Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 376 - 340 Kanako’s Backpack

Chapter 376: Chapter 340 Kanako’s Backpack

By the evening of October 26, the much-discussed marriage alliance had ended three days prior.

With the support of her husband’s family, Oohara Risa ascended to the position of the new Secretary-General of Anjiu City’s municipal government, assisting her father, the mayor, in the public governance work.

Initially, citizens resented this obvious display of nepotism, but as Oohara Risa proposed a series of policies collectively termed "The Great City", dissent towards her quickly diminished.

"These are the most convincing strategies," Xu Yang flipped through the news while communicating with Kanako, "building a sense of citizenship identity, granting equal public service rights to the residents of Aizu’s Underground City and those living on the surface; constructing large-scale affordable city public housing; implementing infrastructure rebuilding projects, and promoting work-for-relief programs..."

"All funded specially by Enomoto Bank," said Kanako, "the people in the risk control department are very confident about the city’s future."

"Oohara Risa persuaded the bank?" Xu Yang asked curiously.

"Risa is a well-educated and cultured young woman," Kanako’s tone sounded quite cheerful, "She set up a plan that, by investing 3 billion in welfare relief funds a year, she could take control of Anjiu City, which has a yearly output of 12 trillion; if they aren’t willing to spend even this amount of money, they will have to face an insurgent army of 20,000 to 50,000 people, quelling them would cost 6 billion in funds, and then they’d get a city that’s been beaten even worse."

"So Xisheng has already started treating Anjiu City as their own..."

"Yeah, after Mayor Oohara Nobuhiko dies, Risa will inherit the position, and then it will pass to her and Kamibayashi Kurou’s child, who will also be Xisheng’s offspring. So, Xu Yang, you can get more by working with Xisheng than by resisting them, and more and more people will realize this."

"More and more people will become angry."

"I think they’re all like the weathercock, this is an era where firepower density exceeds population density. Besides, mom’s still spending a lot of money searching for and purchasing new Reality Manipulators, they’re about to be delivered to our house soon," Kanako said lightly.

"New Reality Manipulators?"

"I can’t say," Kanako chuckled softly, "Anyway, how have you been doing recently?"

"Busy with the production of Synthetic Humans and pioneering work," answered Xu Yang.

"Life is just like a game," Kanako spoke with concern, "you need to adjust your status every day to get various buffs. I’ve found that many people let their game characters sleep obediently while they themselves pull all-nighters."

"For me, it’s a bit different," Xu Yang said, "My decisions affect many people, so I must be extra careful."

"Ah, suddenly we have a family meeting and I have to listen to mom. Got to go. Oh, and I sent you a package, go pick it up!" Kanako ended the communication.

Xu Yang left Shijin Mansion aboard the Purple Wind, heading to the courier station.

It resembled an orange self-service machine; Xu Yang entered the password given by Kanako, and from inside it, out popped an old, somewhat worn-out backpack, quite heavy, with a handwritten purple greeting card from Kanako attached to the outside.

"Remember this bag! Inside, I’ve put all the game cartridges I’ve collected over the years, I’m giving them all to you. Except for a few boxed ones that are pretty and have sentimental value, the rest are all here. I’ve been too busy to play."

Xu Yang felt a sharp pang in his heart; he hefted the bulky backpack onto his shoulder, even finding it heavy himself, returned to the cabin, and started to pick out the cartridges, making a record of each, marking down the game name, type, and release date.

In the large gaming room on the 11th floor of Shijin Mansion, Xu Yang hung the backpack on a completely black background wall and placed his handwritten labels next to it for easy searching. He then set up the closest gaming pod as a virtual machine to avoid electronic viruses.

At that time, only Shallow Dream was playing games. She wore a virtual helmet, its lights constantly flashing. She sat in the chair, secured by straps for her hands and feet, with 22 black leather-covered tubes extending from behind the helmet, connecting it to the game wall behind her. The entire wall, just as colorful, had 12 cooling fans rotating at high speed, with LED strips tied to each blade, dazzling like a peacock’s tail.

Rainbow Corporation in Xia District turned bulky and unwieldy gaming pods into this kind of open gaming wall, priced at 320,000 on the market, considered high-end gaming equipment, providing an excellent virtual experience.

Sensing someone’s entrance, a red light flickered on one corner of the game wall, and the metal wall’s fans slowed down, the lights shifting from colorful to a uniform pattern of red and green alternating breath lights, resulting in a continuous decrease in power. The gaming helmet lifted from Shallow Dream’s head, and all her straps released automatically. Surprised to see Xu Yang, she hopped off the seat.

"Boss?" She saw the specially chosen gaming pod and the large backpack on the wall, "What’s that?"

"Old games," replied Xu Yang with a shrug, "but they can only be played in this particular pod, don’t try running them in any other pods."

"That’s weird."

