There is no need to be sent for frontal lobe pre-treatment, nor to be sent to be a miner in the "Abyss Dark Web". Jiang Zhou is a dying person.
As early as a hundred years ago, he had been sentenced to death with a suspended death sentence.
In order to verify the feasibility of the "Janus" program, Jiang Zhou voluntarily underwent scanning with a high-precision scanner, which caused irreversible trauma to his brain. But before, he thought that his radiation sickness should be smoothed away by the mysterious existence that sent him to a hundred years in the future just like the drunkenness in the bar.
But after he recovered from the shock of time travel, the familiar feeling of dizziness and nausea came back again - these symptoms showed that his brain cells would still gradually die over the next month. Eventually it turned into a bowl of spoiled tofu brain soup.
This should have been bad news.
But now it has become a bargaining chip for him.
The expression of the blond man called "Director Ye" did not change at all after listening to Jiang Zhou's words:
"oh?"
"I have been exposed to high doses of radiation before, and I can only live for a month at most."
Jiang Zhou tried his best to speak in a calm tone.
"so what?"
The other party's answer didn't seem very surprising, and he didn't even ask why he was exposed to radiation, as if it was a normal thing in their era.
"So, it would be an extremely wasteful act to transform me into a mindless slave now."
Jiang Zhou replied.
Although he doesn't know what technology is needed to transform into an unconscious slave worker, judging from the need to remove the prefrontal lobe as pre-processing, at least the zombie slave worker still needs a brain to function normally.
Slave labor with a shelf life of only one month? In the past, no manor owner in North America would do this kind of business.
The other party didn't reply, so he continued:
"In other words, sending me to the 'Abyss Dark Web' for mining will be a more cost-effective choice. This will make more use of my life, at least it will not cause too much waste."
According to Chinatsu Sakura, people who are forced into mining labor by companies live an average of less than three months. In other words, even if you can live for a month, the benefits you can produce will be much higher than being a zombie slave.
And from the few words 136 had with Qianxia Ying, he could roughly feel that compared to his own time, companies in this century will have a more high-tech coating, but the essence is still the same, and even greed is better than the past. . For such utilitarians, it is meaningless to expect them to have a conscience. It is only useful to analyze the actual gains and losses with them.
Ye Qian did not continue to ask questions, but turned to look at the adjutant beside him. The latter immediately understood and clicked on the data board in his hand several times.
The "Newton's Sigh" aircraft hovering in front of her immediately started moving and floated in front of Jiang Zhou. Then, a light blue beam of light swept back and forth across his body.
"I'm not lying. The levels of repair enzymes in many of his organs, especially the brain, are abnormal, consistent with symptoms of acute radiation sickness. Without treatment, he will have up to thirty-eight days left."
The adjutant looked up from the data pad and said.
Ye Qian nodded, then looked at Jiang Zhou:
"Then, you will still die in thirty-eight days at most."
It wasn't in a questioning tone, it was more like he was giving some notice to the other party.
"That would be better than cutting off the frontal lobe right now and being immediately transformed into a zombie without self-awareness."
Jiang Zhou answered immediately.
After he finished saying this, the other person seemed to be amused, and the fake and stiff smile on his face became more and more vivid.
"Hahahahaha...it's kind of interesting."
I don't know which nerve these words touched Ye Qian. He turned his head and looked at his adjutant and said with a smile:
"This is a bit interesting. A caveman without any modification would actually ask to dive into the abyss and dark web? Check it out, is this really a low-tech tribesman from the bottom of the resettlement area? Could it be something from Ikaros? Important person, right?"
Regarding this question, the adjutant shook his head:
"There is no personal information about this person in the database of the Nord Resettlement Area government. He doesn't even have a brain-computer interface installed... He is 100% a low-tech tribesman at the bottom of the settlement area."
When she said this, she was actually euphemistically indicating that the other party was not suitable for him.
It's just that Ye Qian doesn't seem to care about this small problem. After all, compared to the investment in transforming it into a technical slave, installing a brain-computer interface that is already standard in this era is almost cost-free.
