Lucy's breathing suddenly quickened.
When the words "Blackwall" and "relics of the first net" calmly escaped Osiris' lips, her back instantly stiffened. Her nails dug deep into her palms, and the familiar metallic taste of rust filled her mouth—she had bitten her lip again.
Beyond the Blackwall... those fragmented memories suddenly came alive: distorted data streams, the abyss of non-Euclidean code structures, and the shrieking entities in the data storms.
She was one of the few who had truly been there and returned with her sanity intact—or so she thought she had maintained her sanity.
Arasaka's special training, those days as a "netrunner," made her more aware than anyone of the horrors beyond the Blackwall. Every piece of data brought back from beyond the wall could be attached with imperceptible contamination, and every coordinate could be a lure leading to destruction.
And this terrifying mechanical giant before her not only spoke lightly of information from beyond the wall but could even precisely locate specific AI entities... Cold sweat trickled down her spine. This was no longer a technological gap but a dimensional crush.
It was even possible that this terrifying monster before her was a machine controlled by a rogue AI, and he was collecting these rogue AIs merely to devour their data.
She instinctively took half a step back, as if that would distance her from the awakened nightmares.
Osiris seemed completely oblivious to the netrunners' unusual reactions, calmly adding, "And those 'Mr. Blue Eyes' that occasionally appear in the city."
He paused slightly, as if to let everyone understand the meaning of his words.
"They are not the same person, but a sequence of puppets controlled by a rogue AI—specially modified flesh bodies, with their original consciousness overwritten. These puppets mingle in the crowd, observing, guiding, and even directly interfering with the direction of certain important events. Capturing one of them would also be considered completing the mission." This addition made the already grave atmosphere even more subtle.
Compared to AIs hidden in infrastructure, these entities lurking in the crowd were even more chilling—you never knew which seemingly ordinary passerby beside you might have non-human eyes behind them.
Maine couldn't help but speak, his voice low: "boss, any of what you're saying... is not something our Maine's crew can easily deal with.
Dogtown is Hansen's territory; we have no idea what's beneath it; Delamain taxis are all over the city, touching it means going against the entire city's transportation system; that Mr. Blue Eyes... sounds like a conspiracy theory come true."
He shook his head, completely dispelling any lingering hope the team might have had about helping David choose the first path.
"So," Osiris' crimson lens refocused on David, "your choice, evaluated from efficiency and safety, is currently the optimal solution."
He accepted David's apprenticeship but did not immediately begin imparting knowledge.
One of the traditions of the Adeptus Mechanicus is that knowledge is never free.
"Since you have chosen the path, the first lesson will begin with fulfilling your obligations." Osiris' synthesized voice rang out steadily, and a data file was simultaneously transmitted to David's personal terminal. "Remember, in the wisdom halls of the omnissiah, there are no free gifts. Even an apprentice must earn knowledge through practical contributions."
He paused briefly, this short silence seeming to carry a certain weight—these were the rules he had experienced, and now it was David's turn to experience them.
"This file records an abandoned refrigerator located in a landfill outside the city. Its lease has expired, and it has now been transported to the garbage mountain along with other waste." Osiris' mechanical finger tapped lightly. "Your mission is to find this specific model of refrigerator in the garbage mountain and bring it back here, intact and undamaged.
The items inside the cabinet must also remain untouched; opening it is strictly forbidden. This is the price for you to obtain the first stage of knowledge."
David looked down at the blurry address coordinates and the picture of the old refrigerator on his personal terminal, momentarily stunned.
"In... in the garbage mountain... find a specific refrigerator?" He could hardly believe his ears.
He knew the Santo Domingo landfill; it was an endless ocean of waste, with new garbage being dumped into it every day.
Finding a specific refrigerator there would be like looking for a specific grain of sand in the desert.
He had anticipated all sorts of difficult and dangerous missions: infiltrating corporate facilities to steal data, engaging in gang warfare, or even facing cyberpsychos. But this seemingly simple task made him doubt himself for the first time—could he really find that specific refrigerator in the vast sea of garbage?
This seemingly absurd task was the first step he had to take to enter the halls of knowledge.
And at this moment, this step seemed so distant, so unreal.
Rebecca's eyes widened exaggeratedly, her voice rising an octave: "Huh? Find a refrigerator? boss, are you serious? The garbage in that godforsaken place in Santo Domingo is piled higher than Arasaka Tower! How are we supposed to find it?"
Pilar nervously rubbed his metal scalp, making a faint scratching sound: "At least the AI has a general location. This refrigerator is probably already crushed into scrap metal."
Even the usually steady Maine couldn't help but speak, his brows tightly furrowed: "boss, what exactly is the meaning of this mission? If it's to test David, isn't there a more direct way?"
He truly couldn't understand why this being, capable of traversing dimensions, would be interested in an old refrigerator in a garbage dump.
Osiris' response remained as calm as a machine reading: "Just execute the order. The meaning of the mission is not within your scope of understanding."
His optical lens turned to David, "Find it, and bring it back intact. This is the price for knowledge. Any damage will be considered mission failure."
These words silenced all doubts. The moment David made his choice, he lost the right to bargain.
David stared at the blurry refrigerator image on his terminal, the scene of the Santo Domingo garbage mountain appearing in his mind—piles of waste, pungent smells, and the wanderers foraging in the garbage. The path to saving his mother was to begin in such a garbage mountain, a realization that filled him with a sense of absurdity.
He took a deep breath, suppressing the complex emotions churning within him, and bowed his head to the dark red figure: "Understood, boss. I will find it."
And so, David's apprenticeship began with a seemingly absurd task.
Maine's crew members exchanged helpless glances, knowing full well that David was destined to be accompanied by the garbage mountain in the coming days.