Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 584 - 496

Chapter 584: 496

After the black porcelain mask was lifted, Rinne saw Xu Yang’s true face for the first time.

She stared intently at Mr. Web Monitor, who was between 25 to 30 years old, moderately handsome, not as youthful as a young man, but also without the tainted qualities of middle age, in a subtly mature state, with a hint of world-weariness.

She reached out to stroke the stubble on his face, to ensure there were no cosmetic prosthetics on his face, Rinne quite liked this appearance.

"So, who are you... really?" Rinne leaned in closer, holding Xu Yang’s face with both hands, her delicate pink eyeshadow and pale purple eyes so near, white frost-like short hair hanging behind her ears, as beautiful as could be.

Xu Yang saw the faint light in her eyes and knew she was employing her skills as Hacker Witch, attempting to search for information related to his face; he was prepared for this.

"Stop it, you won’t find anything," Xu Yang said, "I am a blank slate."

"Can’t find this face," Rinne observed him.

"You can’t find it no matter how hard you try, no records, blank, zero, empty, however you want to describe it."

"Did you erase it?" Rinne thought of Mr. Web Monitor’s technical power.

"I erased part of it, but more of it was erased by others. Every month, traces of my existence are erased and forgotten. Someone has been hunting me, but every day they weigh the cost of finding me. To this day, the cost has become too high, prompting them to abandon their attempts to track me and choose to bury me instead. Now I have lost all social relations and historical records, so you can only see a blank, unsocial life that can only be confirmed by the naked eye, for I exist in no records at all."

"..." Rinne fell silent.

"You’re different," Xu Yang observed her, "it’s easy to find your wanted status, your image in various cameras, your ratings and records in hostile corporations and neutral agencies, your participation in societal events, destruction, the teams you’ve joined, all of which are retained. I, on the other hand, have nothing and live only in the memories of a few people."

"You live in my memory," Rinne stood up straight.

"Correct. You, and a few other people who know me well, maintain my existence in society," Xu Yang said, "Apart from you all, the rest of the world doesn’t know me, no matter how they search."

"Even the Corporate Alliance’s archives can’t find you," Rinne confirmed several times, "Nothing... You don’t exist in any database. You have died in everyone’s mind."

"Yes, that’s how it is for the dead, a person dies, others forget them, and then they move on. It’s that simple."

"Then doesn’t that mean nobody knows about your past?" Rinne grew more curious about Xu Yang, "What exactly did you do in the past?"

"Only I know, those things are significant to me, but they’re worthless to you," Xu Yang nodded, "Forgetting is a punishment, and I have borne it; I have been forgotten by all others. Now, all I can do is continue to drift in this world, encountering some new people. I can no longer return to a normal life."

Rinne looked around the lonely office, Xu Yang’s heavy self-narration aroused her sympathy. She sighed, walked up to him, and embraced him, letting his head rest on her.

"So, if you’re let go, you would drown in a sea of people," Rinne looked down at him, "No safety net, residing within the company yet outside of society, are you a drifting atom?"

"However you put it," he replied.

Rinne saw him worn out to the point of non-response, stood up, turned around, and walked to the other side of the room.

It was now that Xu Yang could see her fully, tall and slender in a black skin-tight suit that resembled a swimsuit, paired with a white short jacket, and her fair skin showing through the cutout sides of her tights, dark leather boots coming over her knees.

"So that’s why you need an assistant," Rinne sat down on a chair, crossing her legs with an indisputable tone, "Continue to teach me deep diving then, that’s part of your promise."

"Wait a bit longer." Xu Yang’s issue was that, the last time he finished piling, Farosa didn’t use the Law of Recovery on him again, so now he was empty-handed, fatigued, and powerless, only able to rest and wait for his strength and stamina to recover naturally.

Rinne saw him don the mask again.

"Why?" Rinne pressed, "You don’t need the mask anymore, according to what you’ve said, no one will recognize you."

"It’s a reminder," Xu Yang said, "Reminding me of the things that have happened from the past to the present, some disgraces."

Rinne nodded.

She had come to know Mr. Web Monitor a little better.

Originally, she thought he was a gloomy, evil, and cruel leader of the Nestor Corporation’s network surveillance, but now she understood he was also a drifter by fate, perhaps with a brutal past. The sorrows and losses in his life had built his current self-restrained patience, and it all intrigued Rinne.

Rinne sat in the chair in silence, looking down at the spotless ground, inevitably reflecting on her own experiences.

Her most yearned-for manner of death was to be obliviously shot in the head by a large-caliber sniper round, forever forgetting all the pain, sadness, and despair of the past.

"Thank you," Rinne suddenly said, "I am stronger now than before. If I faced my old enemies now, I wouldn’t be as scared."

"It was nothing," Xu Yang took a deep breath.

The afternoon sun slanted into the room, the world’s light and shadow refracted in his vision, with the room’s furnishings simple yet functional: a terminal machine, smart screens, a bookcase, and a complete set of furniture, much quieter than the Xisheng Shrine which was staffed by many employees.

