Chapter 177 Thoughts longing for freedom will be torn off by reality!

"The war... is over?!"

After hearing this series of news, Li De took two steps back in a trance. It was a little difficult for him to accept this reality for a while.

President Miles Rosalind is dead, killed in a machine uprising started by Song Zhaomei.

Although Reed did not believe that Miles would die so hastily, he would never care about the truth behind Miles' death.

Because if a big figure like her died of murder, it would most likely be because she failed in her power struggle.

Since you are staying out of it, there is no need to get involved.

Li De was very clear that he was just a small person.

What made Reed feel most sad was the end of the Metal War, which meant that the journey of the revival of the New America had come to an end and would no longer exist!
And he, an CIA agent who had devoted decades of hard work to the new America, got nothing in the end. It was all in vain.

The life ideals and ideological identification he pursued became the most ironic joke with the death of Miles.

Everything he did was just futile self-satisfaction and it never had any meaning!
"V, Alex, these things are not good news for me. I feel like I have lost everything and have nothing left."

"I also feel like... I am a complete loser now. I have lived for most of my life and I don't even know what I am doing."

Reed held his head in frustration and annoyance. He was not sad about Miles' death, but felt that everything he had done in the first half of his life seemed meaningless at this moment.

Since everything they do is destined to be fruitless, why should they sacrifice so many people to accomplish an ideal that will never be realized!

This feeling of drawing water with a bamboo basket was the real reason why Li De's mentality exploded.

A man like him who has given everything for the new America only seeks honor that has no practical significance when he is alive, but now Li De doesn't even have this empty thing!

"Li De, you have to cheer up. Alex still needs you to take her to the beach for vacation. Didn't you already make an agreement?"

V walked up to Li De and patted his strong shoulders, comforting him, and then told him a piece of good news:

"In fact, I have already told Mr. Li Ang about your choice, and he has allowed you and Alex to officially join LA Company."

"From now on, you two will be formal employees of the company, and you will have all the company benefits, paid vacations, etc."

As soon as the words fell, Alex on the side excitedly pumped her fists repeatedly. She had been waiting for this day for a long time.

Compared to Li De, a young man who is loyal to his country, Alex seems to have no taboos. As long as there is an organization or force that can give her what she wants, she is willing to serve them.

Obviously, LA company never disappoints its employees in terms of employee treatment.

Even though Alex is an informal worker and is doing undercover work, the salary she receives now is much better than when she was in the CIA.

"Li De, did you hear that? From now on, we are considered employees of the company, which is at least better than being stray dogs."

Alex is very practical and realistic. She attaches more importance to material things than Reed does.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have opened her own tavern while lurking in Dog Town.

Li De didn't care about these things, but due to the need to make a living, he did all kinds of jobs, even working as a security guard for the Nether Dog soldiers for several days.

"Yeah, I heard it."

Reed responded in a muffled voice, and did not show the same happy expression as Alex.

In his opinion, joining the LA company does not mean that he will be much better than before.

You still have to work hard, it’s just that you have a new boss and a new organization to be loyal to.

Business as usual.

"Li De, Alex, the first company mission you have received now is to come with me to bring Song Zhaomei back!"

V knew that Li De was in a very low mood at the moment, but there was really not much time left for them.

Every second they waste here may bring Song Zhaomei closer to death. At this critical moment, they must not act emotionally.

"Mr. Li Ang has already sent company troops to Dog Town. It won't take long to quell the chaos here."

"But we can't just wait for them to come to the rescue. Song Zhaomei is still waiting for us to save her."

"You have to help me find Song Zhaomei!"

V has noticed that the noise outside has become much quieter, which means that Song Zhaomei's power to control the machine is weakening.

Her aggression now should not be as deadly as before.

"ok, I get it."

Li De nodded solemnly, he knew that what V said was right.

Anyway, I have nothing left, so I might as well use this last bit of time to help V rescue Song Zhaomei.

As for what he should do in the future and how he should live, he will talk about it after everything is settled. The top priority now is to rescue Song Zhaomei.

"V, after we finish this job, will the LA company allow us to take some vacation time? I haven't had a vacation in seven or eight years."

Alex couldn't help but ask before leaving.

She had been almost exhausted from working in the United Nations Intelligence Agency, and she was eager to enjoy a summer vacation on the beach, even for just one day.

