Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 565 - 483 New Command

Chapter 565: Chapter 483 New Command

The grand premiere, it was truly a pity not to witness it in person. Holding this thought, they all arrived at the scene, in pairs.

They were delayed for 20 minutes on the way, and by now the first episode was more than half over, detailing how the mystical girl Seeking Shadow took the naive girl Princely Heir out from the Secluded Shrine, and the two officially entered the bizarre and vast metropolis.

As the largest traditional cinema in Shangjing, Harada Anime Cinema preserved a 400-inch main screen, hanging at the center of the cinema.

The surrounding stands were arranged in a tiered fashion, allowing people to clearly see the pleasing animations from any row with top-notch audiovisual equipment, providing the best sound and light effects, with lifelike colors and delightful voice acting, completely different from the sensory experiences created by virtual reality technology.

"It’s truly miraculous, why after all? Spending so much money to produce an anime." Seeking Shadow looked at the exquisite images on the giant screen.

"You’re right," Nidelaide said, "but ’Siphon!’ is a brand-new girls’ love adventure anime for April, independently produced by Kyoto Infinity. The story takes place in a fantasy world called ’Dream Star,’ where witches chosen by the gods will be given a ’Mission’ to control the forces of nature. You’ll see two heroines, ’Seeking Shadow’ and ’Princely Heir,’ with distinct personalities and unique abilities, traveling freely on adventures, encountering new partners, defeating enemies, finding themselves, and gradually uncovering the truth of ’Siphon’."

"That’s incredible." Seeking Shadow’s concept still couldn’t grasp the virtual story.

For anime fans, to safely watch the premiere with luxurious equipment was also a fortunate thing.

They sat in silence, feeling the sublime atmosphere, as more than forty thousand people appreciated a top-tier production together, the ultimate in substance. Tenjouin Zina, the President, personally supervised it, with six different creative AIs and twenty thousand staff members, they poured all their efforts into scriptwriting, storyboarding, directing, animation, art, visual effects, and sound, a vast array of tasks like a sea of mist, ensuring the premiere was completed on time at the Harada Cinema.

According to real-time statistics, at least 900 million people watched the ’Siphon!’ premiere worldwide.

Across various TV stations, digital streaming media, websites, applications, and social media, ’Siphon!’ related video play counts reached 11.2 billion, and naturally, it topped all social software trend charts.

Undoubtedly... a grand event!

Amidst this tremendous atmosphere, Seeking Shadow felt a profound resonance, a hazy feeling surrounding her.

"If you want to become human," Seeking Shadow said, "you have to try stepping out of yourself and think with the mind of another person."

"Yes," Nidelaide hadn’t grasped what Seeking Shadow was talking about but continued along with her statement.

"For the otaku," Seeking Shadow looked at the anime fans around, "try to think like them, understand them. For anime works, try to understand the inner journey of the characters, understand how they make choices in the face of life’s great challenges, and thus resonate with them emotionally."

As he listened, Nidelaide began to understand that Seeking Shadow’s mental module was upgrading.

"Do you want to become human?" he asked, "Humans are not all that great."

"How so?"

"Humans have to work. If you don’t want to work, just shut down and fold up. Humans can’t play dead until next year if they don’t want to work."

"Is the difference between Synthetic Humans and humans really unimaginable?" Seeking Shadow turned to look at the Elite Soldiers guarding the passageways, then thought of the Elite Soldiers easily torn apart by Evil Beasts.

She suddenly hoped that those Elite Soldiers were repaired successfully, rather than being sent to the recycling department.

"The gap is indeed quite significant," Nidelaide sat in his seat, shifting slightly, "Humans desperately undergo modifications, wanting to turn themselves into invincible robots, while robots desperately want to become human. Neither side can comprehend the other’s struggles."

As the first episode of ’Siphon!’ came to an end, the last scene under the starry sky left an impressive silhouette of the super-sized metropolis in front of people, whetting their appetites. The visual effects and colors alone were stunning.

Everyone couldn’t help but stand up and applaud, the loud applause lasting for more than a minute, until the end credits music played and people gradually took their seats, silently savoring the impact of refined music on their souls.

Given Kyoto Infinity’s investment in ’Siphon!’, each episode featured completely different theme songs and end credit tracks, all chosen from world-renowned musical groups. The sheer thought of the massive investment behind it made people secretly proud, priding themselves on having the taste to catch up with such a monumental work.

After the end credits song, commercial time began, and Wei Shiyue’s virtual image popped up on the screen, with her mature and glamorous two-dimensional form inciting another round of screams!

"Wei Shiyue!"

"October’s virtual image!"

"Mom!"

"Wei Shiyue is the cutest!"

"My master has arrived squeeze."

"Wife!"

"Yes yes yes yes yes yes!"

"Is it..."

Wei Shiyue greeted everyone with her refined and elegant three-dimensional virtual form, introducing Kyoto Infinity’s cultural strategy for the present year, including a host of new animated series, mobile games, anime, and light novels to be launched from now to next spring, which had everyone exclaiming in satisfaction, securing their cultural life for the foreseeable future.

"I’ve never seen such a version of the virtual Wei Shiyue." Seeking Shadow was quite amazed, "So exaggerated, so dazzling."

"She announced it on social media," Nidelaide explained, "She said that this way, she could perform more freely, and no one would know whether she had put on makeup today. Now Wei Shiyue has discovered the great things about being a virtual idol, though it’s a bit of a cliché, this model is truly top-notch, with full technical power, incomparable to ordinary two-dimensional virtual idols."

