Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 403 - 363: Second Retrofit

Chapter 403: Chapter 363: Second Retrofit

Because Cui Junyou wasn’t fond of Pan Ruiyi, she could only wait in the parking lot. Xu Yang carried Little Fool deep into the medical center, where the outside was used for surgery and receiving customers, but the space inside was much wider, completely serving as Cui Junyou’s private residence, expansive and fully furnished.

Once inside, Cui Junyou was eager to show Xu Yang the precious treasures he had scavenged. Previously, as people fled Anjiu City due to warfare, he took the opportunity to acquire many rare or out-of-print implants at incredibly low prices.

When Xu Yang brought Little Fool to the living room, Cui Junyou showed him a beautiful gift box.

"Look," he said, "this is a one-of-a-kind brain processor... This truly treats a person like a terminal, unlike Digital Mind’s simulated signals, this is really burning your brain cells."

Xu Yang examined the gift box—it was hefty and the front bore the evaluation reports from six neutral testing companies, confirming that the device could be safely installed in the corpus callosum.

"’Joy in the Posterior Pituitary · First Generation’," Xu Yang read the title on the box.

"It’s a joint production by Scarlet Reconstruction Company and Kyoto Infinity, a discontinued item from half a year ago," Cui Junyou boasted proudly, "Installing it is like turning your brain into a little gaming console with 128 megabytes of memory, making your neurons work. According to the guy who sold it to me, there’s no problem playing the text adventure game that comes with it; you can close your eyes and enter a school city, choose your route and pursue one of several female protagonists."

"Is it best played lying in a bathtub filled with ice, to prevent the brain from overheating?" Xu Yang thought about the cooling issue.

"According to the test report, by the time you finish the first week, your brain matter will be splattered all over the place along with your albumen," Cui Junyou said. "It’s a new toy."

"Keep it and enjoy it yourself," Xu Yang returned it to the table, "No wonder you’re still single."

"Nonsense, my wife and daughter are in Silla," Cui Junyou shrugged, "I don’t want to drag them into this, so I live by myself."

"This is the first I’m hearing about them."

"Yes, I have them hiding out in the countryside off Xingping South Road in Silla. Things are bad there. Silla is often at war, and whenever I wire money back, I’m worried sick that someone with ill intentions might take notice," Cui Junyou complained, "There are also hunting ships on the sea, I have no clue how to bring them here! Times have changed, Corporate Alliance’s agents have been fired, and Kyoto Infinity’s Mind Control Department was disbanded. They can’t smash up my shop and clinic like they used to, so life has indeed improved a bit."

Xu Yang looked around; Cui Junyou’s place was now incredibly large, having undergone multiple renovations, the huge, luxurious living room connected to the dining room, study, lab, workshop, kitchen, entertainment room, and various private collection rooms—it was a paradise all his own.

"You really have made quite a bit of money," Xu Yang commented.

Over the past six months, the medical center had paid Xu Yang a total of 3 million in dividends, nearly breaking even with his initial investment of 3.5 million to Cui Junyou, without any loss.

"Because I have real knowledge," Cui Junyou pointed at his head with pride, "When you face complex situations and are particularly scared of making the wrong decision, the only thing that allows you to make choices is real knowledge."

"What about high-level skill archives? Do they count as real knowledge?"

"They just train obedient slaves, whereas knowledge leads you to freedom!"

Cui Junyou said so verbally, but in his heart, he was actually quite wary of skill archives; they could turn the ignorant into skilled workers.

He commanded the cooking robot to prepare a mixed rice dish, loading a large bowl of rice with kimchi, beef, radish, greens, bean sprouts, sesame seeds, and an egg, as well as preparing pureed fruits as supplemental food for Little Fool.

"Tell me about the current situation in Silla," Xu Yang said, thinking of the geographic connections—Silla was very close to the Northern Archipelago, within view from a distance.

