"By the way, boss, are you sure there's nothing wrong with Brother Liao? It's only been a little over a week since he was upgraded to Depth 1..."
Looking up from the mess of pipes, Winston looked across the console towards Booker.
He confirmed again with worry in his voice.
Winston, who had just been discharged from the hospital, looked very good now. It’s completely impossible to see how he was lying in the ICU a week ago, dying.
"Don't worry, Bai Dong has been tested many times this week. It's absolutely certain that his mental index has stabilized."
Booker, who was watching with his arms folded, said this.
As he spoke, he walked to Jiang Zhou's side, and at the same time tilted his head to an angle where Winston could not clearly see the shape of his mouth, and then lowered his voice and said:
"After you complete the adjustment for depth 2, how about you try to connect the multi-purpose printer together... and see if Mr. Paradox will arrange a new trial because of your promotion?"
Hearing the eagerness in the other party's tone, Jiang Zhou finally used the puppet circuit to get rid of the urge to roll his eyes.
"OK……"
He nodded very calmly.
On the other side, Winston, who was debugging the instrument, was still chattering:
"I suggest that we observe it for another week or so, or even be cautious and wait for half a month. You know, the Icarus path is famous for its severe impact on the mental index... Depth 1 is okay, but from depth 2 At the beginning, the impact was more severe than the first. Even a determined person like Team Leader Coret, after completing the depth 3 adjustment, his mental state was close to falling into the uncanny valley of the mind..."
"Is that so?"
After hearing what he said, Jiang Zhou asked curiously.
Although he is not very worried about any big changes in his mental index - with the specialness of the Janus program, he will not be able to survive even the adjustment and transformation of depth 2.
But hearing what the other party said was so horrifying couldn't help but arouse some of his curiosity.
Booker nodded.
"In cyberpsychopathology, there is a concept called 'Icarus syndrome'. I remember that it seems to be an extension of this upgrade path."
He replied.
Icarus syndrome?
This is true, you can guess a rough idea just by hearing the name...
Jiang Zhou thought.
In Greek mythology, in order to escape from a labyrinth where a bull-headed man-eating monster roamed, a craftsman named Daedalus and his son Icarus built wings that allowed them to soar into the sky.
Before leaving, Daedalus repeatedly warned his son Icarus that their wings were made of wax sticky feathers and they must not fly too low, otherwise the seawater would soak the wings and make them heavy; at the same time, It is impossible to fly too high, otherwise the sun will bake the beeswax and cause the wings to fall apart.
But as we all know, all the warnings in Greek mythology are ultimately meant to be violated. During the flight, Icarus forgot his father's dissuasion and flew higher and higher. Then he fell too close to the sun and drowned in the sea.
Obviously, for adjusters, Icarus is a very appropriate metaphor - while continuously deepening adjustments and transformation, and gaining more and more powerful power, those adjustments will also bring that person closer and closer to himself. destroy.
But even so, there will still be people who fly towards the sun without hesitation like moths to a flame.
"In short, to put it in a simpler way...Icarus Syndrome is a general term for the condition where the adjuster inevitably enters self-destruction due to the installation of too many prosthetics. Note, the self-destruction I am talking about here, It refers to both the mental and physical aspects, not just the mental index.”
Booker went on to explain.
"In other words, after the Icarus path arrives, it will be equipped with a prosthetic body that is far superior to other paths?"
Jiang Zhou asked, picking up the key points.
In response, Booker nodded slightly and replied with a serious expression:
“It’s unimaginable how many there are, but at the same time, the human consumption of this path is also unimaginable.”
"And the level of power is unimaginable?"
Jiang Zhou continued to find the focus of his concern.
After hearing this, Booker looked at Liao Qi with an expression of "Did you hear what I was saying just now?" After a long time, he reluctantly nodded and said:
"I can only say that as a one-time weapon... it is indeed powerful."
The implication is self-evident.
However, regarding this point, what Liao Qi personally witnessed before is actually more illustrative of the problem.
In the massacre of "The Siege of Theseus", as the former leader of Icarus Path Depth 3, Coret, faced with the punishment troops of Pluto Deep Diving Company, it can be said that he fought his way out on his own. Breakout.
Looking back now, in the company's disciplinary force, there are probably three or four adjusters who are also Depth 3.
Not to mention other low-level transformation adjusters and native auxiliary troops.
He even had a dragster like Liao Qi with him at the time.
"alright."
With Winston's words, Jiang Zhou came back from his thoughts.
At this moment, the other party was pasting a ring that shone with blazing white light and looked like a jade enlarged twice on the multi-purpose printer casually like a refrigerator magnet.
Then, at a speed visible to the naked eye, the dark, perfectly shaped cube absorbed the even dazzling "jade" into a dry and mottled rusted iron ring.
"The ultimate energy storage device can store enough energy to send a double-decker burger to the asteroid belt."
Booker on the side explained that at the same time, he also sent a private message to Liao Qi.
[Thanks to Mr. Paradox, without his generous sponsorship of this, we wouldn’t even be able to get the energy to allow you to safely complete the Depth 2 transformation]
It can be seen that he really wants to experience Mr. Paradox's trial again.
Regarding this, Jiang Zhou could only say that he was a little bit dumbfounded.
Then, under the gaze of the two people, he once again walked to the pure black cube that looked like a god.
Just like the first time he made adjustments, he felt very uneasy and excited at the moment.
Winston has already prepared the materials needed for printing.
Lying flat on his back, surrounded by various metal elements, nanomaterials, radioactive materials sealed in lead cans, and some semi-finished parts, Jiang Zhou once again felt that this was some kind of primitive witchcraft ceremony.
After inserting the data cable into his brain-computer interface, Jiang Zhou imagined the toy that had been broken by his mother and completed the verification of the mandala.
Then, he looked at all the printing permissions required to upgrade Path to Icarus Depth 2 one by one.
"Gift of Minerva" subcutaneous plastic steel armor.
"Sickle-footed" mantis knife.
"Talos type" power skeleton.
Bioelectronic lungs.
Broad Spectrum Energy Core.
Multi-purpose magnetic wax control system.
After examining them one by one, Jiang Zhou/Liao Qi gave the order to start the portal created by Janus in the past.
So now, Icarus is going to fly even higher.
(End of chapter)
