The night before the promotion

Chapter 52 Immortality
Without anyone showing the way, Zhou Si felt like he was back home when he walked here. He was very familiar with every fork in the road, and he had measured every floor tile himself.

Li Weiyu's steps were somewhat hesitant, as if he had to go through a psychological struggle with every step he took. In order to divert his attention, he chatted with Zhou Si.

"Doctor Zhou, how long did you stay here?"

"About half a year or so," Zhou Si responded calmly. "My mental state was very bad at the time, and I had no basic sense of time... As for how long it was, I'll have to look through the original medical records."

After the Xianyun accident four years ago, Zhou Si was sent here for psychiatric treatment. After half a year of treatment, Zhou Si miraculously recovered, passed the psychiatric evaluation, and regained his freedom.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Si looked at Li Weiyun, "You can't stand it after just a short while?"

"I'm just a little uncomfortable," Li Weiyun looked around, "It's too quiet here."

This is a noisy era. The noise of the city plays in a 24-hour loop without end. Li Weiyun has long been accustomed to living in this noisy environment, but the sudden silence makes him feel at a loss.

"Yes, it's very quiet, just like a cemetery." Zhou Si looked at the small park behind the green shade, "To be precise, this is a cemetery."

Behind the green shade, one can see the figures of incarnated bodies. They are shaped like simple human figures, just like the human-shaped puppets used in art studies.

They were either standing or sitting, scattered around, their heads slowly turning, their dark cameras scanning the surroundings, like a group of wooden puppets.

The arrival of Zhou Si and Li Weiyu caused ripples in this quiet dead water. After being stimulated by external factors, several humanoid avatars noticed their presence.

They walked towards the two people slowly, but when they reached the edge of the park, it was as if they had hit an invisible wall, and no matter how hard they tried, they could not move forward.

The humanoid avatars stretched out their hands randomly, as if they were trying to climb the invisible wall, or as if they were calling for help.

Zhou Si retracted his gaze and commented coldly, "A bunch of zombies."

When you walk into the sanatorium, you will see a promotional poster at the elevator entrance with the slogan "The Shepherd Program will take care of your old age" and a picture of the group of human figures that were just in the small park.

Zhou Si remembered this so-called Shepherd Plan. Pei Dong mentioned it when she met her for the second time.

Enter the elevator and the elevator advertisement starts playing.

A middle-aged man with a mean look on his face appeared and asked with an exaggerated expression, "Elderly people have dementia, incontinence, and mobility problems. It's hard and laborious to take care of them. What should we do? Let the Shepherd Project take care of them in their old age!"

The scene changed, showing a group of elderly people lying quietly on hospital beds, wearing neural connection helmets, arranged neatly like corpses in a morgue.

"The Shepherd Project will liberate the consciousness of the elderly from their aging bodies!"

The simple incarnation shells that Zhou Si had seen before appeared. They were walking in groups in the park, enjoying the scenery.

"No longer have to worry about the limitations of aging bodies. The safe and reliable avatar shell will provide the elderly with freedom in their later years!"

A group of old men and women appeared from the screen, each with an exaggerated smile, praising the Shepherd Plan for providing more incarnation bodies.

"Look, I'm no longer afraid of falling, and I have more energy to move around, such as climbing mountains."

The scenery changed quickly. Some of the transformed bodies were walking in the city, some were even doing housework, and some were strolling in Changbai Mountain. The mechanized bodies walked much faster than those strong young people.

They said in unison.

“Shepherd Program, taking care of your old age.”

Zhou Si and Li Weiyu walked out of the elevator and passed through the corridor. They saw the scene in a room on the side through the glass window on the door.

Rows of old men lay there quietly, just like in the advertisements, they all wore neural connection helmets, neither crying nor making noises, as if they were corpses that had not yet lost their temperature.

The Shepherd Project has become popular since its launch and has reached cooperation with various nursing homes. With the new application of the mind network and avatar body, the elderly care problem that has plagued mankind seems to have been perfectly solved.

Zhou Si stood in front of the door for a moment and said with deep emotion, "To be honest, sometimes I can understand the concerns of those opponents of technology."

He thought of the revelry faces and bodies obsessed with desire in his golden dream.

"Technology is changing with each passing day. It is really hard for us to guarantee whether it will lead humans to alienation, just like causing alienation."

Li Weiyun followed Zhou Si's gaze and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just some whining," Zhou Si asked curiously, "Team Leader Li, what do you think of the Shepherd Project? Do you plan to get one for your parents?"

