Cyber ​​Sword Immortal Iron Rain

The carriage fell, like a giant fly swatter or a hammer hitting a nail:

thump—

"Zhao Ji Zi" is just right to be the nail driven into the ground.

Fang Bailu didn't have the chance to see the entire process of "Zhao Ji Zi" being knocked into the concrete - his naked eye couldn't keep up with the dynamic vision, let alone penetrate the heavy dust. He just put his hands in front of his face to block the rubble that flew everywhere due to the terrible impact.

More importantly, compared to staying there and waiting foolishly, it is a better choice to escape directly to avoid complications.

Given Zhao Jizi's physical strength, they might just trap him in the concrete underground.

"'Qingyun Temple'..." Fang Bailu wiped the dust off his face: the dark red dried blood was slightly dissolved by sweat, and combined with the gray of the dust, it looked like scattered paint.

"Damn it, you guys have picked the wrong guy." He shook off the dirty water and gnashed his teeth left and right in hatred.

……

Arata is an orphan, and the wilderness of New Malaysia is his home. Arata does not know how he came to New Malaysia from the other side of the sea, and he does not care.

Different from other confused wanderers, "Xin" has a complete and thorough understanding of the meaning and origin of his life.

Unlike some other tribes from outside the barbaric land, "Xin" and his "Atara" are lone travelers in the wilderness. They will not try to quietly insert the genetic code in their innate qi into the embryos of Kuala Lumpur citizens in order to "continue the family line" like others.

He and Attala have another way of continuing their existence: ancient and sacred, following the ultimate principle of all things - "Tao".

About several months ago—Arata had no idea how much time had passed, as for both of them, it was stagnant and unchanging—his "Atara" had disappeared.

He searched the bed and bedding they slept on together (made from tanned skin peeled off horse thieves, canvas found, and a heater picked up in the "Dead City"), opened the incubator that had been closed since she was born (Attala did not reborn from it, which meant she did not end her life herself), and went to their common hunting grounds to search.

But he couldn't find "Atala" anywhere.

This worries "Xin": "Atala" is approaching thirty years old - her destiny is about to come.

Atala protected him from embryo to infant and child, and raised him until he reached adulthood. And Shin will do the same for Atala, who is reborn from the incubator after Atala completes his destiny and dies.

He and Atala are mother and son, father and daughter, siblings and lovers. This is a relationship that is engraved in the body's innate qi and the biochip in the brain, and has become extremely firm. It has lasted for hundreds of years. In the distant past, someone divided a portion of innate qi into "yin" and "yang", giving birth to "Xin" and his "Atala".

The harmony of yin and yang is the natural law - just like Shin and his Atala: originally one person, but born from two energies that circulate in an endless cycle.

Their relationship should be like this, forever: until the end of time.

"'We are human beings and only need to be self-sufficient, without the need for social relations.'" "Xin" thought back to what "Arata" had said - this sentence they had taught each other over and over again for hundreds of years, until it was countless times. As for who said this, it was impossible to know.

Until this day.

"Xin" felt a faint pull from the three souls and seven spirits in his brain: that was the direction of Kuala Lumpur.

At least in this life, neither of them has ever left the wilderness.

In this short life of more than ten years, "Xin" felt tension, anxiety and fear of the unknown for the first time - all of which came from the loss of the meaning of life.

"Xin" takes the sword that he or Atara picked up in a previous life and goes to the city to find his lover.

Chapter 88: Love Story in the Cyber ​​Age Part (Part )

Newly crossed plains, salt lakes and hills.

He lay on the top of the mountain, watching the migration of the Savage Tribe. Not many people understand the reason why the Savage Tribe wanders around - these New Age gypsies who love and hate science don't like to stay in one place and are always on the road.

"'The rituals and music are in disarray.'"

This is Atala's view of the world. Shin is still young, and it will take a few years for him to understand the meaning of this word.

What is "ritual"? What is "music"? Everyone is feasting in the flowing feast. There is no unchanging ritual in the world. They have dismantled the "walkers" in the wilderness. It is unknown how long the "End of Dharma Era" declared in the underlying code of these Buddhist disciples will last.

He adjusted the respirator to increase the smoke output: he had just had it implanted in his cheek this year. On the corner of the respirator, there were the words "三五? (Healthy and Strong Fragrance)" printed on it - according to Atala, this meant that he would be old enough to wear the mask when he was "three, five, fifteen years old".

At first, he was not used to the pungent and choking fumes from the respirator - but later, he could not live without them: the chemical composition of the fumes had become inextricably linked to his entire lungs, respiratory and metabolic systems, and even his brain.

Shin took a deep breath - the slight dizziness made him relax.

"'Only the two of us can use this respirator.'" Atara's face and words reappeared in his mind. "'Other humans will die of brain hypoxia and nicotine poisoning within an hour after being implanted.'"

Xin didn't know what nicotine was, he only knew that what Atara said was always right - no one would doubt what they said to themselves, right?

The longer he wore the respirator, the more vitality and vigor filled his body. He became able to run faster than an ATV, lift extremely heavy containers with one hand, and have abundant energy without eating - energy that he usually vented on hunting those horse thieves.

