Cyber ​​Ghost Record

Chapter 82, Part 81: Warning

"Then what does it eat?"

Socrates asked the woman.

The woman paused for two seconds.

"Algae?" Her tone was uncertain. Apart from a few dark green Anubias, there were no other plants in the fish tank. The glass and water were very clear, and no algae could be seen.

“Or turtle droppings,” she added.

“It’s normal for fish to eat insects,” Su Ge said.

“So, it’s gone.” The woman examined the remnants floating around the alligator snapping turtle’s mouth. “But you’re right, it’s its nature.” She spoke the word “nature” subtly, then walked toward Suger. “And what about you? Are you suppressing your nature?”

“Me?” Soger didn’t know how to answer. “I’m not used to, uh, this kind of…” He glanced at the venue behind him.

"You just haven't found someone you like." Her light voice sounded like she was in her early twenties.

"And you?" Sog asked tentatively.

“Me?” She chuckled, moved closer to Suger, and reached out to stroke his face. “I found it.”

Suger took a half step back and grasped her wrist.

She wasn't as crazy as the others. As Su Ge gripped her wrist, she simply looked him over and said, "I've never seen you before."

"Do you know everyone here?" Suger asked.

“How could that be?” she whispered. “I mean, if I had seen you, I would have remembered you.” As she spoke, she touched Suger’s chest again. “You are very attractive.”

Suger was captivated by the mesmerizing gaze behind her golden holographic mask. He averted his eyes, catching a glimpse of the faint blue veins beneath the fair skin of her neck. Her cybernetic enhancement wasn't extensive, and the life force emanating from her body heat gave Suger a sense of familiarity.

A glimmer of light caught Suger's eye; the light source was coming from her neckline.

He thought it was a pendant, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was a tattoo the size of a thumb.

The tattoo design is a sacred flame in a cup, the flame glowing yellowish-green, like a firefly shining on a summer night.

“It’s my lifeline.” She seemed to sense Socrates’ gaze. “I implanted firefly bioluminescent cells in it, so as long as I’m breathing oxygen, it won’t go out. Isn’t it beautiful?”

Fragmented memories surfaced in Suger's mind. He used to catch these insects often when he was a child, but even for him before hibernation, those memories were very distant.

“Very imaginative,” he said.

She smiled, and the corners of the holographic mask's mouth also turned up. "Can you see it clearly?"

"Can't see clearly."

"now what?"

She tiptoed and hooked her arms around his neck. Suger smelled the fragrance emanating from her hair and neck. He hesitated for a moment, then pulled her arms down.

Her hands froze for a moment, not expecting to be rejected. She took a step back, but then she smiled.

"You remind me of someone."

These words made Suger prick up his ears.

"who?"

“He looks a bit like you,” she said.

"What's his name?" Soger asked casually. "Maybe we actually know each other."

“You shouldn’t have asked me my name first,” she said.

"Um, what's your name?"

“I don’t have a name.” She paused for two seconds, Suger’s silence satisfying her subtle desire for revenge, and then she smiled. “Li, you can call me that too.”

Li sounds like a pseudonym. But Su Ge thought of the host's speech, and realized that many people in this era no longer take names.

"Su."

Suger simplified his name, then asked, "The person you're talking about..."

“I’ve only seen him before,” she said, “but I don’t know him.”

“Okay.” Su Ge reached for Jiang Ning’s photo in his pocket. He didn’t know the relationship between Jiang Ning and the Spirit Society, and this action might alert them, but he couldn’t let go of the opportunity before him. “Then take a look…”

Li, however, only stared at Su Ge and didn't even glance at Jiang Ning's photo.

"Your lover?"

"No."

Tonight, Suger truly experienced the differences between himself and modern people, at least in terms of sexual attitudes; his discomfort was quite evident. Deciding to blend in to avoid arousing suspicion, he changed his tune, saying, "But it's pretty much the same."

"Is that so?" Li smiled, then snuggled closer to Su Ge and whispered, "Give it to me... and I'll help you..."

"You haven't seen the photos yet."

As soon as Su Ge finished speaking, Li grabbed his hand and stuffed the photo back into his pocket. They were almost touching, and the Gu Diao made Su Ge feel her accelerated heartbeat, a heartbeat that seemed contagious, causing Su Ge's heart to race as well. This woman did not evoke any physical repulsion in him; his primal urges surged up again.

"We'll talk about that later... Right now, I just want to see you..."

Her voice was muffled as she unbuttoned Suger's shirt and kissed the outer layer of the Gu Diao. She wasn't actually touching Suger's skin, but the Gu Diao's tactile sensors were far more sensitive than skin; it could even detect the soft lines of her lips.

She kissed his neck, and he took a deep breath, lowering his voice: "Is this the trade-off?"

She only let out a soft hum from her nose, and the life lamp on her chest emitted a fluorescent glow.

Socrates turned his face away and saw the painting on the wall, depicting Mother of the Sea stepping on Shiva. The painting seemed to come alive, with black snakes constantly coiling and twisting on a white sandalwood tree.

