Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 267 Fools and Geniuses [6.2K]

In the cramped and dimly lit room, there was only a light source with a pale green glow, which made the smooth gray walls reflect an eerie and oppressive color.

A faint sob...

Something was rustling on the ground, a sound that shouldn't exist in this era—

It looks like someone is writing on the floor with a marker or something similar.

"The key point here... well, to have the behavior regulator bypass the bionic nerves of the entire torso and rewrite the underlying logic—"

"It's coming soon."

A pair of bloodshot eyes, only two fists' distance from the ground, a shiny scalp amidst messy, slightly curly hair, trembled slightly as the pen tip traced the path of writing in his hand. "What is the code value for this place? Getting old... my memory is getting a bit bad."

"I need to ask someone—"

"Hey! Software engineer, what should the coupling data be for this part?"

The short, stout man, whose age was hard to guess, suddenly looked up and stared at the source of the incessant sobbing coming from the corner!
He is the chief of the state's prosthetic team.

Curled up in the corner, hugging her knees, the woman, clearly of Asian descent, wore a dirty lab coat. Hearing the question, she looked up; her eyeliner, smudged with tears, and the lack of rest made her eye sockets appear deeply sunken.

Seeing the team leader looking like she had a big surprise, she first twitched her lips, unsure whether she was crying or laughing, and then let out a sob.

"It's pointless now, we're about to be executed... Damn it, they clearly said we could choose whether to leave voluntarily, why wasn't it us?!"

"This vile and filthy corporate web crawler—is my life going to end here?!"

The woman's sudden hysteria startled the scientist from the state who had spoken up. The excitement in his eyes gradually turned into confusion. He tried to get up but staggered a few steps before slowly walking towards the woman, his back bent.

"What are you talking about, you idiot?"

The woman was taken aback, then looked at the Honshu scientist with a bluish glow on his face with a puzzled expression.

In her eyes, this guy with his unfathomable eyes and trembling voice became increasingly terrifying.

This made the female researcher, who was already on the verge of a mental breakdown, widen her eyes, then grit her teeth and roar, "We're going to be killed! What's the point of having that data!"

Even though the woman's voice was deafening, the scientist remained seated, hands on his knees, quietly observing her various expressions and micro-expressions. Panic and helplessness—these only disappointed him further.

He sighed and slowly got up.

“Back in this state, I already thought you weren’t a qualified student. You may seem to have a good grasp of science, but actually you are far from it.”

"Uh?"

The female researcher was stunned.

“They are monitoring our progress. That security chief named Suzuki, at my request, put you in this cell of mine because I need your data to complete the final step. I want the answers I want.”

The scientist, hands behind his back and swaying his head, walked to a blank area that was not yet filled with numbers. He stared solemnly at the wall, saying, "Science should not be defeated by fear. Even now, only by immersing ourselves in this matter can we wash away fear."

"Why...Professor Yajima?"

The woman's voice trembled uncontrollably, "Even if we go back, Arasaka won't let us go. Our families, our friends... everything will be gone."

Shijima Shoyu suddenly smiled.

"You think this is a rare opportunity to gain higher authority and better treatment in your home state—but you, in your cleverness, haven't noticed a problem: those standing here are all science pilgrims without any weaknesses. You swore to the officer who picked us up in your home state that you would work twice as hard for this."

"You don't want to lose anything, yet you want to gain everything... There's no such thing as a free lunch."

Shijima Shoyu quietly looked at the woman. "Nishiyama, if you don't want to die, tell me the data. I think... he might let you go. I really find it very troublesome to have a student like you. You're not the kind of student I want at all."

The woman's eyes immediately lit up.

“My database!”

He frantically searched his body, "The chip, the damn chip!"

Shidao sighed.

The woman clutched her head, her voice trembling as she tried to search through the vast sea of ​​data, "[G-code] (machine tool instructions)... uh, G00 is..."

Shidao held the pen very steadily.

He didn't feel like a prisoner at this moment, because he knew what a great cause he was doing here was—and that's no exaggeration. The control of large corporations is extremely strict, and he sensed many opportunities in the seemingly knock-off prosthetic body of that young man. It was an unprecedented technological breakthrough!
Clumsy imitation is often the beginning of a breakthrough.

He wanted to abandon all his so-called identity and career here, and thoroughly explore the intricate connections behind his prosthetic body.

This is what he loves most.

Boom!
The woman's voice reporting data abruptly stopped!

The automatic door opened, revealing a massive creature resembling a withered giant. Its limbs were long and thin, but its upper body was strong. It was almost touching the door frame, which was at least two meters tall. It was carrying a tray of food and appeared to be injured. Its body was covered in prosthetic skin with pins and bandages wrapped around its arms. Its prosthetic arms, which resembled spider legs, were picking its teeth, and its prosthetic eyes gleamed with a blood-red light.

