Cyber ​​Sword Immortal Iron Rain

Perhaps this is the difference between a machine pretending to be a human being and a human approaching a machine. The desires that were originally hidden by him are now deliberately sought in order to maintain a human-like heart.

The Snow Ghost knelt slightly and bowed, then kowtowed again:

"In that case, I will take my leave first. When you have——"

"Wait, follow me. We have something urgent to do now, and you can help us as a tour guide on the way. Or do you not have time?"

Fang Bailu interrupted Snow Ghost's words.

"I will obey the Immortal Master's decree."

Without any hesitation or delay, Snow Ghost agreed - this surprised Fang Bailu a little.

……

The van finally passed the toll gate and started moving forward. As the car drove on, the dirt road was gradually replaced by asphalt, asphalt and gravel - and soon, it entered the city of Manila.

Pu Wenzhi, the driver, led the way. At this moment, he was driving and wandering in his mind, synchronizing the information in the digital space. Although in reality, Compassion Blade was just a half-grown child, the electronic body that had achieved the status of Arhat and could subdue dragons and tigers was so huge in the network that digital scratches left by Compassion Blade's actions were everywhere.

This dazzling trace is like a road sign that cannot be seen by the naked eye, extending straight into the edge of the center of Manila: there is an abrupt "dead place" - a world physically isolated from the external network. There is no digital network connected to the outside world at all, making it impossible for both ghosts and souls to pass through.

Fang Bailu believed that the three souls and seven spirits of the Compassionate Sword were there.

"Was Manila like this before? I don't remember Manila being a... mountain city." Steep slopes and low buildings are everywhere in Manila; sometimes you turn a corner and find yourself on the roof of a building. Vans are either climbing uphill at right angles or turning in winding roads around buildings.

This kind of Manila is more like Chongqing or San Francisco in Fang Bailu's impression, rather than a city in Luzon.

"We like to live together, as big families. Because of the love and affection within Luzon families, we have to be more complex about the height of our residences and the space for activities. Before the implementation of the One Person Law, Taihai Chain established the 'Guixu' for the citizens of Manila——"

Snow Ghost stretched her hand out of the car window and pointed diagonally downward: in the direction she pointed, there were only rows of low houses, stacked one on top of another, like the steps of a Mayan pyramid.

"Based on the dead city, we transformed it into a large interactive ecological community. Then, we built a more three-dimensional and larger home around it."

Fang Bailu looked in the direction she pointed - all he could see was a dense, spiraling cluster of low houses, spreading out in a trapezoidal shape from vertical to horizontal, completely covering the original "mountain". Even if this "Guixu" still existed, it couldn't be seen from here.

"Is anyone still using this 'Guixu'?"

"Now it is mainly used as a residence for the kings. Their bodies are much larger... After the implementation of the "One Person Law", the living space required by the people of Luzon is much smaller than before."

"By the way, let's talk about the One Person Law. The One Person Law... is it what I think it means literally?"

"All native residents in Luzon must complete the 'relocation' operation before they reach the age of 20 and live with their families. They love each other and are like one person - this is the 'One Person Law'. The Immortal Master must have met many Luzon people on his journey."

"Cannot be violated? No exceptions?"

"No violation, no exceptions. Unless you are a disloyal and unfilial Luzon who has no blood relationship with you."

Fang Bailu turned his eyes away from Xuegui: I don't need to ask this woman why she didn't implement the "One Person Law". If she didn't defect and run away from home, then her whole family has passed away for some reason.

"Coincidentally, my family has already left."

Snow Ghost remained silent, and Fang Bailu did not delve further into the topic.

Manila is quite different from the countryside in Luzon. The difference is mainly reflected in the quiet streets and the citizens who stay indoors.

"There were quite a lot of people in that village before. Could it be that the people in the city followed the king's way and studied the teachings of sages indoors all day long?"

Perhaps it is the wonderful flavor brought by the rice and meat that Pu Wenzhi still has hope for the simple folk customs of Luzon.

Fang Bailu knows more about the related industries popular in Luzon:

"No, everyone in the cities of Luzon is staying at home digging for gold. Who would go out? How come you don't know anything? Isn't the thing they dug up famous on the Internet?"

In a nutshell, most of the villagers in Luzon make a living by recycling and renovation, while the residents in the city mainly dig out the lost secrets in the ocean of data. Those with a little wealth set up a temple in their own housing estate and dive into the sea of ​​information; the poorer ones go to the temple to make offerings in their spare time and rent out their brain computing power.

There are quite a few big families and big demons in Manila, but they prefer to be quiet and not active.

"We Luzon people are not working hard for gold, silver and money: we have been doing a 'puzzle' since ancient times. The secrets and information we find are just by-products." Snow Ghost, a local, said lightly; "Now the 'puzzle' has been pieced together, which is one of the reasons why my head ancestor wants to meet you."

"Manila is governed by the great kings of the Taihai Chain, and my family's chief ancestor is one of them. The situation has been changing rapidly recently, and there are many people who want to take advantage of the situation. We should treat a person like you well... and show our hospitality."

