Operator #10: Rampant Arrogance
Inside the Karasuju Prison in Toyotomi Island Ward, Ginza--
--Luo Ping'an's soul and spirit are imprisoned here.
The detention center and the hardened prison cells have a spacious common area where all the men and women are talented and have pleasant voices. The Daoist priest really enjoys living in the prison.
The criminals who are imprisoned in the Raven's Nest are mostly ambitious individuals who have undergone a complete replacement of their bodies with military-grade cybernetic implants and whose mental models are on the verge of collapse. They can endure the 85-degree Celsius temperature in Ginza, while ordinary people simply do not have the chance to enter here alive.
Mr. Ping An's trip to Longchang was an enlightenment journey, providing many useful clues to the intelligence center of the Abyssal Railway and the Gate of Wonders. He was able to extract many secrets and stories about the Shinto City from the criminals and jailers.
Ginza's geographical environment is quite special. It is the starting point for the Pompeii Worm's ascension to sainthood. The powerful spiritual energy of the Original Seed was used on a large scale by humans for industrial production for the first time. The choice made by the Fen Feng Legion when they had no other choice served as a warning to all departments of the Abyssal Railway.
Without this ceremony, the people of Shinto City might not have survived, but they wouldn't have been completely wiped out; at least some sparks of civilization would have remained amidst the geological disaster.
Having violated the taboo, the city is now only haunted by ghosts. Long before the Red Tide catastrophe, Isoragi Meiku had fled this place with the young Hunter King — North Wind was merely a phantom left behind by this researcher.
The Fen Feng Legion met a tragic and heartbreaking end.
Electronic ghosts have taken over the lives of the people of Shinto City, feeding on their experiences to continuously produce seemingly new but actually outdated brains, paired with seemingly vibrant but actually decaying cybernetic bodies—telling new chapters from old stories.
It was like a narrow and crowded echo chamber, where the Fen Feng Legion and the people of the Shinto City suffered eternal torment and were subjected to extreme punishments from which there was no escape.
It seems that everything is exactly as Mr. Ping An initially told the meteor.
There is no such thing as eternal life; it is merely eternal death.
The more modern a place is, the harder it is to have children.
Life seems to be getting more and more convenient, but we have less and less time to ourselves.
Reading stories is far slower than writing them; the new life created must always obey the parents, with everything from birth to death meticulously planned.
The soul can go anywhere, through streaming media and electronic media, traveling all over the world, but it never stays in the body.
If you could live your life again, what would you choose?
The Fen Feng Legion and the people of Shinto City did not back down or admit defeat in the face of terrible natural disasters and despicable enemies—they fell in a time of peace, in a beautiful but forever unattainable illusory world filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers.
The consequences of taking shortcuts are far more terrible than death.
Today, Shinto City is like a firework that will never be extinguished, hanging brilliantly in the sky, reminding the people of other unknown areas in the underground world never to be careless, never to hastily entrust their humanity to God for correction, their laws to God for formulation, and their lives to God for modification.
Because the boss once told people that there are no gods in this world, and that most tragic events stem from superstition.
Ming De was qualified to become a religious idol, shed his physical body long ago and incorporated his spiritual essence into the railway industrial system suitable for human survival, attempting to completely get rid of the old-fashioned divine image—it took countless efforts to achieve what he has today.
The Fen Feng is both admirable and tragic.
His courage remained in 1980, but it didn't last until 1984.
The story of the hero ends with the defeat of the dragon, and what happened afterward remains unknown. Instead of becoming a new dragon, Fen Feng, along with the Fen Feng Legion and most of the people of Shinto City, dedicated all their life force to the evil god in order to escape more dragons.
"Anyone in this world who has anything to do with [God] is no good."
As Luo Ping'an spoke, he was urged by the prison warden to go to the dining hall. He was very close to his fellow inmates, and groups of friends all supported this mysterious Easterner because he was interesting and had a pleasant way of speaking.
"Humans create clothes, food, houses, and beds, yet they thank gods instead of heaven, earth, their parents, or their own hardworking hands—I think such gods are so wicked they're covered in sores and oozing pus."
When the truth came out, the other inmates around him immediately started laughing foolishly.
