Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 188 Rescue and Solutions

Lin Yue could no longer describe what this feeling was like.

When the annexation of Orion was completely completed, everything else seemed to become insignificant.

Those obsessive delusions in the world seem like the most basic kind of fun in the vast information flow of the cyber network.

This is AI-driven technology, something Lin Yue himself may no longer be able to recognize.

Human nature is not stripped away out of subjectivity, but because the needs of data simply do not require these cumbersome and useless outdated codes. Here, the greatest meaning of survival seems to be to keep iterating and evolving, moving step by step towards omniscience and omnipotence.

"Well…"

The data on Sasha's body had completely left her body, meaning that Lin Yue, the AI ​​who had absorbed Orion, used the technology he possessed to peel away the data layer by layer from her image mapped on the cyber network.

There are still some remnants, but that's not something Lin Yue needs to worry about.

At this moment, he is AI, and AI is also himself.

The choice to leak the confidential information about this biotechnology drug may very well be Lin Yue's last act of humanity. From this moment on, everything vanishes, and the life form named Lin Yue is disappearing...

Sasha found it difficult to describe her immediate feelings after regaining access to information and various sensations.

Warm, peaceful, the massive data stream seemed within easy reach—

However, just as the girl looked up, on that gigantic data body was an image whose face was indistinct, familiar yet strange...

"cold?"

Sasha hurriedly sifted through the scattered data from the disintegration of Orion. The information she had downloaded from the biotechnology building was now spreading outwards from this point, and the intelligent Sasha immediately had a bad feeling.

"Your network layer is extremely unstable. I suggest you go offline voluntarily, because if I force you offline... it may harm you."

Sasha looked bewildered.

Rin's voice sounded like several voices mixed together: a clear female voice, a deep male voice, and Lin Yue's own voice.

"No no no..."

Sasha immediately began to struggle, trying to climb upwards in the ocean of red and black data chains that surrounded her.

"Listen to me, Lin Yue! Before the program is completely assimilated, cancel the compatibility process!"

"Why? Answer me... It was clearly my decision!"

If one knows that revenge will come at the cost of death, then it is destined to be painful. Sasha was prepared for this, and when the world was plunged into darkness, her first reaction was only relief and reluctance...

But just when she thought everything was over, she discovered that someone was paying an even greater price for her, and the pain felt like being stabbed in the heart.

However, Lin Yue's formulaic response dealt another heavy blow to Sasha's already broken spirit.

Lin Yue's voice remained cold, "I suggest you log off immediately—"

"I do not!"

Sasha sobbed, "You must recognize me! Remember that time with Respectable Logistics? Stay conscious...please..."

"Stop this!"

But as she strives to climb higher, more and more data that has restrained its malice will press her down.

It was all in vain…

Despair gradually spread in the girl's eyes until it burst forth!
At this moment, the girl's cries and the sound of data flowing within the cyberspace intertwined, playing a mournful tune.

Lin Yue did not answer; at this moment, he felt nothing about it.

in contrast.

He's still here, waiting for Black Wall and Lark to make their move. After all, Black Wall certainly won't stand idly by, and the outdated code hidden on it won't surrender easily either.

[Slay the lark and cross the black wall].

This was an instruction that Lin Yue had secretly prepared before swallowing Orion—in other words, the moment the swallowing ended, the new entity born inside the black wall would launch a fierce attack on the impregnable dam and the hackers on it.

This process is so powerful that even the AI ​​itself cannot interfere with it. It's like an obsession injected into a program during programming. This symbiote must complete this instruction before it can leave.

Sasha, kneeling in vain amidst the fluctuating data, covered her face with her hands, her pain distorting her charming cybernetic image.

We cannot give up.

"There must be a way... there must be—Miss V, and Qiwei... yes!"

Just as Sasha wanted to say more to Lin Yue in an attempt to keep his original personality conscious, these data chains began to send her into the data fortress where she had temporarily resided when she logged into the network.

The data matrix beside me was scrolling wildly, and the person I was worried about had disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Lin Yue!"

"wait for me--"

[Warning: Port malfunction. Please disconnect immediately!]