"I haven't thought about these things yet," Li Weiyun added, "Humans are animals that live in the present. Thinking about things that are too far away will only make people anxious."

Li Weiyun then became confused again, "But... I don't like these technologies."

"The Shepherd Plan sounds good, but all services are based on economics. The rich can enjoy the best medical care and the most perfect incarnation bodies. Even if they are nearly a hundred years old, as long as they want, their consciousness can descend to any part of the world at any time. Just like the demonstration in the advertisement, their bodies are better than those of young people, and they can enjoy the natural scenery of Changbai Mountain to their heart's content."

Li Weiyun asked himself, "So, what about ordinary people? What should they do if they can't afford high-end services?"

"Yeah, where should they go from here?"

Zhou Si smiled grimly, like an evil conspirator.

He inexplicably thought of the car dealers decades ago. Functions such as seat ventilation, steering wheel heating, remote start, etc. were already installed on the vehicle, but if you wanted to use them, you had to renew the fee to unlock them.

History is a cycle. Decades later, Zhou Si can imagine the subsequent charging methods of the Shepherd Plan.

If the renewal gear is not enough, the visual system will change from high-definition pixels to a blurred mosaic, the nerve reaction speed will be delayed by hundreds of milliseconds, various active functions will be limited and castrated, and even an electronic restricted area will be established, using an invisible wall to confine you to a corner forever.

The two looked at each other tacitly, and the group of zombies they saw in the small park emerged in their minds at the same time.

This is the answer.

Zhou Si couldn't help but sigh, "Team Leader Li, don't you think all this is too crazy? Technology has brought about the advancement of civilization, but it has also brought about the alienation of civilization, just like cancer cells that continue to proliferate until they devour everyone."

Then, Zhou Si rarely mentioned his days at Shenwei Technology.

“When I was still working at Sunway Technology, I witnessed Chen Wen-Ge delving into these areas.

As we all know, Chen Wen-Ge is already an octogenarian. The reason why he has been able to survive to this day is not only due to the prosperity of modern medicine, but also due to his unimaginable wealth. However, no matter how much wealth and power he accumulates, he can never resist the footsteps of death.

Zhou Si said with emotion, "For all mankind, death is probably the only fair thing."

Li Weiyun followed his words and said, "But Chen Wen Ge is not willing to accept this reality. He longs to... become an immortal."

"Who knows?" Zhou Si continued after pondering, "Chen Wen Ge may sincerely hope to lead mankind to a new height, or he may just want to achieve his own immortality and gain true immortality by uploading his consciousness.

But no matter what his purpose was, it all came to nothing with the death of the immortal. "He paused for a moment, and then said with some helplessness, "Death is still out of reach for the elite. Compared to this ridiculous shepherd plan, have you heard of the immortality plan?"

Li Weiyun was familiar with this term. After learning the news of Chen Wen Ge's death and in the final confrontation with Golden Dreamland, Zhou Si had mentioned this mysterious thing.

He asked, "What is that?"

“A life extension project popular among the top wealthy class.

Simply put, it is to place people in a medical cabin, reduce body metabolism, and combine various drug injections to accurately control the body's physiological indicators to achieve the best living state. "

Zhou Si explained, pointing to the wards on both sides, "Just like the old people in these rooms, but the special thing about the longevity plan is that while extending the life of the physical body, it can also upload the consciousness of the person to the incarnation body and continue to walk freely in the world."

“The incarnations of the top rich people are different from these industrial wastes.

It looks almost the same as a human, is made in nearly perfect bionic form, and even its senses are the same as a real human body. This work of art, which can be regarded as the crystallization of modern technology, is much better than a fragile flesh and blood body when used. "

Zhou Si stopped in front of a door and recalled, "In an ideal situation, the longevity plan can extend the human lifespan to about 150 years. If you were stuffed into a medical cabin at birth and optimized your organism, your life expectancy would be even more unimaginable.

God knows whether we will be the same species as these rich people by then."

With the blessing of wealth and technology, the gap between the rich and ordinary people has become infinitely wider. As the old saying goes, sometimes the gap between people is greater than the gap between people and dogs.

Li Weiyun sighed helplessly, "Why do you say this suddenly? You've ruined my good mood."

"Maybe it's because of the scenery that makes me think of my feelings."

Zhou Si looked at the scenery outside the window, and everything he saw seemed no different from four years ago.

"I've been through some bad times here. Taoism says that when a person is seriously ill, he or she will attain enlightenment.