Now that the entire New America and the CIA are about to be destroyed along with the death of Miles, Alex thinks he should have a day off.

"Uh! I will try my best to get you permission to take leave, but you have to fully cooperate with me because I am your boss now!"

"I ask you to pull yourself together and stop thinking about other things."

V was a little speechless about Alex who only wanted to give up and lie down, but he could also see how badly Alex was tortured by the CIA, which was why he was thinking about retiring and taking a vacation every day.

"Well, let's go now!"

Alex instantly regained his energy at the thought of having a chance to get a company vacation.

Of course, she wasn't doing it entirely for herself, she still had to save Song Zhaomei.

"Song Zhaomei has the locator I placed on her. She is approaching the border of Taiping Island. I guess she is most likely planning to go to the abandoned laboratory."

The laboratory that Li De mentioned was the scientific research base that the New American troops had established in the Pacific region.

Now, this base has been transformed by Hansen into a large mechanical laboratory in Dog Town, where combat robots, drones, network access cabins and other things are stored.

"What is she doing there?" Alex was confused. That shabby place shouldn't have what Song Zhaomei wanted.

"I think... Song Zhaomei should be planning to perform AI neural matrix surgery on herself. Her condition can no longer be delayed!"

After he finished speaking, even V was reluctant to believe his own guess, but this was indeed the result that best matched the reality.

After all, the operating room that Hansen arranged for Song Zhaomei was in that experimental base.

"what?!"

At this moment, Reed and Alex were shocked. They both looked at V in astonishment and disbelief.

They couldn't imagine how desperate Song Zhaomei must be at this moment to think of performing such a dangerous operation on herself.

What is the difference between this and suicide!
"Li De, please lead the way quickly. I hope we can still catch up." V's voice became heavier.

……

……

Taiping Island, Dog Town, abandoned underground laboratory base.

The malfunctioning device flashed a scarlet light in the gray fog, and drops of water fell from the broken pipes, piercing the bright neon lights.

At this moment, Song Zhaomei, with her head down and her body swaying, walked slowly towards the main control console of the base like a walking corpse.

The unknown dark red electric current lingering throughout her body made her body surface temperature as hot as charcoal. Song Zhaomei's prosthetic device was on the verge of collapse.

At this moment, Song Zhaomei was suffering from severe pain. Her brain seemed to be churning rapidly under the infection of the wandering AIs and the black walls, and the blood in her body began to heat up and boil.

Countless roaming AIs were howling and shouting frantically in Song Zhaomei's mind, tearing at every inch of her brain nerves and gnawing at her soul consciousness.

But even though she was enduring such excruciating pain, Song Zhaomei still gritted her teeth and forced herself to move forward.

She knew that the closer she was to the console, the closer she was to the freedom she desired.

[Song Zhaomei, you are the only one here. Do you think you can use your AI neural matrix by yourself? Hehehe! ]

Song Zhaomei could feel the chaotic voices in her head becoming clearer and clearer. Those roaming AIs had already targeted her consciousness and were trying to break through her ICE defenses and seize control of her body.

Song Zhaomei tried her best to fight against these roaming AIs, while silently enduring the painful torture brought by the black wall infection.

[You can't get rid of us! ! ]

A sharp electric sound surged in Song Zhaomei's mind, and her expression revealed unprecedented pain.

Fortunately, her ICE defense had not completely collapsed, so Song Zhaomei could continue to move forward. In this way, under the crazy attacks of the roaming AIs, it took Song Zhaomei 10 minutes to complete the last 20 meters of the journey.

She squatted at the main console, slowly plugged the high-speed cable into her brain-computer interface, and connected it to the AI ​​neural matrix device.

Immediately, Song Zhaomei connected to the cyberspace and used the main control interface in the space to begin writing the code program for the startup device.

However, due to the interference of the roaming AI, Song Zhaomei's writing efficiency has become extremely low. A task that usually takes her only a few seconds to complete now takes her at least 10 minutes.

At this moment, Song Zhaomei's full body prosthetic device was rapidly collapsing and disintegrating under the load and high temperature.

As time passed, her life gradually entered the countdown.

There is no way. AI neural matrix surgery is an extremely difficult operation that requires multiple professional engineers to perform.

It is absolutely impossible for Song Zhaomei to accomplish this alone!

