Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 6 was too depressing, Mercer

Mewtwo's feeling is very peculiar.

It can instantly transport you into a pre-recorded 'memory,' allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the Mewtwo photographer and experience everything about them.

Whether it's the fear, happiness, despair, pain, or comfort felt by the photographer, all these emotions will be perfectly reproduced in the viewer.

Filming a proper movie version of Mewtwo is very difficult because it requires actors to be fully immersed in the script in order to deliver a strong emotional impact to the audience.

This is difficult to achieve, which is the core reason why many Mewtwo movies don't receive very high ratings.

This is also why the "Black Dream" sunglasses have become a global phenomenon.

Many people would put recording devices on criminals so that they could engage in stimulating activities.

Some people are even so perverse that they place recording devices on the victims, and the recordings of the victims' black sunglasses can provide an extremely tactile impact—an impact that is highly addictive.

Imagine what would happen if a drug addict recorded the moment he hit his head against a wall with Mewtwo.

Countless addicts will buy that box of Mewtwo!
Even if it's just so they can endlessly loop and die of pleasure in Mewtwo when they're so poor they have no medicine left, they'll still buy it!

There are numerous cases of brain death directly caused by this, yet the practice of wearing sunglasses persists despite repeated bans.

Mercer's experience with Mewtwo was a legitimate Mewtwo, but... is it really legitimate for a man?
In just one hour, Mewtwo gave Mercer a chance to experience what it's like to be a Sailor Moon character, including:
The exhilarating feeling of justice being fulfilled when arresting criminals, and the immersive, intimate feeling of hugging and celebrating with a fellow Sailor Moon.
Damn, all those companions were incredibly beautiful! It's just that they looked only fifteen or sixteen years old, which made him feel a little guilty about his excitement!

Of course, the photographers were all adults. In the cyber world, age is just a number; an eighty-year-old woman can be transformed into a young girl.

Besides that, what other scenes are there where you can clearly see clothes-tearing during the transformation process and pause and rewatch them at any time? Damn, this thing is rated 8+?

The shared senses of smell, touch, and all of them allowed Mercer, who had previously felt that he had become somewhat emotionally detached, to rediscover the joy of abundant emotion.

That was awesome, so awesome! Mercer, after taking off his headband, was still reminiscing about the scene in the finale where he was hugged and celebrated by a bunch of Sailor Moon girls.

The feeling of having two extra lumps in front of me and feeling empty underneath me in Mewtwo is a bit off-putting.

Mewtwo is so cool!

If 8+ is like this, then 18+ must be going to be insane!
Damn it, Mercer has made up his mind. Once he gets to Night City, he's definitely going to find some Mewtwo to savor, well, no, he should criticize!

No wonder this world is doomed! Everyone can enjoy life with Mewtwo, so who wants to actually work hard and struggle? No matter how miserable you are in real life, as long as you put on the headband, you can immediately enjoy the perfect life. It's just too corrupting.

"Right! Isn't it beautiful!" Kyoko's voice brought Mercer back to his senses, and then he saw the other people in the room staring at him with somewhat strange looks.

Tetsuya Daichi was the first to turn his head, pressing Leon's head down and reconnecting him to the game console with his personal data cable to enter the game.

Lucy couldn't help but smile, her eyes crinkling as she looked at him: "Your smile just now... well, how should I put it? It's the first time I've ever seen anyone other than Kyoko look at Sailor Moon's Mewtwo like that."

Mercer remained unfazed: "It's just my first time experiencing Mewtwo, and it's certainly a novel experience."

Lyon couldn't help but chuckle, only to be elbowed by the ground.

Lucy couldn't help but laugh, and the more she laughed, the happier she became, until she was doubled over with laughter and her eyes were almost wet.

Dadi and Lyon then stopped hiding their laughter, while only Anzu looked bewildered, not knowing why. She only knew that Lucy seemed to have covered Mercer with a blanket.
I did this because I was worried he'd be cold. What's so funny about that?
Mercer looked down and realized that some kind person had covered his knees with a blanket—he had forgotten that he hadn't changed out of his hospital gown.

Why cover his knees with a blanket? The answer came to me instantly.

Damn, although what he sensed in Mewtwo was the other person's emotions, it didn't mean that his own emotions would disappear; they would just be covered up by stronger emotions.

And because their minds are so immersed in the dream world, their perception of the outside world has almost disappeared.

In other words, although he cannot feel his own body in Mewtwo, his body accurately reflects all his thoughts in Mewtwo.

For example, the exciting feeling when you're close to a beautiful girl—damn, I'm really hungry. No, I should say these young people are just so healthy.

This has nothing to do with his personal will, really!

"Ahem." Mercer felt a sense of embarrassment for the first time in a long time. More than just shyness, he also felt that he had set a bad example for the child, or rather, that he had lost face in front of the child.

The feeling was overwhelming, and I couldn't think of an explanation for it, so I simply gave up.

"There's nothing we can do, that's puberty, hormones."

His feigned calm explanation only made Lucy laugh even louder.

She leaned over the petite Xingzi, laughing so hard her whole body was shaking. Only Xingzi stared blankly at him: "What's wrong?!"

"It's nothing." Lucy, panting, wiped her eyes and sat up straight, coughing as she said, "He was just laughing at Mewtwo because he thought it looked silly, it was kind of funny."

"What? I thought Sailor Moon would do that too? You guys are the ones who are abnormal!"

Xingzi spoke with conviction.

Daichi and Lyon couldn't stop laughing, and exchanged a glance—no, Kyoko, you're normal, but he's not.

I always thought Mercer was quite aloof. It seems he's been suppressing his feelings a lot. This is Sailor Moon, not some magical girl fighting goblins.

