Chapter 52 Night City (6) (2 in 1) [VIP]

In the live broadcast room, many viewers looked confused:

[What happened? Why did I see a black screen when I came back from pouring some water? ]

[I don't understand. The camera was on Isaac's side just now. He stood there motionless and we didn't know what was going on. Some senior bosses in the plane speculated that he had directly hacked into the central control AI with his mental consciousness. Now he exists in the form of a data stream, and his body outside is just an empty shell. The Foundation's live broadcast room determined that his content here is more worthy of live broadcast, but we can't follow him into the central control AI to show what happened in the data. The room manager is not here and we can't manually switch the camera, so we can only broadcast Isaac standing here for us. ]

【As the video was playing, the screen suddenly went black.】

[Did something happen in the data stream? What did Isaac do in there? ]

[Not sure. Generally speaking, a black screen in a live broadcast room is caused by excessive energy and poor connection. But how can there be excessive energy in a cyberpunk world? It can't be that Isaac dismantled the central control AI hand, right? ]

[Hmm... How is that impossible? He has already dismantled a stellar civilization with his own hands. ]

[Hey, hey, hey, don't be too superstitious about Isaac. Aren't the things about the hand-demolition civilization and the human federation just his one-sided words? ]

【Huh? Live streaming is back. 】

[How did it switch to Lu Changfeng's side? ]

When the screen lit up again, it was Lu Changfeng and his group outside that appeared.

Different from the calm just now, there is now a bunch of security machines gathered outside the central tower.

They formed a circle, with a bunch of weapons flashing ominously pointed at the exploration team members in the middle.

【What's going on? 】

【Didn’t you change your ID? 】

【How did you get caught? 】

Without waiting for the barrage of comments to raise too many doubts, the guard robots launched an attack. The guard robot called "Lightning" by Shi Zhou attached itself to Li Jue first and released electric shocks, leaving an extremely obvious wound on Li Jue's body. Light blue electric light flashed a few times on his body surface, and lines like lightning were distributed.

Looking through the wound, he could see more electric lights flashing back and forth in his body. Within a few seconds, the continuous output of electric light had enveloped his entire body. Then, with a muffled sound, his entire body was directly blown up by this blue electric light. The whole process was extremely similar to what Shi Zhou said, it could be said to be exactly the same.

Not far away, Zhang Pei, who was locked by the "archers", had no time to react before he was pinned to the ground by other security robots who traced and located him. Lu Changfeng was also captured.

Guan Hongyan had time to resist a few times, but before she could break free from the grip of the "long spear" next to her, she was caught by the mechanical arm of the scavenger who arrived in time. With a teeth-grinding opening and closing sound, the decomposition suspension chamber behind the scavenger opened, and she was directly put into the suspension chamber by the mechanical arm for decomposition.

The five people outside were inexplicably killed on the spot by the guards in Night City. After a group of guard robots left in a mighty manner, the camera slowly turned to another direction.

On the second floor of the building not far away, five people who looked exactly like the "exploration team members" who had just been taken away were standing or sitting on the commanding heights, observing down. Lu Changfeng had a complicated expression on his face, grinning as if he was the one who had just been directly blown up by the guard machine.

"Ew..." Guan Hongyan also showed an expression of unbearable pain, "This feeling of watching myself being beaten up and killed on the spot..."

"...It's too weird." Li Jue replied from the side.

Not only did he have to watch himself being electrocuted by the security machine, but he was also blown up by the strong electric current it emitted. What kind of suffering is this in the world?

Zhang Pei felt a chill on his back, "If you hadn't told us to run, we would have been sucked in as well."

As soon as they reached the commanding heights of the platform, they saw various guards running towards them from a distance. Apparently, the first guard who spotted the wanted person chose to call for help.

Shi Zhou was the only one among the five people whose expression could be described as normal or calm. She spread her hands and said, "I'm used to it. If you stay in Night City for a long time, you will turn around and run away when you see your clones, just like me."

These clones do not have the awareness of the exploration team members to avoid guards. The only outcome of staying with them for too long is that they will attract guards and you will be exhausted.

"This place is too weird," Guan Hongyan frowned, "No wonder you don't treat the clones as human beings."

Anyone who has seen people who are exactly like him being killed on the spot and forced to hide everywhere by the opponent will gradually become accustomed to it from being unbearable.

The comments in the live broadcast room only reacted at this time:

[The Foundation's cameras have also become corrupted...]

