"If the technology of [Magical Girl Pazuzu] is used properly, it can definitely be used to revive Alastor."
As Hayden finished speaking, a glint of shrewdness flashed in his eyes.
"Because I've already done something similar with him once."
That's right.
Last year, in the sewers of an abandoned industrial area, Hayden performed an ancient Egyptian-style ritual magic of death followed by rebirth, separating Alastor's body and spirit, and infusing his spirit into the earth, reborn as a land god of the dragon vein. Unfortunately, the ritual magic Hayden hastily devised had too many side effects, causing Alastor's self-awareness to nearly collapse. This precisely demonstrates how easily this kind of spell can fail.
But the situation is different now.
The opportunity to conquer death lies here: physical resurrection and spiritual restoration.
Moreover, this technology... can be used for more than just resurrecting Alastor.
To put it bluntly—this is the technology used to create bodies for gods!
Now, there are more than just Alastor who needs a divine body on Hayden's side!
156: An era where even dreams require payment
And so, Panya was allowed to rest at Hayden's house for a day, and was also given extra delicious food by Angela.
Not a loss!
Angela is so amazing! I want to take her home!
On the other hand, Panya didn't have much affection for Hayden.
This guy is such a bad person! Just think, not only did he forcibly take her home to talk about a bunch of work matters, but he also interrupted her singing and dancing practice, and he even prevented her from going online for a whole day!
"You're usually connected to the internet 24/7, but today I'm going to disconnect you for a day to measure the changes in your body's connection to the [Magical Girl Pazuzu]'s presence."
What?! No internet access for a whole day?! That's an understatement, it's like they have a deep-seated grudge!
Even though Hayden had Angela feed her, Pania saw it merely as an investment by the upper class, insufficient to improve her favorability. This man shamelessly admitted to her face that he coveted the technology of [Magical Girl Pazuzu]. And what's more, he actually asked her, "Why are you so eager to make money? Why are you working so hard?" Such foolish questions clearly came from an upper-class person who was oblivious to the hardships of life!
That wicked 30-year-old capitalist! Who in their right mind would like him?
Finally, after Hayden and Angela returned, Pania was able to connect to the internet and secretly investigate Hayden's whereabouts.
Although Panya was young and lacked hacking skills, she was quite adept at finding resources and secondhand information online. Like many young people in her generation who were practically born with direct internet access, even without formal IT training, she possessed a natural sensitivity to the astral network. Before long, she discovered Hayden's "legend" on some private forums.
These stories can only be called legends in every sense.
Although Hayden hasn't been a city mercenary much in the past year or so, his legend continues to spread online.
Some say he's a legendary lone wolf who survived ten years of fierce fighting, capable of single-handedly carrying out missions for an entire team, and even single-handedly wiping out drug cartels, gangs, and mercenary groups. Others say Hayden is actually an unparalleled hacker and magical genius, behind all the changes in New Jersey's market and politics over the past year. Still others say he's a ninja possessed by the soul of an ancient demon king, capable of destroying armored vehicles with shuriken. And yet another says he's the mistress of the alluring red-haired owner of the "Veve Bar," secretly controlling New Jersey's black market smuggling network.
Some say that Hayden is a cautionary tale for all modern mercenaries, rising from humble beginnings to build his own military services company in less than a decade. Although the company wasn't large, it was considered top-tier within the New Asia Metropolitan Area.
Of course, Pania couldn't find any connection between Hayden and the Peacock King in this hodgepodge of rumors—although this matter was already common knowledge among the upper class of the gods, and all the gods had heard that the Peacock King seemed to be looking for an excellent mortal son-in-law for his only daughter, the lower classes had absolutely no chance of knowing about such things.
At least until this matter is confirmed, and the gods actively release this news as gossip, providing mortals with material for entertainment, then the lower classes will hear about this "secret".
This is what is known as a class society.
However, although Pania couldn't find out about this matter herself, she hadn't forgotten that when she was in the goddess Mikt's villa yesterday, when she was being held like a cat, she had heard the goddess Mikt say a few words related to this matter!
In conclusion, as Pania pieced together these fragmented pieces of information, she became increasingly astonished—the future son-in-law of the Peacock King had been proposed to by her own boss, Mikt, who also described him as an unparalleled technical genius… She never imagined that the uncle was not a born superior who was unaware of the hardships of life, but rather the kind of grassroots she had always wanted to be, climbing from the ground to the sky in one step!