"Hey, smart brains, Big Brother Pila from Night City has brought us food!"

"Dang Dang Dang!"

Pila chuckled and stepped through the gate.

"what!!!!"

A woman's shrill scream came from the right, startling him so much that he stood on one leg, spilling some of the milk from the tray in his hand.

"What the hell?! Are you crazy?!"

Pila was still in shock. He stared at the woman huddled in the corner, her eyes wide open, looking absolutely terrifying! No, a crazy woman!

It's only been closed for a day.
Is this how it ended up?
Pila pouted, then turned her head and saw the lost island standing nearby—

With a cigarette dangling from his lips, he didn't really look like he was saying hello; he looked more like a rude kidnapper, and the forced smile he gave seemed more like the kind of smile someone would give a child saying, "Call your mom and dad and ask them for some money..."

"Scientists, it's time to eat."

Pila carefully placed the tray on the ground, then seemed to feel uneasy. Out of respect, she glanced around and saw a table in the distance with food that had hardly been touched. She slowly walked over to it.

"do not move!"

Pila couldn't take it anymore.

He immediately pulled out a pistol from his waist, his slender arm spun 180 degrees, and pointed the gun at the short, fat old man who was less than 1.7 meters tall.

Oh shit…

Pila's cigarette butt emitted wisps of smoke as he stared at the man with ill intent, only to discover that the man had no weapons, just a marker pointing at the ground beneath Pila's feet.

As if oblivious to the black muzzle of a gun hovering above his forehead, Shidao said, "You stepped on my drawing, kid."

Pila cursed under her breath, "Oh no!"

Before delivering the food, he had promised Rin that he would treat the scientists from Honshu peacefully.

He quickly chuckled awkwardly and put away his gun. He stood on tiptoe and looked down. He was about to deliver the food when he stared incredulously at the diagram of the prosthetic body's functional structure on the ground, which was comparable to a low-intelligence AI-assisted drawing. He looked back and forth between the old man and the thing on the ground several times.

"You... drew this?"

Pila forgot that she had come to deliver food, and just clicked her tongue in amazement, "Old man, you're getting tired of this. You should have said you wanted to do research earlier! Someone would have taken you there."

Unexpectedly, Shidao stepped forward and asked, "Really?"

While looking at the diagram, Pila absentmindedly said, "Hmm... Oh my, Professor Shijima, your method is way too damn extravagant! Reconstructing the prosthetic body structure, according to Arasaka's standards, have you even considered how much backup resources and high-precision machine tools that would require?"

Shidao walked up with his hands behind his back, curiously examining this guy who was completely different from the stereotypical image of a tech expert. "You can understand it?"

Pila looked at the food in his hand, then suddenly stretched out his prosthetic arm to the side, making the food plate clink.

"This kind of technology isn't even military-grade anymore; it's a prototype. So you mean you're planning to have Honshu cooperate in redesigning the basic prosthetic body structure, right? But look at us now… Arasaka probably wants to riddle everyone here with bullets—"

"You're still planning to do this? Dream on!"

Pila plopped down on the ground. Although the idea of ​​losing the island could not be realized now, this thing was a work of art. Even if he couldn't make it, Pila still loved watching the process and steps of the "regular army" when making prosthetic body-related technologies and all sorts of things that he couldn't touch at the bottom level.

I really want to get this tattooed on my body!
Shidao squatted down in front of Pila, his eyes filled with both excitement and disappointment. He, who had never cared about anything except prosthetic technology, actually asked for the first time what had happened at this place disguised as a logistics company.

"It's nothing much, just a fight with Arasaka from Night City."

After Pira finished speaking, the screaming and crying woman kept muttering, "It's over, it's over!"

Lost Island stopped Pila from getting up; he was more concerned about whether there was another place where this basic prosthetic framework could be built.

"What's your name...?"

Pira waved his hand. "Pira! They all call me Pira. Professor, can I take a picture of this? Just for appreciation, not for social media!"

The islander didn't know why he was laughing; this chattering fellow was, in theory, facing immense pressure and danger.

Imagine this: Pira's boss has fallen out with Arasaka, yet he's here showing appreciation for the scientific research on Lost Island, which makes Lost Island happy.

“Pira, although you didn’t understand this prosthetic body architecture, what I want to say is that I’ve always adhered to the principle of having a mature basic architecture and bold expansion and extensions.”

Piram, whose thought process had caught up with that of the island's, stroked his chin.

"Oh, you mean this thing is used a lot in this state?"

Shidao nodded.

"Without the foundation, this thing cannot be produced, perhaps..."

After thinking about it, those scientific devices that cost millions of euros, things involving the company's core technologies, are simply beyond our ability to buy...