[They actually used this method to whet our appetites, first filming the clone and then the real person. Room manager, come out, did you move the camera? ]

[Stop shouting, stop shouting. This project has been downgraded to the mid-range. The housing management department may not come out. ]

[To be honest, this clone is so similar that if the camera hadn't turned around later, I wouldn't have been able to tell that the ones killed earlier were clones.]

[Why is it called a replica? If you can tell at a glance that they are not alike, how can it be called a “copy”?]

[Indeed, we didn't see it. It seems that the clones cannot be seen by eyes alone. They must communicate.]

【Is there no other way? 】

Obviously, Lu Changfeng had also thought of this: "Sister Shizhou, is communication the only way to distinguish the clones? Can we mark each other or something? Wear a hat or an armband or something?"

Or you could tie some brightly colored strips of cloth on your arms, or make some marks on your face or hands. It would be better than the passive situation of not being able to recognize your companions this time.

God knows, the moment Shi Zhou shouted to run, the team member he subconsciously grabbed and ran away was actually a clone of Li Jue.

He dragged the replica down to the bottom of the building, and then Lu Changfeng dragged "Li Jue" and met the other real Li Jue's eyes in horror.

The three people's faces were a mixture of fear, confusion and shock.

If Shi Zhou hadn't quickly asked three questions: "What's your number, where are you from, and where is this place", and the real Li Jue on the opposite side also responded quickly and answered in turn: "JS3252145, Foundation, Unknown Space Night City", he really couldn't tell whether the one he was holding was the genuine one or the one on the opposite side was the real Li Jue.

"For now, yes," Shi Zhou nodded. "We have tried to distinguish them by marking our bodies and clothes, but such markings can only distinguish us from the previous batch of clones. Once we are cloned again with such marks, the clones that appear this time will also have the marks on us."

That is to say, if this method is used to distinguish team members, after the second batch of clones come out, they will be completely unable to distinguish between friend and foe and will confuse the clones with the team members.

"What about specific actions?" Guan Hongyan also joined the conversation. "Sometimes the situation is urgent and there is no time to ask. Can't we use specific actions or shouting instead? For example, a special word, or an agreed-upon hand gesture or something like that."

"It's useful, but not very useful. It will also affect and interfere with the judgment of the exploration team members." Shi Zhou was obviously very familiar with this kind of question. It seemed that the previous team members had asked this kind of question many times. The team members' thinking was always similar. These questions had already been pitfalls for countless predecessors in Night City. "Your clones will imitate your behavior. If you only use these simple methods to distinguish, they will learn."

"Hiss--" Zhang Pei gasped with a headache, so the only way for them to distinguish whether the other side is their team member here is really through verbal communication, and what they must say is content that the replicas in the unknown space do not know, such as the question asked by Shi Zhou before, the numbers of the foundation members, or asking them where they are from and what this space is.

If the opponents are clones, they do not have the memories and personalities of the team members, and they cannot answer questions other than these. The three questions asked by Shi Zhou are absolutely impossible for the clones to know.

Shi Zhou sat on the edge of the second-floor stand: "Generally speaking, the clones of people who enter here for the first time know nothing and have no memories or emotional expressions of the original body. But as you come in more often, your clones will also learn some of your characteristics without any instruction, such as camouflage and escape, just like they are also learning to evolve."

"But the average person's clone can't do what I do," she shrugged, "After all, no one would come in more than a dozen times."

No wonder when this group of clones were surrounded by guards just now, only Shi Zhou’s clone almost escaped.

Shi Zhou entered here again and again, and the consequences were undoubtedly getting worse. Her thinking patterns were completely figured out, and her clones evolved again and again. If Isaac had not changed their identity authentication ID and solved the biggest danger in Night City, she would most likely have failed in this exploration.

Just as Lu Changfeng thought of this, he found that his brother Isaac was walking towards him not far away.

“Brother Isaac, you’re out,” he called out as he stood up, “Why didn’t you reply after you just sent the message?”

Lu Changfeng's shout attracted everyone's attention. Shi Zhou was sitting on the edge of the second-floor stands, swinging his legs. When he heard Lu Changfeng's shout, he straightened up and looked into the distance.

"Wait a minute," Guan Hongyan frowned, "Am I dazzled? Why are there two Isaacs?"

"What's going on?" Shi Zhou turned over and stood up from the edge of the stands, "Isaac's clone?"

Everyone's eyes turned in Isaac's direction.

Sure enough, there were really two Isaacs walking towards them in the distance.

"Why don't the guards attack his clone?" Li Jue asked in confusion while standing in the stands.

"Silly," Lu Changfeng said with a proud look on his face, "Of course it was Brother Isaac who changed the ID of the clone as well."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Changfeng was also puzzled: "Why did Brother Isaac change the ID of the replica?"

