Taking off her shoes and lying on the sofa, Lucy put on the helmet. Since she didn't need a neural link, she closed her eyes with a hint of maladjustment.
As the gaming helmet and server began to operate, the cybernetic girl's consciousness entered the virtual world amidst a flash of colorful brilliance—
"?!"
Suddenly opening her eyes, Lucy was first astonished at how easily she had entered the state, her body feeling no discomfort whatsoever.
Subconsciously looking at her own hands and trying to clench them twice, the girl frowned slightly: "[Braindance]? But it's too 'clean'. There is only pure physical sensation... Have the recorder's emotions been completely stripped away?"
This situation was rare, because the most special thing about [Braindance] is that it allows one to "substitute in." It doesn't rely on text or music, or emotional infection, but rather directly places you "on the scene," transmitting the recorder's emotions from that moment directly to you.
—What could be more real than this!
If there isn't excellent consciousness rendering, then this film cannot be considered...
Suddenly, a faint fragrance drilled into her nose with the wind. The feeling of relaxation and comfort was like fine wine, making one entranced. Lucy inadvertently looked up, and the impact of the unknown instantly spread through her whole body!
"...So beautiful~"
Her pretty and bright face was rendered by the glow of dusk, creating a soft aesthetic. Her constricted pupils slowly dilated, reflecting patches of colorful clouds galloping across the sky like raging fire.
In the distant horizon, it was a passionate dusk blending heaven and earth into one color, an extremely open field of vision bringing the mountains into view~
The majestic curves rising and falling were filled by the lush green of the forest seas, the stark white of snow peaks, and the dark blue-black of rocks. It was as if the Creator had used these three different brushes to depict this scene, and then accidentally knocked over the stove, adding a gilded crimson luster to everything.
The sun's trace could not be seen; one could only judge by the gold lines at the edges of the clouds that it was about to be swallowed by the horizon. The last touch of afterglow would slowly retract, and the mountains, melted by this passion, would gradually reveal their stern and precipitous true colors.
That amber-like river, which originally seemed to flow with gold and molten steel, was now slowly cooling down, flickering with bright white silver light. Gazing from afar, it looked like a luxurious and elegant jade belt, used to tie the slender waist of the waking Moon Goddess.
—Lucy was speechless.
Night City wasn't without tourism or scenic [Braindance]s; Lucy even had one in her hand. But that was... completely different from everything before her eyes!
The language module in her brain seemed to short-circuit, all vocabulary data crushed by a beautiful thing she had never seen in her life. She could do nothing but be conquered, be moved, staring foolishly at the wind blowing the clouds, the sun setting and the moon rising...
Time passed quickly. By the time she noticed, dusk had turned into night. The magnificent and majestic scenery in the distance was now completely silenced in the gentle night colors; looking from afar, there were only the silhouettes of giant beasts waiting for the sun's call.
Lucy had no doubt that when dawn arrived, this place would look completely different again!
Only then did she have the leisure to observe her surroundings, discovering that she was in a garden. The entire structure was built halfway up the mountain, like an observation post, and was even specially equipped with a viewing terrace—which was exactly where Lucy was standing.
The garden itself was also beautiful, dominated by green, with various bright but not tacky colors harmonized here. There wasn't much artificial craftsmanship; it was as if a piece of tropical rainforest had been transplanted entirely~
Lucy wandered through it, feeling as if she too had melted into this nature.
Where on earth could there be such a...
Or rather, was this a fantasy piled up by data using some kind of technology?
...
Carrying a sense of immense shock, Lucy exited the game. After taking off the helmet, she froze on the spot, unable to recover for a long time.
"How was it?" Ryu was over there adjusting something on the computer. "Is the scene I chose pretty?"
"That was indeed very..."
Lucy held her forehead, brows furrowed tight, and asked somewhat dazedly: "How was that [Braindance] made just now? Whose memory is this..."
"Very dreamlike, right?"
Ryu looked as if he expected this: "That isn't the memory of any specific person. Strictly speaking, it's not even a [Braindance], but a Virtual Reality scene."
"Virtual Reality?"
Lucy suddenly felt a sense of loss: "Are those all fabricated illusions?"
"Not really."
Ryu's words cheered the cybernetic girl up: "That is scenery that exists in reality, rendered using it as a base sample.