"The ruling Modern Entertainment Company in Silla is increasingly headed towards collapse," Cui Junyou gestured with chopsticks in the air as if attacking invisible enemies, releasing his pent-up resentment, "Modern Entertainment’s headquarters was burned to ashes. After that, it turned into a three-way battle: Modern Entertainment’s corporate troops, The Rebel Army, and the Fraternity Company."

"Fraternity Company..." Xu Yang pondered, "Earlier they sent an agent who saved Shallow Dream."

"Yes, that agent named Cloris, who was later sent to Silla to take root there and continued rescuing witches," Cui Junyou explained while pondering, "...We’ve been in touch before. This so-called Fraternity Company is linked to guerrilla forces, setting up branches everywhere, supporting various rebellious causes; their most important task is to help Witches flee from the corporations. Recently, they’ve expanded their efforts in Silla, and the boss Enkai personally went there to command the battle, forming its own faction."

"There’s little reporting about Silla," Xu Yang searched the web archives and found only a few threads of discussion on the deep anonymous web. Local residents were researching how to trade food, avoid starvation amid the war, famine, and blockades, and attempting to resist the clearing operations of the corporate armies.

"Silla never had much of a population to begin with. We can only desperately flee, too exhausted to care about that hopeless land," Cui Junyou shook his head, "Modern Entertainment Company only knows how to manage an idol economy, lacking substantial industries, resulting in rampant tycoons, cruel elitism, with an extremely low birth rate. Now that there’s a chance, everyone naturally scrambles to flee. Those who remain are locked on the peninsula, unsure of where to go, waiting for one side to triumph. Many areas in Silla have reportedly been turned into wastelands."

Xu Yang reviewed the report of the fire that destroyed the headquarters of Modern Entertainment Company and found that many eyewitnesses described the blaze as "silver-white like the Moonlight."

He immediately thought of Mond’s lost daughter, the "Moonfire" on earth.

"Do you know anything about that fire?" Xu Yang looked up, "The white flames that burned down Modern Entertainment..."

"I left Silla 10 years ago, so I don’t know," Cui Junyou speculated, "Some old pals told me that before the fire there was a new girl, a very capable trainee, pretty faced with long legs, very dominant, lively, and passionate."

"Very pretty?"

"The prettiest of them all, but it’s not just her beauty that makes her stand out. What really left an impression on them was her appearance; it’s so strange. She has naturally snow-white hair and blood-red eyes, not dyed, a naturally unique look that really opens your eyes."

"I see." Xu Yang nodded, "...Thank you. Her name is?"

"Wei Shiyue." Cui Junyou said.

It looks like I’ll need to investigate the Silla Region to find this Moonlight Princess. Xu Yang thought to himself. Wei Shiyue...

After dinner, Xu Yang thought of Cui Junyou’s young apprentice Nidelaide, an interesting young man who moved from place to place, helping people with free modifications and implant installations.

"What has Nidelaide been up to lately?" he asked.

"He’s into watching series," Cui Junyou complained, "Kyoto Infinity is cutting back on business, the funds chain is broken, leaving many major productions on hold, which has really upset him. Later, he decided to stop being a homebody and aimed to be a technical expert, learning most of my techniques. He’s got his own plans to promote. Do you think implants can promote social equity?"

"They should be able to." Xu Yang thought for a moment, "They can compensate for innate deficiencies."

"Exactly! With implants, what ’disabled people’ is there to talk about!" Cui Junyou opened his hands and struck an exaggerated pose, "Give shorties a pair of long legs, give the ugly a new face of beauty, replace missing arms and legs with prosthetics, let the deaf and mute become historical terms. More importantly, Nidelaide wants to bridge the gap in people’s living environments. For instance, if we give the Scavengers living near Garbage Hill standard implants that are radiation-resistant and pollution-proof, and provide them with modified disinfectant stomachs, living next to a garbage mountain won’t affect their health."

"The biggest problem is, there’s no money to install implants, right?" Xu Yang pondered.

