Chapter 1: Fairness

"The greatest equalizer in life is death. If it becomes possible to cheat death, equality and fairness would be shattered, and all ethics, morals, common sense, and laws would be thrown into disarray."

……

The sound of two loud slaps rang out, and a young man opened his eyes, upon which he was greeted by the sight of a middle-aged woman, then the sound of her impatient voice.

"Hey, do you still know your own name?"

"My name?"

The young man inspected his surroundings with a dazed expression. He found himself situated in a massive underground room, lying on a strange-looking machine. There was a round helmet above his head, and a series of uniformed mechanical police officers were patrolling the surrounding area while gathering evidence.

The machine above his head was known as a personality interchanger, while the robots in the room were called mechanical police officers. These pieces of general knowledge were still present in his mind, but he was drawing a blank on everything else, including his own name.

After thinking intently for a long while, the young man shook his head in response.

"I don't know."

"Looks like your personality was wiped very comprehensively, but as a safety precaution, I still have to take a look for myself."

The woman in red standing in front of the young man laid a finger onto his forehead as she spoke, and the young man immediately felt his vision turn dark as he was overcome by a strong rush of dizziness. By the time his vision returned to him, he found himself in a pristine, white world.

This was a world that had virtually nothing in it. It was like a text document that had been wiped, or a completely clean sheet of paper.

"Looks like you're an authentic blank slate. The fact that you've been wiped so cleanly indicates that the downloader must've spent quite a large sum. However, what's this?"

The voice of the woman in red rang out behind the young man, and he turned around to discover that she was inspecting some flowerpots on the ground with a curious expression.

In a world as pristine as this one, the flowerpots were indeed very eye-catching.

However, even after a long inspection, the woman couldn't find anything special about the flowerpots, so she gave up on that endeavor.

"ADAM-77 is the code number for this operation, and the objective of this operation for the mechanical police force was to rescue you. Seeing as you don't have a name, I'll call you Adam for now. I am a deputized psy-inspector working for Mechguard, you can call me May. If I encounter a blank slate, I am obligated to explain to you your current physical and psychological state. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I do," Adam replied with a nod. He still recalled everything that could be categorized as general knowledge.

"Alright. Firstly, in your current state, you are what's known as a blank slate, which is an adapter that has had its personality completely wiped, and that is why you don't have any memories and don't even recall your own name. You became like this because someone purchased you through illicit means with the intention of downloading a personality into your body."

"My personality has been completely wiped? Who did that?"

Upon hearing this, Adam experienced an emotion for the first time, and that emotion was anger. As this emotion welled up in his heart, a tiny little aberration was suddenly born in this pristine world.

The little aberration was like an ink painting, and as soon as it was born, it immediately began to bare its fangs at everything around it, putting on an extremely volatile display. Thankfully, it wasn't very large and didn't possess much destructive capabilities, so even in its fit of fury, it was about as harmless as a chihuahua.

"Who did it? I don't know, and we're in the process of investigating that. Perhaps it was an elderly person, perhaps it was someone terminally ill, or perhaps it was a criminal who required another identity in order to avoid arrest. In any case, it had to have been someone very wealthy! After all, the bodies of adapters are very expensive, as is personality formatting technology, and these are not costs that the average person can handle." May shrugged as she spoke, then continued, "Alright, now that we've confirmed that there are no other personalities in your psychic world and I've fulfilled my duty by explaining everything to you, my mission is over. Goodbye!"

After that, Adam was struck by another rush of dizziness, then returned to reality from that sterile psychic world.

Two to three minutes had passed by in his psychic world, yet it seemed that only one or two seconds had passed in the real world. The current image connected seamlessly with his memory, and the mechanical police officers were still searching for evidence.

Moments later, the officers departed one after another, following which May extended an invitation toward Adam.

"Mechguard officers are enforcers of justice, but they're not public servants, so after saving you, they'll leave you to fend for yourself. However, I can personally help you. Would you like to come with me?"

“……”

"You have no money right now, which means you won't even be able to feed yourself. Would you like to come with me?"

"No."

Adam shook his head in response. Due to the special nature of his identity as a blank slate, he was full of caution toward everything around him.

"Ok."

May didn't try to persuade him any further, and she departed with the final mechanical police officer.

Following their departure, Adam found some rags in the underground chamber to cover his own body with, then also made his way up the staircase. The staircase was quite long, and the further he progressed, the more foul-smelling the air became. The exit at the end was connected to the sewers, and thus, Adam emerged from the manhole cover with his entire body covered in filth.

Whoosh...?

In the instant that he arrived above the ground, he was immediately assaulted by the cacophony of sounds and lights of different colors around him. There was also a giant 3D projection above him, which left him momentarily dazed.

"Don't get in the way, kid!" Before Adam had even returned to his senses, he was pushed down onto the ground by a large hand. The hand was very strong, and it felt extremely hard, much like iron and steel.

Right as he was about to turn around to see who had pushed him, the fragrance of food suddenly wafted out. There was a restaurant in front of him, and the aroma coming out from inside caused his stomach to convulse with hunger.

“……”

"Heh, are you hungry, little guy?"

"Hmm?"

Adam turned around to find a disheveled homeless man. He appeared to be quite advanced in age, and he had a pair of long eyebrows, which gave him a very benevolent appearance.

"Wait for me, I managed to earn some dough today." The homeless man strode into the restaurant before ordering a portion of chow mein and a beverage before handing them over to Adam. "Dig in."

In the face of the temptation of food, Adam didn't refuse and immediately began to chomp down the meal.

"If you dress up like that, you're going to attract a lot of attention, kid. These streets aren't safe."

Prior to speaking, the elderly man draped his own tattered coat over Adam's body, then hobbled away to depart.

Adam paused for a moment before following along.

It was already nighttime, and neither of them said anything as they passed through several streets that were brightly lit with neon lights. They arrived in a dark area. This was an abandoned underground passage, and the surrounding area was riddled with graffiti and braziers, indicating that this was a gathering place for the homeless.

"Make sure to constantly be vigilant and maintain a cold expression. Don't tell anyone about your past, there aren't any good people here. Follow me..."

"Alright."

"Yo, what's up, Old Dog?"

As the two of them were passing through the crowd, several homeless men greeted the elderly man, but most of them were lying on the ground in an intoxicated state. Each of them had an electronic device placed next to them, and they were enjoying beautiful dreams while sleep-talking.

This was a type of psychological drug known as "Heaven".

One could achieve everything that they ever wanted in there, but the price of that was excessive psychological depletion and atrophy of the brain's neurons, as well as an inability to ever accept reality.

For those who had used Heaven before, the real world was hell.

These pieces of general information were flashing through Adam's mind as he found a brazier with no one around it, then sat down beside it, leaning back against the wall of the passage.

He was still inspecting his surroundings in a cautious manner, but he was feeling extremely tired, perhaps due to the fact that his body had only just awakened. His eyelids were feeling impossibly heavy, and finally, he fell into slumber moments later.

After an indeterminate period of time, he heard the sound of a conversation while in a half-asleep state.

"... I’m telling ya, Boss, this guy definitely isn't a hobo. His muscles and brain haven't atrophied, and his internal organs are most likely healthy as well. Look at the complexion of his skin! He'll definitely fetch a good price!"

"Hmm?"

Those who were cautious and alert would never fall into a deep sleep, and upon hearing this conversation, Adam immediately opened his eyes, upon which he caught sight of Old Dog and several burly men making their way toward him from the other side of the passage.