Although in reality one needs to consider factors like weather, lighting, and seasons—it's hard to see even once a year... but it can indeed be found in reality."
"That's awesome!"
Lucy clapped her hands in pleasant surprise: "This [Braindance] is amazing! Please strictly share it with me!"
"Satisfied with just this?"
Ryu blinked, deliberately putting on a puzzled look: "This is just one of the 'materials'. I haven't even truly started making the [Braindance] yet."
No way!
Lucy's eyes widened: "The material is already like this... just what exactly are you going to make?"
—
[Braindance] is the most popular form of entertainment right now, there is no doubt about that!
Movies, TV, manga, anime, novels, and games—almost all entertainment products were hit by a dimensionality reduction strike, utterly defeated under the powerful oppression of [Braindance]!
Because this thing, from its basic theory, is at a height they cannot hope to reach:
For example, movies attract people's attention through sight and sound. If they want to make people's blood boil, they need cool special effects; if they want to move people's hearts, they need to tell a touching story.
But [Braindance] doesn't need to beat around the bush!
This technology can transfer the experiences of others into the viewer's nervous system through digital recording via fixed equipment—simply put, it allows the buyer to experience "someone else's life"!
What it brings is not just the dual enjoyment of vision and hearing, but includes inner emotions, sensory stimulation, thoughts and memories, and even realistic tactile sensations and the feeling of muscle stretching... without a single omission!
If combined with a hypnosis program, the buyer might even forget they are "dreaming," truly treating the [Braindance] as part of their own life and sinking into it wholeheartedly.
(This method of play is not recommended; it carries certain dangers, and manufacturers will specially mark it—just like "Smoking is Harmful to Health.")
Most [Braindance]s are produced using a single person's memory and emotions as a template, but there are also organizations and companies that hire multiple people for professional shooting and editing calibration, just like a Cyber-Hollywood.
You can participate in crazy dance parties with DJs and hot girls in a [Braindance]; the protagonists' emotions will be transmitted to you, getting you high in no time~
Or experience the luxurious lives of billionaires and pop stars, enjoying the glory of being the center of attention under the spotlights!
Police-and-robber [Braindance]s created from the memories of criminals before they died after being shot by officers;
Religious [Braindance]s that use the will of devout believers as a tool to cleanse the soul, bringing you peace of mind;
And of course, adult [Braindance]s that go straight to human instincts, exciting and erotic...
This little thing that allows people to detach from reality and possess another segment of life has naturally become a "daily necessity" for contemporary people.
After all, this is a city belonging to the "Night," and it matches "Dreams" the best~
After finishing a small experiment, Ryu took Lucy to the garage downstairs, temporarily using the operating table as a workbench and successively installing the equipment needed.
Fortunately, the operating table he bought at the time had multi-functional interfaces and adapters. As long as things like the mechanical arms were removed, new components could be added.
Lucy was surprised to find that Ryu actually had a complete set of professional Braindance editing equipment at home:
A computer with powerful computing power, a set of calibrated headsets, the guidance gloves he was equipped with, and a dedicated intelligent system.
Ryu skillfully inserted the memory unit into the slot, replaced the reading device with one brought from his hometown, and then selected the applicable decoding mode on the computer—this step alone took a long time.
After all, even traveling abroad requires preparing special voltage converters due to different voltage standards, let alone data exchange between two worlds and different eras.
Fortunately, the divergence point between Cyberpunk and the real world was in the 1990s. Information technology had already laid its foundation by that time; the two worlds shared common precursor technology, and subsequent developments shared the same roots, just different versions.
What Ryu had to do was troublesome: technical tracing to find a version "old" enough to be compatible with both worlds, and then finding suitable decoding software based on that version... The specific details were very complex, and Ryu definitely couldn't do it alone.
This was also why he specifically brought this up when Lucy was around—Lucy is a genius hacker, possessing extraordinary talent and intuition in this regard.
With the help of the cybernetic girl, Ryu spent about a morning adapting the software and hardware before truly beginning the production of the [Braindance].
And at this moment, Lucy noticed something very unusual:
Ryu's dream-creation technique was quite good!
Originally, she thought he had just learned some out of interest—after all, Ryu said so himself—but Lucy determined after just a few glances that he had almost professional-level standards!
