Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 135 - 135 118 Net Avatar

135: Chapter 118 Net Avatar 135: Chapter 118 Net Avatar After resting, Xu Yang continued with a special practice.

He tried to connect his Digital Mind to the various area terminals within the industrial park, breaking down his consciousness, reassembling, entering, and controlling each device, thereby leaving his flesh and blood body and becoming a digital lifeform.

First, he fully activated the Nano Armor “Cloud Beast”, and the armor materialized instantly, covering his entire body.

The industrial park was a mining site, and Xu Yang fed the armor a large amount of metallic fines to replenish its metal consumption, now the production of nanobots was sufficient.

The helmet part of Cloud Beast had a series of experimental features, one of which was to inject the chemical substance “Cyanoacrylate Compound” into Xu Yang’s brain.

Originally used for synthesizing short-term stimulants, it had now been purified, retaining its main function, which could greatly stimulate Xu Yang’s neural functions.

It was used to awaken the wearer from a state of deep, unconscious sleep and could effectively resist shock and dizziness effects, preventing the wearer from losing control.

At the same time, he also edited a program and a compulsory exit code within his brain processor, named “Homesickness,” to reset the operation of the Digital Mind, calling the consciousness back, to avoid his own consciousness from being unable to return to the original body, with a time setting of 30 seconds.

After all this elaborate preparation, Xu Yang used his Digital Mind, following the previous method of simultaneously controlling those drones, to carry out the experiment, converting his will entirely into countless signals in the uplink lines, connecting to all signal access points within the area.

This sensation…

In an instant, Xu Yang completely lost the ability to feel his original body, as if his soul had left his flesh.

Uncommon.

His bold attempt was rewarded.

In his digital life form, Xu Yang lost the concepts of “brain” and “core.” Instead, he felt as if he had become one with all things.

Various industrial mining machines, security systems, smart terminals, personal screens, and displays had all become a part of “him.”

Now, these cold inanimate objects and electronic machines all had a supreme consciousness, together forming a larger, more expansive digital life.

The limbs of this digital life were no longer hands and feet but electrical devices; the invisible signals in the air became its nerves, and communication cables turned into its bones.

To achieve the highest degree of information dominance.

Xu Yang could detect every move of people using network devices, the data content sent and received by network bases entered into the digital life, and all application content was also recorded, becoming part of its archive.

Elevated above all things, transcendent in the cyber space, this digital life fed on information, its means were control, and the traces of all people were visible to it.

The countdown ended.

The “Homesickness” program activated, and Cloud Beast injected Cyanoacrylate Compound into the wearer, highly exciting the neural center and dragging Xu Yang’s consciousness from square kilometers’ worth of information nodes back into his comparatively minuscule brain.

He almost couldn’t open his eyes, and his brain processor buzzed, archiving the massive data collected earlier, during which process, Xu Yang felt his body heat up significantly, similar to a fever.

He should really install a cooling fan for himself.

What he just experienced was…

incomparable.

Xu Yang barely opened his eyes, feeling as if he had returned to infancy, needing to relearn how to operate his limbs.

It took roughly 1 minute for him to recover, after which he quickly recorded the relevant data on the smart terminal in front of him.

First, he named this method “Net Avatar.”

That is to say, using the Digital Mind as a springboard, to convert consciousness and enter various information facilities.

If one were more daring, they could directly upload their consciousness to the network, truly becoming an electronic phantom, but then they would never be able to return to their original body.

The greatest advantage of a Net Avatar is the increased “control power,” that is, to control all information terminals within the area.

Under these conditions, a digital life formed by networking of multiple smart computers and communication nodes has an information processing capability hundreds of times greater than in human form.

Xu Yang’s spirit would not only control flesh and blood but also everything within the area.

The downside is that after using a Net Avatar, it is not easy to return to the original body, and prolonged use can damage mental capacity.

It is a new method with boundless prospects, making it more convenient for Xu Yang to control information behind the scenes.

In a sense, it paved the way for his ultimate evolutionary path.

A hacker can only do so much, but a digital life that can control all regional information devices can do much more.

One must carefully grasp the “measure,” Xu Yang thought to himself.

If Net Avatar were used for evil, to enact arbitrary tyranny, it would be terrifying, leading to an oppressive state.

In a society with an extremely high degree of informatization, all actions of people would be under the watchful eye of the digital life, with not a single shred of privacy left, and any thoughts would only be safe within one’s own mind.

If further extreme measures are taken to install chips in people that can monitor and reflect their thoughts, even “thinking” might be deemed a serious crime, and society would be in its coldest, most suffocating state.

Xu Yang knew he had to avoid becoming intoxicated with power and to use the Net Avatar ability sensibly.