Damn it! We're all just grass roots trying to climb to the sky, so why are you asking me why I'm desperately trying to climb up? You know the answer already, which only makes you more guilty. You've climbed up to the sky and forgotten your fellow humans on the ground. How evil!
Pania is furious!
However, while Panya was furious, she wasn't stupid. Looking at Hayden's rejection of her boss Micket's marriage proposal, and then at her boss's persistent expression afterward, Panya realized she wasn't entirely foolish. A moment's reflection made her realize that Hayden was probably someone she couldn't afford to offend.
This girl may seem angry, but she's actually stubborn and doesn't respond well to force. She admires strength and fears evil, so she immediately became timid.
The next day, everyone was back to normal. Panya returned to the company and continued working in the boxes, while Hayden, as usual, brought Angela to check on her. Panya, while obediently hiding in the control room, secretly peeked out through the camera, and couldn't help but wonder: if she could ride on Hayden's coattails, would it help her idol entertainment career?
However, judging from how he righteously rejected his boss Micket's marriage proposal yesterday, Panya thought about it and felt that it was probably impossible to get close to him from this angle.
Although this uncle is bad, he is a true gentleman who is loyal to his future wife!
—To misunderstand to this extent after going around in circles like this, one can only say that Panya has a very rich imagination.
Hayden had no idea what this girl was thinking. He only saw that Panya was very well-behaved today and was very focused on the live stream... although she was usually very focused anyway.
Today was supposed to be a live stream, and the planned project was for Magical Girl Pazuzu to play games—specifically, the same battle royale game Hayden had wanted Angela to join him in. While Pazuzu is rather listless in the material world, once she enters the Star Network and dons the [Magical Girl Pazuzu] suit, she immediately becomes incredibly energetic, with lightning-fast reflexes. Without needing any cheats, she single-handedly wreaks havoc in the game with an assault rifle, hohohoho!
Hayden didn't understand before, only thinking that she was playing a role, wearing a mask, or suffering from social media arrogance—until now, after Hayden understood the true principles behind "Magical Girl Pazuzu," she further realized what was going on.
【Magical Girl Pazuzu】is the embodiment of life and existence that Pania has been given. Her online persona is a dream she has built with her heart.
--------------------------
And just like that, a month passed quickly.
During this time, 【Magical Girl Pazuzu】continued to do what a virtual idol should do: practice, record, rehearse, and stream—and each time she streamed, she would manifest as an astral body in the material world, doing incredible things.
For example, like last time, select a lucky viewer watching the live stream, extract their illness from their body, transform it into a monster, and then kill and cure them.
For example, it manifests in places plagued by drought, in farmland or plantations, and in the same way, it materializes drought as a demon, kills it, and brings rain.
Of course, in addition to that, you can also fight and kill real demons and monsters, and broadcast the whole process live to the audience.
"My fans deserve a better life, yet you calamities dare to harm them. I will utterly annihilate you and cast you into the deepest abyss, where you will never be able to rise again!"
That line is absolutely awesome.
Putting aside virtual YouTubers, these days streamers make money from all sorts of things. Food broadcasts and "welfare girls" (those who stream for financial gain) are nothing new, and livestreaming extreme sports is almost outdated. What's popular now is livestreaming combat—real combat where people could actually die.
So what kind of enemies do streamers usually fight? They usually target criminals, wanted criminals, gangsters, and monsters in the wild or on the outskirts of cities. Some streamers even go to the Middle East to stream fighting demons and their cults. It just goes to show that people will do anything to get rich and famous.
However, the bizarre "real-world combat" of extracting diseases from viewers' bodies, materializing them into monsters to kill, and then curing the diseases is currently unique to [Magical Girl Pazuzu]. It requires enormous energy and cutting-edge life magic technology, which is beyond the capabilities of independent streamers, and streamers supported by large companies have no reason to spend the money to do such a thing.
Moreover, [Magical Girl Pazuzu] sings well, has a beautiful costume, and her domineering little devil personality is both cool and cute in some ways.
Just imagine, this is a virtual streamer idol who would single out the audience's afflictions and then arrogantly declare, "Dare to offend my fans? I'll cast you into the deepest hell, where you'll never be able to rise again!"
