The Creators: From Night City

Page 328

Modification results: Dynamic vision did not meet the standard, only slightly exceeding the normal military standard, but there were multiple instances of emotional instability and abnormal heart rate.

Assessment conclusion: Psychological assessment is good, physical potential assessment is good, but drug resistance is poor, therefore training is abandoned.

Estimated consequences: Cardiac hypertrophy is progressing and requires corrective treatment; otherwise, life expectancy will not exceed 35 years.

………………

Chapter 665 Petri Dishes

On the thick list, the numbers of the abandoned children had reached three digits. The simple words were given the weight of life, and Vincent felt heavy-hearted looking at them.

He may not be a good person, but he is definitely a decent human being.

“We need to find the owner of this research institute. We should be able to get the answers from her, as well as those biotechnology agents.” Raven lowered her eyebrows slightly, but her presence sent a chill down Vincent’s spine.

"That Dr. Fiona Vargas?"

“Only her office in the entire research facility doesn’t have a camera,” Raven answered Vincent’s question.

The two chatted casually, as if they were just having a casual conversation, and without any sense of urgency, they slipped into the corridor next to the hall.

The security cameras that serve as the safety barrier have all been compromised by Raven. The two of them only need to avoid or deal with the sentries on duty to move freely within the research institute.

With the information provided by Julia Young, there was no chance of getting lost. The two arrived at the second basement level of the research institute in less than five minutes.

This area mainly consists of the athletes' living quarters and some training areas, and Dr. Fiona Vargas's office is also located on this floor.

"That kid named Tommy's health indicators have dropped again recently..."

A male and a female research assistant were smoking and chatting about work in front of a green fern bonsai, completely unaware that two uninvited guests were approaching from behind.

“He has early signs of mild depression. Although his data on the machine is good, he gets nervous in the actual competition. In addition, he is already 13 years old, much older than other rookies, and has no further development potential. I estimate that he will be abandoned soon.” The female researcher held a cigarette between her fingers and kept fiddling with the leaves of the bonsai in front of her.

As a research institute that cultivates top athletes, each player is worth at least several million euros, so the interior decoration is naturally not simple. These bonsai are rare 'real' green plants, genetically edited and durable varieties, and feel much better to the touch than plastic bonsai.

Therefore, it is especially suitable for relieving stress by fiddling with it a few times when you are under a lot of pressure.

"Hey, that's normal. There are always tons of kids signing up, and some people are practically fighting to get in. By the way, how about we grab a drink tonight?" The male researcher extended a flirtatious invitation, but didn't get the reply he wanted.

In fact, he didn't receive any reply.

Vincent's strong, prosthetic arm skillfully wrapped around his neck from behind, briefly cutting off blood flow to his brain and plunging him into a sweet sleep.

Raven's method was much more elegant than Vincent's "all-male" approach. She simply placed her palm on the other woman's neck, and her fingers precisely pressed on the blood vessels in her neck, causing the female researcher to quickly and gloriously follow in her companion's footsteps.

"I'll give you two puppets, one for each of you. Get a good night's sleep." Vincent pulled out a specially made 'data dagger' and tapped the slots on the back of each of their heads, uploading the puppets with temporary memory erasure and system shutdown to their brains before dragging them behind the greenery to hide them.

He even kindly let the two of them hug each other.

“I don’t really like these kinds of infiltration missions.” Facing the locked door, Vincent chatted casually with Raven about his thoughts while simultaneously drawing his mantis knife from his arm and skillfully picking the lock.

"Especially for missions that require keeping survivors, not only do you have to plan the infiltration route, but you also have to carefully check each enemy, for fear that they might have installed some strange prosthetic body, modified their brain or blood circulation, and wake up halfway through. It's very difficult."

Behind the door lies the core area of ​​Research Institute 341, the residences of the young athletes, and the training grounds.

The venue is very spacious, filled with various precision testing equipment, auxiliary exercise devices, and training equipment, and the decoration is also very luxurious.

Against the corner of the wall are rows of glass houses, the interiors of which are decorated as children's bedrooms, with nameplates of the owners hanging on the doors of each room.

The room's layout is extremely minimalist. Apart from a bed, the rest consists of a large amount of exercise equipment and a few motivational books. There are no other entertainment-related items such as dolls, snacks, or data tablets.

The young athletes who are trained here live here day and night, subject to inspection, modification, and observation. Like lab rats, they are under the tireless supervision, research, and modification of researchers, with no privacy or dignity whatsoever.

Of course, this behavior is packaged as a respectable term—cultivation.