The raw materials for Braindance, that is, the experiences of the filmers themselves, cannot be used directly.
They usually carry a large amount of fragmented memories and echoes of thoughts, which would make the user feel unspeakably uncomfortable and severely affect the experience.
Optimizing the data requires a massive amount of editing work. A single scene of just a few minutes sometimes requires repeated acting, recording, and replaying a dozen times or more.
Generally speaking, this is extremely torturous work—
Yet for such boring operations that required focused attention, Ryu performed them as precisely as a machine, and the completion quality was also quite good.
"Just when exactly did you learn this?"
Lucy asked in amazement: "I normally didn't notice you had this skill at all... This is already beyond the realm of an enthusiast, isn't it?"
"Just learned it casually."
Ryu said modestly while operating: "Just a trivial strength not worth mentioning."
"Oh my~" Lucy sat next to him with a grin, observing his every move seriously—after all, she was also very interested in what kind of Braindance Ryu would produce.
She simply couldn't wait!
After busying himself for most of the afternoon, Ryu finally managed to barely finish one. After transcribing the data into a new memory chip, he leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh of relief.
"Alright... want to try it?"
"Mhm-hmm!"
If not for the lack of corresponding cybernetics installed, Lucy might have started wagging her tail right now.
The cybernetic girl was also very decisive; after putting on the helmet, she lay on the operating table without any scruples, just like a patient waiting for surgery, giving Ryu a weird feeling.
...
Opening her eyes, Lucy suddenly felt something was different.
A wonderful, faint melancholy shrouded this world like a gauze veil—Lucy was very familiar with this feeling; she had spent almost the first half of her life in this kind of atmosphere.
Even though she had desperately escaped that environment and tossed and turned to reach Night City, she never believed she had truly gained freedom, only that she was slightly further away... Now, it reminded her of bad memories.
Whoosh~
Whoosh~
Whoosh~
"Eh!"
A vast and profound sound of waves hit her accompanied by a chill. Lucy subconsciously retreated, but the water splashed onto her face, and half her calf was washed over by foam.
Beneath her feet was fine white sand; in her ears was the rhythmic sound of the tide; a slightly fishy and salty wind blew past her;
Gazing out, from the clear shallow water, slowly deepening, until the deep parts that were like an abyss or ink;
Lifting her face, the azure sky was unreachable, and the unpredictable white clouds piled up like mountains, seemingly carrying towers and palaces. A sigh about how insignificant humans are between heaven and earth arose spontaneously, but this did not cause depression; instead, it felt as exhilarating as having melted into heaven and earth!
—The Sea!
"It's the sea..."
There seemed to be a hard object between her toes. Picking it up, she saw it was a tiny seashell.
"...Heh! Hehe... Ha!"
Lucy was wrapped in immense happiness, an irresistible infectious power making her unable to stop herself from laughing heartily, even wanting to run along this shore until she was exhausted—and she really did so.
Water splashes constantly hit her body; the incredibly realistic tactile sensation made her forget where she was~
Suddenly, her vision became blurred, and tears streaked across her face, but the girl's smile remained brilliant.
She didn't know why she was shedding tears, only feeling a touching emotion of "it's so good to be alive until today," excited almost to the point of selflessness...
In reality, Ryu inadvertently saw Lucy's eye shadow had smudged, flowing down like tear stains. He reached out and gently wiped away a streak with his fingertip.
What Lucy was experiencing now wasn't complete Virtual Reality, but fit this world's definition of [Braindance] more closely—it was mixed with the emotions and moving feelings generated by the experiencer, which would make people automatically substitute in.
And this memory chip was data Ryu had retrieved and copied from the medical machine [Medicuboid]; the scenes were the experiences of those patients in virtual reality.
Paralyzed patients standing up by their own strength for the first time, blind patients opening their eyes to look at the world for the first time, people congenitally deaf being startled by the sound of waves, people who had to live in sterile environments for life touching nature...
Modern doctors and researchers couldn't completely analyze the data inside, because there was a lot of garbled code that seemed meaningless to them, just like the noise of an old-fashioned TV set.
But Ryu, who had traversed two worlds and come into contact with [Braindance], knew what that was, and it was exactly what Lucy was experiencing—
The joy of being human, the gratitude for life, the hope ignited for the future...
And the reconciliation with oneself!
________________________________________
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