Cyber ​​Ghost Record

Chapter 83, Part 82: Qian Yun
The gunshot was swallowed by the sound of rain, and the figure disappeared into the night.

Su Ge remained standing still. Raindrops slid down his body, leaving the Gu Diao untouched, while his face and hair were soaked.

“He found you,” Shen Ke said.

"When?" Sog asked.

"When you left the bar?" Shen Ke shrugged her right shoulder. "Or even earlier."

Socrates remained silent. He turned to look at the floating car by the artificial river, its windows flashing lights—it was just a decoy.

“It seems your friend doesn’t want to see you,” Shen Ke said.

“He doesn’t know who I am; he might mistake me for an enemy.”

Su Ge was speaking to himself; uttering the word "enemy" filled his sense of loss with a feeling of shared hatred. This also made logical sense; Jiang Ning must have also encountered attacks from demons and monsters, so he had no reason not to be vigilant.

We have a common enemy, he thought.

"Maybe he's not what you think."

A voice floated amidst the noisy rain, seemingly hers, yet also his own innermost thoughts.

"Are you really that close to him? Do you really understand him?"

"We are people of the same era."

"You actually know almost nothing about him; all you know is his public identity: Jiang Ning, a futures trader. But he definitely has other secrets, just like you. The fake identity you used during hibernation was Su Ge. After graduating from university, you started your own software company and went into hibernation due to pancreatic cancer. But in reality, you are not Su Ge."

“I am not Sog.” That was beyond doubt, Sog thought. “I am…”

Thinking of this, his mind went blank. "Suge" was the name he used during hibernation, a false identity fabricated for him by the organization; he should also have a "real name."

He hadn't considered this question, nor had he realized anything was amiss. Now he discovered that he had forgotten his real name, but remembered his alias perfectly.

“You don’t even understand yourself. You don’t know what your mission is, and you don’t know what the organization is going to do. You found out about the Spiritual Society, but you think you can find out about the organization? To be honest, you want to find the organization, but you don’t want the organization to be associated with that cult.”

Suger stood at the alley entrance, letting the raindrops hit his eyes. For a moment, his eyes looked somewhat lost.

But he quickly wiped his face vigorously, shaking off the rain.

"We'll have to find out more before we know." With that, he turned and left.

"Where to now?" Shen Ke asked.

“Insulation,” he said.

Ten minutes later, the insulated bar.

Suger walked through the glass door again, this time with a different mask and dry clothes, like a belated guest.

The blue recycled board floor was spotless, but the bar remained quiet. These days, few people venture out; brick-and-mortar businesses are more of a sentimental endeavor, especially with tonight's terrible weather. The only two patrons at the edge of the bar weren't real people; they sat in their seats, changing their drinks multiple times, discussing a topic pre-programmed into their database.

On the dance floor, the dancer, now in a white dress, continued to dance as if nothing had happened. The bartender fiddled with a machine, feeding the chips containing the digital alcohol and drugs into it for simulation testing. After passing the security test, he categorized and placed them in cabinets.

"They've changed people." Shen Ke sized up the bartender.

"What do you mean?" Sog didn't notice any change in the bartender.

“It has a different personality now,” Shen Ke said. “You probably won’t get any information from it; it’s not the same person it was before.”

Suger then realized that the bartender was a robot. He hesitated for a moment, then walked to the bar and ordered a drink—a blend of sorghum liquor and pomegranate juice. He took a few sips and asked the bartender for directions to the restroom. In fact, he had already seen the signpost; the restroom was in the same direction as the previous holographic corridor.

He put down his glass and entered the corridor. To his surprise, the security guard was nowhere to be seen. Without making a sound, he walked to the original entrance, reached out and pressed a button, only to touch a cold wall.

The door is closed.

He resisted the urge to knock on the wall, went to the toilet to urinate, returned to the bar, picked up his drink, downed it in one gulp, and left the bar.