They were all dangerous individuals in the Shinto City who were not part of the system and were not qualified to enter the Extreme Bliss Space for fun. They were to be strictly guarded. The rules of the VENOM organization did not apply to this group of people. The age limit of the Liman model of thought was useless on these madmen—life that had long been insane would not be driven mad by electronic ghosts.
Most of these people are aberrations born from the first generation of VENOM and artificial bodies. They possess multiple personalities, and the essence of the Holy Beasts forcibly kept them in the human world, turning them into red-haired, red-skinned demons.
Among Luo Ping'an's brothers were a two-headed ogre with two heads, and a fleshy mountain demon king whose body was covered in worm bristles and whose limbs had degenerated.
Looking across the table, one of the two, a dragon and a phoenix, had an eight-lobed tongue growing out of its Barry, its thick tongue almost filling its entire face; the other's belly was piled up in layers, almost bursting out of its prison uniform when it breathed, its chin bulging into a bright red balloon.
"What are you saying!" The fully armed jailer, his cybernetic body emanating dark armor, stepped forward with an electric baton and shouted sternly, "Don't talk nonsense!"
So Luo Ping'an shut his mouth, lowered his head and started eating, and when he talked about this meal, it was full of a strange sense of ritual.
The prisoners sat down at the table, and a small medicine box popped out from the tabletop. They took three pills in sequence to replenish the electrolytes, minerals, trace elements, vitamins, and other nutrients needed by the VENOM apparatus.
The second pill stimulates the brain to release serotonin, a sedative that stabilizes the prisoner's mental state.
The third pill controls enzyme-linked reactions, electrical and auditory signals in various brain regions, hallucinations of the five senses, and simulates the tactile and gustatory sensations of various vegetables, fruits, wine, meat, rice, etc.
Such advanced science and technology, such miraculous brain-targeting drugs—after prisoners took the "miracle drug," they were freed from ecstasy and depression, escaped from rage and anxiety, and all sorts of negative emotions vanished instantly. As if possessed, they began to grasp non-existent knives and forks, and pick up non-existent bowls and chopsticks. It would take quite some time for them to fully digest the hormones and instructions in their brains.
Luo Ping'an's spiritual avatar is not qualified because he lacks the VENOM mechanism.
--He has neither a cage nor shackles.
This left him overwhelmed with emotion, momentarily dazed, unsure whether it was a stroke of luck or misfortune.
He has White Stone and a black stone, which are two jade pendants representing the yin and yang of Tai Chi, and like Xue Ming, he is a man of the day.
This scene reminded him of the various aspects of the mundane world.
Humans are probably the creatures most adept at building their own cages; whenever they see these cages, they can't help but want to crawl inside immediately.
Like Ming De, who loves playing games, he was addicted to gacha games in mobile games a few years ago. For this moment of happiness, he would go to the game to "jail" after finishing his work in the cabinet every day. Even ferocious beasts are said to be corrupted by the cage, so it is reasonable that ordinary people cannot escape it either.
Meaningless work is like a bizarre ritual of swallowing air; perhaps only on payday will one feel a sliver of joy from this cage.
This Chaos Egg is very clever, and it is also the smartest of the ferocious beasts. It has long known that money has become the god of the new era.
As Ping An was thinking this, he saw the jailer bring over a bowl of food, which was real rice and vegetables, along with a few slices of braised meat.
"No need, my body can't take any food."
The warden of Raven's Nest Prison was a great philanthropist who liked to talk about humanitarianism. Even though these ghosts were no longer human and had long been transformed by Liman model, they still had to bear strange responsibilities to the prisoners.
On the contrary, these fellow inmates, since the human experiments began in Ginza and the geological environment was altered, have lived from the 1980s to the present day. Although they have become bloodthirsty monsters with deranged minds, their [human content] is probably higher than that of ghosts.
The jailer said impatiently, "You haven't been eating anything. Where are you going to get the energy to keep your body moving? If you die in Crow's Nest Prison, we'll have to deduct your salary too!"
"Oh, I have a way! Little brother!" Mr. Ping An said with a grin, "Take these dishes to the exhibit cell and give them to my good brother! That wolf needs these things more than I do!"
The "strange" jailer was skeptical, and was about to take the food away.
