Chapter 912 - 191: Questions

"This helmet, I bought it before I even went to Berlin..."

...from a roadside on my way home from work.

"The black market dealer said this thing was thrilling, that it could break the limits of the official EU Super Dream helmet..."

...such things are usually more expensive, and this one could bypass normal safety inspections.

"I like using this to watch Super Dreams; it even has a hidden scent and touch module..."

...though its origins were unclear, it was very useful indeed.

Everything Yon the big guy said matched what big guy Elliot had said, and Elliot could completely follow what Yon wanted to say because he had said all this before.

The way he obtained the helmet, the joy after bringing it back, the pleasure the helmet brought, exceeding what a normal product could offer, feeling different from others...

These were all his thoughts once upon a time.

Elliot became increasingly silent, and in Yon’s eyes, this silence seemed unapproachable.

[Elliot: Bro, this...]

[Lille: What do you mean ’this’? I’ve long told you that helmet was intentionally given to you by the Network Supervision—they’ve been releasing these seemingly illegal little things within the territory, or do you think your amateur network skills could avoid their surveillance?]

[Elliot: So now I...]

A question suddenly arose in Elliot’s mind:

The helmet was the opportunity for him to know Lille, and Lille had already told him that the helmet was intentional deployment by the Network Supervision and the European Union, all under their control.

He hadn’t thought this way before, but now suddenly considered: since the helmet’s deployment was within the Network Supervision’s plans, could the big brother...

also be in the plan?

And how much of his seemingly illegal little tricks and tactics truly escaped the surveillance of the Network Supervision?

This doubt was forcibly swallowed back into his heart.

[Elliot: ...What now? Harlin Eck has disappeared.]

[Lille: Harlin Eck hasn’t disappeared; he’s been promoted—at least on the surface, though I suspect he’s indeed disappeared behind the scenes.]

[Lille: This helmet used Harlin Eck’s identity code, gaining network access by hacking into a washing machine in a yet-to-be-renewed rental room. Mostly, it’s used just like that, seeming to "deceive" Network Supervision.]

[Lille: The Network Supervision will soon make suggestions to you.]

Sevens and Elliot received a message from Network Supervision simultaneously.

[Network Surveillance Agent: The helmet has some issues; it contains an identity emulation system, and we will immediately come to reclaim it.]

[Network Surveillance Agent: There was a problem with the list we gave you earlier; Harlin Eck has been away from Berlin for some time. Yon Davidson is there now, indeed working at the IEC factory.]

[Network Surveillance Agent: Do you think he’s connected to the intimidation case?]

[Sevens: What do you think? You guys are the ones dealing with network security. Do you think such errors appearing in Berlin is normal?]

[Network Surveillance Agent: We don’t rely on feelings. Have you discovered any other evidence?]

That familiar feeling—

Other evidence? None.

The Network Supervision, after repeatedly reviewing and failing to find evidence of the elusive AI, will give up interrogating Elliot, and certainly Yon as well.

Now Elliot was getting even more anxious, pacing around unconsciously. Realizing his abnormal state, after signaling to Sevens, he left the room.

At the doorway, Alina, who had been waiting outside, saw Elliot come out alone and asked in surprise, "Why are you coming out alone? You look like you just woke up from being hit in the head."

Elliot walked straight to the corridor railing, slapped his hands on it, and looked at the atrium. "...Though I don’t smoke or drink, I kind of understand why some people turn to smoking under intense pressure now..."

"How do you understand that?"

Elliot gazed at the workers passing below in the atrium, remained silent for a while, and then said, "...It’s convenient, and it can help ease this stupid appearance I have now."

After speaking, he felt Alina behind him, nudging him, and turned around to find it was indeed a cigarette.

Alina already had one between her lips and had produced a lighter: "Go on."

Elliot hesitated for a moment, then smiled and took the cigarette—

and immediately started coughing.

"Haha, this is for seasoned smokers. You need to take it slow, and—don’t inhale it into your lungs on your first try!"

"Cough cough...why didn’t you say so earlier..."

In the time it took them to exchange these words, Johnny appeared at the railing, looking at the workers passing by, and then at the two beside him...

[Johnny: Is he in love? He’s got himself a partner now?]

[Johnny: If you told me back when we just arrived at the EU that this big guy would hook up with a big beauty from the Su Federation, I’d ask if you believe him or believe me as Arasaka Saburo?]

[Lille: Why do you care about that?]

[Johnny: Just thinking about that big guy landing someone like her gets to me...anyway, this situation clearly isn’t quite right. What do you think is going on?]

[Johnny: Perhaps the EU already noticed this big guy’s issues; perhaps cyberpsychosis doesn’t even exist...]

[Johnny: If you ask me, living so well here, salaries going up, opposing corporate dogs, and even promising days off after the typhoon—causing trouble still seems ungrateful.]

[Johnny: But why do I feel something’s off about it all?]

[Lille: There are too many things off, like you, the anti-corporate colonial pioneer and free Johnny Silverhand, actually starting to speak for the EU.]

[Johnny: I know you have some issues with me, but I’m not someone who finds everything bothersome—]

[Johnny: Alright, maybe a bit, but that doesn’t relate to what we’re discussing now.]

[Lille: How can it not relate? Johnny, you feel something’s wrong, but because you think life is already good enough, you overlook the problem—which is the biggest problem.]

[Lille: The trolley problem has long been abandoned to philosophers’ minds, but in this world, trolley problems occur every minute and second—]

[Lille: A seemingly problematic issue is right there. If revealing it could disrupt your beautiful life now, would you still do it?]

[Johnny: Of course...]

[Lille: It’s easy to say, hard to do. Sounding off on the internet is simpler than peeing. There’s no shortage of online warriors supporting Night City’s independence movement here, but they wouldn’t actually buy a ticket to Night City.]

[Johnny: Isn’t that obvious? Who would give up...]

Johnny stopped halfway: Indeed, it’s obvious, or else he wouldn’t need to write songs—calling people to riot under Arasaka Tower, no one would go, but Johnny Silverhand performing a concert?

It would be a sea of people.

[Johnny: But this isn’t the same as the trolley problem...]

[Lille: It doesn’t seem the same, but everyone having the choice is the same; you can’t expect one choice to be absolutely right, and then confirm it as ’absolutely right’ before you make it.]

[Lille: The enthusiasm of the workers’ movement will quickly be redirected, dissolved, and if the answer isn’t reached before the dissolution, it will never be reached.]

[Lille: You asked me why I’m so cautious, insistent on urging this big guy Elliot to do things instead of doing them myself...because the answer must be something they seek out themselves.]

[Johnny: Tsk, Holy Mother, if you think it must be done, you should...]

[Lille: Just like the EU, holding their hand, forcing them to do it, right?]

Johnny was at a loss for words momentarily, waved his hand, and faded into thin air.

The development of prosthetics and cyber technology is not the foundational technology for the Cyberpunk World becoming what it is—

A hammer can build houses or smash someone’s skull; it is people who ultimately decide the purpose of tools:

It is cybernetics that is the foundation of the Cyberpunk World, achieving seamless control with cyber technology, transforming people into tools to achieve certain goals, with prosthetization being just an external manifestation.

Lille looked at Elliot and Alina, two men and women who met by chance, moving forward in the storm, step by step becoming companions, growing feelings for each other...

Love is humanity’s innate control mechanism, far more real than ’righteousness’.

The EU has been stable for so many years for a reason, with opponents much tougher than one might imagine.