Considering what he said to Guan Hongyan before, could it be that he, Brother Isaac, thinks that the life of the clone is also a life?

The group just looked at Isaac, no, two Isaacs gradually approached, until Bai Jinshu walked to the bottom of the terrace, raised his head and made eye contact with a group of team members who were staring at him with strange eyes, then they hurriedly looked away.

"Brother Isaac," Lu Changfeng spoke first, "Is this your clone?"

"Well," Bai Jinshu raised his eyebrows, "Are you sure you want to talk to me like this?"

This group of people on the second-floor stands looked at him with strange expressions. Aren’t you tired of craning your necks?

"Oh oh oh, we'll come down right away." Lu Changfeng shook his head and jumped down from the second-floor stands first.

Seeing him go down so easily, Li Jue thought that the stand was easy to get down. He imitated Lu Changfeng and stood on the edge and jumped down. He staggered forward a few steps and almost fell to his death. If Lu Changfeng hadn't helped him, Li Jue would have at least sprained his ankle.

"Brother Lu..." Li Jue was supported by him and had a bitter face, "I saw you jump down very easily, I thought it was easy to jump."

Guan Hongyan flipped down behind him: "It's just very easy to dance."

She turned around with a puzzled look on her face: "Isn't it hard to dance?"

"It's a very good jump," Shi Zhou also flipped down and replied while trying not to laugh, "Zhang Pei, come down, I'll catch you."

Zhang Pei half-sat on the edge and pushed himself down, then fell into Shi Zhou's arms. Then he turned his head and thought for a moment and said seriously, "It's actually not bad. It's not that hard to jump."

If Shi Zhou hadn't picked her up, her feet might have felt a little numb.

There is no need to say much about Lu Changfeng. After all, Guan Hongyan has practiced hard for a while. Shi Zhou can run with the guard machine in such a complicated terrain of Night City, so he will definitely not be stumped by this height.

When you think about it, it turns out that Li Jue was the only one who was not very skilled and acted like a fool imitating Lu Changfeng by jumping off the building.

Huai Jiamu stood behind Bai Jinshu and curled the corners of his mouth in a mocking manner.

So Lu Changfeng was horrified to find that the copy of his brother Isaac actually laughed.

"Brother Isaac, Brother Isaac," he said in horror, "your copy can express emotions!"

Didn’t Shi Zhou say that the clones of the team members who entered here for the first time had no memories and no emotional expressions?

"Hmm?" The evil god expressed his emotions?

Bai Jinshu turned around and caught the fleeting smile on Huai Jiamu's lips, and said evasively: "Oh, he laughed at you stupid people."

What a perfect sync. Li Jue's grief and indignation expression was so perfect, and Isaac's pleasure based on other people's suffering also made him inexplicably happy in his heart.

In front of everyone's blank gaze, Bai Jinshu explained: "You can just think of it as my clone, equivalent to me. It's different from the other clones."

"Split machine?" Guan Hongyan chewed on the word, "You interstellar people use really sophisticated words."

Investors are confused.

[Thank you so much, Sister Yaner, when will you see through the truth? ]

[Starman doesn't do that! Who would use the word "machine" to refer to their own clone?]

[Although you all say that Isaac has stopped pretending, but think about it, Isaac has never pretended. He has never been shy about his peculiarities. It is Sister Yan'er and Shi Zhou who cannot get over it.]

[Fuck, this is outrageous.]

After a brief moment of confusion, Lu Changfeng quickly accepted this very cool setting of his brother Isaac. It was completely reasonable that the clones of the interstellar people were different from them. Besides, his brother Isaac even had a spiritual body as big as a small ball. What's wrong with transferring his consciousness to a clone? Isn't this a very simple thing to do?

After a brief moment of confusion, Lu Changfeng immediately understood everything and turned to Bai Jin and asked, "By the way, Brother Isaac, what did you ask me to come in for?"

"I suspected that the central control AI data here was damaged, so I wanted to ask you to come in and take a look," Bai Jinshu frowned, obviously remembering the strange familiarity that this central control AI brought him, "Then I remembered that you can't connect mentally, so forget it."

"Oh," Lu Changfeng was not surprised at all that Isaac knew his fixed attributes. Since the other party was appointed by his brother Ao, it was normal for him to know his fixed attributes. "Then did you find anything in there, brother Isaac?"

"I was just about to tell you this," Bai Jin straightened his face and looked at Shi Zhou, "Shi Zhou, the central control AI of Night City is dead, a dead program, without any autonomous consciousness. But after I copied all the information in its database, I found something strange."