Only Atala and Xin understand who they are, where they come from, and what role and position they play in this world: they understand the Tao. As for the others - especially the horse thieves - they are just zombies with a chaotic mind, forever searching in the unknown.

No, it should be said that Atara understood...but what she understood, I will also know one day.

So sometimes the two of them would help these horse thieves to free themselves and allow them to return to the cycle of "Tao" and the energy of all things: the flesh, blood and organs would be left on the land to rot and degrade; the bones and skin would be used to reassemble and provide some artistic and aesthetic value for Xin and Attala.

Tanned human skin has a special touch, dry, soft but textured, somewhat like frosted.

Oh, and the brain and the three souls and seven spirits in it. He didn't know that: Atala would do something special with the soft pink and gray things that were cut out of the skull - Xin was still a "minor", so he couldn't watch it.

He stroked his hand across his face, feeling the smoothness of his skin with his fingertips. It was like touching Atara—except for the respirator he had implanted, their faces were identical. Only the body and the spirit were different because of hormones, gender, and the rigors of time.

After waiting for the barbarian tribe to leave, Xin continued to head towards Kuala Lumpur. He picked up a few pieces of dry feces beside the long ruts that stretched across the road and used them to make a fire. These were the fairy beasts that the barbarian tribe had domesticated, cultivated, and prepared for generations: they could eat plants, animals, soil, stones, and even metals.

He was somewhat uncomfortable with such solitude and silence and could only try to spend as much time as possible thinking: the sound he used to think had long since turned into Atara's long, slow and pleasant voice.

"If someone can't speak and can't hear anything... when he thinks of something in his brain, does he use words or body language? Or is it just like the walker, all 0s and 1s?"

Arata gradually began to enjoy this kind of thinking - it made him feel like Atara was still around, talking to him.

"'The people in the city are different from us.'" Arata continued to whisper in his head, leaning on his sword as a walking stick; "'They think of humans as the sum of all social relationships. Ha!'"

Xin only had a vague idea of ​​the term "social relationship" and could not even form a concept. If every resident in the city had a relationship like the one he had with Atala, he felt that this would be a great happiness.

But the contempt and disdain in Atala's tone confused him: He could only say that sometimes, he himself found it difficult to understand his own thoughts.

Everyone has difficult questions that they cannot ask themselves.

Shin didn't need sleep. But he would light a fire at midnight and lie next to the heat - Shin was not used to not having a source of heat around him at night. The body that usually sizzled and heated, surrounded him and embraced him, was not around him at this time.

He did not see the towering buildings of Kuala Lumpur, but the brilliant light released by the city illuminated half of the horizon, which was much more captivating than the half-moon in the sky.

Shin pulled a long, narrow rag from his pocket and examined it against the light shining from Kuala Lumpur: it came from the horse thieves he had hunted, and had been worn as a forehead protector and headscarf.

On it, written with dried black blood, was a kind of text close to decay:

"Cash rules everything around me."

The handwriting was wildly and sloppily written, and judging from the lines, it seemed to have been written with an index finger dipped in blood - it carried with it an inexplicable sense of despair, helplessness, and resentment.

"What does this sentence mean? It's probably... 'Money dominates everything around me.'" Atala in his memory appeared at the right time and answered his questions again; "'This is English, not many people know how to write it. Most likely it was written by stowaways from North America or Western Europe.'"

Money, the link between all things - it is more solid than the umbilical cord, and people in the city breathe it like oxygen... Even Xin knows this.

Shin gently twisted the guard of the sword, and the blade spun rapidly. The wind it created tore through the surroundings and blew away the smoke he exhaled: only the sharp blade in his hand could cut off this connection.

"Ugh……"

He loosened the grip, gathered up the rag, and rested the round blade against the back of his neck—the journey made him tired.

Xin didn't understand why he kept only this piece of trophy: he somehow felt that this sentence contained some eternal and unchanging law.

He had never touched any form of coin - it was said that such a thing no longer existed?

“‘In fact, money is invisible and intangible. It is just meaningless numbers that exist only on the Internet.’” Atala laughed, loud and unbridled; “‘Hahahaha! Useless things are just useless things.’”

The new thumb pressed on the temple, and the knuckles of the index finger scraped the eye socket to relax the tired eyes:

No one could force Atala to do anything in the wasteland or the dead city. She knew the spells from before the "big blackout" - although they could only work in the dead city, there were no people or animals in the wasteland who could take her away silently.

She left on her own.

Xin's head ached slightly, and he could only rest a little when he looked at the bright lights of the city. This meant that the other soul connected to him was calling and howling in Kuala Lumpur.

"Why are you leaving?"

We still have to go to the city...

This time, the Atala in the memory did not give an answer.

Chapter 89: Love Story in the Cyber ​​Age Part (Part )

He discarded the remaining fairy beast dung as he came into view at the top of Kuala Lumpur’s concrete jungle.

First, the air was getting more humid, and the rain clouds in the sky were gathering together. The drizzle made it increasingly difficult to start a fire. The wilderness was not like Kuala Lumpur, where there were no dark clouds all year round.

