Punk Spirit, Hippie Mentality

With Qin Chunzi in charge, the players were having a blast, like two monsters meeting another monster.

They've never encountered an NPC who would go to great lengths to assign them tasks.

She might even motivate you, give you drugs, or whip you if you can't complete a task.

The players are ecstatic!

As a result, one by one, fellow players were pinned down, tied up, and dragged away by a dozen or so players on the streets, in alleys, and even in public places.

They were dragged into the laboratory for processing, testing, and explosion.

The performance of each ethical chip was tested.

With ten biologists and ten neural editors in place, reverse research on the "moral chip" began to accelerate.

The company was overjoyed. Most people are either abnormal or not. In most cases, between the siblings, one of them is always dissatisfied.

But the players' appearance successfully satisfied their fetishes.

It's rare to find so many people who fall somewhere between being abnormal and not.

Three days later, the players who had died came over angrily, and then left happily.

Why didn't you tell me about the game expansion pack sooner?

As a result, the group causing trouble grew larger and larger.

At this moment, in a deserted cybernetic body shop, a small face was pressed tightly against the glass, its nose squeezed into a pig's snout, its eyes fixed on a "superior" grade cybernetic body. The sign on the cybernetic body read "Do Not Touch".

Xiao Yu stared at it for a full hour.

Since returning from Fuqing Island, the little angel first did three days of free work for everyone in Hongyu Street, cleaning up the entire street.

Then on the fourth day, she finally had some free time and prepared to go back to work for her boss.

The senior engineer wasn't there; he only left her a message saying he was busy for a while and told her to do whatever she wanted.

Xiao Yu reflected on herself and realized that what she liked most was actually fighting with people, no, fighting against evil and upholding justice!

However, the security situation in the city that never sleeps has changed drastically.

The gangs vanished overnight, leaving only law-abiding citizens.

There wasn't even a single person spitting on the ground, let alone breaking the law or violating regulations.

Then Xiao Yu was completely idle.

Incidentally, Xiao Yu had a moral chip implanted in her on the very first day she entered the city.

The little angel thought, "That's it? I don't feel anything at all?"

This single-minded girl's self-imposed moral standards far exceed the requirements of a moral compass.

Satisfied with playing with the "powered robotic arm," and chatting with the shopkeeper for a while, the young woman happily left.

"Light rain?"

Xiao Yu turned around, "Aunt Qin?"

Aunt Qin was different from the one Xiao Yu remembered. The Aunt Qin used to always have a frown and look like she was in a hurry, but now Aunt Qin had a smile on her face and looked a little fatter.

She was still wearing her standard parliamentary uniform, but now she had a small basket slung around her waist, filled with fresh vegetables.

"I haven't seen you in years! What are you doing now? Come on, let's go to my house for dinner!"

Upon hearing about food, Xiao Yu's eyes lit up, and she agreed without hesitation.

Aunt Qin and her father had a very good relationship. One of them had lost her husband, and the other had lost her wife. Aunt Qin had a disabled son, while her father had a daughter who was not mentally sharp. According to Xiao Yu's father, the two were so close that they were practically inseparable.

Although Xiao Yu didn't understand what "sharing the same pants" meant, she often saw the two of them lying in the same bed.

Every time Aunt Qin comes, she has to sleep on the sofa.

Later, for some unknown reason, her father and Aunt Qin had a falling out, and the girl rarely saw each other anymore.

Xiao Yu was quite happy about this chance encounter.

Aunt Qin brought Xiao Yu to her home, which was located in the Shangzhong District. It was much better than she remembered. Before, the air here was polluted, there were mechanical eyes everywhere, and there were rough mechanical objects. It was not a place for people to live.

But now, there are many more high-rise buildings and various suspended shopping malls here, and the air is very fresh.

Aunt Qin smiled kindly as she looked at Xiao Yu, who was looking around.

"After we finish eating, I'll show you around properly."

When they arrived at Aunt Qin's house, a cleaning robot opened the door early. In the living room, a boy whose limbs had all been replaced by mechanical prosthetics was sitting blankly next to the piano, seemingly lost in thought.

"Xiao Jie, look who's here."

The boy named Xiao Jie turned around, revealing a handsome face. When he saw Xiao Yu, his eyes lit up. "Xiao Yu!"

"Xiao Jie!?" Xiao Yu's eyes widened. "Your leg doesn't hurt anymore?"

In Xiao Yu's memory, Xiao Jie was a rare case of phantom limb disorder.

The common phantom limb syndrome refers to the perception of the existence of a limb even after it has been severed.

In general, implanting a mechanical prosthesis is sufficient in this situation.

However, phantom limb syndrome is somewhat different. Their nervous system is special and they cannot have prosthetic hands and feet installed. Once installed, it is as if a mechanical body is inserted into flesh and blood, causing unbearable pain.

"Okay! See!" Xiao Jie quickly circled around and laughed.

"That's great! I've always wanted to take you out to play, but you couldn't even walk. Now we have this opportunity!" Xiao Yu said happily, patting the other person's shoulder with a smile.

