Cyber ​​Ghost Record

Chapter 26: Li Lou
Ten minutes ago, inside the floating car outside the west gate of Luyingting.

“We suspect that the female neighbor you came into contact with is a demon,” Yang Guan said to Su Ge. “She has invaded your field of vision, which is why your feathers reacted.”

"What's the reason?"

Su Ge instinctively didn't want to believe Yang Guan's judgment, not only because Shen Ke had lent a helping hand when he was in danger twice. During this time, the state of doubting everything was a severe mental torture for him, and he desperately wanted someone he could trust by his side.

"We found some information about her."

As Yang Guan spoke, he exhaled Shen Ke's virtual projection.

"Lu Yingting's residence information shows that she moved in on January 29th two years ago, but this residence information is fake. Her method is very sophisticated. Li Lou used a lot of computing power to see through her disguise. In fact, she moved into Lu Yingting on July 2nd of this year, which is three days after you moved in. She moved into the apartment above you."

"She came for me?"

"It's hard to say. Maybe it's targeting you, or it could be a coincidence. Her main illegal activity in the Spirit Realm is to exert mental control over people, gradually invading their brains and stealing their computing power."

In the aerial projection, Shen Ke's image transforms into other forms, including male, female, neutral, Taoist priest, female Taoist priest, wandering monk, ascetic, and jade maiden.

"We generally classify this kind of ghost as the 'mei' in the category of 'chimeiwangliang,' which can also be called a fox demon."

Yang Guan dispersed the air projection.

"Fox spirits generally don't get involved in real-world crimes; their purpose is simply to steal computing power. At the same time, they also satisfy the victims' psychological needs. So, in many cases, even if the victims know the truth, they still choose to continue to sink into depravity. Based on what we've found, this fox spirit may have simultaneously invaded the brains of thousands of people and possesses enormous computing power."

Su Ge felt a bit confused. All his impressions of Shen Ke indicated that she was an outsider like him, but Yang Guan's mention of "mind control" reminded him of the moment he was anchored tonight.

Yes, mind control.

Even now, after being told many suspicious points by Yang Guan, when the scene from that moment surfaced in Su Ge's mind, the emotions from that time were evoked without any difference—she was the only fellow traveler in this desolate world.

This feeling made him subconsciously retort, "She can't be a fox demon; she's just like a normal person."

Yang Guan and Bai Miao looked at each other in bewilderment.

【Another person who has been misled.】—This thought arose in Bai Miao's mind, but she did not send it to Yang Guan, knowing that Yang Guan was also aware of it.

After a moment of silence, Yang Guan said, "She was indeed once a normal person, and she was once a sand-counter in the Great Thousand-Petal Lotus World."

"The one who counts sand?"

Socrates had heard this name before he went into hibernation; it came from the arithmetic treatise of the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes.

But the sand-counters of this era are clearly something else entirely.

Yang Guan explained, "Before the power of the pious men and women's vows is transmitted to the Pure Land, it will first be screened by the sand-counting person. Therefore, the pollution data that the sand-counting person comes into contact with is several orders of magnitude higher than that of our security bureau's investigators. She may have been transformed into a demon because she came into contact with too much pollution data."

“Of course, none of these things are conclusive evidence,” Bai Miao said. “The clues we’ve found could also be the result of her identity being stolen.”

Emotions told Su Ge that the possibility Bai Miao spoke of was the truth, while reason told him that such a possibility was extremely slim.

Bai Miao added, "If we can capture her consciousness within the network, it will be immediately clear whether she is a demon or a monster, and then everything will fall into place."

Soger realized that the Security Bureau investigators were explaining so much to him, a hibernator, most likely in order to ask for his assistance.

"How to do?"

“We monitored all the secure channels she used, but we can’t rule out the possibility that she has other channels or is risking escaping through dangerous channels. We want to lure her into a ‘secure channel,’ but if we make it too obvious, she won’t take the bait.”

Yang Guan put his hand on Su Ge's shoulder.

"Hunters will respect lions, but they won't guard against rabbits biting back. It's best if you, the hibernator, do this job."

……

Su Ge looked through the semi-transparent application link prompt box and at Shen Ke.

He didn't know what would happen next, and even now, he still couldn't see Shen Ke's true colors.

Even if she is a demon, the definition of demons in this era is vague, and even he himself was mistakenly identified as "Yama Raja" by the Vidyadhara.

He couldn't distinguish between truth and falsehood, good and evil, yet he was always forced to make choices. He agreed to the request, which meant the other party gained most of the access to his field of vision.

"where are we going?"

"Take me away."

She floated over and took Suger's hand. Suger's vision shifted forward, and he felt as if his soul was being pulled up and away from the room. However, his body remained lying on the bed without moving. The imbalance between his central nervous system and motor receptors made him feel dizzy.

Then he saw Shen Ke take him up from the apartment corridor and fly into the neon lights, just like when she used a wingsuit to take him through the buildings.

Suger had no idea what she was doing.

According to the security agency's prediction, she was probably planning to use his channel to escape to a secure network domain.

The security agency may be waiting for her to fully upload her consciousness.

Suger watched her walk between the buildings. The security bureau hadn't made a move yet; maybe she wasn't a demon at all...

Suddenly the world turned pitch black, and a few ember-like feathers drifted down from the boundless darkness.

Shen Ke raised her head in the void, and a pair of crimson wings enveloped the entire world.

【Charm!】

A loud and sharp cry echoed in the void.

[Confirmed to be uploaded by an illegal individual!]

Suger's heart skipped a beat; he almost felt like he was being judged.

……

The room was dimly lit.

Shen Ke sat up in bed, flicked a cigarette, and lit it with her fingertip.

Looking at the scene before him, Suger still didn't understand what was happening. He tried to remove his glasses to confirm that what he was seeing was real.

Shen Ke, with a cigarette dangling from her lips, said to him, "I used a consciousness anchor to sever the connection to the virtual world. What, you can't even process what you just learned tonight?"

She gestured with her chin towards the window, "I've also blocked the electromagnetic signals here. It'll probably take them another half a minute to get here."

“That was…” Socrates said hesitantly.

“Li Lou, don’t you know?” She narrowed her eyes and looked Su Ge up and down. “Sometimes you’re so good at pretending that I actually believe you.”

"What do you mean?" Suger felt that she was implying something.

"Why did you sell me out to the security agency?" She exhaled a puff of smoke and removed the filter. "Isn't it convenient to do it this way, just like you killed Larson?"

Su Ge was completely confused, but then he saw Shen Ke use her left hand to gesture with her chin as if to fire a gun.

She was referring to the gray-haired man!

She saw that scene!
She really came for him!

"you……"

Suger opened his mouth in shock, but before he could utter a single word, the door slammed open with a loud bang.

The windows shattered, and the spider robot rushed into the room on the night wind.

Two white figures arrived at Shen Ke's side in an instant, moving at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, like two flowing mercury, swiftly locking her body and head in place.

What exactly does she know?
A thought popped into Suger's mind—to establish a connection with her using telekinesis!

But the next moment, investigators in combat uniforms poured into the cramped apartment of less than 15 square meters. In the end, all he saw was her eyes, filled with mockery and sorrow.

(End of this chapter)