Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 741 - 615: Lu Jing Sinks

Chapter 741: Chapter 615: Lu Jing Sinks

Hosoda Yoshiyuki’s new intelligence module recorded information and played back sound.

"... I brought my full fury to bear, smashing skyscrapers, bombing buildings, sowing panic, like an angry mosquito—yet also like a nail in the vast world, hardly an achievement. I was just waiting for an entrepreneur to step on me, crush out a foot’s worth of blood, and then discard me. Everyone holds on to the idea of an eye for an eye, intending to take revenge on this world. It’s simple really, destroying something is so much easier than building something. But the existence of Nestor Corporation is astonishing, operating with a hundred times the passion, doing the difficult tasks that others hate, repairing the world little by little, bridging all divides, as if dreams were seeping into reality... When I return from Jialong Slope alive, I will also find myself a proper job."

"He thought a lot," Xu Yang couldn’t help but be moved.

"I can take care of Hosoda Yoshiyuki’s body until his nerve cells are re-cultivated and his soul reborn. Then we will become one again, once more becoming Hosoda Yoshiyuki, a half-mechanical assassin," it explained.

"He’s not just an assassin. Hosoda Yoshiyuki also saves people, just like me. We are all equals, including everyone else," Xu Yang said.

It gave a hoarse laugh, just like the real Hosoda Yoshiyuki.

"I need a job. What did Mr. Hosoda Yoshiyuki originally do?" the robot asked.

"Construction work." Xu Yang found it a job on a construction site.

This robot would maintain Hosoda Yoshiyuki’s shell, charge itself, and even purchase Nutrient Solution to sustain Hosoda Yoshiyuki’s muscles, tendons, and brain cells, until his soul was reborn and filled this empty husk. As it was a stiff second-generation artificial intelligence, there would be no issue of control disputes.

Xu Yang watched it leave.

This shell was, after all, only a shadow of Hosoda Yoshiyuki.

Perhaps that is the only restriction of the Law of Recovery: it cannot restore the damaged or lost spirit, memory, and the like altogether.

Soon after, Xu Yang received news that Rinne had finished installing Digital Mind and was ready for her final lesson.

Seated in his workstation, Xu Yang pondered, once Rinne had completed all the lessons, it would also be time to hand over his work to Rinne.

Guarding the Helis Sea of Nestor Corporation was like a giant shouldering the heavens in a story, a grand but exhausting task.

So he too needed to find a time to hand it over to his successor, and then Xu Yang would have the opportunity to pursue new goals. Xu Yang was someone who liked change and new environments, hence his constant wandering.

It was very quiet here. Little Fool was amusing himself in the toy room, the Wolf Girl lay on the ground, grinding her teeth.

Little Farosa was not around; since the original Farosa was about to awaken, Little Farosa had returned to her.

Rinne noticed how quiet this place was as soon as she came in.

She waved to Xu Yang with a relaxed expression, as if she had just freed herself from trouble.

"Your revenge has been successful," Xu Yang greeted her.

"Finally," Rinne nodded, "And... I’ve now installed Digital Mind."

"This means your computing power is fully qualified. The upcoming lessons will no longer be difficult for someone like you, a Digital Mind Engineer."

"I have the same premonition. I did the tests; they were all very easy. I’m sure I can handle them now," Rinne said with a bright smile.

Once she completed the final lesson, she would become an operator of the Helis Sea, no longer just an ordinary street hacker.

She arrived with an excitement akin to a pilgrimage, now calmly waiting for Xu Yang’s response.

Naturally, he would agree.

"Let’s go, the final lesson," Xu Yang led Rinne into the network control room.

Rinne still had some minor injuries that hadn’t fully healed. They just kissed, and then proceeded with the dual dive operation.

Xu Yang entered the network access pod first. Rinne stripped off her clothes and slipped into another chamber.

"I noticed your Digital Mind is a version designed by the Corporate Alliance; we need to process it," Xu Yang checked Rinne’s access status.

"No oversight! I’m aware of it. I made sure to check, there are no extra Trojan programs inside," Rinne argued.

"Can you identify every single line of code inside it?"

"... I can’t."

"I was working on it while tweaking for 5 years before I fully understood how Digital Mind worked. In the future, it will be a very reliable weapon for you, so you need to understand all of its parameters. It’s not as simple as just installing Digital Mind to have it all."

"So, I still can’t fully control my Digital Mind..."

"Right, that’s important work for you in the coming years, to figure out whether there are any malicious traps within this mysteriously sourced Digital Mind."

"I see..." Rinne felt the world was too difficult.

She had thought that after the Digital Mind surgery, she would be invincible, her obsession with Digital Mind overshadowing her own vigilance.

"Once you’re fully mature and can control the Helis Sea, you can completely replace me," Xu Yang told Rinne.

"What?" Rinne asked, puzzled.

"Once you’re fully adapted, I will grant you the position of Nestor Corporation’s network supervisor."

Excitement surged in Rinne’s heart.

"Really?" Rinne asked cheerfully.

Network Supervisor of Nestor Corporation! For a Hacker Witch, it undoubtedly represented the pinnacle of a professional career!

