The Laughing Calamity

The 3D-printed train is brand new and tidy inside and out, but the player's carriage is a complete mess.

Various kinds of hawking, arguing, and demands for high prices for chips were heard incessantly.

"Selling bullets! Bullets for sale! Pistol bullets, shotgun bullets, smart bullets—all types available! Contact me if you're interested!"

"Want a missile launcher? It's an essential item for attacking NPC strongholds, and you can get it for just 10,000 machine tokens!"

"Any melee-focused modders needed? Androids and robots are welcome to join, but mutants, get out!"

"Looking for a healer with specialized skills, and a neuromorph with three hacking skills. We're looking for a high-spending, high-powered team of four, but we're only one person short. We specialize in boss raids."

"I'm willing to pay a fortune for a chip! I'm willing to pay a fortune for a chip! Anyone have an implantable chip? I'll buy it!"

"Hooray, you're done for. No chips left, you can only play through the story."

However, there was a long queue in one of the carriages.

Wearing welding goggles, Baozi focused intently on manipulating two mobile surgical arms mounted on his back, making him look like a miniature, foldable version of Doctor Octopus.

These two surgical arms are skillfully opening up a player's mechanical back of the head, adjusting the microcircuit, and implanting the "Bat of Laughter" chip.

"Every time I see this scene, I feel extremely horrified," said Sister Ji.

Looking at the 'Sadako's' drifting hair and the wriggling implanted threads in front of him, the eldest brother, Megumi, decisively chose to shut up.

"By the way, what brings you here?" Sister Ji asked again.

"It's a rare opportunity to participate in such a large-scale event," said the eldest brother, Hui, adjusting his black top hat calmly.

"I just didn't expect you, Boss Hui, to have so many henchmen. Building your influence seems quite promising," Baozi said enviously while performing surgery.

"Sometimes I also consider going the business route, like opening a branch or something."

"It's not that simple," Big Brother Hui shook his head and said, "The management model of this game is exceptionally realistic. Once you enter the management level, there are many restrictions. You can no longer run around the map like an ordinary player. For example, Brother Umbrella couldn't come here because of this reason."

"After all, a high-level assassin can't just kill people casually. It's fortunate that Brother Umbrella can endure the loneliness. If it were me, I would have deleted my account and run away long ago," the muscular burly man said, inspecting his newly donned gorilla-shaped arm suit without looking up.

"I think you should complete the level 20 job change quest first, Baozi. By the way, does this job change quest provide any bonuses to your secondary profession?"

"It should have an impact. According to players from other planets, if a player reaches level 20 on the civilian route, they can merge their secondary profession with their primary profession."

"After completing the two job change quests—level 20 for civilian and level 10 for cyborg doctor—I'll move on to the job merging quest."

"By then, I'll most likely be going to open a new map. Who's willing to be my bodyguard? I'll offer free prosthetic body repair services."

While chatting, Baozi closed the back of the modified person's head.

"In the attribute panel, are there two things that look like health bars?"

"Oh, it's out."

"The black ones are called chaos bars, and the white ones are called order bars. We usually call them black and white bars."

"The chip's base bonus is +5% to Neural Reaction, +1 to Intelligence, and +1 to Perception. The black bar increases critical hit rate, and the white bar increases accuracy, just like an energy bar. When you fill any one of the black or white bars, your attributes will receive a temporary boost. Some experienced players have tested this, and when the black and white bars are fully stacked, you can reach a maximum of +30% to Neural Reaction and +5 to all attributes. In addition, during this process, some of your skills will be randomly enhanced."

"Wow! That's incredible! This is even more powerful than the boost from a 'superior' grade cybernetic body."

"Temporary, temporary, how many times do I have to emphasize that?" Baozi said impatiently. "And please check the notes. Using it too often can cause irreversible damage to the nervous system."

"If you don't want to delete your account and start over, you'd better wait until this mission is over and then dismantle this thing."

"Remember, these are disposable items!"

"That's such a waste."

The player was muttering something.

"By the way, how do you increase these black and white bars? Do you do it by defeating monsters?"

"Figure it out yourself. What's the point of playing the game if you're just looking at guides? Here's the money, settle the rest of the surgery fee."

The player paused for a moment, then instinctively reached for his wallet.

The black bar suddenly increased by 5%.

The player's expression remained unchanged, but his eyes flickered. Taking advantage of the others' inattention, he suddenly darted out of the carriage.