Of course, I don’t believe in this, but under the torture of illness, I often think seriously about many issues. I’m not sure if this can be considered enlightenment, but it does make me realize a lot. ”

Zhou Si laughed at himself, "Sometimes I am glad that Li Shi disease exists."

"why?"

"Death can no longer be fair to humans, but Lishi disease can severely inflict damage on those hiding in the medical cabin," Zhou Si said without disguising, "When I think of this, I feel that the world has become fair again."

Zhou Si leaned against the window and made a gesture to Li Weiyu to invite him in. Li Weiyu held the door handle, and just as he was mustering up the courage to push the door open, he suddenly stopped.

"Aren't you coming? You are Shi Tong's savior."

"A lifesaver who hacked at her with an axe?" Zhou Si laughed and waved his hand, "Forget it, Team Leader Li, she won't want to see me, you can go by yourself."

When talking about the crazy axe chopping, Li Weiyu's expression became a little embarrassed. It was a painful and sad memory, but whenever Zhou Si mentioned it, Li Weiyu felt it was full of absurd humor.

It all dates back to one night three years ago. That night Zhou Si went out to practice medicine as usual and happened to come across the scene of the Supervisory Bureau's operation.

At that time, Li Weiyu was leading a team to deal with a technological crime. A criminal hid in a dream pool, controlling his avatar body and holding the customers in the dream pool hostage.

The situation was urgent and Li Weiyu had no time to wait for the Stone Fort's mind control. In the past, Li Weiyu would have led the team to attack and opened fire to kill the suspect, but this time was different.

The prisoner is Li Weiyun's colleague and his fiancée, Shi Tong.

Li Weiyu didn't understand why Shi Tong did this. No matter how he called her, she didn't respond. Just when Li Weiyu was in great pain and unable to make a decision, Zhou Si appeared.

The doctor dodged all the way and rushed into the dream pool. He first repelled the incarnation body controlled by Shi Tong, and then chopped off Shi Tong's neural connector with an axe, pulling her out of the dream pool.

It was during that operation that Li Weiyu met Zhou Si, learned about the existence of Li Shi disease, and also knew that Shi Tong was a severe patient of this disease.

Since then, Shi Tong, who suffered from mental illness, lived in a nursing home, and Zhou Si and Li Weiyu also reached a cooperation and started their medical journey.

Seeing Zhou Si shirking his responsibility, Li Weiyun did not force him.

"I'm going to get checked out first. I'll see you in the parking lot afterwards."

Zhou Si waved his hand and disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Li Weiyun pushed open the door. It was a single ward. There was a faint floral scent in the air. The room was tidy and clean. A dormant nursing avatar was located in the corner of the room. Whenever needed, it could be activated at any time to provide services to its employer.

Compared with other rooms in the sanatorium, the nursing conditions here are undoubtedly much better. At the same time, its price is also very high. Fortunately, Li Weiyun's financial conditions can afford it.

Li Weiyu tiptoed to the bedside with flowers. The light of setting sun sculpted the woman's figure.

She was lying on her side, her face couldn't be seen clearly, she seemed to be fast asleep, or she seemed to be looking at the scenery outside the window.

Li Weiyu reached out and patted her shoulder. The woman noticed Li Weiyu's arrival and turned her head. Her clear eyes were briefly confused, and then she showed irrepressible joy.

She whimpered with excitement in her throat like a little child, raised her arms and hugged Li Weiyu's neck, holding him tightly in her arms.

"Long time no see, little boy."

Li Weiyu also hugged her and rocked her body gently. Shi Tong once again let out a cheering sound, like a little pig nudging someone's legs.

"What a little kid."

Li Weiyun showed the same smile, but there was a hint of bitterness in it.

Shi Tong is an out-and-out child. The influence of the cognitive disease has distorted her spirit. According to the doctor, her mental age is the same as that of a child. Although recovery is possible, no one knows when that day will come.

Some evil thoughts had arisen in Li Weiyun's mind. He tried to give up this relationship and give up Shi Tong, who he didn't know when he would recover.

Anyway, I have taken care of Shi Tong for three years, so I have done my best, right?

No one can question themselves ethically.

But soon, these thoughts disappeared as if they had never existed.

Li Weiyu still visits Shi Tong regularly, brings her her favorite snacks and toys, and tells her about his recent experiences.

Even though Shi Tong didn't understand any of this, even though she could only hug herself and make that strange humming sound.

Li Weiyu didn't care. He just felt peace in his heart, like the silent sea surface and the reflection of the sky.

(End of this chapter)