"Hey, you, you finally woke up."
In a daze, Jiang Zhou heard someone talking to him.
The person who spoke seemed to be aware of the fact that he was awake earlier than he was.
Jiang Zhou blinked and focused his blurred vision. A burly man with eyes covered with strange metal bottle caps sat opposite him, "staring" at him with concern on his face.
"I am..."
Jiang Zhou's consciousness was still stuck on the moment when he received the call from "Janus" in the bar, and the sudden change of scene around him made his brain a little out of control.
The "bottle cap eye" sitting opposite him continued:
"I'm sorry, little brother. We were hiding from the company dogs in the warehouse of 'Theseus Cargo', and we never expected that there would be people there. We were the ones who got you together and were arrested as rebels... I will explain it to you later, but don’t have too much hope. For the rebels, those corporate dogs would always rather kill by mistake than let go."
When the other party said this, his "eyesight" was a little dodgey, and his expression was full of embarrassment and guilt.
Company dog? Rebels? What is this bottle cap eye saying?
Weren't you in the bar before?
Jiang Zhou looked around blankly.
The area around him was not the bar he had been in before he lost consciousness, but a long and narrow carriage full of technology. The four walls are covered with pitch-black matte paint, and electronic circuits reminiscent of blood vessels spread around, emitting alternating light and dark blood-colored light like breathing.
There were about forty people sitting on the seats on both sides of the carriage... No, it should be said that there were about forty people imprisoned - most of them were sleeping with their heads hanging down. Each person's joints were firmly fixed in place by buckle-like black restraints.
Only then did Jiang Zhou realize that he was also restrained.
In the aisle in the middle of the carriage, several black flying machines that looked like Frisbees were floating in the air, scanning each sleeping prisoner one by one with light blue beams.
Jiang Zhou noticed that those aircraft had neither propellers nor jets, and just floated quietly in mid-air in defiance of the laws of gravity - as if Newton's spirit in the sky was humbly supporting them.
On the earth in 2069 where he lived, there was absolutely no such fantastic technology.
Is this time travel?
Jiang Zhou, who had a retro hobby of reading online novels when he was a student, thought to himself, but then he shook his head in his heart.
The "bottle cap eye" just spoke standard Mandarin, and also mentioned a word like "Theseus" with a clear historical origin. In other words, I am definitely still on earth...
Thinking of another outrageous possibility, Jiang Zhou calmed down, turned to look at the "bottle cap eye" and asked:
"I'm sorry, brother, I'm not very clear right now. Can you tell me what time it is now? Which year, month and day?"
"My name is Black Falcon-136. There should be no one around here with the same genetic number as me. Just call me 136."
Speaking of the obviously abnormal name, the burly man who called himself Black Falcon-136 smiled generously, and then replied:
"Today is March 5th. Well, March 5th in the 44th year of the New Calendar."
What is the New Calendar?
This question flashed through his mind, but he did not ask it so directly - it is definitely a very dangerous thing to immediately expose one's ignorance of common sense in a new environment.
Just as Jiang Zhou was thinking about how to continue the routine, another voice next to him just helped him resolve his confusion.
"I'm really impressed by you... B6, how many times have I told you that the natives at the bottom of the resettlement area are used to counting years in AD. Hey! Cavemen, this year is 2169 AD. How about it? Are you clearer now?"
The speaker was a woman sitting on the left side of Black Falcon-136. She seemed to be the only one awake in the entire carriage besides the two of them.
The woman was probably in her early twenties, and her hair was a very flamboyant color. It seemed that all the pigments needed to paint a painting of Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" could be found in her hair.
On her left cheek, there is an icy blue butterfly that emits slightly fluorescent light, which looks a bit like the fluorescent tattoos that are popular among young people. But when Jiang Zhou saw the butterfly flapping its wings like a living creature, moving along the opponent's cheek to the skin of the neck, and then disappearing into the skin below the collar, he could conclude that it was definitely not something as simple as a tattoo. .
But compared to the tattoo that could move on the skin, what the other person said shocked him even more.
In 2169 AD, one hundred years later? !
"How's it going? Caveman, are you clearer now?"
the woman asked again.
"Ah...well, I feel much more awake."