He stared at Jiang Zhou and asked:
"May I have your name?"
"I...I have forgotten it. Maybe I don't have a name."
Jiang Zhou tightened his expression and answered.
"I see, I remember that you and those members of Icarus were arrested together in the warehouse of 'Theseus Cargo', right? Then for the rest of the day, in Tartarus, you will be called The Hughes is fine."
Inexplicably, the other party gave himself a code name, then turned to look at the adjutant behind him and said:
"Take this caveman to install the brain-computer interface, complete the certification of the JZ network protocol, and then take him to the deep dive cabin No. 3."
Having said this, he paused and a wicked smile appeared on his face:
"Surface light area, depth 2."
After saying that, he came over and patted himself on the shoulder and said:
"A low-tech tribe took the initiative to apply to the Abyss Dark Web. It's very good, Theseus. I appreciate it very much. Do your best and don't let me down."
The short-haired adjutant on the side couldn't help but twitch his eyelids when he heard his boss call the caveman "Theseus". But on this topic, she finally did not dare to say anything more, but asked carefully:
"So Director Ye, are these ten people you selected including 'Theseus'?"
"This is a defective product that I helped Fanny pick out. She has to thank me later...so this can only be considered as a bonus. You can include the one you planned to pick out before, making eleven."
After saying that, he left without looking back.
JZ network protocol…
Jiang Zhou heard another familiar term.
Not only are I familiar with it, that thing was developed by my own team!
That was a network protocol he specifically designed for the uniqueness of "Soul" during the development of Project Janus. The agreement ensures that everyone will never be maliciously copied after uploading their "digital personality", ensuring the unique ethical bottom line of each soul.
So, take him for certification? Then he had already certified it a hundred years ago...
…………
About twelve hours later, Jiang Zhou was controlled by the powered exoskeleton that restrained him, and followed the short-haired adjutant.
Along the way, he wanted to touch the occiput on the back of his head.
A hole had just been opened there, big enough for me to put my index finger in.
But he couldn't do it because the powered exoskeleton was still restraining him.
Brain-computer interface…
After experiencing what happened before, Jiang Zhou was speechless.
The surgery to install the brain-computer interface only took ten minutes - the efficiency of the surgical robotic arm was so jaw-dropping that it was all over before he even realized what was happening.
And for the remaining ten hours, he lay on the bed, waiting for some kind of gadget to be injected into his brain, spreading like a virus inside his skull, and eventually forming a map that spread throughout his brain. Nanogrid. Countless terrifying hallucinations and auditory hallucinations appeared during this period. Between dreams and dreams, he thought several times that he was going to confess here.
Jiang Zhou speculated that this artificial neural grid would later work with the entire brain to deceive the senses, allowing him to travel in the virtual world.
This was a research direction for immersive virtual reality technology at that time, but it could not be realized because of the backward basic technology.
It seems that this technology has now become the infrastructure of this era. Jiang Zhou noticed that everyone he met along the way had such an interface on the back of his head.
"You shouldn't have asked to go to the deep dive chamber before."
Halfway through, the short-haired female adjutant suddenly said this without any clue.
"Why?"
Jiang Zhou asked back.
At this moment, the two of them were walking in a place that was laid out a bit like an underground passage. The entire path was pitch black. The blood-vessel-like electronic circuits in the car earlier were also spreading around, contracting and relaxing like breathing.
The adjutant turned his head and glanced at Jiang Zhou, pursed his lips, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he held back.
It wasn't until the two of them came to a door that exuded a slight chill that she spoke:
"Originally you were just dead."
"I thought it was bad enough."
Jiang Zhou answered.
The other party shook his head:
"This is Tartarus...death is never the end."
After saying that, the cold door opened.
Considering what the other party said before, Jiang Zhou originally thought he would see a bunch of brains soaked in an incubator behind the door.
But inside is nothing more than an array of neatly arranged pitch-black cubes.
Each cube is about the size of two double-door refrigerators and has no distinctive appearance. Countless pipes extended from above, and finally converged into a pipe that radiated cold air - most of the cold air in the room came from that pipe.
