[Eden City Industrial District - Underground Clinic]
"Can you tell me who referred you here?"
"An old customer."
"Haha, why don't I believe that, every scumbag coming here has no conscience."
The doctor removed the micro lens from his face and said emotionlessly. "Alright, the examination is over."
The mechanical arms around the table began to contract.
The doctor's wheeled chair slid back sharply, exposing a dim underground clinic.
The patient lay in the chair, his diagnostic information displayed on the split screen, his temperature was alarmingly high, and several indicators were dangerous.
"Poor John."
The doctor read out the patient's name, with amber eyes constantly flickering. "Talk to me more about your symptoms."
John sat up straight, looking around:
The walls were full of wires and graffiti, with neon tubes overused, prosthesis hanging in ceiling slots for easy movement.
[Underground Clinic Monitoring (Unhackable)]
"I can see strange texts, like tasks from video games, they... they guide me to do some crazy things."
"Ocular implants? Scanning information, then synchronizing with consciousness through neural conductance, buddy, that's the most common thing in the Cyber Era."
"No."
John shook his head.
"I haven't modified my brain, nor have I inserted implants into my eyeballs."
"That's really strange, let me run a test then."
The doctor pushed his chair, sliding to the computer, typing away furiously. "I ran a full scan on your implants, military-grade antivirus, guaranteed clean as a whistle... Can you still see strange things?"
John looked down at his arm.
A mechanical prosthesis made of metal, plastic fiber, and faux leather.
This was standard issue for the company's lower-level employees, the contract included annual free maintenance, the metal code was worn out, but you could still make out its original model, along with a string of information appearing before his eyes.
[Company General Prosthesis ITU0126 Model (Connected)]
"I can still see them."
John said regretfully. "These texts seem to be branded deep in my consciousness."
"If we rule out a virus infection, there's only one possibility left."
"Alzheimer's?" John asked.
"Sorry, not that lucky, it's cyber-psychosis, hell already has your name."
The doctor shook his head regretfully, then took out a canned e-cigarette and took a deep puff.
The room of the clinic instantly filled with smoke, the scent of nicotine mixture wafting freely.
John looked somewhat despondent: "How did I become crazy?"
"Illegal downloads, unknown hacks, pirated software updates might fry your nerves, and the most common scenario is... excessive modifications, or using mismatched implants."
The doctor suddenly stopped. "But your case is a bit odd."
He paused. "Your implants are very old and common, no upgrades, theoretically far from reaching the load limit."
"What should I do now?"
"Try the Omega Inhibitor, the best effect on the market, upgrading from that would only mean military versions, which are deadlier."
[Omega Inhibitor (Injection Type)]
Psssst~
The valve releases pressure, the drug is injected into John's body, but there's no fluctuation in the data on the monitor.
The doctor frowned, conducted numerous examinations, and finally sighed helplessly.
"I'm very sorry, John."
His expression was like attending a funeral. "The inhibitor is ineffective, your mind and body are on the verge of collapse, enjoy your remaining time."
John sat dazed on the operating table.
Everyone living in Eden City must have seen crime scenes sealed off with caution tape.
The crazies with cyber-psychosis appear on the news every day:
They are loaded with excessive prostheses, abusing software, gradually becoming immune to hormone blockers, until one day they lose all reason, pick up weapons and shoot on the street, being blown to pieces by police and anti-terror squads...
A similar and tragic fate.
The doctor tried to console his patient:
"Forget your crazy hallucinations, find some fun, relieve stress, there's no shame in rewarding yourself."
He pulled down the iron panel, taking out various prostheses.
"Weird porn will only push you into the abyss, so I recommend modifying your mechanical arm, it's much more cost-effective than going to Huating for a X-Doll."
The doctor grabbed a handful of chips from a drawer, proudly selling them.
"These are all in high demand, properly handling feelings and emotions, highly unique, absolutely stimulating, without embedded ads or viruses."
John wasn't interested in special items.