Not at all. At this moment, Jiang Zhou felt like his head was buzzing. It was as if someone had put a tin bucket on him and hit him hard with a bat.
Calm down first...
Jiang Zhou thought to himself after taking two deep breaths.
If it were really a hundred years from now, then it would not be a problem whether it was those anti-gravity aircraft or tattoos that could move on the skin - any advanced technology would look like magic at first glance.
But the question is, how did I get to a hundred years later?
Needless to say... only "Janus", who is suspected to be the digital personality uploaded by himself, is suspected of this.
Recalling that mysterious phone call, Jiang Zhou felt a little bit sour.
No... Regardless of how it did it, why did "Janus" send himself a hundred years into the future?
"Hey, caveman, if you are clear-headed, I have some good news for you."
The words of the woman with the butterfly tattoo once again brought Jiang Zhou's consciousness back to reality.
"Caveman" seemed to be what the other party called him, and judging from the tone of his voice, the word was probably similar to the racist derogatory name that started with the word "Ni" for a certain skin color in Jiang Zhou's time.
It’s better not to worry about how you arrived a hundred years later. It’s more important to understand the current situation.
Jiang Zhou turned to look at the woman:
"What good news?"
The woman looked at Jiang Zhou with some amusement, and then said in a slightly gloating tone:
"Because you picked a good place to spend the night, you are now being arrested by the 'Pluto Submersible Company' as a member of the resistance organization 'Icarus'. We just bombed their No. 7 settlement last week. They also burned the brains of their regional manager. The new regional manager who was assigned made harsh words as soon as he took office, saying that we 'terrorists' must pay a price that we will never forget."
The current situation has been updated, and my luck is as good as ever. The first thing I did when I came to a strange era was to take the blame inexplicably.
"What's the price going to be?"
Jiang Zhou, who was cursing in his heart, asked calmly on the surface.
"That's a good question. As a super company that has only joined the 'Order of Olympus' in recent years, Pluto Deep Dive's behavior is less concerned with respectability than those of the old-timers. As far as I know , they have not yet signed the "Biological Rights Protection Act." In other words, legally, because they have destroyed company property, they will have the absolute power to dispose of our living bodies.
"According to their usual behavior, the whole bus of us will probably have our frontal lobes removed, and then be transformed into various zombie slave workers according to their needs, until they work until their bodies are exhausted. , to compensate for the loss of their property.”
The woman with the butterfly tattoo spoke with a certain pleasure in getting people into the water with her.
Probably at this moment, she could only convince herself to accept the reality by confirming that "there are others who are worse off than herself".
Order of Olympus?
Hearing the familiar term, Jiang Zhou couldn't help but think of his old employer, Olympus Group - the global artificial intelligence giant that planned the "Janus" project, one of the earliest super enterprises in the 1960s. .
I don’t know if this Order of Olympus has anything to do with my old club.
"What kind of good news is this?"
Jiang Zhou, whose mood had completely calmed down, asked.
After hearing his words, the desperate and exaggerated smile on the face of the woman with the butterfly tattoo became even stronger:
"Isn't this worthy of celebration? As a caveman, you were supposed to live a meaningless life, wondering who made you live like a gutter rat until your death... But now, you But as a rebel of the 'Icarus Liberation Front', you can sacrifice yourself with great honor for the better future of mankind and for the great cause of overthrowing the super-corporate alliance. This can bring the most important thing of this era to your ignorant and miserable life. You have to be grateful for the rare brilliance of idealism."
Before Jiang Zhou could find the right words to say something back, Black Falcon-136 on the side spoke:
"Qianxia Sakura, can't you restrain your meanness a little? This little brother was completely innocently involved, and it was us who implicated him. Also, can you stop using the scornful name 'caveman'? Why? The fight for the rights that native humans deserve is one of the concepts behind the creation of 'Icarus'. Why have you become like this..."
His voice was not as warm as when he spoke to Jiang Zhou before.
"You want to ask me why I'm so mean?"
Not to be outdone, the woman named Qianxia Sakura turned her head and stared at 136, as if unable to restrain her intense emotions, she lost control and said:
"I can't figure out why I'm so mean... maybe it's because I'm about to have my frontal lobes cut off, have a bunch of bitch memories stuffed into my brain, and be transformed into a sex partner for some pervert to use as a toy. ;Maybe it’s because I have always been a selfish bastard. I joined ‘Icarus’ just to earn a living. Unlike you, a saint with lofty beliefs, who regards this fate as martyrdom, Accept your fate contentedly!”
