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"No, missing her is extremely painful, but digging her out of memory is even more agonizing; it's like slicing a piece of flesh off your own body."
Gu Tao's voice was low, a rare solemnity for him. He did indeed long for his companions, but if he really used that backdoor, he might be able to see those guys' faces and hear their laughter again. However, what's fake is always fake, and the insincerity of the pain would make someone already sinking in the misery of longing suffer even more unbearably.
"Have you ever been cut?" Xin Chen approached with a mysterious look: "I haven't been cut before, what's it feel like?"
"Get lost." Gu Tao shooed the insensitive guy away like shooing a fly: "Keep away, I'm busy."
"Could it be that you got cut somewhere unspeakable? Let me guess?"
"Can't you shut up? Why don't you go to the cabin's lounge and watch TV? There's a TV there."
"Oh... Can I watch Happy Camp?"
"Yes!"
Xin Chen happily left Gu Tao, but Gu Tao's peace did not last two minutes before Xin Chen appeared again before his junior, full of curiosity: "Junior, I'm asking you, why don't you live here? I think the environment is super nice here, with air conditioning and cleanliness."
Gu Tao looked up at him, smiled slightly, and put down the task in his hand: "Come with me."
Having not entered the cryonic chamber in six years, Gu Tao stood at the pitch-black door, took a deep breath, nodded: "Lights."
The lights came on, and the true face of the place was revealed to Xin Chen. But this time Xin Chen did not touch everything around as he did before. Instead, he respectfully bowed to the four glowing cryonic pods in the darkness.
"Do you know?"
"Death aura cannot be concealed, even if you preserve them here, the death aura will still seep through and spread. Senior brother knows why you don't want to live here now." Xin Chen sighed: "Senior brother has an awkward request."
"Just say it. Why beat around the bush?"
"Have you heard of the phrase 'Rest in peace'?" Xin Chen looked nervously at Gu Tao: "After a person dies, if the body is not interred, the soul is not at peace."
"No..." Gu Tao shook his head gently: "I..."
Actually, Gu Tao's rejection was feeble. He had preserved his companions' bodies here all along, holding a faint hope that upon returning to their home planet, they could be revived.
But in reality, he knew it was impossible. The Ethics Committee had ruled the homeworld for two thousand years, rejecting all technologies related to the human body. They believed that birth, aging, illness, and death were the human destiny and natural order. Medical science might lengthen human lifespan, but it would never interfere with death, much less technologies that could revive the dead. Even cloning technology was strictly prohibited.
From Gu Tao's perspective, this was sad, but from humanity's standpoint, these technologies must be restricted, strictly restricted. Otherwise, when mankind cracked the code of life, it would also be the time when the species headed toward extinction.
Yet...
He couldn't bear it, he really couldn't bear it. He couldn't bear to watch Tifa and old dad decompose into basic cosmic particles in the soil and then vanish forever from his sight, gradually fading from memory as time went by.
You see, Gu Tao was the last person in the world who remembered them. In Gu Tao's opinion, as long as he didn't forget them, they weren't truly dead. So he was afraid, terrified of slowly forgetting them after no longer being able to see them.
"Junior, you are very selfish." Xin Chen's expression was serious: "Do you know? If the body is not buried, the soul will relive the agony of death every day—suffocation, constraint, and despair."
"Don't interfere!" Gu Tao waved his hand to brush Xin Chen's arm aside, but unexpectedly the guy's grip was motionless like a clamp.
"Want to fight?"
"Alright." Xin Chen nodded, slowly releasing Gu Tao's shoulder, fingers poised like a sword: "If I lose, I won't say another word. But if you lose, let them rest in peace."
"What does this have to do with you?" Gu Tao questioned: "It's my business."
"You are my junior."
Gu Tao knew Xin Chen's character—clingy like a plaster, impossible to tear off without ripping off a layer of skin. So after confirming this through a glance, Gu Tao took out two helmet-like objects from the cabinet: "If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get."
"What's this?" Xin Chen blinked as he played with the helmet in his hands: "Are we going racing?"
"This is a Physicalization Helmet. It can project oneself into data and through computer calculations, form a combat image of equal strength in the database. You can control it with brainwaves... or mental strength. Since it stimulates the brain directly, there's no difference from the real you; it can feel pain and get injured. However, there's a safety mechanism. Anyone who loses fighting capability will be ejected from the consciousness. We usually use this for combat training."
"That's awesome!" Xin Chen's eyes suddenly lit up: "So if senior brother uses it for training, it would save a lot of trouble, right?"
"Theoretically, yes."
Gu Tao was not amused. He was in a very bad mood now, as if he needed a good fight, so he was not filled with his usual mischievous air, and Xin Chen was undoubtedly the perfect target.
"Then, junior, let's start."
"It's time for you to experience the power of technology."
Carrying the helmets, they entered the training room, settled down in the vector chairs, and were secured in place, hardly able to move. Then drones fitted the helmets onto their heads.
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