"Okay, okay." Fang Bailu adjusted the language model to more easily match the Snow Ghost's semi-literate and semi-vernacular nonsense - this accent is indeed popular in many places overseas; "We are just passing by."

Chapter 208: Infidelity (V)

The sunlight shone through the dusty car window, undulating like waves, rolling over Fang Bailu's knees and Xuegui's waist. It was not warm, but rather had an anxious heat.

Fang Bailu's upper body suddenly turned 90 degrees to the left with his lumbar spine as the axis, aiming at the snow ghost. He stretched out his hand -

Wow...

The wind pressure caused by the attack shattered the already mottled and broken windows on both sides of the back seat; it was also like an invisible ball, leaving an indentation on the snow ghost's cheek.

Everything in Fang Bailu's eyes was in 8x slow motion, and the sound of shattering glass became a long horn: his right hand passed through the flying transparent fragments in front of and behind him, and rested on the snow ghost's neck covered with scar tissue.

The beating aorta is powerful and slow, yet so fragile.

call!

Everything returned to normal speed. Many of the broken glass fragments were nailed into the snow ghost's intact cheeks and Fang Bailu's artificial skin:

"From now on, you can only tell the truth."

A sharp-edged glass shard pierced the surface of Fang Bailu's mimic eyeball, glittering with the sunlight outside the window. But he just stared at the snow ghost and continued:

"You are a living person, I will not search your soul. But if you tell a lie, I will have to search your soul."

This was not true - the only reason Fang Bailu did not conduct a soul search right now was because the Snow Ghost had undergone too many modulated biological modifications - if she had any electronic brain reaction, Fang Bailu would have already removed the head.

stab-

With the harsh sound of brakes, the van twisted its trajectory before returning to its original route. Pu Wenzhi, who firmly believed that his body and hair were given by his parents and had not undergone any body modification, was also shaken by the impact.

Thin lines of blood flowed along the snow ghost's forehead and cheekbones, converged into a line at the chin, and dripped to the knees. The snow ghost stared at the glass fragments on Fang Bailu's eyeballs, picked up a drop of blood, and twisted it beside his face:

"Please ask. I will tell you everything I know."

The probe extending from Fang Bailu's index finger quietly pierced into the snow ghost's aorta, monitoring her biological data to determine whether the words spoken by the snow ghost were true or false.

That’s the trouble with purely biological models: they’re fuzzy and chaotic, unable to detect subtleties accurately, and therefore more closely aligned with the human brain.

"Tell me your name again."

"Snow ghost."

"Who is Tseve Rodriguez then?"

After a brief silence, the Snow Ghost gave his answer:

"People have two names. One comes from others, and one belongs to oneself. I am Snow Ghost, and I am also Tseve Rodriguez."

It was a vague answer, but Fang Bailu understood what she meant.

"The real name of your so-called Patriarch?"

"I don't know. The Patriarch is the Patriarch... I don't know his name."

"What is your real intention this time?"

"To welcome you. You are a powerful Qi cultivator and will be of great help to us."

Fang Bailu raised his other hand and quietly pulled out the fragments from his eyeball:

"How did you find out about my situation?"

"A major disaster has occurred in Kuala Lumpur, and the news has long spread throughout Southeast Asia. I can assure you that organizations and companies in Java, Siam, and here are offering generous conditions to recruit those Qigong practitioners who have left the Microcomputer Taoism Research Association."

The Snow Ghost continues:

"So, your presence is not a secret. As far as I know, you have never hidden your whereabouts since arriving in Luzon... After all, you were able to defeat a 'king' on your own, which is enough to prove your profound Taoist practice. No matter what the original treatment of the Microcomputer Taoism Research Association was, we at Awa Mountain Toulong Cave can give you more."

"This reason is quite logical."

Fang Bailu didn't think that his life-and-death fight with the Xihe girl would be known to outsiders - after all, such a thing was too shocking. The widely circulated rumor now was that the Microcomputer Taoism Research Association headquarters made a mistake in researching the Taoist method of physical sanctification, which caused a biochemical accident, and then led to the collapse of Kuala Lumpur.

"What is the current situation in Luzon? What major event is about to happen? What is the purpose of 'welcoming the gods'?"

Fang Bailu put these three questions together and threw them out like a machine gun. In his opinion, these questions lead to the same answer.

“The excavation is about to end and the festival is about to begin.”

"What on earth are the Luzon people digging for? A giant monster from the data abyss? Or an evil god?"

She recited at length, her Spanish accent lending the verses an undulating tone and a ballad-like quality:

“I have been in heaven for three thousand calamities, and in the human world for five hundred years.

The sword at the waist flashes with purple lightning, and the red flame in the furnace raises gray smoke.

He rode a white deer across the vast ocean, and then rode a green ox into the cave heaven.

I am just kidding you with my little tricks, no one knows I am a real immortal. "

"How could what we dug up be a great demon? What we dug up was a true immortal."

