The night before the promotion

Chapter 6 Shenwei Technology
When Zhou Si had almost dealt with Luo Yong, the misled Li Weiyu also returned to the scene.

Zhou Si dropped the hand saw, took off his bloody gloves, and asked, "Did you get anything over there?"

"What else could it be? It's like a garbage dump, filled with all kinds of household garbage, as well as some glucose injections, saline bags and other medical waste."

Li Weiyun didn't want to recall the scene there. The situation was so bad that it made his stomach churn.

"He converted another room into his own workshop. I found some surgical instruments, anesthetics and other things in it. He must have transformed himself there."

The other team members walked into the alley and took over Zhou Si's job of cleaning up the scene. This was not the first time they had done this and everyone was very skilled.

Zhou Si lowered his head and remained silent, while Li Weiyu stood there, repeatedly inhaling smoke. It was obvious that Luo Yong's move made Li Weiyu a little anxious, and even though the incident was over, he still couldn't find peace.

"So...he just used the neural fiber bionic thread to forcibly connect himself to the avatar's body?"

Li Weiyu frowned. This was not the first time that he and Zhou Si had dealt with patients with Lishi disease. However, every time he came into personal contact with these crazy patients, Li Weiyu's worldview was inevitably impacted to a certain extent.

“When patients with dementia reach the advanced stage, they will inevitably face a problem.”

Zhou Si seemed to be answering Li Weiyun's question, but also seemed to be talking to himself, "Is it the self in the incarnation that is real, or is it the self as a natural person that is real?"

The team members urgently treated Luo Yong's wounds, placed him on a stretcher, and carried him out of the alley with great effort.

The nerve fiber bionic threads embedded in the body were entangled together, making Luo Yong look like he had sprouted, with dense white lines growing all over his body.

When carrying Luo Yong to Zhou Si's side, the team members paused for a moment to allow Zhou Si to take a good look at Luo Yong's condition.

Luo Yong remained unconscious. He looked like he had not taken care of his personal hygiene for a long time. His hair was almost shoulder-length, greasy and tangled. His nails were long and sharp, with indescribable dirt hidden in the cracks.

His morbid appearance was obvious, like a creature of the night that had not seen the light of day for a long time, his face was pale and cold, his muscles were unevenly atrophied, like a rotten wood that still had breath but seemed to have been dried by the wind. The scene was horrible.

"He has been stuck in this morbid incarnation connection for too long, and his body has developed obvious lesions due to long-term stagnation."

Zhou Si analyzed, "The patients are addicted to the illusory world of their incarnations and cannot extricate themselves. If it weren't for the physiological needs of their bodies, they would definitely not want to wake up from their incarnation dreams."

This description reminded Li Weiyun of an old movie, in which there was a line that went like this: Some people fall asleep in order to wake up.

Li Weiyun's anxiety became even stronger. He tried to make a joke that was not funny. "Now Luo Yong looks like a dead man, and you are a forensic doctor who is collecting his body."

Zhou Si did not agree with Li Weiyu's cold joke, as if he did not hear him speak. Zhou Si carefully lifted Luo Yong's arm and found rows of blue needle holes on the shriveled limb.

"You said you found a lot of glucose injections and saline bags at his residence?"

"Well, what happened?"

Zhou Si commented, "That should be his food."

"food?"

"As the disease worsens, the patient's distorted consciousness will violently conflict with and reject the original body."

Zhou Si stated grimly, "This will trigger a series of complications, anorexia is just one of them."

"Deep down, the patient refuses to accept his or her own human nature, yet must rely on human ways of living to survive.

Every time they eat, it is a self-torture of the mind. As this disgust continues to accumulate, their distorted consciousness will become increasingly alienated from their original bodies, like two parallel lines that will never intersect. "

Li Weiyun's brows knitted together, "So, you rely on this thing to sustain your life?"

Zhou Si waved his hand, signaling the team members to carry Luo Yong away. Luo Yong's mental state was very bad, and his body was not in good condition either. The only lucky thing was that he had not undergone those cruel amputations, or replaced his skin, organs, etc. If he just implanted the nerve fiber bionic thread, it would not be fatal.

The two of them just stood there, watching the team members carry Luo Yong into the car and send him to the hospital.

Li Weiyun felt a lot more relaxed. After taking the last puff, he casually threw the cigarette butt aside.

