[Maybe you want to talk.]

"What is this... a pre-surgery talk?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

John stared at the gently rotating windmill in the distance, with dozens of black and red objects evenly distributed in the deeper sky.

The Starlink is getting close.

John maximized the magnification of his artificial eye, and could even capture the billowing smoke and the air distorted by high temperatures.

A ripple jumped across the front car window.

[You can think of it that way.]

Kenichi Sora's voice remained calm, even though it had just turned the city upside down.

"Do you know?"

John squinted, leaning on his arm. "If I had known this was going to happen today, I wouldn't have let you out of that damned server."

He waved to interrupt the line bouncing on the glass.

"Listen, I want to live, but I didn't intend to take a city down with me. In fact, I even feel that survival is a personal matter. I'm a Lone Wolf, and I don't want to bear any responsibility; it exhausts me..."

[Trust me, this is the best choice.]

"Is that so?"

John shrugged, pointing at the sky outside. "Then this ending is just fantastic, don't you think?"

[I have to consider the aftermath of the surgery...]

"Damn it!"

John finally couldn't hold back and kicked his beloved car.

"You decided I was a terrorist, and yet you're thinking about me? Even if my brain gets fixed, how many bullets can I withstand?"

[I...]

"Shut up! Take that electronic chip out of your throat!"

John clenched his fists, veins bulging on his forehead.

Just for a moment.

That strange feeling hit again.

His anger was instantly smoothed out; every time his emotions fluctuated, whether good or bad, they would "reset" after reaching a certain threshold, returning to an inexplicable calm.

John slumped back into the driver's seat.

Watching the changing scenery outside the window.

Genius, Gino, Jilead, Gerry, Maya, Alonna, Nando, Screwdriver, Ryan Randall...

Those people could all die in the Starlink crash.

The scene of hovercars crashing on Sakura Cross Street floated in John's mind.

It was the most tragic scene he had ever witnessed in his life, and those incomplete corpses were gradually being replaced by familiar faces in his mind.

John snapped back to reality, realizing his heart was pounding.

Rustle...

The car's system was hacked again.

Black Light showed a new signal was accessing the vehicle.

[John.]

Kenichi Sora's voice echoed both in his mind and inside the car.

The familiar voice, belonging to it, returned, but it was particularly weary.

[Sorry, I stepped away for a moment.]

"Fack, who was the guy talking nonsense with me just now?"

[It was also me, uh, a part of me, program hosting. I know all the exchanged content, but I was really overwhelmed.]

"You were going to blow up the whole city?"

John seemed to have caught the real culprit, but with a hint of expectation.

Fortunately.

Sora quickly explained.

[NO! Bro, I, I don't even play games that harshly! Rest assured, the Starlink is just a delaying tactic. I recruited many... uh, people, and some wandering AIs to help. I made it big enough so that Internet Surveillance would believe we were serious!]

"What will the result be?"

[I've already left a backdoor. Through an introduction from acquaintances, several globally wanted hackers from the European Space Agency are monitoring. If network surveillance doesn't work, they will use vulnerabilities to terminate the process, letting the Starlink crash into the sea or uninhabited areas.]

"...Hoo."

John took a deep breath and leaned back, realizing his back was drenched in cold sweat.

"You've caused such a big scene just so that Internet Surveillance would lift a finger, and we could sneak out for surgery?"

[It's not that simple, brother, take a look.]

Several documents were projected onto the car window.

[CIA materials, quarterly network inspection reports, and high-risk deep dive targets in North America have all marked John Chavez as a key object.]

That's why the state police could get approval for such a "grand" manhunt.

"What did I do?"

John couldn't describe his feelings at this moment.

[You can link to the corpse of a transcendent AI, brother, to be honest, they are not entirely wronging you. In fact, this guy called the state police has pretty sharp instincts.]

"I don't know anything!"