This is probably the "Deep Diving Chamber No. 3" that Manager Ye mentioned earlier.
The adjutant walked to the black cube closest to her and pressed something. The cube slowly opened, revealing enough seats for one person to sit inside. The inner wall of the cockpit is a honeycomb-like geometric structure, with interfaces everywhere inside.
"Deep dive into the sub-cage. There are things in it that can maintain all your vital signs..."
She paused as she spoke, and then said the lines that were probably part of the standard procedure:
"From now on, this deep dive sub-cage will replace that powered exoskeleton and become your new prison."
Jiang Zhou suspected that this sentence was also a voice command, because the restraint device on his body was automatically released after the other party said this sentence.
"Strip naked, sit in it, and set up your mandala."
She pointed to the cockpit and said.
"My what?"
Jiang Zhou asked as he moved his somewhat stiff joints.
"Your mandala, the third generation JZ network verification system. The visual cortex signal perception switch activates your brain-computer interface by 'visualizing' a real figure. In short, you just follow the prompts. Well, a five-year-old can do it.”
She explained patiently.
In any case, Jiang Zhou didn't have the capital to refuse. After flexing his stiff joints, he calmly took off his clothes and lay down in the cockpit.
The hatch closed, and some odorless gas blew across his face, causing him to instantly lose consciousness of his body, and his vision changed from boundless darkness to a void of nothingness. This scene is just like the descriptions many people have heard about their dying moments...
Then, with a "click", something was inserted into the interface on his occipital bone, as if it was powered on, and he felt that his spirit became extremely clear.
A featureless voice echoed in Jiang Zhou's ears. A paragraph of black italic characters also appeared in his sight.
The content is as follows:
[If it is detected that the interface feature code is not included, if it is the first time to visit, please set up your Mandala; if you are changing the interface, please activate the existing Mandala first]
Jiang Zhou, who had lost his sense of the body below his neck, clicked on the [First Visit] option through the eye-tracking operating system.
[Please imagine a figure that is closely related to you, never forgotten, easy to imagine, and unique as your own mandala. 】
Based on this prompt and combined with the meaning of the short-haired woman before, Jiang Zhou suddenly understood.
So in this era, people in this era "visualize" a unique graphic in their minds to verify their password when surfing the Internet?
Then there is really no way to hack the account. Even if you tell others about your mandala, there will always be subtle differences in details when different people imagine the same shape. Especially if you set your mandala to something in your memory, it will be almost impossible for others to inspire the same imagination.
Jiang Zhou thought of this, and then he began to think about what kind of shape he should choose as his "mandala".
Almost subconsciously, the scene where he entered the key to activate his "digital personality" in that bar a hundred years ago came to his mind.
Do you want to give it a try...
Jiang Zhou tried to swallow the non-existent saliva.
If this verification system is really an iteration of the JZ network protocol he created before and is backward compatible, then as long as he inputs the sixteen-digit key, he can activate his past digital personality account.
In other words, I might be able to activate "Janus"'s account...if he still exists.
But should I take the risk?
At the moment, he is at the headquarters of a super enterprise. If his identity is exposed here, he dare not think about what will happen...
He made his decision quickly.
Who cares... Even if there is no reaction, there is nothing wrong with using that sixteen-digit key as a mandala.
Jiang Zhou did not hesitate for too long. After all, he only had more than thirty days left to live. How bad could he get if he tried?
Besides, if "Janus" really sent him a hundred years into the future, it would be impossible for the other party not to leave some clues for him.
After thinking about this, Jiang Zhou slowly sketched the sixteen-digit key in his imagination in standard font.
The moment he completed the outline of the last symbol, a change occurred.
The emptiness in front of him was shattered into countless color blocks. Accompanied by the whistling sound of electric current, those color blocks turned into rotating vortexes in the blink of an eye, and finally gathered into a constantly changing human shape of color blocks.
Jiang Zhou knew this thing.
The human-shaped abyss that he had stared at across the television.
The voice that once called itself "Creator."
The being who once claimed to be Janus!
