Abyssal Wanderer

Chapter 224 NO.00df: Path to Upgrade Orpheus

Shukuchi, a dojutsu that turns ten steps into one step and can perform space jumps, or a flash skill that is sublimated from swordsmanship. Such a metaphysical thing...of course it doesn't exist.

Jim Leiter thought so after taking control of the Hispanic arms smuggler named Donata Guzman.

Although he had just joked that it was Taoism on a whim, this girl who looked to be in her early twenties seemed to really believe her lies.

As she walked along the corridor to the first floor of the resettlement area, she no longer had any intention of struggling or escaping - anyone faced with a person who could ignore bullets like a ghost and could reach her side in ten steps at a time When you encounter a "superpower", you will naturally lose the idea of ​​resistance.

But as Jim himself said at the beginning, they are just some boring "cover-ups" - adjustments and transformations that may allow individual soldiers to make space jumps or transform themselves into quantum ghosts do exist. But no matter what, those levels of things are too far away from me, at least it is impossible to install them on an adjuster with a mere depth of 2 like myself.

In fact, in terms of combat effectiveness alone, I may not even be as good as many depth 1 adjusters - that is not the upgrade path I am on and the area I am good at.

Thinking of this, Jim couldn't help but glance at the drone that was about the size of a ping pong ball floating near Donata's head.

The little thing under his control was the "smoke-swallowing mirror" he used to confuse the audience when he performed "magic" before.

It has no optical cloaking device and is simply suspended in the air driven by its propellers. In the quiet corridor, the drone made a faint but very clear "buzzing" sound.

At this moment, it was swaying back and forth constantly under Donata's eyes, and the air flow raised by the blades even blew her curly hair from time to time.

But Donata didn't even notice the thing surrounding her head, dancing like a golden snitch.

It was as if she were blind and deaf.

But it was clear that Donata, who had just shot Jim, was not blind or deaf. She could see everything except this drone.

The two of them continued walking down the dim corridor. Suddenly, Donata, who was leading the way, turned around as if she wanted to confirm whether Jim was still following her.

And at the moment before she turned her head, the micro-drone predicted the opponent's movements in advance. In the moment her eyes moved, in the space between her blinks, it accurately flew to a special location in her vision at an extremely fast speed.

So, when Donata looked back at Jim, Jim's figure was reflected in her eyes. And the drone was moving close to the blind spot of her sight, as if it was stuck to a grain of white rice outside the corner of her eye—it was clearly within reach, but the other party couldn't see it.

"Take a turn ahead and walk about two hundred meters down, and you will reach the negative level. There will be drone patrols nearby, and they all have the authority to fire directly if they find illegal immigrants."

Donata reminded him.

"Will lethal fire be authorized?"

Jim didn't look at the drone anymore, but looked directly into the other person's eyes and asked simply.

"They are equipped with microwave weapons, with power levels ranging from making people feel dizzy and vomiting, to directly roasting the brain into brain flakes through the skull. However, it is recognized that upper-class citizens generally use non-lethal mode. After knocking out the stowaway, We will call the police and hand him over to the Public Security Bureau to be sent back.”

Donata replied, but she forgot to mention that she would have to pay a large fine in the meantime.

Jim frowned at this.

The negative level serves as an isolation zone and is the only underground level in the Nord resettlement area with a Public Security Bureau. But in his impression, the Public Security Bureau usually does not work so meticulously - if they know that there is a channel nearby that can be used as a smuggling channel, they will usually choose to block it directly instead of sending drones. Come on patrol.

Thinking of this, Jim asked:

"Then how do you avoid them when you usually smuggle weapons?"

Donata sneered and replied:

"To put it simply, if you encounter a drone unfortunately, there will usually be a payment QR code hanging under them."

Jim's frown instantly relaxed.

It turns out that this is in line with his understanding of the work style of the resettlement area government.

After all, the Public Security Bureau is a unit that is responsible for its own profits and losses. It is really unjustifiable that it does not have any revenue-generating projects.

So Jim nodded and replied:

"Then if you are discovered, then do as you normally would."

My usual price for taking on a case is 70 Ore per day, and I need to submit an invoice to reimburse additional expenses. With this meager salary, it was not his turn to pay the bribes to the Public Security Bureau on behalf of the arms dealers.

Donata nodded, then turned her head and continued walking.

From beginning to end, she didn't notice the ping pong ball-sized drone at all - even though the drone was surrounding her head like the stars that suddenly appeared in front of her eyes after the character in the old cartoon hit the wall. Make a circular motion.

Or maybe she actually saw it, but she was completely unaware of its existence.

Like it was just a speck of dust, a gust of wind.

So the two of them turned the last corner peacefully. After walking about two hundred meters further, they would enter the realm of the negative level.

At this point, it's almost time to end this magical bewitchment and stop playing my [Lyre].

Looking at the looming light at the end of the corridor, Jim thought to himself.

After all, magic tricks are like this. Once the audience observes from a different angle, their tricks will be seen through instantly.

【return】

So he raised his hand slightly and gave an order to the [lyre accompaniment machine]. The ping-pong ball-sized drone flew back to Jim like a golden snitch and slipped into the sleeves of his classic double-breasted khaki trench coat.

During this process, Jim kept staring nervously at Donata who was walking in front, praying that she would never look back during this period - it would be too embarrassing if her secret was revealed.

But speaking of it, the phrase "don't look back" has a very deep connection with Jim Leiter's promotion path.

His upgrade path is called "Orpheus", named after the greatest musician in Greek mythology. It is said that the sound of Orpheus can intoxicate birds, animals, insects, fish, and even trees and rocks. On the Argonauts searching for the Golden Fleece, it was the song of Orpheus that silenced all the sirens.

