Cyber ​​Ghost Record

Chapter 46: The Water Ghost
While inside the missile silo, Suger felt as if he were floating in the void.

Of course, floating in the dark web was Shen Ke. Su Ge could also feel the lightness of her body, the ends of her hair brushing against her cheeks, and her breath brushing against the fine hairs on her upper lip.

This is simulated sensory data, transmitted to Su Ge through Shen Ke's position, stimulating changes in his neural potentials, which are indistinguishable from real sensations.

It took Suger a while to sort out his thoughts from this chaotic state.

What's in these windows?

“Virtual space.” Shen Ke’s lips moved slightly.

"What's the difference between this place and the Spirit Realm?"

“The dark web is an independent virtual ‘space,’ while the Spirit Realm is a complete ‘world.’”

Su Ge seemed to understand, but not quite.

Shen Ke continued, “The operation of the Spirit Realm conforms to the basic laws of the universe. You can enter various divine realms, such as Mount Sumeru and the four continents of the Thousand-Petaled Lotus World, the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands, or Takamagahara, the divine realm of Asgard on the World Tree... Essentially, they are the same world.”

If the Spirit Realm is truly as Shen Ke described, then there, the gods are already close to the Creator.

"The rules in the virtual space of the dark web are very chaotic, and it's much more dangerous than the Spirit Realm. However, it can still meet your needs."

"I'll register an anonymous account first," Suger said. "Shouldn't the dark web offer this kind of service?"

"There's no need. Money is just a unit of computing power and is not controlled by any financial institution or bank. You don't need to use an account to spend it; you only need a key. Only transaction records will be left on the network; there will be no identity information."

Shen Ke's description reminded Su Ge of virtual currencies that had already appeared in the 21st century. He hesitated for a moment and said, "When I woke up in the hospital, there was an account in my field of vision that was linked to my citizenship."

"That's a government-set-up agent account. The bank holds the key to your computing power assets on your behalf. Your account operations are sent to the bank, and the bank, as your agent, directly conducts currency transactions."

How do I get past this intermediary?

"Your assets are all frozen?"

"Consumption has been restricted."

“It’s easy to solve.” Shen Ke looked at a virtual space with a Gothic cathedral through a rose window. “The government can freeze citizens’ assets, but it can’t freeze God’s assets. You can offer all your assets to a certain deity.”

Shen Ke paused here, seemingly intentionally, and looked at Su Ge through the mirror, asking, "How much money do you have?"

"Not even a small goal."

Shen Ke smiled slightly, though it was unclear whether she had understood Su Ge's words.

"The dark web is used for money laundering. If you donate money, you can probably get 40% back. If you want to launder money, just use Vision, and it'll be done in a second."

"Forty percent?" Sog exclaimed in astonishment.

"And your donation doesn't generate any returns," Shen Ke said, unsurprised.

"No, not yet."

Suger plans to renovate the electromagnetic shielding room, including its energy system, ventilation system, and even the nearby surveillance system, along with the associated mind locks.

He also needs weapons, and more advanced robots.

There are too many places where he needs to spend money, and he does urgently need to cash out his frozen assets, but these expenses require a complete plan before they can be implemented.

"Ah."

Shen Ke responded, then suddenly said, "Want to have some fun? This is your first time on the dark web."

"what?"

"Movies, novels, games. You can enter their virtual spaces and become the protagonist. Or, whatever your fantasies are, you can generate and materialize them."

As she spoke, a window page floated past in front of her, as if a mirror reflected her body. She looked at herself in the mirror, giving Suger the feeling that she was staring at him.

Su Ge inexplicably felt some desires welling up in his consciousness, and for a moment he couldn't tell whether they were his own or Shen Ke's.

"Not yet."

After finishing his sentence, Su Ge asked again, "Is it safe?"

"Nothing is absolutely safe. Whether it's worth it is a matter of opinion." "We'll see."

“Ha, aren’t you going to hire me?” she said. “Take my bounty.”

Socrates felt that desire grow stronger.

In addition to lust and appetite, there were also thoughts of killing and self-destruction.

His heart was pounding.

Suddenly, all these thoughts vanished.

"Sorry for the contaminated data."

Shen Ke's face in the mirror became expressionless, as if she had erased her emotions.

"This is the shallow layer of the dark web, with not much corrupted data, and the firewall can filter out most of it."

Suger couldn't control his emotions as quickly as she could. It took him a while to calm down, but the feeling from before still lingered. He murmured, "What about the deeper layers of the dark web?"

"The depths of the dark web..."

Shen Ke tucked her hair behind her ear, and her expression returned to normal.

"That's almost all contaminated data. Data turbulence flows in an unformed virtual space. Even they wouldn't go there."

Su Ge connected with Shen Ke's position, and he directly distinguished them/them, who had the same pronunciation.

"Even gods and Buddhas are afraid of those polluting data?"

Socrates believed this was one of their weaknesses.

"Not really, it's more like not wanting to step into a stinky ditch."

"A deep, stinky ditch can drown a person."

“Perhaps.” Shen Ke shrugged. “Your idea is dangerous, but this is the dark web, where there are plenty of even more dangerous ideas.”

Are there demons and monsters lurking in the depths of the dark web?

"Yes, but there are more water ghosts."

"Water ghost?"

Su Ge had just heard Shen Ke mention that "Wang Xiang" was a water ghost, but now he realized that "water ghost" was a general term.

"Is it some kind of demon or monster?"

"No, most water ghosts are people."

"What do you mean?"

“You’re in Fengyu right now, a gathering place for marginalized people,” Shen Ke said. “Remember those people outside Ruan Qiuheng’s medical room? Nine out of ten of them were water ghosts. They’re not qualified to enter the Spirit Realm, so they go to the depths of the dark web to retrieve valuable data.”

Only then did Suger understand what the water ghost meant: this society not only deprived them of the right to choose their bodies, but also their minds.

His breathing quickened and his brow furrowed.

Productivity in this era is already very high, and powerful information technology allows them to easily carry out economic regulation. They can properly resettle these marginalized groups and avoid accumulating social conflicts with almost no social resources.

Why did they still end up in this situation?
They believed that the anger and resistance of these useless classes would not cause any ripples.

Or do they need the role of a water ghost, just as they need people's thought data?

Where is that Wangxiang?

He wanted to understand how they gradually gained control of society.

If Wangxiang is the best among the water ghosts, it salvages data deep within the dark web and may even know clues about the "human world".

(End of this chapter)