The night before the promotion

Chapter 23 The one
"Elysium?"

Pei Dong repeated Zhou Si's words, but there was no expression on his thin face, and he couldn't make any expression.

The shrunken and withered muscles were like a stiff mask, tightly attached to Pei Dong's skull. She could neither tear it off nor throw it away.

"I understand." Pei Dong's body was decaying, but his spirit was not. "Do you think the killers who are the incarnations of the Elysium will come after me?"

"Yes, you are also a qualified person for the Ascension Project. Your mental model is adapted to the Feathering Technology. If they want to reproduce the Feathering Technology, you, me, and all the qualified people are the best experimental subjects."

Zhou Si said worriedly, "Not to mention, in your current state, once they come, you won't be able to resist at all."

Pei Dong was silent for a while, then suddenly smiled and said, "Zhou Si, maybe I will cooperate with them."

"what?"

Zhou Si was stunned for a moment, then he understood Pei Dong's meaning, and his mood became heavy, complicated and indescribable.

"Look at me like this."

Pei Dong raised his hand and examined his palm, which looked like a mummy.

“If nothing unexpected happens, I will be paralyzed in bed for the rest of my life, and I won’t be able to afford Shouheng Life’s treatment until the day I die.

Oh, maybe there is a slight chance, such as a breakthrough in biotechnology, or I have saved enough funds and I am not completely crazy, but no matter what, when this possibility comes to me, it will probably be more than ten years later.

Before this 'miracle' comes, I will still be imprisoned in the hospital bed, fighting against my fate, my illness, and everything else."

Pei Dong slowly put down her hands. Just this action made her feel tired and sleepy.

"Zhou Si, I may have been a strong person in the past, but now, I have been defeated."

Pei Dong's voice became longer and longer, "The technique of metamorphosis... the metamorphosis to immortality."

The conversation once again fell into an inextricable sadness. Zhou Si looked around and tried to empathize with the patient, but just thinking about Pei Dong's daily life situation, he felt a huge suffocation strangled his throat.

Suddenly, Pei Dong said, "Come on, Zhou Si, have I ever told you why I hated the incarnation body so much?"

Zhou Si shook his head, "No."

Pei Dong mentioned this, which made Zhou Si recall many memories about her again.

As an employee of Shenwei Technology, Pei Dong does not have much enthusiasm for the incarnation body. Previously, there was a special incarnation body experience hall in the company, where you can not only experience various advanced incarnation bodies, but also load your consciousness to all parts of the world through the mind network.

Zhou Si's physical body has never been abroad, but relying on everything in the experience center, he has visited most of the world's famous attractions with his avatar. It is said that after Zhou Si resigned, the experience center also reached a cooperation with the National Space Administration, which allows employees' consciousness to be temporarily loaded into those avatar bodies in space.

All the employees loved the experience center, except Pei Dong. Pei Dong had never been there once since Zhou Si met her.

"My mother passed away very early, and my father was also suffering from various chronic diseases. Maybe I am a cold-hearted person by nature. After I graduated and started working, I rarely went back home. I just contacted my family on time every month and sent some money home to show my filial piety."

Pei Dong looked out the window. Under the golden sunlight, she felt like she was telling another person's story.

"As he got older, it became difficult for my father to take care of himself. I wanted to find a nanny for him, but he refused and instead used all his savings on something called the Shepherd Project."

Zhou Si felt his heart being gently touched.

"I didn't care about him, that was his own savings, he had the right to manage it and he had the right to choose his own life.

After that, he moved into a nursing home. I heard that he was doing well... A long time passed like this. One day, I suddenly wanted to go see him. I found the nursing home according to the address in the information, and I saw him in a ward. "

Pei Dong's voice gradually trembled, "Yes, that's him, he was lying on the hospital bed, his body was thin, his muscles were atrophied, like a living corpse that was still breathing.

I could hardly believe what I was seeing, but then he greeted me, a humanoid figure that suddenly appeared and greeted me warmly, saying that it was my father and that it was glad that I had come to see it...

But...but my father is lying on the hospital bed, dying, so what is this humanoid incarnation?"

Pei Dong's eyes revealed confusion, as if it was an unsolvable problem.

"I fled from the ward in a panic, and then I saw wards along the way, all filled with zombies like him, just letting time slip away, oxidized and rotted."

Pei Dong's voice deepened, and then he spoke to Zhou Si in an extremely confused voice.

"Zhou Si, I started having nightmares after that day. I dreamed that one day in the future, there would be no living people in the city, and instead there would be groups of cold humanoid avatars. The hustle and bustle of the city would be gone, and there would be a deathly silence. In those towering pigeon towers, countless humans were like zombies, wearing neural connection helmets, waiting for death to come."

"I don't know how to describe that feeling," Pei Dong murmured, "It seems that everything about us as human beings has been distorted and alienated by the advancement of technology until it has become unrecognizable."

Zhou Si understood Pei Dong’s pain and why she rejected all this.

"So you began to resist incarnating into a body. Rather than using cold steel to experience all those false things for you, you would rather use the body given by God to measure everything."

