blogombal Chapter 6 The Wild Age
Chapter 6 The Wild Age
After watching Dave drive away, Chen Yisen returned to room 317.
However, Joey, who was just in bed, has vanished.
This startled him, and he quickly strode into the house.
Fortunately, Joey didn't really disappear; he just got out of bed and sat on the stool by the window, looking completely bewildered.
Perhaps sensing someone coming in, it looked up at the doorway.
For a fleeting moment, Chen Yisen even had the illusion that the person in front of him was a real person.
Fortunately, he could still clearly feel a connection with the other person's body in his consciousness, which reassured him a lot.
In fact, Chen Yisen could even sense that Joey had a set of data information similar to his own.
However, the corresponding indicator for [control capacity] has become [evolutionary capacity].
The value is 4 (4).
It is speculated that a total of 4 [characteristic genes] can be installed.
The "humanity anchor" still exists, but its value is 0 (0).
They're not even human anymore.
However, to ascertain just how inhuman he was, Chen Yisen tentatively asked, "Joey Koser?"
Joey, sitting in the chair, barely moved her eyes and replied in a flat tone, "Yes, I am."
Although he could communicate directly with Joey through consciousness, Chen Yisen still tried to ask and answer questions in words several times, and deliberately did not give any instructions, letting Joey do as she pleased.
Where do you live?
"Queens, Corona, 104th Street, 41-28".
"You have a younger sister?"
"Yes, her name is Amanda, and she's pursuing a Master of Nursing degree at Johns Hopkins University... No one in our family has ever finished high school before, it's like our ancestors were blessed to produce such a genius, so we absolutely have to make sure she graduates."
Clearly, getting his sister to graduate was one of Joey's obsessions.
From this perspective, the way to identify a "last wish" might be the last thought or the strongest desire before death; in any case, this easier task didn't appear.
The final year of the nursing program at JHU consists only of a clinical internship; once you've completed the required number of hours, you can graduate.
Although it took a long time, it's still much better than this clueless "saving the gang brothers" situation.
Chen Yisen shook his head helplessly and continued to ask:
"Does she know about your involvement in underground boxing matches and human experimentation?"
"I know about the boxing match, but I haven't mentioned the experiment. Amanda is about to apply for her third-year internship, and I'm worried about distracting her."
"..."
After a series of tests, the answers were generally fluent, and sometimes the person would even ask questions in return, which was indeed very much like a living person.
However, as the number of conversation rounds increases, you can still feel that the tone and language organization are very human-machine, like an artificial intelligence robot with decent algorithms but not very high level of interaction.
For ordinary people, it's not a big problem; at most, they might think this person is a bit slow.
Unless you are someone you know very well, it may take a long time before you notice something is wrong.
When Joey was awakened, the description of the so-called "integration" was "possessing high intelligence and the ability to act autonomously".
It seems to be quite accurate.
Thinking of this, Chen Yisen suddenly remembered the last wish he had just received, so he asked again, with a try-it-and-see attitude: "You want to save the brothers in the Latin King's gang, how do you do it? Who specifically do you want to save?"
This time, however, Joey did not give an answer.
After a moment's thought, he shook his head.
It seems that the memories he preserved are the same as those obtained by Chen Yisen, and cannot provide information outside the scope of the database.
"Something has changed within me..."
Chen Yisen was preparing to test Joey's mobility again when he was interrupted by a sudden cell phone ring.
It was Gao Fei who called.
Looking at the time, he had indeed been dawdling at the Rusty Hotel for almost an hour, so it was normal for Gao Fei and the others to be impatient.
But Chen Yisen's finger remained hovering over the answer icon, without pressing it immediately.
How should I tell the other person about this?
He's already performed a miraculous resurrection act in front of the FBI and NYPD, so there's no way he'd dispel Joey's body and sell it again; that would be tantamount to admitting he's the one with the problem.
So we had to use similar excuses to fool Gao Fei's side as well.
As for what happens next, we'll just have to take it one step at a time.
Chen Yisen answered the phone: "Hello, Uncle."
"Huff..." A clear exhalation came through the receiver, followed by Gao Fei's concerned complaint, "I didn't hear from you for so long, I thought something had happened to you."
"Something did happen," Chen Yisen replied, using the words he had prepared earlier. "The hotel owner misjudged the situation; the man isn't dead at all."
Despite Gao Fei's seemingly composed demeanor, he hasn't actually been in the corpse collection business for very long, so this situation was completely unexpected.
After a few seconds of silence, a single interjection escaped: "Huh?"
"Don't even mention it. They were just woken up when I walked in, and they thought it was a robbery or a revenge attack," Chen Yisen added. "If I hadn't pulled out my ID quickly enough, we probably would have started fighting."
Actually, he wasn't completely lying; he just slightly omitted the subject and object of some actions.
"Sigh..." Gao Fei didn't suspect anything. After all, it would be difficult for an ordinary person to make up such a lie. So he just sighed, "What a pity. I thought I had found someone with a lot of money to be made, but it turned out you made a wasted trip."
Chen Yisen also breathed a sigh of relief.
Although he inherited most of the original owner's memories, he was actually unsure what kind of person this cheap uncle really was.
If the other party asks him to kill Joey and continue selling the corpse, that would be a real problem.
"It's nothing, just a drive," Chen Yisen replied. "I've gotten to know this guy, and he said he'd contact me if there's any news about a body..."
"..."
After a few more symbolic polite words, Gao Fei hung up the phone on his own initiative.
Chen Yisen quickly instructed Joey to pack his things and prepare to leave this troublesome place.