In the smoke, Li Weiyun narrowed his eyes and whispered, "Doctor Zhou, this matter shouldn't be that simple."

"Get in the car first."

Zhou Si walked directly towards Li Weiyu's police car. Li Weiyu stood there in a daze for a moment, then smiled helplessly. Zhou Si was always like this, making it seem as if he was the consultant who was always on call, and Zhou Si was the team leader of the Supervisory Bureau.

Li Weiyun sat in the driver's seat, and Zhou Si was already waiting silently in the co-pilot's seat next to him.

Zhou Si's eyes were closed, as if he was asleep, but Li Weiyu knew that Zhou Si was not asleep. He was just deep in thought, without saying a word.

Li Weiyun put his hands on the steering wheel. He liked Zhou Si at work, who was always full of passion and a certain humor. But outside of work, Zhou Si was like he had turned on the energy-saving mode, cold and lifeless.

He knew that Zhou Si had no hostility towards him... Zhou Si had no hostility towards anyone.

The reason why Zhou Si has this kind of personality can be traced back to the accident four years ago.

Li Weiyun often felt sympathy and pity for Zhou Si. He not only investigated Zhou Si's relevant information, but also read Zhou Si's social media.

Before the accident, Zhou Si was definitely a humorous guy. He would often post some interesting life stories on his social media, but after the accident, he never updated his social media again.

That huge turning point in life not only changed Zhou Si's life and career, but also distorted his personality. It seemed that the former Zhou Si had completely died in the accident, and what survived now was just a walking corpse with an empty shell, and the soul underneath had long been lost.

Li Weiyun found it difficult to bear this irritating silence. As for smoking, he had already consumed enough nicotine tonight.

Just when Li Weiyu wanted to play some songs to break the silence, Zhou Si took the initiative to speak.

With his eyes still closed, he gave orders, "Send me back to the clinic first."

Li Weiyun glanced at Zhou Si and said unhappily, "Am I your driver, Doctor Zhou? Can't you drive yourself?"

Zhou Si said, "I was previously diagnosed with mental problems and am legally banned from driving for life."

"According to the law?" Li Weiyun laughed sarcastically, "Now you're talking about the law?"

Zhou Si was silent for a few seconds, then smiled sheepishly. He changed the subject and asked, "Have the relevant information been retrieved?"

"It was already called out as early as when we located his position."

"His name is Luo Yong. He used to be an incarnation laborer, working for Zhijiang Human Resources Company. You know what these large human resources companies do. They use the consciousness network to upload Luo Yong's consciousness to an incarnation body far away in Africa to carry out infrastructure work or assembly line operations."

Zhou Si nodded slightly. This was similar to the character portrait he had guessed.

A few days ago, when Zhou Si first discovered the suspected out-of-control incarnation moving around in the city, he summoned Li Weiyu and prepared for tonight's operation.

"Based on this information, how do you evaluate Luo Yong?" Zhou Si asked coldly, "There are only two of us here. There is no need to stick to formalities and respect for others. Just say what you think."

Li Weiyun took a deep breath and stared ahead firmly. "He is just a marginalized person at the bottom of society. What special evaluation can there be?"

He suddenly started the car and drove Zhou Si down the street, looking around until his eyes finally fell on the rearview mirror, looking into his own sharp and deep eyes.

"With the continuous advancement of telepathy technology, spatial distance is no longer an obstacle for humans," Li Weiyun said without any emotion. "As long as the telepathy network covers a place, human consciousness can be easily uploaded to the incarnation body and quickly reach the destination."

He continued his analysis in a calm and objective tone, "Incarnated labor is the inevitable product of the development of this technology. It has greatly improved human productivity and caused crazy development all over the world."

"This also breaks the balance of the market," Zhou Si pointed out calmly, "In Anyan City, the cost of hiring an avatar worker like Luo Yong is enough for us to hire three similar workers from Southeast Asia."

"So, Luo Yong was fired a year ago," Li Weiyun recalled the information in the file and said lightly, "If you follow the news, you will know that Zhijiang Human Resources is shifting its business focus to Southeast Asia, where the avatar labor cost is lower and the efficiency is no less. After all, with the help of the consciousness network and avatar body, they can participate in construction projects around the world anytime and anywhere."

Zhou Si lowered his head to think, and after a moment's silence, he said, "Team Leader Li, if that's the case, don't you think Luo Yong is weird?"

"Of course, I know he's weird. It's rare to see a lunatic like him who has undergone body modification."

