Chapter 390 Clutter in Thoughts (2-in-1)

Under the guidance of the monkey-faced eagle, Russell and Ringo arrived at their destination without flying for too long.

It was an ordinary-looking residential area, not too far from here.

In terms of the distance on the map alone, it is only less than four kilometers.

The difference is that the place where Chen Gong originally lived was on the top floor of a high-rise building, with a small single-family villa filled with sunlight.

The location given by the monkey-faced eagle is closer to the ground - specifically, the second floor.

Russell got off the float vehicle and subconsciously raised his head to look at the sky.

Although it was close to noon, there was almost no sunlight. The dark tall buildings rise from the ground, like giant swords, standing straight on the ground, giving people an undeniable and chilling atmosphere. The glimmers of light emerging from the gaps are more like wounds cut out of the night sky, oozing blood of light that should not appear in the dark night.

It was clearly daytime, but there were lights all around.

Not just the first floor of the ground floor, but every floor and every household.

In a corner that was as dark as the bottom of an abyss, it was noisy and crowded, like a busy city.

This is said to be a residential area, but it's more like a large shopping mall. The respective shops all open their doors to the outside. They occupy a small area and do not have any tasteful signboards. Instead, a flashing sign is highlighted - various signboards with different flashing frequencies are fixed at the entrances of these shops.

Due to lack of space, some signs are even inserted directly in the middle of two stores. The signboard is divided into two horizontally, with "Meatballs in Sour Soup↑" written on the top and "Foot Bath Massage→" written below.

The closed doors interspersed among the shops are the houses where civilians live.

In fact, those shops are usually divided into two. This side is a shop, and the cashier counter or kitchen door curtain is lowered. On the other side of the door curtain is the living space, which can be connected directly from the shop to the living room or even the bedroom.

"Most of these stores are not businessmen who specialize in business. Instead, about 64% of families will choose to open at least one store. They can earn extra money by relying on their own skills.

The voice of the monkey-faced eagle sounded in Russell's mind: "Because for them, life has no hope. They can only rely on this method to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, and save living expenses."

If there were no store, the living space might be slightly more spacious.

But that spaciousness doesn't mean much.

When comparing and choosing between "a spacious living environment" and "a very stable income", the former becomes a luxury.

"Different from Happy Island... Happy Island has a special kind of 'correctness' on the surface, and that is the 'happiness system'. In order to maintain the power of her Holy Order, Chairman Sai Lun devotes herself to making residents Feel 'happiness'. The 'Happiness System', which was born based on the judgment criteria of the power of the Holy Order, quantifies the happiness of the entire island in real time.

“And unemployment is a clear form of ‘unhappiness’.

“Because of this, people are put into meaningless jobs. Companies are not allowed to lay off anyone unless absolutely necessary and for good reason.

"But on Tongshen Island, this is absolutely impossible to receive preferential treatment - in order to reduce human resource costs, repeatedly firing employees whose internship period is about to expire is a fairly routine operation on Tongshen Island. The other side of unemployment is that you may be unemployed at any time , that is, you can 'find a job' at any time. However, the job found through this method will definitely be tiring and the income will be meager.

"In other words, with the hard work of a large number of top scientists, Tongshen Island does not need a 'middle level'. Because they do not need their own talent training mechanism, Tongshen Island's university is also the most advanced among the seven islands. Poor.

"If you need any talents, you can directly dig people from other empty islands at a large price to immigrate. The scholars you dig will naturally fill this technology tree from top to bottom and bring new jobs. People from here , if you cannot become a top talent, you can only become a "hard worker" as a consumable.

“This is why Tongshen Island is dotted with factories and individual shops—those who are unwilling to work, or are worried that they may be fired at any time, need a stable shop as a source of income.

"For them, maintaining their own business is more important than working hard."

The monkey-faced eagle's synthesized voice does not convey any emotion, but rather resembles a dull, emotional radio host reciting a press release with an expressionless face.

"It's surprising, Lord Hero."

