Dream Eater

By Dinah Rosa

A spy war;
An abandoned cyborg;
A fiery tragic love affair;
A spy conspiracy that even betrayed the conspirators themselves...
Many years later, an era has come when people's dreams can be extracted and stored in water ladybugs. Raising water ladybugs is to preserve dreams; and if water ladybugs are allowed to divide and reproduce, dreams can be copied infinitely. Many years later, we have come to an era where cyborgs are hidden among humans and are difficult to effectively distinguish and identify. Humans have developed a "dream analysis" screening method, hoping that through narrative analysis of dreams, they can accurately identify those cyborgs pretending to be humans and annihilate them all.

 

"By the way, can you confirm whether you have had another code name in their organization?" Thomas asked, "Or maybe...at some point, has your contact ever given you a different code name? What name does he call you?"
"What? Is the interrogation not over yet?" He made a joke. "Well -" he mused, "In the case of single-line contact, of course I won't know what they call each other." A strange smile suddenly appeared on his face, which seemed to be understanding and contempt, as if Ridicule is also like forgiveness, "But my contact did give me a set of passwords for me to use in emergency situations, which also includes a code name for signature——"
"So?" Thomas asked, "What's your signature?"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dinah Rosa
• Release date: May 14, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224403585

Book preview

Dream Eater

Chapter 1

(THE SCREEN LIGHTS UP.)

Hello. My name is Eros. The smiling girl tilted her head, her satin-like black hair falling on her delicate bare shoulders, I hope you will like me...

In front of the camera, the bed is white and smooth. The girl is wearing a spaghetti-strap floral short dress, with her white legs crossed. She stares at the camera and smiles sweetly. The French window is open behind her. Due to the limitation of the field of vision and the camera position , the scenery outside the window cannot be seen clearly; however, in the vast and bright space with backlight, the vague green of a garden can be vaguely seen behind the French window .

The bright white light from the sky flowed slowly in the bedroom like splashing milk.

Eros, how old are you? Voiceover. A man's hoarse and low voice.

18 years old.

You said your name is Eros? the man asked, Don't Eros mean 'love god'? And he is also a male god of love?

Yes, Eros is the 'God of Love'. The girl smiled, showing a pair of cute little tiger teeth. She turned around and took out a prop billboard with the word Eros written in blue and a big red heart drawn on it. She raised the billboard to her chest and faced the camera, 唔唔唔唔—— the girl hummed the tetratlets of the Symphony of Destiny , with a mischievous smile on her face, E——R——O—— —S, Eros. The girl pointed to the letters on the billboard and repeated it like a word lesson.

Eros. Eros. The male voice said, Eros, why do you want to make porn films? The camera tilted, shook, and zoomed out slightly. A dark and lean man sat next to the girl. He had dyed brown hair and wore only red underwear.

Hey, I was originally here to make pornographic movies. This is my job. The girl blinked and said, Do you need a reason to make pornographic movies?

Really? The man tapped the girl's waist with his finger, and teased her with a smile, Isn't it because you are so horny? Isn't it because you especially like...the feeling of making love?

No way. The girl pouted, I, I never know what sex feels like.

What? What did you say?

I said - the girl murmured, I said I don't know what it feels like to have sex...

Oh my god, no? the man laughed, How is that possible? You mean, you haven't had sex? Are you still...a virgin?

The girl seemed aggrieved by the questioning. She lowered her head and played with her fingers in amusement, without answering the man's question.

There was an awkward silence.

Hey, hey, don't lie. In order to resolve the sudden coldness, the man immediately put his hands on the girl's bare shoulders and showed a bright smile, If you don't tell the truth like this, you will be punished. Yes. Do you know? I will punish you well...

The girl seemed to flinch slightly at the man's touch. But she soon regained her former liveliness. She straightened her back and sat up straighter, and said, I'm telling the truth! I really don't know what sex feels like.

Hey, it won't look like you anymore! The man's thick-knuckled hands gently moved on the girl's back and black hair, Tell me, when was your first time?

Didn't I just say that I haven't had my first time yet. The girl pouted.

Hey, I told you to stop pretending and keep pretending! The man caressed the girl's black hair, leaned close to her ear and whispered, A girl as beautiful and lustful as you must have had her first time a long time ago, right? Tell me, you must have had experience when you were still in elementary school, right?

Oh, why do you keep asking people about this kind of thing? The girl acted coquettishly and lightly slapped the man, My first time is today. Today - She glanced at the camera and lowered her head shyly. , Today is my first time...

(Click.) (Screen disappears.)

chapter 2

(AT FIRST, THOMAS DID not know that the person who was killed in the dream was actually his mother...)

Thomas found himself back to his teenage self.

No, he didn't discover it. He just knows. At this moment, he was in a simple old apartment room with only four walls and nothing else.