When I returned to the suite at the Yunbo Hotel, the rain had stopped, and the sky clock showed 11 p.m.

Suger removed his exoskeleton and entered the bathroom. High-frequency vibrating steam swept over his body, and in a dozen seconds, he completed his waterless shower.

He left the bathroom and put on a silk robe. The rain tonight had given him a slight headache. He sat down on the sofa and lit a suppressant.

The screen switched to meditation mode, the silence comparable to a silent laboratory from the old days; he could hear the burning of cigarette butts and his own heartbeat. As he analyzed the night's events and pondered how to write his investigation report, a notification box appeared on the screen; he had received a communication request.

It's Qian Yun.

Just as Suger was about to answer the call, he hesitated for a moment, then lowered the sofa, sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed, and finally accepted the call.

The wall screen displayed a half-length portrait of Qian Yun, and at the same time, Qian Yun also saw Su Ge meditating.

"I'm sorry to disturb your meditation, Mr. Su."

“It’s alright,” Suger smiled. “I’ve only just begun.”

"That's good, that's good." Qian Yun paused. "How was President Su feeling tonight?"

"How does it feel?" Soger asked deliberately.

Qian Yun was taken aback. "President Su, you didn't attend the gathering tonight?"

“He’s gone.” Su Ge was slightly relieved. Judging from Qian Yun’s reaction, even though his actions had aroused Jiang Ning’s vigilance, not much news had leaked out.

"Then you must have seen the market potential I mentioned." Qian Yun was relieved and said confidently, "I dare say that in the whole country, or even in the whole of East Asia, only the people of Yingchuan City are not so superstitious about prosthetic body modification."

Su Ge nodded calmly. Seeing Su Ge's approval, Qian Yun smiled.

"Do you know how many offline members the Spiritual Society has in Yingchuan City, Mr. Su?"

“Thirty thousand,” Su Ge said.

“That’s right, 30,000. At least 30,000 people believe that bio-engineering technology can free them from suffering. So let’s see how much it costs to get rid of suffering. If a modifier wants to give up a prosthetic limb, in the Yingchuan black market, he can get a bio-arm with gorilla muscles transplanted for 34,000. If he wants to remove his prosthetic eye? He’ll need at least 20,000 to replace it with a pair of ordinary eyes. If he wants to have super color vision like a butterfly, the price will be at least ten times higher. If he feels his body structure is too fragile, he can get a bionic shrew spine, starting at 80,000…”

Qian Yunli fluently reported the market prices for bio-modified products on the black market.

“This is a market with a potential demand of tens of billions, and this is just the market in Yingchuan.” He slowed his speech. “People don’t understand or trust bio-engineering technology yet. If we take Yingchuan as a starting point and let the world see its advantages, then Lugu Group will become a pioneer in changing the world.”

Qian Yun was clearly exaggerating, but Su Ge wasn't there to do business anyway, so he nodded approvingly.

"This is indeed the group's strategic direction."

“I admire your vision, Mr. Su.” Qian Yun paused. “Then, shall we discuss something further…”

“Of course.” Su Ge smiled slightly. “Let’s arrange it a week from now, next Thursday, and I’ll be the host. I saw your association’s leader, that sage, tonight. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen such a perfect bio-modified human. I’ll have to trouble Mr. Qian to invite him over. Since both our group and your association have a strong desire to cooperate, I hope we can reach an agreement quickly.”

Qian Yun did not agree immediately, but hesitated for a moment.

"What's wrong? Is there something inconvenient?" Sug asked.

"No," Qian Yun said with a smile, "Then it's a date, next week."

……

Communication ends.

On the second floor of the illegal pharmaceutical factory, Qian Yun peered through the glass at the busy employees below. The smell of herbs in the factory was stronger than a few days ago. Due to a shortage of raw materials, two of the pharmaceutical printers had stopped working. The employees were processing a batch of rhubarb and ginger extracts rapidly grown in the underground greenhouse, adding binders and starch paste to make tablets, which were also best-selling anti-immune drugs.

