Cyber ​​Ghost Record

Chapter 74, Section 73: Entering the Game
[The hovercar drove towards Chongming District of Yingchuan City. Steam rose from the teacup on the table. A man in a suit leaned back in his chair, relaxed, discussing something with a contact person projected onto the air.]

The images are transmitted in real time to the monitor's brain-computer interface.

The monitor was slender, making his head appear particularly bulky. His brain was connected to the equipment in the room, with flashing indicator lights and a dense network of cables resembling tree branches. Such cumbersome equipment was rare these days, but it was inexpensive and performed well. A flood of information poured into his mind: street transactions, buy-and-sell listings on the dark web…

He focused on the footage inside the hovercar.

Beside the screen, the information stream reveals the man's identity—Su Xing, born in the Sixth Public Nursing Home of the Southern Military Region, currently working at the Lugu Group, and having managed three biomedical-related projects.

Four days ago, he was taken hostage by military fugitives hiding in the western district of Yingchuan. The details of the conflict are unknown, but he won.

……

“Eyes.” Shen Ke examined the images in Su Ge’s vision. “Many illegal organizations have someone like this, responsible for sniffing out valuable data and investigating and monitoring targets.”

This is an old, unrenovated urban area. The damp air at the bottom of the city condenses into sewage that drips from the edge of the highway ring road. Suger's gaze passes through the semi-transparent surveillance screen. Containers are piled up under the bridge, and homeless people live under the asbestos roof.

Between the capsule apartments and the agricultural greenhouse is a dental clinic, and behind the clinic, a glass door connects to an abandoned parking lot, which is the hideout of the watchers.

Several images appeared in my field of vision.

Suger saw several workshops in operation, with flyers scattered on the ground claiming to cure all diseases, and containers in the warehouse labeled with various raw materials: cyclosporine, antibiotics...

Several workers are sorting the processed traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicines.

"That's quite a large scale," Su Ge muttered.

Compared to Yue Guocheng's underground printing plant, this illegal drug factory employed at least dozens of people, and some of the patrol personnel were clearly carrying illegally armed cybernetic bodies.

“They’re all a rabble.” Shen Ke glanced at the dental clinic. “Times have changed. It’s not about having more people, it’s about having more power now.”

Times have changed. This statement made Suger feel alienated; he didn't belong to this era.

"why?"

“The fine division of labor is an outdated production method. It only brings inefficiency and additional communication and management costs.” She looked at the monitor in the picture. “The person who is monitoring you is a gangster from the bottom of society. He has no capital and no technology, so he uses such a bulky and outdated device. In fact, if you integrate his functions into an advanced brain-computer interface, you don’t even need a chip the size of a fingernail.”

She used the word "function" to describe a person as if he were a component.

"As for bodyguards and thugs," she said, her gaze sweeping over the patrolmen in the image, "as long as the computing power is sufficient, one person can control an army with their brain and computer."

"We live in an era of individualization," she concluded.

Individualization.

Suger suddenly remembered a history lesson from his high school days—the division of labor drives productivity, but modern society is now valuing individualization.

Are those deities the ultimate products of individualization? They appeared in the darkest period of human civilization, faded away in the age of science, and now they are bringing ignorance to humanity once again.

History is a cycle.

"Why are there so many workers employed here?" Sog asked in a low voice.

The scene inside the pharmaceutical factory easily evokes images of sweatshops in the 19th century. The workers are not wearing sterile suits, and lifeless lights shine on their exposed prosthetic bodies, making them look like walking corpses.

“It’s cheap,” she replied.

"I thought labor would be more expensive."

"Manual labor is certainly less efficient than machines, but that's on the premise that you're doing legal business. Legal, registered production machines are cheap, but they're also subject to many restrictions. To put it this way, Chiba Ryoko, printing this only costs 24,000 yen, but its legal status is dozens of times its actual value. If you want to use a robot for illegal production, the risks you take far outweigh your gains. Relatively speaking, hiring workers is much more cost-effective."

She looked at a worker in the picture, who was removing dust from the luminous sand, with crushed cosmos flowers scattered at his feet.