Wall cancers of various shapes covered the whitewashed walls. The smell of moisture and mildew penetrated his nose like plant vines. Countless echoes that are difficult to identify move and collide in the space.

Like a prisoner, Thomas was sitting alone on an iron chair in the middle of the room. The iron chair was stained with rust, and the rust was sharp enough to cut your hands. All the iron pipe supports were dented and twisted due to external impacts.

His face was buried in the palms of his hands .

Thomas is crying.

He felt like it was difficult to breathe, and his whole body was shaking violently with unexplained violent emotions.

However, at this moment, something cold pressed against the back of his head.

barrel.

That's a gun barrel. The salty smell of gunpowder compounds and the dull weight of metal. Thomas slowly raised his head and heard the mechanical click of the pistol's safety catch opening.

(Click.)

Hands up, the voice said, Hands up! Okay, good. Put your hands on your head. Yes, that's it.

Thomas raised his hands and felt the bite and pull of the joints, cartilage and ligaments inside the cervical spine. The cold metal of the pistol against the skin seemed to infinitely amplify the detailed movements of the internal parts.

He heard clearly. That is the sound of love between men and women.

No, not the gunman with the barrel of the gun pressed against the back of his neck. of course not.

It was the sound coming from the next room. Lovemaking, moaning, and panting. The sound circulated in the space, and then was slowly absorbed into the soft, foaming white powder wall.

The trigger was suddenly pulled.

( clang !)

Thomas closed his eyes subconsciously, and then he realized that the sound of the trigger pull did not come from the back of his neck, but seemed to come from next door, from far away, or even from an imaginary void in his mind.

Thomas opened his eyes.

Suddenly, with a flash of lightning, bullets were fired from next door.

(boom!)

Thomas heard the woman next door begin to wail, perhaps because of a bullet injury .

Stand up! the voice said. The muzzle of the gun touched his occipital bone lightly, Get up! Stand up! Yes, I'm talking about you. Turn around. Turn around! Okay. Go forward, don't turn your head. Yes, go forward. Keep going. Keep going! Don't. look!

Thomas walked out the door with his head in his hands. Until now, he had not been able to clearly see the appearance of the man holding the gun. Passing by the door of the next room, Thomas discovered that the door panel had been removed. In the doorway, from the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a woman in the room with disheveled hair, kneeling on the ground and crying loudly. Next to the woman, there seemed to be the body of another man.

Don't look! I told you not to look, but you still look! The gunman stopped and suddenly laughed, Okay, you like to look, right? The muzzle turned around, still close to the back of Thomas's neck, You like to look. Just go and watch! Go on if you like!

Thomas walked into the doorway. He saw clearly. Two bodies lay in a pool of blood. The entire floor was stained red, and there were large splatters of blood on the walls. One of the naked bodies is a man and a woman , both of whom seem to be seriously injured; the man is lying on his back, with a gunshot wound piercing his face, his facial features are completely destroyed and beyond recognition; while the woman is lying on the man's waist, with blood gurgling out from under her. , also seems to have lost consciousness.

(At first, Thomas did not know that the person who was killed in the dream was actually his mother...)

Thomas felt like he was having trouble breathing. He sobbed loudly.

In an instant, the trigger clicked again.

( Clang !)

Chapter 3

DECEMBER 9, 2219. EARLY morning. City D. High-rise Hotel .

with a throbbing heart , and felt himself sweating profusely, his whole body soaked. Nearby, the light of the holographic television changed, and subtle voices full of a sense of presence surrounded him. He was in a trance, staggering to his feet, staggering to the bathroom , turning on the faucet, and splashing cold water on his face.

He stared at his pale face in the mirror and felt himself sober up a little.

Thomas had completely lost count of how many times he had had this dream .

He touched the birthmark at the corner of his right eye. Under the wet traces of his fingertips, the birthmark that looked like a living leech was slowly shrinking, swelling and twitching, turning from purple to red, fading in color, and returning to its original state of stillness and sleep.

...Sources revealed that during an internal meeting, prosecutors had clearly stated the charges, proving that Thomas, an internal staff member of the Human Federal Government's National Intelligence Agency who disappeared a week ago, was not actually a human, but a cyborg hiding among the human population, and had long been engaged in intelligence gathering for the 'Cyborg Liberation Organization', also known as 'Biochemistry'...

Holographic television.

Thomas threw the towel into the sink, walked out of the bathroom, went to the holographic TV, and turned up the volume.