"They live here every day?" Vincent felt that his childhood in the Badlands, where he and his family ate sand, was miserable enough, but compared to these children's lives, he felt that his childhood was almost happy and fulfilling.

Raven wasn't surprised, after all, she already knew this from Julia Young.

“Every year, the 341 Research Institute selects the most talented children from a large number of applicants and places them in these rooms that resemble transparent incubation chambers.”

Raven gently stroked the thick glass wall with his fingers, gazing at the rudimentary ward that resembled a prison cell and the exercise equipment inside, and continued, "In other words, getting a place here is actually a very difficult thing."

“Julia Young lived here for four years, from age 7 to age 11.”

Raven paced forward gently. "She said that some of the other children said this place was the Crystal Palace, but she thought it was a concentration camp."

"She said that people are eliminated here every moment, perhaps because they are not qualified for hormone drugs, or because they have poor psychological endurance, or because the compatibility of the prosthetics in the experimental stage is not satisfactory. Every now and then, the people in these houses will mysteriously disappear, and new people will be added soon after."

“I think this place is more like a petri dish,” Vincent’s words were always as sharp as his blade.

"For the sake of human desires, so-called doctors and experts spend a lot of effort and wealth, just to alienate these children into a kind of deformed existence. And the children who leave these research institutes, even if they succeed, will only exist to satisfy the desires of another part of humanity, and will have to race against cyberpsychosis for their whole lives."

"That basketball shooter named Emma Leigh was already 160cm tall at the age of 11, and her strength is now no less than mine, but all of this comes at a price."

Vincent's words often reveal the truth: "Even if they become famous, the future of these athletes has been completely objectified, even privatized, by capital."

"They are no longer the masters of their own bodies."

Chapter 666 The Black King's Blade

"Their views are undoubtedly distorted, but they are clearly not the culprits. These people at the bottom of society just want to get ahead." Vincent, who was once at the bottom himself, felt a certain empathy for this situation.

"The main reason for this situation is not even this research institution, or Dr. Fiona Vargas."

"So what do you think it is?" Raven began to slowly wade forward. Suddenly, she was no longer so anxious to complete the mission. In this situation, she valued the temporary exploration of the diversity of human society by her temporary partner more.

Born from an artificial womb, nurtured in synthetic amniotic fluid, imbued with thought by data and information, and shaped by numerous killings, deceptions, and betrayals, this Edos-like being is curious about everything in human society.

And criticism.

“It’s the system, the structural oppression from the whole of human society,” Vincent explained.

"Football, basketball, track and field, and various sports events have become arenas for cybernetic bodies and genetic modification. Athletes no longer compete on their mastery of a particular sport technique, but rather on whose cybernetic body is stronger and whose genetic modification is more ferocious. The demand for talent has long since shifted."

“Of course, more importantly, the audience nowadays like this kind of competition.” Vincent clenched his fist, and a sharp mantis knife popped out from his arm.

“I have a friend who keeps saying that modern technology has killed boxing, but perhaps that’s just the nature of this era, and no individual can fight against the tide of the times.”

Swords can be wielded against flesh and machines, but they cannot be wielded against systems.

"So we need [Reverse Entropy], and society needs it too." Vincent loosened his fist and sheathed the mantis knife in his arm.

"This is also one of the reasons why I, a wanderer who has been pursuing freedom since childhood, am willing to die for the company."

The raven suddenly stopped in front of one of the rooms.

She made a new discovery.

Slender fingers gently tapped on the glass of the room, producing a soft, moderate sound in the quiet second basement level.

The raven tried to get the child's attention in the room, but failed.

The little boy in the room was sitting on the bed, his back to the two of them, sobbing and shaking his shoulders slightly, unaware of the sound of the raven tapping on the glass.

'Clang!'

The raven continued to pound on the glass, finally attracting the little boy's attention.

Who are you?

The little boy got off the bed and curiously brought his face close to the two of them.

Seeing the two men's rather formal business attire, he paused for a moment, then quickly straightened up and asked, "You're scouts from the club, right?"

"Tommy~"

Vincent leaned over to look at the nameplate on the door and continued to state the other person's surname.

"Woker"

Why are you the only one here?

“They all went to participate in this talent show, but I can’t participate for the time being. Dr. Fiona said that my prosthetic body adaptation period has not yet passed, and I need to wait for a while.”

As a child raised in Dogtown, Tommy possesses a maturity far beyond that of ordinary children.

As he spoke, he used his foot to hook the soccer ball in the room, making the most of every second to demonstrate his basic skills in juggling and controlling the ball.