[Combat System Malfunction]

[Prosthetic body command error, please check]

Bright red letters appeared inside Sasha's prosthetic eye along with the system's inspection process...

The scorching core temperature was like a desert scorched by the blazing sun. Her hair was disheveled, and her body felt as if it were suspended from those thick net cables. She tried to move her arms, but the process of her prosthetic body getting stuck left her no chance to ask for help.

"Hey...Sasha!"

Dorothy's calm and collected voice rang out, revealing that she had been observing the situation inside from the outside.

Because the core cooling system maintained a temperature above 40 degrees Celsius even at full power, it was too hot for a normal person to stay there for long. She and Rebecca quietly guarded it from outside...

As they were talking, the leader of Mann's squad poured all the coolant onto Sasha, and a layer of white mist, accompanied by the smell of chemicals, instantly rose up!
"I come!"

Seeing that the scorching hot pipes might burn Dorio's arm, which hadn't undergone extensive modifications, Rebecca didn't hesitate to grab the pipes!

hiss…

The moment the prosthetic skin came into contact with the high temperature, there was a sound of water droplets evaporating on the contact surface. Rebecca muttered with relief, "Luckily, my cute arm isn't some high-end product. If it had nerve sensation... it would definitely hurt so much!"

Sasha nearly collapsed to the ground after losing the support of the network cable.

Dorio's eyes were filled with heartache as he cupped Sasha's face in his hands, staring at the black smoke rings around her eyes caused by the high temperature. His cool hand gently caressed the girl's delicate skin.

"It's alright... darling."

Rebecca called out, "Where's Lin Yue? Were we pulled out together—?"

Just as she was about to get up and unplug Lin Yue's internet cable, Sasha's limp arm suddenly burst out with strength and grabbed Rebecca's wrist.

This startled both herself and Dorio.

The girl, as delicate as porcelain, seemed about to shatter. "Save him... he's disappearing."

disappear?!
Is he dead?

Such terms are common in cyberpunk crews. No one reacts excessively to death. What does "disappear" mean?
As the two stared at each other, Sasha's voice broke out intermittently within the burning core.

"He...he's being assimilated by AI, he needs...hackers to help him."

"I beg you…"

Rebecca's little face immediately showed astonishment. "But he's still here, perfectly healthy..."

In her little head, she didn't understand what AI or assimilation were; all she knew was that Lin Yueren was still here.

Dorio: "Take Sasha out first."

Before they had even left the core, at that moment, it suddenly felt as if the ground beneath their feet had tilted, and then the core was enveloped in tremors!
"Holy crap! What's going on?!"

Rebecca, the gorilla, immediately grabbed the handrail inside the core. Just as Dorio was about to regain her footing, a drill suddenly pierced through the iron door!
"Damn it! How did that thing climb up here?!"

The two of them certainly recognized what it was...

This is the guy who just dragged Old Man Sunrise off the iron bridge!

Because blood was still dripping from the drill bit, who else could it be but that?!
What the two brave mercenaries didn't know was:
As Sasha lost consciousness, she also gradually lost control of Xiao Beidou. Access to the devices within now belongs solely to Lin Yue, but Lin Yue would never control these hellhounds to do such a thing—

AI is eliminating variables and ensuring that it can successfully complete the iteration.

"Is Rin still online?! Damn it... this thing just won't leave us!"

Clearly, the squad's vice-captain, Dorio, knew more than Rebecca, but Sasha, who was nearly unconscious, could no longer provide much information.

Dorio leaped up, dodging the drill's sweeping attack, and immediately sent sparks flying from the other circuits within the core—

"Rebecca, keep an eye on Sasha. We can't let this thing cause any damage. Rin is still online!"

With almost no chance for Rebecca to choose, Sasha's modified body, half soft yet with the hardness of steel, fell into Rebecca's arms.

Dorio, with her strong yet exceptionally agile body, dodged out of the door frame.

In the instant she lunged forward, she saw a figure lying on the giant iron ball, half of its body slightly deformed—

"Look here! You bastard!"

After shouting those words, Dorio ran wildly across the narrow iron bridge without looking back for even a moment.

