Cyber ​​Ghost Record

Chapter 22: Super Memory
The price of a single dose of this medicine is almost comparable to that of the Gu Diao.

Before meeting Shen Ke, Su Ge had already spent around four thousand. In the last two days, Gu Diao spent fourteen thousand, plus a one thousand intermediary fee and five thousand four thousand in computing power costs. Adding his training expenses and daily expenses, he has spent approximately twenty-six thousand.

He only had about 74,000 yuan left in his loan. According to his plan, he would then practice his telekinesis with the Gu Diao, which would consume 250 yuan of computing power every day. Just now, while walking in the underground world, he used the Gu Diao's sensors to observe his surroundings, which also consumed nearly 80 yuan.

These remaining numbers represent his life's countdown. Buying this one dose of medicine will consume another eighth of it. He couldn't help but say, "So expensive?"

"It will only get more expensive in the future, and the supply will fall short of demand." She held the syringe, a drop of medicine seeping from the needle. "What's wrong? I thought you had plenty of money."

Su Ge recalled Yang Guan's explanation of the consciousness anchor and asked, "Even if you master the consciousness anchor using this method, it won't improve your 'consciousness control ability,' right?"

Shen Ke glanced at Su Ge with a "daydreaming" look in her eyes.

"What do you think?"

The answer is clearly "no".

Soger already knew that the ability to use mind anchors was just a general criterion for recruiting investigators; what the Security Bureau really cared about was the ability to control consciousness.

He worried that even if he quickly became a consciousness anchor using this method, he wouldn't be able to pass the screening.

Deep within my heart, the concepts of "consciousness," "ascension," and "the other shore" also surfaced.

"Besides medication, are there any conventional methods?" he asked.

“Of course,” she said, “it just takes longer and costs more.”

"What's the approximate range?"

“Probably.” Shen Ke paused. “You don’t have brain-computer interfaces or experience in training your consciousness. Buy a set of meditation and Zen techniques first. If you learn quickly, practice for about a year, and then use about a hundred memory cycles to complete the anchoring. It will only take a little over a year, with long-term costs of fifty to sixty thousand.”

Twelve days of training with no progress made Suger realize that without a brain-computer interface, it might take him longer than she had said to develop a consciousness anchor through conventional methods.

He made his decision and looked at the syringe in Shen Ke's hand.

Are there any other potential risks associated with this method?

"You already know about the only flaw."

Shen Ke sat down in the chair and crossed her legs.

"Other things to note are that you must complete the anchoring process during the drug's effect period, otherwise the drug will be wasted. Also, if you suffer psychological trauma while in a state of hyperthymesia, the consequences will be severe because you will never forget it."

She put down the syringe and lit a cigarette.

"So you need a reliable helper."

Sog thought of the strange man in the dark room.

"Is that the person from earlier?"

"Lord Chengyang?" Shen Ke shrugged. "You can look for him if you want, after all, he is an ascendant."

"An Ascended One?" Sog asked in surprise.

“He used to replace his own brain with a brain-computer interface, and he didn’t know which nerves he connected incorrectly. His eyes were connected to the auditory center, and his ears were connected to the sense of taste… He said that this was ascension.”

Suger became wary. "Are you joking or what?"

"If you're scared, this is a joke."

Shen Ke exhaled a wisp of smoke and smiled slightly.

"But if you think he's unreliable, then come to me."

Socrates looked at the syringe on the table.

"Shall we begin now?"

"Give me your mind anchor trainer first."

Shen Ke looked into Su Ge's pocket. Su Ge hesitated for a moment, then took out a flat, disc-shaped consciousness anchor trainer and handed it to Shen Ke.

A green light flashed in Shen Ke's eyes. She quickly read through the images that Su Ge preferred to visualize when training his consciousness anchor. Then she put down the training device, transmitted data to the closed somatosensory pod, and began to construct a virtual space.

After a while, she said to Suger, "Okay, take off the exoskeleton and lie down in it. This is designed for people who can't use brain-computer interfaces, and it's almost completely realistic."

Suger instinctively felt a bit repulsed by the gray, egg-shaped device. He didn't have claustrophobia, but he was instinctively wary of an environment that might render him powerless to resist.

But then he remembered the black doctor's medical room, hesitated for a moment, and took off his hunting jacket and trousers.

When only the exoskeleton remained, Su Ge looked at Shen Ke, who shrugged, walked to the ventilation shaft, lit a cigarette with her back to Su Ge, and gestured for him to make himself at home.

Su Ge quickly deactivated the Gu Diao, completely naked, and walked to the side of the sensory pod. He turned his head to look in the direction of the ventilation vent. Shen Ke was still facing away from him, and he could see her white sideburns hanging down, and her eyelashes fluttering in the dim light.

Suger remembered that dream again.

He stepped into the haptic cabin, where countless tiny microelectrodes seemed to be magnetically attracted to adhere to every inch of his skin.