When the squad leader saw that Luo Ping'an refused to eat, and the jailer, having heard the prisoner's words, immediately tried to make things difficult for him.
"What are you doing?!"
The jailer panicked. "Captain! This guy refuses to eat. He wants me to take his food to the exhibit cell and feed it to that lapis lazuli wolf."
The squad leader gritted his teeth and glared at Luo Ping'an: "Someone will take care of that beast's child, but you just listen to whatever this guest says! What kind of behavior is this?! He doesn't have a Venom device, he's a beast, he's a baby! How can you believe what a beast and a baby say! If the sergeant blames us, we won't get our salaries this month!"
Thinking of his family in Extreme Bliss Space, the jailer steeled himself, stood at attention, and shouted, "Yes, sir!"
The squad leader's expression was sinister and ruthless. He said to the jailer, "If he refuses to eat, pry his mouth open."
Luo Ping'an: "There's absolutely no need for that."
The squad leader ignored him and continued, "Feed him spoonful by spoonful. If he spits it out, stick the chopsticks down his throat."
Luo Ping'an: "Hey! That's too much!"
The squad leader still ignored him and continued, "This is for his own good, understand? You need to persuade him, tell him that this is for his health."
A series of mandatory commands were sent into the jailer's brain, and the poor tool's limbs became unresponsive, stiffly walking towards Mr. Ping An.
The scene was extremely eerie, as if someone had been cursed with a malevolent spell to control zombies. The jailer's eyes were pitiful, yet he had to put on a fierce expression, pressing the rice grains down with a rice scoop and dipping them in a little soy sauce to make them more palatable.
The temperature in the kitchen and pharmacy is maintained above 100 degrees Celsius all year round, and the canteen is also around 90 degrees Celsius. The food is steaming and the soup is like boiling mud, heading straight for Mr. Ping An's mouth!
No sooner said than done, the squad leader, who was still watching the show with his arms crossed, saw a streak of blue shadow dart in front of him.
Mr. Ping An snatched the plate with lightning speed, gripping the iron spoon tightly, his face extremely gloomy. In an instant, the smiling Daoist priest became stern and imposing.
The young jailer behind him seemed to have been hit hard; he clutched his stomach, slowly squatted down, and finally sat in Mr. Ping An's seat, saying nothing more.
Squad leader. "You dare assault a police officer?! You dare assault a police officer?! You!!"
Ping An handed over the iron spoon, giving the handle to the captain.
"If you think I'm disobedient, why don't you feed me yourself?"
The squad leader was so startled that he took two steps back and tried to pull out his stick.
Ping An leaned in and gently hooked his elbow against him.
"I want you to feed me yourself! What kind of skill is it to boss your subordinates around like that? Are you afraid? Are you afraid of me?"
The captain's stun baton naturally fell back into his weapon pouch, and he was unable to move. Mr. Ping An then cornered him against the wall.
"You bastard."
Luo Ping'an's face immediately brightened, as if a Sichuan opera actor had changed his expression.
He grinned, his eyes narrowed into crescents, and his tone became greasy.
"Sir, I need you to feed me!"
"You just said it's for my own good, that you don't care about money, right?"
"So take the spoon out of my hand and feed me a bite yourself?"
Several prison guards stood by, holding riot control guns. They dared not come to help the leader; firing rashly at this distance would cause friendly fire. Even if they used stun guns to subdue the strange prisoner, they might accidentally stab him, and the captain would be the one to get hit.
The atmosphere became very awkward, but the sergeant quickly arrived and broke the silence.
"Hey! First Division! Seventh Division! All twenty-four men, come with me immediately!"
The squad leader stood at attention reflexively, saluting and responding as if his body was being controlled by orders.
"Arrive!"
The sergeant walked into the mess hall with his hands behind his back, glanced at the group of prisoners, nodded with satisfaction, and then saw Mr. Ping An squatting to the side eating his meal obediently. He finally smiled and started talking to the others about the urgent mission.
"Major incident detected in the vicinity of Ginza! Two criminals suspected to be fugitives from Kanto City are driving a troop carrier belonging to the Kyoraku Special Squad towards the city! The vehicle is a Suzuki ZXC-17, engine number RT-114514. The signal has been shared with you via the optical arc radar -- the two teams I just called out, proceed with me immediately!"
