47: Chapter 47 Sinking
Lin Yi's consciousness was plunged into darkness, yet it was not void.
His consciousness hit bottom in its descent, and then it was as if he had been cast into a familiar wasteland composed of endless data streams and fragmented information.
Cold, chaotic, yet bearing a strange, eerie grandeur.
The Old Net.
He "stood" there, looking down in a daze. What he saw was not the cool, customized digital avatar he usually used in cyberspace, but his own hands from the real world, clad in casual attire that was meaningless in the virtual realm.
"What the hell... what happened?", Lin Yi's heart skipped a beat, and a chill crawled up his non-existent spine.
Subconsciously, he invoked "Bai Ze." A soft, dense, milky-white halo quickly covered his entire body like a coat, concealing his true appearance and leaving only a blurred humanoid silhouette.
This was the disguise he was accustomed to using on the Old Net.
But at this moment, the sense of security this disguise provided was extremely limited.
"If I'm unconscious, how can I still invoke 'Bai Ze'?..." He quickly analyzed the situation. "Wait, no? Damn it, did I just fall asleep and end up in the Old Net?"
This was definitely not normal sleep or a coma!
His consciousness had not accessed this place through standard interfaces; it was more like... it had been directly "projected" here by some force.
Was it some kind of mutation caused by "Bai Ze" operating at overload?
Or was it the Old Net itself being drawn to a special existence like "Bai Ze"?
He forced himself to calm down. The [Insight] function struggled to activate on a conscious level, attempting to analyze the surrounding environment.
The load was extremely high, bringing not the sharp pain of the physical body, but a dizzying sensation as if his consciousness were about to be torn apart.
Data fragments swept past like snowflakes; most were meaningless garbled code and the remnants of long-defunct network nodes.
But [Insight] still managed to capture some traces of data packets with regional characteristics amidst the complex noise, as well as a... hollow echo, similar to the whispers of countless consciousnesses converging.
The analysis pointed to a coordinate, a name that was considered taboo even in the Old Net— "Shangri-La," located in the European region.
That legendary digital graveyard of souls, the settlement for those whose consciousnesses had been stripped away by "Soulkiller," the place known in the real world as "Ghost Town."
He looked up, gazing into the seemingly endless darkness deep within the Old Net.
There, there indeed seemed to be a twisted, massive "presence" that stood out against the surrounding dead silence, like a mirage, or perhaps a slowly pulsating tumor made of pure consciousness.
Curiosity and intense vigilance arose simultaneously.
He cautiously "stepped" forward, wanting to see more clearly.
Just as he was about to touch the edge of that "Ghost Town"—
Hum!
An irresistible repulsive force, or rather, a protective disconnection mechanism, suddenly took effect!
The world spun!
It was as if he were falling rapidly from ten thousand meters in the air; all his senses were instantly compressed, stretched, and then violently stuffed back into a narrow container.
"Ugh..."
A faint groan squeezed out from his throat, and Lin Yi opened his eyes.
Familiar air, carrying the scent of disinfectant and machine oil, rushed into his nostrils.
The cold, white light, exclusive to Viktor's clinic, was somewhat dazzling.
He was lying on Viktor's not-so-comfortable examination chair, covered by a thin blanket.
The switch in consciousness was too abrupt, leaving him dazed for a moment.
The cold, dead silence of the Old Net contrasted sharply with the faint warmth of reality.
He turned his head slightly and saw V slumped over on the chair beside him, asleep.
She seemed to have been watching over him for a long time; even in her sleep, there was a lingering trace of exhaustion and tension between her brows, and the scrape on her forehead had already scabbed over.
A sense of relief from surviving a disaster, along with some indescribable urge to confirm "reality," caused a mischievous thought to bubble up from the bottom of his heart.
He cautiously reached out, his fingertips gently pinching V's cheek. The sensation was warm and real.
V frowned unconsciously in her sleep, a flash of impatience crossing her face, but she did not wake up.
A smirk curled the corner of Lin Yi's mouth, and his sinful hand shifted targets, gently pinching her nose.
One, two, three...
"Mmph...!"
V gasped sharply and sat bolt upright, her eyes not yet fully open, as she said with the confusion and lingering fear of someone just woken up: "Lin Yi, holy shit! I just dreamed we went swimming at the beach, and for some reason, even though I don't know how to swim, I nearly drowned!"
She rubbed her eyes, her vision focusing to see Lin Yi's face—pale, yet clearly awake, wearing a mischievous grin—and his hand that he hadn't managed to pull back in time.
In an instant, she understood everything.
"You motherf—!" A faint, imperceptible blush crept across V's cheeks—whether from anger or something else, it was hard to say. Without a word, she landed a weak punch on Lin Yi's shoulder. "Are you trying to die?! Acting up the moment you wake up!"
"Ouch...", Lin Yi winced in mock pain, though his eyes were full of laughter. "I was just testing your emergency response mechanism. It seems pretty good, though your swimming skills could use some improvement."
V glared at him, but seeing that he had truly woken up, the worry in her eyes finally dissipated completely, replaced by a relaxed sense of helplessness.
After such teasing, the heavy, oppressive atmosphere in the room was swept away.
Lin Yi looked at V, at the faint dark circles under her eyes from staying up all night, and at her trying to force herself to stay alert just to bicker with him.
An emotion mixed with gratitude, relief, and deeper feelings surged in his heart.
He suddenly reached out—not to play a prank, but to gently pull V into his arms.
The hug was light, lasting only a moment, but it carried an unmistakable warmth.
"Thanks, Valerie." His voice sounded in her ear, deeper than usual and much more serious. "Let's go back."
V was stunned by his sudden action, her body stiffening slightly before relaxing, the blush that had just faded from her face seemingly creeping back up again.
She gave a soft "Mm," and before she could say anything—
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Can't bear to watch. What a mushy couple."
A teasing voice came from the doorway.
Jackie was leaning against the doorframe, nobody knew when he had arrived. His abdomen was wrapped in bandages, and his face was still a bit pale, but he was full of energy, grinning at them with a "I saw everything" smirk.
V sprang away from Lin Yi as if she had been scalded, coughing to cover it up.
Lin Yi, however, was thick-skinned and rolled his eyes at Jackie. "Jealous? How are things with you and Misty?"
"You're awake?" Jackie didn't take the bait, walking in with a smile and patting Lin Yi's other shoulder (avoiding the spot V had just punched). His movements were gentle, showing concern. "How do you feel? Viktor said you have to lie down for a few days."
"I'm not dying." Lin Yi tried to move his neck; it was still a bit sore and swollen, but much better than the feeling of his brain about to explode before he fell unconscious. "Just a bit... hungry."
"Perfect!" Jackie's eyes lit up. "Let's go out and get a good meal to calm our nerves! And while we're at it..." He lowered his voice, glancing at the case containing the Relic in the corner. "We need to figure out what to do with that thing next. This hot potato can't just be slept with forever."
Indeed, the crisis had not yet been resolved, and the road ahead was still fraught with danger.
But at least for this moment, his most familiar companions were by his side; they could still sit down together, share a meal, and discuss the next steps in their plan. That was enough.
Perhaps this was the most luxurious moment of peace in Night City.