Cyberpunk, but urban

Ye Lan said to Malkuth and Angela, and in the short time he was speaking, the last match that was running around in the historical layer was pinched into two pieces by him, turning into ashes and falling to the ground.

The charred girl, who had lost all her matches, completely stopped her movements, and only the one match on her body was still burning.

[Run... before I burn up... maybe my suffering and tragedy will never end.]

[I know I've become a threat to you. If nothing changes... at least let me see you suffer!]

With a bang, the flame on the match began to burn violently, crawling towards the charred girl at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"It's quite strange. After the derivative died, you did fall into chaos according to the management rules, but the match on your body started to burn more violently independently... Did the library strengthen you?"

Ye Lan asked a question that would not have an answer, and extinguished the flame on the match that was stuck in the charred girl with his bare hands. The flame went out, and the charred girl also turned into ashes and scattered. Under the gaze of the three people, the last voice sounded in their hearts.

[This is my last wish... After the flames consume me completely and burn me to ashes, I hope you will notice the ashes, which are the traces of my existence.]

"Your death will not be forgotten, the light from the fire you lit will become a beacon for others, and your tragedy will be remembered forever so that no child will die in the same way as you did."

Chapter 115. Changes brought by Ye Lan

After listening to Ye Lan's words, a different light appeared in the empty eye sockets of the charred girl that were filled with fuel. She no longer tried to maintain her own shape, and obediently returned to the form of her own abnormal body egg.

After her body dissipated and turned into the Abnormality Egg, Angela's power returned almost at the same time. She reached out and took the Burnt Girl's Egg from Ye Lan, and turned it back into the form of a book.

As the charred girl turned back into a library collection, the raging fire in the historical layer was completely dissipated, leaving only tragic scorch marks on the ground.

"You'll have a lot to deal with now, Malkuth." Ye Lan first said to Malkuth, then turned to Angela and asked, "What happened to you? Why can't you control the library all of a sudden?"

"I'm not sure... but maybe it has something to do with Malkuth's mood." Angela said.

"Well... let me explain." Malkuth took Ye Lan and Angela to find a slightly cleaner place to sit down, and then told Ye Lan what had just happened to them.

Not long after she came to the historical layer and found Malkuth, the two of them quarreled about the past events in the Lobotomy Corporation. After Malkuth accused Angela in a very excited manner, a ball of flame jumped out of her body, and then the Scorched Girl's Abnormality jumped out of the flame, and Angela lost her power.

After listening to Malkuth's introduction of what happened before, Ye Lan came to a similar conclusion as Angela: "Malkuth, I'm not sure if it's because you are the designated librarian of the history layer, but judging from the current situation, your extreme emotions will stimulate the abnormalities sleeping in your layer."

"Um……"

Malkuth nodded and continued to listen to Ye Lan's judgment.

"And it is precisely because you are the designated librarian for the history layer that when you burst out with emotions that resonate with the library, Angela will lose control of this layer. But..."

Ye Lan was silent for a while, and Angela continued the second half of Ye Lan's sentence:

"You should be able to obtain the corresponding authority for the historical layer from me, instead of being in danger like me because of the abnormality of the charred girl."

"Besides this, there is another abnormal situation."

Ye Lan waved his finger, drawing the attention of both of them to him. "Do you remember that when the fire started, no historian came out to put out the fire or help you?"

"…Like they all turned back into books, and they had no idea and could do nothing about it?"

Yesod, who had been listening to the conversation between Ye Lan and the other two, said that he didn't know when he started. He accurately described the librarians who were cleaning up the mess on the historical level.

"Well, Brother Ye Lan, you guys might not have noticed that when the three of us came down, these librarians seemed to have been where they were supposed to be from the beginning, and they popped out of thin air in a flash."

Roland also joined the conversation and spoke to the others.

The situation that happened with Angela and the library was not what Ye Lan knew in the original plot. It could be said that it was completely beyond his expectations.

But even though it was unexpected, Ye Lan was not completely clueless about why Angela was in this situation. Although Angela herself was still unclear, the library was actually her ego, a reflection of her inner self.

Unlike the original plot where the light seed was stopped by Angela on the third day, with Ye Lan's participation, the light seed released light for four days. This extra day of light is likely to give Carmen and Ayin in the light more mobility.

Angela, who possesses such a huge ego, becomes a target that Carmen will not let go.

Ye Lan was thinking, whether it was the designated librarians like Malkuth, or the awakened prefrontal cortex company employees at all levels, the current librarians.

Although they have flesh and blood, they are not human, nor are they machines or artificial life. Whether they are Sephirah, employees, or Abnormalities, their bodies have been fragmented and fragile after tens of thousands of years of reincarnation during the Lobotomy Corporation period.

The reason they were able to wake up and live in the library was because Angela used the power of the library to piece their bodies together with books, allowing them to barely survive.

"Everyone, Angela used the power of the library to revive and heal everyone. So if we assume that the library is an abnormality, what are you?"

After figuring it out, Ye Lan asked the others a question, guiding them to think with him.

