"Of course I do. Mom, you always ask this," Alastor replied with a wry smile. "Don't worry. I drink milk every day too."
But the old lady was still worried: "But you haven't grown any taller than last time."
"...Mom. I come every week, how could I have grown taller than last time?"
Alastor immediately retorted, but his gaze was very gentle, his deep, night-like eyes appearing very tender.
“Don’t say that, Martha. Alastor has indeed grown up.”
The old man next to him calmly said,
"We uploaded this to the company's 'pure land' to enjoy this blessing, isn't it just so we can see him grow up like this?"
Hearing their conversation, neither Angela nor Hayden could fail to realize that the elderly couple were likely the parents of Alastor, the one from whom his consciousness had been transmitted to the Pure Land of Blessings. The age gap between them and Alastor was greater than Hayden had imagined, but it was clear that they cared deeply for each other. This was evident simply from the warmth on their faces.
"Master, master."
Angela, who was hiding behind Hayden, couldn't help but whisper something to herself.
“You previously said that the undead whose consciousness was uploaded were having a terrible time, but I don’t see any problems with Mr. Dirag’s family.”
Hayden considered for a moment, then raised his eyebrows: "Take another look?"
Angela was startled, only then realizing that Alastor's parents had suddenly closed their eyes. The elderly couple sat motionless, their faces filled with happiness, shoulder to shoulder. It looked as if they had suddenly fallen asleep.
Alastor gave a wry smile, found a place to sit down in front of his parents, and stared blankly at them.
Although Hayden and the others couldn't see Alastor's expression from their position, he had probably gazed at his motionless parents like this countless times before.
“Angela, do you remember what I told you this morning about the four obvious flaws in Mitra Group’s ‘Consciousness Upload·Blessed Pure Land’?”
Hayden asked in a low voice.
Angela immediately nodded in response: "I remember when you got to the fourth one, you hadn't finished because Miss Abigail sent you a message."
So Hayden nodded: "The third drawback is spending money. If you have money, as you can see, it doesn't seem like a problem, right?"
For some reason, his expression also seemed somewhat sad.
"The scene you are seeing now is the fourth defect in consciousness uploading."
Cat's Words: Cyberpunk in Progress?
Now on the shelves!
To be precise, it will be available starting tomorrow!
Today's update was already posted this morning, so the next update will be the chapters that will be available for purchase!
So, what should we say before listing it?
Let's talk about the book first.
Overall, cyberpunk is still a relatively niche genre. Although there have been Dona Dona, Cyberpunk 2077, and related games recently, drawing a little attention to this area, and it's not like no one has written good books about it—but it must be admitted that compared to truly bestselling genres, it's really a flop!
Besides, this cat in front of you especially likes to write all sorts of random things based on this. Things like magical techpunk, capitalist corporate gods, the inherently exploitative nature of gods from birth to death, and love!
Why is this place filled with love?!
So why did the cat write this book?
There are actually quite a few reasons.
On the one hand, as readers who followed this book may have read, Cat went through a rather painful period at the end of May. Because unlike most readers of this book, Cat lives in a place that is, in some ways, even worse. During that time, when Cat truly felt that the flawed world around him seemed utterly hateful… well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, let's not dwell on that.
Even if that's an exaggeration, Cat is still doing much better than the developers of *Cyberpunk Bartender Action*, right? They're living in Venezuela, you know. I heard there was a time when they couldn't even afford bread while making the game. Cat hasn't reached that point yet, and doesn't need to worry about dying anytime soon.
However, in any case... why did the cat write this book? This is probably the main reason.
How do you say that?
"We live in an unusual time, but hey, that's what makes things more interesting!"
So, of course, the cat, who happened to be there at the right time, would want to write something like this.
In an era and world full of flaws, people without freedom or hope struggle to seek their own happiness, or even just their own happiness.
So love is very important, love!
So, next, the cat is going to talk about something a bit punk (not really).
My primary identity is still that of a student, and writing is more of a part-time job for me. So I only update about 4000 words a day, after all, I still have to study and work on my graduation thesis.
However, this Monday, the cat's family officially confirmed one thing: after the start of the school year, the family will not be giving the cat any money. The cat will have to find its own way. The family won't interfere—after all, it's an adult cat now.