The more she spoke, the more excited she became. Jiang Zhou felt that if she hadn't been restrained, she would have stepped on the chair to speak.
"I've always imagined myself as the Messiah, and now I'm so happy to be able to complete the mission of self-sacrifice, B6? Since you died without regrets, can you give me a little kindness? Shut your mouth for a few minutes, and let A vulgar mortal like me, should I find some less harmful fun for myself before I die?"
In response, Black Falcon-136 shook his head and replied with a sad expression:
"I never thought I would die without regrets, Xia Ying. As long as I am alive, I will never accept this as my fate. I will only feel regretful that I cannot die after witnessing 'Icarus' achieve his career..." "
"You're such a worthless piece of shit, how many regrets do you have!"
Jiang Zhou, who was watching the show with his mouth shut, was shocked by Qianxia Ying's sudden and aggressive remarks.
Frankly speaking, although the woman named Chinatsu Sakura has a very punk hairstyle, her appearance is still on the cute side. Her clear and smart eyes, a slightly baby-fat face, and her colorful hair make her look like she has stepped into reality from an animation. Not only that, although her previous speech was harsh and harsh, her voice was soft and soft.
And such a soft and waxy voice suddenly said such an aggressive statement, making Jiang Zhou a little confused for a moment.
Black Falcon-136 on the side did not react much. He replied calmly:
"Purebred adjusters are born from birth boxes and do not have biological mothers. But this does not mean that I do not understand what regret is."
"Oh? Do you want to explain that your mother is just like your final destination, a box to put you in? Is that why people like you who treat selfies as family photos can understand it? Then please understand, I Unlike you... I have a mother and younger brothers and sisters. My sister finally left the low-level settlement area last month and went to a private secondary education center. Now I may be transformed into a sex doll. What should my family do? Tell me, how can my family survive?"
Chinatsu Sakura looked at Black Falcon-136, her voice choked up at the end, and a few tears rolled down her face along with her words.
She wanted to raise her hands to wipe them, but the restraint device prevented her from even lifting them.
136 said nothing.
There was a brief silence in the carriage, and Chinatsu Sakura suddenly apologized in a low voice:
"I'm sorry B6, I didn't mean to say you are motherless, I just..."
136 shook his head to show that he didn't care, and then he let out a long sigh:
"Both you and I are right... In the end, it's all the fault of this world, but why did this world become like this?
"Is it because the Order of Olympus has united all the super companies and monopolized the interfaces of the Abyss Dark Web? Or is it because of the blessings and curses the Abyss Dark Web itself has brought to mankind? Or should we blame those Abyss wanderers who opened a new era? Or, blame the wall builders who isolated the old network, blame the super artificial intelligence Janus who twisted the old network into the abyssal dark network..."
Jiang Zhou pricked up his ears calmly when he heard the familiar name "Janus".
Chinatsu Sakura took the words with a heavy nasal voice:
"If we trace the origin, it's all the fault of the 'First Deep Diver' who released Janus into the Internet... What's the name of that damn thing?"
"Jiangzhou."
Black Falcon-136 replied, and he then added:
"But I think that is a historical necessity... Even if it were not him, as long as humans at that time did not realize the dangers of digital personality technology, sooner or later someone would upload digital personality to the Internet. The ending is just The Deep Diver's just a different person."
"That doesn't change the fact that that bitch should be cut to pieces by a thousand cuts. Damn it. After the great impact, the public trial of all mankind actually disappeared from history. No one is alive, no dead body."
Chinatsu Sakura said fiercely.
Hatring an ancient man who may have died a hundred years ago seemed to Black Falcon-136 as a way to vent his emotions that no one would complain about, so he didn't say anything more.
He turned his head and looked at the native who was innocently involved not far away, and his voice returned to its previous warmth:
"By the way, little brother, I forgot to ask, what is your name?"
Anyway, it’s not called Jiangzhou.
Jiang Zhou, who was covered in cold sweat, thought to himself.