An unknown material almost filled the entire sensory pod. He felt as if he had crashed into a non-Newtonian fluid. He felt a great resistance when he moved, and when he stopped, he felt that there was nothing around him.

His body initially felt like it was stepping on mud, but soon the sensation under his feet hardened, as if the mud had been compacted.

Something soft covered his eye sockets, quickly adjusting to his body temperature, and soon became imperceptible.

Shen Ke's voice rang out in the darkness:
"The higher the activity level of your prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, the better the anchoring agent will be. This is related to your immersion in the visualized scene and your emotional engagement. So if you want to succeed on the first try, relax and forget about the real world."

“Hmm,” Suger said.

“No need to respond to me,” she said. “Okay.”

"Rest quietly for ten minutes before diving and don't let your mind wander."

Suger remained silent, his breathing gradually becoming steady.

The hypnotic sounds from the immersive pod resembled the sound of the tides on a moonlit night, and he could hear his own heartbeat within them.

……

The gradually brightening light made Sog squint.

Cirrus clouds drifted across the azure sky, and the solar halo was dazzlingly bright.

Suger raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight. Beneath his feet was the cracked concrete floor of the rooftop, covered with gravel, with ferns and foxtail grass sprouting from between the rusty steel bars.

He stood by the railing, gazing into the distance.

The high-rise buildings stand side by side, but there is no one there. There are no hovercars, no humming ventilation systems, and no vortex noise.

Lichens and vines covered the exterior of the building, and a flock of starlings circled for a while before flying towards the distant mountains.

Are you adapting?

Shen Ke's voice came from behind. Su Ge turned around and saw her sitting on the peeling paint of the ventilation system on the roof.

"It's alright," Suger said.

He didn't know how Shen Ke had created such a virtual space. There were only two training records stored in his consciousness anchor: one was a scene from the Gobi Desert, and the other was a scene from the Lotus Pond of the Vidyadhara Temple.

The scenery here brought him a sense of inexplicable tranquility. It seemed that Shen Ke had grasped what truly moved him behind the scenes he was contemplating, something he himself was unaware of.

"Let's take a walk."

"it is good."

The building's surface is covered with stains from years of rain, and dust buries the decaying signs and iron frames.

The narrow alley was crowded with bushes and shrubs, from which hog deer emerged, chewing on leaves.

The two walked one after the other. Su Ge saw Shen Ke's heels brushing against the fallen leaves and pebbles.

He walked alone in the bustling city of reality, but now he had a companion in this desolate virtual world.

Darkness fell quickly, and two hours later, the setting sun cast its light on the mountains. Su Ge suddenly felt a pang of melancholy. There were no gods or Buddhas here, no organization, no loans, no missions; simply walking like this was a kind of enjoyment.

They had reached a high point in the city.

“Isn’t this place nice?” she said.

“Very nice.” Socrates looked at him. “How did you know I would like this kind of scenery?”

“It’s obvious,” she countered. “What do you like about this place?”

"Quiet?" Sog thought for a moment before speaking.

“You’re scared,” Shen Ke said.

"Uh, what do you mean?"

“You’re afraid of this era. The 23rd century is too much of a change for you. You’re afraid of this upheaval, afraid that you’ll fall behind. Maybe you’re afraid of something else. So when you compare it to something on a longer timescale and from a higher perspective, it becomes insignificant, and that puts your mind at ease.”

Her incisive words struck a chord with him.

"Maybe," he said.

"You're the opposite with yourself; you seem to be under a lot of pressure, like something is pushing you, and you take it too seriously," she said.

Suger remained silent and shook his head.

Shen Ke picked up a conical cup from somewhere, filled with a blue liquid, the "Ascension" she had drunk outside the Huawai. She took a small sip, then handed the cup to Su Ge, leaving a damp mark on the rim.

"This drink is pretty good, would you like to try it?"

Suger took the wine and tasted it. A cool sensation spread through his head and chest, and along with the taste of the wine, he also experienced colors, sounds, and even words.

An indescribable feeling rose within him; the birdsong echoing in the city twilight sounded like someone playing a jade flute inside a building.

He heard the howling wind in the high sky, and it seemed as if he were standing on the clouds, looking down at the sunset falling into the mountains.

A verse came to mind:

Immortals take time lightly, while the worldly dwellers value fleeting moments.

Gray hair may appear at different times, but green hills remain unchanged through the ages.

He stood atop the deserted city, isolated from the world, his confusion and panic from two hundred years of hibernation vanishing.

The universe is so vast, yet he is still a speck of dust. All the gods and Buddhas, all of human civilization, and the future society are also specks of dust.

The fearless thunder Buddha of the Vidyadhara Temple can relieve the fear of sentient beings, but at this moment, what truly dispels his fear is a cup of wine.

He will soon return to the real world to struggle for survival.

But the anchoring agent had already taken effect, and that momentary sensation was permanently etched into his memory.

(End of this chapter)