...Our station also has exclusive information about this highest-level cyborg spy case in recent years. Insiders pointed out that Thomas is the director of the Technical Standards Bureau of the National Intelligence Agency, a very high-ranking position, and the business he is in charge of directly involves the research and development of cyborg identification technology, which is of great importance and has serious leaks. It is understood that the prosecution system has earlier found a large number of electromagnetic records at his residence, which is enough to prove that Thomas has been providing intelligence to the cyborg for a long time, for several years, and the evidence is clear. In this regard, the Director of the Federal Government's National Intelligence Agency, TE, issued a statement yesterday, strongly condemning this kind of spy treason. TE further emphasized that the National Intelligence Agency will strengthen cooperation with the prosecution system and continue to investigate in depth. In response to this scandal , the leader of the opposition, D. Lowry, also held a press conference immediately, strongly questioning the poor internal control of the National Intelligence Agency, which is riddled with holes and malpractices. The case is still escalating. For the latest developments in this case, please continue to lock on to our station...

Thomas closed his eyes, his mouth seemed to be smiling but not smiling, and a sweetness surged out of his heart .

He didn't notice that the news screen had suddenly cut to the Brea Thomasing News format.

...Now I will give you the latest news about a major disaster. Witnesses pointed out that the suburbs of D City, where the human federal government is located, were attacked and destroyed by an unknown giant organism about half an hour ago. The organism was tens of meters long and wide. The scale is shocking; houses were destroyed and people were killed, and the area was devastated. However, as of now, the relevant government agencies have not expressed any opinions on this. The disaster is still ongoing. Our station will continue to track this peculiar phenomenon for you , and recommends that residents of D City pay close attention and be alert...

Thomas opened his eyes, stood up, and walked to the window.

He couldn't believe his vision at all.

How can it be? Thomas simply thought that he was still hungover in a phantom dream that was mass-produced by the Hollywood film industry in the classical era, piled up like a mountain of shells, and like a B-level horror disaster movie .

That is, a giant transparent leech.

Dawn is coming. At the edge of the city, the space is still sinking into bottomless darkness. A leech, crossing ten blocks away from the sight of a high-rise building, actually covered and appeared in turns with the wriggling of its body, cutting off or distorting the distant and hazy skyline...

(Its body is softly curled. Its body beats and expands and contracts like a living heart. It raises its head, like the tip of a giant's transparent tongue, anxiously exploring the undefined void ahead.)

It was as if some error occurred in the algorithm for constructing dreams, causing all the components in the dream to expand hundreds of thousands of times according to the exponential rule, approaching the size of an unimaginably huge shape.

(This is a disaster movie, right? This can't be real? )

However , Thomas soon realized that no one had made this kind of old-fashioned B-level disaster movie that relied heavily on special effects post-production.

of the popular dream entertainment ( Drea Christiana Entertainment ) , or dream works (Drea Christiana Works ) , developed at the end of the classical era , were originally called emulators or virtual reality . Historical data show that such prototypes are mostly presented in a movable closed cabin or a hooded space; thereby locking the user's five senses in the cabin or hood where they are. Here, the user's perception is temporarily isolated from the outside world, and can only passively accept the program settings inside the device...

Those virtual living corpses. Fake blood. Fake fire and explosions. There is no centrifugal force field that pulls and twists the organs and veins of the human body with its artificial acceleration. Those are like slow dances that completely violate human body mechanics, chasing, fighting, bouncing and flying...

But this kind of fake virtual reality has long been out of fashion.

It doesn't have to be virtual. It is reality. Consumers place an order online to purchase the dream work King Kong: 2218 Reissue, which is a replica of the classical era business card King Kong ; after decompressing it, connect the neural connection lines such as host extensions to the Spinal Plug. [1] Then engage and connect with your cervical or lumbar vertebra——

No longer virtual. Only real. The built-in neurobiological package ( Si unerve Seru) [2] will take over the user's senses through temporary infection of the spine and brain . Just like in a dream, the user will see the incredible giant gorilla with his own eyes, smell its scent, touch its fur and sweat; and even experience the pleasure and pain of having his skull smashed, blood vessels and tendons pulled and exploded, and body cavities and organs squeezed, torn, and instantly destroyed... [3]

But Thomas knew that the vision before his eyes was definitely not a dream.

No. It’s not a classic Hollywood B-grade disaster movie. It’s not virtual reality. It’s not dream entertainment.

That's a huge beast. A super-large deformed leech that is guaranteed to be fake. A real mollusk that slowly propels itself through the expansion and contraction of its body segments . At this moment, surrounding the huge transparent organism, Thomas was witnessing that the city buildings that were affected all around the epicenter were all like domino patterns in a large-scale toppling, quietly collapsing from the inside, collapsing, and turning into dust.

(what is that? )

(How is it possible? How could... such a weird organism appear? )

Thomas did a little deduction and immediately came up with a possible answer. (Really? Really?) Theoretically, biological changes on this scale must originate from errors in the laws of evolution. Only an error in the laws of evolution could create such a deformed mollusk that lacks a rational basis within limited conditions; only changes in the genetic engineering algorithm could trigger the retrograde of the evolutionary clock and re-incubate this kind of mollusk. A giant beast that only existed in the age of dinosaurs.