"A derivative of the Abnormality... This explains why we can't leave the library."

Yesod was the first to answer.

"But Angela can control this library. Doesn't this match the concept of abnormalities?"

Then Malkuth raised the question.

"What if this is Angela's ego?"

Ye Lan looked at Angela and asked back.

"My ego!?"

Now it was Angela's turn to be confused. She built the library using the remaining items from the collapsed Lobotomy Corporation headquarters. Logically, it should be an independent entity.

"Roland and Angelica should be very clear about the 'distortion phenomenon'. I think Angela, you should also have some understanding of it... As for Makuku and Snake, you two must not know since you have been staying in the library all the time."

"Ayin spread the seeds of light to urban residents. Those who can stick to their own hearts will have the opportunity to awaken their egos. But the Seed of Light plan took into account every variable, but forgot one person."

When Ye Lan said this, he was interrupted by Yesod, "Who?" Yesod asked. After Ye Lan told him that Angela's betrayal was also part of Ayin's plan, he really couldn't think of who else could cause changes to the Seed of Light plan.

"Who else could it be, Carmen? I remember what I told you when the Seed of Light was launched, right?"

"what……"

"You have all seen how Ayin merged into the Seed of Light, so it is not impossible that Carmen is also among them. Ms. C advocates the 'self-love theory', and she hopes that urban people will love themselves more than they love others."

"It is often painful to stick to one's inner beliefs. Ms. C, who exists in the form of light in other people's hearts, will naturally persuade people to give up."

"And once they give up... the urbanites' egos will become distorted, turning them into new humans similar to abnormalities."

Chapter 116. Urban Tales

Ye Lan paused for a moment, then asked Angela, "Angela, have you ever heard any inexplicable sounds?" Ye Lan asked her.

"No, I haven't had any auditory hallucinations so far." Angela shook her head, not knowing why Ye Lan asked this question.

"If you can't hear Carmen's nagging, at least you won't suddenly merge with the library and turn into some messed-up monster."

Ye Lan made a joke, and then continued to tell everyone: "Angela is an AI created using a copy of Carmen's brain. It is very likely that Carmen can influence the library as her ego to some extent through this relationship. It is very likely that what happened just now was an attempt by Carmen to distort Makuku."

Ye Lan's words made the faces of the people other than Roland and his wife look unhappy. They had worked with Carmen for so many years and even sacrificed their lives twice for the Seed of Light Project. However, what they finally got was the ultimate manifestation of "self-love theory" - distortion.

"Don't be so disappointed. Your Carmen died the day she committed suicide. It's still unclear whether the one in the light can be considered the real her."

Ye Lan comforted her, although his comfort seemed to be worse than no comfort to some extent.

"Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's talk about what we can do to avoid what happened before. Angela's safety is the key to whether the plan can continue."

Yesod interrupted Ye Lan who was about to say a few more words and asked him to change the topic back to solving the problem.

"Unless Angela can immediately understand human emotions and stay firm, she will not be able to compete with Carmen, who represents light, for control of the library."

"We need you to continue organizing the books in the library. The ego is the embodiment of the mind. The more complete the library is, the more Angela looks like a human being, and the more secure Angela's control over the library will be."

"Huh..." Malkuth took a deep breath, then said to Ye Lan, "I understand. I just need to work as hard as usual to classify the books in the library, right?"

"Yes, before Angela understands human emotions, all we can do is respond accordingly."

Ye Lan ended the topic. Both Angela and Malkuth looked unhappy. Although Yesod wanted to say something to comfort everyone, he could not think of anything good to say, so he returned to the technology floor in silence.

Almost at the same time as he went upstairs, the librarians from the technology floor ran down and joined the team of librarians who were repairing the history floor.

"Brother Snake is still a tsundere..."

Ye Lan sighed, took Angela to say hello to Malkuth and the others, and then went back to the director's office of the library. Seeing this, Roland also planned to go back to the general classification floor to be lazy, but before he took a step, Angelica grabbed his collar.

"Roland, come with me to help Malkuth sort out the historical layer." Mrs. Angelica said gently, but the unquestionable meaning in her words was quite clear.

Malkuth's history layer was damaged by the Scorched Girl, and there were traces of burning everywhere. Although the books stored in the history layer were not damaged under the protection of the library, they all fell from the bookshelves in the chaos caused by the derivatives and were piled up on the ground.

……

……

"Are there any more reports from the ?? Association or the ?? Section regarding the ?? Distortion Phenomenon?"

In a section chief's office in the Southern Branch of the Second Association, a man whose face could not be seen clearly in the dim light asked the subordinate standing opposite him.

"No, Chief. I will follow up closely on the follow-up situation. However, the top management has nominated several suspects. Among them are the 'urban evil' - 'Dream Laundry' and 'Yesterday's Appointment', as well as the 'urban legend' - 'The Gear Cult'."

"Hmph... the investigation isn't going well, am I right?"

The section chief was obviously not satisfied with what his subordinate reported. He sighed heavily and asked her.