"Haha, you idiot, who pays for surgery? Do you think that's realistic?"

Red Flower Fairy gazes at the sky with her spear under her pillow; Sister Ji browses pornographic pictures online; Big Brother Hui reads the mission instructions; Baozi is organizing surgical tools.

Before long, a group of mafia NPCs, whose modifications exceeded 40%, surrounded the player, and a sea of gun barrels were pointed at him.

Baozi glanced at the other person and said:

"Now you know how to upgrade your black and white bars, right?"

The player chuckled dryly, "I know, I know."

"Then pay up and leave. Of course, you can also enjoy a free three-day offline vacation."

"Pay up! I'll pay up!"

"Next time you want to dine and dash, remember to bring a mask. Here, this is a free gift from the surgery. Remember to wear it next time you're accumulating black bars."

Baozi raised his chin, and where he pointed, a grinning metal bat mask was hanging on the wall.

After paying the money, the player scurried away, looking rather dejected. Baozi couldn't help but complain to an acquaintance:

"What happened to the promise that players wouldn't cheat players? All they're doing is trying to skip out on their bills. Doesn't anyone care about my excellent surgical skills and give me a little extra money?"

"This chip amplifies the good and evil in human nature. The evil side corresponds to temptation. After all, this is a game. How many players do you think can stay true to themselves in a game?"

The eldest brother, Hui, waved his hand, and the group of family modifiers bowed slightly and retreated without saying a word.

This kind of scene has happened more than a dozen times in just one hour.

"Then the city that never sleeps is doomed," Baozi complained.

"Not necessarily. They're more easily tempted, but also more easily moved," Sister Ji glanced at the muscular guy and scoffed, "Take this guy, for example. He took out a loan to buy a gorilla arm, supposedly to uphold justice. I've only ever heard of people taking out loans to buy houses, never to become heroes. Are you the legendary Loan Hero?"

The muscle-bound guy shrugged. "It's just a game anyway, having fun is the most important thing. I just can't stand those people who cause trouble for no reason."

Baozi sighed, "Fine, whatever. Anyway, when I implanted the chips in you, I added an on/off program. You can decide when to turn them on and when to turn them off."

While they were chatting, there was a knock on the carriage window. Everyone looked up and saw that it was a plane ridden by a mutated giant.

"The mechanical informants are here. Pack up their weapons and equipment for now."

"I'm going back to my carriage now. See you later."

With a flick of its wings, amidst a strong gust of wind and a surge of energy, the mutated bird accelerated like a flying machine, creating sonic booms with each flap of its wings.

"This bird is kind of cool, but the plane is a bit lame. If it were me, it would be perfect."

"Wow, this is great! When can I fly too? Baozi, when can you grow wings?"

"Don't even think about it. You have to wait until level 30 to install the human flight system, and at the current upgrade speed, it will be at least four months from now."

"Why do I feel like seeing birds is like seeing people?" Sister Ji is indeed Sister Ji; she immediately spouted outrageous remarks.

"It feels somewhat familiar," the eldest brother Hui said, rubbing his pink chin. "This bird and airplane seem to go so well together. Is it a custom-made, high-level genetically engineered beast?"

Soon, the players' noise subsided, and the train's iron door was slammed open with a bang. Just like a scene from a science fiction horror movie, a large number of mechanical eyeliners shot out, and countless red searchlights swept around wildly. After the red lights swept over the players and confirmed their identities, they immediately landed on the players' shoulders, and two electronic drills emerged from their bodies to forcibly implant the basic version of the morality chip.

Reading at midnight

Compared to them, Baozi is practically an angel in white; at least he won't smash skulls.

After the monsters left, Baozi rubbed the back of his head, wiping away a pool of blood, and couldn't help but complain, "I lost a fifth of my health, and they didn't even give me an anesthetic. Those people who were using 100% realism mode are having a blast."

"Huh?"

On the system panel, lines of text appeared.

"Moral chip implantation complete, Bat of Laughter chip officially activated—"

"With the support of the morality chip, the charging speed of order and good/evil values increases by 300%."

The faster the charging speed, the higher the attribute bonus.

"My heart and actions are as clear as a mirror; all my deeds are for justice." — Zhou·tree·Ren

"Holy crap!" Baozi exclaimed, his Baozi agape upon seeing the comment.

"So that's how this thing is used? An enhanced version of the 'fun man'?"

Whether it was a misperception or not, Baozi seemed to sense that countless mischievous eyes lit up.

