How to Live as an Immortal Chapter 71

Chapter 71

Yeah, Just Suffer a Little More

***

“Yeah, next ti make sure you prepare thoroughly.”

At Ga-on’s reproach, the old man let out a groan. Was this what it ant to give a doe and receive a mal in return?

As if saying he couldn’t be helped, the old man shrugged his shoulders, and Ga-on opened his mouth.

“Should I go to Isabella Public University after all?”

There was no way a research facility where humanity’s foremost scholars gathered wouldn’t have at least one quantum computer.

Noah had thought the sa at that mont, but she shook her head.

“There will be records. Even if we wipe them clean, we can’t hide the fact that we were there. If they find out we used it to uncover the internal structure of the electronic drug……”

“It would inevitably cause a stir.”

“And even if we investigate there, I don’t think the result will change.”

After discovering a peculiar pattern, Noah analyzed the corresponding structure. She interpreted it from multiple angles, but there was only one conclusion that could be drawn.

“If Professor Preston left an Easter egg, it’s more likely to be on the outside rather than the inside.”

“On the outside?”

“It might an we have to use it directly. The brain is also an efficient tool for interpretation.”

It was the kind of idea Professor Preston, well-versed in neurobiology, would have co up with.

“So he made full use of his own field of expertise.”

“He probably prepared it to surface beyond the depths of the subconscious.”

Indeed, there was no way secretly inserting a few lines of code wouldn’t be detected. Hadn’t Noah said so herself? Eden had passed through the hands of many people besides Preston.

“The problem is that it’s too dangerous. Even if there are no harmful components, this is still a drug, right?”

“It’s fine.”

Ga-on, who had been looking at the old man, answered.

“We have a capable assistant here.”

***

Seated in the Unit chair, Ga-on shut down the program prepared for electronic warfare. It was then that the old man, who had approached him, spoke.

“I’ve arbitrarily extended Eden’s duration. Instead, since I forcibly added commands, I can’t guarantee safety.”

“Instead, I’ll distinguish it through brainwaves—whether he’s feeling pleasure or pain. If it exceeds the permitted threshold, I’ll forcefully stop it either way.”

Noah declared sternly on purpose.

Her eyes were filled with concern.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back before that.”

After asserting that, Ga-on inserted the package into the device.

Click.

In an instant, his vision inverted. As a bonus, a pleasure he had never experienced in his life engulfed his entire body.

But Ga-on did not beco enchanted by that illusion and instead focused his mind.

He had not forgotten.

That he was not a beast driven by instinct, and that he had accepted Eden in order to find the Easter egg.

The mont he beca aware of reality, the stimulation ceased.

What filled Ga-on’s eyes was a night sky brimming with starlight.

Even knowing it was an illusion, I couldn’t help but marvel at that distant sense of openness.

Of course, that only lasted a mont.

Turning my head, I began walking toward the place far away where lights flickered. As if brushing against the soles of my shoes, I parted the shallow, gently rippling surface of the water.

How much ti had passed?

Suddenly, at the scent of blood piercing the tip of my nose, I stopped and looked down.

A sticky, vivid hue.

At so point, the clear stream had turned into thick blood.

At its end lay young n dead in various forms.

Stab wounds, puncture wounds, lacerations, internal injuries,

Burns, strangulation marks, frostbite, contusions,

Penetrating wounds, bruises, ruptures, amputations.

They had been mutilated in every conceivable way, yet they shared one common trait. Their faces. They were all the sa person.

‘?’

Yes, the deaths I had experienced long ago were piled up like a mountain.

Most conspicuous of all was the black beast seated upon the corpses as though they were a throne.

Its body was so developed that the grain of its muscles showed clearly. Covering it was a hard, smooth carapace like full-body armor.

In particular, the two horns protruding from its temples looked as sharp as blades.

It was then that the monster, standing upright at the summit, opened its mouth arrogantly.

“Welco, scrap.”

Perhaps because its vocal organs differed from a human’s, the growling sound clung unpleasantly to my ears.

At that mont, the words Owen had spoken at the Black Market flashed through my mind.

‘Moreover, the pleasure is so intense that you co face to face with a new self.’

There was only one word that ca to mind.

Dissociative identity.

It was an interesting concept, but not a surprising one. Besides, wasn’t this the deep consciousness? Having lived more than twice the life of others, there might be parts of myself I had never recognized.

Without the slightest agitation, I asked back,

“Why am I scrap?”

“You are permitted to witness the end of civilization, yet you yourself cannot conceive new life. Are you not the very definition of incomplete scrap?”

An aggressive and blunt manner of speech.

Yes, though I had lived for countless years, I had no being I could call my descendant. But I felt neither sha nor disappointnt about that.

If anything, I even thought it was for the best.

What if my bloodline were immortal?

Nothing would be more troubleso than that.

“My deep consciousness seems quite upset.”

“I rely stated the truth. From the aning of your existence to the way you live, all of it is trivial. Even now. What exactly are you doing here?”

“Investigating?”

“Planning to sink into self-satisfaction by saving the weak? What can you possibly achieve by living that way?”

A personality that was cynical and utterly self-righteous.

Sohow, it felt familiar.

Yes, it was as if I were looking at myself from three hundred years ago.

The black beast’s assertions were so immature they almost slled green. In so ways, they were to the point of being nostalgic. It felt as though a past I could never return to had surfaced.

