Act.3 Bad
Foreword:
Every day is a brand new day.
--Ernest Miller Hemingway
[Part 1: The God of Night]
The sixth volume of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, "Overseas Southern Classic," states that the 28 gods are located east of the Feathered People; they are small-cheeked and red-shouldered, and there are sixteen of them in total.
The "two-eight" refers to the number, meaning that there are a total of sixteen deities who Night Patrol.
The deities of the sixteen cities and hundreds of towns in Shinto are sixteen typical people who Night Patrol to maintain order in the surrounding satellite towns, arrest criminals, hunt wild animals, administer funerals and executions, and hand over valuable materials to the Day Patrol, among other miscellaneous tasks.
They were elite soldiers, even more advanced than the Kyoraku Special Squad and medical insurance teams. However, these days, Stone Hill Town, far from the core area of Shinto City, no longer has these low-level troops. The reason is that ordinary people have long since entered [Extreme Bliss Space] to live a life of leisure and retirement. The elite units used to maintain local security cannot be expanded or increased in number. Each elite unit on Night Patrol needs supporting equipment. Management costs are one aspect, and logistical support is another.
These clones of Hot Wind Boys are not emotionless robots. The Eternal World has bound them with various inhibitors. In Xue Ming and Liu Xing's view, these androids will not break down in their fighting spirit, nor will they show any obvious emotional fluctuations.
"So, we're going to the Police Department now?" Meteor sat cross-legged on the bed, fully awake. "Brother Ping An's baton is probably there, isn't it?"
[That's right, specifically it's called [Night Patrol Center], a simple and easy-to-understand name—the typical spawn point for Night Patrol.]
Meteor pouted, looking annoyed. "I brought Ming Ge's equipment with me. Berloberg and the Dragon Slayer Sword, my Iron Knight, and the Galaxy Sniper Rifle are all on Black Brother. Are those things there too?"
[It should be pretty close to the truth. Unless it's very important material, it will be handed over to the local Night Patrol center for safekeeping until the case is closed, and then sent to Ginza after the case is closed.]
Meteor: "Then what are we waiting for! Let's go!"
[You need to replenish your energy using your electrolyte solution.]
Meteor raised his arm and saw that all the values of the VENOM mechanism were almost at their limit; he had been in Extreme Bliss Space for sixteen hours.
"Wasn't it supposed to last forty-eight hours? One bottle of medicine should last forty-eight hours!"
[Your VR training intensity is too high. The strenuous exercise in Extreme Bliss Space, especially the near-death experience, has caused your body to release various hormones. Take a look down.]
Meteor lowered her head; the sheets were damp and reeked of a strong, sweaty odor—the result of her rapid metabolism driven by her intense heartbeat.
He immediately got up, ran to the bathroom to take a shower, and pulled a clean set of clothes from the closet.
[Deduct 450 Hui Stone Currency.]
"I have to pay more?" Meteor heard this prompt as she ran into the shower room and asked in surprise, "Isn't this mine?"
Just like the bar in a budget hotel, the items prepared for you in the wardrobe don't belong to you; when you use them, that's a purchase.
A Xing was about to reach for the shower gel when he exclaimed, "So stingy!"
But he stopped halfway through reaching out his hand.
"This thing doesn't cost money, does it?"
[In this era, using glycerin-based detergents is extremely environmentally unfriendly. In fact, the water from your showerhead already contains some cleaning agents, so you don't need this shower gel—if you insist on using it, you'll need to pay 40 Hui Stone Currency.]
"That's terrible!" Meteor said fiercely, squeezing the shower gel bottle and then putting it back.
He didn't know how much debt he could accumulate. The VENOM organization's debt had now reached [-9450], which was the cost of two vials of electrolyte solvent and a set of clothes.
The warm water washed over his head, instantly waking him up.
Do you have to pay for water?
[No need, the water and electricity resources in Shinto City are free.]
Do we need to pay this debt?
[If you're planning to smash this city with me, don't even think about paying off your debts. I've been wondering why you, this stingy guy, are so concerned about your debts—are you really going to work hard and pay it all back to the Shinto People?]