In an instant, Shallow Dream disappeared from Xu Yang’s view. Turning around, he saw her picking out game cartridges from the large backpack.

"Fortress, Night," "Apex Legends," "Mounts and Blades," "Legends United,"... Shallow Dream rummaged through the cartridges, "These are all games from a long time ago."

"What games do you guys play now?"

"102 likes shooting games. I’m different, I prefer those... more aesthetic ones with a sense of atmosphere, to experience someone else’s life," Shallow Dream said.

She walked to the gaming wall, extracted a black box from inside the wall, housing rectangular game cartridges festooned with labels and catchphrases.

Xu Yang checked it out, and its name was "To Be Human Again." Supported by players from all around the world, individual users could upload their memory footage for public download and experience, allowing every player to live an alternative condensed life of 2 to 10 hours.

"The box says the best experience is for those at least 16 years old," Xu Yang said. He saw that many players had uploaded their lives full of terror or explicit content.

The five most popular life experiences came from a professional traveler, a top-paid actor, a zoo administrator, a stamp dealer, and the Chief Executive Officer of Iris Group, Joe Cardo, who had 150 girlfriends.

"There’s not much difference between 14 and 16," Shallow Dream said, fearing the box would be put away, she quickly reached out to take it back.

"Why live someone else’s life?" Xu Yang handed the box back to her, "Isn’t your own life worth living?"

"Lady Farosa told me that she met me a thousand years ago," Shallow Dream said as she released magic power and disappeared from Xu Yang’s sight, putting the box back in its place.

She was becoming more skilled at using time-stop magic. Xu Yang thought to himself. Time Stop, one of the most terrifying magic powers.

"Met you?"

"Charli Valenta. Lady Farosa said that was my name before," Shallow Dream said, "One of the Chaos Witches, controlling time-stop magic, Lady Farosa’s companion. And I was reborn after her death."

Xu Yang still remembered this Charli, in Lady Farosa’s description, Charli bore malice towards men. When encountering men, she often stopped time first, lashed out, and when time resumed, they would find themselves emasculated. Some of the most renowned knights from the Taixi Continent suffered at her hands and often ended up despondent and deflated afterwards.

"That Charli is completely a separate witch," Xu Yang said, "And you are... from a laboratory."

"I don’t know, if I am the same person as her, I should change back, become exactly like her, and yet I’m somewhat afraid," Shallow Dream said, looking utterly bewildered. "Lady Farosa told me that a witch with the same magic power is essentially a reincarnation of the same soul. She taught me how to pick up Charli’s memories, to recall the times I spent with Lady Farosa at the Chaos Witch assembly."

"Did you actually remember anything?"

"Yes, it’s true," Shallow Dream’s voice carried a hint of trepidation, "I tried to retrieve the images of my past life, and then for a moment I felt vague and conversed involuntarily with Lady Farosa, chatting about the weather in Aquilia District, the temperature of bath water, and the capturing of slaves."

"So that’s why you’re playing this life simulation game?" Xu Yang frowned.

’I’m trying, I want to know what a human’s life is really like, from birth to death, how to understand this entire process," Shallow Dream looked down, "Lady Farosa must wish for the Chaos Witch Charli Valenta to be reborn in me, since we share the same soul, the same magic power."

"Stop all that," Xu Yang shook his head, "You are Shallow Dream, born in Kyoto Infinite Z10 Research Institute in the year 135, found by me in August, and you then joined the Nestor Corporation Witch Department. I believe these real memories that actually exist are more truthful than the illusions of a thousand years ago."

"Ha..." Shallow Dream chuckled wearily.

"Do you still remember what I told you the day you first arrived?" Xu Yang said, "I cautioned you."

Shallow Dream paused.

"’Don’t forget who you are.’" Shallow Dream’s eyes widened in surprise, "Did you already know something like this would happen?"

"I knew nothing," Xu Yang said, "But I know how Farosa would treat you guys."

"Why don’t her methods work on you?"

"I’m 28 years old."

Shallow Dream walked toward the large backpack hanging on the wall.

"Whose is this?" Shallow Dream asked, "You seem to care a lot about it, yet there’s a sense of loss."

"Yes, it belongs to someone I care a lot about," Xu Yang looked at Kanako’s backpack, "She chose to let go of some things forever, believing it was better for her, that it wouldn’t hinder her growth."

Shallow Dream kicked the ground.

"...I will repay you," she said, a little shy, "When I grow up and become the true master of time, I will definitely repay you... I really wish I was an adult now, what you said means a lot to me."

Xu Yang was taken aback.

"What?" Shallow Dream asked, confused, "Did... did I say something wrong?"

"No, no... I just realized," Xu Yang looked at Kanako’s backpack, "I know why she is becoming more and more of a stranger to me. It’s because she stays in that place, talking with her mother and her family every day, they had too much influence on her. I should invite her to join us at Taro Tanaka’s dinner."