Cyber Era Witch-Chapter 34 - 22 Cleanup
34: Chapter 22: Cleanup
34 -22: Cleanup
Giant corporations were enviable and powerful presences, having strong control within their respective territories, with all other businesses depending on them for survival.
And rare technologies like Digital Mind were only in the possession of these giant corporations.
Even if other ordinary businesses managed to steal such technologies, they would find it difficult to use them, as they wouldn’t have access to the matching skill profiles.
Without these, they couldn’t implant the necessary knowledge into their employees’ minds, making such technological barriers almost insurmountable.
Xu Yang was the same; he not only owned Digital Mind but also had neural training ingrained in his brain, coupled with years of work experience.
It was the combination of these three factors that constituted his level as a neural hacker.
This was also why employees of giant corporations could produce such a dimension-reducing effect on the outside world; they outperformed amateur enthusiasts and small company members at every level.
Kanako naturally understood the value of giant corporation members too.
She was very curious about why Xu Yang would give up such an advantageous environment to venture outside.
However, she was shy and didn’t dare to ask.
Farosa was still staring intently at the variety of intriguing goods inside the vending machine.
“Take a good look at the inventions of humans,” Xu Yang said.
“Humans haven’t lived in vain for the past thousand years.”
“You still have to pay for the machines here.” Kanako turned towards other vending machines nearby, which sold assorted items.
“I can’t be bothered anymore,” Xu Yang took out his cash card.
“I’ll transfer some money to you, and you can swipe it.”
“Oh?” Kanako took out a blank cash card from her large bag.
Xu Yang transferred 5,000 to her, which once again amazed her.
“This much?”
“Five thousand is small change for me, and for you too, right?”
“It would have been small change for the me of a long time ago.
Now?
I’m capable of living for 10 months with 5,000 funds.”
“Then you don’t have to worry about food and clothing for the next 10 months.”
“I’ll pay you back when I make some money.”
“No need.”
Xu Yang had too much money.
One hundred million was not something that could be casually spent.
“You really are rich, very rich.” Kanako couldn’t help but repeat.
She hadn’t been able to save any money these past years.
The money she earned from playing games only went to her living expenses, and sometimes she even had to borrow, her cash card balance never exceeding 2,000.
Xu Yang giving her 5,000 truly made Kanako happy.
“Now I can buy whatever I want,” Kanako ran to the vending machine and began shopping excitedly.
“How long can you live on 5,000?
How much do you normally spend in a month?” Farosa observed Xu Yang.
“When I was with the company, life was free,” said Xu Yang.
“I didn’t have to pay anything for food, accommodation, or clothing.”
“Lucky,” Kanako summarized.
“But you spend your entire salary repaying debts, unable to own anything for yourself,” said Xu Yang.
“Under the corporatist system, the value you create all goes to the company.
You give so much and get back so little.
I can’t be a shameless person, consumed like a human battery, and still grateful to the company for not killing me.”
Kanako’s actions froze.
The mention of Xu Yang’s words brought back more complex memories for Kanako.
She had witnessed some of the things that happened in her mother’s company, which were strange.
Some people became so desperate that they jumped from buildings after being fired, some died before they could receive their pensions, and some, despite being smart and cultured, would become hysterical over the competition for a position.
In those towering skyscrapers, she saw people scurrying around like ants.
“Scary,” Kanako shook her head.
She took Farosa’s hand and they went to the restrooms in the mall together.
Along the way, it seemed like Kanako tidied herself up, and when she came back, she looked revitalized to Xu Yang.
Kanako used to be addicted to the internet and didn’t care for her appearance; now she had combed her hair and looked quite pretty.
Her features were sweet and cute, and her eyes much more expressive, giving off a happy vibe.
Now, Kanako looked young and pure, and in a few more years as she matured, she would surely be even more enticing.
In contrast, Farosa had simply washed her face.
“I want to take a bath,” said Farosa.
“There’s no hot water here,” Xu Yang scanned the building’s structural plan.
The mall wasn’t a place for baths; the members of the Toshiaki Family Group would likely go back to their own homes to bathe or maybe to a hotel.
This place was for business and sales.
“I must cleanse my elegant body,” Farosa said.
“The filth and stench that I’ve endured along the way has become unbearable, especially the ‘restroom’ we just visited.”
“You were just praising it,” Kanako said.
“Because it has ‘toilet paper’, a marvelously convenient item,” said Farosa.
“Actually, this place is not bad, better than many internet cafes,” Kanako said.
Just as Xu Yang was about to say something, he felt a wave of dizziness.
He pressed his hand against his head; clearly, his unrepaired cerebral implants were again damaging his health.
He felt the world spinning and could barely stand upright.
Farosa helped Xu Yang to sit on the ground, he closed his eyes and took deep breaths.
The feeling was incredibly annoying; it was as if a thousand computers were booting up in his head at the same time, overwhelming him.
“Must…” Xu Yang panted heavily, “must find a prosthetics clinic.”
“Your implant isn’t fully repaired?” Kanako asked.
“Only a tiny bit,” Xu Yang sat on the ground, feeling the pain of needle pricks all over, as if electric sparks were traveling through his body, torturing every vessel, threatening to tear them apart completely.
The sound of jet propulsion drew closer as cleaning robots shuttled back and forth near them, their mops cleaning away bloodstains, grime, and spent casings from everywhere.
Not far away, one corpse after another was lifted by their mechanical arms and loaded into the large bins behind them, their movements efficient and skilled, as if they had been pre-programmed for the job of clearing corpses.