"These devices are unavailable, even with money; only large corporate laboratories can support them."

Pila looked at Shidao, whose eyes had darkened several shades, pondered for a moment, and then suddenly reached out and patted Shidao on the shoulder, "Give me the pen, old man."

Shi Dao subconsciously handed him the pen.

Pila took a pen and drew an ugly circle on the interlocking human figures on the ground.

Then, he punched the woman who was listening to the conversation and knocked her unconscious!
Shidao didn't even blink. Pila perfectly embodied the elements of being bold and meticulous. He could share some things with Shidao, but he absolutely couldn't listen to this indecisive woman.

The meticulous approach of cyberpunks. Pila, withdrawing her hand, muttered, "Why don't we just deal with Arasaka directly?"

Pira, upon hearing the astonishing words, was instantly stunned.

Need?
The character "要" (yào) in this context... I think it's not a normal "要".

The room was eerily silent.

Pira's words then confirmed his guess.

"Since we've already offended Arasaka to this extent, we can just take apart the prototype, strip away its internal structure, and use it on Rin, right?"

"Just because there's nothing there doesn't mean we can't steal it?"

Seeing that Shidao didn't answer for a long time, Pila nudged the old man with his arm, "Hey! You really want to study that guy's prosthetic body, don't you?"

As the "mad scientist" nodded, Pila flashed a set of perfectly aligned teeth. "I fucking want that too! I'm going crazy with it. I both love and hate that kind of thing on that bastard who almost slept with my sister—"

Suddenly, Shidao said in a deep voice, "But... would a place like Night City have a prototype machine?"

Pila's smile widened. "Of course there are, hehe, and they're really awesome. Even if someone sets one up, we brothers can just take it apart, right...?"

After saying all this, Pila noticed that Shidao was looking at her with a strange expression.

"Hey…"

Suddenly, Shidao reached out his hand, startling Pila. "Your brain is only missing a little scientific knowledge to be a genius."

Pila was stunned for several seconds before she stopped smiling.

"Okay, then I have a serious question for you." He pulled out his gun. "You guys are actually people we're keeping around to try and trade benefits with Arasaka, but... after what we've said today, you need to think carefully. If you want to stay—"

The automatic door suddenly opened.

Suzuki walked in with a cold expression. "Kuso... Did Rin-sama let you stay here for so long? Tell me everything?"

Upon seeing that it was Suzuki who had entered, Pila clicked his tongue, braced himself on one hand, and twirled the gun on his finger like a toy.

Suzuki turned and bowed to Shijima Shoyu. “I’m sorry, Professor. Pilar likes to joke. Actually, what Rin-sama, no, what Rin-sama means is that you all should leave here. There may be a lot of trouble afterward. You are scientists and technicians sent by Arasaka and you shouldn’t have to bear this.”

"As for the temporary restriction of your freedom, I sincerely apologize; it's a special circumstance—"

Please understand!

When Suzuki apologized, he bowed deeply, which immediately displeased Pila, who was standing next to him.

Rin did say that to him, but... he had wanted to learn something in this area more than once, and seeing that the opportunity was about to be lost, he was extremely frustrated.

Suzuki's hand tightened.

In fact, he shared the same idea as Pira: even if they were forced at gunpoint, they had to get these people to resolve the prosthetic body problem. However, Rin's thinking was completely different. This scientific team had already undergone Suzuki's purge, and the double agents who delivered information to Nitta Kazuya were all purged.

Furthermore, Rin felt that forcing the other party was a ticking time bomb. If the prosthetic body was repaired and used without restraint, it would be fatal if problems arose.

Pila exclaimed, "That old man definitely wants to get that cybernetic body, but what's that kid up to?"

Shidao slowly stood up, staring at the map below.

"Black wall..."

Suzuki straightened up when he heard the two words that mentioned Rin, and listened quietly.

"Behind that lies hell, a treasure trove that buries scientific achievements—I'm really curious to see what kind of power these things can unleash."

Shijima looked at Suzuki, "Can you understand how I feel?"

Pila picked at his ear; he always felt that the Japanese spoke in a roundabout way.

Just say I want to!
Suzuki looked troubled, because if he had to keep a close watch on them, would highly educated people from such an outstanding team in Honshu be able to work wholeheartedly?
Looking at the data and various lines covering the floor and walls, Shidao seemed to be making a major, difficult decision.

“If you don’t mind, please let Mr. Pila join my team. He can kill me if anything seems amiss, and I can teach him everything I’ve ever learned, just like I would teach a student. Once the relevant prototype from this state appears in Night City, I hope you can seize it for this research.”

“My words can also be used as evidence in court. I accept the assassination and am willing to accept the sanctions of the company law.”

Upon hearing this, Suzuki's face twitched.