The doctor had seen too many patients in despair, and skillfully began, "Hey, cheer up, talk to me about your story."
John looked up in a daze and started speaking:
He was transporting for Tiebang Logistics Company, got robbed midway, the cargo exploded into fragments, and he was severely injured. Upon waking, he found a black glow in his mind and his body gradually grew weaker.
"I thought I would gradually die of illness until one day, a task prompt suddenly appeared in front of me, like a dream."
"Philosophy is the right of the rich, you're not dreaming, you're sick."
[Connect to the clinic's system (optional)]
[Deep dive with the doctor, enter the clinic's local network (optional)]
John said, "If you don't believe me, you can check my biometric info, my company account is also included."
"Alright."
The doctor took out a mobile port and plugged it into John's data slot.
In the Cyber Era, everyone installs a bio slot, much like an ID card, containing crucial information and deep dive ports.
[Confirm connection to data terminal? Confirm.]
The text before John's eyes changed, but he didn't tell the doctor.
The screen showed identity information, like a file, more detailed and real, even the account balance was fully revealed.
The doctor suddenly raised an eyebrow, "Oh, John, you're unemployed?"
"Yes, I got fired, Tiebang Logistics stopped my social insurance and staff dormitory, after paying the medical fee, I'll be bankrupt."
"Hmm, a real pity. Hiss, if that's the case..."
The doctor's amber prosthetic eye began to flicker, seemingly casually probing, "Do you have any plans for what's next? Friends, family, anything?"
John shook his head.
Hearing this, the doctor mumbled a few words, operated the clinic's system to lay the surgery chair flat again, and tightly bound John's limbs with restraining handcuffs.
"Doctor?"
"Don't be nervous, I'm trying to help you."
The doctor continued typing on the keyboard, the mechanical arm above began to move, but those devices didn't look like precision instruments, more like slaughtering knives.
John didn't continue to struggle, which surprised the doctor.
The doctor practically showed his true colors, laughing, "Don't be like this, keep talking about something, will you?"
John was silent for a moment, then suddenly changed the topic, "Doctor, do you know a club girl named Tobecca?"
The keyboard sound nearby stopped.
The doctor did not answer.
John murmured while looking at the ceiling:
"She's homeless like me, penniless. You did very cruel things to her, even filmed the process and sold it to Super Sensing Chip manufacturers."
John slowly turned his head.
The doctor's yellow prosthetic eye flickered in the dark, his tone icy, "Who told you that?"
"Tobecca."
"Nonsense, her organs are still frozen in the cooler, fragments have long been thrown into the landfill, dead people don't talk."
"You disposed of her remains in the Eden City III Landfill, right?"
John said calmly, "I met her there, then the task prompt appeared in my mind..."
The doctor paused, then laughed silently.
"Oh, I forgot, you're a cyber psychopath, so, Mr. John, the voice in your head tells you to come to your death?"
[Mission Objective: Kill the Black Prosthetic Body Doctor (Uncompleted)]
[Reward: Special Inhibitor Formula]
John, with his limbs bound, maintained a calm tone, "It says if I kill you, it will give a formula that can cure me."
"Kill me, can you do that?"
The doctor operated the mechanical saw, the blade was already approaching his head— the floor would get very messy, but there was no choice, dissecting after death would devalue the organs.
Suddenly!
The doctor's pupils began to flicker—a warning came from the firewall, an anomaly appeared in the clinic's system.
John slowly turned his head, looking at the data cable extending from his arm.
[Deep Dive Connected, Hacking Level +1]
[Clinic Control System (Hacked)]
"You're hacking my system? Courting death!"
The doctor became furious.
"You're just an ordinary transporter, a lower-level trash kicked out by the company, keep your dirty hands away from my system!"
The doctor cursed, pulling out another connection line and plugging it into his data slot.
He couldn't care about the organ extractions, much less kill John—killing someone in deep dive status would leave his consciousness, virus remnants in the network.
The doctor needed to enter deep dive status, to retrieve his system in the data world.