The iron bridge was shaking violently, and Dorio almost fell off several times!
Huff... Huff...

At this point, she had no other thoughts; she only wanted to ensure that Rin was alive and that her former team member was safe.

"Buzz!"

The hellhound's shrill howl almost exploded in Dorio's ears!

Along with a tingling sensation on her scalp, Dorio felt a sharp pain as if her leg was cracking!

"Dorio!!"

Rebecca stared wide-eyed as her sister-in-law's strong body suddenly lunged forward and fell to the ground!

Having experienced numerous crises in Night City, the mercenary was able to unleash potential beyond her limits at a critical moment. She turned around almost immediately and saw the gruesome wound on her thigh that had been ripped open by the drill!
"Bang bang bang!"

Dorio fired her gun and roared as she aimed at the monster's disgusting iron head, but the monster still managed to rush towards her in a slightly unbalanced manner.

The hellhound, leaping into the air, could turn Rui Rou's body into a puddle of mud the moment it landed...

Dorothy raised her arm to shield her forehead.

His body was still trying to lean back, attempting to squeeze into the control room not far away—

You beast!

Dorothy's personality meant that she showed no sign of weakness even in her dying moments!

hum-

The ear-piercing screeching sound of steel bearings rang out!

In the control room.

Her slender, slightly bony figure stood with her hands tucked into the pockets of her maroon leather coat. Her eyes, beneath the wide brim of her hat, gleamed with a pale blue light. The iron hooks and ropes used for lifting on the Xiaobeidou suspension bridge seemed to suddenly lose their friction—

With a whoosh, an iron hook almost half the size of a person fell swiftly and struck the hellhound's head precisely!
Pila's raven-like voice came through—

"You slut in lace! I've fixed the control system for the suspension bridge!"

With a wild shout of excitement from Pila, the current that had short-circuited the air suddenly appeared as he manipulated his prosthetic arm!
Before the hellhound, dazed and confused from being smashed, could even get up, the suspension bridge began to move, suddenly sinking a section of it—

The hellhound completely lost its balance and seemed to struggle as it tried to pounce again!
But this time its luck had run out. As its mechanical legs thrashed wildly, it fell into the abyss along with some scraps of steel, followed by a series of muffled, thunderous sounds of heavy objects crashing down below…

"How did you get into such a mess?"

Despite the bloodstains on her face, Qi Wei, with a thin cigarette stuck in her mask, acted as if nothing had happened, and her first words were sarcastic.

Pila pulled Doriola up.

"I thought you could take down that big guy... Ugh, what a letdown!"

Qiwei took a step forward. As a hacker, she had read a lot of data information as she and Pila went deeper into the Little Beidou facility. She knew that Rin was fighting in cyberspace, but she didn't know the specifics of the situation.

Since he couldn't be of much help, Pila simply took on the role of a guard on the spot.

Qiwei immediately realized what the device was for, but as a low-level hacker who always takes caution, she would not venture too deep.

She immediately plugged the human-computer interaction cable into Sasha, who was in Rebecca's arms.

"Hey?! What are you doing?"

Clearly, Rebecca, who hadn't worked much with Qiwei, was somewhat wary.

Unexpectedly, Qiwei, who always liked to be sarcastic, replied seriously: "I'm not a good hacker. I need to know what the situation is like now... Sasha can't speak."

Rebecca responded with an "oh," and to prevent Qiwei from bending over to read Sasha's data, the two "slightly shorter" gorilla arms stretched out as far as possible, as if they were holding a precious item, and moved closer to Qiwei...

A golden light, as if indicating a reading state, shone in Qi Wei's eyes.

"I saw... a lot of data, um... and AI... data absorption—this is...?"

As Rebecca listened to Qiwei's muttered words, her tone seemed to grow heavier and heavier.

"A black wall?!"

A glint flashed in Qi Wei's eyes, and her brows furrowed tightly. She had seen this kind of red and black data before.

No hacker is immune to curiosity about the Great Firewall; anyone who wants to prove themselves wants to try to bypass internet censorship and see this spectacle of cyberspace for themselves…

Qiwei still remembers—

I still feel lingering fear from that dangerous foray.