The infatuated look in this guy's eyes when he saw Rin's cybernetic body was no joke. He simply couldn't understand what these guys who had spent their lives studying science were thinking. He not only betrayed Arasaka for the cybernetic body, but he also betrayed everything.

"Lord Lai Xuan said that this group of people from this prefecture were all carefully selected, and your boss—Rin—will understand what that means."

Suzuki thought for a moment, then bowed slightly, and then bowed to Pira as well.

His thinking was simple: when he asked someone for a favor, he would always show them the utmost respect, saying, "Then I'll leave it to you!"

Just as Suzuki was about to turn around and talk to Rin about these things, Shijima suddenly said, "Please wait a moment."

Suzuki, who had stopped in place, saw Shijima point to the side. Knowing what was happening inside the door, he naturally knew that Shijima was talking about the unconscious woman.

"Let her go back to her home state. She doesn't know about the robbery of the cybernetic structure, and you have hackers too. Short-term memory erasure isn't difficult, is it?"

Suzuki's brows furrowed deeply.

“She’s your deputy, the youngest researcher in the state. Send her back…”

Shijima quietly watched Suzuki.

"When this team came to this city, there were fifteen people in total. Unfortunately, I will never see three of them again—they were all my outstanding students. It's a pity that they chose to do other things outside of their main jobs."

“I can’t criticize their stance, because I’ve also abandoned my stance for the dreams I want to pursue.”

"But that child is absolutely not suited to be here."

Suzuki's thin lips squeezed out a sentence.

"Aren't you afraid that she'll rival your skills in Arasaka? As far as I know, she's not the kind of unqualified student you're describing."

The islander slowly clenched his two hands into fists.

Pila could see it clearly…

It's probably like this: he would use all sorts of words to belittle Rebecca, but Rebecca is the most important person to him, right?
"You want to protect her?"

Suzuki was a bit ruthless.

He didn't care what Boss Rin thought; he had to eliminate all possible factors. After all, Arasaka already possessed the technology for the Black Wall cybernetic body, and if another successor from a lost island were to return, the problem would only become more serious.

Shidao slowly closed his eyes.

"I have said that she is scientifically literate and intelligent in scientific theory, but she was defeated by a fool of fear."

“When a person’s mind is not up to her abilities, keeping her may not be a good thing. This is just my personal request. If it is not possible... then please do not harm her life. I will repair the prosthetic body according to the plan I just discussed with Pira, and may even make it better.”

Suzuki's eyes darted back and forth between the island and the woman.

"Professor Shijima, Boss Rin has agreed to arrange a route for researchers who want to leave this place to escape back to the Arasaka headquarters in Night City... However, we cannot guarantee whether Arasaka will investigate you. You will be responsible for the consequences."

They seemed completely unprepared for Suzuki's quick response.

The burly samurai pointed to his ear, indicating that Rin had been listening from the beginning.

Suzuki bowed slightly, and when he raised his head, he said slowly, "Then please rest."

Without waiting for Pila's reply, he reached out and pulled the unconscious woman off the bed, hoisted her onto his shoulder, and left the cell.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Pila wanted to explain something, but unexpectedly, Shidao sat cross-legged on the ground just like her, speaking in a light tone, "It seems your boss isn't quite a qualified company leader?"

Pila raised an eyebrow.

Wow, that's really bold...

Pira denied it, "No, he's just tired, I'm sure of it."

Shidao looked at Pila, whose expression was inscrutable, with surprise.

"No one would like the company's system, right? After all, no one expected such a big change to happen. If he's still one of Arasaka's people, how do you think your fate will be any different from those three people's?"

Pila's voice continued softly into the ears of the islander.

"This kind of guy is the real fit for the company."

However, before Shidao could even process what those words meant...

Pila stretched out his hand in front of Shidao, and his talkative nature was on full display once again.

"You have no idea how annoying that bastard is. He insisted that I go to Arasaka to get some kind of technical expert certification. I begged him to let me join the science team, but he just brushed me off with some nonsense. I know I'm a piece of gold, and I'll shine wherever I am!"

Shidao felt it was necessary to teach some of the overconfident guys a lesson.

He wiped the data off the smooth floor with his palm.

"Since he's a genius..."

On the ground, the island wrote complex, purely theoretical problems. "Then it's no longer the kind of technical work you do, like piecing together toys. No matter what channel you came from, whether it's because of interest or something else, you've only learned a small part of what you like, but that little bit is far from enough."

Are you ready for the entrance exam?

Pila stared blankly at the theoretical question on the ground, which she knew what to do when separated, but couldn't decipher when put together.

Losing the island is like playing a game of Go with children on the ground, the pen tip pointing to those complex and mysterious formulas and theoretical data—

"So... let me see if you're really a genius."

“Pira”.

……

……

(End of this chapter)