This was Xu Milu's first time stepping into this world's sanatorium.
Contrary to the image of a high-tech building with friendly medical staff and comprehensive medical facilities, the Hope Base's sanatorium is more like a large transit station:
Milky-white pillars stand in the center of the medical hall, facing a network of 100-meter-long escalators that stretch out in all directions like a spider web. All sorts of base residents are distributed to different floors by these escalators. Instead of wards divided into small rooms, they are greeted by rows of square electronic screens on both sides of the corridor.
The scenes on the electronic screens varied: against a clear blue sky, white sheep grazed peacefully on a hillside; on a ginkgo-lined avenue in late autumn, a loving couple sat on a bench chatting and laughing; in an e-sports room, a grumpy young man with headphones on was passionately speaking into his microphone, occasionally cursing his bad teammates; in an exquisite European-style house, the fireplace roared, and a girl wrapped in a blanket slept peacefully...
Of course, the higher the floor, the more diverse the scenery on the electronic screens becomes; many lower-floor electronic screens only display monotonous hospital ward backgrounds.
Children, teenagers, young adults, the elderly, men and women—all sorts of patients are displayed on the screen, some sitting, some lying down, some with numb expressions, and some watching people walk by outside the screen with a sense of normalcy.
Occasionally, two or three family members would linger in front of the electronic screen, chatting animatedly with the people on the screen:
"Mom, how much longer until I can go back to school? Zihan next door has already gotten the latest model of mechanical bionic body."
"Good girl, listen to me. Mommy took on a testing job at the research institute a couple of days ago. I can earn 300 contribution points a day. Soon I'll be able to save enough money for Mommy's baby's surgery. Then you can go out and play with a new body just like other kids."
“Ah Qing, please come visit your mother and me more often. This sanatorium is comfortable, but there’s not much for us to talk to. Hey, didn’t I ask you to apply to move your mother and me to the next district? There are more acquaintances there, and we can talk to each other when you’re not around.”
“Dad, please don’t make things difficult for me. You know how hard it is to get a spot at the sanatorium lately. If we change spots today, someone else will take ours tomorrow. By the way, I might have to go on a mission these next few days, so I probably won’t be able to come see you. But I’ve prepaid for a week’s worth of treatment, which should be enough.”
"Honey, I have some good news for you. I asked a friend on the black market a couple of days ago, and he said there are some second-hand bionic bodies for sale. They're about the same age as our son. Although the matching synchronization rate might be a little low, it shouldn't affect walking or anything else. It'll just be a bit of a hassle for you to stay at the sanatorium by yourself for a while longer. Don't worry, our son and I will definitely come to see you often in the future."
Conversations like these were everywhere. Suddenly, the electronic screen hanging in the corridor began to stir. Figures flickered across it, and a dense barrage of words rained down, filled with envious tones:
"I'm so lucky, I've saved enough money for the surgery."
"What good luck! We just moved in... less than six months ago, tsk tsk."
"It's only been five months! Being young is great. The success rate of the surgery is high, the synchronization rate of the mechanical body is high, and it won't have much impact on daily life in the future. I heard that some bases have developed bionic bodies that can already simulate 89% of the taste effect!"
"Come on, you believe those rumors? If they really had such advanced technology, why would they be so eager to come here? How many more have moved in this month? Hundreds by now, right?"
"It's the young man in the next ward. He's lost everything. I heard that his parents' comrades helped him pay the bill this time."
Xu Milu looked over at the rustling words that sounded like a high-frequency "buzz" to others and saw several expectant family members leaning over the medical table to sign the agreement.
"Congratulations, Mr. Liao in the Level 9 sanatorium. Your bionic mechanical adaptation surgery will be performed in fifteen minutes. According to the procedure, you can be discharged this afternoon."
Soon, a smiling android butler strode over, entered the password on the combination lock, and cut off the power to one of the electronic screens.
Immediately afterwards, a staff member in a gray uniform carried out a square, fish tank-like object from the narrow space behind the screen. Immersed in the pale green liquid inside the tank was a human brain.
The fish tank was connected to the outside by countless colorful pipes, the other end of which was connected to an electronic screen and a pipe that delivered nutrient solution, which looked quite terrifying.
A brain in a fish tank?
Xu Milu was stunned, then she looked up.
Countless electronic screens hung in the corridor, their sharp edges arranged in a staggered pattern like the squares on a Go board, shrinking and shrinking...
Countless electronic screens resemble countless funeral portraits, behind which lie their only remaining bodily organs—the brains.
Slowly raising her head, her cervical spine involuntarily tilted back. Looking out, she saw an endless array of milky-white pillars, with the circular building spiraling upwards. Each floor had an endless wall of electronic screens, and each screen displayed a human face.
Behind every electronic screen lies a human brain?
How many brains in vats are there in this building that has no top floor?
Ten thousand?
One hundred thousand?
Or even more?
So many people, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, have abandoned their physical bodies, hiding behind electronic screens and waiting to become androids.
Do you guys all play this high-stakes game?
Flesh and blood pain, mechanical ascension?
...
...
Just then, Xu Milu's attention was drawn to the other side.
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