Abyssal Wanderer

Chapter 2 NO.0002: Your Name

"Hey, you, you're finally awake."

In a daze, Jiang Zhou heard someone talking to him.

The person who spoke seemed to be aware of the fact that he was already sober earlier than him.

Jiang Zhou blinked and focused his blurred vision. A burly man with strange metal bottle caps on his eyes was sitting opposite him, "staring" at him with concern.

"I am..."

Jiang Zhou's consciousness was still at the moment when he received the call from "Janus" in the bar, and the sudden change of scene around him caused his mind to shut down a bit.

The "bottle-eyed" sitting opposite him continued:
"I'm sorry, brother. We were hiding from those company dogs in the warehouse of 'Theseus Freight' before, and we never thought there were people there. It was us who got you together and were arrested as rebels... I'll explain it to you later, but don't get your hopes up too much. As for the rebels, those company dogs will always kill by mistake rather than let them go."

When the other party said this, his "eyes" were a little dodged, and his expression was full of embarrassment and guilt.

Company dog?Rebels?What the hell is this bottle cap talking about?
Wasn't he still in the bar before?
Jiang Zhou looked around in a daze.

The surroundings were not the bar before he lost consciousness, but a long and narrow carriage full of technology.The four walls are covered with pitch-black matte paint, and the electronic circuits reminiscent of blood vessels spread around, emitting alternate light and dark blood-colored light like breathing.

There are about 40 people sitting on the seats on both sides of the carriage... No, it should be said that there are about 40 people imprisoned-most of them are sleeping with their heads down.Everyone's joints were firmly fixed in place by buckle-like black restraints.

Only then did Jiang Zhou realize that he was also restrained.

And in the aisle in the middle of the compartment, several black aircraft that looked like frisbees were floating in mid-air, scanning each sleeping prisoner one by one with light blue light beams.

Jiang Zhou noticed that those aircraft had neither spiral wings nor nozzles, and they just quietly floated in mid-air against the laws of gravity—as if Newton's spirit in the sky was humbly holding them up.

On the earth in 2069 where he lives, there is absolutely no such mysterious technology.

This is crossed?
Jiang Zhou, who had the retro hobby of reading online novels when he was a student, thought to himself, but then shook his head in his heart.

The "bottled eye" just now spoke standard Mandarin, and also mentioned words such as "Theseus" with a clear historical origin.In other words, I must still be on Earth...

Thinking of another outrageous possibility, Jiang Zhou collected himself, turned to look at the "bottle cap eye" and asked:
"I'm sorry big brother, I'm not so clear-headed now, can you tell me what time it is now? What year, month and day?"

"My name is Black Falcon-136. There should be no one around here with the same genetic number as me. Just call me 136."

Speaking of the obviously abnormal name, the burly man who called himself Black Falcon-136 smiled generously before replying:

“今天是3月5日。嗯，新历44年的3月5日。”

What is the new calendar?
This question flashed through his mind, but he didn't ask it directly - it is definitely a very dangerous thing to immediately expose his ignorance of common sense in a new environment.

Just as Jiang Zhou was thinking about how to continue the routine, another voice beside him helped him solve his confusion just right.

"I'm really convinced... B6, how many times have I said that the native people at the bottom of the resettlement area are used to counting the year in AD, hello! Caveman, this year is 2169 AD, how is it? Are you clearer now?"

It was a woman sitting on the left side of the Black Falcon-136 who was speaking. She seemed to be the only person in the whole car who was awake besides the two of them.

The woman was probably in her early 20s, with flamboyantly colored hair that looked as if all the paint needed to paint a painting of Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" could be found in her hair.

On her left cheek, there is a slightly fluorescent ice-blue butterfly, which looks a bit like a fluorescent tattoo popular among young people.But when Jiang Zhou saw the butterfly flapping its wings like a living thing, moving along the opponent's cheek to the skin of the neck, and then burrowing into the skin below the neckline and disappearing, he could conclude that it was definitely not something as simple as a tattoo. .

But what the other person said shocked him more than the tattoo that could move on the skin.

In 2169 A.D., have you come 100 years later? !

"How is it? Caveman, are you clearer?"

the woman asked again.