"Wei Shiyue has also undergone tremendous change..." Seeking Shadow observed carefully for a while, not having seen enough, when red lights began flashing on her, "I need to charge now, only 40 minutes left."

"Let’s go then; we’ve already seen the first episode, the rest we can catch up on replay and live streams." Nidelaide pressed his forehead, generating a miniature virtual screen in front of his eyes visible only to him, and after confirming the transmission quality, he unhesitatingly left with Seeking Shadow.

Upon hearing this, Lu Jing and Rinne also left the cinema.

"Shall we go to Shijin Mansion?" Rinne suggested, "It’s nicer than our shabby apartment." No one objected.

Together, the four of them headed to the unmanned train station bound for Shangjing. The night view of Shangjing was colorful, with lights brightening the night sky. It was, in itself, a man-made Miracle City, and walking through it, one could not help feeling insignificant. When they arrived at the station, a ticket machine equipped with 2nd generation intelligence was responsible for selling tickets.

"Welcome to the intercity train service!" the intelligent ticket machine explained, "Going to Anjiu City, three people, 450 funds, please swipe your card here."

We are four people. Nidelaide wanted to emphasize this point, but instead, she looked with Lu Jing and Rinne towards Seeking Shadow.

"You can put this domestic robot into a luggage box for transport," the ticket machine said cheerfully upon seeing them.

Even after undergoing many modifications and upgrades and having seen countless battles, Seeking Shadow’s factory code was still that of a domestic Synthetic Human.

Considering Seeking Shadow’s "emotions," they hurriedly tried to smooth over the awkwardness.

"...Seeking Shadow can lie on a mattress we piece together with our knees!" Lu Jing said hastily.

"Right! I can hang from the railing, and then Seeking Shadow can take my seat," Nidelaide added anxiously.

"Just sit in an empty seat," Rinne said indifferently, "It’s almost past midnight, who takes the train at this hour? There are bound to be lots of empty seats."

"Put me in the luggage area," Seeking Shadow said, "Please."

As they hesitated, the white intercity train arrived in front of them, and passengers swarmed aboard.

Out of respect for Seeking Shadow’s decision, they had to place her in the large luggage compartment in the middle section of the train.

She sat among a pile of giant boxes, alongside some pale, unpainted Synthetic Humans curled up in the corners. They sat parallel to the massive metal trunks, completely indifferent to Seeking Shadow’s presence.

Seeking Shadow walked past these unaware Synthetic Humans, again and again.

There were all sorts and sizes, each designed to meet the needs of personal security, companionship, and dangerous work. They sat in a uniform position, hugging their knees to reduce the space they took up.

"You are luggage," Seeking Shadow squatted in front of them, "Do you know that? You are luggage."

..." the Synthetic Humans remained silent.

When the attendant entered the compartment, Seeking Shadow took the initiative to imitate the other Synthetic Humans, sat in the corner hugging her knees, to avoid being folded up by him. He looked around, saw nothing unusual, and left.

"I want to become human," Seeking Shadow repeated as they got off the train.

Lu Jing and Rinne were still unaware, but only Nidelaide felt that something was awakening within the depths of Seeking Shadow.

Nidelaide had to find a way to avoid the worst possible outcome.

"Ah... Take a break, Seeking Shadow," Nidelaide quickly said, "Setting everything aside for a while is also a human ability."

"Mm," Seeking Shadow nodded.

Returning to the helipad on the roof of Shijin Mansion, Rinne stepped out of the autonomous taxi and entered the office.

She soon heard a very intense disturbance and hurriedly signaled to Lu Jing behind her not to come any closer.

"What’s going on..." Lu Jing whispered.

"Sounds that good children shouldn’t hear," Rinne bent down, quietly approaching Xu Yang’s room. She found him with a woman, their voices not quiet at all.

Rinne gestured for them to move back a bit.

As the people outside were noticed, the noise inside the room diminished significantly.

Rinne’s heart was racing—this was the powerful collision of vibrant life.

"Is there a ghost in there?" Lu Jing was still clueless.

"I’ll teach you later," Rinne said with her hands behind her back, walking away, "We’ll find another place to rest tonight."

She returned to the rooftop, leaning against the bulletproof glass barrier of the helipad, watching the city in the night breeze, when she suddenly looked down and saw the screen light up.

Digital Mind had already been delivered to the office. Lu Jing was initially pleased, thinking it could help with Rinne’s matters, but then her expression turned solemn.

Also arriving was a new order from Lu Sizhou to Lu Jing, asking for her personal receipt.

Whenever it involved Miss Lu, things became complicated. Lu Jing sighed inwardly. But there was no other choice—essentially, she was an asset belonging to Miss Lu.

However, Lu Jing had no desire to change this. From the moment she thought of Lu Sizhou, Lu Jing knew her responsibilities were upon her, with not the slightest room for defiance.

Lu Jing, loving her life, loving Heavenly Cardinal Manufacturing, loving Miss Lu, forever, endlessly, without any doubt.

"Ah, good child, just now..." Rinne teased as she walked towards Lu Jing.

"I have something to take care of," Lu Jing turned away and left, her coldness frightening.

Rinne’s outstretched hand froze mid-air. She put her hand back and returned inside with a heavy heart.

Everyone has their own troubles, familiar predicaments were ubiquitous. Rinne bowed her head, treating the noise from the other end of the floor as background noise, and drank her cola deeply.