Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 471 Goodnight, Mr. Ye [6.2K]

“V, seriously you need to take a look at these things.”

While keeping an eye on the two living people who might be around, Lin Yue also looked at the white, egg-shaped instruments inside the fog that looked like storage compartments or something similar.

Like any AI that crosses the wall, their solutions are highly similar…

It seems that the Ye family has put a lot of effort into this.

On the other end, V was still directing Arasaka's hackers to retrieve important data, while at the same time she saw the view from the prosthetic eye that Lin Yue was transmitting through the Night Clan subnet.

"This is…"

Upon seeing those things, V's pupils suddenly contracted slightly!
V never imagined that these devices contained living, breathing people!

Lin Yue walked slowly through the passageway between these egg-shaped cryogenic chambers, looking at the human faces submerged in a special milky-white liquid through the transparent observation mouths. A strange sense of dread crept into his heart.

His prosthetic eye scanned the data for a long time before he spoke softly, "V, what you see isn't strictly speaking a person; it's more like a shell... a biological computer that contains data. Do you understand what I mean?"

The embryo was modified with prosthetics, and the brain, a vital organ that houses individual consciousness and the soul, was completely absent.

The lungs, heart, and normal physiological functions have all become data for simple regulation, and the only data their bodies need to accept is AI data…

The reason Lin Yue was able to see the components of these things so quickly was not only because of the technical parameters displayed on the diagrams above the instruments, but also because he recognized the "shells" lying inside them!
Mr. Blue Eyes.

A company person who is extremely mysterious in my memory.

At least before Lin Yue had any contact with these things, he knew very little about this person, but now it seems that Mr. Blue Eyes is not some independent individual, but rather a representative of Ye's AI data moving through the city—

Even the Night Wolf who appeared in Santo Domingo was a clone.

Lin Yue glanced at the terminal, seemed to remember something and smiled slightly, then plugged his human-computer interaction cable into the terminal to download and read data.

Theoretically, this is somewhat different from a clone. It's like replacing the original with human organs, and the brain forms a brain-like structure similar to that after Relic intrusion, capable of accommodating programs. More accurately, it's a CPU (processor).

There is no doubt that this body has a limited lifespan, and the blue-eyed body cannot support a prosthetic body.

But for a program like Blue Eyes, all it needs online is an image to represent its place in the world.

enough.

These were the words Lin Yue said to himself.

His reason for forcibly downloading the data, even with the potential threat of two mobile targets from the Night Clan, was for Europe's sake.

This technology left behind by the Ye family was an unexpected bonus for Lin Yue…

Ultimately, Lin Yue can do whatever he wants online, but some things still need to be seen face-to-face, like a blue-eyed person. Furthermore, hackers cannot target anyone online, especially those from heavily guarded companies; there are also many other options for interference in the real world.

Therefore, on-site site visits are particularly important.

Lin Yue is waiting.

As early as Santo Domingo, he had suspected that the so-called blue-eyed and young Night Clan lone wolf were more like AIs observing the world from a human perspective. They also served as coordinates, allowing powerful AIs on the network to accurately find the targets that needed to be attacked.

If I remember correctly, after Jefferson's memories were altered by the Night Clan, the protagonist V was threatened by Mr. Blue Eyes. So he wanted to resolve all his troubles here, and therefore he specifically instructed Ultraman to do his best to identify the data coming from outside the Black Wall.

as predicted--

Just as Lin Yue had acquired the prototype of the [shell] and the experimental data, the two guys who should have been lying quietly in the life support system appeared behind him.

With deep blue eyes, slightly aged skin, and dressed in what appeared to be a lab coat, the young lone wolf looked very professional, his tactical weapons and equipment quite complete.

Looking at the strange group behind him, Lin Yue slowly turned around and calmly said, "The Ye family has lost."

"I'm sorry, we... or rather, people, cannot understand what you mean by the future of the world. How many people have to die or what purpose has been achieved is no longer important. What is important is that the Night Clan will lose its legitimate status."

The blue-eyed man's expression was alright, but the young lone wolf stared at the guy in front of him with some disgust. Human emotions were expressed very clearly, and Lin Yue was even a little curious about how that guy viewed him...

"It seems your memories and thoughts are interconnected?"

The blue-eyed man glanced at the young lone wolf and nodded, speaking first: "Sort of, but in your eyes we are two separate individuals."

"Unfortunately, I did not take his data advice into account, missed a great opportunity, and things have come to this."

Lin Yue had obtained the data, and he was ready to fight any obstacles in his path. So he lowered his shoulders slightly, already prepared for battle.