"I just didn't think of it properly," A Xing said embarrassedly, grabbing the shower gel and adding a charge to his VENOM account.
Before long, strange singing could be heard coming from the bathroom.
"I love taking baths, my skin feels so good! Aww, so awesome!~"
[Hey kid, can you shut up?]
"I sing terribly?"
It's not that you're making me feel embarrassed.
"Hahahaha! I feel so smooth after applying shower gel! Rinsing it off with water makes me feel good! When I'm in a good mood, I should sing!"
Are you a child?
"You're the little kid! Only little kids like to pretend to be adults! I'm twenty-six!"
[Childish]
"Hot Wind, I just lost a good friend! I have to pull myself together! Bad guys are waiting for me! I need to cheer up! So I have to sing!"
[This is really inexplicable]
A warm steam rose from the bathroom. Meteor, having changed into a new outfit, began to shop recklessly.
He opened the refrigerator and saw neatly arranged drinks inside.
Hot Wind was too lazy to report Meteor's debts, and watched the kid start eating and drinking.
[If electrolytes can provide the energy you need for activity, why do you still need to eat?]
"No wonder I don't feel hungry at all!" A Xing sat in the restaurant, hugging a Coke and a large chicken leg, his mouth glistening with oil. "You ask me why I need to eat? These things are in my fridge, in my kitchen, aren't they just waiting for me to eat them?"
[This is an add-on item. If you want to experience gourmet food, you can enter [Extreme Bliss Space], where you can fully enjoy it.]
Meteor interrupted, "Want some electronic pickled vegetables?"
[Well, you could say that all your actions in Extreme Bliss Space can receive corresponding neural signals.]
[You can taste flavors, experience sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy, and distinguish smells in the virtual world—without worrying about digestion or food waste. Electrolyte solvents were originally produced to address food safety issues and are a standard food product.]
Meteor tore off a piece of chicken thigh meat, chewed up the cartilage, and swallowed it.
"Don't want!"
He cleaned up the plates and threw them back into the cupboard.
[These food items are all optional extras; people have to spend time eating them, which is a waste in itself for Venom—like now, I want you to get going immediately, but you've spent over twenty minutes showering and eating. I don't understand. Maybe a few hours later you'll waste time on the toilet. And if you're still concerned about the bill, I should remind you that toilets also cost money, and quite a lot.]
"You have to pay to take a dump? That's ridiculous!" Meteor muttered. "Stop rushing me! Let's leave right away!"
He had no weapons on him. When he arrived at the outer edge of the artificial island, he heard a buzzing sound coming from the apartment building. A drone flew in from the island's lounge and delivered the goods that Meteor had just consumed into the room.
[Part 2: The Endless Slaughter]
"From a distance, A Xing can't see what those drones are doing, "Hot Wind immediately explained.
[Those are the logistics supply drones of the Day Patrol. They replenish the food and daily necessities you consume in your room as needed. This logistics system supports the economy of Shinto City.]
[In order to consume within this system, people need to work to earn money; the work involves maintaining the system of the Shinto People, like an endless, deadlocked loop.]
[I understand that you prefer a realistic experience; after all, wealthy people like to play for real. Shooting in a virtual world is definitely not as exciting as in real life.]
[In Extreme Bliss Space, you can eat and drink to your heart's content, buy cheap hormone services, and experience gourmet food, but you still prefer to be sober and experience real material things in real life, right?]
Meteor: "Indeed."
[The realism of Extreme Bliss Space is extremely high; it's becoming more and more like the real world. The more modules Hei Mu Qianshou collects, the more complete the Eternal World becomes—people no longer want to return to Shinto City, filled with painful memories. So you see countless office workers handing over their physical bodies to Artificial Intelligence, to VENOM for management, letting robots do their jobs.]
Meteor: "Those white-collar workers in the office buildings of Kanto City."
[This is just the tip of the iceberg; people in [Extreme Bliss Space] have private communities and don't have to work in cramped office spaces with less than ten or twenty square meters of space per person.]