"They are all unregistered, cheap, and hardworking. For a few hundred yuan a month, you can buy them twenty hours of work a day. And they will obey you and be grateful that you gave them a job. They will never strike because your production is illegal."

"No one resisted?" he asked.

"Who?" she asked back.

“Them,” he said.

"Rebel against whom?" she asked again.

He opened his mouth, but said nothing more.

A playful smile curved her lips.

"Resist the unscrupulous boss, or resist the society that makes them lose their value?"

Suger felt a tightness in his chest. A drop of cold water hit his left cheek; it was sewage that had fallen from under the bridge. He looked up; tall buildings and a network of transportation filled his field of vision.

……

The rat scurried through flyers and medicine boxes, disappearing into the depths of the pharmaceutical factory. It leaped onto the white recycled board of the stairs, where the dark green wainscoting of the cement walls was mottled and cracked, adorned with several faded paintings. Near the lower end of the handrail, a painting depicted a copper scale weighing blood and bile; the next picture described the laws of transformation of earth, water, fire, and wind; and beyond that were portraits of famous doctors such as Li Shizhen and Chiron the centaur.

Noisy sounds came from the room at the end of the stairs. A mouse scurried through the crack in the door, avoiding the footsteps walking on the carpet, and disappeared under the three-meter-long oval table in the center of the room.

A green crocodile leather shoe fell from the sky, its life ending with a short scream and a few drops of blood spurting from its mouth and nose.

Qian Yun lifted his leather shoes, glanced disdainfully at the soles of his feet, and continued to fiddle with the round chips on the table.

In front of him was a gambling table with five gamblers around it, two of whom were holographic images of people participating in the game remotely.

Five cards were covered on the table. The first four were already face up. The dealer robot was handsome with long, strong fingers. He was turning over the fifth river card—an Ace of Clubs.

"Good luck." Qian Yun tossed out a pair of Aces, and the dealer robot scooped up the chips in the pool and placed them in front of him.

The bald man in position five said in a deep voice, "One more set of chips."

The woman next to him, wearing a black bodysuit, glanced at him with her prosthetic eye. "Do you still have cash?"

The bald man curled his lip and said, "I'll offer two hundred kilograms of Pulpentine, a newly released drug for treating neuralgia."

"Wow, where did you get this patented drug?" someone asked.

"Never mind that." The bald man looked at Qian Yun and changed the subject. "I heard you've been working on some big business lately?"

“It’s all small business.” Qian Yun squinted, lifted a corner of the two cards the dealer had just dealt, and then pressed them back down. The gambler to his left was a man with long pink hair, participating in the game using a holographic projection.

"I heard you almost lost your life," the pink-clad man said. "By the way, who was that guy?"

Everyone knew that the "person" he was referring to was the guy who killed the owner of the floating shop. Those present witnessed the devastation of the neighborhood; no one knew what happened that night, but one thing was certain: that guy was more dangerous than any military fugitive.

“He’s from out of town,” the woman said. “He was sent by the Lugu Group. Do you think he’s here for tourism or to steal our business?”

“Who still travels these days…” the bald man muttered as he placed his blind bet. “Business in Yingchuan isn’t so easy.”

“I’ve got someone keeping an eye on him.” Qian Yun placed a bet. “When you go to a place, you have to abide by its rules.” He watched the dealer turn over the first three cards and then discard his own. “There’s no need for someone to divide the cake here.” As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the bald man stand up, followed by the woman in the tight-fitting clothes and another old man in a black trench coat. They moved quickly and warily, as if dodging a venomous snake that had suddenly appeared.

Position number two should have belonged to the gambler who was participating in the game remotely. His holographic image had changed, and he was now wearing a red bean-colored suit with his hair combed back, looking meticulous—Su Xing.

He was supposed to take the hovercar to Chongming District, but his projection appeared here instead.

“I don’t seem to be very popular,” he said with a smile.

The pink man's holographic image disappeared, indicating that communication had been cut off.

The other three gamblers ignored the chips on the table and hastily made excuses to leave. They believed that even a powerful dragon couldn't suppress a local snake, and none of them wanted to cause trouble.

