Chapter 111: Chapter 83: Cyber Psychosis
Death and sleep should be quite similar, floating and drifting in the haze of dreams, the light piercing the void overlapping yet detaching from the shadowless lamp suspended before the eyes.
The soul shuttles between hallucination and reality.
Life has also been quantified into data on the monitor.
Consciousness emerges from chaos to the surface, gaining the ability to think again and sees the light.
Then, eyes open, and the vision begins to focus.
"John, are you awake?"
The military doctor stands straight by the bedside, hands behind his back.
He verifies the residual value of the anesthetic and pulls back John’s eyelids for a light test.
"The prosthetic eye reacts swiftly, connections are smooth, iris projection and neural reception efficiency are up to standard... I have two things to give you."
The military doctor’s tone is somewhat stiff.
He gestures to a plastic ice bag marked with a biohazard symbol nearby.
"Inside is your kidney, it got pierced, most damaged parts were cut away, leaving a small section for you to handle."
"...Huh?"
John’s voice is weak, but the confusion on his face is quite vivid.
The military doctor tells him not to worry.
Eden had pre-paid the expenses and selected a new implant to replace his damaged organ from the company warehouse.
"The stuff is definitely powerful, your metabolic efficiency will improve, and as for the specific function, when you recover, find a girl and head to bed, you’ll feel a noticeable difference."
After saying that, the military doctor removes the catheter and gives him some medication.
John’s biggest issues were the gunshot wound and blood loss, but removing an entire organ actually made things simpler—prosthetic body modifications in the Cyberpunk era have become street-level surgeries.
He dresses up and returns to the combat training floor.
Eden is sitting on a high stool in the resting area, holding a metal cup in her hands.
She seems to be pondering something.
Beside Tinfoil is an overturned energy drink bottle.
As soon as she sees John approaching, she ends the conversation, her gaze revealing a sense of scrutiny and distrust.
"Last month I woke up in the hospital, taken by Tiebang Logistics..."
John straightforwardly starts telling his story.
"I’ve heard that version."
Tinfoil interrupts.
"But I haven’t finished, after leaving the hospital, my physical condition worsened, experiencing dizziness, suffocation, weakness, and at the worst moments even disorientation and massive blood vomiting..."
John looks up as he says this.
"It feels like there’s something in my brain, every time in the dead of night, or teetering on the edge of unconsciousness, I see a form of black light, I can’t describe that thing..."
He exhales a breath of relief.
Eden has now completely turned around, arms crossed, her expression still calmly directed at him.
"Why are you willing to tell the truth now?"
"How much worse could it get..."
John smiles bitterly and shakes his head.
Internet Surveillance targeted him, it was a dead end by default, only through Eden’s strong backing did he secure a lifeline.
John also knows gratitude, so he lays all secrets bare.
If Eden genuinely didn’t intend to protect him, he might be taken out by an Internet Surveillance bullet to the head tomorrow.
But John also withheld some information.
He only mentioned Black Light as an uncontrollable physical hacking but didn’t reveal the part about "missions" and associated textual prompts.
That thing has a bit of a prophetic feel.
John can’t explain it and is concerned that saying it might make Eden think he approached for some kind of "purpose."
Tinfoil remains silent.
Eden, too, appears exceptionally calm.
John sits on the stool, frowning, and spreads his hands to express his puzzlement over this strange atmosphere.
"What’s the situation, guys?"
"How should I put it..."
Tinfoil touches the silver artificial leather on her neck. "To be safe, we’d better verify it first."
Eden gestures for him to sit down.
Tinfoil turns and glances around, directly lifts the cover of the coffee machine in the rest area, reaching behind the light strips, pulling out a device terminal onto the tabletop.
"You mentioned your... Black Light? That it could physically hack into devices, so let’s verify it with this little thing."
"It’ll destroy the firewall, are you sure?"
John emphasizes that he’s not exaggerating. "It’s best to confirm that this thing has disconnected from the company’s logistical system..."
"I know, buddy, no one’s joking around."
Tinfoil’s expression is very serious. "I’ve set up a remote node; any data fluctuations, hacking, overwrites will be observed."
Her eyes flicker slightly, gesturing with her hand.
"Just... um, feel free to try."
John glances at Eden, face full of doubt, he can also tell that these two are hiding something from him.
But it doesn’t make sense to harm him, otherwise, they’d have cooperated with Internet Surveillance directly.
John pulls out a data cable to connect the device.
[Data Management/Backend User Logging In]
[No Access Permission, Please Contact Administrator to Resolve.]
This information is projected on the prosthetic eye.
"F*ck, what’s going on?"
John stands baffled, Black Light did not erupt, it didn’t even flicker from beginning to end.
He connected the device normally, accessed the backend, then got blocked by a firewall and password program.
Tinfoil shows a relieved expression.
But John brought up the company’s training system.
Black Light had invaded the equipment at that time, the side effects nearly killed him, which Tinfoil and Eden both witnessed.
So everyone opens up the room.
The all-metal walls are segmented into numerous blocks, the seams jagged and varying, as if constantly breathing in the dark.
John connects to the deep diving equipment.
The system accesses his brain, scenario rendering proceeds normally, no reaction from the backend program.
John returns to reality, removes the equipment.
"Something definitely feels wrong... that Internet Surveillance device, yes, that thing should have worked, I can’t feel the Black Light..."