The night before the promotion

Chapter 13 Echo Pain
Golden dreamland?

Zhou Si was stunned for a moment, and then sighed sincerely, "You guys are finally effective."

Since the after-sales group was established, most of the time, the group has either been silent and lifeless, or filled with all kinds of emoticons and unknown links.

For the first time, the feedback from the after-sales group was so quick and accurate, as if this group of people were waiting for Zhou Si to ask questions.

Clicking on Huo Daochuan’s personal page, Zhou Si had some impression of this patient. Among Zhou Si’s many patients, his was the one with the mildest symptoms.

After leaving the clinic, the driverless online car-hailing vehicle was already waiting for Zhou Si at the intersection. Sitting in the back seat, Zhou Si directly started a private chat with Huo Daochuan.

"Do you know about the Land of Elysium? Can you tell me about it in detail?"

Zhou Si waited for Huo Daochuan's reply, his heart gradually filled with turmoil.

Luo Yong and the Land of Bliss, these two suspicious points both pointed to the Golden Dreamland. Faintly, Zhou Si felt that he was approaching a huge monster lurking under the neon lights of Anyan City.

"Okay, Dr. Zhou, but I don't know much about the details."

Huo Daochuan replied quickly, "About a few weeks ago, my friends and I went to Golden Dreamland for a visit, where I met a few...how should I put it..."

Zhou Si said comfortingly, "Illegal elements? Don't be nervous if you witness a crime. I understand this. Just tell me directly."

As the recognition technology and avatar technology develop rapidly, they have also subverted the existing social order to some extent. Although the Supervisory Bureau has tried its best to control all of this, it is still difficult to curb the rampant spread of illegal activities lurking in the dark.

Just as, behind the prosperity and glory of Anyan City, there are many gray areas hidden. These places have become the breeding grounds of sin and the starting point of chaos. The golden dreamland mentioned by Huo Daochuan is undoubtedly a particularly prominent example of these gray areas.

Huo Daochuan still looked embarrassed, "Sorry, it's a bit hard to say..."

Zhou Si said straightforwardly, "Did you go there to enjoy the services of sex dolls? I've already told you that I understand all this, just tell me about the Paradise of Bliss."

Huo Daochuan on the other side of the chat box fell silent, probably because Zhou Si pointed out his mistake in front of him and he felt ashamed.

The development of technology brings about industrial innovation, which also occurs in the gray area.

The sex doll services that Zhou Si mentioned are mostly highly simulated humanoid avatars. Their figure, appearance, body softness, etc., all parameters can be adjusted to almost satisfy everyone's desires.

As long as you pay a certain amount of money, a consciousness far away in the sky or just a wall away from you will be loaded into this attractive humanoid incarnation and spend an unforgettable moment with you...

Zhou Si has always felt that this kind of thing is absurd. You have no idea whether the consciousness under the incarnation is a man or a woman. It’s just like someone wearing a suit comes to play adult role-playing with you.

But sometimes Zhou Si felt that there was no need to worry about whether the consciousness under the incarnation was male or female. All of this was not real, just like a dream bubble.

Seeing that Huo Daochuan still hadn't replied, Zhou Si urged, "Why, is it still difficult to speak?"

Zhou Si is a doctor, and what doctors are best at is understanding patients, all kinds of patients with twisted minds.

Another reason why sex doll services are popular is that, for the right price, you can vent all your desires on the human avatar, even the most cruel and disgusting ones.

Some adult toy companies provide such avatar modification services. They will load the humanoid avatars with artificial plasma, bionic internal organs, fat, etc. There are even more fancy ways of playing in some gray areas.

"No, no, no, I'm not that kind of person," Huo Daochuan retorted, "It's just that it's a bit sad to mention this kind of thing."

"what happened?"

Zhou Si didn't understand why he was so sad. As long as the amount of money was in place, he could customize his dream as he pleased.

This time Huo Daochuan was silent for a long time. Only when Zhou Si's patience was almost exhausted did his words pop up on the screen word by word.

"I met a girl online before. We were separated by an ocean and it was out of reach. I loved her very much and wanted to find her, but before she could respond to me, she suddenly disappeared."

Huo Daochuan narrated his love story.

"I tried many ways, but I couldn't find her at all. It was as if she had evaporated into thin air. I tried to get out of the sadness, but I tried several times and my emotions were still stuck in the abyss and I couldn't extricate myself."

Zhou Si did not interrupt Huo Daochuan, but listened patiently.

"Then...then I was probably a little lonely," Huo Daochuan said with difficulty, "I have her photo and the voice recording of our call. I went to Golden Dreamland to customize her, but please rest assured, I didn't do anything out of line!"