"That’s exactly what Nidelaide is pushing to resolve," Cui Junyou’s hand moved downward, "He wants to create cheaper alternatives, with the goal of letting the poorest people also be able to afford safe prosthetics. I don’t agree with that, I’ll let him figure that out on his own."

"Why wouldn’t you agree?" Xu Yang was surprised, "You should be the first to support it."

"You’re utterly wrong!" Cui Junyou exclaimed, "I was fooled by him before, but now I’ve come to my senses and realized that implants must adhere to the principle of maintaining high pricing. Look, if the profit margins of implant enterprises decrease, they will lose the incentive to continue developing cutting-edge human implants. Nidelaide’s approach may help some people in the short term but in the long run, it’s harmful... Thankfully he hasn’t found a factory to produce his ideas yet. Otherwise, once his cheap gimmicks flood the global market, that will be the darkest day for the world of implant science."

"Not at all, implant technology is beneficial for the entire civilization, as it can improve people’s living conditions." Xu Yang spoke, "Therefore, it shouldn’t just be a purely profit-driven industry."

"Exactly! It’s the problem with corporatism!" Cui Junyou cursed, "The smartest of us, the best of our labs, should all be dedicated to designing implants. If Scarlet Reconstruction spent all their marketing and advertising expenses on R&D, today’s technology could have been even better."

Scarlet Reconstruction Company seems to be related to Farosa. Xu Yang thought to himself. It would be good if I could use this channel to purchase their implant development reserves.

"Speaking of which, I myself am going to get some implants." Xu Yang said, "Any recommendations?"

"I can implant an electromagnetic interference resistance kit in your right upper arm, just in case you get knocked out by solar activity or electromagnetic grenades." Cui Junyou observed, "I can also equip your Digital Mind platform with some simple software for recording assistance, or tasks like radar and infrared sensing. Finally, I can add an adrenaline enhancer release device to your ribs, so when you face a do-or-die situation, your reaction speed, resistance to blows, strength, and concentration can double. All of these will increase power consumption, so I will have to implant a battery inside you, hidden in your right shoulder blade, to ensure it doesn’t affect your sleep quality."

These minor repairs would suit Xu Yang; they weren’t too intrusive and yet provided practical benefits.

"Sounds good, install them." Xu Yang said.

He left Little Fool in the care of Pan Ruiyi and then went to undergo further modifications.

Cui Junyou sterilized the entire operating room, anaesthetized Xu Yang, then performed the surgery, checked the several wires in Xu Yang’s head and spine, and installed the best implants he could find, completing the procedure in one smooth motion, shortening the installation time to within 40 minutes.

"It’s done." Cui Junyou woke Xu Yang up.

Xu Yang carefully felt his own condition.

"...Pretty badass." he said, "Operating speed increased by 20%, at this rate, I really might become something like a Super Remodeled Man."

Of course, it was a joke; Xu Yang felt that the more implants one had, the more unstable one’s condition would be, so he was conservative in this regard.

Speaking of Super Remodeled Man, Xu Yang thought of Hosoda Yoshiyuki, who was very rugged and capable of completing many tasks, having apparently cooperated with prison authorities to do some shady deals inside, his full-body modifications making his capabilities nearly all-encompassing. To Kamibayashi Kurou, Hosoda Yoshiyuki was a bit like the snail in the hypothetical question "If you were very rich, but a snail relentlessly chased you for your whole life," a constant annoyance.

"You’re always welcome." Cui Junyou waved his hand, "No charge for you."

"Not charging a dime?"

"We’ve known each other so long, there’s really no need to fuss over a few hundred thousand." Cui Junyou patted Xu Yang’s shoulder, sighing, "...Brother, we are the last two good guys in this city, as long as I have breath, I’ll keep going wild, and you’ve got to hang in there too! Your mission is greater than mine, you have to cut your way through the corporatist system! Change the day and night!"