This celebrity is overly enthusiastic!

Chapter 249 Cyberpsychosis

Zhou Liming found his seat, which was relatively far back.

Sitting next to me was a young man who had come to see the movie alone; he was very polite. Directly in front of me was a couple with the signature hairstyles of David and Lucy from the film.

This can be considered a trend started by Chen Yuan. The screen images of David and Lucy are so dazzling that many people abroad have imitated their makeup and even tattoos.

The same was true in Chen Yuan's home base, China, where the "David Head" hairstyle gained widespread recognition among young people and students.

For a more radical look, completely mimic the stripes on both sides of David's forehead; for a more conservative look, the sides and back of the head can be left a little longer, resulting in a clean and individualistic style.

Very few people can pull off the silver-streaked 'Lucy' hairstyle.

But that doesn't stop girls from liking it. A large number of girls choose not to dye their hair and just get a short haircut with long, slanted bangs, which is just as fashionable.

The girl in front of me had a black-haired Lucy hairstyle. If you deliberately ignore Fan Binbin's perfect appearance, her look is quite pleasing to the eye.

The entire large theater, which can accommodate 300 people, was completely full.

Even in the aisles and at the very back, there were a large number of cinema staff members, some squatting and some standing.

Zhou Liming smiled wryly; there were quite a few people looking forward to this sequel!

It is almost a consensus both inside and outside the industry that "The Edge Walker" will continue to break box office records in mainland China. It is truly something to look forward to seeing what kind of box office miracle it will create.

The Chinese box office rankings have remained largely unchanged for the past two years, with "The Edge Walker" in first place and "Hero" in second, both of which have had a profound impact on the development of the mainland film market.

Zhou Liming was originally looking forward to Chen Kaige's "The Promise", but he never expected that Chen Kaige would be such a disappointment, and he is still being ridiculed by netizens.

Finally, the movie started playing, and the buzzing discussions in the large theater stopped.

After various opening credits, Lawrence Fishburne's character, Mann, is seen jogging slowly on a desert highway far from Night City.

His thin body and youthful face clearly showed that this was before he underwent cybernetic modifications.

The voice-over is already familiar to viewers; it's the always enthusiastic and energetic voice of Stan, the host of Night City's morning news briefing.

Apart from Chen Yuan's "Night City Advertising Rental" campaign last year, which used this "fake news" method, the recent trailers have all been broadcast in this form.

The host's voice was telling a story about a mercenary's dream, while the thin Mann was running intently, panting and sweating profusely.

This thirty-second segment, which seemed to be Mann's dream, seemed to symbolize many things, Zhou Liming thought. He took out a pen and paper to jot down a few details, then adjusted his glasses and continued watching the film.

Every day, a large number of people die in Night City, and the people who live here have long been accustomed to death.

Even after their comrade Pira passed away, the members of Mann's team quickly got used to it, including his sister Rebecca. In just a few days, everyone went back to doing what they were doing.

Mann's team received a mission from military technology, commissioned by the intermediary Faraday.

The investigation revealed a document in the mind of Tanaka, a mid-level leader in the Arasaka group, concerning a piece of equipment secretly developed by Arasaka called 'Cybertron'.

Tanaka is the father of the rich young man who bullied David and was punched by David S.A.S. in the post-credits scene of the previous movie, The Edge Walker.

This game of hunter and prey creates a strong dramatic conflict from the very beginning, firmly gripping the audience's attention.

Qiwei hacks into Tanaka's private files and discovers that he frequently views Black Dream. She then decides to use this information to kidnap Yoshiguro, the director of Black Dream who collaborates with Tanaka.
Then, using Jihei's identity, they tricked Tanaka into abducting him and obtained the mission data directly from Tanaka's brain.

The plan was perfect, but things went wrong when they kidnapped Jihei. David and Mann were paralyzed by the system crash released by Jihei, which directly disabled the implanted brain-computer interface. David was also kidnapped by Jihei.

The mission has now become Mann's team rescuing David, who has been captured.

Gihei isn't a completely new character. In the first movie, "The Edge Walker," the cyber-psychotic Lieutenant James, who was watching the movie at the beginning, was the one who wreaked havoc in front of the Arasaka Building Plaza.

The science fiction concept of 'Mewtwo', popularized by The Edgewalker,

Durex even obtained the movie license to create a 'Mewtwo' series of balloons.

In the past two years, many people have been discussing the application of these technologies in movies and the real world.

Mewtwo from the movie was originally used for military simulations and crime repair, but was later widely used in entertainment.

Users feel as if they are in another body, experiencing different memories and sensations.

