After spending two hours intensely surfing the internet, he roughly understood what kind of world he was in.
A planet called Earth, yet also a world that seemed both real and unreal,
Quiet war
Hunger epidemic
Followed by four corporate wars, in the end, the god of the network, Bartmos, released the rabies virus before his death, crippling the entire early net and all company databases. Night City's Huang Ban Tower was reduced to ruins in a nuclear explosion, and corporations, even some countries, began to experience economic collapse and extreme environmental degradation.
In this process, due to a worldwide weakening of nations caused by the polar cold war, new energy emerged. Through orchestrating one war after another, capital gradually replaced national governments, stepping to the forefront of the world and becoming the true power holders.
Biological weapons...
One company or country after another abandoned their bottom lines, fracturing the entire world. The environment continued to degrade, with large-scale extinction of animals and plants. Oceans were polluted by oil and chemical waste, the land was no longer suitable for farming or livestock, and in the decades of worsening environmental conditions, no one even attempted any restoration. Some food production companies even deliberately polluted the remaining civilian farmland to inflate company stock and grain prices.
Either sell the land to corporations or wait to starve.
The upper levels of the city belong to corporations, the lower levels belong to gangs and middlemen, the wilderness belongs to the Wanderers, and ordinary civilians serve as the lubricant with their flesh and blood, driving the entire city's operation.
And to survive in such a harsh environment, everyone has to install cybernetic augmentations just to continue living. Without them, you wouldn't even be able to compete in work, including the current Lin Miao...
Looking at the root of his left palm, a data line was quietly tucked away there, painless and itch-free. It was so normal that he hadn't noticed anything unusual until after a few breaths, when a word popped out of his teeth
".....Fuck...."
A dangerous world, opened up inexplicably, with an extra data line on his hand, everything he discovered made his head spin.
After calming down for a while, Lin Miao tremulously held the data line with his right hand and slightly pulled it out.
It was a unique perception, a feeling of components twisting along with his movement in his left arm, probably the data line's retractable area. As long as he released his hand, the data line would immediately retract to his palm without any discomfort.
Let's give it a try, let me see if that world is really so bizarre.
With such a mindset, Lin Miao pulled the data line out again and plugged it into the obvious port at the bottom of the computer screen.
In that moment, Lin Miao could clearly hear the crackling sound of electricity in his ears, and his vision also started to flicker, like a computer screen glitching. Once his vision stabilized for a short time, a line of green-framed text and progress bar popped up in front of him.
[System is installing, please wait.]
System? Installing?
Is it Windows?
Or antivirus software?
360? Or Haozip 123?
No way! Bro!
If his brain got stuck with this sticky mess, he'd rather die, right?
Would advertisements pop up at fixed times every day?
By the way, why haven't I seen Microsoft in this network?
Bankrupt?
Whatever it might be, Lin Miao patiently waited for this so-called system to finish installing. Even if it's a virus, it's better to die knowing the reason, isn't it?
However, the progress bar moved quickly, filling up in a minute or two. At least it wouldn't be like some websites that would just freeze halfway, ruining your mood.
[Firm System installation complete, now online.]
The green dialog box vanished, a metallic gear icon appeared at the bottom of Lin Miao's vision, along with a mess of chaotic information.
'Have a bite of synthetic meat, bring joy to the whole family...'
'Captain Caliente's corn chips!'
'Real water, 99 euros per gallon!'
'Super Cannon~ All night long~ Every night~ Sign up now, say goodbye to weakness!'
What the hell... What kind of crap are these....
Damn, it really installed rogue software...
Once connected to the network, Lin Miao's head was flooded with all kinds of information, chaotic and all kinds of content squeezing into his consciousness, as noisy as those old ladies dancing in the square downstairs, the intense sensory overload made his head almost explode, bursting with fireworks and lightning, as if having a seizure.
Lin Miao's vision was filled with the web pages he previously opened on his computer, feeling like his head was about to explode. He had to grit his teeth and focus to close all those blasted pages, only then did the noise in his head quiet down.
He lay horizontally on the chair, smoke wafting out of his ears, nose, and mouth, taking quite a while to catch his breath.
Damn it, almost died in the hands of ads while surfing the net, if it spreads, wouldn't it make the Night City comedy news headlines?
Lin Miao didn't rest much, immediately experimenting by invoking the data stream in his mind, opening the icon that appeared after installing the system. A panel popped up in front of him straight away.
Name: Lin Miao
Gender: Male
Age: 27 years
Level: LV1
Profession: Night City Civilian
Reputation: Nobody
Body: 4
Tech: 4
Calm: 5
Reflex: 5
Intelligence: 6
Status: Healthy
Skill: [Basic Firearms Mastery LV5]
Chip Puppet: Not Installed
Beside these numbers, there was also a spread-out human model, each bone, each nerve, muscle clearly visible. He could freely zoom in to observe the body's health and cybernetic augmentation status, and even actively turn off pain perception.
Lin Miao didn't know how this body came to be, but on the surface, it looked exactly like his previous body, and aside from the chip and interface in his head, and the data line installed in his left hand, it seemed the whole body was made of natural organs.