"But I already have the skills to play professionally, and with these implanted prosthetics, I feel I'm fully ready to play."

Tommy dribbled the ball with ease as he spoke, "By the way, which team are you scouts for? I think you could consider me. Let me tell you, I'm really fast, but it's too small here for me to really get going."

The raven gazed silently at the child before it, a rare look of compassion appearing in its two eyes, which were like pure black gemstones.

"First of all, we are not scouts."

"Secondly, you lied, Tommy Walker. You knew perfectly well that you were going to be eliminated soon."

The soccer ball, which was flying up and down, suddenly hit the ground, bounced up, and fell again.

"You're talking nonsense. I'm just temporarily unwanted. Maybe a team will take a liking to me at the next selection."

"You won't be able to wait for the next draft," Raven told Tommy with certainty.

"I don't believe you, you're lying!"

Tommy, as if his veil of shame had been ripped out, turned and ran back to the bed, turning his back to the two of them and silently burying his head in his knees.

The raven was not lying.

Whether Tommy will be eliminated before the next draft is unknown, but Research Institute 341 will definitely not be able to operate past this week.

This is what the raven said: even the 'Mother's Domain' cannot protect it.

"Let's go," Raven said, turning her gaze away.

“Aren’t we going to do something?” Vincent scratched his head and followed.

“I am a weapon, that was determined from the moment I was born. The task of saving others is left to others; I am merely a blade.”

Raven's business short skirt suddenly began to melt, transforming into a black combat suit. As she raised her hand, a slender, delicate nanoblade with a hollow center and smooth curves took shape in her hand.

Some of the silvery-white nano-elements converged around the raven's neck, eventually transforming into a beautifully shaped 'atonement collar' that resembled jewelry more than an instrument of torture.

This device, which incorporates a small amount of mithril and nano-elements, was personally crafted by Jiang Bing. Its function is very simple; it has no explosive or electric shock capabilities and can only identify the wearer's identity and location.

This thing isn't sturdy, and it's quite easy to break free from its grasp. With the strength of a raven, it's easy to tear it apart. But the difficulty lies in how to deal with Boss Jiang, who has been notified and opened the door after being torn apart.

Raven didn't want to remove it either; in her eyes, it was more like a blessing, representing that the 'Black King' was always watching her, judging her self-salvation.

A being whose life's mission is to save humanity is being saved by 'humanity,' and she feels very happy about it.

"I am guilty," Raven whispered, gently stroking the collar with her fingers as she prayed to Jiang Bing.

May the Black King judge my soul.

"They too are guilty, and His blade is willing to confess their sins and send them to the court of the Black King to receive a just judgment."

"Let's go hear what the dean has to say about these things." At this moment, Raven resembled the goddess of justice, holding scales in her left hand and a sharp blade in her right, her rambling making Vincent scratch his head.

This scene is a bit too childish.

After all, Vincent had never experienced the process of his soul being pulled out and examined by Jiang Bing, so he naturally did not understand Raven's devout faith and complex feelings toward the 'Black King'.

As the most powerful person at Institute 341, the director's office naturally expanded proportionally to Fiona Vargas's status.

Who are you?

When the two uninvited guests barged into the office, the internationally renowned sports medicine expert was working at his computer.

"The Black King's blade, the raven that urges you to confess."

Chapter 667 Biotechnology with Hidden Agenda

"What the hell? Where did you two come from, you cyber-psychotics?"

"You'd better not say anything more, after all, your level of cooperation will determine your life or death," Raven said, stepping closer to the other party with his sharp blade in hand.

The ultra-low temperature blade reacted with the air, constantly emitting a chilling mist. When this deadly weapon was held to Fiona Vargas's neck, she promptly backed down.

Vincent forced a polite smile: "We are the Special Operations Group of the Intelligence and Counterintelligence Department of [Anti-Entropy]. We suspect that you have ties with biotechnology agents and are attempting to steal our company's trade secrets. We hope you will cooperate fully with our investigation."

Before the other person could speak, Vincent first pinned the blame on them.

Seeing Fiona Vargas's prosthetic eye light up, Vincent reached out to stop Raven from raising his sword.

"If you're a smart man, you should understand that it's best not to notify the guards outside."

Vincent, with a particularly strong Arasaka-esque threat, said, "Dr. Fiona Vargas, you don't want Research Institute 341 to be destroyed, do you?"

【Anti-Entropy】may not be as famous as Arasaka, but in Dogtown, a name definitely carries more weight than Arasaka's.