Cyber ​​Ghost Record

Chapter 75, Section 74: Negotiation
The hotel was shrouded in shadow.

The door opened, the lights came on, and a beach-themed landscape was projected onto the wall. Suger walked into the suite, unbuttoned his collar, tossed his holster onto the sofa, and collapsed into it.

He thought he would have a direct confrontation with the spy, but he managed to intimidate the target without bloodshed.

"It went more smoothly than expected."

"Just a few thugs," Shen Ke said casually.

Suger gave a mumbled "hmm." The tide receded from the beach, and sunlight reflected off the seashells on the fine sand.

He saw the sand moving slightly, and something was hidden at the bottom.

His body tensed, a mixture of fear and anticipation welling up inside him.

What else is hidden in the shadows?
rustling...

A hermit crab emerges from the ground.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but a sense of disappointment filled his heart, and the image of the general flashed through his mind.

“If it’s not thugs…” he said in a low voice, “what if it’s digital life forms monitoring me?”

“My ascension was very hasty. Moreover, I can hardly use any of my ‘cousins’ anymore,” Shen Ke said.

Su Ge nodded, still looking at the beach in the wall screen. Shen Ke had made it very clear that he couldn't rely on her too much.

“Actually, you can handle it, it’s just that you don’t know how to use your abilities.” Shen Ke looked at Su Ge’s forehead. “However, your illness is very troublesome. I also had the levitation syndrome, but my symptoms were much milder than yours. Or rather, the rate at which your condition is deteriorating is completely abnormal. It is supposed to be a chronic disease, but in your case, it has almost become an acute illness.”

Su Ge subconsciously reached for the medicine box, but then realized that he was not having an attack, so he withdrew his hand and looked at Shen Ke.

Are there any cases similar to mine?

"Perhaps it's because of your body. Your body comes from two centuries ago. People now... I'm talking about most citizens. They've undergone many generations of genetic optimization and embryonic biological modification. Their brains are more adapted to external neural data, and they've reserved space for brain-computer interfaces. Their skulls won't close until adulthood..."

She paused here.

"But these shouldn't be the main reasons."

"What is it?" he asked.

"The physical body cannot withstand supernatural powers." Her words were mixed with the sound of the sea breeze.

The hermit crab abandoned its old home and crawled into the huge remains of a nautilus.

Concepts flooded Socrates' mind: consciousness uploading, ascension, digital life...

……

The wall projection switched to meditation mode. Su Ge sat on the carpet, and the speakers played Buddhist verses at 50 decibels. Faint moonlight was projected into the dark, boundless void.

The forty-minute meditation session was coming to an end, and sand flew up from the body of the glass doll.

Suger opened his eyes, and the darkness of the wall curtain faded away.

The clock appeared; it was 3:24 PM.

He got up and stretched, carefully considering his words. His mental fog often left him with a jumbled mind; only after practicing meditation could he calm his head.

He sent a contact request to Yang Guan, and soon, the investigator's bust appeared on the wall.

"The progress is going well; the target has contacted me on his own initiative."

“I thought he would hold back for a few days.” Yang Guan frowned in surprise. “He took the bait so easily, I feel like there’s a trap.” “It wasn’t all smooth sailing, there were some minor frictions. But things were resolved.” Su Ge smiled, observing Yang Guan’s reaction, while forwarding an email. “He asked me to meet him tomorrow at an underground bar.”

After saying that, he paused for two seconds to make sure Yang Guan wasn't paying attention to the so-called "minor friction," then immediately changed the subject: "By the way, I have some questions..."

"Are you in trouble?"

“Identities can be faked, but since I’m impersonating someone from the Deer Valley Group, I’m worried that without real benefits, I won’t be able to truly impress my target.” As he said this, Su Ge glanced at the empty seat on the sofa. The chaotic underground market has no legal protection; trust is built through gradual testing. For black market dealers, cooperation often begins with a contractual transaction.

Yang Guan paused for a moment, then said, "You don't really want to get involved in smuggling with those drug dealers, do you?"

Suger said calmly, "My identity was arranged by you."

"Just kidding." Yang Guan chuckled, but his eyes held a subtle glint in them.

Suger couldn't help but think of the underground printing plant. He understood that now that the Security Bureau knew about the Gu Diao, he, as the informant, would also be suspected. Who knew that while he was investigating the Spiritual Society, someone might also be investigating him?
“I used to have an informant, or rather… a colleague. He was originally an investigator, but his brain was invaded by demons, causing irreversible damage to his nervous system.” Yang Guan pointed to his temple. “As a result, he definitely couldn’t continue as an investigator, but he was very experienced, so he continued to work for the National Security Bureau. He went to Southeast Asia and went undercover in a cult.”

"and after?"

"I saw him again four years later. By then he had been arrested and sentenced to more than 1,200 years in prison. He became the leader of that organization, nicknamed the Cannibal Buddha, and had more than a hundred lives on his hands."

Suger raised an eyebrow.

“The work of an informant is dangerous.” Yang Guan said solemnly, “Most dangers come from the outside world. If you are careful enough and lucky enough, you can avoid them. But there is one kind of danger that no one can avoid, because that kind of danger is hidden in your own heart.”

……

Viper Bar, No. 1302, Guangfu Street, Yingchuan City, where neon lights dance on skin and metallic plating.

The sex doll twisted its waist, its lip gloss gleaming with a glassy sheen, and when it bent over, the cleavage of its chest was unfathomably deep.

She set down the tray, and six bottles of traditional fish bladder-filtered beer were opened on the velvet.

Qian Yun stood with his arms crossed, the leather seat beneath him salvaged from an antique luxury car decades old. His thirteen most trusted henchmen were gathered in the room. They had been selling pills and digital drugs in the black market bar and peddling illegal prosthetics at the dental clinic for years, but change was on the horizon.

The dentist to Qian Yun's left wore a black suit, had a buzz cut, and wore black-rimmed glasses. He was so thin that you could almost see his cheekbones beneath his bronze skin. In Yingchuan's underworld, "dentist" was never a term exclusively for oral surgeons; rather, it was a euphemism for illegal prosthetic doctors.

"The underground market in Yingchuan has always been chaotic. It's not that no company has tried to enter, but none of them have succeeded."

“The Deer Valley Group is very powerful.” Qian Yun took a puff of his hand-rolled cigarette, the smell of marijuana swirling in the smoke. “Their psychotropic drugs are sold all over the world. Mexico, Somalia, Argentina… their bio-modified hospitals are everywhere.”

"Perhaps it's not a matter of money," the dentist said hesitantly.

The bald-headed man next to him said, "Some people will be envious. There are many people doing smuggling in Yingchuan."

"This is an opportunity. If we succeed, we can all become legitimate business people." Qian Yun exhaled a cloud of smoke. "Do you want to stay in the gutter like rats forever?"

Suddenly, chaotic footsteps, clattering, and screams came from outside the door. Everyone looked at each other in surprise. At the doorway, two modified individuals pulled out pistols.

With a bang, the door was kicked open, and the air from outside rushed into the private room along with the deafening music.

Everyone stood up, except for Qian Yun, who remained seated, squinting his eyes.

Under the chaotic lights, a dark mass of figures blocked the exit, carrying crowbars and electromagnetic pulse batons.

The leader of the modified beings had a full head of white hair and an arrogant smile.

"Mr. Qian, I heard you recently landed a big deal?"

(End of this chapter)