Great, now we are dead!

"Thank you, doctor! Here, Lico."

"Thank you, Dr. Kuze."

The little girl, whose left leg below the knee had been fitted with a prosthetic leg but hadn't yet had artificial skin applied, gave Ye Shou a sweet smile.

"I remember everything you said, and Lico will be a good girl!"

"Hmm, good girl."

Ye Shou affectionately patted her head, and the little girl giggled.

"Doctor, when will the bill arrive...?"

The mother was a little uneasy. "I'm about to get paid, and it's not good to keep asking you to pay for things in advance."

"I'll send it to you next month."

"Okay, thank you doctor!"

After watching the mother and daughter leave, Ye Shou casually drew a few lines on the tablet and put the bill out of his mind. He simply operated the system to save the medical records into the database.

Prosthetic surgery on children under ten years old is quite rare in the main world. The medical center treats so many patients and contributes the majority of cases, but the total number is still small compared to the overall number in society.

Similar situations are common in Night City.

Lico was raised by her mother from a young age, while her father disappeared. It is possible that she ingested some harmful substances during pregnancy, which caused the little girl to have some congenital malformations. As she grew older, the condition became more and more serious, and she had to undergo prosthetic surgery.

This is a considerable expense.

Because children develop very quickly, especially those under ten years old, prosthetics often need to be adjusted or replaced every one or two years, or even every six months, which is a considerable burden for ordinary families.

The term "prostheticization from childhood" generally refers to parts like "electronic eyes" and "brain-computer interfaces" that do not show significant size changes with age.

(The size of the pupils doesn't change much; they are mostly fixed after the age of six.)

Therefore, if people really need to replace their limbs, they often choose second-hand ones.

Lico's situation is somewhat special. She experiences severe rejection when using secondhand prosthetics, which means she hallucinates, with figures constantly flickering in and out of sight.

Her mother struggled to afford the expenses and had been relying on inexpensive prosthetics and suppressants until she met Ye Shou, after which her situation began to improve. Now, as Lico gets older, the rejection reaction is gradually weakening, giving her a glimmer of hope.

As a prosthetic doctor, Ye Shou felt that Li Ke's symptoms were not actually a simple case of rejection...

He used to just guess, but now that he has come into contact with a lot of mystical power and is a magician himself, he is more or less certain that Lico has a higher "inspiration" and what she is seeing is actually the "echo" of the previous user.

That's right, prosthetic bodies can also carry souls. Regardless of whether the user is dead or alive, the parts will always retain some mental fluctuations. Lico is one of those gifted individuals—just like many psychics can read emotions and memories by touching objects.

Cyber ​​ghosts... they do appear in games, so Ye Shou wasn't too surprised.

However, it's clear that Lico's talent isn't that great, because it wasn't developed in her childhood and is now almost gone, so it shouldn't affect her future life.

—As a prosthetic doctor, Ye Shou was far too dedicated.

He was highly respected in the area, and even gangsters wouldn't bother him. Besides his mysterious and intimidating "background," there were also some personal reasons behind it.

dong dong!

There was another knock on the door. Ye Shou glanced casually at the monitor screen, his previously scattered gaze sharpening with a hint of confusion.

"This is truly a rare guest."

He put down his work, went over, opened the door, and welcomed the other person in.

"How did it get like this? Is it due to software overload, David?"

Chapter 85 Gradually Realizing the Truth BeLike

"pain!"

"It doesn't hurt, it's an illusion."

Ye Shou returned the artificial skin to its original position, wiped off the lubricant and electrolyte solution from the surface of the groove with an alcohol swab, and then turned off the shadowless lamp, letting David check it himself.

"Connection... Pre-start... Data link transmission... Correction... Ouch! That hurts!"

"Ok?"

As Ye Shou removed his rubber gloves, he turned around and asked, "Your nervous system is very sensitive. What kind of inhibitors do you usually use?"

"Inhibitor?"

David looked up blankly. "I never take medicine."

"..."

With an "Oh," she remembered the setting she had almost forgotten.

David, as the "protagonist," is not as outrageous as some other overpowered characters, but his prosthetic body adaptability is quite excellent. He doesn't need to take any medication before installing a military-grade prosthetic body.

"Even if there are no rejection symptoms, it is best to keep inhibitors at home, since accidents can happen unexpectedly."

Prosthetic body modification is a surgery that is both convenient and dangerous. It is convenient because it is comparable to the Sharingan in its "hot-swap" technology, which does not require much transition or recovery. You can do it yesterday and be a force to be reckoned with today.

The danger lies in "immune rejection".

The human immune system is actually extremely resistant to foreign influences. When a foreign organ is transplanted into the body, the immune system will recognize it as an invasion and launch an attack, even if it is a mechanical prosthetic.

Therefore, people with prosthetic bodies need "inhibitors" to make their own immune system ignore the newly implanted prosthetic body!

Mild modifications are manageable; as long as the prosthetic body fits well, medication to suppress the effects is usually unnecessary. However, excessive modifications not only require large injections of inhibitors but also lead to psychological stress later on.

(Because prosthetics are basically connected to the nervous system, they put a burden on the brain.)

"...I understand, doctor."

David is in his adolescence, a time of strong self-awareness, and he's not the kind of child who will obediently listen to others. But he owes Ye Shou a favor today, so he can't be tough in front of him.

"Please keep this a secret from Mom, Doctor."

“It’s alright. Gloria and I only talk about business matters, and since you are my patient, it is my obligation to protect your personal information.”

