Under the guidance of the monkey-faced eagle, Russell and Ringo did not fly long before arriving at their destination.

It's a non-remarkable-looking residential area, not too far from here.

In terms of map distance alone, it is about less than four kilometers.

The difference is that the place where the dust crevice originally lived was on the top floor of a high-rise building, with a small family house full of sunlight.

The location given by the monkey-faced eagle is closer to the ground - specifically the second floor.

Russell got out of the float car and subconsciously raised his head to look at the sky.

Although it was close to noon, the sun was barely visible. The pitch-black high-rise rises from the ground, like a giant sword with a strong root, straight to the ground, giving people a solemn aura that cannot be ignored. The glimmer of light that emerged from the cracks was more like a wound cut out of the night sky, oozing the blood of light that should not appear in the night.

It was daylight, but there were lights all around.

It's not just the ground floor, it's every floor and every household.

In a dimly lit corner like the bottom of an abyss, it is noisy and crowded, like a busy city.

It's a residential area, but it's more like a shopping mall. Each of the shops has an open door to the outside, and the area is not large, and there are no tasteful signs. Instead, a flickering sign with different frequencies is fixed at the door of these shops.

Because of the lack of space, some signboards are even inserted directly in the middle of the two stores. The signboard is split in two horizontally, with a "Sour Soup Meatballs" written on it and "Foot Massage →" written below.

And the houses that are interspersed among the shops and have closed doors are the houses where civilians live.

In fact, those shops are usually split in two. On this side are shops, cash registers, or kitchen curtains that fall so closely. On the other side of the curtain, there is a living space, which can lead from the shop to the living room and even the bedroom.

"Most of these stores are not businessmen. Instead, about 64% of households will choose to open at least one store. Rely on your own craftsmanship to earn extra extra money.

The monkey-faced eagle's voice sounded in Russell's head: "Because for them there is nothing to hope for in life." can only rely on this way to open up sources and reduce expenditures and save living expenses. ”

If you don't have a store, the living space may be a little more spacious.

But that kind of spaciousness doesn't mean much either.

When you compare and choose between a "spacious living environment" and "a very stable income", the former becomes a luxury.

"It's different from Happiness Island...... There is a special kind of 'correctness' on the island of happiness, and that is the 'happiness system'. In order to maintain the power of her holy rank, Chairman Selun is committed to making the residents feel 'happy'. The 'Happiness System', which was born based on the criteria for determining the power of the Holy Order, quantifies the happiness of the entire island in real time.

"And unemployment is an obvious 'unhappiness'.

"Because of this, people are put in jobs that don't make sense. The company is not allowed to dismiss any employee at will unless it is necessary and for good reason.

"But in Tongshen Island, this is absolutely impossible preferential treatment - in order to reduce human resource costs, repeatedly firing employees who are about to complete their internship period is a fairly routine operation in Tongshen Island. The flip side of the possibility of losing one's job at any time is that you can 'find a job' at any time. However, if you find a job through this route, it must be tiring and poorly paid.

"In other words, with the hard work of a large number of top scientists, Tongshen Island does not need a 'middle level'. Because they don't need their own talent training mechanism, the universities on Tongshen Island are also the worst among the seven empty islands.

"Anyone who needs talent can spend a lot of money directly from other empty islands to recruit people to immigrate, and the recruited scholars will naturally fill this technology tree from the top down and bring new jobs. Those who come from here can only become 'hard laborers' as consumables if they don't become top talents.

That's why Tongshen Island is full of factories and individual shops – those who don't want to work, or fear that they might be fired at any time, need a stable source of income.

"For them, maintaining their own business is more important than working hard."

The synthesized voice of the monkey-faced eagle does not detect emotional fluctuations, but rather resembles a dull-voiced, emotionally charged announcer reciting a press release with a blank expression.

"Surprised, Hero."

"I'm sure you've never seen people live together in such a way that they mingle with each other."