"Yes, just like those conservatives who live in the mountains and forests and reject technology," Pei Dong said with emotion, "I am obsessed with sculpting my own body and vow to defend the dignity of being a natural person."

"But everything changed with that accident." Pei Dong said self-deprecatingly, "I hate the incarnation body, but now I have to rely on the incarnation body to survive. It's really a joke of fate."

Pei Dong moved his palm and gently placed it on Zhou Si's hand.

"I am already at the end of my destiny. If there really is a chance to ascend to heaven, I think I will jump into it without hesitation."

Zhou Si did not respond. No one knew what he was thinking. Seeing this, Pei Dong said, "Have I disappointed you, Zhou Si?"

"No, no, I can understand your feelings, and I can also understand your decision."

Zhou Si sighed deeply, "I just feel...I just feel that reality is terrible. Objective facts will not change due to personal will. Everything is so straightforward and cruel. You have no other choice but to accept it."

Pei Dong stared at Zhou Si, and suddenly, she laughed.

"Relax, Zhou Si, I'm just kidding," she said, "No matter how much I can't stand the reality, I won't leave my fate to a group of incarnated killers."

Zhou Si didn’t know whether she was telling the truth or a lie, but it didn’t matter anymore.

Pei Dong looked at Zhou Si with a smile on her face, and slowly, her smile froze, her eyes gradually became distracted, and slowly closed. The whole process was reflected in Zhou Si's eyes. Zhou Si was stunned for a moment, and then stood up nervously.

"Pei Dong"

Zhou Si knew that high-risk patients like Pei Dong might experience abnormalities in their bodies at any time, but Zhou Si did not expect that they would break out at this time.

While recalling his limited medical knowledge, he was preparing to treat Pei Dong. But at this moment, Pei Dong suddenly opened her eyes and laughed at Zhou Si. Her laughter was weak, like the cry of some animal before death.

Zhou Si blinked dully, then slumped in his chair as if deflated.

"Don't make such a joke out of the blue, okay?"

"I think it's not bad." Pei Dong smiled, and in a trance, he looked the same as in Zhou Si's memory.

She continued, "Have you read Hesse's Steppenwolf? It says that humor is a weapon to fight against the nihilistic and absurd world."

"No, but I have read his Spirit and Eros."

Zhou Si recalled, "My ex-girlfriend recommended it to me. She said I was sentimental, just like Goldmund in the story. When we broke up, she said that the fairy's death turned me into the rational and restrained Narcissus."

Pei Dong smiled without saying anything. She just smiled, trying hard to smile, as if she wanted to show her only remaining beautiful side to Zhou Si.

Zhou Si could feel the strong emotions coming from her, but he only felt a wave of sadness, as if he was facing a withered flower. This was the moment before she completely decayed.

"I have reported this to the Supervisory Bureau. They should protect you according to the list," Zhou Si promised something vague. "As for your health, please be patient."

"As long as you live, there are still possibilities, but if you die, there is nothing left."

Pei Dong still kept smiling, "What a cruel commission and expectation." "Sorry, just regard it as my wishful thinking. Without your permission, I have expectations of you that you can't bear."

Zhou Si said sadly, "But I still hope you can survive, Pei Dong."

"I don't have the courage to promise you this," Pei Dong thought for a moment and then said, "I'll try my best, Zhou Si."

As the sun set and night fell, Zhou Si leaned over and hugged Pei Dong. His movements were very gentle, for fear of hurting her fragile body, but in fact, Pei Dong felt nothing.

"Take care of yourself, I will come to see you again."

Zhou Si took one last look at Pei Dong, turned around and left as if he was escaping, and quietly closed the bedroom door.

Pei Dong did not hear the sound of the security door opening or closing until more than a minute later, when the sound finally came.

Zhou Si left.

The room fell into silence again, like a pool of stagnant water without any ripples. The breeze brushed across Pei Dong's cheeks, bringing a rare touch and warmth.

Pei Dong's eyes became moist.

A man's voice suddenly rang out from the room, "You and him are more than just friends or colleagues, right?"

Pei Dong tried to hide her emotions, but the harder she tried, the heavier her breathing became.

The man continued, "He may not realize it himself, but I can tell from you that you once had feelings for him, but it ended there?"

"That's all in the past," Pei Dong's voice became calm. "As for what happened, it's just like what everyone goes through. They develop feelings for each other, but before they even open their mouths, everything is over, as if nothing ever happened."

"Oh, is that so?"

As the humming sound of the motor starting up echoed, a creepy scene unfolded in the corner of the room.

The nursing avatar slowly stood up and came to Pei Dong's bedside.

Until he left, Zhou Si hadn't realized that there were not only him and Pei Dong in the room, but also a conscious mind hidden in the nursing incarnation. The conscious mind was silent, watching the two of them like a sculpture.

"Well, the past is over anyway. I just didn't expect to encounter Zhou Si halfway through," the nursing avatar looked in the direction of the bedroom door and asked, "So after what he said, are you still going to cooperate with us?"

Pei Dong did not answer his question, but asked in return, "Are you the Land of Elysium?"

