were looking through him into the distance. This gaze felt familiar to the boy; he recalled once witnessing the Buddha preaching in Shravasti, where those dark blue eyes did not focus on any one person, but were constantly watching over all living beings.

"Do you still recognize me?" the man asked.

The boy paused for a moment, and only then did he see the man's face clearly—the hunter who hadn't fired a shot.

"Mr. Su?" "You know me?"

"They say you are the spokesperson for the Lugu Group."

Su Ge pondered for a moment.

"Aren't you afraid of me?"

The boy hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.

“I have something else to ask you.” Suger looked at the door in the corridor.

The boy understood, nodded, said "okay," and went upstairs to his own door. Su Ge followed behind the boy, watching him open the door.

The boy looked no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, but he was probably even younger. In a different era, he would likely have been a junior high school student or just starting high school.

"Do you have a name?" Sog asked.

“Sisheng,” the boy said as he entered the room. “My mother gave me this name.” He used the word “mother,” which sounded somewhat unfamiliar. The room was smaller than the Luyingting apartment, and there was no one else inside.

“Si Sheng, that’s an interesting name,” Shen Ke said from behind Su Ge. “Many purification rites are performed on the Si day, and many evil gods are born from purification rites. Righteous gods always have impure thoughts, and after they perform purification rites, new gods are occasionally born from these purified impure thoughts.”

Suger was already able to understand these new era concepts in his own way. Shen Ke's words were not difficult to understand. She was probably saying that when those powerful digital beings known as the true gods operate their thought models, they generate redundant data. When they clean up these redundancies, these redundancies can sometimes form new thought models and give birth to another digital life.

“Where is your mother?” Sog asked.

“She has completed the purification ritual and gone home,” Sisheng replied.

“A purification ritual?” Su Ge thought the boy was actually a descendant of digital beings.

“Once I finish the purification ritual, I can also go to the Spirit Realm.” Si Sheng’s explanation dispelled Su Ge’s idea.

“Human purification rituals are different from digital life rituals; they tend to involve mental treatment and neurosurgery.” Shen Ke noticed Su Ge’s doubts at the right moment. “If their minds are clean enough and their criminal tendencies meet the requirements, they have a chance to enter mainstream society. In fact, very few people pursue ascension because very few succeed. Most undocumented immigrants have this goal: save enough money, find an intermediary to perform a purification ritual, and if successful, they will be eligible to apply for citizenship.”

(End of this chapter)