In other words... if this book doesn't make money now, the cat will starve to death.
However, although what the cat said was a bit serious, in reality, considering the prices here, including the cost of food, as long as you can earn a little over 2000 RMB in royalties each month, you shouldn't starve.
Sometimes, people are just short of that little bit of money.
So, it's not just about cats; the same applies to other authors' books. I hope everyone doesn't always try to raise seedlings or anything like that.
Okay, okay, I'll stop now. Saying any more would be a bit sentimental.
Time to write! The cat's going to write now!
Please vote for the cat! It would be even better if you could recommend books for the cat!
032: The decline of heaven and man
This morning, Hayden said that Mitra Group's "Consciousness Upload · Pure Land of Blessings" has four very obvious flaws.
First, the consciousness of a completely dead organism cannot be uploaded.
Secondly, the process of uploading one's consciousness will cause irreparable damage to the original storage medium. After uploading, the original brain of the body will be completely destroyed and cannot be repaired.
The third drawback is the cost. Uploading consciousness costs money, and there's also a continuous monthly server fee to pay the company. If you want the deceased to have a slightly better life on the server, you have to spend even more money.
So if all these problems are solved, will everything be fine?
No.
In the last century, Mitra Information Group pioneered the technology that allows living beings to maintain their consciousness online after death, and made it affordable and accessible to everyone. While it's impossible for everyone to afford it (unless you just want to suffer online), the largest consumer group for "Blessed Pure Land" is actually the middle class, and a small portion of the lower class with better economic conditions.
Pure Land
What magnificent words!
As the ancients said, death is the greatest terror. So, in this era, is it difficult to achieve immortality? It shouldn't be that difficult, right? After all, anyone with money can buy a potion of rejuvenation.
But how much does the Rejuvenation Potion cost? Not much, less than two million Federal Gold Coins per bottle. Drinking one bottle will make you roughly five years younger, with an error margin of no more than two years.
However, an average laborer only earns about two thousand gold coins a month.
Even a university professor like Professor Albion earns only about ten thousand federal gold coins a month. He's not one of those professors who knows how to make money, so he simply chooses to brew his own longevity potion, which uses cheaper ingredients, instead of the exorbitantly expensive rejuvenation potion. And university professors are already considered high-income earners.
So, how high of an income would one need to afford the elixir of youth and achieve a stable lifespan?
Most of them are naturally from the upper class, the modern gods.
In addition, there are a few outstanding elite employees of large companies. The company believes that the revenue they generate for the company exceeds the cost of the rejuvenating potion, so it will lend them money to buy the potion, making these elites into contract laborers for the company's immortality—but they are only a very small number of outstanding elites, after all, the cost of the rejuvenating potion is indeed very high.
Therefore, most people in this era do not have the money to live forever.
Those who are qualified to live forever are the gods of the new era.
That's why the Pure Land of Blessings seems even more wonderful.
You don't need to be very rich
No need for a high social status
No need for prenatal genetic modification
Regardless of your background, as long as you accumulate a little good karma, you can be uploaded to the Mitra Group's servers after death—simple, convenient, and allow you to enjoy the fruits of your labor. For a small rental fee, you can enjoy daily entertainment in this online paradise. With a mere thought, countless beautiful clothes, gourmet foods, and beautiful women (NPCs) can appear at will, and these are merely the more vulgar forms of entertainment. If you have some money and are willing, you can even transcend the shackles of the physical body and enjoy unparalleled spiritual pleasure.
Of course, since it's a blessing, it will inevitably diminish over time. Karmic rewards are finite; therefore, without continued support from descendants, the amount of wealth remaining upon the deceased's ascension determines how long and how well they can live in the Pure Land. Even so, it's certainly much cheaper than a rejuvenating potion.
...But this leads to another small problem.
Even Angela realized this little problem this morning: Why couldn't the deceased work and support themselves in the Pure Land?
If the deceased's online life requires constant payment, then simply allowing them to continue working online would suffice, wouldn't it?
The answer to this question lies in the fourth major flaw of the "Consciousness Upload · Pure Land of Blessings" technology.
Commonly known as, soul failure.
The Mitra Group's democratized consciousness uploading technology was supposed to enable many people to achieve inexpensive immortality.
