Legend of the Cyber Heroes-Chapter 73 - Memory

73: Chapter 73: Memory

73 -73: Memory

“I” stood in front of the window, gently pulling open a crack.

Although it was already evening outside, the air remained scorchingly hot.

It was almost as if it could burn my face.

Even after living here for seven years, I still wasn’t accustomed to the tropical climate…

This place seemed to be a detached villa, and right in front of “me” was a huge lawn, nearly big enough to hold a soccer match between two teams.

It appeared there were no other buildings around.

“I” seemed to be just gazing into the distance—beyond a cluster of trees, there was a massive white structure.

It looked like a giant… tent?

Someone poked “my” back from behind.

A girl… She seemed young, with over-ear headphones around her neck and large black-framed glasses that made her appear somewhat cute.

She wore a white off-shoulder blouse and a green jacket over it.

She whispered, “We’re off the radar now.

For the next hour, you can do whatever you want.

The outside monitors will just think we’re having a noisy gathering here.”

“I” nodded, hugged the girl, and whispered in her ear, “I can’t thank you enough.”

The girl pushed “me” lightly, not too hard, but her expression seemed not quite satisfied, “Listen, I agreed to help you because I trust you, but you better give me an explanation later… What is it that’s worth the risk of being pursued by every country in the world?”

“Hmm,” “I” shrugged, “To change the world, you gotta take some risks.”

The girl kicked “me.”

It didn’t hurt; instead, it was somewhat pleasing.

The girl said, “We’re short on time.

Whatever you need to do, go and do it quickly.”

“I” nodded, tightened the coat around me, and adjusted the hood on my head.

This seemed to be a costume party.

In front of “me” was a crowd of friends in bizarre attire—all carefully selected.

Perhaps we really could…

“You might want to think twice about that,” a somber voice came from behind “me.”

“I” turned around and saw a young man with pale skin wearing a black helmet.

“Honestly, I’m having second thoughts,” the man said in a low voice, “And the basis of all your speeches later will be built on my data.

I can still back out now, right?”

“Hey!

That’s not what we agreed on, ‘Supreme Lord,'” “I” said in a low voice, “The salvation of humanity hinges on this, why are you backing out now?”

“I don’t particularly like humans anyway,” the “Black Warrior” sighed heavily, “I don’t believe your ideas will work at all.”

“I” laughed, “What, are you stepping out to compete with me on ideas?”

The young man hesitated, then shook his head, “I’ve never thought that you…

never mind.

Consider those data a gift to your ideals.”

“It’s all about perseverance, lighting a single lamp.” “I” turned back, waved my hand, and shouted, “From now on, Nichts ist wahr, Alles ist erlaubt!” [German: Nothing is true, everything is permitted.]

Several whistles sounded in response.

“Wow, Director, are you also going to fall to the dark side of The Force?”

“What a look!

This outfit is clearly that of the Brotherhood—though, Director, you’re such a straight-laced guy, I thought you’d lean towards the Sanctuary Knights!”

“I” stepped into the center of the room, knocked on the wall, “Everyone, eat, drink, and be merry.

As for me, I have an announcement.

Due to personnel changes, I will be stepping down from all my positions at the United Nations University Institute for Civilization Studies later this year and returning to Beiping.”

The sounds of revelry gradually subsided.

“I owe a debt of gratitude to all of you for the honor of serving as Director here.

Honestly, I’ve only played a coordinating role and made some minor contributions during my tenure.

But in this final moment, I still want to take this opportunity to do something big…

”

………………………………………

It was like lightning racing through my nerves.

Xiang Shan abruptly pulled out his interface.

Pain.

Such pain.

My head was in so much pain.

This was Xiang Shan’s first time experiencing this sensation…

No, perhaps not the first time, maybe just recently…

He got up from the ground, trembling.

He didn’t know when he had lost control of his body and ended up lying on the floor.

“What the hell is going on…” Xiang Shan’s hands and feet were shaking.

This wasn’t the aftermath of recent spinal nerve surgery but rather due to his own emotional instability and the excessive activity in his brain.

He hallucinated that a fire was burning inside him.

“What happened?

Why am I having these hallucinations?”

Xiang Shan shook his head.