Furthermore, Mikkelsen (the goddess) spared no effort in investing funds in promotion and hype. As a result, in just over a month, this IP had become a hot topic and attracted countless fans.
Soon, some fans even started to associate 【Magical Girl Pazuzu】with a kind of sacred meaning, such as "watching 【Pazuzu】's live stream may cure you, and even if it doesn't, just seeing how awesome she is can effectively relieve psychological stress and reduce mental illness."
Some fans have also started creating their own strange fan art, such as short essays written for Pazuzu or bizarre otaku dance moves. Even people who don't usually watch virtual YouTubers find it hard not to get hooked or even slightly interested when they stumble upon these random things online.
Once it takes hold, watching Pazuzu's livestreams can easily lead to further addiction. Ultimately, they become manipulated by capital and gradually descend into the abyss.
Fortunately, no one calls her "Saint Pazuzu" yet, since she doesn't have that kind of style; she's more of a cool, domineering type.
Even more fortunately, Goddess Mikkuri isn't in a hurry to make money from "Magical Girl Pazuzu" right now, since she mainly uses it for magical experiments... However, how this IP will be used to make money after the experiments are successful is a matter for the future.
Hayden now watches the live streams, rehearsals, and recordings of "Magical Girl Pazuzu" every day, since he's practically a producer for Pazuzu now. However, Hayden doesn't get involved in the management much, as he knows that professional matters should be left to professionals. He doesn't understand the market or the entertainment industry, and if he interferes and messes up the planning of "Pazuzu's" live stream programs, it might cause trouble instead.
So Hayden just watched from the sidelines.
Angela was also watching with him. As a true "outsider," the more she watched, the more puzzled and curious she became.
One evening, everyone was at the company watching Pazuzu's live concert. Her astral form was fighting monsters in a forest in the material world while singing confident and proud songs, blasting her enemies to smithereens.
"Master. Do the viewers of these virtual live-streaming idols actually like the virtual costume itself, or the person inside?"
Just then, while Angela was watching the barrage of comments and bullet screens showing the onset of the disease, she suddenly asked Hayden a question.
This is a very dialectical issue.
"Of course, it's this suit plus the person inside."
So Hayden answered,
"Many people like the personality of the person behind the character. But if someone takes the person out of the box, removes the skin, and finds that the person behind the character has a high-class face, then obviously there will be far fewer fans who admire her."
Hayden was rather eccentric. All he wanted was to be loved, so he even dared to go on blind dates with orcs, goblins, and cyclops. As long as someone could love him, he didn't care if they were tentacle monsters or aliens with thousands of eyes and wings.
However, it turns out that there is neither a positive nor a negative correlation between appearance and inner qualities; they are completely unrelated.
But that's a bit of a tangent.
"The biggest risk with idols is that their actions in real life may affect their image, such as negative news. However, virtual idols are hidden behind a costume, so they shield themselves from more than 90% of the risks."
Hayden continued to explain,
"On the other hand, the entire team at Qiqimiti Entertainment is actually deliberately maintaining a distance between her and the audience. She is the kind of idol who maintains distance, not the kind of streamer who is highly interactive. In addition, the quality and level of [Magical Girl Pazuzu] are very high. She can sing, dance, and even go to the real world to cure diseases, which of course greatly stimulates the imagination of fans."
This is what is called an "idol".
Ultimately, what each fan loves is the idol in their heart, not the specific person.
However, Hayden thought of something else—to put it another way, isn't the current image of [Magical Girl Pazuzu] actually the idol in the heart of Pania, the person behind her?
What she wanted most, her ideal, was to become a wild, domineering, cool, unrestrained, fearless, and free-spirited deity.
...However, although Hayden can still say that what the audience and fans like is the suit and the person inside, once the dream personality chip technology matures further in the future, the company can just find anyone to be the person inside, since their behavior will be the same after the personality chip is inserted.
By then, the virtual streamer's personality will just be part of the suit; it will look the same no matter who wears it, and viewers won't even be able to tell the difference.
By then, virtual YouTubers will truly be completely "virtual" YouTubers. Even Hayden wouldn't find that laughable.
And when that time comes, what will Pania, who dreams of becoming a god, living in a grand mansion, and eating tomahawk steaks, become?
Fortunately, Hayden didn't have to worry about this problem for too long.