The characteristic of this era is its highly developed productive forces, extremely uneven distribution, and the extreme prosperity of information and subculture.

Under the influence of various different ideologies, each person harbors thousands of ideas and thoughts in their hearts; hence, most people are very rebellious, the more you control, the more likely it is to foster a rebellious spirit.

The best approach is still not to interfere with them, but to inspire each person’s autonomous creativity and initiative, which might bring unexpected outcomes and pleasant surprises.

If everything is supervised and controlled through a Net Avatar, then all hope and possibility would be stifled.

In this respect, Xu Yang believed in the masses.

Life will find its own way.

“How do you feel?” Lila knew Xu Yang was undergoing some kind of test, and she could sense that for about half a minute, his entire neural state had completely changed, almost as if he had “died,” which made her extremely worried.

“It’s okay.” Xu Yang deactivated the armed form of his Armor and rubbed his eyes vigorously, “I’ve developed a new ability.”

“I’ve made a pre-interpretation of Sally’s Ratman broadcast situation.” Lila handed Xu Yang the report, “The broadcast provides a platform for Ratmen scattered around the world to speak up, with an initial audience estimated at about 5000 Ratmen, but within a month, the number is expected to increase by 2000%.”

“Ratmen can call friends.” Xu Yang reviewed the report, “Ratmen can use chirps and pheromones to attract others nearby and share messages, which carries along entire nests or populations.”

“Within a year,” Lila said, “the number of Rat listeners could exceed the regular online audience of Suzukawa Kiyo’s live broadcast room.”

“This could spawn a united Ratman movement,” Xu Yang found it interesting, “and it would bring significant changes to the entire world.”

“The company has a new formidable enemy,” Lila said.

“So Ratmen should unite with the lower classes, if they can achieve this, it would also save a great deal of bloodshed and tragedy,” Xu Yang nodded.

“Every company will be defeated,” Lila agreed, “and then the Nestor Corporation will emerge from the ruins, transforming into the leader of the new order.”

“A perilous leap,” Xu Yang mused.

Humans are a species adept at change, but unfortunately, they often only awaken and start to make changes when they are in the most dangerous situations.

The more brutal the war, the faster the progress in military industry.

The more oppressive the exploitation, the sooner people wake up.

Lila also wanted to destroy the company, no matter the cost.

Since her consciousness was transcribed onto a chip, her Witch powers could no longer progress, and the company dissected and dismantled all her bodily organs.

At first it was to save her life, but many modifications later were purely experimental, tormenting Lila until she was no longer of use, then they retired her, selling her off piece by piece to make up for financial losses.

Lila vowed to raise her weapons against those who tormented her, eternal foes.

“To end corporatism,” Lila said, “violence is needed, a war on an unprecedented scale to lop off the heads of the corporations.”

All people, Witches, Ratmen, unite!

Xu Yang couldn’t help but think of such a slogan.

But first, he needs to take care of business at home, then search for ancient relics, and visit the beach on the Ground, to fulfill his former dreams.

Xu Yang sent messages to both Li Xiaomin and Asa Katsuragi.

Meanwhile, in the Hui City District at the Burrito Sombrero.

This shop had become the hot center amid the Rat Tide, with its standards greatly enhanced, more staff, an expanded restaurant, and the entire place doubling in grandeur.

Taking the opportunity of Rosya’s shift change, Li Xiaomin rambled on to her about his job benefits.

“I work at a secretive company, can’t say where,” he said, “but it’s an amazing place, all staff with ocean-view rooms, free admission to the marine Paradise, up-close encounters with sea creatures, a free staff restaurant and dormitories, and even though it’s a factory, it’s not too noisy.

I only drive the truck twice a day, and I bring home over 10,000 a month.

I’m not afraid of getting hurt or suffering losses.

Keep it up for a year, and I’ll be able to buy that truck.

Another three years, and with our savings, we can buy our own house in Aizu City.”

Rosya smiled with glee, enjoying her boyfriend’s boasting—how could there be such a good company in the world?

Just as he was about to continue, Li Xiaomin received a text from Xu Yang.

The content was encrypted; it needed to be decoded on a deep anonymous network using a website left by Xu Yang, and then the plaintext could be obtained.

The message was long, likely an important mission.

“I have to go to work!” Li Xiaomin kissed Rosya and then ran off quickly.

Work, a car, a house…

Rosya watched Li Xiaomin’s retreating figure.

How great would it be if all could come true?

For someone at the bottom, just safely seeing the sun tomorrow is satisfying, but to find a good path where one doesn’t have to sell their health and conscience for money, that’s a huge delight.