“Our cleaning, your smile!” The cleaning robots continued to broadcast such messages while working, sounding incredibly cheerful.
The electronic buzz filled the big market, making Xu Yang even more uncomfortable.
“Those large bins are filled with dead and stagnant dreams,” Farosa looked at their corpse-collecting bins.
“But ours still need to flow,” Xu Yang looked towards the shelves outside.
There were a variety of robots designed to assist people in every aspect of their lives, but now, with Xu Yang’s implant issue in disarray, neither repair robots nor medical robots could be of help.
Find a prosthesis doctor…
Xu Yang felt utterly exhausted.
Only professional prosthesis doctors could help, Xu Yang thought to himself.
They were battle-tested and had seen it all. free𝑤ebnovel.com
In this chaotic world, there wasn’t an implant they hadn’t fixed before.
“Quick,” Xu Yang looked at Kanako, “lend me your phone so I can check if there’s a prosthetics clinic nearby.”
“Phones are very private,” Kanako shook her head vigorously, “Uncle, where’s your own phone?”
“I threw it out of the window when I was crossing the sea on the shuttle machine.” Keeping the phone would only get me tracked.
“So you can personally attest that a modern person can live healthily without a phone,” Kanako suddenly thought of something amusing.
“Do I look healthy to you?
Hurry up.”
“What kind of idiot would give their phone to someone else to look at?” Kanako held on tightly to her own phone, not wanting to hand it over casually.
“And what kind of idiot would carry a 10-kilogram bag everywhere they go?”
“These are all my treasures.”
Xu Yang suspected his dizziness was due to not having cleared the cache.
His current “Digital Mind” was truly primitive in functionality.
After the hand prosthesis repair, it only restored some of the interface, providing basic functions.
His brain prosthesis was tied to more core processors and memory space, which were still damaged.
The previous hacking had left behind some data fragments that could affect his brain’s operation if not carefully cleaned out.
However, this was only a temporary solution, and the best course of action was to find a prosthesis doctor for a comprehensive repair.
“Now is not the time for nonsense, help me find those prosthetics clinics nearby,” Xu Yang said.
“…There is one still open,” Kanako stared at her phone screen, “Hey, there’s a video in the latest notification, I wonder what they recorded.”
A video?
“Put it on the ground, let’s watch,” Xu Yang said.
Kanako laid her phone flat on the ground, an old model from Modern Entertainment Company called “Thunder 10,” which was no longer in vogue.
She tapped the play button.
The video file started, and Xu Yang saw a middle-aged man with glasses, disheveled hair, and a tired face looking awful, as if he held disdain for everything around him yet also seemed to harbor an urgent grudge.
The surroundings were dim, filled with parts, scrap material, and secondhand furniture.
Next to him stood a “Phantom” in a hooded cloak, face completely obscured and body wrapped in a thick cloak, likely highly modified and not wanting to expose his twisted form.
“Hey, if you’re watching this video, ‘Old Cui’s Prosthetic Clinic’ is closing down.” Xu Yang saw the middle-aged man reach out as if to support the recording device while furiously pointing outdoors, “I’m about to die!
My shop and I are finished, and by the time you’re watching this video, I’ll probably have been eaten by rats.”
The video switched to show the entrance to the basement.
Thud—thud—thud— The continuous knocking sounds began.
“Ratman!” Kanako frowned deeply.
“Before I die, I want to tell you the truth!” the middle-aged man shouted at the screen, “I’ll upload this video to the bulletin board so you can see it.
The world is rotten to the core, all thanks to the companies, torturing everyone!
If we want to survive, to really live decently and freely, we must clean up all the companies!
That’s the only way out, I’m a genius, so you don’t have to listen to how I specifically argue this point, you just need to know I’m right!”
Xu Yang saw that there was still two-thirds of the video left, feeling there was no time to finish watching before going to help.
He noted the video had been uploaded just five minutes ago; probably there was still a chance to save the two of them.
Compared to the middle-aged man, the “Phantom” beside him was engrossed in his work, completely ignoring him, as if he didn’t care at all that they both would be eaten by rats,
“That’s right!” the middle-aged man continued to yell, “The companies are running the ‘Giant Tower Project,’ it’s a fact!
An indisputable fact!
All the rumors about the ‘Giant Tower Project’ are true.
Damn the ‘Giant Tower Project,’ hey, it’s the first time I’m saying these words so loudly…
”
Xu Yang’s heart skipped a beat.
“Ignore him,” Xu Yang stood up abruptly, “Turn off the video.”
“They are being attacked by Ratman, you know,” Farosa said, “And didn’t you say you were in desperate need of repairs?”
The Giant Tower Project.
Xu Yang had been warned about several principles by his teacher on the first day of school at the Corporate Alliance.
—”Dear Corporate children, the ‘Giant Tower Project’ absolutely does not exist.”
“In the future, if you hear someone advocating or discussing it, please immediately record their appearance, name, and image by all means possible and send it to the special disposal department of the Corporate Alliance.
Then wait where you are.
Personnel will arrive within 3 minutes to perform memory erasure.
This service will not damage your health, please rest assured.”
“You must stay away from anyone talking about the ‘Giant Tower Project,’ never make any contact with them.
If contact is made, send your own appearance, name, and image to the special disposal department of the Corporate Alliance.”
“If anyone claims the ‘Giant Tower Project’ exists, they are lying, and liars are not to be trusted.”
The education he received as a child surged up in his heart, urging Xu Yang to flee from the madness on the screen.