She would then connect to the Helis Sea of Nestor Corporation, fend off external hackers, and along with the Cyber Specter, devour adversaries.

"Yes, I want to step back from the strenuous supervisory work, and the Cyber Specter will be under your watch," Xu Yang nodded.

"I can’t act as a network monitor yet, but can I... go see the Cyber Specter?"

"Of course."

"Can I take Lu Jing with me?"

"That’s fine." Xu Yang had taught Lu Jing how to use Digital Mind, so Rinne could take her deep diving.

"Hehe." Rinne was very happy.

She planned to take Lu Jing with her to have a good chat with the Cyber Specter. Now she could finally enter the Helis Sea herself and see this cybernetic life form! How much effort and blood had she spent since she first had this thought...

Her long-cherished wish was about to be fulfilled.

Xu Yang conducted the largest scale simulation training with Rinne.

This time they dived deep enough, and the core difficulty of their task was how to extract consciousness intact from the Helis Sea. Human consciousness had too many neurons, and if the computing speed was not fast enough, they could not collect everything upon retreat, meaning each deep dive could result in a loss of 5% to 50% of their mind, an unbearable cost.

Now, with the Digital Mind, Rinne was confident she could shoulder the burden of diving, overcoming all psychological pressures and dangers. Thanks to the efficacy of the Digital Mind, she could dive unobstructed to the very bottom of the Helis Sea and touch the source code of this complex system.

"All the big companies are using the Helis Sea now," Rinne’s digital consciousness stopped at the very bottom of the data structure.

"Yes, it’s already in use. The media are calling this an era-defining change in network communications. All hacking techniques will become extinct because random hackers cannot dive like the security engineers of the major corporations. The degree of information security has increased by more than a hundredfold."

"This also intensifies the opposition between different regional networks... Each company has its own Helis Sea... Global communication at will is no longer possible."

"The parties are becoming poorer and the large-scale corporate wars on the surface are going to become less frequent... Workers like us in the network will continue to be active in an invisible battlefield."

"Cold war." Rinne thought of the new term some social commentators had coined.

"It’s hard to say..." Xu Yang knew that Farosa would definitely stir up trouble. There were still many resources to fight for in the future, and their job was to continue to cultivate strength.

After training, Rinne surfaced from the simulated Helis Sea, returned to the shallow data space, then completely extracted her consciousness from the system, returning to her original body.

The access pod opened, and Xu Yang helped her out.

"How do you feel?" Xu Yang observed.

"Good, good." Rinne hurriedly dressed and walked out, planning to find Lu Jing. She was now capable of taking someone deep diving.

As long as she entered the Helis Sea of Nestor Corporation, she was sure to see the Cyber Specter.

It wasn’t until evening that Rinne found Lu Jing.

"What’s up?" Lu Jing felt shy, being watched by Rinne with bright and spirited eyes.

"Taking you diving." Rinne pulled Lu Jing to her feet and hurriedly took her to Mr. Web Monitor’s workspace.

In the toy room, Xu Yang sat on the carpet, watching Little Fool and Wolf Girl play chess.

Little Fool was very smart, while Wolf Girl was distracted.

"Quack, I win!" Little Fool always won.

"Awoo." In distress, Wolf Girl picked up a chess piece and crushed it with her strong fingers.

Little Fool stood up angrily, put her hands against Wolf Girl’s stomach, and tried to push her out of the toy room.

"You need to use wisdom to persuade your friends," Xu Yang reminded Little Fool.

Little Fool pondered for a while.

"Buying new chess pieces costs money, so it’ll come out of your food allowance." She looked up at Wolf Girl.

Wolf Girl’s expression changed instantly, and she hurriedly crouched down, trying to piece the broken chess piece back together.

Little Fool turned her head and saw Rinne and Lu Jing enter the room, patting the spot next to her, inviting them to play, but Rinne blinked sharply and pulled Lu Jing away.

"Sorry for the intrusion! Very sorry..." Lu Jing nodded at Little Fool and Xu Yang in the room, then was pulled into the network control room.

Following her own habits, Rinne left her clothes outside, unable to wait to climb into the network access pod, ready to take Lu Jing’s consciousness to the end of the Helis Sea.

Just as Xu Yang had always taken Rinne deep, now Rinne could take Lu Jing along.

Rinne waited gleefully.

But Lu Jing was stunned, her attention completely off the pod itself.

Clothes...

So, you have to leave your clothes outside before entering the access pod? The Helis Sea was truly miraculous.

She bit her lip, but eventually she took off her Green Clothes and placed them on the ground. Before moving further, she suddenly came to her senses, quickly pulled the door shut, and locked it.

Then, with her heart pounding, Lu Jing untied the belt of her sky-blue surcoat, letting it naturally fall to the ground.

She then lifted her white undershirt, allowing it to slide off her shoulders.

She stretched her translucent toes, turned awkwardly, looked down at herself, and then climbed somewhat embarrassedly into the network access pod.

Lu Jing lay on the leather, feeling how it contoured to her body, until the pod lid came down and locked. She closed her eyes, experiencing the ultimate sense of freedom.