Ye Shou sat leisurely in a high chair, looking at the dejected David, and said with a smile, "But as an acquaintance, I am personally very curious about what happened to you... Network ports are not usually burned out like this."

"Aren't you being too nosy?"

David looked away, slightly annoyed.

“That makes sense, after all we’re just acquaintances—if you patronize us for 100 euros, we won’t charge you a service fee.”

"...It's nothing really."

David's face twitched, he scratched the back of his neck, and said with a pout, "We lost the competition."

"Contest?"

"I messed around a bit... If my software were the latest version, I would definitely have won!"

David looked up regretfully: "Oh, in that case, paying for medical expenses would be a piece of cake."

Are there competitions with prize money? So intense that they could burn out the prosthetic port?

Young people are fearless!

"Do you really need money? Gloria is probably earning quite a bit these days."

"...My mom works too hard."

David stared blankly at the ceiling. "It doesn't have to be so hard."

"Is it a problem with the school?"

"what."

"I see... no wonder."

Ye Shou nodded, a look of understanding flashing across his face.

No wonder he received Gloria's gold coins, but David's remained unexploded for so long—some things are determined by personality.

Gloria had high hopes for David, hoping that her talented son could escape his impoverished life and become a member of the Night City middle class, that is, a "company employee".

She was a single mother who, in order to pave the way for David, sent him to Arasaka Academy, a prestigious institution that specialized in storing the heirs of companies.

Although Gloria's financial situation is much better than in the original story thanks to Ye Shou's help, she doesn't dare to spend money recklessly because, theoretically, as an ordinary employee of a medical center, she wouldn't have much money left after paying for her child's schooling.

In David's eyes, his mother was still desperately trying to make money, sacrificing her time and health for the numbers, most of which were invested in that heartless school—which made him quite unhappy, even angry.

David doesn't care about Arakawa Academy at all!

He didn't have Gloria's "ambition" either. He was happy as long as he could make money so his mother could retire early, and had no desire to climb the Arasaka Tower.

He was hostile and contemptuous of those sanctimonious rich people, because from what he had seen with his own eyes, the second-generation heirs of the company were a group of powerful people who looked down on him, a commoner from the bottom of society, and even insulted his background more than once, and verbally offended his mother.

If he wasn't afraid of upsetting Gloria, he would have punched her already!

Whether we can win or not is another matter!

David knew himself very well; he was just a country rat from the working class, completely different from the giant rats living in the glittering toilets of big corporations.

The current David is no different from the "original" version.

"Are you short of money?"

"Aren't there many people in this city who aren't short of money?"

David rolled his eyes. "But no matter how I try to find a way, I'm getting poorer and poorer."

"Because you've gone in the wrong direction."

Ye Shou chuckled, “Although I don’t know what kind of connections you’re talking about, given your age, knowledge, and social class, it’s impossible for you to find a stable job in Night City.”

"A positive, positive cycle? Huh?"

David looked bewildered. "What are you talking about?"

"Work, receive payment, save after spending, then continue working, accumulate enough to improve your standard of living, and continue working hard to earn more money—"

This is a positive cycle, and the life most people aspire to.

"...So you mean there's a negative cycle too?"

"Working and receiving compensation leaves almost nothing after deducting necessary expenses. There is no time or resources to improve one's living standards, and no matter how long it takes, one cannot accumulate sufficient savings, resulting in a long-term zero ability to withstand risks."

An accident, a moment of negligence, or being blamed can all lead to debt. Because one lacks the ability to generate profits, it is difficult to clear the debt and it affects credit... Then things like medical insurance collapse, with almost no chance of recovery.

This is a negative cycle.

"I think I understand now..."

"In Night City, most people have been pushed to the brink of a positive-negative cycle by the corporations, a situation where one step can lead to heaven or hell."

To improve efficiency, companies prioritize hiring people with high levels of cybernetics, leading to cutthroat competition. People upgrade to better cybernetics to get jobs, and work overtime to recoup the cost of those cybernetics…

Ye Shou suddenly laughed: "It's unbelievable, isn't it—everyone is hardworking and wants to step on others, but in the end, no one can climb out of the cesspool."

"..."

David cleared his throat uncomfortably, pulling at his T-shirt collar as if he needed to breathe. He felt like he was suffocating even though he hadn't done anything.

Then a surge of anger rose in my chest... followed by helplessness.

He didn't even know what he was angry about, let alone who he wanted to vent it on... perhaps it was meaningless at all.

Will I... also fall into a negative cycle in the future?

Do you have health insurance?

"My mom said she had some spare money and wanted to buy me one."

"That's wonderful! It's rare to see normal family love in this day and age, but you have such a loving mother, you must cherish her, David."

"No, you don't need to tell me!"

David clenched his fist and then slumped back down: "But... so you're saying I've only ever been a burden to Mom all this time?"

"Yes."

Ye Shou spoke frankly.

David was visibly more frustrated...

Now he has seriously examined his own clever tricks, such as participating in some "prize contests" or buying pirated software... It seems like he is making extra money and saving money, but in the end, good things often turn into bad things. Not only does he not save any money, but he also creates an extra burden on his family.

He had always thought it was just bad luck, but after listening to Ye Shou's words, he felt there was some deeper reason... Could it be that he was also caught in some kind of vicious cycle?

"This can't go on, can it?"

David's words were full of doubt, but he wasn't asking Ye Shou; it was more like he was asking and answering himself.