[Okay, okay, okay, of course, I'm on your side, but here's the problem. The state police are determined to kill you. Even if you can be cured, can you win against half a city? Or are you saying you will never return to Eden City?]

"..."

John frowned tightly.

Sora made a light laugh of "I knew it," and continued to speak.

Sure, below is the translated text:

[I promised you I would keep you alive. If the surgery is completed and you are still under Internet Surveillance or shot down by the Special Affairs Bureau, wouldn't it be useless?]

John felt another ominous premonition rising in his heart.

Sora continued.

[So, I have to fulfill their suspicions. Now, you, John Chavez, are genuinely parasitized by a fugitive AI, which is me, Kenichi Sora, an extremely dangerous AI, capable of losing control at any moment.]

An air of pride accompanied Sora's speech.

Familiar confidence... yet childish.

Sora Kenichi was right.

Outside the window, dozens of satellites were burning in the atmosphere.

They ignited flames, "slowly dropping" in the clear sky, coalescing into a thick shadow that fell towards Eden City.

"And then what?"

[Then they'll shift their focus away from you.]

"And what about you?"

[I have to hide far away. The company's employment plan is ruined, which is probably good news~ Hearing you say that, I'm afraid of workplace relations.]

"Ha."

John now genuinely felt a sense of relief.

Silver Rider 577 slowly decelerated, finally stopping in front of a quite familiar building.

[Eden City - Source Formula Research Center]

"The amazing medical technology you mentioned is here?"

John felt inexplicably absurd.

Sora Kenichi didn't speak.

In front of the Source Formula were automatic turrets, and the vehicle inspection passage was hundreds of meters long, including mechanical scanning and biometric identification.

Last time, Bismarck was able to pass through with facial recognition.

Silver Rider 577 wasn't impeded, and strangely enough, the layers of security previously seen had all vanished, even the CCTV cameras at the entrance were shut off, with the scanners acting more like a formality.

The vehicle slowly moved and descended into a vast indoor garage, sinking into the depths of the wilderness.

John had to admit he felt a bit nervous.

Bzzt, bzzt...

John's bionic eye became a bit blurry, its functions disabled.

"What's going on?"

[It's a normal... phenomenon, don't worry, this place affects equipment operation.]

Sora's voice was very faint, seemingly the further John descended underground, the weaker the signal the chip could receive.

The system of Silver Rider 577 was also affected.

The Source Formula is a cutting-edge research facility, having such a level of network protection is quite normal.

John initially thought he'd face a group of people, at least the formidable security department head from last time, Iron Scorpion.

The vehicle must have descended for at least five minutes.

John wasn't sure of the exact distance, or even if there were any stops along the way.

When everything around finally quieted down.

Silver Rider 577 stopped on a spacious platform.

From here, four directions are towering passages starting at ten meters high, deep and dark, barely visible are large transport tracks.

John could imagine:

Usually, others like him arrive, riding hovercars or other vehicles, through similar elevators, directly delivered here.

The ceiling closed.

Only a few scattered data points appeared on the silvery-gray walls.

John could barely recognize one as [Oxygen Saturation], indicating he was indeed deep underground.

[Leave the vehicle.]

John received information from Sora.

It was already completely unable to perform real-time voice communication, resorting only to text.

John left the car door, stepped off the platform, and saw a protruding electronic device on the wall, or more accurately, a data cable.

[Bionic eye program startup failed, error message...]

The scanning function was discarded.

[Connect.]

Sora sent another message.

John grasped the data cable, another set of text appeared before him.

[Mission Target Updated]

[Connect Data Cable. (Optional)]

[Abandon. (Optional)]

The mission information was updated.

John wasn't surprised.

At that moment, he had no other choice; even if he gave up, everything he'd been through would amount to meaningless struggle.

Even if Sora betrayed him, it wouldn't change the outcome.

John inserted the data cable into his neck, then widened his eyes.

He didn't understand hacking technology, but in the instant the information popped out, he recognized a few characters among them.

[Black Ice Program%...]