Thomas felt enlightened. Unfortunately, such consequences most likely come from him.

And all of this started from the internal investigation order from the top of the National Security Council of the human federal government...

[1] Regarding the possible human injuries caused by the widespread use of spinal plugs in dream entertainment or dream works, this form of entertainment has been favored by the media since its popularity. For example, the American ABC TV station's World Chronicle program once produced and broadcast Love you to the bone, play with you to the brain - Is dream entertainment harmful to health? Special report, interviewed by senior reporter S. Carver and hosted by anchor T. Ran Thomasin. The program mainly explores this issue in the form of a documentary . Because it went deep into medical institutions and filmed and interviewed patients and related medical personnel, the footage in the report was extremely realistic and even unbearable to see", so it won a very high click-through rate. Senior reporter S. Carver reported this in the first episode :

...Generally speaking, although the user manuals of such dream entertainment are marked: Be sure to wipe the cervical vertebra hole with an alcohol cotton pad dipped in a special anti-rust culture solution. It is recommended to wipe the cervical vertebra hole and spinal plug regularly every month and disinfect them appropriately. To ensure hygiene and If you feel any discomfort after use, please stop using it immediately and consult a doctor and other warnings; but in fact, such labels are the result of a compromise. It is understood that after the popularity of such dream entertainment or dream works", there have been cases where players are suspected of getting sick due to the use of such entertainment products...

At the same time as the report was being broadcast, the reporter held an alcohol pad and faced the camera; behind him , at a video game competition venue in Hangzhou, China, thousands of contestants from all over the world were connecting spinal plugs and competing online at the same time. Everyone was shaking their heads, their eyes either focused or confused. The scene was quite spectacular. The host T. Ran Thomasin later explained this:

...The general public generally suspects that if the spinal plug connection is severely corroded, it may cause situational confusion (not being able to distinguish between reality and fantasy) at the least, or even cause the user to suffer from mental illnesses of varying degrees. In fact, relevant consumer protection organizations have repeatedly filed lawsuits against entertainment companies on behalf of such victims; but because the pathogenic mechanism is not clear and lacks scientific basis, the lawsuits have all ended in failure...

, which lasted about 20 minutes, featured reporter S. Carver interviewing digital spinal plug-related diseases. One of the most impressive ones involved a middle-aged man who was suspected of having a malfunction in his spine plug, causing the dream entertainment content he was using to invade his spine and become stuck in his consciousness, unable to be cleared, causing him to lose his sense of reality. The patient has lost the ability to take care of himself, and all sensory perceptions are locked in the content of the dream entertainment product at all times; and because the dream entertainment is a ghost horror movie called The Curse produced by a Japanese company, it is If you observe from the side, the patient's face will show an expression of extreme fear from time to time, or there will be trembling, incontinence and other reactions. The situation is miserable and pitiful.

In the second half of the first episode of the Love You to the Bone, Play to Your Brain report, the production unit arranged interviews with several legal experts, social activists and doctors in an attempt to explore possible solutions to this phenomenon on a practical level. For example, TY Ca Christianapell , president of the Canadian Consumer Protection Association , said in an interview that reducing risks is the responsibility of Dream Entertainment manufacturers, and it must be preventive beforehand, not just remedial after the fact. Ca Christianapell emphasized that the association will continue to support victims in filing lawsuits against Dreamland Entertainment manufacturers. HD Lee, president of the China Consumers Association, proposed the concept of compulsory insurance, advocating that the government should legislate compulsory insurance for users of Dream Entertainment: Whether it is morally or legally speaking, the premium should be fully borne by the manufacturer. There is no doubt about this. HD Lee also advocates allocating part of the premium to support relevant scientific research in order to confirm the disease mechanism as soon as possible. However, regarding the study of this common disease mechanism, relevant medical personnel’s statements during interviews made people not optimistic about its progress. This is not easy because it is completely different from traditional medicine or physiological research. Li Yaohui, director of the Department of Psychiatry at Taipei Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan, said in an interview. In comparison, physiological research in the classical era only focused on body organs. It is relatively simple to comb sexual factors. But if something happens to 'Dream Entertainment', it would be troublesome. When the case is sent, the first step is a four-party consultation with orthopedics, surgery, psychiatry, and neurology; because it is difficult to determine where the problem lies. Yes. Is the corrosion inside the spinal joint damaging the nerves? Or is it a programming error in the entire temporary infection process ? Or is it simply an adverse interaction between the patient's inner personality or psychological trauma and dream entertainment neuroorganisms? From this point of view, it can be judged that the relevant research on the disease-causing mechanism of dream entertainment is quite difficult, and it is not easy to achieve major progress in the short term. This Love you to the bone, play with you to the brain - Is dream entertainment harmful to health?" 》The special report program consists of 5 consecutive episodes, each episode is about 1 hour long. It was first broadcast online on July 9, 2026. One episode is broadcast every week and is completed after five weeks.