In a brutal city like Night City, this technology would inevitably immerse the miserable poor in a false illusion, allowing them a temporary escape from their reality.

It's basically the same logic as getting addicted to reading novels, watching TV shows and movies, and playing video games in the real world.

Therefore, the more violent, more erotic, and more stimulating black sunglasses naturally emerged.

As the movie continued, Zhou Liming learned that the vast majority of the Black Super Dreams produced by Ji Hei were based on real images recorded by the prosthetic body itself.

Just hours after James' death, his "Death Black Dream" sunglasses had already entered the market and been purchased by David.

At that time, James' S.A.R.T. prosthetic body had already been stolen by David's mother, so it's highly likely that his other prosthetic bodies were taken and divided among his colleagues.

His Mewtwo data is very likely a record from other prosthetic bodies.

Night City is truly rotten to the core. Even a dead person is exploited to the fullest extent, forming a highly efficient black market industry chain that is chilling to contemplate.

Not only do they desecrate the dead, but they also turn the memories of the dead into a kind of spiritual opium called "Black Dream," which they sell to continue to poison others. This cycle of inhumanity is repeated for the sake of profit.

But Zhou Liming still thought too highly of the people of Night City. People like Ji Hei can clearly no longer be considered human; he is not only good at rummaging through the memories of the dead.

Zhou Liming was truly shocked by this scene: David woke up amidst a pile of corpses, clutching a pistol and fleeing in panic.

During his escape, he initially killed many police officers and passersby unconsciously, but gradually became bloodthirsty, driving the S.A.S ...

David's limbs were broken, but guns and bullets miraculously grew out of the mechanical and fleshy wounds!

This scene is clearly a tribute to the cyberpunk masterpiece Akira, where the protagonist Tetsuo's excessive craving for power leads to his inability to control the power he carries, ultimately resulting in a backlash.

Ultimately, David, suffering a mental breakdown, was shot in the head. Just like at the beginning of the first movie, David woke up in a cold sweat, clearly indicating that this Mewtwo had caused him considerable psychological damage! That psychopath, Gihei, was actually using extreme Mewtwo to try and drive David into a cyberbully!
Cyberpsychosis, as the coolest and most dramatic concept in "The Edge Walker," is frequently discussed by movie fans on various platforms.

The first "Fringe Walker" movie didn't delve much into this concept, and the original board game setting is not the same as the cyberpsychosis in the movie.

Therefore, even now, movie fans have not reached a definitive conclusion that can be accepted by everyone.

Now, through Ji Hei's words, the film finally provides a clearer cause of cyberpsychosis: it is related to a person's mind, mental state, and degree of cybernetics.

Jihei wanted David to experience Lieutenant James’s real death memories over and over again, driving David, who was equipped with S.A.W.S ...
Having watched countless films, Zhou Liming keenly sensed that the film's arrangement of David personally experiencing the process of death might be an important foreshadowing.

David, after his mother's death, lost his purpose in life and drifted aimlessly until he met Lucy and joined Mann's team.
He has something precious again, and in Night City, this treacherous place that devours people without spitting out the bones, he will inevitably crave even greater power to protect everything he has now.

Perhaps David's ending will be like the black-clad dream that Jihei tailored for him before, turning him into a cyber-psychotic and dying in the battle to protect others.

After a brief pause in thought, Zhou Liming refocused his attention on the film.

Just as David was in grave danger, Lucy and Dorio arrived and rescued him.
After a smooth and exciting action sequence, the three worked together seamlessly to take down Jihei's defense drones and bring Jihei under control.

The lighting in the film "The Edge Walker" has always been praised by both industry insiders and outsiders.

Besides the film's excellent portrayal of the classic cyberpunk style of glitz, glamour, and decadent urban life, Chen Yuan also boldly used a lot of contour lighting to showcase the characters' traits, the atmosphere of the environment, and their inner thoughts.

For example, Lucy's pinkish-purple, David's yellowish-green, Rebecca's cyan, Mann's brownish-yellow, etc., while the appearance of red is often related to 'danger' or 'the intensification of the character's emotions'.

Mann's team tied Jihei to a chair next to the shelf displaying his black sunglasses and dream-like works. There was no battle here, but there were large swaths of red.

The kidnapped Jihei chatted with David with great interest, asking David why he knew that cybernetic bodies of S.A.S. level were extremely dangerous, that even the Iron-Blooded Soldier James had gone mad, yet he still insisted on having one installed.

David gave a vague answer, saying that even if he felt something was wrong, it was just like a part that was naturally present in his body, and he felt that he was special.