The files on this hard drive were in a format “unreadable” to a computer.

They were the transformation of memories from the brain into a binary structure and stored away.

Due to the vast difference between the human brain and computers, computers couldn’t directly read this format of files; they could only be inputted in reverse into the brain to evoke sensory experiences.

Such files were nearly impossible to contain malicious code.

Xiang Shan carefully checked and found that there were only memory files, and then he began to read them.

The first file he started to review was the one according to browsing history that Little Poison Insect had recently been reading.

Then, he felt something…

something…

This force of ignorance emerged so abruptly that he was ejected from the state directly.

“Why…

whose memory is this?”

Xiang Shan’s right hand groped on the ground, grabbing the hard drive again.

And his left hand couldn’t help but move to his cheek, caressing it with the back of his hand.

— This Prosthetic Eye…

Is this a sensory BUG…

— This is…

Trembling, Xiang Shan dived back into the memory he had just been experiencing.

Noise.

What happened next seemed as if someone had intentionally erased it; only a lot of static, noise remained.

Xiang Shan tore off the connecting cable, then angrily smashed the closest host computer.

Why…

why why why why…

“Calm down…

calm down.

The next memory might be about some core technology…

Demon Sect also wouldn’t want those lawless Green Forest people to see it.

Maybe it’s some kind of price…”

“There must be more…

there must still be content…”

………………………………………

Sizzling…

Sizzling sizzling sizzling sizzling…

…

“I” spread my arms, facing the projector.

In the center of the image was a cell, a yeast.

“Above is the full content.” “I” turned my head: “This is the brightest light I’ve seen in my thirty years of life…”

“Stop being so melodramatic.” An angry voice came from behind.

“I” turned to see the girl from before glaring at me.

Not just her, but more than half of the people present had stood up, looking at him with either confusion or bewilderment.

“Dear comrade Vigette…” A dark-skinned woman was looking over “my” shoulder.

“I” knew the Brotherhood member was there, always standing a bit on the edge.

Her tone carried a hint of scorn: “Comrade Vigette, I really, really thought you were a die-hard proletarian, dreaming of a ‘free association of people.’ How did the Director persuade you to join hands in establishing a monopoly conglomerate?”

There was also a blond young man who pulled out his phone, saying, “Bro, this is big.

If you don’t give an explanation that people can accept, I’m going to have to report your actions to the higher-ups.”

“Why?

I’m just trying to invite everyone to change the world together…”

“Does changing the world mean becoming part of that idiotic order?” A bespectacled girl, extremely agitated, leaned in close to Xiang Shan’s face: “You haven’t been deceiving me all this time, have you?

About those things you’ve talked about before…”

“Easy there, dear.”

“I” pushed the girl back gently and shrugged: “I think you all have misunderstood my intentions.

I don’t want to be like those big companies, building barriers with patents and intellectual property – I really dislike that.

So, in my plan, we hold patents only to prevent others from holding that patent.

Trust me…”

“You plan to create an unprecedented monopoly organization!” Another person shouted angrily: “We are here for all of humanity!”

“Ah, yes, all of humanity.

Who here did not come for all of humanity?” “I” shrugged: “Unfortunately, in this fair society, in a fair market, the strong will fairly get stronger, and the weak will fairly get weaker.”

“A crucial fact is that, no matter how powerful the dissemination of knowledge, during the process of advancing human convergence, it could be crushed by strong conservative forces, leading to even greater inequality.

All of our research today will become the foundation of wealth for a few in the next thirty years – those people could be tycoons, bureaucrats, oligarchs, usurpers, anything.”

“This is the stigma that primate’s instinct to follow the alpha monkey has branded on us from ancient times.

As soon as there are more people, an ugly alpha monkey appears.”

“This crude rule has been sedimented in civilization for too long.

It twists into our language, entangles like ghosts in our culture and customs.

Every force on the spiritual level longs for this alpha monkey to appear.”

The woman questioning Black Warrior still had that tone of mockery: “So?

What’s your plan?”

“There must be a Lich King.” “I” said calmly: “Since the Undead of the Old Era linger and show no signs of fading away…

let’s try to play by its rules, control it, and then destroy it.”

“`