"Um!

Aunt Qin watched this scene with a smile and said, "You guys have fun, I'll go cook."

As soon as Aunt Qin left, Xiao Yu's eyes lit up and she said, "Xiao Jie, what model of prosthetic body do you use? It looks so high-end! Can I borrow it to play with? My mechanical body is so bad right now, and the boss won't let me replace it."

"Sure, but you have a boss?" Xiao Jie asked curiously.

"Yeah, they provide food and lodging, and even help me pay off my debts. They're really great, but they just won't help me get a prosthetic body."

Xiao Yu skillfully lifted Xiao Jie's prosthetic leg, placed it on her thigh, and began to disassemble it.

"Mmm."

"What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" Xiao Yu looked up and asked blankly.

Xiao Jie quickly waved his hand, a blush flashing across his face.

"Blackwater Type 16, excellent balance and strong grip," Xiao Yu said lightly, his mechanical toes nimbly traversing the walls and ceiling before gently landing, the mechanical bearings emitting a crisp impact sound.

Looking at the other person's agile movements, Xiao Jie showed an envious expression.

"Not bad, not bad, hahaha, our prosthetic bodies are the same size!"

Xiao Jie, wearing Xiao Yu's prosthetic body, gave an embarrassed smile.

"It just lacks impact power; it's not as powerful as my old Firebird, but it suits you quite well."

"Dinner's ready, everyone—"

Aunt Qin came out of the kitchen and saw the young boy and girl switching legs, and she showed a clearly surprised expression.

"Aunt Qin, you made a good choice for the prosthetic body. Xiao Jie has a gentle personality, so this kind of stable prosthetic body is suitable for him."

"Alright," Aunt Qin forced a smile, "You're all grown up, stop messing around. Go wash your hands and eat."

During the meal, the topic of Xiao Yu's father inevitably came up.

"It has been proven that you cannot save society by working alone. Only large corporations have the resources to do such a thing."

"Public welfare neighborhoods—it sounds nice, but who's willing to make the sacrifices? Are we relying on one or two heroes?"

"The true future lies in combining the needs of large corporations with the needs of this era!"

"Moral chips are the future," Aunt Qin said, looking at Xiao Jie with affection. "It's peaceful now, the City That Never Sleeps is safe, and children like him can move around freely without worrying about encountering insurmountable risks."

"Aunt Qin," Xiao Yu raised her head with a serious expression.

"What's wrong?"

"There's not enough rice left!"

After dinner, Aunt Qin was about to take Xiao Yu and Xiao Jie out for a walk when they ran into their neighbor, Councilor Hu, and her bionic daughter.

Small Bookstore

The android girl was shy, but under the guidance of Xiao Yu, a member of the social elite, she quickly warmed up to everyone.

"This era is still the best," Councilor Hu said with a smile, patting his belly.

"Yes, that's wonderful," Aunt Qin said with a smile as she watched the three children playing.

It was almost evening when Xiao Yu skipped home. As soon as she got home, she saw the mecha soldier browsing the news.

After leaving Fuqing Island, this ancient man seemed to suddenly become a recluse.

"Grandpa, I brought you some food!"

Because the mecha soldiers didn't allow the other party to call him "grandpa," Xiao Yu changed his form of address, and this time, the mecha soldiers didn't object.

The mechanized soldier nodded slightly. The news he was reading was all about technology, and he seemed to be judging the gap between ancient and modern technology.

Xiao Yu was used to it. First, he put the bags of snacks and clothes on the ground, then picked up the engine oil and began to adjust his blank prosthetic body.

Although the clothes are beautiful and the snacks are delicious, what she loves most is still machinery!

"Um?"

When applying oil to the prosthetic leg, Xiao Yu suddenly paused, then stroked the rough mechanical leg. Her usually optimistic expression suddenly turned strange.

A surge of intense emotion rushed into Xiao Yu's mind along with her prosthetic body, making her feel extremely uncomfortable and causing her to involuntarily bury her head in her knees.

The mech soldier's finger paused, and the news feed stopped switching.

"Back when Honkai Collapse Entity 7 was being tested, it had a very peculiar ability: it could sense the emotions of machines."

"We conducted many experiments and later confirmed that it was not the machine's emotion. Machines do not have emotions; only humans do. Or rather, what Number Seven perceived was the residual emotion of the person who once piloted the machine."

The mech soldier turned around, and the electronic voice remained calm.

"So, what did you feel?"

"Immense pain."

Xiao Yu said this.

Every era has its own anger. If anger is used for good, it can become a driving force for social reform; if it is used for bad, it can become a driving force for criminal law reform.

The anger in the cyber proving ground can be summarized in two aspects: the workplace and the rules, or conversely, punk and hippie.

Just like the two virtual personalities in the senior engineer's hands.

The spirit of punk: the seeds of revolution are hidden in the loathing for corporations and the resistance to power.

The hippie spirit: a cynical attitude towards oneself and a contempt for rules, in short, a rebellion against social norms.