When they returned to the first floor, the receptionist seemed startled by the commotion of police lights and quickly came over to explain, "I said, these police officers didn't have anything to do with me..."
Before he could finish speaking, he witnessed an even more terrifying scene.
The tenant in room 317, who should have been dead, was carrying a backpack and following behind Chen Yisen.
The remaining few words were instantly stuck in his throat, turning into a hissing sound of "ho-ho-".
The phone, which was still playing a video of a young woman dancing, rolled to the ground.
"He...I...you..."
The boss pointed at Joey, then at himself, then at Chen Yisen, unable to utter a single complete sentence.
For a fleeting moment, Chen Yisen thought that if he scared the other person to death, he would probably become a very valuable research subject.
But in the end, he couldn't bring himself to do it. As he picked up the phone and put it back, he explained, "Sigh... you're mistaken, he's not dead at all."
"Not dead?" The boss's shocked expression softened for a moment, then a hint of regret flashed across his face. "Then how come..."
"It was severe hypothermia combined with reflex cardiac arrest." Chen Yisen started making things up. "You couldn't feel his breathing or pulse because the peripheral blood vessels were constricting to protect the heart. Later, he slowly warmed up, and the change in posture corrected the hypoxia, so he woke up."
The nature of English means that non-professionals may not even understand the technical terms. This long string of medical jargon completely shut down the boss's already over-frightened brain.
"Uh... okay, then that's settled."
After saying that, he turned around, preparing to go back behind the counter to continue watching TikTok.
"That won't do." Seeing how easily the other party was fooled, Chen Yisen immediately took advantage of the situation. "You gave me false information and made me make a wasted trip. You even almost dragged my brother away thinking he was dead. If it weren't for the two of us covering for you just now, those police would have arrested you on the spot."
After saying that, he gestured for Joey to take two steps forward and slammed his hand on the table with a sinister look on his face: "That's right, if it weren't for Dr. Chen's kind heart and high medical skills, I would have really been killed by you."
"?"
The boss looked at Chen Yisen in shock.
You're here to collect corpses too, so why are you acting like brothers?
But the intimidating demeanor of the NYPD just now was genuine, which made him somewhat hesitant to refute it.
"Give me the $100 for the round-trip gas, and we'll pretend nothing happened today." Chen Yisen started extorting money directly.
"..."
The shopkeeper's face looked like he'd just eaten a mouthful of hot dog poop, but he still slammed five $20 bills onto the counter.
"Let's get going!"
……
With the $100 he received in hand, Chen Yisen, in high spirits, took Joey back to the RAV4 and habitually opened the front left door.
But as soon as one foot stepped in, he immediately stopped.
His gaze darted back and forth between Joey and the steering wheel several times.
Finally, he tentatively issued a command through his mind:
"You give it a try."
Joey promptly got into the driver's seat, fastened his seatbelt, and skillfully started the car, shifting into drive, behaving like a seasoned driver.
Chen Yisen simply let the other person drive, while he sat in the passenger seat and started to slack off.
At first, he carefully gripped the handbrake lever, ready to stop the car at any moment.
As expected of Joey, a seasoned driver who had spent half his life mechanic, he could maneuver through traffic better than Chen Yisen himself, as long as he was given a specific driving goal.
"It has to be America. Not only do their tanks use Blackman fully automatic loaders, but their cars are also equipped with the Latino intelligent driving system..." Chen Yisen thought to himself as he turned on the car radio to prepare for a nap.
The radio station is broadcasting news in English.
The first point immediately perked Chen Yisen up:
"The Military Strategic Capital Plan, which has been in trial operation for two years, has been formally approved by Congress as the Military Strategic Capital Act. This act allows military units to seek direct cooperation with the private sector to accelerate the modernization process across the entire armed forces..."
?
what?
Is it that exciting?
This is not as simple as a company organizing militia or coordinating support for national defense construction.
It was almost equivalent to establishing a regional military governorship.
He quickly turned the volume up a bit, but unfortunately, this kind of news was definitely only mentioned briefly in a few sentences, and he didn't get to hear many details.
Then it quickly switched to the economic news section:
"Since January 2030, the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (NBI) has risen by 375%, with leading stocks such as Bio-Industry, United Agriculture, and Stem Cell Labs seeing gains exceeding 600%. Investment institutions generally believe that after two years of stagnation in AI and semiconductor development, the biotechnology boom will lead the world economy out of recession and into a new cycle of prosperity..."
The "City Efficiency Improvement Program" already implemented in Florida has achieved unprecedented success. According to the financial report of the policing contractor Southeast Military Technology Group for the first half of 2030, the average crime rate in the 30 "Safe Zones" it manages has decreased by 7.5 percentage points compared to the same period last year. This policy has also saved the government over $47 billion in public spending. It is understood that New York, Maryland, West Virginia, and California are also considering implementing similar policies, and related bidding proposals will soon be released…
"The Congressional Trade Committee has determined that Explorer's BK series exoskeletons illegally collect user data in the background, potentially endangering user safety. The Senate will vote this Friday on whether to completely ban the import of exoskeleton products into the U.S. market. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Watson told reporters that she is already drafting a bill to establish a whitelist mechanism for all products involving bio-assisted devices and to encourage the use of implantable products from U.S. companies..."
"..."
Chen Yisen lowered the car window slightly and looked at the increasingly dazzling neon lights outside.
The boom in biotechnology, the outsourcing of law enforcement, the commercialization of exoskeletons, implantable assistive devices...
Although he only missed three short years, he now feels that the world has become very unfamiliar.
Damn 2030.
This is truly a wild era.