August 15, 2038, the current time is shown on the advertising screen in the elevator ahead.
Then the camera slowly zooms out. Ben sees himself, a very young and handsome guy, dressed in a black suit and tie, with a calm expression.
However, the circular mark on his temple proves he is not a human, but an android.
"Becoming human, so the player is playing as an android in the game?"
Ben guesses.
The elevator is constantly climbing. Ben does not have control of this character yet.
The young man skillfully plays with a coin in his hands.
When the elevator reaches the top floor, the seventy-first floor, he puts away the coin and straightens his tie, looking straight ahead and waiting for the elevator doors to open.
As the elevator doors open, a fully armed soldier with a gun at the entrance communicates with his superior via radio.
"Negotiator has arrived at the scene, repeat: Negotiator has arrived at the scene."
So I am a negotiator? But this does make sense.
After all, being a negotiator is actually a dangerous job, because you have to negotiate with vicious criminals who are holding hostages.
If you anger the robbers, the hostages they hold surely cannot be killed, the negotiator will suffer.
And as androids, robots must have something unusual about them, so this profession is very suitable for them!
Ben shows a look of realization.
Then he doesn't rush forward but studies the game controls and observes his surroundings.
The house he is in should be a mansion, very large in area, with even a huge aquarium.
On a table to the right of the hallway, there is a family photo of the house owner and his family, as well as some documents and potted plants.
But the most surprising thing for Ben is that he discovers that everything around him can be interacted with.
When he gets close to more obvious objects, a corresponding interactive observation UI pops up.
In addition, there are some items without interactive UI, but they can still be interacted with in the game.
For example, when he approaches the water tank, Ben can get close and observe what's inside.
As for the brainwave reading control mode, this unique operation method made him a little uncomfortable at first.
It's like players who are used to playing with a mouse and keyboard suddenly using a controller to play a game.
However, it is indeed more convenient, especially with the VR immersion cabin and full-body force feedback, giving him the feeling that he is truly doing these things himself.
While Ben is still experimenting with the new control mode, heavily armed soldiers in the hallway are bringing out a middle-aged woman with tears streaming down her face.
"Please, please, you must save my daughter..."
The middle-aged woman sees the young man and, with tears all over her face, grabs him and pleads with him.
But then she notices the flashing mark on the young man's temple and immediately puts on a brilliant act of changing her expression.
"Wait! You're sending an android? You... you can't do this! It will kill my daughter... Why don't you send a real person?"
"Don't let that thing near my daughter! Why waste time sending an android to negotiate!?" The woman wailed as she was led away by guards.
Leaving only a bewildered Ben.
What did the android ever do to you? Did it eat your rice?
I'll show you what a negotiator is later!
Do you understand what an expert is?
Why send an android?
It's because we're all androids, so nobody knows androids better than me!
Ben mutters to himself.
Continuing forward, a line of prompts appears in his vision.
[Scanning can be activated at any time to find target information]
The moment it is activated, a stream of light blue data sweeps across everything in Ben's sight.
In this mode, all surrounding sounds disappear, and everyone's movements freeze.
The space is divided into small squares by light blue lines, and at the same time, the current mission objective is displayed on the left side of his vision: Find Captain Allen.
This feeling is like Arthur Morgan in "Red Dead Redemption: Redemption" activating Dead Eye, combined with the Eagle Eye perception of The Witcher and Assassin's Creed.
In the digital world, Ben can see a deep yellow humanoid silhouette behind the wall not far away.
This is clearly his mission target – Captain Allen.
After closing the scanning function, the game time returns to normal flow.
Ben controls the character to walk into the room.
At this time, the police officers in the room are actively preparing.
Basic information is also displayed above these people's heads.
Clearly, their relevant information is in the android database.
Arriving beside Captain Allen, Ben loses control of the character, triggering a cutscene.
'Captain Allen, I am Connor, an android sent by CyberLife.'
Ben also learns the name of the character he is currently controlling from this introduction.
Captain Allen in the game doesn't give Connor a good look either. Facing Connor who steps forward to introduce himself, he only perfunctorily tells him some simple information.