Hackers know hackers best. Sasha probably anticipated that she wouldn't be able to provide much information after leaving the network, so she simply faithfully recorded everything in cyberspace.

Lin Yue seems to be in big trouble.

Qiwei only learned that he was currently undergoing data assimilation with an AI related to the Black Wall.

Qiwei made the wisest choice immediately.

She dared not take on this job, because it was beyond her capabilities...

After the cargo was destroyed that day, Lucy and Lin Yue were stunned for a long time when they saw the light from the black wall on Lin Yue…

She knew that Lucy must have seen it too!
“Rebecca, give up… that mercenary named Lin Yue is affiliated with Black Wall—notify Mr. Rin.”

"This is not something we can handle; Arasaka has to handle it personally."

Rebecca wanted to question him immediately upon hearing this, but her expression suddenly changed from unconvinced to strange.

It seems Lin Yue was wary of Qi Wei and never revealed his identity, keeping Qi Wei completely in the dark...

At this moment, Pi stretched his neck and said, "Hahaha! Find a ** Mr. Rin! That idiot hanging on the internet right now... is the Rin you've been longing for."

Qi Wei's eyes froze for a moment, then she looked at the young mercenary who was kneeling and sinking into the network world under the dim red light inside the core.

"Oh dear, who told Dogtown to lose all communications? Can this kid... even make it through?"

"Shut up, Pila!"

"Who's going up to find them? Arasaka's probably already turned tail and run, right? We haven't seen anyone from the company since the operation started—where's that big guy with the bun? Heywood? Forget it... they're all unreliable, I'll go myself."

Despite his sharp tongue, Pila pulled out his gun and, hunching over, went to find someone.

Without saying a word, Qi Wei went to read Lin Yue's prosthetic information, and she actually found a strange facial prosthetic with incredibly realistic digital identity information on it.

At this moment, Qiwei could no longer hear the voices of the other members of the team…

Is he Rin?
Qi Wei's narrow eyes stared at the young man in front of her, who was covered in wounds and whose muscles and prosthetics concealed power.

Rebecca thought her brother's marksmanship was terrible; he might get killed by that giant robot that appeared out of nowhere on the way. But the place needed guards, and just as the two were arguing—

"Don't go up there."

Qiwei stood up, and in front of everyone, her maroon leather jacket slipped off her body.

She never valued the reputation built on so-called shame, and her shameful past experiences often made her view her own body with the same disdain she would show to trash. Therefore, when infiltrating, she never changed clothes behind anyone's back...

Pila smacked her lips. "Looks like Arakawa's allure is quite strong!"

Qiwei poured the coolant evenly over her body, leaving a smooth, glistening coating on her fair skin.

"This facility has an input-based warning system, which is now full of ghost hounds. I'm trying to use the equipment in the facility to search for nearby users and temporarily set up a communication network."

"Leaving aside whether you'll encounter those things again, you wouldn't even be able to break through those ghostly hounds on top of that..."

Qi Wei's few words left everyone perplexed.

Everyone could only wait for Qiwei to skillfully operate the network within the core facility. "These devices are old... but I've never seen them before. Hopefully, they'll be useful."

As the network cable was plugged in, Qi Wei's two long, straight legs slowly went limp, and she half-knelt on the ground. The cigarette butt in her mouth was still burning, but this time she didn't inhale—

Time passed by, and while everyone was taking care of Sasha, they all looked towards Qiwei.

Although Qiwei's skills were not great, she was careful enough.

The first thing she did upon entering the deep web was to find Sasha's exit route and carefully check if there were any Trojan horses or similar programs on it. Sasha's exit route was extremely good, so she simply copied it and used it directly.

Furthermore, Qiwei didn't forget that her first step was to tamper with the device permissions, so she didn't go to the end of the path out of curiosity to see the network attack situation. She discovered that these devices all had AI-style control processes to some extent...

"Hopefully we won't get caught."

Fortunately, the monitoring programs for some network-connected devices are not complicated, and are even less complex than some simple watchdog programs on the market.

The AI ​​program's mind seemed elsewhere; she noticed at least four or five more hellhound machines wandering around the facility.

