Cyber ​​Ghost Record

Chapter 122: Eternity

"The dojo..."

Shen Ke succinctly revealed the information Bai Miao was unwilling to disclose to Su Ge—the secret chamber had been set up as a cultivation site, where its owner was preparing for an ascension ceremony. The Security Bureau placed greater emphasis on data and equipment potentially related to ascension than on physical entities, as the former could potentially breed more extremely dangerous individuals.

"He failed, is that what caused his death?" Soger asked.

"Judging from the situation at the scene, he was prepared, but then someone took the fruits of his labor." Shen Ke looked at the blurry outline of the Hive Apartment in the rain and mist, exhaling a faint white breath. As a demon who had successfully separated from its body, her tone was somewhat sympathetic. "If you want to ascend, you will face all kinds of dangers, inner demons, and external demons. The slightest carelessness can lead to failure."

“Perhaps there are other reasons.” Soger thought of the murder he had once experienced, a strange intuition, or perhaps a neurotic conspiracy theory. “His brain liquefied. Why would that happen?”

"The investigator already told you that it was soul-searching and soul-stealing. Someone thoroughly scanned his brain to read all his memory proteins and neuronal structures. This is not something an ordinary person can do. Let's put it this way, this kind of method is not much easier than ascension."

A damp breeze blew in from the high-rise building, and Suger felt a chill on his neck. His mind also held secrets he himself was unaware of, secrets that enabled him to hack into electronic devices.

"His body is still intact; he must have died not long ago," he said softly. The image of the general, which had faded from his mind, suddenly resurfaced. He even felt that the enemy was nearby, watching everything.

“The security bureau will likely conduct a thorough autopsy, and the traces at the scene will also reveal more information,” Shen Ke said. “If you want, we can find some things too.”

"How do we investigate?" Su Ge asked.

“Ascension is an activity that must be done secretly but cannot be done secretly. The traces it leaves are like the marks a snail leaves on glass or the web a spider spins in the corner of a ceiling,” Shen Ke said. “The underground market in Yingchuan is very active. Everyone is spending their future in vain under high debt and high borrowing, so the economy here is always in high-speed circulation. But if you want to ascend, you need a lot of money, which will lead to economic stagnation, like a blood clot growing in a clear blood vessel. Finding this blood clot is like finding the cultivator who is plotting ascension.”

“Your former accomplice, that organ trafficker, is also plotting to ascend to power,” Su Ge said. “There seem to be many people like that.” He doubted whether individual actions could truly influence the entire underground market.

“He’s the one who believed you could buy a Rolex for 58 yuan,” Shen Ke chuckled. “Everyone has the right to dream, but only a handful of people are qualified to realize their dreams.”

Su Ge felt a sense of familiarity with the jokes Shen Ke used. He thought that jokes from two centuries ago might now be considered "classics".

“You can’t blame the buyers for being scammed; anyone can be fooled in a place like this.”

“But here, your only protection is your own ability to discern,” she said.

"you're right."

“There is no right or wrong here,” Shen Ke said. “Survival of the fittest.”

Socrates met her gaze, and he understood the admonition behind her words—that as long as Socialism completely dominated his thinking, he could fully understand and adapt to the rules here.

He simply nodded noncommittally, steer the conversation back on track:
"You mean, our approach is to investigate unusual economic flows and speculate on his preparation of ascension materials?"

“That will reveal who he’s been in contact with,” she said. “Not everyone is capable of handling matters related to ascension. There are a few people in Yingchuan who can do this kind of thing, and we have a general idea.” “What if he takes a long time to prepare?” Su Ge asked.

“Extending the preparation period can conceal motives and reduce risks, that’s what it sounds like.” Shen Ke looked at the rainy street. “But in reality, if you want to get to the end of the street before you get soaked, you have to run as fast as you can.”

Those pupils shone with an emerald light.

The figure of the chang once again wandered through the city.

……

After spending two days at the Cloud Pavilion Hotel, Su Ge finally went out again. He took a cup of coffee, took the elevator to the underground skyrail station, where Chiba Ryoko was already waiting by the glass doors of the elevator.

“This target is quite valuable,” she said. “I found out that he sold a micron-level consciousness synchronization device last month, which is one of the core devices for uploading consciousness.”

Suger nodded, finished his coffee, and walked into the subway. The accomplices had found a large amount of information related to ascension, almost all of it a scam, but twelve targets were worth considering. Chiba Ryoko had made initial contact with five of them, but the other seven hadn't responded; she was now talking about a new target.

As he sat down in the white plastic chair, she continued, "The seller's rule is that they must meet with the buyer in person, and neither party can use an avatar."

The underground market has no laws, so sellers create their own rules to protect themselves, while buyers typically demonstrate their sincerity in two ways: by paying a large deposit or by showing a willingness to take risks. This seller's rule falls into the second category.

"I still want to remind you that it is very risky to personally intervene."

Soger nodded, indicating that he had made up his mind. "The consciousness synchronization device sounds a bit like the consciousness anchor trainer."

“These two are not on the same level,” Ryoko Chiba said. “A micrometer-scale consciousness synchronization device can precisely scan the activity of each neuron.”

"So uploading consciousness means converting thought processes into binary code and inputting them into a machine?" Soger asked.

"A classic misconception. This idea was popular in the last century. In reality, it only creates a digital life modeled after you, which is another life. This misconception stems from people viewing thought statically, but thought is dynamic. The difficulty of uploading consciousness lies in seamlessly transforming the dynamic thought process in your mind into another form of dynamic thought process. Note that it is 'transformation' rather than 'translation.'" She emphasized the difference between the last two words.

“It’s a bit abstract,” Soger said.

"You could say that if you throw a stone into the water, creating a wave, and capture all the data about that wave, and then create the same wave again, it won't be the same wave anymore. The original wave has subsided, but it hasn't disappeared; its aftershocks will disturb the sand and drive crabs into their burrows..."

Soger said, "It will constantly transform into other forms and exist eternally in the universe."

“That’s not the eternity we’re looking for,” Ryoko Chiba said. “What we’re looking for is to make the chance of that most beautiful moment when the wave rolls up eternal.”

(End of this chapter)