More importantly, he knew that in half a day's walk he would run into a long line of travelers.

Most of the fairy beasts bred by the barbarians are pirated, and carrying their feces will also alert the walkers. Before finding Atala, Xin was not interested in conflict with the walkers - he could not handle so many walkers attacking at the same time alone.

He will be at a most ambiguous distance from Kuala Lumpur - at this distance, it will be difficult for Xin to tell whether it is day or night:

The neon light permeated half of the sky, like a piece of cloth that had been soaked in paint for a long time. The hazy afterglow spread to the other half and then returned to silence.

No one could see the sun, whether it was covered by clouds or not - but from the perspective of brightness, these citizens were also living in the center of the blazing sun.

"It looks very beautiful." Xin simply sat on the ground, hooked his hands around his knees, and watched the wonderful sight of blue and purple.

He sat quietly for a while, and then moved forward again after the lights re-outlined the vivid video images - he had seen these advertisements, and some barbarians would use them as teaching materials for children.

……

Xin finally arrived in Kuala Lumpur. This was his first time entering the largest city in New Malaysia. Usually, he and Atala would just watch from afar and then return to the wilderness.

Atala never explicitly forbade Xin from approaching the city—at least not verbally. But Xin could also see from Atala's body language and demeanor that she had a clear dislike for gatherings of humans.

With this kind of education, Xin did not have much curiosity about Kuala Lumpur. Besides, the overflowing advertisements of Kuala Lumpur sometimes flowed into the wilderness.

As soon as he stepped into the city, he encountered a military performance.

It was midnight, the moment when the whole of Kuala Lumpur woke up from its slumber. Countless human voices, mechanical collisions, and advertisement sounds mixed together, turning into a strange and noisy buzzing sound that agitated his eardrums.

Although Xin lives a life alone with Atala, it does not mean that he has no "common sense": in addition to Atala's teachings, he also benefited a lot from the horse thieves' last words before they died.

At first, he also had the idea of ​​"low-key sneaking in." But after a while, he found that his implants and modifications were even a little plain compared to those of the pedestrians on the street.

Besides, in this era, no matter how strange an individual is, he or she will most likely be lost in the crowd: too much information white noise fills every corner, and new weirdness is not enough to attract other people's attention.

But at the beginning, when Xin hadn't turned off the smoke from the respirator, a few children followed behind and breathed in greedily - this forced him to pause the discharge of the respirator as he didn't want to cause any trouble.

So he, like the rain around him, melted into this fresh yet unfamiliar world.

On the side of the main road into the city, a crowd gathered around a makeshift stage. The high platform, sandwiched between two holographic screens and a truss structure, looked like an isolated island floating in the ocean.

Xin hesitated for a moment, but finally squeezed into this group - after all, he was just a headless fly in the city and had no idea about anything.

This was not the first time he had seen so many humans, but it was the first time he had walked into a crowd of living people. The smell coming from all around was the sour smell of clothes soaked in sweat for a long time, the pungent smell of formaldehyde from the organ preservation fluid, and the strange smell of metal soaked in rainwater.

"Oh! No milling cutter was used, but a craniotomy saw! There is a certain skill, a certain skill... He is an old master."

"Stand further away, wait for the blood to spray over you."

Loud and wanton shouts came from the crowd: this was the inexplicable excitement that citizens felt when they gathered together - no one could resist that sudden sense of "existence".

The makeshift stage was covered with brightly colored synthetic carpet and a layer of transparent plastic sheeting, on which the rain dripped, reflecting the light from all around.

The performer stood on the stage, with the throat microphone implanted in his neck connected directly to the speaker next to the stage:

"Ladies and gentlemen, fellow villagers! Thunder roars overhead, chaos falls to the ground without a trace - today we brothers will show you a military solution. We hope that those who have money can pay for it, and those who don't can give us a thumbs up. Thank you very much!"

Boom!

As soon as he finished speaking, the speakers on the four corners of the stage sounded the roar of gongs and drums in great coordination - followed by the 808 drum beats, and the regular vibrations knocked away the raindrops on the speaker outlets.

The leading street performer was wearing a surgical gown, but the light green polyester fiber had become darker due to being soaked by the rain and was now covered with dark brown spots.

He recognized the stains anew: his own hunting clothes were also covered with dried blood.

"Surgery?"

He didn't quite understand what these people meant by "bingjie", but Atala would usually wear similar clothes when taking out the brains of dying horse thieves.

There is a metal imitation wooden chair in the center of the stage, which looks no different from a real mahogany stool at first glance.

"Huh! They don't even need holographic light. This troupe must be rich!"

As the crowd around them cheered more and more fiercely, two more performers came up to the stage, one on each side, carrying a person and placed him on the chair in the middle.

She was a young girl wearing a surgical gown, about fifteen or sixteen years old. On her shaved head, a few marks were drawn with a marker to indicate the location of the craniotomy. She was clear-headed and her eyes were calm as she scanned the crowd below the stage.

The girl glanced at the swaying audience and waved gently to them.

Xin waved unconsciously as well - this was the first time he saw a member of the opposite sex of his own age in person.