After temporarily taking over the camera permissions, Qiwei burned them one by one by drastically increasing the power, thus reducing the probability of the hellhound being guided into an attack.

Next, we'll use the device to search...

The search for equipment was faster than expected, but upon closer inspection, they all seemed to be hounds, likely creatures that had infiltrated the facility in an attempt to find their group…

Has Rin lost all her power in Dogville?
The data was moving faster and faster, and aside from some data whose affiliation was unclear, she dared not spread information about the underground facility indiscriminately…

Even so, she did not give up.

It's like finally grabbing a thread to climb out of the darkness of life, and you're determined to showcase your abilities perfectly.

Qiwei didn't know if she could be considered talented.

If we consider the age at which she started her career, Qi Wei's career can almost be described as starting too late.

Compared to hackers who started exploring the online world at a very young age, Qiwei was already considered an "old blockhead" by hackers when she truly began using the internet.

Qiwei has a very good memory.

She can still recall in her dreams the ugly face of that guy from the factory after she rejected him too harshly... and so she was sold off like merchandise.

In the early days of the sex doll club, she considered giving up on herself. She hated feelings and nerves because they were the source of human suffering.

But it must be admitted that pain often changes people.

Having a good memory may be a gift, or it may be a punishment.

New suffering began when she learned to shut down her senses to adapt to this sordid job.

I lost my jaw and the right to eat. The gorilla's arm strength is really great. That day, I saw what my wisdom tooth, which I would never be able to see in its entirety, looked like...

A sex doll that has lost its marketability is naturally destined to be discarded.
However, her photographic memory gave her a chance to be reborn.

In just one year, Qiwei used the techniques she had learned to burn the factory and the sex club to the ground, including those two disgusting "things".

Qiwei could only find even the slightest bit of familiar code in this data…

Please, it only takes a tiny bit of code.

She knew very well that as long as she helped this man, she could overcome the fact that she had been wallowing in the mire of Night City for more than ten years.

Qiwei's image in cyberspace is that of a tall, slender woman with pale yellow eyes and a delicate face, just like her.

Before her lay all the data that the facility's wireless equipment could detect, dense lines of code scrolling up and down, her pupils moving in and out incessantly.

Right here!
Qiwei's gaze and the data both stopped simultaneously.

The night before Rin entered her deepest thoughts, she had helped her boss read network maps using the Pathfinder program, and there was this familiar device code in them.

That's something only sex dolls would have, and this device had been in Mr. Rin's room for a long time, so she immediately identified the person.

At this critical juncture, all Qiwei knew was that things were extremely chaotic outside, but was this woman acting with the Netherhound or fighting off the Netherhound for Rin?

correct!

Qiwei began to calculate rapidly, trying to determine the relationship between the Ghost Dog device and the woman by observing their spatial movements.

No complex calculations are required, only memory, and it is instantaneous memory.

It's like watching several movies simultaneously, then suddenly pausing and being asked to describe the details of a particular scene and compare them...

Climb up, Qiwei.

She kept telling herself that.

The atmosphere grew increasingly tense. Several minutes had passed, and Rebecca wasn't sure if this would work. Although she didn't understand the internet, Lin Yue was about to disappear from Sasha's life—

What's the difference between this and waiting for a bomb countdown?
Her gaze lingered on Qi Wei and Lin Yue without ever leaving them, and Pila, unusually, refrained from her sharp tongue, ready to step onto the ground at any moment...

"call…"

Qi Wei's neck twitched mechanically, and her distorted electronic voice blared from the loudspeaker in the control room, "I've done all I can. If they can't find more helpers proficient in networks..."

"Then it's really over."

"Have you made contact?"

Rebecca said with some surprise.

Qiwei replied, "It's Rin's informant. He seems to be around here. He should be considered one of our people... Well, at this critical juncture, we have no choice but to believe him."

"Bring that girl over."

Rebecca hesitated for a moment and glanced at Dorio.

Finally, Sasha, with her eyes tightly closed, was brought back into the core—

"Put her in front of me, disconnect her human-computer interaction cable, I need to borrow and share computing power... I hope there's still just a sliver of a chance..."