At this moment, a red number appears before Ben: Success Rate 48%.
This is clearly the success rate of direct negotiation.
If one insists on negotiating without doing anything, it's a gamble with luck.
There is a 48% chance of successful negotiation and rescue of hostages.
But there is also a 52% chance of it devolving into a Russian negotiation.
So, the next step is to gather clues, understand the event better, and then negotiate to rescue the hostages.
Looking at the mission on the android UI interface, Ben basically understands the situation.
Using Connor's android abilities to search in the room, he quickly finds clues from a briefcase.
By analyzing the briefcase and the small box, he finds that it contained a handgun and bullets, and the data reconstructs the models of the firearm and bullets.
[MS853 Black Hawk, Capacity: 17 rounds (.335 caliber), Total Length: 22 cm/Barrel: 13 cm]
[.335 caliber bullet, Velocity: 365 m/s / Kinetic Energy: 659 Joules, Bullet Weight: 115 grams / Firepower Coefficient: 414K]
After analyzing these clues, a prompt called reconstruction appears, and Ben's eyes widen.
Composed of data streams, the previous scene is recreated.
Ben clearly sees an android made of data lines taking down the briefcase and pulling out a handgun.
This is what happened here before.
"Holy crap, this kind of advanced technology exists!?" Ben exclaims in amazement.
After finding the first clue and piecing it together to restore the original scene,
Ben also finds that the previous 48% chance has now risen to 54%.
Clearly, by continuously analyzing what happened, the negotiation success rate needs to be increased.
Standing up, Ben controls Connor to continue searching the room for any useful information.
In the hostage's bedroom, through a tablet and other information,
Ben learns the name of the perpetrator in this incident: Dan Neil, an android who has gone rogue.
Then he goes to the lobby, the first crime scene. A middle-aged man with a gunshot wound to the chest lies on the ground, clearly the unfortunate victim.
Just like scanning the box where the gun was placed before, as Connor scans,
The data begins to change, and from Connor's perspective, the entire world becomes digital.
In this digital world, the scene at that time is reconstructed again.
However, Ben notices that the victim seemed to be holding something like a tablet computer at the time, and the camera even zoomed in on this tablet computer.
Clearly, this thing should be a useful clue.
Ben searches around on the ground and quickly finds a blood-stained tablet computer.
He gently slides it open, and it displays an order information.
'Your AP700 android order has been registered. CyberLife thanks you for your purchase.'
So this android is about to be replaced?
Ben jots down this information while continuing to search for beneficial information in the room.
At this moment, a gunshot is heard.
Turning the camera towards the direction of the gunshots, he sees a police officer who has been shot being supported by a companion as they leave the house.
At the same time, Ben also sees a police officer's body on the ground, dead but not yet processed.
Besides the body, there is a pool of blue blood on the ground. As everyone knows, human blood should be red, so this must be android blood.
Through the android blood on the ground, Connor has obtained all the data of this android, including its model, from CyberLife's database.
In addition, Ben also finds a handgun on the ground and picks it up, which is clearly the handgun of the police officer who died earlier.
After searching for information, Ben finds that the success rate has reached 78%.
Either there are still clues he hasn't found, or it will fluctuate in real-time when he negotiates with the android later on.
However, he doesn't search anymore because the situation is very tense, and people are constantly being shot and injured.
Following the system's prompts, Ben walks outside, ready to have a good talk about life and ideals with the android holding the hostages.
Pushing aside the curtains and stepping onto the open balcony, he has just stepped out when a gunshot rings out.
Instantly, Ben's vision shakes, and the android's UI interface in front of him flashes with red light.
Clearly, he has been shot, and blue blood splatters on the glass door nearby.
But luckily, it hit his shoulder and was not fatal.
Next, options appear in Ben's vision: [Call out the rogue android's name].
Clearly, this is a puzzle and text decryption game.
It's a game where you collect corresponding clues and then trigger subsequent plot through dialogue.
A game that makes you think? He is more than good at that.
Negotiation, right? Just leave it all to me.
Nobody knows androids better than me!
(End of chapter)
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