Huo Daochuan emphasized this over and over again, like a child who had never been exposed to love.

"I just wanted to chat with her and vent my feelings, but the result was disappointing. Those sex dolls could only imitate her appearance but did not have her soul. It was a terrible and disgusting feeling... I felt that I was blaspheming her and this relationship..."

Huo Daochuan sent an apologetic expression, "Sorry, I got off topic a bit."

He continued to reply, "When I left, I met a man who was enjoying the service of a sex doll. He told his human incarnation that he was going to the land of bliss, when he would abandon all the bad qualities of human beings and become a greater being, but before completely abandoning them, he wanted to enjoy this despicable pleasure for a while longer."

"that's it?"

"Yes, that's it," Huo Daochuan said, "His words were very contradictory and strange, so I wrote them down."

"do you know who he is?"

"I don't know. This is my first time going to Golden Dreamland as well."

"So what does he look like? Any specific features?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know either. There are a lot of people enjoying sex services there. It's like a gathering, with dim lights and loud music. You should know what kind of place that is."

Zhou Si pondered for a moment and replied, "Okay, thank you for your help."

"It doesn't matter. As long as I can help Dr. Zhou."

Zhou Si sent an expression of gratitude, and Huo Daochuan did not reply to Zhou Si's message.

Putting down his phone and looking out the window, Zhou Si's expression gradually became serious as he saw the tall buildings changing rapidly.

He chanted in his heart, "The Land of Elysium."

On the one hand, we must abandon human inferiority, and on the other hand, we must enjoy this last inferiority.

As Huo Daochuan said, this sentence sounds too contradictory, but it is very reasonable, just like a person who wants to lose weight and enjoys a last hot pot meal before starting the weight loss plan.

The driverless online taxi arrived at the designated location. Zhou Si stood on the street, with a huge shadow cast down, covering his body.

Zhou Si looked up at the building in front of him. Unlike the high-tech Shenwei Building, it looked much older. The building itself was made of gray-white concrete and was as solid as a huge sarcophagus.

Cold and depressing, full of majesty.

On top of this huge sarcophagus, the skull and brain symbols of the Supervisory Bureau are clearly visible. This is the headquarters building of the Supervisory Bureau located in Anyan City.

Zhou Si liked the style of this building. The solid concrete always gave people a sense of comfort and heaviness, while the slender metal and transparent glass of the Shenwei Building were like a loft in the sky, making people wonder if it would suddenly collapse in the next second. At the entrance of the building, two tall armed avatars were standing guard. They were shaped like giants wearing armor, and their postures remained half-kneeling, like two huge stone lions.

Zhou Si recognized the model of the armed avatar at a glance. It was the Sentinel G3 armed avatar from the Northern Wilderness Army.

The main function of the Sentinel Avatar is to perform security tasks, so it is not equipped with too many weapons and equipment, but only the necessary riot control equipment. Even so, the powerful aura exuded by these incarnations is still as surging as the tide.

Many passers-by stopped to take pictures, and a few brave people even walked up to take photos with them.

Although avatar technology has become widely popular, such armed avatars involving military applications rarely appear in the public eye and are even deliberately kept mysterious.

Avatar technology has not only profoundly changed people’s lifestyles, but also reshaped the form of warfare.

Today, soldiers no longer need to face danger and war directly. They can just remotely control their armed avatars to fight from a safe rear area.

Just as depicted in science fiction, modern warfare has evolved into a battlefield without humans.

In the fierce electronic confrontation, once one party takes control of the battlefield network and builds a consciousness network, a large number of armed avatars will swarm into the battlefield like a swarm of bees and plunge into the scorched earth filled with smoke and gunpowder.

There is no more sacrifice of flesh and blood, only the fall of steel.

Zhou Si passed the two sentinel incarnations, and the moment they passed each other, Zhou Si could clearly feel that one of the sentinel incarnations was "watching" him.

Relying on their powerful functions, the sentinel incarnations had already scanned and performed facial recognition on Zhou Si multiple times the moment Zhou Si approached. While performing security work, they also acted like security scanners, retrieving all of Zhou Si's information.

A cold voice without any ups or downs or emotions was heard.

"Zhou Si, you are allowed to pass."

After passing through a series of doors, on the floor of the Supervisory Bureau, Li Weiyu and others had been waiting for Zhou Si for a long time.

Zhou Si got straight to the point and said, "I want to meet Luo Yong."

Li Weiyu cooperated and led the way. After passing through layers of strict supervision, Zhou Si saw Luo Yong who was tied to a hospital bed in a single room.