Suddenly he saw Shen Ke's face. "Let's get this straight, I don't want to ruin your plans." Shen Ke was right behind Li, observing Su Ge and Li's flirting, her white eyebrows slightly raised. "But, the person you're looking for has appeared."

Suger jolted awake.

She was referring to Jiang Ning!
"where?"

He asked quickly.

Suger's unusual reaction only made Li hum again; she was already lost in a daze.

Almost at the same time that Su Ge asked the question, his left eye received the image sent by Shen Ke.

On the south side of the venue, a figure passed by a dining table and headed towards the exit. Various body parameters appeared beside him, and this person's physique was 97.4% similar to Jiang Ning's.

"How about we wait until you're done?"

Shen Ke curled her lips into a half-smile.

Suger pushed Li, but Li clung to him even tighter. He used some force, and Li staggered back two steps.

"Feel sorry."

"Sug said in a low voice, closed his black robe, and turned to leave."

Li stopped in her tracks, paused for a moment, and didn't press the matter. She watched Su Ge's figure disappear into the crowd, and after a while, she lowered her head and spread her arms. The blue light from the water tank reflected on her slender fingers, and the ceramic coating on the back of her hands and forearms was embossed with swirling arabesque patterns. These prosthetic hands were exquisite like works of art, but after all, they were not her original flesh and blood.

On the south side of the venue, Suger walked past the dining table and strode towards the exit.

In the insulated bar, in the corridor, two security guards brushed past each other.

Su Ge's figure emerged from the holographic wall. The Gu Diao activated its military mode, moving silently and perfectly positioned itself in the blind spot of the two. He followed a security guard closely. Reaching the end of the corridor, the guard was about to turn around when suddenly, a noise came from the dance floor. Turning around, he saw the robot dancer's body stiffen, seemingly malfunctioning.

Just as the security guard turned around, Suger quietly slipped out of the corridor from behind him.

“Impressive,” Su Ge said in a low voice. He took off his robe, and the hologram covering his face changed into a blue Tibetan opera mask inlaid with gold brocade.

Shen Ke shrugged and glanced casually out the glass door.

The glass door was closing, and not far away, a dark figure disappeared into the neon-lit rain.

Suger's heart had never raced so fast. The Gu Diao began operating at full power, and he almost instantly transformed into a black shadow, slipping through the last half-meter gap in the glass doors and leaving the bar. Rain poured down, blurring his vision with his naked eye, but the Gu Diao's multimedia sensors immediately constructed a clear image of his surroundings in his mind.

He "saw" the streetlights shining alone at the bottom of the slope.

Jiang Ning had vanished. For a moment, he felt his heart stop. Jiang Ning hadn't left quickly; logically, he should have been going downhill, but now he was nowhere to be seen.

"What about people?"

"Who knows? Maybe you alerted him."

"Can we find him, like we did with the pharmaceutical company last time?"

"Difficult. Last time it was just a thug, and he fell into a counter-tracking trap. The situation is different now, unless..."

"Unless what?"

“Unless I still have several thousand more followers,” she said. “Right now, I’m not powerful enough.”

Suger clenched his fist in frustration.

The next moment, he suddenly shook his head. In the parking lot not far away, a brown hovercar quietly rose up.

We haven't lost them yet!

He immediately gave chase.

The airship rose into the air, passed through the block, and at the end of the commercial plaza, the airship turned west.

He leaped from the edge of the street, traversing a drop of tens of meters, his hands and feet gripping the walls of the apartment building, and jumped onto the logistics platform.

The hovercar flew slowly, and the dark shadows below it resembled petrels darting through a storm.

Four minutes later, south of Xinwei Street, the hovercar slowly descended into the parking lot by Hefujing River.

Suger stopped at the alleyway between the buildings and saw the car door open in the distance.

No one got out of the vehicle. The hovercar sat alone in the torrential rain, its interior empty except for the flashing lights of the holographic news broadcast.

A strong sense of crisis welled up in his heart, and Suger felt a chill run down his spine. He turned around as if possessed.

The two tall buildings compressed the rainy night into a narrow slit.

At the edge of the narrow passage, hundreds of meters away, on the edge of the elevated plaza, a dark figure stood high above, his feet planted on the wire support structure under construction. He held a sniper rifle in his hand.

In this weather and at this distance, even the Gu Diao couldn't discern the other party's expression and movements, but Su Ge knew that the other party was looking at him.

He fired his gun.

Or rather, he fired the shot the instant Suger turned around.

Raindrops cascaded rapidly through the night, but compared to a bullet fired from a gun, they were almost motionless.

In less than two seconds, the scorching metal bullet shattered and vaporized countless slow-moving raindrops, striking the target.

A loud bang rang out, and the bricks at Suger's feet shattered.

In the distance, the figure holstered his gun and left.

Sug stared intently at the figure, never flinching. He wasn't intimidated; it was simply that the Gu Diao's ballistic analysis indicated the shot wasn't intended for murder—

This is just a warning.

(End of this chapter)