Starting as a Mechanical Hunter

Chapter 741: Chapter 266: A Day in the Life of Captain Suzi

”Grandpa, what is outside the sky?”

A little girl raised her head and looked at the dark clouds, like black cotton candy.

”It’s the starry sky.”

”I really want to go out and see.”

”Why?”

”Because I heard it’s beautiful outside.”

”The starry sky is not only beautiful but also has terrifying monsters.”

”But,” the girl looked at the towering Mechanical City, the gate like a gaping maw, ”but I feel like there are monsters here.”

”The monsters here don’t eat people.”

’Bang!’

The storage room door slammed shut.

”Suzi, you killed another millionaire during the operation. You know it’s hard for us to explain to the outside.”

”Explain what? That this millionaire kept over a thousand bionic little girls, abusing them, insulting them?”

”Old civilized moral views don’t apply to this world. These are black-market goods, unprotected by the Biorobot Law, and those robots themselves don’t care. Why do you?”

”...You talk too much, partner.”

...

The scene shifts once again to a dim electronic hall, countless eyes staring at the girl with the ponytail in the center.

”Yagami Suuji, you are hereby appointed as head of the Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division, First Action Group. We hope you can execute the department’s will and maintain the integrity of the experiment field.”

”Yes.”

In an office, a bald old man looked at her, a slight smile breaking his cold expression.

”Congratulations, Yagami Suuji.”

”Thank you for your training, Minister.”

”Do you know what the integrity of the experiment field is?”

The girl with the ponytail frowned, ”Giant Corporation’s interests, experiment results, human modification.”

”You don’t like any of these?”

”No.”

”Why?”

”I was one of the first orphans after the Civilization Era, and a certain Mr. Aramaki instilled an outdated civil moral view in my childhood. I think that’s the main reason.”

”You’ve become more articulate than when you were young, Suzi.”

The minister’s lips slightly curled, and the girl’s expression softened.

”Since you’ve come this far, I’ll give you one last lesson. The integrity of the experiment field is not those you mentioned. At best, those are its appearances.”

The minister stood up, turned, and looked at the huge floor-to-ceiling window and the giant neon world beyond it.

”Morality is the ultimate integrity of the experiment field.”

”That’s the funniest joke I’ve heard this year, Minister.”

”Old morals being squeezed produce a new social order, and before new morals can develop, technology disrupts the order once again, a cycle that repeats endlessly.”

The minister softly said:

”But if there’s truly not a shred of morality, this experimental field would lose all its value, just like those failed bionic experiments. You know where those bionics end up, right.”

”I’ve been to all the bionic burial grounds, or rather, garbage disposal sites.”

The girl with the ponytail spoke emotionlessly:

”With the evolution of bionic technology, I can feel their intelligence, physical strength, and perception infinitely approaching humans. After two or three generations of component improvements, surpassing primordial people and even modified humans is foreseeable.

But from the cases I’ve handled over the years, I can confirm that fundamentally, they are unlike humans. Not at all. Without chemically generated empathy, their emotional system is indifferent and utilitarian. I believe bionics don’t dream of electronic sheep.”

”So, you think bionics have no souls?”

”If a soul is considered a high-level information body, then bionics have indeed not evolved to that step.”

The minister chuckled lightly:

”And on the flip side, do you think the ultimate goal of bionics is to become primordial people entirely?”

”I’m not an expert in this field, but I’ve heard a theory in the scientific community: the ultimate goal of bionics is to kill primordial people, from a civilization perspective.”

”Now do you understand what the integrity of the experiment field is?” the minister asked.

The girl with the ponytail furrowed her eyebrows, seemingly understanding yet not fully comprehending.

”There are monsters hidden in the starry sky, Suzi.”

Yagami Suuji suddenly opened her eyes.

”Good morning, Miss Suzi,” Miss Ke’s concerned voice echoed, ”during your 2-hour, 13-minute, and 51-second sleep, your cortical layer showed signs of heating. Preliminary analysis suggests it is a unique processing of stored information by your brain’s neural systems, known as dreaming during the Civilization Era.”

Yagami Suuji got up; the skin-tight clothing with its warming, massage, and basic repair capabilities was the best ’blanket.’

”I did remember something.”

Yagami Suuji got up, the large curve on her chest serving as excellent fall protection, and due to the implanted enhanced muscles, it was also bulletproof.

Her purple pupils were filled with intense alertness and danger, giving the first impression of a female leopard.

She got out of bed, went to the coffee station, and made herself a cup of coffee.

Although everything had long been automated, she still preferred making herself a cup each morning, something the ancients called a ’sense of ritual.’

”Would you like a cup, Miss Ke?”

”I don’t have a taste system or a digestive system.”

”You could install one yourself. The feeling of drinking is one of the few pleasures in this dull era.”