"Ah...well, I'm much more awake."

Not at all, Jiang Zhou only felt his head buzzing at the moment.It was as if someone had put a tin bucket on him and hit him hard with a bat.

calm down first...

After taking two deep breaths, Jiang Zhou thought to himself.

If it's really 100 years from now, it won't be a problem whether it's those anti-gravity flying machines or tattoos that can move on the skin-any advanced technology will be indistinguishable from magic at first glance.

But the question is, how did I get to 100 years later?
Needless to say... Only the "Janus" who seems to be the digital personality he uploaded has this suspicion.

Recalling that mysterious phone call, Jiang Zhou felt a little sour.

No... Leaving aside how it did it, why did "Janus" send himself 100 years later?

"Hey, caveman, if you're clear-headed, I have some good news for you."

The words of the woman with the butterfly tattoo once again brought Jiang Zhou's consciousness back to reality.

"Caveman" seemed to be what the other party called him, and judging from the tone, the word was probably similar to Jiang Zhou's time when he used a racist term for a certain skin-colored race that started with the word "Ni".

Don't worry about how you came to 100 years later, it's more important to figure out the current situation.

Jiang Zhou turned to look at the woman:

"What good news?"

The woman looked at Jiang Zhou playfully, and then said in a slightly gloating tone:

"Because you picked a good place to spend the night, and now you've been arrested by the 'Pluto Deep Diving Company' as a rebel group 'Icarus' rebels. We just blew up their Noord VII installation last week. The intelligence control center of the district, and also burned the brains of their regional manager. The new regional manager who was assigned said harshly as soon as he took office that we must make us 'terrorists' pay a price that we will never forget."

The status quo is updated, my luck is as good as ever, and the first thing I do when I come to this strange era is to take the blame for no reason.

"What kind of price will it be?"

Jiang Zhou, who was cursing in his heart, asked calmly on the surface.

"Good question, 'Pluto Deep Dive', as a super company that has only joined the 'Olympus Order' in recent years, their behavior style will be less concerned about whether they are decent than those old predecessors. As far as I know , They have not yet signed the "Biological Rights and Interests Protection Act." In other words, legally, because they have destroyed the company's property, they will have absolute power to dispose of our living organisms.

"According to their usual behavior style, the whole car of us will probably have their frontal lobes removed, and then according to their needs, they will be transformed into various zombie slave labor until they work until their bodies are exhausted. , to make up for the loss of their property."

In the voice of the woman with the butterfly tattoo, there was a kind of pleasure in pulling people into the water.

Probably at this moment, she can only convince herself to accept the reality by confirming that "there are people who are more miserable than herself".

The Olympic order?

Hearing the familiar term, Jiang Zhou couldn't help thinking of his old company, Olympus Group, the global artificial intelligence giant that planned the "Janus" project, and the earliest batch of super enterprises in the 21s of the 60st century.

I don't know if this Olympian order has anything to do with my old club in the past.

"What kind of good news is this?"

Jiang Zhou, whose mood sank completely, asked.

Hearing his words, the desperate and exaggerated smile on the face of the woman with the butterfly tattoo grew stronger:
"Isn't this worth celebrating? As a caveman, you should have lived a meaningless life without knowing who made you live like a gutter rat...but now, you However, as a rebel army of the 'Icarus Liberation Front', you can honorably sacrifice for the bright future of mankind and the great cause of overthrowing the super-corporate alliance. This will bring the most ignorant and pathetic life of your life. The rare idealistic brilliance, you have to be grateful."

Before Jiang Zhou could find the right words to push back, Black Falcon-136 on the side spoke:

"Qian Xia Ying, can you restrain yourself a little bit? This little brother was completely involved by innocence, and we implicated him. Also, can you stop using the slur of 'caveman'? Primitive humans fighting for their due rights is also one of the ideas created by 'Icarus', why did you become like this..."

His voice was not as warm as when he spoke to Jiang Zhou before.

"You want to ask me why I'm so mean?"