"Yes!"
Once the people had gone far away, Luo Ping'an heard the news about the nameless man and decided to leave immediately to conclude the preliminary investigation.
In front of the jailer, he went to the window of the canteen, first stretching out his right arm to look at the exhibit cells on the other side of the public area—where the nameless military dogs were kept.
Because of Black Brother's noble lineage, the jailers here take great care of this offspring of a divine beast and do not physically dismantle it immediately. In terms of the progress of brain science research in Shinto City, this is the first time they have obtained the skull of a lapis lazuli wolf, and it will take a lot of time to build a wolfhound's electronic brain based on it.
Mr. Ping An walked straight out the window.
--Yes, you heard right, it's about [walking] out.
His soul power was constructed from sand and dust into a spiritual body, consisting entirely of stone and minerals except for his right arm. This was his special ability, similar to the ability to control earth elements in Western fantasy novels. The high-frequency weapon in Yezhong's hand could heat sand and stone into glass; without this execution sword, Mr. Heian's avatar would not have been defeated so quickly.
The body crashed into the solid wall and immediately turned into even finer dust and pebbles, which slid like water across the windowsill, over the iron bars, and straight into the public area.
The jailer stared in disbelief at the scene, momentarily forgetting to sound the alarm. It was like a clipping bug that only exists in Extreme Bliss Space in the physical world.
Luo Ping'an arrived at the exhibit's cell, and after passing through layers of iron bars, he saw Black Brother huddled in the shadows. It was so dark that he couldn't see anything clearly, so he asked again.
"Black Brother! Can you still walk?"
The VIP in the exhibit's cell has switched to sleep mode, and the lights have been completely dimmed.
At first, Luo Ping'an was very worried about Black Brother's condition. Would the 85-degree Celsius temperature make the boy feel suffocated?
As soon as the lights came on, Black Brother woke up and immediately clung to the Daoist priest with a pitiful expression.
It had gained a lot of weight. The once handsome Czech lad now had a thick belly, and the fur on its entire wolf head had also become bloated and puffy.
Luo Ping'an: "Good heavens!"
Black Brother just whimpered and moaned, like he'd seen a family member, uttering wolfish language.
Luo Ping'an understands, so he needs a translation.
[--These people are awful! They don't care about my feelings at all, all they do is feed me good food! I used to be a determined warrior! Locking me up in this godforsaken place is wasting my soul. If I ever see the gunsmith, he'll beat me up every day! VIP! If we can go back to Joestar, you have to put in a good word for me! I absolutely didn't do this on purpose!]
Luo Ping'an patted Black Brother's neck, nodding repeatedly, "Ah, right. Ah, right, you didn't do it on purpose."
Black Brother glanced at the cell door behind him and asked Mr. Ping An how to get out.
Luo Ping'an stretched out his right hand and, with just his fair, slender fingers that resembled a woman's, crushed the lock cylinder made of alloy steel.
The alarm suddenly went off, and Ping An kicked open the cell door.
Two groups of people rushed out of the corridor outside the door, carrying riot control shotguns and firing rock salt bullets and low-voltage electric needles.
Black Brother immediately chickened out. He really was a cowardly boy. In the past, when he went on missions with the gunsmith, the gunsmith didn't have any requirements for him. He only needed to be able to carry two boxes of bullets and some heavy weapons. The gunsmith would handle the rest.
Now, asking it to charge into battle and escape from this godforsaken place makes it feel utterly unsafe.
"I'll protect you! Just keep running forward!"
As Ping An spoke, he climbed onto Black Brother's back. The moment his legs crossed the wolf's back, they instantly turned into flowing sand and transformed into bright yellow armor.
The wolf donned armor made of sand and gravel, with Luo Ping'an's upper body hanging from its neck, and suddenly regained its courage. It ran wildly towards the entrance of the exhibition area!
Gunshots rang out, bullets blasting against the belly of the leaping wolf, sending sparks flying and scattering sand and gravel everywhere.
Mr. Ping An grabbed Black Brother by the scruff of his neck and pulled the wolf's head back onto the right path.
"Yes! Little one, you have to be brave! You're a military dog!"
"A gun pointed at the back of your head! We still have to shake it!"