To divert her attention, in the following days, Rinne maintained a healthy routine, spending most of the day on cyber challenges, continuing to solve the tough challenges that appeared randomly in the problem bank. She performed much better than before, almost as fast as Xu Yang, solving the puzzles before her body overheated and fried her brain, meeting the standards of the system.

Rinne had very little sense of personal space; when her clothes were being dried in the machine after washing, she still paced around the room, completely oblivious to the fact that she had nothing on, and didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.

A few nights later, Xu Yang saw Rinne fresh out of the shower, wet and sitting on the balcony smoking. When he felt a reaction, he knew his physical strength had recovered.

"We can deep dive now," Xu Yang led her into the technical room of Shijin Mansion.

Lying in the tech pod, Rinne harbored a mixed array of thoughts.

She wanted to use the power of the Helis Sea to infiltrate a real corporation, beyond the small-time hacks of a street hacker and middlemen’s commissions of unknown risk. She longed to break into a renowned corporation, breach their defense systems, access their core database, and take everything she needed.

The program initiated, and this deep dive was flawless; they didn’t experience that feeling of being lost in the data depths for hours on end any longer.

Fully absorbing and experiencing all that surrounded her, Rinne understood how she should exist in this form—her consciousness transformed into editable data files. On this point, her control over the Helis Sea had reached a formidable level.

If she wished, she could edit her own memories and even her personality in digital state, and upon restore, these altered data would also reflect on her real body and soul. Yet, she was not willing to change any of it.

Four hours later, when Rinne showed signs of being unable to pull out of the deep dive, Xu Yang initiated the exit program and led her out of the Helis Sea.

The lids of the tech pods lifted, and they both awoke from their respective pods.

"You’ve made a lot of progress," Xu Yang commended, "You’ve completed half the course."

He noticed that Rinne’s complexion was off.

"Yes, half..." Rinne muttered, her hands covering her face. They say the greatest pain comes from helplessness, and she now felt her capabilities surge to overcome all fears, yet she still lacked one genuine practice. "I think... I think I want to complete all the courses now, whatever the cost you ask."

"You don’t have a Digital Mind," Xu Yang reminded, "Diving multiple times in short succession will utterly damage your mental capacity."

"Am I not up to par yet?" Rinne stood up on the tech pod, addressing Xu Yang, "Is the difference really that big without a Digital Mind?"

Xu Yang kept silent, and Rinne realized her own lapse, turning her gaze aside, her right hand clutching at her left elbow. She still remembered how the corporate troops crushed her companions underfoot like insects.

"The past issues are still like shadows," Xu Yang said, "We’re all the same."

"I enter my dream document every night, replaying that battle," Rinne murmured, "I recall it so vividly, the infinite hyperreality, the screams and the stench of blood, the flames and bullets. Initially, I could only watch; after your training, I could disrupt the battlefield, hack into that monstrous cyborg. Recently in the reruns, I’ve managed to inject a Trojan to restrict his movements. Just a few more dives, mastering more advanced techniques, or even having a Digital Mind, I could... I could have prevented everything. But now... I’m still... powerless, powerless to protect my companions..."

"You only need patience and time," Xu Yang said. "I won’t hold anything back from you, just trust me."

"But I’m really useless, aren’t I?" Rinne looked down at her palms, "Digital Mind... the Helis Sea..."

Xu Yang let her stay in the technical room and left on his own.

Rinne lay back in the pod, hastily pressing the button, yearning to enter the deep dive program, but it was futile; Xu Yang had already locked the system. She lay on the cold red cushion of the tech pod, feeling more alienated from the world than ever.

At that moment, she suddenly understood Xu Yang’s state of existence, the forgotten man; only a few who remembered her could understand who she was. She turned her head to look at both sides of the tech pod, the terrifying illusion of being trapped as a biological computing source in a corporate facility suddenly surfacing in her mind.

Rinne couldn’t stop trembling.

Time passed, she didn’t know how long, until footsteps resembling metal touching ground echoed through the corridor.

A hand knocked on the pod wall, and then Rinne heard someone climb up.

Seeking Shadow.

She saw Rinne’s disheveled state and didn’t offer a hand, instead, she sat near the edge of the pod lid, back to Rinne.

"Staying in there is fine too," said Seeking Shadow, "I would just miss you."

Rinne froze for a moment.

She took a deep breath, mustered strength to climb out of the tech pod, and Seeking Shadow helped Rinne get dressed properly. Her breathing was much steadier now.

"Did Mr. Web Monitor send you?" Rinne asked, "Or did the Cyber Specter summon you here?"

"A bit of both," Seeking Shadow answered, "We have a mission. We should get ready before we set out."

Rinne went back to the office, where Xu Yang handed her a data chip.

"The information is in there, come back after the mission," Xu Yang said, "By then, you should be ready for the third deep dive. Once you complete all the courses and fully master the ability for deep diving, I’ll have one final test for you."

"What kind of test?" Rinne asked.

"Hack into Enomoto Bank’s Helis Sea System, and take all their money."