”As a large data processing system serving the Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division, I must ensure that every piece of data generated is under my processing mode, and the difficulty of processing ’emotional data’ is very high, with uncontrollability reaching 41.5%.”

Yagami Suuji understood the meaning of the other party.

”You mean to say my emotion module malfunctioned?”

”No, I mean you should process the redundant data generated last night and readjust the artificial neural system to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

”You want me to stop dreaming?”

”I just want to ensure that, as one of the strongest combatants in the department, your body’s operational efficiency is always at its most effective mode.”

”Interesting thought.”

”But you’ll refuse, as always.”

Yagami Suuji took the last sip of coffee and said, ”Report today’s schedule, Miss Ke.”

”At 8 AM, you need to participate in a group meeting at headquarters. All ten group leaders will be there; this is also the last routine meeting before the new department head arrives.”

”At noon, you need to head to ’Digital Space.’ According to surveillance, there’s been a rising influx of data nomads there; you need to attend the Earth’s Net Group’s inquiry process.”

”At 4 PM, the usual battle training.”

”At 10 PM, participate online in the Six Ministries meeting as acting department head.”

”Let’s go, first to the headquarters.”

Yagami Suuji casually threw on a red jacket, donning skin-tight clothing, and walked out the door.

Soon, from an advanced data apartment in the Mother City, an automated flying car flew out and entered the magnetic energy tunnel.

”Miss Ke.”

”I’m here.”

”What do you think of our new department head?”

”We’ve dealt with him before; since the ’Life’s Grand Scenery’ appeared, there’s an 81.4% probability that the one who obstructed us in the ’Escapee Game’ was Mr. G.”

”That bio-monster?”

”Yes.”

”I mean his personality, is he forceful? Gentle? Ambitious? Or crazy?”

”Based on the information I gathered, Mr. G is not a male who likes to be in the limelight. Most of the time, he hides behind women, unless it’s absolutely necessary for him to stand out; according to gossip, he has extremely close relations with Lady Black Rose from the Bionic Realm and Ms. Du Zhaodi from the Mercenary Realm.”

”He seems to have a natural affinity for powerful, authoritative, and strong women. I believe you’ll get along with him very well.”

Yagami Suuji paused for a moment.

Even as the flying car landed and transformed automatically into the floor, Yagami Suuji was still pondering the origin of Mr. G’s peculiar character.

According to biology, when young animals lack maternal protection during early growth, certain hormones are insufficiently secreted, leading them to prefer strong females when seeking mates.

So is Mr. G lacking maternal love?

”Sister Suzi!”

”Captain.”

”Captain.”

With a blank expression, Yagami Suuji nodded. Her gaze swept over, seeing Pupil sitting at her workstation, chatting gossip with her girlfriends. The gossip was about some tycoon marrying a female bionic movie star and then discovering that the star’s company was still producing ’romantic companion editions’ of the star, prompting the tycoon to angrily sue the company in court.

”Captain, new news,” Chapai lazily sauntered over, gleefully whispering, ”Apparently, several team combat leaders are unhappy about our insider trading and decided to give the new department head a hard time.”

”Hmm.”

”Hmm? Captain, why no response at all?”

”What response should I have?”

Chapai scratched his cheek, wondering if the new department head had offended Captain Suzi. That couldn’t be, right? Mr. G was known to fancy strong women.

The captain is beautiful, strong, and holds a high status, perfectly fitting his XP.

He pondered whether to say more good words, considering Mr. G had saved his life before; unfortunately, Yagami Suuji had already walked into the conference room.

’Suzi, you’re not suitable to be the head of the Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division.’

’Chief, you’re not dead!?’

’I have a great candidate. I hope you can promote him, and my connections in the division will help you accomplish this.’

’Why not me?’

’Remember the story I told you?’

’The integrity of the experimental field, monsters under the starry sky?’

In the darkness, Yagami Suuji could feel the other’s regretful gaze, making her grip her fists slightly.

’I taught you the morals and laws of the Civilization Era, which made you out of place with this era’s humanity. But to control the beast that is the Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division, humanity alone is not enough; you must also be inhumane, but being inhumane does not mean bestial.’

’You have humanity and bestiality, but you can’t achieve inhumanity.’

’And he can?’

’I believe he can.’

By the time Yagami Suuji snapped back to reality, the meeting was long over, and she had been sitting for a while.

”Miss Ke.”

”I’m here.”

”Connect me to Digital Space.”

”Yes.”

As the wall opened, electronic ports emerged from Yagami Suuji’s temples, shoulders, thighs, and feet.

This is an unmass-producible ’brain-machine’ technology.

The computational power required is absolutely unaffordable for ordinary people.

Yagami Suuji walked into the wall, and the next moment, eight data cables connected to the ports, while along the signal cable covering the entire Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division building, an illusory figure flickered, traversing space and time, entering the ’Digital Space’ that resembled a deep sea.

”Welcome, Captain Suzi,” a Sage smiled and said.