Cyber ​​Ghost Record

Chapter 125, Section 124: Lies
Li sized up the guy in front of her who was being overly "natural".

During their chance encounter not long ago, she had hoped for a deeper conversation with him, but he left her with only regret. This time, she delved into his inner world and finally understood the source of his unique charisma. She was somewhat curious about his lifestyle, because his body couldn't tolerate standard drug dosages.

"Where is my own kidney?" Sug pressed his side.

Li patted the cryogenic chamber on the tool rack. Through the transparent window of the chamber, she could see a fresh kidney with some fatty tissue on the surface and two cysts the size of soybeans. In a daze, she saw a small opening on the cyst, opening and closing like lips, as if to say: Look, this is your body, so disgusting.

"You are very opposed to transplantation."

“You know,” Soger said, “we’ve met in the Spiritual Society.”

“You’re different,” Li said. “We pursue the perfection of biological forms, but you seem to be purely pursuing the primitive state.”

Of course they're different. Socrates heard a voice in his heart say: I possess a truly pure body, only I, while they are merely chanting the slogan of returning to nature, just a bunch of cowardly revisionists.

He said, "They're pretty much the same, it's just a matter of personal preference."

Li didn't understand his idea, but she nodded in agreement.
"Besides a kidney transplant, there is another modification."

"What else?"

Li then displayed another holographic image: a semi-transparent blue human body with bright red and blue lines marking the network of blood vessels in the head and neck.

“Your brain was hot when you were unconscious, for unknown reasons.” Upon seeing Suger, she immediately began to feel around his neck and the back of his head. She added, “Don’t worry, there are no implants. It’s just that your original vascular structure has been optimized. This countercurrent heat exchanger is very effective in regulating body temperature.”

As she spoke, the blood in the blue human body began to flow, and the fusion of red and blue demonstrated that this structure enabled the exchange of heat between veins and arteries.

"The principle behind this bio-modification scheme is simple, but the difficulty lies in the microscopic manipulation of the blood vessels within the sinus."

Her tone was nonchalant, but in reality, it was something to be proud of; the surgery was textbook material in the underground medical community. This was thanks to her prosthetic hands, relics of a religious Cold War from the early 20th century, veritable works of art. She thought he should praise her medical skills, or at least her hands, like he had complimented her unique tattoo at the party. That would be fair; she could overlook his rudeness in leaving her that night and give him a way out. But Suger wasn't in the mood. He scratched the back of his head, watching her cautiously.

"You performed brain surgery on me?"

“They just cut off my scalp.” Her tone suddenly turned cold.

"Will these modifications...?"

“No one can guarantee that bioengineering will be 100% perfect, except for ‘perfect humans.’ Or you could go to those high-end medical institutions and get comprehensive genetic modifications,” she interrupted.

"I won't... I never intended to modify it in the first place." Suger took a deep breath. He felt a foreign object in his side and neck. This modification was purely accidental, and he was completely passive. He still didn't fully understand the situation.

“Your freedom,” Li said. “Although I suggest you work on a follow-up expansion plan, the [Whale Abyss III] you transplanted has a set of compatible modifications, including the liver, spleen, pancreas and lymphatic system, all from the same series, an all-around waste degradation field.”

“Wait a minute…” Suger didn’t respond to her suggestion. He stood up. “I haven’t asked who brought me here yet.”

"Your assistant?" Li asked uncertainly.

She might be referring to Chiba Ryoko. Suger tentatively walked towards the operating room door. She didn't seem to have any intention of restricting his freedom, nor did she seem hostile. This meant that he hadn't fallen into the enemy's hands after losing consciousness.

"Wait a minute," Li called out to him.

Suger turned around. She took two boxes of medicine from the medicine cabinet and placed them on the low-temperature box. Suger saw that the main ingredient of the medicine was cyclophosphamide.

“Take your medication regularly,” she said.

"My medical expenses..."

"Payment has been made."

Suger went back to pick up the cryo-chamber, holding the medicine in his other hand, and scanned his surroundings, looking for his clothes. Li's gaze lingered on him.

"how are you feeling?"

“Not bad.” Suger realized that she seemed to have asked this once before, but this time her tone didn’t sound like a doctor.

"Try it."

Her hand covered the back of his hand as he pressed on her side; the cool touch felt more like silk than skin. Then her hand slid down. He grabbed her wrist, and she let him hold it, as if he were the one who had initiated it. She was very tall, her eyebrows level with his eyes. Her blue-gray eyes held a detached, world-weary quality, and her skin was deathly pale, yet burning hot.

“Let’s see how your recovery goes,” she said.

He released her wrist, and her hand slowly slid down, while her other hand climbed up his chest.

"Very good, your heart is beating fast."

……

As Sug emerged from Li's clinic, he found himself still in Luyeyuan, not far from Baoning Building. The streets were sparsely populated with pedestrians, mostly pilgrims climbing the city's heights.

Chiba Ryoko's figure appeared in the window of a restaurant on the street. As he walked past carrying the cryo-chamber, she asked, "Didn't she give you a discount?"

“I’m still a little dazed.” Suger glanced back. It all happened so suddenly. He hadn’t figured out his situation, wasn’t sure if it was safe there, wasn’t sure if she was trustworthy, but he was on the operating table, next to the display shelves full of biological organs, and he had been with her.

“She interfered with your hormone secretion,” Chiba Ryoko said. “It was a necessary part of the treatment, but she did a few extra little things. But it’s good for you.” She looked at Suger. “You’re doing well now; this is excellent psychological therapy.”

Suger paused for a moment, then breathed a sigh of relief.

What were you worried about?

“I thought these things…” Sog touched his neck, the touch was the same as usual, but the feeling of something foreign in his heart lingered, “It would affect his mind.”

“Hormones are also part of the mind,” Ryoko Chiba said. “Don’t worry, these hormone residues will be metabolized quickly.” She looked at the cryogenic chamber. “Your metabolic capacity has improved now. Don’t blame me for taking the liberty; the situation was urgent when you had the accident, and I found out she was the nearest underground doctor, specializing in bio-modification.”

“Now I’m a true carnal fundamentalist.” Soger chuckled self-deprecatingly, patting his pocket. He now had another type of medication. “I’ll switch them back when I have time.”

Ryoko Chiba shrugged noncommittally; Suger's reaction was exactly what she expected. She didn't tell him that there was a saying in Yingchuan: "Transformation is lying to your body; one lie always requires more lies to cover it up."

"What's going on now?" he asked. "Why am I here?"

(End of this chapter)