Song Zhaomei knew that it was futile for her to do so, but she still did it without hesitation.

Rather than trying to save herself, it would be more accurate to say that she was trying to find a relatively free way to die.

Rather than dying in the endless missions of the FIAB, Song Zhaomei felt that dying on the road to saving herself might make her look more like a lark pursuing freedom.

[What a pitiful little bird! Since you are seeking death, I will accompany you through this final journey! ]

The wandering AIs in Song Zhaomei's mind made playful laughs and stopped attacking her.

They did not originally possess such human-like emotions, but after devouring multiple human consciousnesses, these roaming AIs began to evolve iteratively, and now have learned to taunt and ridicule.

Because the roaming AIs know that by doing this, they can more quickly undermine the mentality of human hackers, making it easier for them to take advantage of the opportunity.

And now, what they value is Song Zhaomei’s consciousness data!

The smarter the hacker, the more valuable their consciousness is to the roaming AIs, which can help them enrich their data systems more comprehensively.

To put it simply, Song Zhaomei's soul is a feast for the wandering AI, and it is the experience baby for them to complete their own iterative evolution!

That's why they entangled the weak Song Zhaomei.

After a while, when the wandering AI realized that Song Zhaomei was on the verge of death, they decided to rush forward, completely break through the opponent's ICE defense system, and devour Song Zhaomei's consciousness.

But at this moment, the wandering AIs suddenly sensed a terrifying presence nearby, approaching them rapidly!
[It's the White Queen! The White Queen is coming towards us! ]

In an instant, more than half of the AI ​​roaming in Song Zhaomei's body escaped, and the speed at which her life was lost seemed to have slowed down a little.

But even so, there are still some fearless wandering AIs that are obsessed with eating Song Zhaomei's soul so that they can quickly complete their iterative evolution.

In order to prevent V from approaching, the remaining roving AI began to control the combat robots Big Flat Head and some drones in the laboratory to attack V.

They tried to slow down V's progress in reaching the main control console, buying themselves time to kill Song Zhaomei so that they could take away Song Zhaomei's consciousness.

However, what these roving AIs did not expect was that the moment V activated the Chapter 6 Access Warehouse, the AI ​​White Queen had already followed the black wall ICE and invaded their location in reverse.

After the upgrade, the AI ​​White Queen not only performs better in defensive counterattacks, but can also find targets along the signal source when actively attacking.

Immediately, the AI ​​White Queen appeared in Song Zhaomei's mind, and like a greedy snake, it quickly devoured the rest of the wandering AIs.

This suddenly relieved the pressure on Song Zhaomei, who had one foot on the verge of death. She would not die for the time being, but the situation was still not good.

The degree of black wall infection that Song Zhaomei suffered was too deep, and the AI ​​White Queen alone was not enough to help her clear out these messy data.

After all, the main function of this AI White Queen is to help V block the downloading process of the Relic chip. It is not yet able to autonomously clear these fatal data for Song Zhaomei.

Here, without the control of the roaming AIs, the combat robots, drones and other devices that had just been activated and were about to attack V and his group stopped instantly.

The sudden scene scared Reed and Alex. Fortunately, nothing happened in the end, otherwise they would definitely be entangled by these things.

There will surely be a fierce battle at that time.

"Oh my god! This guy with a flat head... why did he stop right after he came out?!"

Alex, whose face turned pale with fear, looked at the nearly two-meter-tall combat robot in front of him and said with lingering fear.

When the flat-headed guy suddenly fell from the ceiling just now, her legs were almost weakened by fear.

Alex was familiar with this type of combat robot, although it was not as powerful as the battlefield killing machine like the Chimera Chariot.

But dealing with an agent like her is as easy as crushing an ant!
This thing can be considered a military-grade killing machine. It looks invulnerable to swords and guns. Apart from top hackers, I'm afraid ordinary mercenaries can't do anything to it.

“I hacked this thing.”

V had no intention of showing off in front of Alex, but the Chapter 6 Network Access Portal in his mind could indeed make him one of the world's top offensive hackers.

Even if Song Zhaomei came, she would be so scared that she would run away when she saw him.

"I never thought you were actually a hacker. You're a comprehensive talent!"

Alex had a new respect for V. She originally thought that V was just an ordinary corporate agent who was good at fighting thanks to his prosthetic devices.

Essentially, he is a mercenary who relies on technology.