"You must have never seen people living together in such a way of intermingling with each other."

"What you said...people who didn't know better would have thought you were a native resident of Tongshen Island."

Russell just chuckled and responded in a low voice: "Strictly speaking, you have never lived here for even a day."

"That's not necessarily the case, Lord Hero..."

The monkey-faced eagle said calmly.

Russell passed the meatball shop amidst the whispers of the monkey-faced eagle.

After swiping the prosthetic body on the door, the door was opened smoothly.

The people coming and going from the second floor did not pay attention to Russell. On the other hand, there were gangsters lying on the railings on the third, fourth, and fifth floors, drinking, or laughing and playing, pointing at Russell with contemptuous expressions.

But after Russell entered the door, he only saw darkness.

Ringo followed Russell, squeezed in, and closed the door.

Russell didn't need to turn on the lights in the room. Just from the neon light leaking from the window and the light that spilled out when the door was opened, a figure could be seen sitting in the hall.

She was sitting upright in a wheelchair, wearing a coat with loose sleeves.

At this moment, she was holding a gun and calmly pointing it at Russell.

The silhouette of the figure looked petite, with long straight black hair hanging down against the cool neon lights.

The calm, dim yellow eyes were like two bright lights in the night.

The shadows of daylight cast on her cheeks. Blocks most expressions.

Russell watched her open her mouth slightly, her small and delicate lips slightly parted, and a cold and childish voice came:

"——How can you be sure that I have not lived here for even a day?"

The voice of the monkey-faced eagle in Russell's head overlapped with the clear voice of the girl in front of him.

Russell looked at everything in front of him calmly.

His emerald green pupils have turned into vertical pupils, and the night vision talent from his spiritual relatives is taking effect.

Ringo felt a slight crisis, and the pink light in his pupils suddenly lit up.

Unlike Russell, she has no night vision.

"I'm going to turn on the lights, Mr. Ultramarine."

She lowered her voice and said softly: "Please pay attention and don't get blinded."

Then, she fumbled to turn on the light in the room.

The girl holding the gun did not move the gun, but still pointed it at Russell's heart and remained motionless.

When Ringo turned on the light, his spine suddenly felt numb——

Not only because of the gun, but also because she saw that there was more than one person in the room.

Strictly speaking, this place is "full of people."

Not seven or eight, but twenty or thirty.

Except for the girl who opened her eyes, everyone else had their eyes closed.

They were either men or women, as if they were dead. It was like a doll shop that had been smashed into a shop. The dolls were scattered all over the place, giving off a gloomy atmosphere. The overcrowded atmosphere makes the place look like a warehouse.

Including the girl in the wheelchair, all the "dolls" looked to be no more than twelve or thirteen years old.

What they have in common is that, except for the girl in the wheelchair, who has long, smooth black hair, the others all have white hair.

Russell could clearly recognize that the prostheses they used were relatively cheap—except for the long, straight black girl, who had a rather expensive prosthesis.

"How...should I call you?"

Russell said calmly: "Monkey-faced eagle? Or...

"——Naraku-7?"

"You can indeed understand all this smoothly."

The monkey-faced eagle program in Russell's mind stopped talking.

The person who replied was the expressionless black-haired girl in front of Russell.

She also calmly made a voice as clear as a wind chime: "This is probably the difference in 'performance'.

"Your talents and talents really amaze me. But some things cannot be solved by 'talent'."

"Naraku-7" has a petite figure and wears a junior high school uniform. There was a dim yellow light similar to Russell's in his eyes.

That kind of stable and dazzling fire is the glow of spiritual energy.

"Those people must be your kindred."

Russell's eyes did not waver at all, but always looked at Naraku-7.

It wasn't that she was worried about the gun in her hand - with Russell's reaction speed, at this distance, he could definitely eject and start the moment he pulled the trigger.

He believed that the "monkey-faced eagle", who was also born on Happy Island and had turned into an electronic ghost before arriving at Tongshen Island, would be able to understand what Russell did on the airship back then.