At the beginning of the second month, Goddess Mikkuri sent a message and a request: "The current adjustments and timing are almost complete. Prepare to livestream the dismemberment ritual of [Magical Girl Pazuzu] next Sunday."
Hayden was truly taken aback by these words: "Live broadcast? You're going to broadcast this kind of ceremony live?! Shouldn't this be done privately?!"
No. 【Magical Girl Pazuzu】is a modern arcane art built upon the principles of idol magic. The idol is about to undergo a massive transformation, like a cicada shedding its shell, but the fans can't see it. How can this work? Without a large number of fans observing the energy based on their subjective awareness, the idol god's disintegration ritual will definitely fail.
The Death Goddess of the Smoke Mirror Company lazily shook her head.
The ceremony is scheduled for next Sunday evening and will be broadcast live.
The live stream's theme is: [Magical Girl Pazuzu] demonstrating how she enters the underworld, overcomes death, and brings back life.
So, what if it fails?
Hayden didn't even want to ask anymore.
The goddess Mikkelsen would surely say, "Then we'll just have to find another person to represent you."
157: Amusing Ourselves to Death
Next Sunday's live stream will feature [Magical Girl Pazuzu] demonstrating how she enters the underworld and conquers death!
If it weren't for the fact that [Magical Girl Pazuzu] had already been livestreaming for almost two months how she fought off the disease and drought, everyone would probably have thought this was just crazy talk.
Even though she had performed so many incredible things before, most viewers and even fans were still skeptical.
what?
Some people, like Angela, who is somewhat naive in many ways, might be wondering at this point—aren't there so many fans who are obsessed with [Magical Girl Pazuzu]? Why are they so skeptical?
Someone like Hayden, who understands human behavior better, would tell her that while many fans of virtual idol streamers develop symptoms, the proportion of those who are truly obsessed or delusional is actually quite low. Most fans may seem a bit abnormal, but they aren't actually sick; they're simply enjoying the "performance."
Enjoy this process of leaving behind the pain and boredom of daily life, playing the role of a fanatic, and immersing yourself in the collective revelry.
The idol's fans, and the collective celebration of those fans, are actually part of the entire performance.
This is the magic whose core concept has remained unchanged from ancient times to the present.
Humans invented this kind of magic as early as the ancient Sumerian era in Mesopotamia. Later, the ancient Greeks gave it a new name, a more famous one, one that even Hayden was familiar with:
The Revelry of Dionysus
Around three thousand years ago, the ancient Thracians, who lived in the northern Balkans, worshipped wine, or rather, the god of wine. This god not only possessed the intoxicating power of wine but also became a highly influential deity at the time by bestowing joy upon others.
Dionysus, the god of wine, symbolizes sensuality, revelry, and the divine power of life. He is the god of revelry and also the god of resurrection, as he is the god of plants (grapevines), dying each autumn and rising again the following spring. The ancient Egyptians believed he was actually an incarnation of Osiris, because they felt that Dionysus's resurrection and sacrificial rituals were similar to Osiris's. Moreover, Osiris also served as the god of plants, especially grapevines—but we'll discuss that later.
Let's talk about the revelry first.
The followers of Dionysus regard him, his wine, and the revelry and joy that drunkenness represents as sacred. Therefore, these followers venerate the god of wine through unrestrained revelry. Clad in animal skins and wearing floral crowns, they shout and raucously indulge in a sensual ecstasy, dancing and screaming all night long, reveling in excessive drinking and parading naked. They abandon their work and escape the troubles of reality for the sake of revelry, dancing wildly in groups, shouting the name of Dionysus, and destroying everything in their path. If they encounter wild animals or even children, they will tear them apart and eat their flesh raw.
These believers in the Old Gods thought that through such collective revelry and imitation performances of God, they could get closer to their God and, to some extent, become one with Him.
To be honest, this is quite similar to today's celebrities and their fan groups.
Moreover, the same thing applies to virtual idols.
Perhaps the relationship between fans and idols has never changed since ancient times... it's just that now there might be an additional layer of capital involved.
Capital has used money to create a new era of Dionysian dreams. The gentleness and compassion inherent in the persona of virtual idols balance their cruel nature, offering people solace.
"But why—why exactly does something like this give viewers a sense of satisfaction and comfort?"