"What?" Shi Zhou turned his head inexplicably.

Bai Jin said: "There is a database in the central control AI that stores the codes of all humans and machines in Night City, but I found that there is a strange small number behind the codes of these people."

"The number behind Shi Ting is 4, the numbers behind the scavengers are between 0-18, and the numbers behind the white guards are between 0-12. The numbers behind the biological people you mentioned before are extremely consistent, all above 10,000," Bai Jinshu repeated what he had discovered. "I want to ask you, do you have any clue about the 4 behind Shi Ting's code?"

"There is a 4 after Shi Ting's code..." Shi Zhou narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, as if calculating something, and then said with certainty, "Life time."

"According to Shi Ting's life span when I last left Night City, Shi Ting No. 1354 has survived for four days," she said confidently. "If I must find a reason for the 4 after her number, the only answer is life span."

"That is to say, if the biological people really existed since Night City was founded, then the number of more than 10,000 after their numbering machine represents the existence time of Night City..." Bai Jinshu said while thinking, "Then Night City may have been established between 20 to 30 years ago. It is a very new city-state."

The new one exceeded everyone's imagination.

Everyone's expression was inevitably a little shocked.

Night City has such a short history?

Or, the numbers behind these creatures born with Night City only represent Night City, and "Night City" is only the name for the past twenty to thirty years. Before that, it had other names and other pasts.

By analogy, perhaps the relationship can be converted into the relationship between Beiping and Beijing, Chang'an and Xi'an. Although they are the same city, the names are different, and the calculation of existence time is also different.

"Is there no history here?" Guan Hongyan asked, "Shizhou, have you found any paper or electronic materials that record Night City's past or present?"

"If you're asking about the logs, there are quite a few." Before Shi Zhou could answer, Bai Jinshu spoke slowly from the side.

"Diary?" Guan Hongyan was excited. "Who wrote this diary? Is there anyone who writes diaries in this place?"

"Log," Guan Hongyan corrected when she saw Isaac (first from left) slowly glance at her, "System operation log."

Guan Hongyan: ...

"I beg you to do that," she said numbly, "We all really come from some very backward civilizations, at least thousands of years behind your great Universal Federation. Can you please take care of us ancient people?"

Shi Zhou did not participate in their conversation. He pursed his lips and said, "If you are talking about history, we have not found any paper materials, but we can get the answers from some biological people."

"But we can't ask him because he's a guard..." She suddenly realized, "No, we don't have to hide from the guards now."

She was used to hiding in Night City, and suddenly she was told that she could appear in front of the guards openly, and she was still a little uncomfortable.

Under the curious gazes of the crowd, Shi Zhou organized his words and said, "We discovered this biological man during an exploration a long time ago. We ran to the police station to avoid the disaster the next day."

At the beginning, they didn't know the difference between biological people and corporate people. This person was the only one they found since entering Night City who was not at his post but was moving around.

There was a serious chemical leak outside at the time. In order to escape pursuit and natural disasters, the exploration team had to hide in the police station, the only temporary safe point they knew of. There they found the only living person with whom they could communicate among a group of mechanical guards.

The team members at that time were very excited, and everyone couldn't wait to ask him a lot of questions, thinking that they had found a breakthrough in Night City.

"Then what?" Guan Hongyan asked.

"Then..." Shi Zhou showed an indescribable expression, "Then he reported us to the police station, saying that we were fugitives. We were all detained on the spot. If the five-day exploration time had not expired and everyone had logged out, I still wonder if I can talk to you here now."

Guan Hongyan: ???

What the hell?

"You...didn't you say that ordinary people don't know the fugitive?" She looked shocked.

"So he is most likely not an ordinary person," Shi Zhou held his forehead in deep thought, obviously regretting his stupidity, "He seems to be... the chief of the police station."

Guan Hongyan: ???

"We saw his number St on his badge at that time, and then the serial number was 1."

"A long time later, a new member entered Night City, and I told him about this as usual," Shi Zhou's expression looked like he had eaten a fly, "and he slapped his thigh and said, 'Fuck, 1st, isn't this the abbreviation of first? You guys aren't going to ask the police chief directly, are you?"

Shi Zhou was numb at that time.

So they revealed their identity as fugitives from the beginning, and then fell into the trap with the police chief, right?

The author has something to say:

Shi Zhou: The most advanced way to fall into a trap often only requires the simplest method

I have a very important exam these two days, so I will temporarily take a break today. I will not stop updating. I will come back to write after the exam tomorrow. The update may be a little late. I would like to say hello to my wives in advance.