Artificial Intelligence lacks individuality and can have its rough edges smoothed out for work purposes. However, friction arises between people; seeing a team leader with a larger office and better working conditions can create irreconcilable conflicts. People experience jealousy, weakness, and comparison—this is something I've repeatedly told you about; it's a weakness of human nature.
[There are few people in the real world as devoted to authentic consumption as you are now, so the people here have surrendered their physical bodies to Venom, only occasionally returning for a glance.]
[Just like your mobile games, you occasionally return to the game world to take a look at the virtual characters you've raised.]
[It seems that the virtual and real worlds have reversed positions, and the price of electrolyte solvents is also rising year by year. After all, no one is buying real-world goods, so they have to stimulate consumption through the four dimensions of birth, aging, illness, and death.]
In short, the people in the city have become living dead. You don't need to care about other people's opinions; when they're working, there might only be a physical body there.
[They are very obedient, requiring little management cost. The law enforcement team is also decreasing in size year by year, and the crime rate is almost zero. Occasionally, individuals with personality splits in [Extreme Bliss Space] will cause some trouble. There are very few living people left in the Kyoraku Special Squad and medical insurance units. All the important tasks concerning the dead and the living have been handed over to my clones and to the two gods, Si Ye and Si Ri.]
Just then, A Xing skillfully brought up the scroll projection screen from the VENOM.
He needed to choose a mode of transportation to get to the law enforcement agency in Little Kanto, to the Night Patrol center 37 kilometers away.
There are more than ten ways to travel, with different route combinations.
[You can choose public transportation, ships, drones, or install a swimming module and get a strong artificial heart and lungs.]
Meteor pointed at a motorboat. "I want this one!"
Hot Wind paused for a moment, seemingly not quite understanding Meteor's choice.
[From a safety perspective, if you don't mind spending money, then I recommend traveling by water.]
Meteor: "I want this one! I get carsick and seasick, and all I can do is ride a jet ski."
[If you have specific requirements regarding vehicles, I actually recommend installing the corresponding mod to modify your brain—cure your motion sickness.]
Meteor: "No changes! I want this one!"
On a side note, while Meteor and Hot Wind were arguing, while they were indulging in feasting and preparing to destroy the Shinto People's servers and ultimately renege on their debt—
Xue Ming had just finished dealing with the second typical Night Patrol officer and was issued the highest-level wanted notice in the security center's system.
The difference is roughly that A Xing's life remains peaceful and uneventful, while Xue Ming's rock concert has just begun.
After spending another 45,000 yuan, Meteor happily acquired a motorboat. This thing is made of carbon fiber, with a streamlined design and powerful output. It has a thousand-horsepower electric propulsion engine, and it is no exaggeration to describe its industrial design as awesome and cool.
The Night Patrol workers work themselves to the bone to earn money. When they catch A Xing, the typical person asks the security center if they can exchange this kid for money—because the Hui Stone Currency can be exchanged for better equipment. The Shinto People have added a more complex promotion mechanism to these violent agencies, including various sights in the observation system, weapon upgrades, transportation vehicles and logistics. Every time they return to the Night Patrol center, these typical people have to pay to replenish their energy.
It's like a talent tree system or weapon system that game designers create for players.
Typical Night Patrol personnel work hard for these things, upgrading their hardware and software. When apprehending criminals, they must obey the orders of the security center. Without the security center's permission, they cannot even unlock and purchase upgraded high-frequency weapons.
A Xing drove his motorboat toward the Night Patrol center, Hot Wind explained everything to Meteor.
Meteor felt it was getting more and more outrageous.
"Isn't the security center afraid of Night Patrol mutiny?"
[All equipment is manufactured within the Shinto People's industrial system, including these exemplary individuals. If one of them goes on strike, a new exemplary individual will immediately take their place.]
"You mean, these guys are invincible? They'll come back to life?"
[That's right, my clones are born in the factory that raises Angel Infant. The Day Patrol nurtures these Angel Infant, lets them grow up, installs modules on them, and turns me into a hypothetical enemy to hone their combat skills.]
