Chapter 466 - 437: Brain Demon (Part 10)

The Brain Demon Gang was a mere trio, three individuals of unknown origins.

In other developed areas, this would be a significant issue, but in Night City, it could only be described as commonplace.

The NCPD would conduct a population census in two ways. One was through voluntary cooperation from the residents, including, but not limited to, door-to-door surveys and active registration.

The other was a passive method involving residents: municipal surveillance cameras, public service networks—assets belonging to the official municipal government of Night City or parts promised in company contracts to cooperate with investigations—all would become part of the NCPD’s resident database.

However, in Night City, there were no true rulers, and thus, no truly comprehensive database existed.

When Lille discovered them, they had already been pierced and charred by high-voltage electric arcs.

Tesla weapons were weapons that attacked with high-voltage electric arcs, but obviously, what had pierced them was not a Tesla weapon but a random, massive electrical arc surge...

Lille had seen Tesla weapons before, and a Tesla weapon capable of piercing these three people in such a manner would definitely require special design and would not be small in size.

However, this wasn’t the biggest problem; the three could be dealt with later.

The most pressing issue was the over 200 "cybernetic zombies" still in the computer room, and what to do with this "mainframe."

Or rather, this true Brain Demon.

"Hero... Is there any hope for my mom?"

Jostar lay on the prosthetics surgery table, his body halved.

But this half was made of some truly extraordinary materials, many of which Lille had never seen before.

Inside the access pod, Jostar’s mother trembled violently, like she was having a seizure, while Lille watched for a while before turning back to Jostar.

"3...2..."

"Hero, what are you counting..."

"1."

"Argh!"

Suddenly, Jostar also began to tremble violently!

Twisted hallucinations took over all his senses, followed by intense convulsions and uncontrollable behavior...

Without a doubt, this was undoubtedly brain-white matter frenzy; one look at his mother’s appearance was enough to know—

What normal person has their brain oozing out of their skull?

After about seven or eight seconds, Jostar returned to reality; the pain was almost enough to break through his psychological defenses, but he still hadn’t received an answer:

"Hero... Hero..."

Jostar, barely alive, raised his hand; his Prosthetic Eye flickering madly—

The Eyes of Golden Flame had been removed, and his current eyes were unnervingly normal, seemingly a product of Qilusi, appearing no different from human eyes.

Premium goods.

Lille took out a Chlorophyll Immunosuppressant from the box at his waist and jammed it into Jostar’s neck injection port.

This would significantly alleviate the immune reaction and inflammation of the densely packed nerves in the brain, greatly reducing his pain.

Pain could rob a person of judgment and thinking ability.

"What did you see?"

With gritted teeth, Jostar said, "I... I saw my mom found the Brain Demon Gang... They said they had work for them to do and skill chips for them to claim..."

"The Brain Demon Gang used them for experiments... She... It hurts... Damn... It hurts so much..."

Lille frowned: It was no longer the pain caused by inflammatory reactions.

It was just pure pain.

"Damn..." Dum Dum at the side felt a chill listening to Jostar’s voice.

This kid could endure pain like no other in the Vortex Gang, after all, he was one of those equipped with Centaur Mecha during internal fights, and he had even gone through the ’head dismantling’ experience just like the gang boss, undergoing a full-body prosthetic transformation.

If he could be in so much pain, how sick was it?

So, warily, Dum Dum gestured towards the cable linking Jostar’s brain to his mother’s: "Can’t we disconnect it first?"

Lille shook his head: "No."

If Jostar couldn’t handle it, the connection could be severed, but if it was his mom, and he still wanted to save her, it would be different.

Once disconnected, it would be hardly possible to connect again.

Jostar’s mother was the super database the Brain Demon Gang used for skill chip integration, a true "human AI."

Massive data was stored in her brain, called upon, reorganized, and produced according to the needs of the Brain Demon Gang.

The production of full-body prosthetics and skill chips was clearly the handiwork of this "mainframe."

And within the vast data, memories also became muddled.

"...Listen, kid," Lille said to Jostar, "your mom now has too many skill chip data crammed into her—I don’t know how she’s managed to hang on..."

Jostar suddenly let out a piercing howl, his voice turning into that of a woman’s—

"I want to make money to get new chips for Yoshida..."

Lille frowned deeply and administered another dose of chlorophyll immunosuppressant to Jostar, followed by a shot of the neuroactive agent to prevent him from being overwhelmed by the massive illusions.

After these two injections, Jostar’s brain instantly became clear, and the pain intensified.

"Little brother, if you still want to save your mom, stay lucid, hear me out."

"Skill chips themselves are a form of procedural memory, but once you cross the safety threshold designed into them, the boundaries with declarative memory blur."

"That means her impressions of past experiences will grow indistinct, personal cognition will become entangled with the skill chip data in the massive external storage devices..."

"I can try to cut off her connection to these devices, but I’m not certain which memories have already moved to external storage, and even if the removal is successful...

Her brain is already ruined."

"What do you mean? Will she forget me?"

Jostar, injected with the active agent, was incredibly lucid and immediately grasped the key point.

Lille paused, "What do you think?"

Jostar was in excruciating pain, experiencing the delusion of performing surgery on himself.

After all, why would his own mother install these prosthetics in him if not for confusing her "work object" with her son?

His mom wouldn’t even let him get a tattoo.

Confusion.

Being in the illusion had let Jostar empathize with his mom, allowing him to feel the love he had overlooked.

His mom had become the true "Brain Demon" precisely because of this unique love.

But this love was nothing in the face of the vast, cold, and chaotic data stream, just a whisper in the wild wind.

He couldn’t accept the reality: his mom forgetting him, does that also mean...

In this city, the only person who loved him, would forget him?

"But I have a second option." Seeing Jostar’s state stabilize in a strange way, Lille continued, "We reinforce your connection, filter joint memories, synchronize to excise the external hardware, and lastly, maintain white matter integrity.

Maybe one day you’ll be able to pull your mom out of there, or perhaps..."

"I choose the second option!"

"...Or perhaps you’ll both die in the illusion, two white matter crazed idiots," Lille finished.

"I choose the second option!!!"

Jostar screamed out this sentence!

Hiss—

Little Octopus swept aside all the mechanical arms on the prosthetic surgery table, Lille pulled out a cable from the mainframe access point, ready to plug it into his own brain interface...

"Hold on." V grabbed Lille’s hand, "What are you doing?"

"Neural bridging, this task requires a hacker with sufficiently advanced brainpower and strong computing capability for real-time operation, and of course, it requires AI assistance."

"You..." V clicked his tongue, "Don’t screw it up."

Lille shrugged his shoulders.

Perhaps he was the only one in the world who could do this job.

[Little Octopus: Big brother, I’m ready!]

[(ง’̀-’́)ง]

"Hold up there, hero!" DumDum extended a large hand, "Count me in for the neural bridge..."

"What are you joining in for?"

"I can’t really go back and tell people I was just plain kidnapped and the Brain Demon Gang were all my lackeys, right?"

DumDum hopped over with a limp leg: "It would be a terrible loss of face, let me join in, it would give me a sense of participation..."

Click.

As the neural link was connected, DumDum immediately fell to the ground convulsing.