But what surprised her was that V actually added some hacker skills. No wonder LA Company sent V into Dog Town to complete the mission.

V didn't continue to pay attention to Alex, but followed Li De closely and quickly rushed towards the direction where Song Zhaomei was.

They must seize this time!
Soon, when V and his group arrived at the main control console deep in the base, Li De chose to stop and let V go in to rescue Song Zhaomei.

He stood outside and waited patiently for the situation.

Li De knew that Song Zhaomei definitely didn't want to see him again. In order not to stimulate Song Zhaomei's fragile and sensitive nerves and cause further deterioration of her body, he could only avoid her temporarily.

Alex could see what Li De was thinking, so he followed him and made a simple avoidance, allowing V to enter the main console alone to rescue Song Zhaomei.

"Song Zhaomei, how do you feel now? Are you still holding on?"

As soon as V saw Song Zhaomei, he immediately sent his specific location to Li Ang and asked the company to send people for emergency support.

After completing these basic tasks, V quickly pulled out the nano access cable from his wrist and inserted it into Song Zhaomei's access slot.

V's brain prosthesis is quite advanced. It can be said to be a miniature professional medical scanning instrument. By connecting it to Song Zhaomei's system with an access line, he can conduct a comprehensive examination of the other party's condition.

While V was patiently waiting for the scan results, the sleepy Song Zhaomei opened her eyes. The moment she saw V, her eyes were filled with tears:

"V, I beg you, please help me remove these things, I'm in so much pain, it really... hurts so much."

Without the interference of the roaming AI, Song Zhaomei's eyes have changed from bright scarlet to normal pupil color.

But those fine, worm-like red bloodshot veins have occupied Song Zhaomei's eyes, and the ink-black eye circles also show that Song Zhaomei's physical and mental state has collapsed at this moment!
Therefore, Song Zhaomei's first reaction when she saw V was to ask him to help her die peacefully.

Song Zhaomei no longer has any attachment to this world that makes her despair. She could have uploaded her consciousness data like Batmos and chosen cyber ascension.

But Song Zhaomei doesn't want to become a string of meaningless and cold AI data.

She always missed the time when she still had a human body. At that time, her dancing movements would not be as clumsy and stiff as they are now.

The feather-light dance moves and the agile and changeable footsteps still haunt Song Zhaomei.

She almost forgot what she used to look like.

"Song Zhaomei, Miles is dead. You are free now. From now on, no one will control you. You can go wherever you want."

"Didn't you tell me that you've always wanted to go to the Crystal Palace? Then let's go to the airport now and take the Hermes to fly up!"

V gently supported the back of Song Zhaomei's head. While he spoke to calm Song Zhaomei's emotional breakdown, he checked the information results scanned by the system.

You wouldn't know it until you see it. V then discovered that there were so many black wall data in Song Zhaomei's mind that it was almost causing her system to completely collapse.

These complex and confusing data are the real reasons why Song Zhaomei’s consciousness collapsed and her prosthetic body short-circuited!
For cyber hackers like Song Zhaomei, being infected by the Blackwall's AI data is like an ordinary human being being infected with a deadly cancer.

If the disease is discovered in its early stages, it can actually be saved. However, in special cases like Song Zhaomei's, the infection was not treated in time and was instead concealed.

Despite her already serious condition, Song Zhaomei tried to force her way through the constraints of the ice-breaking procedure, which worsened her infection.

Now Song Zhaomei's black wall infection level has rapidly deteriorated from the early to middle stages to the late stages!
At this moment, Song Zhaomei was really only one step away from the gates of hell, and she was just one step away from death.

Seeing such terrible scan results, V's hand holding Song Zhaomei couldn't help but start to tremble slightly. He seemed to feel through his fingertips that a life was disappearing in front of him.

"No, V… you don't understand."

Song Zhaomei's voice was choked with sobs, and her face, which was as haggard as a withered flower, forced a sad smile.

She came here from Bao Shiqing and had already seen through her own destiny. Dying in pursuit of freedom might be the best ending for her.

"Myers is not important, Hansen is not important, Mr. Li Ang is not important, no one is important..."

“This world is a huge cage. It does not allow anyone to fly away from their position. Any thought that desires freedom will be torn down by the gravity of reality.”

"Just like me now, I ended up in pieces..."

(End of this chapter)