However, in reality, it was only more than fifty years after the launch of the [Blessed Pure Land] service that people discovered that existing in a purely conscious state on the internet for a long time seems to lead to a gradual change in the mental state of the consciousness.
The initial symptoms of this change resemble cognitive impairment, with memory and cognitive abilities gradually deteriorating. As the symptoms progress, the person uploading consciousness may even gradually lose their independent personality, suffer from neurasthenia, and frequently fall into a coma.
Why can't the consciousness uploaders work on their own and support themselves in the Pure Land?
It is because of the fact that amnesia causes them to lose their ability to act.
"That's why you didn't think it was a good idea when you mentioned consciousness uploading to Miss Abigail before, Master."
Upon hearing this, Angela suddenly realized what was going on.
"If what Miss Abigail wants is true immortality, beauty, and health, then the consciousness uploading technology is inadequate."
Hayden nodded silently.
In any case, the situation has now become somewhat awkward. He originally came to find Alastor's parents and ancestors, to uncover Alastor's secrets, but... well, whatever, this is annoying.
What should they do next? Leave? Or try to track Alastor's consciousness? Or wait until Alastor leaves before questioning his parents' consciousness? Considering they've already suffered a soul-destroying attack, the latter might not be a good idea. A soul-destroying consciousness might even have distorted memories; getting incorrect information would be troublesome.
Moreover, watching Alastor interact with his parents made Hayden feel somewhat discouraged and unmotivated.
Angela, however, spoke up at that moment, muttering, "Master, this Mr. Alastor doesn't seem like an evil person."
"You're just making a hasty judgment based on your subjective feelings."
Hayden frowned and said,
"This level of Pure Land server is very expensive. Judging from his parents' living conditions, they must be paying at least four thousand gold coins in rent every month. According to the information the professor provided, his family used to be just low-level employees in a company. Where did they get so much money? Who knows if he joined a cyber terrorist organization to earn money for his parents' server fees?"
If Alastor is indeed connected to the [Bo Xun] organization, it is quite possible.
"It's also possible that he could have earned that kind of money on his own."
A voice interrupted at this moment,
"It was only because they saw through the ugliness of the Mitra Group that they formed a hacker organization to fight against it."
Hayden immediately scoffed: "How could a student do something like this in real life? This isn't a comic book..."
Before he could finish speaking, he realized that the source of the voice seemed a bit strange. It wasn't Angela speaking.
"I really didn't expect you to be able to sneak in here."
Alastor had turned around and was looking at the semi-transparent, ethereal Hayden and Angela hiding behind the railing, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"As expected of the renowned lone wolf mercenary 'Wizard' Hayden, I never thought he could break into the [Blessed Pure Land] server all by himself. But there's something wrong with this, isn't there? You can't suddenly become a top hacker."
He still didn't understand the ancient magic of spirit perception and couldn't tell what Hayden was doing.
So Hayden and Angela exchanged a glance, and then Hayden replied, "Would you believe me if I said I just stumbled upon you?"
Strictly speaking, this isn't a lie. Hayden wasn't after the hacker himself today.
However, Alastor's reaction was, of course, "That joke isn't funny."
“But free hackers and free mercenaries are not enemies, and I have no intention of continuing to fight with you, especially not in this place.”
As he spoke, he turned to look at his parents, who had fallen into a deep sleep, and a complex, indescribable expression appeared on his face.
"Let's go somewhere else and talk about something more meaningful. But please wait for me a moment."
Alastor turned his gaze back to his parents, staring at them for a long time. Even Hayden, usually so easygoing, could sense the overwhelming sadness emanating from the young hacker.
————————————————————————
Spirit observation is a spell used only when traveling to the underworld; it cannot be used to connect to other places.
So after Alastor suggested leaving the "Pure Land of Blessings" and going to another safe and secluded place to discuss the matter in detail, Hayden released the spell and went online in a normal way, projecting his consciousness onto the network.
He and Alastor agreed to meet again in a neutral zone of the cyber world, a vast wilderness stretching to the horizon.
The StarNet is a vast network of interconnected beings with minds and thoughts, linked together by immense sympathetic magic. In other words, in regions lacking the awareness of intelligent beings, the StarNet manifests as a kind of "wilderness."