Jihei scoffed at David, saying that he had seen many people who thought they were special, but they all ended up becoming cyberpsychotics or died before they became cyberpsychotics.

A powerful psychic will detach from a person's soul and place it within a machine, pushing the person to the edge of emptiness.

On the big screen, a special effects perspective view of David's back clearly shows red nerves, like tentacles, extending from S.A. W.S. Stella into the depths of David's body.

Zhou Liming took a deep breath. Was this Sianwistan's erosion of David's body and mind?
The sequel to *The Edgewalker* seems to have moved away from simply pursuing thrilling combat and spectacular special effects.

Is it beginning to delve into the distortion and alienation of humanity caused by cyberpunk technology?
It's unclear whether this was Chen Yuan's original idea or a change he made after his previous film was criticized for lacking intellectual depth.

Regardless of the reason, it demonstrates that Chen Yuan has not rested on his past glories but has consistently sought change. This is a fundamental quality of an excellent director.

Forcing Yoshiguro to cooperate in kidnapping Tanaka was a close call, but Yoshiguro, the unlucky guy, was caught in the crossfire of Tanaka's attack, his neck was pierced, and he was bleeding profusely.

However, before his death, director Jihei, known for his dark complexion and dream-like demeanor, gave David a meaningful smile.

It gave David a chill, and involuntarily reminded people of Jihei's 'prophecy' that David would eventually become a cyberpsychotic.

At this point, half of the movie had already passed. Although there were occasional funny and playful moments in the first half, the overall tone of the movie was rather depressing.

Zhou Liming overheard the young man next to him muttering that he hoped the second half would feature more exciting and action-packed scenes to give people a real thrill.

However, the following films, while featuring many large-scale scenes, were completely devoid of any sense of 'excitement'.

Mann, Mann is showing signs of cyberbullying!

His eyes showed the double vision characteristic of cyberpsychosis, the gorilla-like prosthetic arm trembled uncontrollably, and even a portion of his instant noodles fell to the ground.

Dorothy was very worried and advised him to downgrade his prosthetic body so as not to put too much burden on himself.
But this enraged Mann, who lost control and severely injured Qiwei, who was deep in cyberspace, cracking Tanaka's brain data!

The entire base was thrown into chaos, and Mann completely lost control!

Dorio went to great lengths to inject several immunosuppressants into Mann's body before he recovered, but he seemed completely unaware of his recent 'madness'.

Zhou Liming finally understood the meaning behind the movie's opening sequence and the two inserts in the middle showing Mann running on the desert highway.

Running represents his life of constantly moving forward, while sweating indicates that he is already feeling tired and powerless.

Mann, the team's leader, is on the verge of collapse, both physically and mentally.

In the previous movie, Pila was suddenly shot in the head. Will this movie end with Mann becoming a cyberpsychotic?
Wow, this movie is really cruel and ruthless, but isn't that the charm of cyberpunk and Night City?
The audience around him were either on tenterhooks or hoping that Mann would turn out better, and Zhou Liming understood their feelings.

Mann is one of the very few Night City gang leaders who is a humane elder brother.

When David was at his lowest point, instead of killing David who had received his prosthetic body, he took him in.

Mann taught David how to use a gun, drive, do missions, and even pick up girls. It was Mann's matchmaking that helped the two break through the barrier between their hearts and get together.

To David, he was entirely a father figure.

Zhou Liming's emotions were different from the audience's; he was really looking forward to seeing what kind of farewell Chen Yuan would arrange for Mann.

Mann refused to downgrade his cybernetic implants, believing that the thirty-odd pieces on his body would have no effect on him whatsoever.
He had endured so much hardship along the way, and watched his team grow stronger and stronger, receiving increasingly prestigious commissions. If he were to collapse now, what would become of all his previous efforts?

However, things got worse and worse. Just because David said a comforting word, Mann slapped David across the face and knocked him to the ground.

On the surface, he was jealous of David's natural ability to adapt to prosthetics, but in reality, it was a sign that he was losing control of his emotions and behavior.

Mann is slowly sliding from the edge into the abyss.

Qiwei was beaten and hospitalized. In order to complete the mission, another hacker in the team had to take over Qiwei's work.

However, Lucy has a deep-seated fear of Arasaka, and the mere thought of confronting him makes her hands tremble uncontrollably.

One moment Mann's team was working together to save David, but the situation took a sharp turn for the worse after Mann showed signs of cyberbullying!

(There's one more chapter, I'll post it later. Everyone, please take a break.)

(End of this chapter)