Chapter 1133: Chapter 369: The Cyber Old Net Concert
Lucy’s throat moved slightly, despite already knowing that the personality imprint in the chip was Johnny Silverhand, she couldn’t help but hesitate as she watched this Night City legend seemingly about to wake up.
"Can it be turned off?"
"Impossible."
Hathaway shook her head.
"Unless we inject drugs into this brain now to return it to a brain-dead state, the transformation process cannot be stopped. Moreover, doing so would render the relic chip useless."
This outcome was certainly something neither Lucy nor Lin Miao wanted to see.
Qiwei recovered from the shock and couldn’t help but ask,
"What if this chip is inserted into a normal person’s brain... what will happen?"
Hathaway spoke with a heavy tone,
"Neurons and the cerebral cortex are where human consciousness is born. If they are altered, then that person... will be gone, replaced by Johnny Silverhand’s personality.
And this guy... strictly speaking, cannot be considered Johnny Silverhand himself, just an imprint with the same memory. The real Johnny Silverhand died the day Huangban Tower exploded, his corpse was exhumed, DNA matched completely, dead beyond doubt."
Qiwei murmured,
"This is Huang Ban’s technology... if the personality imprint inside was Huang Ban Sanlang...
Her words left the three of them afraid to think further.
Even though the three of them were either hackers or medical biologists, none believed the conversion of biological ion signals into electronic signals could be considered true consciousness transfer, merely a digital consciousness perfectly mimicking someone who has died.
But this distinction only mattered to the individual; to others, it appeared as though Sanlang achieved immortality.
"Ugh... "
During their conversation, Johnny Silverhand, just awakened from his slumber, began accessing more memories.
He vaguely recalled his last memory, seeming like he was captured alive by Huang Ban before the nuclear explosion, seeing Huang Ban Sanlang in a dizzy environment, and witnessed the entire nuclear explosion process before dying.
After a brief gathering of thoughts, he roughly understood his location, most likely imprisoned in a Huang Ban computer lab, just like those killed by the Soul Killer.
"Alright, Huang Ban Sanlang, you bastard, what do you want with me here? Hmm, keep me in a computer as a pet, play with my consciousness, you think fantasizing will make you win?"
"I’m telling you that’s never going to happen, just like your second will only be in pieces like that Huangban Tower I blew up, BOOM! Never to be put back together again."
"It’s useless anyway, look at yourself, Old Bi climbing, men age and only have a stiff mouth left, bawling all day watching Bi-Kong, you androgynous rotten ass..."
Truth be told, rockers and spitters like him probably could only be rivaled by Brother Ni and forum friends when it comes to spewing shit.
His words rendered the people outside speechless, shattering the legendary image they had of a noble sacrifice to perish with Huangban Tower.
The idol mercenaries in Night City chased for years turned out to be a bitterly caustic loudmouth.
Lucy turned off the computer speaker and looked towards Hathaway.
"He can’t see anything now, right?"
"Humans rely entirely on the five senses to receive external information, without them, one might not even know if they’re truly alive or trapped in some hell devoid of darkness, just pure nothingness."
Hathaway pointed at her own eyes.
"If you allow, I can connect his eyes and ears now."
"Wait."
Lucy pressed her temples, and after her cybernetic eye glowed for a few seconds, a projector extended from the lab ceiling, flickering twice, Lin Miao’s projection also appeared in the lab.
He stood with arms crossed.
"Alright, let’s see what good news this legendary figure who fought Adam’s Hammer has for us."
The picture after connecting with the cybernetic eye was somewhat abstract, a lonely brain and some neural electronic components floated in the cylindrical nutrient jar, and the additional installation of cybernetic eyes only added to the bizarreness.
Especially with these eyes looking in different directions, it had quite a nineties American cutscene feel.
Emerging from the void where he could only detect some data flowing around, Johnny felt the world around him stretch instantly, followed by a strong light illuminating his entire world.
Like crawling out from underground darkness, it took Johnny a while to concentrate and figure out what the situation was in the glaring lab lights.
"Where is this? Tokyo, Japan? Huh? Who the hell are you?"
The cybernetic eyes turned 180 degrees backward, seeing his own brain, instantly startling Johnny.
"Whoa, what the hell did you guys do to my body?"
This kind of surprise bore none of the calm, wise, and incisive leadership qualities of his legend.
Who hyped up this loudmouth anyway?
And how did this loudmouth hook up with Outkanning?
Also, Lai Xuan, are you seriously ill? How did you end up stealing this guy’s chip?
Lin Miao: "Calm down, Mr. Johnny, this isn’t Huang Ban, we went through a lot to get you out of the Huangban family’s grip."
"So what?"
Johnny didn’t seem inclined to acknowledge any gratitude.
"How is this any different from being dead? Just kill me already, I don’t want to live like this if it means living like this."
