Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 303 - 274: The Light of Life

Chapter 303: Chapter 274: The Light of Life

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"But you are indeed more... frail than usual," Farosa observed Xu Yang.

Just as Xu Yang knew every detail of Farosa inside and out, Farosa was also crystal clear about every aspect of Xu Yang’s behavior. She could tell at a glance whether he was well or not.

"I just need some time to adjust," Xu Yang leaned back and sat down on the red leather sofa. He massaged his forehead, sinking into a state of tangled chaos, sometimes paralyzed and stiff without feeling, though thankfully the sensation was transient and quickly passed.

Most importantly, he experienced illusions, as if he were still amidst the torrents of massive data streams, with such hallucinatory frequency that it seemed he was still using fiber-optic cables as blood vessels and signals as nerves, his thoughts flying, his vision wide.

Once back in his original body, it was hard to adapt, and he even wanted to leave behind the limitations of flesh and blood forever.

The Digital Mind panel lit up with a warning, suggesting he check the facilities in the building. Xu Yang discovered many unusual logs in the devices, roughly categorized into two conditions.

One was that components were burnt out due to overloading during operation; the other was the creation of a large amount of redundant data, the remnants of Xu Yang’s own psychological activities that had inadvertently remained in these subnetworks.

That’s it. Xu Yang suddenly realized.

Every moment, humans produce messy thoughts, but with a healthy brain mechanism, there’s enough capacity to forget and decompose them. However, in a digital life state, the vast psychological activities grew exponentially, all stored in the form of data, greatly affecting the storage capacity available in various terminals.

He sorted through the available capacity. Just entering the digital life state for a mere 4 seconds had already generated 780g of thought files, most of which were indecipherable, meaningless subconscious texts.

"Take a look." Xu Yang cut out some fragments of subconscious documents and projected them for Farosa to see.

"What a bunch of dream talk and nonsense," Farosa said in surprise, having never seen such fragmented speech.

The subconscious is chaotic, like the part of the iceberg beneath the sea. Xu Yang mused. The brain’s unresolved matters were faithfully recorded by the digital nerves.

"This is the cause of the dizziness." Xu Yang understood, "The generated memories are too many; no wonder I felt like something of mine was left inside the building. It’s all the various psychological activities I’ve digitalized."

In a digital life form, thinking is no longer done with one brain but with 20 or 30 terminal machines operating in parallel, consuming a great amount of electricity. The entire building originally had a massive battery pack prepared for six months of refuge electricity, which was now 70% depleted.

This time I’ve pretty much figured it out—I’ve exchanged the resources on hand for experimental data. Xu Yang knew now. It seemed that the existence of digital high-end beings and the powerful figures on the mystical side were similar; the operations every moment consumed tremendous resources, demanding higher requirements for electricity, servers, and computing cores.

He would continue exploring when financial and technical strength took a step upwards. And Xu Yang had an optimistic attitude towards technology, willing to keep experimenting in the future.

Farosa noticed Xu Yang’s complete fascination with technology. Her gaze shifted, deciding to leave this pursuit for him to decide; perhaps he would really carve out a new path.

"I believe in you," Farosa said softly, then turned to 101, "Let’s go, take me to see the robots and the Rat."

led Farosa to leap to Aizu City’s safe house.

"We should go too." Xu Yang stood up, drank a cup of black coffee, and then went to find the missing Du Qianqian.

"Let’s go!" 102 protected Xu Yang as he left Shijin Mansion to search for someone.

For Du Qianqian, she was already done for.

When the Martinez unexpectedly appeared in the sky over Anjiu City, Du Qianqian was still strolling outside the Federro Mc Gee Shopping Plaza.

She pondered many things, including the birth and destruction of the Witch, the origins of morals and law, the obliteration of nations, and the rise of corporations.

When the monstrous behemoth became visible and the huge ship took to the sky, she, like everyone else, was taken aback, scared out of her wits, feeling her life was in grave danger,

There was an explosion, the city became chaotic, vehicles fled, clogging the streets to the point where water couldn’t pass through, many people simply abandoned their cars to run for their lives, and Du Qianqian, in a transformed state as a middle-aged man, also ran towards the outskirts of the city with the crowd.

After a round of air strikes, most of the major roads and transportation nodes were destroyed. Neutral companies sealed off the borders of their territories, preventing unrelated people from trespassing, and only VIP clients could pass the barriers safely. People were trapped on the streets with widespread wailing, unable to move, with shuttle machines hurriedly escaping overhead; the whole city was in utter chaos.

Du Qianqian, amidst the refugees, was terrified, picked up the phone to find no signal, and then heavy rain began, with everything unavoidably heading towards destruction and chaos.

Black Fire Innovation people are too ruthless. Du Qianqian was nervous. Maybe I should transform into someone from Blackfire to blend in.

Huang Feng? She suddenly thought of an interesting choice—if only she could become Huang Feng.

Huang Feng... Huang Feng...

No magic power was activated. Ah, what am I thinking! Huang Feng definitely isn’t that guy’s real name—who would actually have such a name?

Du Qianqian walked in circles on the spot, constantly questioning herself.

Du Qianqian, oh Du Qianqian, you’re smart, have a brain, you have to come up with a solution. In this dangerous city without communication means and lurking dangers...