[As long as the Angel Infant Factory exists, the Model Person School continues to operate, and the Day Patrol continue to function, this assembly line will continuously produce new model persons, installing software and hardware in them to become standard violent institutions.]
[The fundamental promise the Shinto People make to each exemplary Night Patrol member is immortality and transcendence, enabling them to become one of the Night Patrol's divine figures.]
Even if they die while performing security missions, all their mission records will be preserved and used to create a soft prosthetic body in Extreme Bliss Space, allowing them to continue living in that world and carrying out security missions to protect the virtual community.
Meteor found it absurd. "You finish your work while you're alive, and then you have to keep working after you die?"
[Unexpected things can happen. The fact that Chido was able to find the prosthetic body of the Night Patrol might be because a rebel emerged within this system, causing a personality split. This rebel then ordered other cyber police officers to perform a virus removal procedure, rendering the body harmless before it ultimately fell into Chido's hands.]
The dark seawater rose and fell with the tides of the earth and moon, and the lights of distant cities flickered, creating distorted reflections in the ocean. Coast Guard vessels sped by, stirring up white ripples. A Xing watched all this, unaware of what was happening. Perhaps new crimes or new rebels had emerged somewhere in the city, requiring the Coast Guard vessels to pursue and intercept them.
A Xing thought pessimistically that these pawns would ultimately not escape the grasp of the Shinto People.
How could Angel Infant possibly escape the worldview defined by its designer?
Their survival skills, combat abilities, language communication, and cognitive systems were all bestowed upon them by the Shinto People.
But this time A Xing was wrong--
--Those police boats were chasing Jiang Xueming. At this time, the gunsmith had twenty-two lives on his hands and had already slaughtered his way through the industrial area of Kanto City. His KDA, which had been dormant for one hundred and eighty-four days, began to rise again. He was fleeing from the Seventh Clothing Factory in the northeast of the city towards the old city canal street.
After traveling thirty-seven kilometers by water, A Xing once again set foot on solid ground.
Amidst the towering buildings, conveyor belts in various factories churned continuously, and the Night Patrol center operated at near full capacity, manufacturing new soldiers to be deployed in battle.
[Something's up, Meteor Boy, something's not right.]
The long box, surrounded by polymer materials spanning thousands of meters, emitted a series of low, rumbling sounds.
The illuminated safety indicator light shows that this outpost is continuously processing new Angel Infant.
The carbon workshop and semiconductor processing center deliver all sorts of parts; all the equipment worn by standard Night Patrol soldiers can be found in these complex box conveyor belts. Occasionally, parts from Night Patrol executioners can be seen, such as prosthetic arms or torsos, artificial neural exoskeletons, etc. However, compared to the prosthetic parts of ordinary soldiers, the number of artificial organs in these elite units is scarce.
"What's wrong?"
The meteor was still confused and didn't understand what had happened.
[The security measures at the outposts have been changed from drones to Kyoraku Special Squad —that's so strange!]
[Originally, the Night Patrol center didn't have security posts; in this era, it didn't need them. Only in an emergency would citizens be conscripted from the city to temporarily form Kyoraku Special Squad to protect the Night Patrol center.]
Meteor: "What do you mean?!"
[This means that the city has been attacked by terrorists, experienced a psionic disaster, or suffered a natural disaster such as an earthquake or flash flood. All police forces are being redeployed to the urban area, production lines are up and running, and the production of ordinary soldiers and elite units—the number of Angel Infant —is declining, resulting in significant casualties.]
[Does your peacekeeper cause trouble in the city?]
The meteor shook its head excitedly.
"I don't know! Brother Ping An is no match for these typical people, is he!?"
[That's someone else, someone else who can destroy the Night Patrol security system.]
Looking towards the city along the highway, the road signs on both sides have turned from yellow to red, prohibiting civilian vehicles from passing.
Bu Liuxing was eager to try. "Want to go take a look?"
[Now is the weakest point for the Night Patrol Center. If you can destroy this delivery room, you can eliminate one of the Six Shinto Divisions of Little Kanto.]