[2] As the name suggests, this type of neurobiological package is a biological group that imitates the structure of human nerve cells; it is generally used to implant into the human nervous system in order to replace, modify, increase or reduce the functions of the human nervous system. In dream entertainment or dream works, most of these neuro-like creatures are modified based on influenza viruses from the classical era. With appropriate implantation procedures, neuroroids will temporarily infect the human central nervous system and affect the nervous system during the infection.

[3] Of course, in general dream entertainment or dream works, both pleasure and pain are adjustable. In terms of pain, of course it can also be canceled and the pain value reduced to zero - in fact, this is the choice of most players and is also the default value. The pleasure value can also be adjusted in the same way.

It is worth noting that since such virtual pain and pleasure may cause the user to be physically and mentally unbearable, after several sporadic accidents (mostly myocardial infarction) occurred, relevant units set a maximum limit for this. However, as the devil rises higher, illegal things also arise; some players who prefer to seek excitement would rather pay extra and work with technicians to illegally modify the machine to increase the upper limit of pleasure. , in order to enjoy the heart-stirring joy. Over time, some unscrupulous operators began mass-producing modified machines in underground factories and selling them at high prices on the black market. In some poor countries, this type of black market trading has actually replaced the function of drugs, causing the economic scale of the drug trade to decline significantly. ZH Lee, the Nobel Prize winner in economics and a scholar from Taiwan, China, once called it drugs and machines are in conflict with each other, which means that if the number of modified machines increases, the economic scale of the drug industry will decrease; and vice versa. In addition, some news media derided this type of dream entertainment as poor man's cocaine, which is quite ironic.

Chapter 4

DECEMBER 9, 2219 AD . Early in the morning. D city. High-rise hotel.

Thomas walked to the table, sat down, and lit the standing lamp . The white light casts a huge silhouette behind him.

He suddenly remembered those lonely nights in his childhood, playing a hand shadow game alone. This is a dog. rabbit. This is a sailboat. eagle. In the space, shadows intertwined and overlapped...

(No, that's not right. He remembered it wrong. He didn't have a childhood at all. So... it wasn't his own childhood.)

(Did he know that from someone else’s memory? )

Human federal government. National Security Council. It is under the jurisdiction of the National Intelligence Agency of the human federal government, also known as The Seventh Seal.

Internal investigation. A handwritten order for an internal investigation. A comprehensive, large-scale loyalty test. According to the intelligence Thomas had intercepted at the time, the content of the handwritten order was concise, straightforward, and decisive - The intelligence shows that the General Intelligence Agency is very likely to have been infiltrated by spies from the Bioman Liberation Organization. I order Director TE to form a project team with the National Security Council personnel to verify the content of the intelligence; and except for TE himself, all Seventh Seal personnel are not allowed to participate in the project team...

In other words, senior officials of the General Intelligence Agency, including the current Director of the Technical Standards Bureau Thomas himself, the Director of the Research Center Christianaura Thomasa Christianai , as well as the Seventh Seal New York Station Chief P. Auster, the Tokyo Station Chief Christiana u Thomasoda , the London Station Chief IA, etc., who used to participate in high-level collective decision-making, have been directly excluded from the project team this time.

This must be a clear indication that the National Security Council no longer trusts the high-ranking officials of the Seventh Seal.

Compared to the past, this is indeed very unusual. But having said that, this is not the first case of trouble caused by the infiltration of biochemical spies; because compared to the past, although the level of cross-level investigation has never been higher, in essence everything remains the same, because the project investigation (catching criminals) Thief!) are directly related to a completely new topic - the method of how to identify and capture biochemicals disguised as humans that has continued to trouble government departments since classical times.

Thomas calmed down and looked forward.

He saw his bloodless face.

His reflection was suspended outside the glass window like a ghost.

Thomas stood up and walked to the glass window, staring at the phantom in the distance. Passing through the indifferent human figure like a pencil sketch, he saw the giant transparent leech beast on the skyline still blasting the surrounding buildings.

leech. The disaster must be related to the hemoglobin method. Thomas thought. The hemoglobin method is directly related to the ancient issue of biochemical human screening——

(Just like watching with a sniper scope. From the vast sea of people, accurately target the cyborg disguised as a human being. Approach, arrest, imprison, and torture to serve as a warning...)