The physiological data judged by the sea of ​​consciousness told Fang Bailu: she was telling the truth.

……

"True Immortal...True Immortal."

Manila, like Kuala Lumpur, hides some secrets about immortals and the way to longevity; Fang Bailu had already guessed this.

This speculation is related to the disappearance of the bardo body of the Compassionate Knife.

As one of the most powerful hackers in Southeast Asia, his bardo body - and the electronic body connected to his consciousness - possesses unparalleled destructive power; especially after he lost his physical body: his already pure skills have even reached a higher level.

Fang Bailu checked and sorted out the information about the days when the Compassion Blade disappeared. There were no records of thousands of people dying inexplicably, or dying in obscurity, or large-scale power outages in New Malaysia, or the spread of a cyber virus, or collective riots against the master... In other words, except for Kuala Lumpur, which was under reconstruction and had almost become a black hole on the Internet, the rest of New Malaysia had no traces of any aftermath of the battle.

It seemed more like Mercy Blade had taken action voluntarily rather than being abducted after failing in a fight... As for why he neither told Fang Bailu nor notified "Madam Hong" - his fox demon wife whom he had married - before the action, it is unknown.

Now, his last traces remain in Manila.

Fang Bailu was inclined to believe that Mercy Blade had discovered something in Manila - but there wasn't much information that was worth him leaving without saying goodbye and coming here alone to explore.

Immortals are naturally one of them.

"What is a true immortal?" Fang Bailu continued to ask casually.

The Snow Ghost turned around and smiled. The horrible scars around her neck were lifted up with the corners of her mouth, tearing the deformed canvas apart: "It's just a nursery rhyme for children. Master, what have you thought of?"

Although there was no direct answer - Fang Bailu knew that the woman in front of him did not know any information about immortals.

At least in the eyes of most people, the Guixi immortals who hold the power of immortality are still a secret within a secret.

Fang Bailu shrugged, too lazy to continue the witticism with her; just like the awakening of the Xihe girl, the birth of an immortal would never be silent. It would be earth-shattering - or in more popular terms: national-level administrative damage and large-scale landform changes, and even casualties of tens to millions, would definitely occur.

As a passer-by, Fang Bailu just wants the immortal's brain; before that, he just needs to be patient and deal with the things at hand.

Chapter 209: Infidelity (VI)

The van drove through the sparsely populated streets and finally stopped. Park Wenzhi let go of the steering wheel and silently entered the "mind-wandering" state - what Qigong practitioners call "spiritual wandering":

"This is it. No automated security, just armed guards; they don't use smart guns, so I can't confirm the exact number of guards."

The winding layout of Manila reminded Fang Bailu of the magazines he had read in his early years—except that the magazines at that time depicted Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Although there were no towering statues of the Virgin Mary in Manila, statues of Mazu could be seen everywhere.

This is the Qingshishan Electronic Reprocessing Center; in the distant past, this area covering 4.7 square kilometers was called Bonifacio Global City: before the blackout, this was one of the most luxurious areas in Manila. Now, the "one of" can be removed. It is said that before moving to "Guixu", the official residences of the kings of the Taihai Chain were built here.

Compared to the low houses in other areas of Manila that are built with plastic, iron and steel bars and sealed with canvas and old clothes, the Qingshishan Electronic Reprocessing Center is much more magnificent - but a sense of roughness and hardness lingers in the non-reflective display windows.

The "ritual people" here are also different. Rituals are one of the self-proclaimed names of the Luzon people: people who follow etiquette. However, their "etiquette" is far different from what Fang Bailu knows. Although they have never used the common prosthetics of the new Malaysians to replace the arms and limbs on their huge bodies, they have installed many auxiliary limbs, powered rollers, and even autonomous support frames to help their families move.

These Luzon people who relied on the power of magic weapons were obviously more agile and flexible than the poor people who moved unsteadily that Fang Bailu had seen before.

Pu Wenzhi, who was in a trance, described the information vaguely:

"The traces are so obvious that I don't even need to use the words 'pointing' and 'understanding' to see them clearly. I can see it, and others can see it too. I suspect it is -"

"Trap? That's much more convenient. I'm too lazy to look for it."

Fang Bailu pushed open the car door, and his heavy body pressed against the tires and the blue bricks he was standing on, causing strange creaking sounds.

call!

With a strange whistle that tore through the air, the kicked-off car door rolled across the aisle and embedded itself horizontally into the door of the security booth. It was like a seal that was firmly fixed there - the bloated Luzon man could not squeeze out of the narrow space left above and below.

There is no use of automatic machinery as a defensive measure; the Luzon people, who have multiple times the number of limbs of ordinary people, are naturally suitable for carrying a variety of weapons. Not to mention that almost every Luzon person has more than one head - this also greatly increases the tactical targets they can handle and the directions they can observe.

Such Luzon people, except for a slight lack of mobility, are capable of performing most tactical tasks.