Qian Yun looked at the image of "Su Xing" and felt as if her body was filled with lead.

Su Ge and Qian Yun looked at each other. "Although we had only met for a few hours before, I originally thought we had a lot in common."

"Ah, yes, of course," Qian Yunqiang said with a smile. "Speaking of which, thanks to you for saving my life, I haven't even had a chance to thank you yet..."

"You're too kind." Su Ge smiled, his eyes sweeping over the poker cards on the table, finally settling on Qian Yun, who had almost bought up all the chips on the table. "Not bad luck, wanna play a round?"

"Uh, now?"

Qian Yun was a little confused about what the other party was thinking. As soon as he asked the question, Su Xing said, "Deal the cards."

The dealer, who should have been under Qian Yun's command, gathered the cards, quickly shuffled them, and dealt five cards.

When she dealt the last card to Qian Yun, Qian Yun saw her fair and delicate fingers, which had the texture of hydrogel artificial skin.

Qian Yun was startled and looked up following the croupier's hand. Beneath her short black hair was the face of a strange woman.

Ryoko Chiba.

Qian Yun suddenly stood up.

"What's wrong?" Su Xing asked.

Qian Yun paused for half a second, then slowly sat down and gave an awkward laugh.

"it's okay no problem."

Since the other party could send someone to his side without him noticing, they could easily take his life. At this point, tension and worry were useless.

But he was still distracted.

Before they knew it, the dealer had turned over the first three cards.

He suddenly remembered that neither he nor the other person had placed a bet.

But this idea seems superfluous; no matter how you look at it, the other party isn't really there to play cards.

He revealed a corner of his hand, showing a 10 and a King, both diamonds.

He paused for a moment, looking at the center of the gambling table. The community cards were J, Q, and A, all diamonds.

He got the highest possible royal flush by flipping over only three cards.

He was destined to win this game.

"Have we forgotten something?" Su Xing suddenly asked.

"what?"

"bet."

"Oh! Place your bet, place your bet."

“I don’t like being monitored,” Su Xing smiled. “But I also don’t like having my food stolen. How about this: if I lose, I guarantee that the Lugu Group won’t interfere with business in Yingchuan City. What do you think?”

Qian Yun was taken aback. It seemed that the other party did not intend to pursue the matter of his offense.

Before he could reply, Chiba Ryoko turned over the second card—a three of hearts.

Qian Yun hesitated for a moment, "What if you win?"

“I need someone who is familiar with the market,” Su Xing said, staring at Qian Yun.

Call?

"The croupier asked."

Her hand pressed down on the fifth card.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment; her fingers were gracefully curved, her skin was poreless and hairless, as exquisite as porcelain.

Qian Yun stared blankly at her thumb, which seemed ready to reveal the cards at any moment.

He didn't care about the river card result at all; he had already won regardless, but he wasn't happy at all. The allure of gambling lies in the game and the unpredictable wins and losses, but the outcome of this hand was irrelevant.

He was no longer gambling, but making a choice.

He didn't even have a choice; what the other party gave him wasn't an opportunity to choose, but merely a way out.

"I fold."

He leaned back, a deep sense of powerlessness enveloping him. Perhaps cooperating with the Deer Valley Group was a good thing, but the problem was that he had been forced to make this choice in a rush. He had lost the initiative, which also meant losing most of the benefits, and he began to regret his rash decision to send someone to monitor the other party.

“This is not the place to negotiate.” He spoke breathlessly, as if he had just gone through a struggle. “Give me some time, and I will show you my sincerity.”

"Then I'll wait for your sincerity."

Su Xing left behind these words with a profound meaning, and then his image disappeared.

A fair hand was extended in front of Qian Yun.

Qian Yun raised her hand to clasp his; the touch was soft and cool.

"You are a smart man."

Chiba Ryoko's deep green eyes swept across Qian Yun's neck like a dragonfly skimming the water before she released her grip and turned to leave.

Qian Yun watched her retreating figure until the door was completely closed before slumping into a chair, only to find himself covered in cold sweat.

(End of this chapter)