This is nothing new. Looking back, this long -standing controversy spanned decades and experienced power struggles among various human rights groups, interest groups, social movement organizations, academic and government organizations, and political parties and politicians; and in the 2150s , which was just before It was temporarily suspended nearly 70 years ago - in March 2154 AD, under the leadership of Thomas D. Wu, Prime Minister of the Human Federal Government at the time, it was generally called The Law for the Racial Purity of the Hu Christie Anna Race)'s amendments to the constitution to add provisions have been formally passed by the National Assembly. Since then, compared with other non-human humanoid species - including the older Robot (Robot), the current mainstream humanoid species Bio-synthetics (or Bio-synthetics), and The relatively rare Cyborg (or Cyborg) and so on - the Basic Law on Caste Purification clearly protects the rights of human beings as the only priority species. In order to ensure that the law keeps pace with the times, the Basic Law also authorizes the human federal government to flexibly regulate the legal differences between humans and other humanoid species depending on the circumstances.

All statutory differences must be made in accordance with written law.

In other words, the differences between humans and cyborgs, and how to identify them, must be clearly defined and stated in writing, without any ambiguity.

Therefore, now that the principle issue has been resolved, the next task must be to establish this legal difference, that is, the so-called statutory legal details.

But this is where the difficulty lies. Is there any way to help people accurately distinguish between biomancers and real humans?

What methods and technologies can be used to accurately identify the differences between cyborgs and humans?

Chapter 5

(AFTER THE SCREEN DISAPPEARS.)

(Dark wilderness. Total blackness. Stillness.)

(The bright white film name slowly emerges.)

The Last Actress

(Subtitle: March 25, 2211.)

Downtown area. On one side of the street, there are narrow alleys like the branches of a giant beast's cloaca. There are colorful shop signs, and all kinds of graffiti on the walls and iron gates. After being blocked and diluted by the surrounding buildings, the skylight has been polished away from its glaring edge; the whole picture falls into a soft and melancholy cold color filter .

Live sound recording.

It was almost noon. Most businesses had already started to open. Passers-by moved sparsely in the alleys. Stalls covered with waterproof cloth were pushed into a corner of the arcade. Couples hid in the shadows of the fire lane, kissing and groping each other's bodies.

The wind gently blew up the paper scraps and fallen leaves on the ground .

The chaotic sound of city dust. chat. Shouting. The sound of car horns reflected off the street. The machine rumbled. The claw machine with lights on. The tinkling music of video game consoles...

The girl came out. She saw the camera, smiled at the camera, and said hello.

Good morning. Thank you for your hard work.

Good morning.

Good morning. You're dressed nicely today. She's very cute.

Ah, thank you, thank you. I'm very happy to hear you say that.

It's Eros. Eros smiled. That smile was so innocent, as if she was truly happy because of the other person's praise.

From the content of the greetings, it seemed that in addition to the photographer holding a camera, there was also a director present.

However, the director was not included in the scene.

The camera follows Eros. The group gets on the tram. It is off-peak time, and although there are no empty seats on the tram, there are no other standing passengers either.

Eros stood in the middle of the car and held the ring with one hand.

Light and shadow softly coexist on her face.

As if it were some kind of caress, the camera tilted and swayed to the side.

Is there a meet-and-greet today?

Yes, it's a meet-and-greet. The girl nodded, her hair brushing her cheeks.

What will the meeting be about?

Shaking hands, signing autographs, taking photos with fans. Let's see how the company arranges it.

The girl fell silent and turned to look out the window. In the window panes, the street scene passed by quickly like a slide show. Besides, the girl said, this may be the last meeting.

Are you sure you don't want to do it? The interlocutor didn't seem surprised.

Well, yes. Then I won't do it. The girl shook her head.

Don't you like this kind of work?

I can't say I don't like it... The girl paused, But you know, I can't do it anymore, so I have to leave.

The girl with light makeup looked pretty and lovely, but at this moment, her eyes and eyebrows seemed quite lonely.

Come on. Are you really not going to consider continuing? Everyone likes you very much.

They may have liked me before, and they may still like me now; but - the girl lowered her head and fell into a brief silence again, Well, anyway, the girl said, it's no longer a matter of my will. She spoke in a low voice, Besides, I think they may not really like me that much...

(Click.) (The screen disappears.)

(Subtitles appear.)

Farewell party for cyborg actress Eros.)

Another city block. A brick square in front of a tram station. A cinema, a record store, a shopping mall, a giant holographic screen, and a large virtual reality amusement park mark the edges of the square.

In a corner of the square, a ventriloquist was performing a puppet show. People gathered around him in scattered groups.

The camera crossed the square and came to a small record store on the edge of the square.

On weekend afternoons, the crowds were obviously larger than on weekdays. The queue stretched from inside the store to the corridor outside.

The camera followed the long queue into the store, passed through the colorful shelves, and soon found Eros sitting at the table signing autographs for fans.

Eros gave the camera a cursory smile. However, she was too busy to speak. She gestured behind the desk.

After crossing the corridor and entering the lounge, a man appeared on the screen.

An oriental man in his thirties, he lowered his head, a cigarette between his fingers, and seemed to be thinking about something.