She would raise the gun at this time, not to threaten Russell's life.

Rather, it expresses a wish not to get closer.

Russell, on the other hand, kept a distance and respect - looking at Naraku-7 sitting in a wheelchair at the door.

"You shouldn't be disabled."

Russell suddenly said: "What is the significance of that wheelchair?"

"It's the base of the bomb."

Naraku-7 calmly replied: "It is a bomb that can blow up this building once it is activated. It can blow everyone up into the sky with a 'boom'."

"So, the gun in your hand..."

"It's the igniter."

The girl made a crisp voice: "The igniter of the bomb. It will explode when you press it, it will explode if you leave your hand, and it will explode if I die."

"I am not like a 'god sent', with a mentality of revenge against society. This is just a back-up plan that I hope never to be used to activate a backup plan."

"I'm very happy that you didn't act rashly. This means that we can probably have a good talk."

The same innocent tone as when pointing at the butterfly and pronouncing the other person's scientific name.

If we ignore the soul of a middle-aged man who died nearly ten years ago hidden under the other person's body...

Maybe you will also feel a bit otherworldly, cool and cute.

But Ringo on the side could only feel cold sweat breaking out.

——The moment she turned on the light and saw the gun, she wanted to use her psychic power to stick the gun over.

But she thought about it before taking action, which might ruin Russell's plan. So she planned to wait for Russell's order before taking action.

...If she had just had a short-circuit in her brain and her hands were faster than her brain for a moment... I'm afraid everyone would have been blown away by now.

"Because I almost guessed it before."

Russell sighed: "What is the biggest difference between synthetics and humans...or, in other words, the mind that has been uploaded and the soul that is imprisoned in the body?

"When I realized this, I probably knew... Let Naraku-7 suddenly master the knowledge that she should not know or master, and let her awaken the spiritual power that the original synthetic person should not have. Even It gives the identity of the 'poison wave' that is more advanced than the 'Creation God Project', and what it is.

"——That's you, monkey-faced eagle."

"Good guess."

Hearing this, the corner of the girl's mouth rose slightly for the first time: "The question you asked shows that you have come into contact with the essence. You are worthy of being the student brought out by that monster."

It's not the carefree smile of a girl, but a hint of arrogance and satisfaction - just like the pleasure a professor feels when he sees his students give the most correct answers to his questions.

From the girl's calm and delicate artificial face, Russell seemed to be able to see the approving gaze of the middle-aged man whose face he could not see projected behind her.

"What is the biggest difference between the mind that has been uploaded and the soul that is imprisoned in the body? The answer is easy to think of, and that is the only answer.

“That is, consciousness in digital form can be stolen, usurped, peeked at, modified, and copied.

"It is just like other data. No matter what means of encryption and protection it is, it is all based on code layer protection. As a form of pure data, it can be easily 'copied'.

"When a person is uploaded, there is only one 'master copy'. But if necessary, it can be copied into hundreds or thousands of copies and then transmitted back to the human world.

“At that time, which individual is the real ‘mother’?

"—I was very curious about this. So when Naraku-6 was undergoing nirvana, data called the 'Monkey-Faced Eagle Program' was injected into her mental information.

“A theoretically impossible subject.

“Two human beings literally become one.

"I've done this experiment. The first ever experiment on humans.

"The person in front of you now is me - neither Naraku 7 nor the monkey-faced eagle.

"An artificially fabricated soul, an artificially created body...with real human intellectual thinking mixed into it. The unity of artificial and natural, the unity of male and female, the unity of maturity and immaturity, the unity of experimenter and The unity of the subjects - the unity of life and death. At this point, who is the 'clutter in the mind'?

"——There is no doubt that the 'I' today is the fusion of hypocrisy and reality. The two rites in 'Tai Chi'.

“You can call me…Dusk.

"This is the new name I gave myself. Like the line between day and night, like the color of my psychic powers."

The rhinitis has become more serious and I have started to have a headache (sad)

Fu Shuliang, save me——