“Why interpret it as one-sided sacrifice? Everything in the world depends on how you choose to see it.”

Humans found things painful and unfair because of the prejudices instilled in them after birth. Prioritizing the self was advantageous for survival.

If one had first learned about sacrifice and goodwill, there would have been no need to go far to attain enlightennt.

The black beast did not fail to understand that.

But—

“There is no need to prioritize others while going against instinct. People call that hypocrisy.”

“They also call it life.”

I must not forget that it was Thomas’s goodwill that granted a status, and the old monk’s kindness that allowed to learn the ancient martial arts.

Further back, during the Third World War, I learned survival techniques from the special forces operatives deployed alongside .

If even one of those had been absent, the person called Ga-on would not be standing here now.

What I ate, what I wore, where I slept—all of it was lived while owing soone else. That was what life was.

And yet, to refuse to yield was obsession, and a sin.

Repay what one has received.

That was the Middle Way.

It was the value I pursued.

“Ah, was that too difficult a story for re deep consciousness?”

From the mont I understood my own trait, I had devoted myself to ntal discipline. Living a long life was a continuous process of self-reflection.

It was inevitable to maintain one’s center in order not to self-destruct.

Thus, the black beast’s rebuke did not pain .

“Soday you are destined to be left alone, whether you wish it or not. That is what it ans to have escaped the shackles of your species.”

At the declaration that sounded like a prophecy, I maintained my silence.

It was not that I was shaken.

It was because it was ambiguous whether the being before was rely a delusion conjured by Eden, or the self that ford the foundation of my immortality.

If it were the forr, I could simply evaluate it as having fallen into groundless suspicion, and if it were the latter—

‘I can explain why Lucas brought Hald in.’

Just as Hiro had drawn Preston in to perfect a more complete electronic drug, Lucas must also have wanted to achieve sothing of his own.

Needless to say, it would be closely related to ta-human.

The situation I was experiencing proved as much.

“How interesting.”

Naturally, the latter seed more plausible. There was no need to even ask which was closer to the truth.

I wanted to keep the black beast here and continue the verbal battle to confirm my hypothesis, but there was no ti.

“Disappear.”

“With just those words, you think I would…….”

I never expected it to obediently withdraw in the first place.

Using the mountain of corpses as stepping stones, I leapt and spun midair. As the acceleration compounded, the strobe phenonon intensified.

There was no need to worry about witnesses or leaving traces.

This was within my consciousness.

For the first ti since coming to Mars, the conditions had been ford for to go all out.

No matter how much it puffed itself up like a heavyweight, there was no way it could oppose its original owner.

The black beast seed to say sothing, but I did not listen. Instead, I gathered the centrifugal force that had reached its extre at the tip of my foot and answered with a kick.

Boom!

At the sa ti the black beast’s head burst apart, the desolate space vanished, and a familiar scene entered my view.

A place I had visited once before.

It was Preston’s office.

‘Let’s see.’

Finding the Easter egg was not difficult.

There was a phrase written on the whiteboard.

[Its na was given by , with the resolve to live as a sinner for life]

“This” likely referred to Eden.

I had not expected Preston to have personally nad it, but there had to be so aning behind it.

***

[It ans Eden? Co to think of it, I believe I heard that Father proposed to Mother at Eden Park. I’m not sure if this information will help, though.]

Since it was Ray who had inford of the existence of the Easter egg, there was a high probability she knew sothing. When I gave her a hint, the answer ca imdiately.

‘Eden Park.’

Certainly, if it were that place, even if Eden were secretly produced there, no one would notice. It was practically a blind spot. Even the patrol drones operating over the amusent park would be extrely rare.

“Thanks for making ti.”

[Don’t ntion it. From now on, I’m your assistant as well.]

After ending the call, I saw Noah diligently digging into Eden. Just monts ago, she seed to be examining the access logs.

“This is strange. The mont you used Eden, an unknown signal was detected within the device.”

“What do you an?”

“It seems that internal information has been leaked.”

“It’s not sothing like personal data, is it?”

That was an important point. I might have to beco a second X.

“No, it’s not that. It was more fundantal data. Not BCI-related—it seems to be the device’s proprietary machine language system. But how could this possibly…….”

I didn’t understand what she was saying, but it seed serious.

“Yeah, just suffer a little more.”

That was all I could say for her.

“And you?”

“I need to go finish this.”

***

A tranquil evening.

I sped down the road in a rented vehicle.

To arrive as quickly as possible, I even used the Hyperloop. Perhaps thanks to my haste, before long I began to see in the distance Eden Park’s proud observatory, the Umbrella Tower.

It was then that the probe rang.

[I’ve finished investigating.]

“You found sothing?”

[Yeah. Sixteen years ago, there was also a manipulated incident. Honestly, even I was surprised.]

“What is it?”

[Black Shower. There’s no one my age who doesn’t know about that incident.]

At that ti, I had just settled into Do No.3 and had been busy adapting. Even if sothing had happened on Mars, it ant I had paid it no attention.

Seeing my reaction, Dobby seed to infer that fact and asked,

[Don’t tell you don’t know?]

“If you’re asking whether I’ve heard of it, I have. I just don’t know the details clearly.”

[It was an incident where an entire colony evaporated. Several shuttles docked at a space station crashed, and their debris rained down over the surface.]