But he immediately stood up, smiled and stretched out his right hand.

(The picture freezes.)

(Subtitle: Eros agent J.)

The man had a nose ring and a string of jewelry jingling on his earlobes . His colorful hair was as ostentatious and messy as the tail feathers of a large bird . After a simple handshake and greeting, the man explained to the photographer and director that he had just been watching the scene and everything went well. There were still record store staff to take care of the scene; so he took a break.

Both parties sat down. The noise was blocked outside the door. The only sound left in the room was the slight friction of the air flow from the air conditioner.

The director is in the shot.

However, surprisingly, the director was wearing a mask.

Japanese Noh drama mask. Strange black mustache, nose arc and lips are modeled after the facial curves and muscle texture of real people. Eye slits are long and narrow, lips are bright red, and the corners of the mouth seem to be smiling but not smiling.

Perhaps he had been informed in advance, as agent J did not seem surprised. He turned a blind eye to the director's masked outfit.

Is this the last show? the director asked.

Oh, yes, it's the last one. I definitely won't do it again in the future. J took a puff of his cigarette.

It seems like it's still very popular? Is there really no box office?

Well, they knew this was the last show, so they came specially to show their support. Manager J smiled tiredly, In the previous shows, the average number of people attending was only about 20—

(J answered the director's question very naturally. But even so, due to the presence of the mask, the screen inevitably showed a conversation between a man and a strange mask. It was an indescribable weird feeling.)

Can't you just try to hold on ? It feels so pity...

Impossible. J shook his head. How can they be a rival to Dream Entertainment? Think about it, it's almost all real. Really. Just like a dream. That's a dream. He stubbed out his cigarette . In the ashtray, the white cigarette body struggled and twisted, and the cigarette head made a rat-like squeaking noise. Even I don't want to watch porn anymore. No matter if you are a real actress or a cyborg actress, I don't want to watch it anymore.

But Eros is a cyborg actress after all, which is an advantage that ordinary real actresses don't have—

It's impossible. J said, It's useless. I know Eros is very good. In fact, she also did a good job. There is a large group of die-hard fans who like her very much... But no matter how good she is, it is impossible to compare. The real touch of dream entertainment. I dare not say that dream entertainment or dream works can completely replace real behavior; but in short, the difference is not big. You also understand that realistic dreams bring people far more feelings than watching A. The film is much more specific. We cannot be the opponent of Dreamland Entertainment.

There was a brief silence.

Apart from Eros, the masked director said again, What do the other actresses think?

others?

For example, here...

I don't know about others, but the opinions of the few people I have are similar. Agent J smiled again, To be honest, it may not be long before I have to close this one sooner or later.

At this moment, a fat girl suddenly opened the door and came in. She nodded to the director and the photographer, and then whispered a few words to the man.

I'm sorry, something urgent happened, J stood up and apologized to the director, I'll go take care of it and be back in ten minutes. Sorry...

(The picture freezes. Darkness falls.)

(The screen lights up.)

(Subtitle: 25 minutes later.)

What happened just now? asked the masked director.

Well, a newcomer, J explained. Well, it was the first time we filmed. As soon as the male actor started touching her, she started crying. She cried so hard that we couldn't continue filming. Children are bound to do such bad things. The assistant said I was good at comforting people, so he asked me to go over and help persuade her.

How is the result?

It probably is okay. Let's continue filming now. The man opened the cigarette box and took out another cigarette.

J is very capable, right? the director asked jokingly.

Oh, no. J waved his hand, quite proudly, It's as it should be. As an agent, I always spend a lot of time and effort to take care of the girls' emotions. Being an actress is not easy, and you rely on the most delicate body. If you are a newcomer, it is easier to have difficulty adapting-

Are there any new people willing to join the industry now?

Well...actually almost nothing. Agent J held the long, thin cigarette between his fingers, but did not light it. He frowned, with a complicated expression. This sister, I guess, just wants to make a quick buck. Maybe she knows that opportunities are running out. Or maybe she needs it urgently? Anyway, it's just that one time, the contract is sold out, the filming is finished, she takes the money and leaves, and she doesn't even have to count the royalties.

Completely different from before, isn't it?

Damn, that's much worse. J put the cigarette on the small table and touched his face. Looking back now, it's hard to imagine. In the past, cyborg actresses had regular screenings, and I had to make special arrangements to take them to the test center on 18th Street in the underground city. Have you been there?

Well, there aren't any in the city's testing center, the director responded, but I've seen them in other places.

At that time, the regulations required a cyborg screening every two months to confirm the identity of the actresses. Agent J nodded, Yes, of course, the cyborg actresses here are completely legal. The screening is just to confirm that you are indeed a cyborg, not a human; for registration and management... As a result, the screening business volume is too large, and the waiting time for an appointment alone may exceed two months. Every time I get nervous, worried that I will be punished if the deadline passes, or that I will not be able to make a film schedule. Look at how many actresses were waiting in line for the screening at that time. What about now? J spread his hands, Damn, you make an appointment today, and you will be asked to go tomorrow.