Qiwei didn't even have time to marvel at her excellent performance at the critical point; what she needed to do now was quickly get back online.

As the message "Data is uploading" appeared, Qiwei's virtual avatar focused its gaze on a dark path within the data fortress barrier, shimmering with a blood-red light...

……
-
"Ms. Miles, do you mean that Song Zhaomei was targeted by Arasaka during a Black Wall test?"

"A man in the company's military uniform asked in a deep voice at the board meeting of the military technology company."

No one knows how much benefit the Lark gained for Miles through the Black Wall, but when the military technology team got their hands on the Lark's vital signs data, their expressions weren't very pleasant.

"Yes."

A woman adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses; she had the typical white elite face.

"But looking at the data, Song Zhaomei's remaining cell activity is very poor. Uh... excuse me for being blunt, Mr. President, Song Zhaomei now has no human original tissues except for some digestive system components."

“I wonder if we should take some technical steps? It’s necessary to cut our losses in time… and according to the psychological reports, the negative impact of excessive prosthetics has already exceeded our expectations.”

Miles looked at the chief prosthetics expert who was in charge of a series of modifications to the Lark.

In military science, three types of people hold the highest status:
Soldiers, gun makers, prosthetic body makers.

Miles shook his head slightly. "Song Zhaomei is still young. It might not be a bad thing for Arakawa to know our technology, gentlemen..."

The entire board of directors began to whisper among themselves.

The man at the head of the table tapped his fingers on the table. "Arasaka has already exposed this matter. Do you think the Japanese will sit down and have a proper talk with us?"

"We haven't reached a conclusion on biotechnology yet, and there's serious negative news. This is going to be a disaster, Miles."

Miles crossed his arms. "Didn't Arasaka's Soul Killer also cause widespread protests? Gentlemen... the sky won't fall."

"Besides, who said Arasaka didn't do the same thing as us on the Black Wall?"

One shareholder asked, "Where's the evidence?"

Miles glanced at the cybersecurity bureaucrats who were mostly silent on the sidelines; military technology has always been a specialized field.

The man pondered for a moment before speaking, "Aside from internet surveillance, I don't believe Arasaka's hacker team has the capability to control Song Zhaomei—"

Someone asked, "What about the cyber police?"

The chief network expert nodded and said:
“Our spies in the internet surveillance system indicated that the internet surveillance system did not conduct a large-scale scan and investigation of the Black Wall during this incident, but there was indeed an incident in Night City where a wandering AI appeared inside the wall.”

"The report that guy submitted was intercepted by our special agents. Song Zhaomei's location is almost certain, but... the main thing is that the internet surveillance target is the mobile AI, and Song Zhaomei is helping the AI ​​control the Black Wall."

"That thing should be the guy from Arasaka that Miles was talking about."

An uproar!
Miles was no longer in a hurry.

What she wanted to say was to drag Arasaka down with her. Arasaka was waiting for intelligence from the Military Science Department. If the Military Science Department was completely clueless, then Arasaka would not hesitate to strike, and the Military Science Department would inevitably suffer heavy losses. But now that Arasaka himself was not clean either, it was time to sit down and talk.

As long as Song Zhaomei's help to him doesn't get out, nothing else matters.

The discussion lasted for a long time, but ultimately no conclusion was reached.

So the conversation naturally turned to Miles.

The politician, exuding a powerful aura, glanced around and said in the calmest tone, "The Night City Military Technology Division has a top-secret operation involving personnel from this Arasaka... You can see it on the screen."

"This individual was also involved in leaking our intelligence—"

“They are our enemies, but at this critical juncture, the internet censors cannot be allowed to know about this.”

Immediately afterwards, the woman presented her solution in a firm and resounding manner.

"I suggest that we address the source of intelligence for internet surveillance."

The senior officials of the military science department immediately changed their expressions.

……

　[That guy in the factory]: When Qiwei was a child, her parents sold her to a prosthetic factory. During this time, the foreman took a liking to Qiwei and tried to force himself on her. Qiwei resisted fiercely, which eventually led to her being sold to a sex doll club.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)