"Ah, the 'library' that was recently classified as an 'urban legend' is also on the candidate list."

His subordinate simply responded and continued to present the list in her hand to him.

"The heads of the senior executives are a mess. They can only make wild guesses. Am I right?" This time, the section chief changed the target of his dissatisfaction to the senior executives in the association.

Little did he know that he was no different from those he looked down upon. But regardless of his thoughts, the Second Association put the library on the list of targets that needed to be investigated.

Soon, Isabella, the leader of the intelligence processing group of the Sixth Section of the Southern Division of the Second Association, received a less formal errand task from her superior.

The Second Association needed a finisher firm under their jurisdiction to investigate the library whose threat level had been raised to that of an urban legend. Isabella, who did not have much to do for the time being, happened to be familiar with the representative of a low-level firm, so the boss took the opportunity to throw the job to Isabella.

As the library's rating rose from urban rumor to urban legend, more forces in the city turned their attention to it.

Countless new library invitations were circulated rapidly in the city, and any group with a little bit of standard could get an invitation from those inexplicable but extremely reasonable locations.

But... only those who meet the library's needs will have the opportunity to sign the invitation letter, and the rest are just messengers of the invitation letter.

For example, at this moment in Alley 23, a lady who was preparing minced meat found an invitation to the library on the ingredients beside her.

This lady is called Pierre, and she is the chef of a restaurant called Pierre's Meat Pie, which is located in a nest-inside alley at Alley 23. This restaurant specializes in meat dishes, and its signature dish is the meat pie with thin crust and thick fillings. Its abundant meat and unique flavor attract many regular customers.

Unfortunately, after the Bremen Band and the Greedy Pigs, two gangs that had long supplied meat to the restaurant, stopped supplying, her restaurant also fell into a supply crisis and lost its direction for a while.

In order to obtain ingredients, her sous chef Jack had to go back to his old job and go out to help the head chef who was cooking the ingredients for tomorrow's meal at home to select meat.

Chapter 117. Reception - Pierre's Big Meat Pie (Part )

"Hey, Pierre, I picked some fresh ones for you today. They're badly injured, but luckily they're still alive."

Jack dragged a heavy burlap sack into the kitchen of Pierre's Big Meat Pie restaurant, where Pierre had been busy for most of the day.

"Hey, what are you working on? Developing a new menu?"

As soon as he entered the door, Jack smelled a fresh fragrance that he had never smelled before. If he was not mistaken, his dear Pierre must have done something new today.

"Jack, come on! The menu is still the same old stuff, but the ingredients are running low lately. Thanks to my handsome and reliable Jack, you don't have to worry about that for now~"

Pierre dropped the knife in his hand and hugged Jack with his arms outstretched. Both of them had blood on their aprons, but they didn't care about the dirt.

Jack threw the sack aside and hugged Pierre. "How come there isn't enough food?" he asked.

After enjoying a hug from Jack, a lover two years younger than her, Pierre said to him, "The Bremen Band and the Greedy Pigs are no longer supplying. It seems that we have to use the old recipe to save this store."

"Those freaks are unpredictable. But... I'm afraid I have to tell you some bad news. The street we often go to has been blocked. The Zwei Association is now responsible for maintaining law and order there."

Jack said with some regret that it was not easy to find another convenient street. After all, human beings were not like livestock. If they resisted, it would be quite dangerous.

"Then I'll have to find another way to get the food! In the meantime, I'll try some new ingredients. After all, I've always used young meat to cook."

Pierre was not so regretful about the affairs of the Second Association. For her, a back-alley cook whose goal was to become one of the "Top Eight Chefs", any difficulties were only temporary.

"What a pity... Pierre's meat pie is really delicious..."

If the regret level of the street that he used to choose ingredients being blocked by the Second Association was 5, then the regret of not being able to eat the big meat pie made by Pierre was 100 for Jack.

"Well, even if it's a pity, there's nothing we can do. We've lost so many suppliers of high-quality meats. It's definitely not feasible to continue to stick to the traditional methods. Those gourmets can taste that the quality of our ingredients is not as good as before."

Pierre, shaking her finger, talked to Jack. She had her own dreams, so how could she let defective raw materials affect her meat pie?

"Pierre's goal is to become one of the 'Big 8 Chefs,' right?"

"That's right! The '8 Great Chefs' are the 'city stars' that light up the city."

Pierre responded to Jack's questions enthusiastically. Even though this was not the first time Jack asked her, who wouldn't like to tell their dreams to the person who would support them the most?

She looked at Jack, took his hand and asked him: "Their dishes always make diners applaud! By the way, what new ingredients are you going to try?"

"The meat of older ones is very bad, but at least they are easy to buy and some people like them. So overall it's a mixed bag."

After hearing Jack's answer, Pierre pouted unhappily and said to Jack: "I don't want to imitate those compromising restaurants. I want to pursue different tastes."

Then, she waved her kitchen knife and said to Jack, "Do you know the library? I heard that there are monsters there? Although it's just an urban legend, it's hard to get monster meat unless we go to the 'suburbs' in person, right?"