Chapter 780 - 59 Ordinary People

The development of technology follows certain trails, and for anything that can logically think or even move, time is a significant tag that helps them understand the world.

For a problem like what one plus one equals, time is not needed to help clear thoughts, so Lille and Munemasa can maintain a certain level of thinking ability, but to survive further, they must gradually repair their memories...

Especially Munemasa’s database.

Arasaka’s main enemies have always been Europeans, after all, Mei Country people have already fallen to their own financial fraud and deception, leaving only the European Union in front of Arasaka Saburo.

Munemasa once processed countless information related to this aspect on Arasaka Company’s servers, and might have a deeper understanding of European technology development history than Europeans themselves —

After all, after the Old Net collapsed, everyone’s technological level dramatically regressed, and only AIs with self-awareness had complete data records left.

Although Munemasa’s database became considerably incomplete due to the wandering with Lille, he is still Arasaka Company’s "former employee" who poses the biggest threat to Europeans on a technical level.

Hacking could even take just a moment:

The transmitter and recognition code of this smart home system can even be used to open the back door of the prosthetic system in this room of the nerd.

[ Name: Elliot Grove ]

[ ID: UK-2070-01-563829 ]

[ Identity: UK-France Undersea Channel Maintenance Worker. ]

[ Biometric information, DNA, fingerprints, retinal scans, financial accounts, social media, criminal records... ]

[ Legal Citizen. ]

The law-abiding Elliot’s information is detailed enough to create a synthetic human just like him — if such technology existed.

However, hacked Elliot has no awareness, as the prosthetic device slightly increased by a few tenths of a degree Celsius did not elicit any reaction.

All he’s thinking about right now is: What if he gets caught by Network Supervision trying to use equipment bought from a stall to climb over the wall?!

What if Network Supervision flips through his computer... sees what’s inside, and starts questioning his relatives and friends?!!

Thinking of this, he dresses himself while tidying up the room, rummaging through under the bed for a mysterious storage device...

Just when he plugged in the mysterious portable hard drive, a strange voice came into his head:

[ Lille: Don’t mess around, I have a way to help you evade Network Supervision. ]

Elliot, startled: "Who’s speaking!"

[ Lille: Did you forget who you were communicating with just now? ]

Just now?

In the stuffy room, this 27-year-old nerd, a legal citizen in Europe, just felt as if he was plunged into an ice cave, his whole body shivering...

Could Network Supervision really not be lying to him?

Could there really be AI outside the wall?!

[ Lille: You’re in trouble, kid. ]

...

[ Johnny: This kid really is a genius, doesn’t think of destroying evidence first when in trouble, instead thinks of destroying evidence of his weird little perversions...]

Indeed, Elliot first thought not of escaping, but of destroying his illegal little videos...

And Super Dream.

[ Johnny: But looking at these things... there’s really nothing to be embarrassed about, right? ]

In Johnny’s view, Elliot’s collection is too normal, isn’t it just porn? What’s there to be proud of? The most peculiar thing here is just the mechanical dog videos —

In the Black Superdream market of Night City, anyone selling this stuff would be laughed at.

[ Lille: It shows he’s an... honest fatso. ]

It’s a bit contradictory to say: if Elliot were honest, he wouldn’t commit unlawful acts, especially messing with Black Wall.

But if you say he’s dishonest, in trouble not only does he not try to destroy evidence, not even a bit of denial, he doesn’t even generate a tiny bit of resistance, as if subconsciously he’s already accepting a fact:

Network Supervision is bound to find evidence of his messing around, he’s doomed.

Or perhaps he thinks... it’s no big deal?

"It’s over, it’s over, it’s over..." Elliot’s eyes were vacant, continuously searching through his hard drive and electronic devices, connecting one after another.

These devices, although not mainly for computing, each electronic device must have a central control chip, these central control chips can provide more computing power to Lille and Munemasa.

Under Munemasa’s guidance, Elliot began dismantling the hard drive and chips.

The good news is, this fatso’s job is the maintenance worker of the UK-France Channel, there’re some tools in the room, simple operations on devices are no problem.

[ Munemasa: Alright, let him put on that helmet and go out, I think I know what’s going on. ]

[ Lille: Kid, get ready to head out. ]

[ Lille: You don’t look like a hacker, how did you get that set of equipment? ]

Elliot was wearing a set of work clothes.

The clothing didn’t look dirty, just like his room, though messy and the lighting depended entirely on holographic lights, it wasn’t dirty or smelly.

However, this set of clothes definitely had some age, with motor oil, combustion emissions, smog particles and such impregnating it for too long...

The clothes, just like the person, have absorbed the scent of the work he has been doing for so long.

With a wailing face, he said: "I just... I just wanted to climb over the wall to see the outside world, I heard them say there’s lots of unspeakable things in the Old Net, exciting things..."

[ Johnny: Just looking for a thrill? Really low level. ]

"No!" Elliot shouted inside his head excitedly, "I... I want to know what Network Supervision has hidden, they must have hidden something..."

[ Johnny: Hidden porn? I see you’ve hidden quite a lot of stuff, what I just sent you is a great beauty from 50 years ago, I forgot the name, but... pretty, right? ]

"Not pretty." The fatso shook his head, "That hair is so weird, red and purple like a rocket."

[ Johnny: You don’t know shit...]

Elliot stepped out the room.

His home is a single room close to 25 square meters, far smaller than Lille’s place in Night City, but the layout is quite similar:

One wall was dug out for a bed and wardrobe, the opposite wall had a vending machine and washing machine, the bathroom wrapped separately in a glass curtain wall...

And the view outside his room was equally more dismal than that of the Super Skyscraper:

Because the holographic lighting system can provide the room owner excellent lighting effect, simulating almost any light setting the owner can afford, naturally the room didn’t need skylight.

With no need for skylight in the room, the apartment building didn’t have to be equipped with light wells...

This building is just a square house, with a circle of rooms outside and inside, if not said to be an apartment, one might think it’s a prison.

Oddly enough, this corridor is clean to an unusual degree, with cleaning robots tirelessly moving over the floor again and again.

[ Johnny: Damn, are you in prison? ]

"Please respect my home a bit! I’m not in prison! I’m not a criminal! The inner circle was chosen because the rent was cheap! Thriftiness is a virtue!"

[ Lille: Connect your personal link to the terminal at the maintenance room door, act naturally, just like you’re maintenance personnel. ]

"Ah?! Illegally using computer technology to hack public equipment warrants imprisonment!"

[ Lille: Messing with Black Wall gets you shot, hurry up. ]

Elliot stiffened his neck, looking at the robots on the ground and occasionally hasty neighbors passing by, his legs almost started shaking!

He felt... he felt these things were all watching him...

As if everyone knows he’s about to commit a crime.

[ Lille: Go on! No one’s watching you! What are you waiting for? Waiting for Network Supervision to come? ]

[ Johnny: This fatso is useless... wait to get shot. ]

"I’m not useless!"

Elliot gulped, habitually wiped his hand on his clothes.