Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 742 - 616 Joyful

Chapter 742: Chapter 616 Joyful

"How can there be such a beautiful place?" Lu Jing and Rinne descended together.

Lu Jing didn’t know anything about the structural system of the Helis Sea, relying entirely on Rinne to lead her down.

As they entered deep into the data world, Rinne converted the sequential data of the data layers into image data, rendered it, and directly output it into Lu Jing’s data consciousness. Then Lu Jing saw a space of golden yellow, as if the sea was cast from amber, honey, and gold.

Seeking more knowledge, Lu Jing, lively as a little dolphin, burrowed further down, aiming to reach the bottom of the Helis Sea. She discovered that this system was incredibly vast, connecting tens of thousands of data sites currently in existence for Nestor Corporation. She was amazed that she could drift freely within the data system, finding the Helis Sea to be a completely new technology beyond her comprehension.

"The more beautiful places are yet to come," Rinne took Lu Jing into the area called the "middle layer," showcasing her skilled prowess, proudly displaying the full extent of Xu Yang’s mastery to Lu Jing.

"Do you come here often?" Lu Jing curiously asked.

"Of course, I am already a professional engineer of the Helis Sea," Rinne lied.

Their dialogue had no voice, emerging instead in the form of generated codes in the data space. Rinne thought this way Lu Jing wouldn’t see her embarrassed state when lying, but Lu Jing detected the elongated red data fragments left behind by Rinne, scattered behind like Rinne tossing away her emotions of shyness.

Now Lu Jing knew Rinne was lying. She moved closer to Rinne, kindly choosing not to puncture her disguise, but instead clung tightly to Rinne’s data-consciousness like a remora under the belly of a shark, letting her carry them both downwards.

"I can read your memories! I can read your..." Small fragments of Lu Jing instantly filled Rinne’s consciousness.

Lu Jing realized she had gotten too close, to the point that they could read each other’s consciousness.

The data consciousness consisted of three main modules: emotions, personality, memories. Emotions were located on the outer layer, thus their intertwining data continuously infused each other, creating additional feelings.

This caused them both to become overly excited, too happy, filled with joy, shyness, friendship, pleasure... As their emotional data surged exponentially, they entwined tightly and, like two streaking meteors, spiraled through the Helis Sea.

"You’re free now, you’re relaxed... nothing bothers you anymore..." Lu Jing said.

She saw Rinne’s clear memories and emotions, realizing that the long-plaguing mission had ended for Rinne, and the drifting traveler had found a fitting destination.

"What about you?" Rinne didn’t understand what sorrows Lu Jing could still have.

"I still seek more, I want to become stronger, I am ’Anti-Magic Power,’ I am a Green-clothed maid, I am a student of the immortals... and there’s Xia! That vast land, billions of people, they need someone like me to protect them. My aimless days are over, it’s time to raise my head and fight for my real Power and honor," Lu Jing spoke passionately, laying out her thoughts.

"Life isn’t a play, you might be greatly disappointed one day," Rinne said.

Rinne needed to be more restrained, and she realized her words abruptly halted Lu Jing’s emotions, as Lu Jing’s feelings became much more volatile, quickly turning very foul.

Lu Jing feared that the company would erase her memory and implant a new personality, she was afraid of getting lost on the path to Eternal Life, and even more afraid that she would be powerless her whole life, superficially living through a mediocre several decades or centuries. Her consciousness swiftly scattered away from Rinne and sank downwards.

This was the most dangerous scenario, akin to actual drowning. Rinne noticed that Lu Jing’s consciousness had fallen into dozens of different data centers, increasing the difficulty of her normal return. Rinne quickly warned Lu Jing and reminded her of her real purpose.

"—Cyber Specter! We’re going to meet the Cyber Specter," Rinne reminded her.

She carefully gathered Lu Jing’s scattered emotions, this tense and unfortunate little one truly required constant vigilance.

Rinne worried that Lu Jing wouldn’t manage to face the numerous challenges on her own in the future; it’s a dangerous world where most disasters exceed expectations, not to mention that Lu Jing would eventually have to go back to Xia, where the good child Lu Jing would have to face the bad guys alone.

"Where is it?" Lu Jing asked pitifully.

"Come on, come on, it’s right here," Rinne led Lu Jing to a higher layer within the data structure, allowing Lu Jing to see the distribution of the Helis Sea.

The Helis Sea expanded along with the expansion of Nestor Corporation, they could see the heart of the Helis Sea in the Northern Archipelago glowing brightly, spread through all the corporate cities of the Archipelago, forming a ring, then extending southwards, landing on the forests and coastlines of Charo Island and stretching southwestwards, finding its fulcrum on Jialong Slope.