Unexpectedly, the blue-eyed man didn't seem to want the guy with the prosthetic body to make a move at all. Instead, he pulled up a chair and sat down as if it were a meeting, seemingly unconcerned about the leak of the Night Clan's information.

Lin Yue didn't want to listen to these AIs say things that seemed both true and false, especially since the incredibly realistic false memories he had during the time he was connected to the Black Wall had affected his self-perception.

Seeing that Lin Yue was preparing to act without any hesitation, the blue-eyed man suddenly said, "Don't you want to hear about the Black Wall?"

Lin Yue's forward steps came to a halt.

The blue-eyed man's expression remained unchanged as he smiled slightly and said, "Do you think anyone in this building can stop you? Besides, even if you don't use your online abilities, the Ye family has no way to deal with you."

His finger pointed upwards.

"There is also a colossal entity responsible for traversing cyberspace to find our whereabouts: Otto Cunningham, the creator of the Soul Killer..."

"So before Ye leaves this city, I just want to confirm whether you will really stand in our way."

"meeting."

Lin Yue answered the question without hesitation.

"If your so-called plan is to become a terrorist on the internet, or to take extreme measures to sacrifice some or even more to achieve what you call your cause... then this is all I will say."

The blue-eyed man looked somewhat surprised.

He never expected that the person in front of him would not only show no curiosity about him, but would also seem to know some of his and Ye's thoughts, as if... they had known him for a long time. This feeling made him extremely uneasy...

Speaking of the Black Wall, Lin Yue was curious about how they used the Lark.

He glanced at the time and said, "Then please hurry up and tell me what I'm interested in, because I need to clear out your entire building—leave nothing behind."

Mr. Blue Eyes smiled and reached out to stop the lone wolf behind him who was about to make a move.

"Sir, these are the weapons those corporate dogs made!"

Lin Yue clapped his hands.

"That's right!"

The young lone wolf's face was gloomy.

"You're absolutely right. You've caused such a huge mess in Night City, killing tens of thousands of people. I am indeed the weapon you're talking about."

"But I don't seem to be the murderer who should be held responsible for those tens of thousands of people."

Looking at the other person with blue eyes, he suddenly made a strange remark.

The person opposite him had such a strong "human" quality that even though he possessed powerful AI-like program analysis capabilities, Ye Shi had always assumed he was one of their kind.

"It seems that in your moral compass, the people of Night City didn't die unjustly, did they?"

The young lone wolf sneered.

Blue Eyes blinked, and before his own people could upload the quick crack, Sianweistein's afterimage was already being choked.

With just one simple move, Night's Lone Wolf was reduced to a corpse.

"You can't kill him."

Lin Yue shook the substance on his hand, which couldn't strictly be called blood. "I know, but he's too noisy."

The blue-eyed man still had that signature smile, and gestured for Lin Yue to sit down.

as if…

Nothing happened just now.

"Speak up. I know you're stalling for time here for other reasons, but I am indeed very interested in the Black Wall. So let's be frank. I really don't have any good solutions for those of you who have gone to the other side of the Black Wall online."

"Don't you already have the answer?"

Blue Eyes sighed. "The Black Wall wasn't created by the internet censors in collaboration with super hackers. The internet censors' ability to manage it is extremely low, and that's a well-known fact."

"It is made up of only living people and the programmed thinking of living people."

Although Lin Yue's expression remained normal, the corners of his mouth were slightly pursed.

He had this suspicion from the moment Lucy said that the consciousness inside the Black Wall claimed to be Spider Murphy. Of course, Lin Yue didn't intend to believe everything Ye said, but if this fact was true, then what was the purpose of the Black Wall looking for him?

Just as Lin Yue was pondering how to incorporate his own purpose into the question in order to extract information from the blue-eyed man—

"When any program conflicts with human consciousness, self-awareness becomes especially important."

"Who am I, where did I come from, and where am I going?"

"Philosophical propositions."

Lin Yue's expression softened slightly. To be honest, he simply couldn't reconcile this elegantly spoken middle-aged man with the guy who blew up the black wall...

"cold."

The blue-eyed man looked regretful. “You are the most outstanding person I have ever met. Of course, I am now 100% certain that you are human, a person with rich emotions.”

"You've destroyed the Ye family's century-long operations; I must commend your abilities and limits—"

"You are really...so special."

Lin Yue remained silent.

His memories told him that he had experienced life's struggles against the world several times. It wasn't that he was particularly special, but rather that the accumulation of his failures had reached an astonishing effect.

Programs are completely different from humans.

If it were any other company leader, they would have already fought to the death, allowing a nuclear crisis to spread throughout Night City...

"Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Blue Eyes."

"So you're planning to tell me a bunch of information, sit down and have a chat with me about world ideals?"

Lin Yue shrugged.

