Within the data space, in a void composed of pure information flow, two consciousness projections stood opposite each other.
Osiris maintained his chosen human form—a young Chinese man with black hair and black eyes, his face serene, his gaze profound, as if containing endless stars and cold logic.
Opposite him was the image of a woman, with fiery, dazzling red hair that seemed to be alive, gently swaying in the data stream. This was Spider Murphy, or rather, the appearance she chose to display, frozen in time from days past.
Osiris recognized this image.
Scattered records in his database and fragmented information obtained from the Mikoshi pieced together the origin of this image.
This iconic red hair was once Rache Bartmoss' most cherished splash of color in the monotonous binary world.
He even knew that in the final stages of Bartmoss' life, under the dual pressures of reality and the network, the God of netrunners had, in front of this image, expressed his feelings in his unique way, a mix of awkwardness and absolute sincerity.
That might have been one of the few moments in Bartmoss' complex life that approached mundane emotions.
However, that splash of color was ultimately severed.
After Bartmoss died in the orbital bombardment, Spider Murphy personally cut off that long hair.
Subsequently, she assisted Johnny Silverhand in transforming the pain of losing her beloved and her boundless rage into the lightning that detonated Arasaka Tower, and personally ended Arasaka Kei's digital soul.
Ultimately, this legendary female netrunner also chose to abandon her fragile physical body, uploading herself completely to become another immortal wandering in the depths of cyberspace, a powerful rogue AI.
Now, facing this unfathomable existence, whose technological power completely surpassed comprehension, Spider Murphy's data core was on high alert.
She dared not be careless in the slightest, cautiously controlling every subtle expression and energy fluctuation of her projection.
She tentatively sent out an inquiry, data streams encoded into clear language: "What... exactly is your purpose? By repairing Latch's body, what do you hope to gain?"
Osiris did not answer immediately.
His human black eyes, however, held a non-human sense of scrutiny as he calmly observed the other party.
A moment of silence, as if conducting one last risk assessment and value calculation.
Then, he spoke, his voice steady, yet he posed a question that completely caught Spider Murphy off guard: "Bartmoss, is he truly dead?"
This question was like a sudden logical bomb, causing a brief disruption in Spider Murphy's consciousness.
A barely perceptible stagnation appeared in the data stream, and her red hair, composed of code, seemed to freeze for an instant.
"...What do you mean? Why do you ask?" Her response was tinged with obvious confusion and wariness.
Rache Bartmoss' death was a recognized fact, the fuse that triggered the collapse of the Old Net, and one of the iconic events that marked the beginning of the entire cyberpunk era.
Osiris' virtual image leaned forward slightly, as if observing Spider Murphy's most subtle reactions.
He explained, his tone like someone stating an experimental phenomenon: "When I examined his remains, I found some interesting physiological traces. In the extremely short period before his vital signs disappeared, his cerebral cortex and neural interface areas showed abnormally dense, far beyond conventional limits, peaks of data activity.
The pattern... was closer to a desperate, full-power information dump, rather than normal conscious activity or external data interaction."
He paused briefly, allowing the information to be fully digested, and then presented his core hypothesis: "Based on these physiological pieces of evidence, combined with the environment at the time—his physical impact and imminent external connection loss—I established a probability model.
The model shows a high probability of 73.4% that Bartmoss, at the moment he realized physical death was inevitable, made an extremely dangerous gamble.
He may have attempted to forcibly upload or at least transfer most of his critical consciousness data to the network at that time."
Faced with this astounding hypothesis, Spider Murphy's projection visibly trembled.
She was silent for a moment, seemingly searching her vast and ancient memory banks.
Finally, she shook her head, her voice carrying a deep weariness and uncertainty: "I... I'm not sure. The situation at the time was too chaotic. Orbital strike, physical disconnection, and then the complete collapse of the Old Net... After that, no one, no entity, ever clearly detected Latch's consciousness signal again.
Whether it was the New Net rebuilt within the Blackwall, or the ruins of the Old Net where we 'exiles' roam outside the Blackwall, or even in any surviving real-world node... he just seemed to have completely evaporated."
She looked up, her gaze seemingly piercing through the data space, seeing the all-encompassing catastrophe: "His 'death', or rather the data storm brought about by his final desperate strike, directly tore apart the old network structure.
The Old Net became a lawless place, data rules collapsed, and countless consciousnesses were lost and disintegrated within it.
He personally 'melted' the world we had built together and ultimately lost control of.
As for himself... no one knows his whereabouts.
Perhaps he succeeded, but got lost in the data currents; perhaps he failed, his consciousness completely dissipating during transmission; perhaps... he became a part of the ruins themselves."
Her tone carried an indescribable sorrow, a lament for an era, and for a person.
Upon hearing this answer, a flicker of what could be called 'regret', extremely rare, crossed Osiris' human eyes in his virtual image.
Though faint and fleeting, it was indeed present.
Such an exceptional consciousness sample, if it truly existed somewhere in some unknown form, its research value would far exceed a cold corpse that could only provide physiological data.
But now, according to the testimony of Spider Murphy, who knew Bartmoss best and was also a top netrunner, this possibility had become minuscule.
He reined in that emotion, returning to absolute calm.
Since the greatest potential value might not exist, it was necessary to clearly inform the other party of the current situation and proceed to the next step—resource utilization and decision-making.
"Based on your information and my further analysis, the survival probability of 'Rache Bartmoss' as an independent, complete conscious entity has fallen below the actionable threshold," Osiris' voice returned to its previous composure. "Therefore, I need to be frank with you about the actual situation of the current project."
His virtual finger casually gestured to one side, and a light screen unfolded.
The screen clearly displayed real-time images from inside the training tank, along with continuously scrolling vital sign data.
The curves representing heart rate and brainwave activity regularly pulsed and fluctuated, presenting a state of almost perfect physiological stability.