She ran towards a small café on the street edge instinctively, knowing she had no vehicles for escape, the best method currently was to hide within buildings to avoid the harm.

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Only two short-skirted corporate women were hiding in the café, panic-stricken in their light gray business uniforms. As soon as Du Qianqian, disguised as an old man, stepped in, panic spread across their faces, and they hastily turned their eyes to the Century Pure Land board hanging at the entrance. Seeing it silent and still, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid," Du Qianqian maintained her disguise, speaking with a man’s gruff voice.

She flipped over to hide behind the counter—joining the two women in hiding. The café’s part-time staff had already fled; now, only the three of them remained.

"No idea what happened..."

"So scary..."

In the midst of the confusion, the two corporate women were naturally extremely tense and fearful. Corporate warfare was cruel and merciless, with everyone facing mortal danger, and the threat of death had never been so close.

Du Qianqian felt at a loss for words and couldn’t comfort them. Being in the guise of an old man, it was inappropriate for her to interact with them. Changing back to her female form would expose her Witch identity, leaving her in an awkward position. For now, she could only squat behind the counter, sharing their fright.

Where were the heroes? Where was the savior?

Explosions and earthquakes alternated, causing the counter to shake, glass cracked, and the ingredients cabinet behind them unexpectedly toppled over. They dodged in a panic as milk, coffee beans, and sugar canisters scattered across the floor with a loud crash—as terrifying to them as if the noise was pounding on their own hearts. Only when the rolling sounds of bottles and cans around the floor ceased did their emotions start to settle slightly.

A Black Fire Assault Troop parachuted onto the street outside the store, seeming to have gotten separated from his comrades during the drop, and hurried along the street.

With the glass storefront transparent, he glanced over and saw the three trembling figures hiding in the café. The interplay of light and shadow made it hard to see clearly, mistaking them for hiding enemies, he immediately raised his rifle and fired at them. Bullets whizzed by, shattering the glass and wounding Du Qianqian in the stomach.

"Ah—" Du Qianqian let out a pained cry, still using the man’s voice and appearance. The other two corporate women were startled to see Du Qianqian fall to the ground, becoming utterly panicked.

The soldier from outside rushed in with his gun ready.

"Please show your credit code, and comply with..."

He fired a shot at the Century Pure Land board, silencing it, and then dove behind the counter, lowering his head to see they were only three civilians, slightly lowering his guard.

Du Qianqian held her breath, closed her eyes, and played dead, trying her best to endure the pain.

With no supplies on her and having been shot, she was certain to die.

She had to take out the soldier in front of her... He definitely had medicine on him.

The soldier’s upper face was covered with a black aiming-assist helmet. He showed the three Archipelago Continent civilians an ugly smile—it was threatening, yet also seemed like a boast—as he pointed the scope at them, observing the trembling women from the corporation.

Du Qianqian had been playing dead on the ground for a while, drawing on her espionage skills, waiting for the right moment to strike. Seizing an opportunity while the enemy was off guard, she pulled out her sidearm from her waist and aimed it at the soldier as she fired.

Bang!

The bullet hit, causing him to stagger; his body leaned dramatically. Du Qianqian fired several more shots until the enemy collapsed.

"Help, help me get..." Clutching the gunshot wound on her waist, Du Qianqian knelt on one knee, blood from her true body spurting continuously from beneath the illusionary garment of magic, her condition extremely dire.

The two corporate women looked at each other and, more or less in agreement, ran out of the café.

"Save—save—" No longer able to support her own weight, Du Qianqian collapsed onto the floor and reached out toward their retreating figures, only to watch them running off into the distance, disappearing from sight.

Blood loss caused Du Qianqian to pass out for a long time, and, luckily, no enemy came looking for the isolated soldier. When she opened her eyes, the doors stood wide open, the windows were broken, and the violent storm outside had already flooded the store, the rushing water chilling her hands and feet and jolting her awake.

Du Qianqian crawled forward, her magic having naturally worn off, returning to her normal state. In front of her lay the dead soldier, looking like a pale zombie with his mouth open, also drenched in the rainwater. She moved forward, lying flat like a snake, biting open the zipper of the soldier’s tactical waist pack with her teeth. She licked inside until she found a healing injection, then bit it out with her teeth and held the syringe in her mouth.

Lying on the ground, she felt a clear temperature difference in her body, the wetness underneath felt cold, while the parts exposed to the air felt boiling hot.

With her tongue, Du Qianqian adjusted the position of the syringe in her mouth so it rested where her upper and lower canines met. Using the last of her strength, she bit down hard, tearing a gap in the plastic syringe, and a sweet-tasting medicinal fluid began to seep out.

She sucked desperately.

In a half-dream, half-awake state, Du Qianqian started biting the syringe as soon as she woke up, with no time to think, then at some point would pass out again. During the unconsciousness, the medication would revive her, letting her drink a little more, before the severity of her injuries made her pass out once more.

She lay on the ground for an indeterminate time, spinning between life and death, until Xu Yang found her by tracing her cell phone’s satellite signal.

"Qianqian, Qianqian..." Xu Yang lifted her from the rainwater.

"Enemies, come out!" 102 was full of intimidating presence.

Du Qianqian’s eyes opened groggily, spitting out the mushy syringe from her mouth, tears streaming down as she went limp in Xu Yang’s arms.

"It’s okay now," he said softly, patting her, "Let’s go back home."