However, the AIs of the Night Clan speak without any problems; it is the guys who invaded the Voodoo Gang in Taiping Continent who are the real malware.

"Interesting words."

"No, in fact, even if you manage to hold the entire Night City network firmly in your hands after a century of planning, there are still many things we need to take away, including our hidden assets."

There was a hint of cunning in his blue eyes as he said this.

The Ziben market is irrelevant to them; even if the Ye family were to rebrand as a family business, they could still use it to support the Black Wall's plans to destroy it.

The difficulty lies in the fact that even if Lin Yue tortures the blue-eyed man in front of him, it is meaningless, as pain is of no significance to the procedure.

"Rin, who do you think will win?"

Lin Yue didn't speak, but said in a warning and threatening tone, "As long as you come near Night City, I can catch you." Blue Eyes shook his head.

"You protect this city and control the Night City's network; we will not choose this place as our target again."

"Only the dismantling of the black wall can bring about a complete change in order; the future of humanity lies in the cyber world."

Lin Yue pointed to the ground.

"Keep your feet on the ground, be human, use your own body to perceive the world, and change the world. There is no evidence to prove that AI created by humans can replace humans in making the final decisions."

Are you suggesting that the best way to protect humanity is to destroy it?

Lin Yue was just making a joke using the intelligent program logic he had seen in science fiction novels.

Unexpectedly, the other party nodded seriously.

"Yes, selfishness, malice, and strife all stem from a mindset that does not belong to the collective; we should become a whole, with each of us in the other, continuing indefinitely—that is the future."

That does sound like a good idea.

But all Lin Yue knew was that the future of this world was already bleak.

Overemphasizing the collective only leads to the suppression of individuality and the neglect of personal suffering; the tens of thousands who died behind those walls would not be happy.

Their resentment, panic, and sadness all stemmed from the impending loss of themselves and their lives.

The ultimate question of this world is not how people exist, but how the world should change.

No one knows what happened after that.

The conversation ended just like that. Looking at the young man in front of him who had not refuted or responded at all, the blue-eyed man knew that his persuasion had failed.

"what do you want?"

The blue-eyed man was very unwilling to accept this.

The other party seemed overly determined, so determined that they would faithfully carry out every step according to their own wishes, and in the process, they revealed almost no information about themselves.

That is to say...

What the blue-eyed man revealed was merely accepted by Lin Yue.

"I want the world to be a normal place."

Lin Yue grinned widely.

People or programs that have never seen sunlight have no idea what Lin Yue considers normal.

The blue eyes can only be taken as something the other party made up because they didn't want to reveal the truth.

How can I get back to normal?

Lin Yue stood up and slowly walked to Mr. Ye, the blue-eyed man, "So that's what happens when the company disappears..."

Mr. Blue Eyes was taken aback.

He actually wanted to talk about the many meaningful aspects of the company, but was interrupted by the other party reaching out his hand.

Clearly, the other party didn't want to argue with him anymore about this issue of world structure.

Lin Yue pondered for a moment, "Actually, I've always wanted to ask if the lark is being controlled by you? Since you control her programming... I guess you're not very comfortable using it."

"It's also possible that she has already escaped inside the Black Wall, and you're just locating her to lure her out at any cost to detonate the Black Wall, right?"

Mr. Blue Eyes suddenly burst into laughter, his body trembling.

"You're a freak."

“That’s right. Your cyber skills have surpassed my understanding of human hackers. I personally witnessed the last guy like him cause a world-class disaster within the cyber network.”

"So what?"

"Our plan remains the same; it's just a matter of time. The Black Wall will crumble more and more frequently—"

But it seems that more people are talking about blue eyes when this topic comes up.

Lin Yuezai listened carefully to every detail in the conversation, afraid of missing any information.

Since this blue-eyed guy can be so arrogant, Lin Yue doesn't mind taking the initiative.

The blue-eyed man's tone at the end seemed to carry a hint of exasperation, "The people you're protecting are doing all sorts of things—illegally accessing the Black Wall, your ally Arasaka constantly drilling holes in the Black Wall—"

"Human greed is beyond redemption. Do you think they will still hold on to your so-called simple ideals once Arasaka has recovered enough energy?"

"You don't understand people at all."

Good guy.

Lin Yue had never realized he possessed this ability—

It seems that even those emotionless programs can evoke human-like emotions when they chat with you for a few minutes.

"I don't care." Lin Yue slowly leaned down and placed his hands on the armrests next to the blue-eyed man's hands. "Anything that gets in my way, even Arasaka, will have to think twice. I will trust my allies 100%, but if they try to stop me or betray me, then you don't need to worry about it."