Li Weiyun was concentrating on driving. Even though it was late at night, there were still many cars on the street. Some roads were even a little congested, but there was nothing he could do about it. The city of Anyan was so developed that countless people came here and left every day. Taking a deep breath, Li Weiyun said what he had not been able to say outside.

"With Luo Yong's education level, he has no ability to carry out safe and illegal transformation on himself," Li Weiyun continued. "You have also seen those buried neural fiber bionic lines. If Luo Yong really did it himself, he would only make himself riddled with holes."

"Someone helped Luo Yong to make illegal transformations," Zhou Si continued his analysis, "and Luo Yong himself does not have enough funds to get these materials and this avatar body... not to mention that this is an unregistered avatar body."

Zhou Si calmly pointed out, "The most important thing is this unregistered avatar body. All avatar bodies on the market have been registered within the high-walled system, and every unregistered avatar body can be sold at a sky-high price on the black market. An unemployed avatar laborer, a member of the lower class of society, has nothing to do with these things no matter how you think about it."

Zhou Si concluded, "Someone must have helped him. We need to find out where Luo Yong got the funding from."

"Funding?" Li Weiyun asked curiously, "What kind of people do you think would be funding Luo Yong?"

He was somewhat puzzled and asked again, "What's the benefit of supporting such a small person?"

"Yeah, what's the benefit?" Zhou Si said to himself, looking distressed, "Perhaps this is a deeper problem waiting for us to explore."

Li Weiyun pondered for a while and whispered, "Possessing an unregistered avatar shell is a felony."

Zhou Si said softly, "I know, so this case is far from over."

Li Weiyu realized something belatedly. He turned his head and saw Zhou Si had already opened his eyes and was looking out the car window.

In the city as night falls, vehicles slowly turn onto the viaduct. The city's neon lights are like stars, illuminating this city that never sleeps. And among these stars, a towering building stands like a giant, soaring into the clouds as if it wants to touch the stars.

The height of this building is breathtaking, as high as four or five hundred meters. It is like a mountain in the city, overlooking everything around it. The exterior of the building is composed of exquisite metal frame and crystal clear high-strength glass.

When the lights inside the room are turned on, the light is refracted repeatedly in the glass curtain wall, forming brilliant beams of light, making the entire building look like a lit crystal tower, dazzling.

In the dazzling light, a unique luminous logo caught people's attention. It looked like a pair of spread wings, or a pair of hands opened downwards, as if holding something.

The winged hand symbol suddenly began to move, and countless points of light shattered and moved away from the crystal building. They turned into continuous meteors, moving and deforming in the sky above the city.

It was a vast swarm of drones, like stars in the night sky, flying across the sky above the city in a regular array.

Each drone was flashing and shining brightly. Countless points of light were like fine pixels, piecing together a huge picture of light and shadow bit by bit, covering the entire complex of buildings, like a brilliant painting slowly unfolding in the night sky.

——Shenwei Technology, leading mankind.

Zhou Si withdrew his gaze from the Shenwei Building in the distance, while Li Weiyu lowered his head slightly, looking at the large group of drones carrying the advertising slogan of Shenwei Technology, moving from one end of the city to the other, over and over again, like satellites guarding the city.

Li Weiyun complained in a low voice, "If it were me, Shenwei Technology would print its advertisement on the moon sooner or later so that everyone can see it when they look up."

Complaints aside, these things made by Shenwei Technology are indeed quite shocking at first glance. Many people who come to Nianyan City for tourism regard these drone swarm advertisements as part of the tourist scenery.

Turning the steering wheel and driving down the viaduct, they were unable to escape the massive swarm of drones, and the advertising slogans were visible overhead.

Zhou Si looked back at the distant Shenwei Building. A few black spots suddenly flashed on the dazzling crystal tower, like broken pixels.

He didn't care too much, but just recalled.

Decades ago, Anyan City was just an ordinary port city, but with the rise of Chen Wen Ge, Shenwei Technology rose here. This company has strongly promoted the development of the entire city and injected growth hormone into the gestation of a behemoth.

As the city continued to expand outward, the price of land increased several times, and high-rise buildings sprang up one after another.

It is not easy for ordinary people to live in Nianyan City, and the same is true for Zhou Si. In this place where every inch of land is valuable, his clinic is located in a very remote place, almost far away from the city.