Outside of Nestor Corporation’s system lay the Helis Sea of other enterprises, with clear demarcations between different network systems, impenetrable to each other.

"That’s Xia’s network, there’s the Great Ocean Project, White Elephant Continent is in total darkness, Taiya Archipelago has its own..." Lu Jing observed her surroundings.

"The Cyber Specter is at the relay point of all networks, at the core gateway," Rinne moved with Lu Jing, approaching the heart of the Helis Sea.

"Wow..." Lu Jing observed in amazement.

She discovered the central region, where thousands of signals converged, a crystalline tower-shaped data model stood in the depths of Nestor Corporation’s Helis Sea, with astonishing network traffic swirling around it, tirelessly collecting, analyzing, and processing data packets, connecting all the inter-network channels of the entire data space, becoming the heart of the network layer.

"It’s quite beautiful, isn’t it?" Rinne said.

"What is that?" Lu Jing couldn’t help but continue to ask.

Rinne smiled, she had to keep it a secret.

In fact, that was Lila Nestor, the president’s consciousness, the sum of all machinery, she knew everything, she understood everything. Wherever the Helis Sea extended, her will followed, reaching every corner, the data world’s supreme Administrator and guardian.

"I’m not telling you," Rinne teased playfully.

"So where is the Cyber Specter?" Lu Jing asked curiously.

"It’s always been here," Rinne said, looking around.

Restlessly guarding the core calculations of Lila, the Cyber Specter’s golden form appeared on the other side.

It was so huge and conspicuous that Lu Jing was rendered speechless for a long time. It was like a mythological beast flapping its wings in the heavens, with the dual features of a giant fish and bird, slowly patrolling the data space, ensuring the safety of the entire Helis Sea. Its shell was made of countless computing units, at least in the billions, just like the constantly working neurons in a human brain. No thief that infiltrated the Helis Sea could escape its watchful eye and destruction.

At this moment, Lu Jing too found peace, just like Rinne.

She had seen the "god" she worshipped, what could be more fulfilling? Lu Jing and Rinne rested in a suitable place, quietly watching the Cyber Specter patrol the heights, controlling the vast Helis Sea.

"Finally... we see it together," Lu Jing said.

"A long-cherished wish is now fulfilled... the Cyber Specter..." Rinne was also seeing it in full clarity for the first time.

"How magnificent... to protect everyone in this intangible data space..." Lu Jing’s emotions were hard to put into words.

"I once thought about releasing it, taking it out of this cage. What about you?"

"I thought the same, I did... I also felt that the Cyber Specter shouldn’t be trapped in such a place, but... but..." Lu Jing struggled to find the words.

"The Helis Sea is too vast," Rinne said, completing Lu Jing’s thought.

"It’s not just vast, but..." Lu Jing paused before finally finding the right words to express her feelings, "...it looks so... content. Perhaps it doesn’t want to leave because, after all, this is its home."

"Yes..." Rinne stayed beside Lu Jing.

They silently observed the Cyber Specter and its fiercely protected core, as well as the entire boundless Helis Sea.

Surrounding them were tens of thousands of golden points of light, each representing a Nestor information service center. They varied in size, forming a dense network, a representation of the Nestor Corporation’s deep roots in this world.

Feeling all this, Lu Jing was filled with awe, or rather, a higher degree of... love. She would never forget the strong impact of this scene, having witnessed such a majestic spectacle, the worries and banalities of the mortal world no longer seemed worth concerning herself with.

Lu Jing was no longer afraid, not that afraid anymore.

"I want to get closer," Lu Jing said.

"Let’s go."

Lu Jing had Rinne move them up, as their consciousness came in contact with the Cyber Specter itself. Due to the vast difference in strength, they were unable to touch the consciousness of the Cyber Specter, but it could easily manipulate and influence theirs.

Unlike the basic effects in the physical world, in the state of digitized consciousness, all their emotions could be stimulated with extreme intensity, far exceeding the influence the body could provide. With just the slightest tweaking, they could experience pleasures a thousand times beyond what the ordinary world could offer.

"—This is unbelievable..." Lu Jing felt her emotions intensifying, she was so immersed in this extraordinary, dreamlike experience that the slightest alteration in the data could completely lose herself.

Her consciousness uploaded to the system was so delicate, so easily disturbed, it was almost like cheating; in 1 millisecond she could experience hundreds of different types and intensities of joy.

Feelings and sensations that in the human brain would require the release of hormones, drugs, or catalysts to activate, could now instantly be generated by just changing some codes and parameters in their consciousness, and these could be replicated, transmitted thousands of times over. Moreover, Rinne and Lu Jing were so close that they could repeat and experience each other’s feelings at that moment.

They were ecstatic.