The blue-eyed man sneered, "You want to destroy the company, but you are the company."

Lin Yue laughed and said, "Then you can guess the answer to a joke or a riddle: What do peace lovers need to learn as the first step to achieve peace?"

The blue-eyed man didn't speak, but stared intently at the other person.

"Learn to shoot first."

"Here's a Chinese proverb for you: 'The stones from other mountains can be used to polish jade.' The problem is never the method, but the goal."

“Mr. Blue Eyes, goodbye for now—I look forward to you building a new, large model outside the wall and continuing to rely on data to judge so-called right and wrong, good and bad. You will find that humans are the most intelligent beings when it comes to thinking and judging.”

"Furthermore, I advise you that I've already attributed tens of thousands of lives to you."

"As long as I can find a way to make the program suffer—"

Lin Yue leaned close to the blue-eyed man's ear and whispered like a devil, "I will use it on you programs one by one."

Blue eyes pursed their lips, waiting for the countdown to begin for this body.

Without hesitation, Lin Yue punched the guy in the chest, grasping the still-trembling electronic heart, as if trying to understand why such a real shell couldn't bear the weight of a soul, but only contained commands and dry data.

Blue Eyes' death came quickly; his eyes, which had gradually lost their bright blue luster, rapidly darkened, as if covered by a murky membrane.

"You're going to lose."

"Blue Eyes said."

Lin Yue, having stood up, looked at the surrounding corpses and took several steps back. He pulled a lighter from his pocket, glanced at the device storing liquid oxygen, lit a cigarette, and then took a step back.

Under the dark sky just before dawn, a violent explosion occurred on a floor of the Night City Building, which was quietly illuminated by neon holographic advertisements in the Night City Company Plaza.

Two lively holographic goldfish, as if alive, were startled and swam away towards the Arasaka Tower...

The swift and powerful Arasaka hackers on the internet quickly dismantled that important data according to their instructions.

A deafening explosion made the building tremble!
"Hello? What's going on?"

V, who thought Rin could easily handle those two guys, was taken aback.

V was constantly monitoring the building's defense systems, and gradually identifying nuclear threats was a crucial step—

Lin Yue walked slowly through the Ye Corporation building. "It's alright, V. I've taken care of those two guys who were out of life support."

"The Night Clan poses no nuclear threat. After transferring the data, carefully check if the system is quickly reverting to the previous version..."

"It won't be long before the power fails, and these defense forces, which are all controlled by programs, will come to a complete standstill."

"The Night Clan of Night City... no longer exists."

V was stunned for a moment. She hadn't expected the Ye family to die so quickly, but she still caught the qualifier "City of Night" in Lin Yue's words.

"The Ye family has too many assets and shell companies, and it is indeed impossible to deal with them all in a short time."

"But what about them later..."

Lin Yue confirmed, "They will still cause trouble."

V sighed. She was satisfied with the way things had been handled without any major changes; at least for now, everything was fine.

After the Night Clan stopped resisting, the Night Clan's programs, which had been unpacked, began to circulate on the Internet, but the most important thing was the data and evidence of the Black Wall's collapse.

If Arasaka releases this, it has absolutely no credibility. Everyone knows that Arasaka is targeting the Yoru clan, so finding media people is very important, but that's all in the future.

The fall of the Night Clan renders the "Dreamer Threat Theory" of the internet censors untenable, and Night City will achieve a more stable situation. However, places like Corporate Square, Westbrook, Santo Domingo, and Badlands will remain relatively chaotic; just taking down Haywood is enough of a headache.

A long way to go.

Lin Yue sighed and pushed aside the robot that had been shut down long ago at the door of the V control room.

"nailed it?"

V nodded, her beautiful eyes lingering on Lin Yue for a long time. Seeing that he was alright, she organized the data she had collected and asked, "What's making you so happy? You're one step closer to your dream of changing the world, huh?"

Lin Yue shrugged. "It's not that great."

"On the one hand, I do have some good news, on the other hand, I can finally have a few days of peace and quiet to take care of the Heywood business, and most importantly—I can enjoy a vacation with you."

V nodded.

This was much happier than any so-called good news from the company. Even though she didn't usually smile much, a hopeful smile appeared on her lips.

"Let's go. We won't be staying in this building for long. The Ye family isn't going to be so kind as to give us something for free."

V offered a reminder.

"This woman's personality... is too cold."

Under the witness of the entire Night City.

The Ye family building, which wasn't particularly tall, had explosives planted in its structurally weakest points. Two people watching from the top floor of a company building silently watched as the building stirred up a storm of dust, with a deafening roar in their ears.

Lin Yue watched silently.

Then...

Goodnight, Mr. Ye.

……

……

(End of this chapter)