"Hmm... How do I explain this? To be precise, we don't have a specific name, but if it's easier for you to understand, you can call us this."

"What exactly do you want to do?"

"As mentioned before, continue Chen Wen Ge's research and reproduce the feathering technology."

The nursing avatar went on to explain, "Zhou Si's analysis is correct. The feathering technology requires experiments, and you, the qualified ones who survived the accident, are the most suitable experimental subjects."

Pei Dong didn't care about his own safety, but asked with concern, "Is Zhou Si also on your hunting list?"

"Of course, he is the person closest to becoming an immortal."

The nursing avatar tried to probe her thoughts, "Why, are you afraid of us avatar killers? Or do you not trust the feathering technology?"

"Blind experiments are no different from committing suicide," Pei Dong remained calm even when facing the assassin. "There were too many similar examples in the Ascension Project."

The Nursing Avatar apologized, "Blind? Sorry, I forgot that you don't know what happened after the Immortal Falls accident."

Pei Dong looked at the nursing incarnation in confusion, and then a pair of words that made Pei Dong unbelievable sounded.

"You know what? Actually, that experiment was successful."

The incarnation of nursing looked down at Pei Dong, his flat and smooth mask revealing the absolute coldness and rationality of a machine.

"Pei Dong, you participated in that experiment, you should remember what happened at that time. Zhou Si sat on the instrument, ready to upgrade his consciousness to digital form. On the other side of him was a prepared humanoid avatar. Under the steel body, there was an advanced thought storage core embedded to store the upgraded digital consciousness."

Pei Dong suppressed the pain of memory and recalled that day.

"That's right. Zhou Si was ready, Chen Wen Ge started the instrument, and then... then the machine overloaded and exploded. The bursting arc killed many people and almost completely destroyed the scene."

The nursing avatar revealed the truth, "In fact, the accident did not destroy everything."

"After the Immortal Falls accident, Shenwei Technology investigated the scene before the Supervisory Bureau arrived. They found the humanoid avatar that was to house the upgraded consciousness from among the wreckage and took out the thought storage core from it."

The nursing avatar asked playfully, "Guess what they found?"

Pei Dong's eyes trembled as he looked at the nursing incarnation with anticipation, as if he was looking at the last glimmer of hope in his life.

"Unfortunately, the thought storage core was damaged along with the accident, but through the repair work of the technicians, they found records of data being written into the thought storage core, which means... a conscious mind had entered it."

The voice of the nursing avatar also became excited and crazy.

"This means that the transformation technology was successful. Zhou Si's consciousness has indeed completed the digital upgrade. He has become an immortal! However, that upgraded consciousness was damaged in the accident before it could feel everything in the new world."

The day when the immortal fell.

The nursing avatar said with sadness, "Afterwards, Shenwei Technology named this deceased ascended consciousness The One."

Silence enveloped the room once again. The nursing incarnation was immersed in the sacredness and greatness of the day when the immortal fell, while Pei Dong was struggling to deal with the huge shock brought to her by the truth of the immortal's fall.

"No...you can't guarantee that the experiment is actually successful."

Pei Dong tried hard to suppress the enthusiasm in his heart and analyzed calmly, "It is possible that the upgraded consciousness was written in incorrectly, or it is possible that the uploaded consciousness is incomplete, or even..."

The nursing avatar said meaningfully, "It can even be said that the upgraded consciousness was not damaged. Instead, when the accident occurred, it uploaded itself to a hard drive, or even to the entire network, and turned into a data ghost, accumulating power."

His words made Pei Dong shudder, and then the nursing incarnation laughed.

"Please rest assured, Ms. Pei Dong, I can reveal that we have taken over the legacy of the Ascension Project and have conducted more in-depth research in the past four years. As for the various issues you are worried about, we have also verified them."

The Nursing Avatar spread out his hands, "Everything is under control."

Pei Dong did not respond, but stared straight at the nursing incarnation, as if he wanted to see through this cold body and face the consciousness hidden within.

The nursing avatar reached out and picked up Pei Dong's neural docking helmet. As an important tool in Pei Dong's life, it was placed next to Pei Dong's hand, as if he was going to hold it in his arms.

"Well, Ms. Pei Dong, it looks like I have to show you more sincerity," the nursing avatar kindly helped Pei Dong put on the neural connection helmet, and said softly, "Aren't you always curious about what the Elysium is?"

"Words are useless, why not let me show you with my own eyes?"

Pei Dong closed her eyes. When she opened them again, what she saw was not a smelly bedroom, but a vast green field. The bright sunshine shone through the pure white clouds and fell like beams of holy light.

A cool breeze blew across Pei Dong's body. The real touch made her dazed for a moment, and then she took a step forward almost instinctively.

Pei Dong stepped barefoot steadily on the soft green grass. The moist and soft soil slowly touched her toes as she exerted force.

She took another step forward in disbelief, her pace getting faster and faster, and finally she ran wildly.

The sun and wind blew towards her, and she laughed sincerely for the first time in four years.

……

On the hospital bed, tears flowed out of the neural docking helmet and across Pei Dong's face.

(End of this chapter)