Luo Yong's condition was much better than that night. The Supervisory Bureau not only provided him with treatment, but also took care of his personal hygiene.

"How can I put it?" Li Weiyun looked distressed. "Luo Yong's body transformation was not serious. After removing those nerve fiber bionic lines, his body was barely restored."

Zhou Si asked curiously, "But?"

Xiang Ji, who followed, took out the report and answered seriously.

"However, the implantation of these bionic nerve fiber threads was very rough. During the removal process, irreversible damage has been caused to Luo Yong's nervous system. We don't know exactly how much damage has been done, but from what we have observed so far, he has already developed symptoms such as epilepsy."

Zhou Si put on medical gloves and cautiously came to Luo Yong's side. Luo Yong's eyes seemed to be out of focus, staring straight at the ceiling.

Li Weiyun observed Luo Yong's dazed look, "Is there any chance that he can regain consciousness?"

"I'm not sure." Zhou Si was not completely sure either.

"In fact, the final outcome of patients with dementia is not mental distortion or complete loss of control," Zhou Si explained in detail. "Even if they have committed all kinds of extreme behaviors, the motivation for their actions comes from their own self. In other words, they still have a certain degree of self-awareness and decision-making logic."

Zhou Si pulled open Luo Yong's eyelids and shone a strong light into them, but even so, Luo Yong's pupils still showed no reaction at all.

"The true end is to be like Luo Yong, who has no reaction to any external stimulation, as if the soul hidden inside has died, the self-consciousness has completely evaporated, and what remains is just an empty shell."

Li Weiyun leaned against the door sill, his expression serious, "Do you have any solution?"

Zhou Si shook his head and spread his hands. "Let's treat it for a while and see if there is any improvement."

His fingertips gently brushed against Luo Yong's arm, Zhou Si felt the uneven texture of his skin caused by the needle holes, imagining the slight pain of the sharp needle piercing his skin and sinking into his blood vessels, and the satisfaction of that moment...

Zhou Si was also a patient. He had no idea about Luo Yong’s past experiences, but he could empathize with the pain Luo Yong was suffering.

Imagine that those densely packed pinholes were like ants, drilling out from Luo Yong's body, crawling up Zhou Si's arms, and taking root along the pores.

The endless pain converged into a moment of pain. The ward, the infusion tube, the analgesic pump, the disinfectant...

Zhou Si could almost taste it.

The body is tortured, the mind is confused about reality, no one offers a helping hand, and everyone is trapped in this eternal cycle, day after day, as if everyone was born here, and all they are familiar with are broken consciousness, metal, circuits, and vented exhaust gas.

Zhou Si blinked and withdrew his hand tremblingly. He took out the pills from his pocket swiftly and swallowed them without drinking water.

He blinked again. Gravity dragged Zhou Si's body and pressed him firmly to the ground. The feeling of being grounded made him feel particularly at ease.

Li Weiyun noticed Zhou Si's abnormality and asked with concern, "Are you okay?"

"I...it's nothing, I just have too much empathy."

A helpless smile appeared on Zhou Si's face. "Just like humans can feel the same sadness from the suffering of others, I can also vaguely feel that kind of... confusion through empathy for patients."

"Are there any aftereffects?"

Xiang Ji asked curiously. The information on the intranet did not satisfy his curiosity about Zhou Si. Xiang Ji hoped to get more from Zhou Si.

“This is a unique empathy that only exists between patients.”

Zhou Si tried to explain, "Lishi disease can be regarded as a special way of thinking, which follows a pathological and unique logical rule.

Whenever I try to empathize and put myself in the patient's shoes, my way of thinking will be affected, as if it is "contaminated" and falls into the influence of madness. "

Zhou Si looked indifferent and said, "I call this kind of empathetic pain the echo pain."

The disease once left a deep scar in Zhou Si's heart. Although the wound has healed now, every time he puts himself in the role of the patient again and thinks with that morbid logic, the old scar is torn open again and fresh blood flows.

"We investigated Luo Yong's social connections and found that he had lost contact with his parents several years ago and did not have any friends.

His account was also very clean, with no money transactions, and all payments should have been made in untraceable cash, and the only social activity was the clue we got earlier. "

Li Weiyun looked at Luo Yong with pity and explained, "Golden Dreamland, the place where people live a life of drunkenness and dreaming."

"So we can preliminarily infer that the funding Luo Yong received came from Golden Dreamland," Zhou Si added, "Before coming here, I also found some information related to Golden Dreamland."

Zhou Si looked into Li Weiyun's eyes and asked, "Does your Supervisory Bureau know about the so-called paradise?"

(End of this chapter)