Children in the cyber world receive far more information than children in the world before Mercer's transmigration, and most of this information is unprotected. Therefore, innocent children like Kyoko are actually a minority.
Okay, Mercer decided to do something:
"In short, Mewtwo is quite interesting."

It would be great if we could directly extract Mewtwo from human memories.
This doesn't seem impossible, does it? For us, the process of deep diving is about completely digitizing consciousness, hmm.

He fell into deep thought, this time a serious one—if he could do that, could he find a way to check if he had any unusual data about himself?

For example, could those AIs have left anything in his data?
Furthermore, if Mewtwo's memories can be copied and recorded, he seems to have many memories that are exceptionally valuable in this world.
I have memories of traveling with my family to a clean beach when I was a child, climbing Mount Hua, and even enjoying many delicious foods.
Selling it for money is out of the question, but perhaps it can be used to share the beautiful memories with close friends in the future?
Even using it to relive the experience, the feeling of experiencing it with Mewtwo, is much stronger than just remembering. At least now, even if he can imagine and recall the taste of those delicacies, he can't actually feel that deliciousness. "Hmm, it's theoretically possible to just strip away the memories."

Tetsuya Daichi kindly chimed in, "But how to extract memories and accurately back them up is a difficult task. I've seen similar successful cases online."

However, there doesn't seem to be a concrete example of how to convert memory data into Mewtwo.

"Hmm, I'll look into it later." After saying that, Mercer looked a little tired. "Alright, I need to take a nap. Mewtwo's emotional stimulation was quite intense just now. I only realized I had a headache after taking off the headband."

"No good."

Tetsuya Daichi and Leon exchanged a glance and immediately stood up. Hmm, it's good not to suppress it.

Lucy was still laughing. Does this woman really laugh that much? No, to be precise, she's just a cocky brat. What's she laughing at?!

Mercer rolled his eyes: "I really hope you never get your heads burned out."

These words immediately created a somber atmosphere. The images that came to mind for the children were all of their companions with blood all over their faces and the smell of burning flesh emanating from their heads.

Mercer blinked and immediately changed the subject, saying:

"Alright, everyone go back and rest. Think carefully about what you want to do in the future and where you want to go."

I've already decided that when I finally get to my dream destination, the first thing I'll do is have a good meal... well, never mind, real meat is ridiculously expensive no matter where I go."

His words immediately gave the group of teenagers a new idea. Daichi Tetsuya smiled and said with a dream:

"Well, if it were me, I'd like to go swimming, even in unfiltered water, or play soccer. It's been so many years since I've had a good time."

"I want to buy lots of games."

Leon looked longingly at the game console in Dadi's hand. Dadi thought for a moment and then said, "Why don't you sleep with me tonight? Let's hurry up and finish the two-player career mode."

"Great!" Leon immediately raised his hand and cheered.

Lucy seemed lost in thought, but remained silent and did not speak.

"I want Mewtwo! Sailor Moon has already released the last three seasons! Mercer and I will watch them together! We can buy one of those shared Mewtwo devices!"

Apricot looked at Mercer with anticipation.

Mercer's lips twitched. Sure enough, the others immediately stopped their daydreaming and turned to look at him with mocking expressions.

"No, you and Lucy can watch it. I'm never watching Mewtwo again. It's a waste of time."

"Pfft." Lucy covered her mouth and chuckled, then pulled Kyoko's hand and walked out. "Let's go, let him rest properly. He was just discharged from the hospital, how can he rest when we're all making a ruckus?"

"Okay~" Kyoko still didn't want to give up, and even sent him a private message through the brain-computer interface.

[Kyoko: It's okay, I know they all think watching Sailor Moon is something only kids do. We'll watch it together secretly! It's a promise~]

[Mercer: Okay, we'll watch it together when we're free, but it has to be a secret.]

He smiled and winked at Anzu.

A look of anticipation and happiness immediately spread across her face, and she walked briskly with Lucy, her twin ponytails bobbing along.

Once the room was quiet, Mercer's face returned to calm. He rubbed his temples, intending to lie down and rest for a while.

But after lying there for only a short while, he sighed, sat up, walked to the table, opened the drawer, and took out a Mewtwo headband.

This is the learning equipment that Arasaka provides to trainees and employees; beginner courses are free.

Those who sign training agreements like him will also unlock advanced tutorials covering all subjects, including engineering, medicine, hacking, management, and finance.

The content of these tutorials is linked to Arasaka Academy around the world. Once you complete any advanced course, you can apply for an interview to enter the university for further study.

The course is conducted online. Since we are currently inside the facility, we can directly connect to the education server via the Arasaka intranet without needing a learning pod or learning chip.

All teaching materials are guaranteed to be up-to-date, and because of Mercer's status as a 'senior student,' he can also apply for teacher AI.

As long as the computing power of the education server is sufficient, it can exclusively enjoy online teaching from AI teachers.

So what are you waiting for?

If we want to take all these kids out, then that previous playful attitude is absolutely not going to work.

After all, there's no option to load a save file here.

[You have activated Arasaka Learning Platform V7.21]

[You have applied for AI-based instruction and are currently connecting to the server. Your application has been approved. Please select your learning project and estimate the duration of this learning session.]

[You have applied for a hacking tutorial (advanced). The estimated learning time is one hour.]

[You have applied for Technical Engineering (Junior Level). Estimated learning time: one hour.]

You have applied for prosthetic body repair and surgery (basic).

Rubbing his slightly throbbing temples, Mercer resolutely activated Mewtwo. With a blinding flash of white light, his consciousness vanished into cyberspace.

Damn it, let's just do it!
(End of this chapter)