The most famous legend of Orpheus is the story of him descending to the underworld to save his wife. After his beloved wife Eurydice accidentally stepped on a poisonous snake and was bitten to death, the great musician resolutely chose to descend to the underworld. Hades rescued his wife.

During this period, he used the sound of his lyre to soothe the ferocious Cerberus, impress the stingy ferryman Charon, and let the three fair judges of Hades let him go. In the end, he even moved the hard-hearted Hades to agree to let Orpheus's beloved wife Eurydice return to the underworld. But Pluto put forward the only condition - on the way back to the earth, he must not look back at his wife.

Like many heroes in myths who did not listen to advice, Orpheus was overwhelmed by the unknown fear and incomparable longing before he was about to step out of the underworld, and he bravely looked back.

And this look was the last look between himself and his wife - her beloved wife Eurydice fell back into the terrifying abyss, unable to leave the prison of Hades for eternity.

Of course, fortunately, Donata, who was walking in front of her, did not look back when Jim took back the [Lyre Accompaniment Machine]. The girl did not notice the trick Jim had played before.

The Orpheus Path is a specialized path that strengthens "consciousness hacking". Its depth 1 adjustment will give the adjuster the ability called "Representational Topological Structure Observation".

In vulgar terms, this ability can be seen as the ability to read minds by observing the target's physiological representations, language structures, and compulsive behaviors.

Of course, saying "characterizing topological structure observation" is mind-reading, just like saying that the power generation principle of steam boilers and nuclear power plants is to boil water. It is correct but biased, and in the eyes of professionals, it seems like arrogance.

In fact, not only humans, the adjusters of the Orpsian path can also analyze the behavior patterns of AI - the concept of mental index and the algorithm were originally proposed by the adjusters of this path.

As an adjuster of this path, Jim can even estimate a person's mental index directly with the naked eye. And the longer he stays with the other party and the more information he collects, the more accurate the value he estimates will be.

In addition, another enhancement of Orpheus Path Depth 1 is "mirror neuron enhancement".

Mirror neurons are the neural circuits that allow humans to empathize and feel the same way others are feeling - when you see or imagine someone inserting bamboo skewers into their toenails and then kicking them against the wall. You will feel the same discomfort in your toes, or even have phantom pain. This is the mirror neuron at work.

The enhancement of mirror neurons allows Jim to turn on, off, strengthen, and weaken his ability to empathize at any time.

With just one command, he can abandon all his empathy and become a completely antisocial madman whose pulse will not exceed 85 even if he bites off the other person's face alive.

Likewise, he can also fully activate his ability to empathize. By simply standing at the crime scene, you can flash back to the criminal's most subtle emotional changes at the time of the crime, almost like a ghost.

All in all, these two abilities are what Jim now uses to make a living. All he needs to do is find the suspects, chat with them for a while, and ask a few random questions; or go to the scene of the crime and reconstruct the situation at that time, and the truth of the entire case will be almost completely clear.

In fact, Jim's biggest opponent in handling cases is often the law itself - the law of the Nord Resettlement District government does not accept the testimony of the Orps Path Adjuster as evidence. But even if they could accept it, Jim never revealed his identity as an adjuster in order not to become a target of government surveillance.

So, in most of his cases. Jim can often see the truth at a glance, but he spends countless energy and time looking for evidence that ordinary people can understand for the truth that is obvious to him.

Compared to Depth 1, which only strengthens the ability to read minds, the enhancement of the Orphic Path at Depth 2 [Lyre] gives the adjuster of this path two "consciousness hacking" abilities.

"Blindsight" and "Alice's illusion."

"Blind Sight Concealment" allows the adjuster of Orpheus himself and the [Lyre Accompaniment Machine] controlled by him to accurately grasp the blind spots of the opponent's "three senses".

Whether it is vision, hearing or touch, even if the other party observes it, the brain will subconsciously ignore it when processing the information. And this is also the reason why the previous drone was able to remain under the opponent's nose without being discovered.

Its flying position is stuck in the blind spot of the opponent's vision, the sound of its flight is stuck in the frequency that the brain considers as background sound, and the wind it raises is stuck in the intensity that is ignored by the skin receptors.

So even if such a large drone was hanging so brightly in front of Donata's head, she was completely unaware of the existence of such a thing.

As for the "Alice Illusion", it was the reason why the other party failed to hit Jim even after firing several shots.

The precise magnetic field generated by [lyre and accompaniment machine] affects the visual perception center of the brain. Jim can cause the other party to temporarily produce symptoms similar to "micropsia" - including but not limited to confusion in distance control, confusion in the perception of object size, and confusion in perception of time.

Under the "Alice Illusion", the other party will distort their perception of time and space, especially space, without knowing it at all. For example, although she clearly sees the opponent directly in front, she will shoot towards the left front; another example is that she will see the opponent as ten steps away even though the opponent is clearly one step away from her.

What he previously called "ghost form" and "Shukuchi" were actually the effects of applying the "Alice Illusion". And these are just the most preliminary applications.

The more common usages include...

"I'll go out and take a look first to see if there are any patrol drones. You...don't get me wrong."

At the exit of this corridor, Donata pushed up the gate and looked back at Jim.

And her words interrupted Jiang Zhou's thoughts of recalling Jim Leiter's specific abilities.

Jim observed the topological structure of the other party's representation and found no signs of escape. On the contrary, the nervousness was very obvious. It seemed that she really believed that she could "shrink the ground" and that she could flash to her side and subdue herself in ten steps.

However, it may simply be that he has a gun in his hand, but the other party does not have a gun - Jim needs to ask questions and collect more representative information before he can make a judgement.

But he has no such interest now.

"OK."

Jim nodded.

Then, just as Donata leaned out of the gate, all her biological signs disappeared.

She fell straight down.