Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 893, Section 103: Special Characteristics

"Neural matrix. This is really a special thing."

Listening to Karl's mutterings, Li De looked at him—Karl was using a monomolecular wire to connect to the AI ​​memory captured from outside the black wall, and Li De's expression was somewhat conflicted as he watched his actions.

What troubles him is not the decision he has made now. For someone like Li De, everything he insisted on in the past is different when viewed from a new perspective. However, if he remains silent and hesitates for too long, it would be too unlike him.

What he's struggling with now is...
This thing looks like it needs to be debugged and controlled. Even if they have the access code, won't something go wrong if Karl, who has never used it before, just starts using it like this?

The device capable of storing AI captured from outside the Black Wall is certainly not a simple device; it was developed by the company and represents cutting-edge technology from the past.

As we all know, the older the world, the stronger it is. To some extent, the world after the data crash is indeed not as technologically advanced as the world before. Otherwise, so many companies wouldn't be secretly exploring the Black Wall.

Karl's actions at this moment were tantamount to an amateur defusing a bomb with his bare hands, or rather, for Karl and Reed, this was far more terrifying than the bomb itself.

If the bomb really explodes, they can just run away. But if the AI ​​malfunctions, they can't escape. If the AI ​​in the container were to invade Karl's consciousness through the connection, then everything would be over.

The AI ​​that was valued by the company in the past and captured from outside the Black Wall is no ordinary existence. It can prevent the world from exploring beyond the Black Wall, and its threat is self-evident. Even though it can carry out the user's commands under the relevant restrictions, there is still a possibility of operational errors and loss of control. What Li De is worried and wary of now is whether the AI ​​will be released if things go wrong.

In this way, Song Zhaomei would surely die, and what Li De had to do was to immediately find a way to get Karl out of Dogtown and try to save him—although no one was sure whether a person could survive after being invaded by AI.

Song Zhaomei has already become like this simply because she was corrupted by the Black Wall. If Karl were to be completely invaded by the AI, he would probably have even less time left than she does.

If that were to happen, not only would the nuclear explosion be unstoppable, but Carl would also be killed. For Reed, who had already made up his mind to break away from Miles, this would definitely be a bad thing.

Moreover, Li De was unsure whether he could knock Karl unconscious and forcibly take him away if Karl, after being corrupted by the AI, attacked him.

His files contain numerous cases of people being corrupted into cyberpsychotics. Karl, in his cyberpsychotic state, had just lost once, and Li De certainly lacked confidence.

While Li De was worried, Karl didn't notice the changes in Li De's expression. This was partly because he was focused on exploring the neural matrix, and partly because it was difficult to see Li De's facial expressions in the darkness.

Although we can see it to some extent, it's not important compared to what we're dealing with right now.

For some reason, after connecting to the neural matrix, Karl felt a strange sense of ease.

This was supposed to be a sophisticated piece of equipment that required repeated adjustments and careful operation by professionals, and could only be gradually activated after imposing numerous restrictions. But in his hands, it was like a piece of cotton candy that could be torn apart at will.

Carl knew the analogy was a bit odd, but that was the feeling.

If an ordinary operator treats the neural matrix as if it were a delicate cotton candy that could be blown away at the slightest carelessness, they must carefully comb through the strands of the candy one by one, for fear that it will collapse with the slightest breath.

For Karl, however, this thing was born to be eaten. He could tear it apart without any scruples, or even bite into it directly—an almost instinctive, strange, and fierce sense of ease arose spontaneously.

Carl had thought a lot about his unique abilities, such as why he possessed such power. However, because thinking about it always touched on the other side of the Black Wall, and he worried that he might actually be able to break through it, Carl never explored this aspect too much.

This was the first time he had actually touched it, and the feeling of that first encounter was unexpectedly familiar and easy. Just like the roaming AI that companies fear and the world dreads, it felt so easy and familiar to him.

'I can't really be some kind of wandering AI, can I?'

Karl recalled the words of the wandering AI he had encountered before. The person he met at the Arasaka Banquet was likely a human whose body had been taken over by the wandering AI.

What he said at the time was that he was special, not one of his kind, but unique and special, a person who could accept everything.

From that perspective, I am not a wandering AI. In some ways, I am a storage container for wandering AI.

So now that I can take control so easily, the reason why there is a kind of mobile AI that I can use is because the AI ​​in the neural matrix is ​​also cooperating with my senses?
Karl then thought of the research that Saburo Arasaka had conducted in order to achieve a complete resurrection, the research that was conducted to explore his own uniqueness.

In that study, I was also identified as someone who could accommodate everything.

As he pondered, Carl realized he had completed all the preparations.

It took less than a minute.

This equipment, which would normally require a lot of time for professionals to debug, was completed in less than a minute by me. Half of that minute was spent carefully exploring it, and when I went deeper into the details, it only took less than twenty seconds.

Carl had a strange feeling that led him to a description that was perhaps appropriate, or perhaps inappropriate.

The neural matrix feels like a sex doll on the street; it flirts with you the moment you glance at it, spreading its arms and legs to beckon you over.

Karl often encountered this kind of thing before he was famous and before he changed his appearance.

There were men and women.

Of course, there are also those whose gender is in doubt.

After all, these days, gender isn't so rigidly defined, especially for sex dolls. Who knows, their clients might prefer men and women.

But to describe my current feelings in this way
How strange.

"I'm ready."

Carl's voice reached Li De's ears, who pointed to the equipment that had already started up.

"Let Song Zhaomei connect. I'll enter the access code."

(End of this chapter)