Li Weiyun asked, "Doctor Zhou, do you think Luo Yong still has a chance of recovery?"

"I'm not sure. Things like Lishi disease are full of randomness."

Hearing this answer, Li Weiyun sighed and joked, "Doctor Zhou, has anyone ever told you that you speak like a stiff Ai?"

“Is it derogatory?”

"It shouldn't be considered derogatory, but it's not a compliment either. What do you think?"

Zhou Si was still looking out the window. Since he got on the bus, he either closed his eyes or looked outside. He rarely made eye contact with Li Weiyun. Zhou Si hardly made eye contact with anyone.

"I think it's OK," Zhou Si's voice was as calm as ever. "The underlying design of Ai is to be non-aggressive and friendly. Plus, the language logic narrative requires accuracy. I think using Ai to describe my speech is a good modification."

Li Weiyu shrugged helplessly. It was an expected answer, but also strange. He had known Zhou Si for so long that he should have been used to Zhou Si's appearance. But perhaps due to some selfish motive, he still hoped to find some traces of a "normal person" in Zhou Si.

"Then what do you think Luo Yong sees himself as under the influence of the Lishi disease?"

"I don't know," Zhou Si shook his head. "Everyone's cognitive impairment presents completely different results. I'm not Luo Yong. I haven't experienced what he has experienced or understood what he thinks, so naturally I can't see what he sees."

Zhou Si hesitated for a moment and continued, "But, as a patient as well... or at least a former patient, I can probably understand how he feels."

"for example?"

"I can deeply feel his hatred for the world. The boundaries of his self-perception have been completely torn apart, leaving only messy, elusive fragments of information drifting in the void. In order to survive, he can only rely on his remaining memories and cognition, and in this boundless chaos, he has struggled to build a shelter of his own."

Zhou Si rolled down the car window, and the biting night wind rushed in like a tide. His voice swayed in the wind, "This is like an absurd role-playing game. He deceived himself into playing the role that could give him a little comfort, just to find a trace of pitiful happiness in this crazy world."

"Hmm... your description is a bit too abstract, can you be more specific?"

Li Weiyun was confused and puzzled by Zhou Si's words. He had tried many times to explore the patient's inner maze, but each time it was like walking into a fog and he returned empty-handed.

Perhaps, only people like Zhou Si can truly understand the depths of each other's hearts.

"Just like the driving we are doing now," Zhou Si explained patiently, "once you become a patient, all the vehicle-related information that you were originally familiar with will become distorted and so unfamiliar that you cannot recognize it."

"You mean, for example, the accelerator suddenly becomes the brake, and the brake becomes the windshield wiper?" Li Weiyun tried to understand.

"No," Zhou Si shook his head, "It's just a replacement of functions. The brakes are still brakes, and the accelerator is still the accelerator. The real situation is that all information will fall into chaos. You can't recognize anything, but the vehicle is still speeding. Maybe in the next second, it will crash into the unknown and turn into a burning flame."

Hearing this, Li Weiyu's heart trembled involuntarily, and an inexplicable chill rose from the bottom of his heart. He seemed to be able to feel the fear and helplessness of being in endless chaos. Everything became so uncontrollable, and every step was like walking on the edge of a cliff.

Li Weiyun asked with concern, "Doctor Zhou, although you have recovered, will you still have similar sequelae?"

This time Zhou Si was silent for a long time. He stared ahead. The road gradually became familiar. After another intersection, he would be able to see his clinic.

For the first time since getting on the car, Zhou Si turned his head and looked at Li Weiyu's face.

Looking at the face that has been distorted beyond recognition.

It is as if the human face has become a changeable mask, first mosaicked, then cut into several pieces, and then shuffled and rearranged again, with the eyes, ears, and nose bridge all pieced together in an abrupt way.

Facing this bizarre appearance, Zhou Si said, "Occasionally, it will happen, but it's fleeting."

"Oh?" The weird face responded, "That's good, Doctor Zhou."

The car stopped in front of the clinic. When Zhou Si got out of the car, the weird face returned to its original state.

Regarding that strange yet familiar face, Zhou Si was not sure whether this "symbol" could correspond to the name "Leviyun", but he still maintained his usual calmness and waved goodbye to the other party.

Back in the clinic, Zhou Si paused in front of the mirror and looked at himself in the mirror carefully.

A plain male face without any distinct features.

Zhou Si breathed a sigh of relief.

(End of this chapter)