"What do you say...... I don't know, I think you're a native resident of Tongshen Island. ”

Russell just chuckled and replied in a low voice, "Strictly speaking, you haven't lived here for even a day." ”

"Not necessarily, Hero......"

The monkey-faced eagle said calmly.

Russell passed by the meatball shop in the whisper of a monkey-faced eagle.

After swiping the prosthetic body on the door, the door was smoothly pushed open.

The people who came and went from the second floor did not pay attention to Russell. Instead, from the railings on the third, fourth, and fifth floors, there were drunk, or laughing and playing, pointing at Russell with contempt.

When Russell entered the door, he saw nothing but darkness.

Lin Ye followed Russell, squeezed in, and closed the door with his hand.

Russell didn't need to turn on the lights in the room. Just the neon light leaking in from the window, and the light that spilled out when the door opened, you could see a figure sitting in the hall.

She sat upright in a wheelchair and wore a jacket with loose cuffs.

And at this moment, she was holding a gun and calmly aimed at Russell.

The silhouette of the figure looked petite, and the long, straight black hair fell against the cool neon light.

And the dim yellow calm eyes are like two lights lit up in the night.

The shadow of daytime, cast on her cheeks. Blocked most of the expressions.

Russell looked at her mouth slightly open, her small and delicate lips opened slightly, and a cold and immature voice came:

"—how can you be sure that I haven't lived here for even a day?"

The voice of the monkey-faced eagle in Russell's head overlapped with the crisp voice of the girl in front of him.

Russell calmly watched everything in front of him.

His emerald green pale hole had turned into a vertical child, and his talent for night vision from his spiritual relatives was working.

Lin Yi felt the surging crisis, and the pink glow of the child's foundation suddenly lit up.

Unlike Russell, she does not have night vision.

"I'm going to turn on the lights, Mr. Ultramarine."

She lowered her voice and said softly, "You pay a little attention and don't be blinded." ”

Then, she fumbled to turn on the light in the room.

And the girl with the gun did not remove the muzzle, but remained aimed at Russell's heart and remained motionless.

When Lin Yi turned on the light, he suddenly felt a numbness in his back-

Not just because of the gun, but because she saw more than one person in the room.

Strictly speaking, it is "full of people".

Not seven or eight, but twenty or thirty.

Except for the girl who opened her eyes, everyone else had their eyes closed.

They were male or female, as if they were dead. It's like a doll shop that has been smashed, and those dolls are scattered all over the place, revealing an eerie atmosphere. The overcrowded atmosphere makes it look like a warehouse.

Including the girl in the wheelchair, all the "dolls" looked to be no more than twelve or thirteen years old.

What they all have in common is that all of them have white hair, except for the girl in the wheelchair, who has long, straight black hair.

Russell could clearly recognize that the prostheses they were using were relatively inexpensive - except for the prosthetic used by the long, straight black girl, which was quite expensive.

"I should ...... What to call you? ”

Russell said calmly: "Monkey-faced eagle? Still is......

"-Naraku-7?"

"You can understand all of this without any problems."

The monkey-faced eagle program in Russell's brain didn't speak again.

The person who replied was the expressionless black-haired girl in front of Russell.

She also let out a crisp voice like a wind chime: "This is probably the difference in 'performance'."

"I am truly amazed by your gifts and talents. But there are some things that can't be solved by 'talent'. ”

"Naraku-7" is petite and wears the uniform of a junior high school student. His eyes shone with a dim yellow glow similar to Russell's.

That kind of steady and dazzling fire is the glow that belongs to the spiritual energy.

"Those are your kindred."

Russell's gaze did not waver in the slightest, and remained fixed on Naraku-7.

Not because she was worried about the gun in her hand - with Russell's reaction speed, he would definitely be able to eject at a distance of pulling the trigger.

He believed that the "monkey-faced eagle", who was also born on Happiness Island and had turned into an electronic ghost before arriving on Tongshen Island, must be able to understand what Russell had done on the airship back then.