Not to be outdone, the woman named Qian Xiaying turned her head and stared at 136, as if unable to restrain her intense emotions, she said out of control:

"I can't figure out why I'm being so mean...maybe it's because I'm about to have my fucking frontal lobe cut off and a bunch of bitch memories stuffed into my head and turned into a sex doll for some pervert to play with ;Maybe because I've always been a selfish bastard, joined 'Icarus' just to make a living, not like you, a saint of high faith, who sees this ending as martyrdom and is content accept your fate!"

The more she spoke, the more excited she became. Jiang Zhou felt that if she hadn't been restrained, she would definitely be stepping on a chair to speak at this moment.

"I've always imagined myself to be the Messiah. Now that I can complete the mission of self-sacrifice, it's great, B6? Since you have no regrets in dying, can you give me a little bit of kindness? Shut your mouth for a few minutes and let me A vulgar mortal like me, before I die, find some less harmful fun for myself?"

In this regard, Black Falcon-136 shook his head, and replied with a sad expression:
"I never thought that I would die without regrets, Xia Ying. As long as I am alive, I will never accept this as my fate. I can only die without witnessing 'Icarus' complete his career... "

"You motherless thing knows a few regrets!"

Jiang Zhou, who was watching the show with his mouth shut, was shocked by Qian Xiaying's sudden offensive speech.

Frankly speaking, although the woman named Qianxia Sakura has a very punk hairstyle, her appearance is still in the cute category.The clear and lively eyes, the slightly baby-fat face, and the colorful hair make her look like she has stepped into reality from animation.Not only that, although her previous speech was harsh and bitter, her voice was soft and waxy.

And such a soft and waxy voice suddenly uttered such an aggressive speech, which made Jiang Zhou a little confused for a while.

The Black Falcon-136 on the side didn't react too much, he replied calmly:
"Naturally adjusted people are born from a birth box and do not have a biological mother. But that doesn't mean I don't understand what regret is."

"Oh? Are you trying to explain that your mother is the same as your final destination, she is a fucking box for you? That's why people like you who take selfies as family portraits can see it? Then please understand, I Not the same as you... I have a mother and younger siblings. My sister finally left the low-level resettlement area last month and went to a private secondary education center. Now I may be transformed into a sex doll, my What should my family do? You tell me, how will my family survive?"

Qian Xiaying looked at Black Falcon-136, her voice choked up at the end, and a few tears rolled down her face along with her words.

She tried to raise her hand to wipe it, but the restraints prevented her from doing so.

136 didn't speak.

There was a brief silence in the carriage, Qian Xiaying suddenly apologized in a low voice:
"I'm sorry B6, I didn't mean to say that you have no mother, I just..."

136 shook his head to signal that he didn't care, then he let out a long sigh:

"You and I are both right... In the final analysis, it is the fault of this world, but why did this world become like this?

"Is it because the Olympus Order has united all the super companies and monopolized the interface of the Abyss Darknet? Or is it because of the blessings and curses that the Abyss Darknet itself has brought to mankind? Or we should blame those Abyss roamers who opened a new era Those who blame the wall builders who isolated the old net, blame the super artificial intelligence Janus who twisted the old net into an abyss dark net..."

Hearing the familiar name "Janus", Jiang Zhou pricked up his ears calmly.

Qian Xiaying took the words with a heavy nasal voice:
"If you go back to the source, it's all the 'First Deep Diver' who released Janus into the Internet... What's the name of that fucking thing?"

"Jiangzhou."

Black Falcon-136 replied, and he went on to add:
"But I think that's a historical inevitability...Even if it wasn't for him, as long as humans at that time didn't realize the danger of digital personality technology, sooner or later someone would upload their digital personality to the Internet. The ending is just 'the first A deep diver's a different person."

"That doesn't change the fact that that dog deserves to be hacked to death. Damn, after the big shock, the thing that should be judged by all mankind has disappeared in history. No one is alive or dead."

Qian Xiaying said viciously.

Hating an ancient man who may have died 100 years ago, in the eyes of Black Falcon-136, is an emotional outlet that no one will complain about, so he didn't say much.

He turned his head and looked at the native who was innocently involved not far away, and his voice returned to the previous harmony:
"By the way, little brother, I forgot to ask, what's your name?"

Anyway, it's not called Jiang Zhou.

Jiang Zhou, whose back was covered in cold sweat, thought to himself.

(End of this chapter)