Qian Yun was a conscientious businessman. These herbs did indeed suppress the immune system, albeit very mildly, but at least he didn't sell pure starch tablets for profit. There's an unbreakable rule in the underground black market—anything that hasn't been proven false can be believed. In the drug smuggling market, this rule manifests as—as long as people believe the pills they swallow are effective, they'll sell well.

"How did the talks go?" The thin dentist walked up behind Qian Yun. "Things don't seem to be going well?"

“He wants to talk to the sage,” Qian Yun said.

“The Supreme Person?” the dentist said. “That’s a bit difficult. We don’t have his contact information, and he’s never shown his face. There seems to be no precedent for getting the Supreme Person to come forward to discuss business.”

"Then let's set this precedent."

“It’s not that simple,” the dentist said. “There are gods watching over us. Why? Because they allow spirits to exist. It’s a delicate matter. If you break the balance, you might… die a horrible death.”

Qian Yun glanced back at his men.

That's not what you meant.

The dentist was silent for a few seconds.

"The raw materials for the drugs are all out of stock now, and someone doesn't want you to continue."

"This isn't the first time someone's tried to mess with me," Qian Yun scoffed. "I've never backed down, that's why I've gotten this far."

"Many people can't get their medication anymore," the dentist said.

"It's all the fault of those few bastards who monopolize raw materials for pharmaceuticals."

“They’ll monopolize the raw materials for pharmaceuticals for a while, but nobody wants to push things too far,” the dentist said. “But if the Lugu Group moves in, many smuggling channels will really be cut off. Yingchuan City has 130,000 unregistered residents who don’t have citizenship. They can’t buy medicine through legal channels. You’re basically sending them to their deaths.”

“There will be middlemen involved,” Qian Yun said.

The dentist expressed his opposition by remaining silent.

His reaction enraged Qian Yun, whose face flushed red and who clenched his fists.

He turned his head and took a deep breath.

“When I was young, I was very arrogant. I was top of my class in every subject at the nursing home. In my future vision, I was almost guaranteed to be promoted to the highest rank, or even ascend to heaven.”

His tone, however, was very calm.

“When I was thirteen, I was diagnosed with a congenital immunodeficiency, and all my prospects were shattered. I didn’t lose heart then; I ran away from the nursing home, thinking I could make a name for myself. But I was wrong. At fourteen, I sold my citizenship and became an undocumented person. And I was cheated; I only got three thousand dollars for selling my identity.”

"Later, I tested new drugs for prosthetic dealers. I sold drugs on the streets. I was often robbed and also robbed others. I have an immune deficiency, but I still had many prosthetics implanted. I had no choice; this was the only way I could survive. My immune response was very severe, but I often couldn't even get the medicine. I attempted suicide several times. Later, I simply had most of my pain receptors removed."

“I went through that, I know that kind of pain.”

“I always thought you started the pharmaceutical company so that more people could have access to medicine,” the dentist said. “That’s what you used to tell me.”

“That’s what I thought before.”

“I used to be a target at a hunting club. You know hunting clubs, right? They play games where they hunt real people.”

"know."

“Those club players shot at me, although most of the shots hit my cybernetic body and I was rarely really injured, but I still felt uncomfortable because they didn’t treat me like a human being at all. Of course, I volunteered to do that kind of work because I didn’t consider myself a human being either.”

“Remember two months ago? The Security Bureau was doing a routine sweep, and a few investigators came over. The way they looked at us was the same way the hunters from the club looked at me back then. We’re undocumented. You think being undocumented just means you don’t have human rights? You’re wrong. Undocumented people aren’t even human.”

Qian Yun turned and stared at the dentist.

“Before, I just wanted to live; this time, I want to live like a human being.”

(End of this chapter)