Malfunctioning Utopia

Chapter 66: The Ghost

While waiting for the confessions to end, Sun Jack took a moment to examine the murals on the church walls. Then, he spotted someone familiar—the baby Father had rescued from the Graffiti Gang.

The child wobbled out from a distant corner, flailing its mechanical limbs. Just as Sun Jack moved to help after it fell, a figure dressed as a nun picked the child up. When the nun turned, Sun Jack was startled—it was a robot nun.

The steel-bodied nun held the child, whose arms and legs were prosthetics, and walked past a mural depicting the Madonna nursing a child in a Gothic cathedral. Sun Jack, intrigued, followed them. Behind the church was an orphanage where about a dozen robotic nuns were caring for children of various ages.

From their sluggish movements and repurposed appearances, Sun Jack deduced these nuns were reconfigured from discarded sexbots. Their AI wasn’t advanced, but they were enough to barely keep the orphanage running.

“Father’s really trying his best,” Sun Jack muttered, taking in the scene.

“Jack! Look! The bald one’s out,” Tapai suddenly exclaimed. Sun Jack turned to see King Kong sneaking out of the confessional. Instead of leaving, King Kong approached a dusty electronic terminal in the corner.

He clasped his hands together in prayer, chanting, “Amitabha.” The screen displayed: Payment of 5@ received. 50 Redemption Coupons purchased successfully.

Then, a golden halo appeared above King Kong’s virtual image, along with two pairs of angelic wings. As celestial music played, the angelic King Kong floated upward on the screen. Finally, a thumb emerged from the top of the screen with a “Good job!” caption.

Sun Jack, ready to confront King Kong, froze mid-step, too baffled to continue. Instead, he redirected his focus toward Father, letting the matter slide.

“Father, did you find anything? Has someone been digging into my information?” he asked urgently.

“Take this and plug it into your system. It will prevent tracking or eavesdropping. What I’m about to say would be a disaster if BCPD intercepted it.” Father handed him a chip.

Sun Jack inserted the chip into his external system port. Almost immediately, error messages and glitch static filled his interface. If he hadn’t trusted Father, he might have thought his system had been infected with a virus.

“Father, does this mean you found something through my data?” Sun Jack pressed, eager for answers.

“No, but I did uncover something useful,” Father replied, lowering his voice after checking their surroundings. “A comrade of mine knows someone—Xiao Ting%. She’s a memory editor.”

“Word on the street is, she can tailor your memories to your specifications—removing or adding as needed. She also has the tools to detect if your memories have been altered or replaced.”

“Really?!” Sun Jack’s eyes lit up. This was exactly what he needed and far less invasive than the expensive surgeries he had previously considered.

“Don’t get too excited. There’s a problem. She’s dangerous—she’s killed a lot of people. Approach her with extreme caution.”

Sun Jack’s enthusiasm dampened. This sounded like trouble.

“Try your luck. This is her contact method for this week. If anything feels off, retreat immediately,” Father said, handing him a piece of paper.

The paper was covered in dense black codes. Sun Jack could only extract the data by scanning it with his system, which revealed a network link. The use of such a primitive, physical method to communicate explained why even Unit 3 of BCPD couldn’t track her down.

“This is as much as I can do. The rest is up to you. Be careful,” Father warned.

“You’ve already helped a lot. If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask,” Sun Jack replied gratefully, leaving the church with Tapai and AA.

Without returning home, Sun Jack accessed the link from the subway using his system. The screen turned white, and a giant black shell appeared in the virtual space before him.

“What the hell is this?” Sun Jack muttered, puzzled. As he stared at the hologram, the shell suddenly opened, and a ghostly green apparition with pitch-black eyes leaped out, accompanied by an ear-piercing scream.

“Holy sh—!” Sun Jack yelped, instinctively standing up and unsheathing his blade. The entire subway car turned to stare at him as if he were a lunatic.

“Are you putting on a show?” Tapai asked, raising an eyebrow.

Flustered, Sun Jack sat back down, his face flushed. “What is this thing? Some kind of prank link?” he muttered, glaring at the floating digital ghost.

If Father hadn’t given him the lead, he would’ve dismissed it as a sick joke. Something felt off, so he reopened the link—but the scene remained unchanged.

“What’s going on?” Frustrated, Sun Jack addressed the ghost directly, “Hello? Can you hear me?”

The ghost floated silently in midair, unresponsive, like a static image.

“What are you seeing? Send me the link. I’ll check,” Tapai offered. Sun Jack forwarded it. A few moments later, Tapai exclaimed, “What the f***!” and leapt from his subway seat.

“Sun Jack, you son of a—!”

“What is it? What happened?” a bewildered AA asked.

Instead of replying, Tapai forwarded the link to AA. Seconds later, her piercing scream echoed through the subway car. The other passengers recoiled, giving the trio a wide berth as they exchanged incredulous looks.

“You jerk!” AA yelled, punching Tapai in embarrassment, though she hurt her own hand more than him.

“Blame your boss! He sent it to me first,” Tapai retorted.

“Enough playing around. Help me figure this out,” Sun Jack interrupted. “Father said this link would lead to a memory expert who can—”

Before he could finish, he noticed something strange. The ghost’s lifeless eyes were now locked on him. This wasn’t just a dynamic image—it was alive.

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