(Click.) (The screen disappears.)

(Subtitles appear.)

(White text on a black background: Biochemical human screening. Hemoglobin method.)

(White text on a black background: Tokyo, Japan. October 1, 2204.)

(The screen lights up.)

Blood.

Blood gurgled out from the side tubes of the blood-sucking worm, spreading slowly in the container like paint .

The girl opened her eyes and looked at her thin wrist that was absorbed by the blood-sucking insects, and then looked away. She has a slim figure and wears an old short shirt; as she moves, you can see the white skin on her waist and the lower edges of her ribs that are hidden under the skin like sliding parts.

The medical staff approached, inspected the container, and then gently removed the blood-sucking worm lying on the inside of the girl's elbow.

The blood-sucking bugs make a tiny chirp.

The girl breathed a sigh of relief, straightened her clothes, took out a hair tie, and fixed her shiny wheat-colored hair on the back of her head.

(Screen freezes.)

(Subtitle: Cyborg AV actress Bella.)

The girl's face was a little pale, and countless fine beads of sweat lined her forehead, like the transparent follicles of insects.

Are you okay? The staff was busy sorting out the equipment. Are you nervous?

fine.

That's all. The staff member said, ...Hey! Be careful!

The girl stumbled . Is it okay? the staff member asked, Can you get out by yourself?

The girl smiled tiredly: Well, it should be fine...

Push the door open and go in. Behind the pale blue glass, in the small room, a black screen occupies the entire wall.

It seems that there are countless tiny creatures invisible to the naked eye hidden in the dark rainforest. Densely packed data, charts, and various light spots and color blocks are scattered around the large monitor screen. A huge rotating 3D geometric pattern occupies the center of the picture.

(Camera zooms in.) (Text shows: Hemoglobin structure - biochemical humanoid.)

(Freeze.)

(White text on black background: A brief history of the development of hemoglobin screening method.)

(subtitle:

2090s : During the production process of biochemical humans, the only genetic difference between them and humans was accurately mapped to the 11th pair of chromosomes; this genetic difference will cause biochemical humans to have a different hemoglobin chemical structure from humans. Based on this, biochemical humans can be identified through blood tests.

2154: After legislation, the Basic Law on Caste Purification and the Hemoglobin Screening Law are fully implemented.

2206: The degree of identification decreases year by year to 92.9%.

2210: The discrimination rate dropped sharply again , and it was declared ineffective and abolished by legislation . The hemoglobin method officially became history and was replaced by the dream logic equation screening method.

(Click.) (The screen disappears.)

(The screen lights up.)

(Out-of-focus window view on a rainy day. Countless hazy lights and colors are still in the picture.)

(Focus completed.)

Sitting woman.

Daytime. A simple room like a university laboratory. The light is sufficient, but with a damp shadow that is unique to rainy days.

The woman is facing the camera sideways. She looks to be in her fifties, with deep eye sockets, thick eyebrows, and neatly combed short white hair. She has a well-defined jawbone, and her overall profile looks masculine and resolute; but her eyes look melancholy and sad.

She turned her head and looked out the window. The reflection of the glass made it impossible to see the outside scenery clearly; she could only vaguely see some very light-colored shadows. The pale sunlight caressed the woman's face like a tentacle.

(The picture freezes.)

（Subtitle: Professor S. Department of Neuroevolution, Seattle University, USA.）

The failure of the hemoglobin screening method, Professor S said in a hoarse voice, still staring at something outside the screen, maybe it's not surprising to me...

Really? The director seemed a little surprised. This time he changed into a black glaring King Kong mask with big copper bell eyes and grinning teeth. How to say?

S remained silent. She stood up and looked out the window.

Let's put it this way, she turned around, the problem is not the hemoglobin screening method itself. The problem is that compared to its opponent - self-evolution ( Self-evolution), it has never been a system that uses simplicity to overcome complexity. Methods.

The angry-eyed King Kong nodded slightly. What do you think?

Well, this is a bit complicated. Professor S paused, First of all, the 'hemoglobin screening method' was originally a man-made product. It completely relies on the genetic technology used in the production process of cyborgs. She explained , "Leech genes are taken and combined with the genes of the 11th pair of human chromosomes; and when making cyborgs, the 11th pair of chromosomes mixed with leech genes are used. This becomes the only difference between the DNA sequences of cyborgs and humans, an obvious 'marker'. And this genetic difference is actually manifested in the chemical structure of cyborg hemoglobin - cyborg hemoglobin has one more methyl group than humans.

"So if you want to catch biochemical people, you can find out through blood tests. It's simple, crude