Meanwhile, in Unreal Engine's chip processing center, a neural editor suddenly noticed something was wrong and immediately notified the person in charge.

Soon, a group of experts walked in, led by Chief Scientist Dr. Murray.

The neuro-editors reported the abnormality to Dr. Murray.

"Unable to receive data on immorality? How is that possible?" A top neuroscientist frowned. "Everyone has evil thoughts, everyone has ideas that deviate from conventional morality; it's determined by human biology."

"Even babies have the instinct to survive. When they are starving, it is not impossible for a baby to eat its mother. Without this impulse, they would not be human."

"Historical virtuous people and perfect individuals only restrained their evil thoughts, not that they were without evil thoughts. If they were without evil thoughts, they would not be carbon-based life forms."

The neural editor did not answer, but instead opened a holographic map.

Green dots appeared on the map, and there were quite a few of them, nearly ten thousand.

"Since they're all from a crime city, that's even more impossible!"

The expert pushed aside the neural editor and proactively opened the backend of the morality chip. Sure enough, there was no criminal data in the transmission path, and the upload speed was 0kb.

"Are these all first-generation ethical chips?" Dr. Murray suddenly asked.

"Yes, these chips are the earliest chips, and they are no longer in production. The last batch should be in the mainframe area."

"Why did the Machine Generation Master implant old-fashioned morality chips? Doesn't it know these chips are flawed?"

"It's probably a problem with the chip itself, a break-in issue between the older chip and the fourth-generation chip?"

"Or has the crime capital developed some kind of advanced technology that can evade the checks of the morality chip?"

"That's impossible."

Dr. Murray calmly stated, "The fundamental principle of the moral chip is based on the basic ethical and moral concepts that have been developed since life on this planet was first enlightened."

Even in this era of ethical chaos and moral fragmentation, morality is still morality, and all the chaos is built on the foundation of morality.

"Unless it's hacked, the chip can't possibly malfunction."

"Therefore, there are only two possibilities: either these people are all aliens."

"What's the other one?"

"They are not human."

Dr. Murray let out a long sigh and said, "Send out the security personnel to arrest all of these people. We must not let a single one escape."

"This is important. I will apply to the board to allow you to deploy senior security personnel."

Dr. Murray left in a hurry, leaving the group of experts looking at each other in bewilderment.

After a long while, one of the experts finally spoke to himself.

"Not human? Could such a person even exist?"

Are players considered people? Strictly speaking, they aren't.

Their morality is based on the rules of the game. In PvP, you won't see civilized people; in adult games, you won't see decent people; and in roguelike games, you won't see casual players.

Their morality is "nothing".

So what are the rules of the game "Cyberworld"?

To be honest, even the advanced engineer who played the game to the very late stages in my previous life didn't understand it.

Since he didn't understand it, he didn't think the other party could either.

Since no one has figured it out, the problem becomes easier to solve.

Just leave the problem to the players.

Soon, the players encountered their first wave of monsters.

A level 25 law enforcement officer.

The number is about twice that of the players.

The ferocious firepower gave them a huge surprise.

"Holy crap, so many monsters!"

"Help! Help! Get a healer, we can't hold on any longer!"

"As expected of a nightmare-level mission, it's this intense right from the start!"

Fierce battles soon broke out in various parts of the city.

The city that never sleeps instantly becomes a new crime capital.

"Has the game started?"

Within the cyber network, watching the network nodes of the City That Never Sleeps turn from pure white to gray, the senior engineer muttered to himself.

It's hard to whiten something, but to dye it black, a single drop of ink is enough.

Even more frightening is that this ink can change color randomly, and you can't even tell if it's black or white.

"Will the player who has transformed into the Batman Who Laughs become the Joker or the Dark Knight? It's quite interesting to think about."

"Without your ethical chips supporting me, I really couldn't have done this."

The reason why chips can be mass-produced so quickly is not only because of the advanced mechanical technology of the Cyber Proving Ground, but also because of another reason.

The "Bat of Laughter" chip is essentially a complement to the "Moral Chip," serving as a complementary product.

One is responsible for building moral walls.

One is responsible for stimulating emotions.

Without the former, the latter simply cannot function properly.

After all, even among players, there are very few who are 100% pure perverts.

Only players can be "without" morality and fully unleash their true nature.

What the senior engineer did was merely to prematurely ignite the catastrophic nature of the fourth natural disaster.