She would raise her gun at this point, not to threaten Russell's life.

Rather, it is a willingness not to go any closer.

Russell, on the other hand, kept his distance and maintained respect, looking at Naraku-7 in a wheelchair at the door.

"You shouldn't have a disability."

Russell suddenly spoke, "What's the point of that wheelchair?" ”

"It's the base of the bomb."

Naraku-7 replied calmly, "It's a bomb that can blow up this building once activated." I can 'boom' and blow everyone up together. ”

"So, the gun in your hand ......"

"It's an igniter."

The girl made a crisp voice: "The ignition of the bomb." If you press it, it will explode, if you leave my hand, if I die, it will explode.

"I'm not like a 'heavenly send', with a revenge mentality against society. It's just a backhand that I wish I never used to start a backup plan. ”

"I'm glad you didn't act rashly. That means we can probably have a good talk. ”

It's like pointing to a butterfly and pronouncing the other party's scientific name.

If you ignore the fact that under the other party's shell, there is the soul of a middle-aged man who died nearly ten years ago......

You may also feel a little unearthly cold and cute.

Lin Yi on the side could only feel cold sweat.

- The moment she turned on the light and saw the gun, she wanted to use her psionic energy to glue the gun to it.

But before she made a move, she thought about it, which might ruin Russell's plan. So she planned to wait for Russell to give the order before making a move.

…… If she had just short-circuited her brain, her hands were faster than her brains for a split second...... I'm afraid everyone has been blown up by now.

"Because I almost guessed it before."

Russell sighed: "Synths vs. Humans...... In other words, what is the biggest difference between a mind that has completed uploading and a soul that has been imprisoned in a shell?

"When I realized that, I kind of knew...... Naraku-7 suddenly mastered knowledge that she shouldn't know or master, and she awakened the psionic energy that wasn't supposed to appear in the first place. Even gave the ontology of the 'poisonous wave' that was more advanced than the 'Creation God Project', what the hell is it.

"—that's you, Monkey-Faced Eagle."

"That's a good guess."

Hearing this, the corners of the girl's mouth rose slightly for the first time: "The question you raised shows that you have come into contact with the essence." It's worthy of being a student brought out by that monster. ”

It was not a girl's carefree smile, but a hint of arrogance and satisfaction—like the joy of a professor when he saw a student give the most correct answer to his question.

From the girl's calm and delicate artificial face, Russell seemed to be able to see the approving gaze of the middle-aged man projected behind her.

"What is the biggest difference between a mind that has been uploaded and a soul that is imprisoned in a shell? It's easy to think of, and it's the only one.

That is, consciousness in digital form can be stolen, usurped, peeped, modified, and copied.

"It's just like any other piece of data. No matter what means of encryption and protection are used, it is also based on the protection of the code layer. As a form of pure data, it can be easily 'copied'.

"When a person is uploaded, there is only one 'mother parent'. But if you need to, you can copy it in hundreds or thousands of copies and send it back to the world.

"At that point, which individual is the real 'mother'?

"—I'm curious about that. So when she was performing Nirvana from Naraku-6, she injected data called the 'Monkey-Faced Eagle Program' into her mind intelligence.

"A theoretically impossible task.

"To unite two human beings in the truest sense of the word.

"I completed this experiment. The first experiment ever conducted by mankind.

"It's me in front of you right now—neither Naraku7 nor Monkey-Faced Hawk.

"A fabricated soul, an artificially created shell...... In it, the intellectual thinking of real human beings is mixed in. The unity of the artificial and the natural, the unity of the male and the female, the unity of the mature and the immature, the unity of the experimenter and the experimented - the unity of life and death. At this point, who is the 'clutter of the mind'?

"There is no doubt that today's 'me' is the fusion of hypocrisy and truth." Tai Chi' in the two instruments.

"You can call me ...... Twilight.

"It's my new name for myself. Like the division between day and night, like the hues of my psionic powers. ”