Clockwork Bride

Page 153

Even other people, not even gods, might not be able to see why Hayden made [Magical Girl Pazuzu] do this.

However, Miktikashiva herself was an ancient, non-human god, and also the goddess of death. After hearing this, she immediately realized, "Truly worthy of Mr. Hayden! He's simultaneously cleaning up the fanbase and planting the seeds of this little cat in the minds of his fans!"

The ritual of resurrecting an idol through dismemberment relies on the emotions and beliefs of the audience and fans. It seems Hayden would rather eliminate any fans who might find it boring than let the remaining fans know exactly what this resurrection ritual is all about!

Ms. Eko, however, did not understand ancient magic, and since this person was somewhat slow-witted (after all, he was the one who managed to get Terasque lost), she didn't immediately grasp the point: "Why tell stories when teaching a resurrection ritual?"

The answer is that storytelling is also a form of ritual magic, and may even be one of the oldest forms of magic. Humanity's oldest form of entertainment may very well have been storytelling. While storytelling is largely driven by entertainment, it's not solely for amusement; more often, it serves as a means of communication through this unique art form. Many important religious texts are actually constructed using storytelling as a key method and even a fundamental framework.

For example, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" is the opening of a story. Many religious texts are actually told through stories.

Even today, many modern forms of entertainment are essentially storytelling. Anime, games, novels, movies... storytelling is practically a human instinct!

【Magical Girl Pazuzu】is now sitting in the live stream room, lazily telling stories to the audience and interacting with fans, letting them see her expressions, tone of voice, and posture. At this moment, it seems that they are no longer idol and fan, but just storyteller and storyteller, and seem to have entered a relatively equal position.

Although this equality is ultimately just an illusion, sometimes... an illusion can become a real force.

"Truly worthy of Mr. Hayden."

Therefore, the goddess Mikkuri was quite impressed, although she was also very puzzled.

"Wanting to cleanse the fanbase, wanting pure faith, that's understandable. But why not just use the [Kowtowing Bug] system? There's no purer faith energy in the world; it doesn't need to rely on fans at all!"

The endless prayers emanating from a cloned brain brainwashed with personality chips make it difficult to find a purer form of faith.

The goddess Mikkelsen was completely baffled. However, she had great confidence in Hayden's ability to cause trouble and was looking forward to seeing what other tricks he could come up with, so she wasn't worried.

She could learn any new tricks he came up with to benefit herself, so why wouldn't she do them?

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Hayden has been in charge of the operation of [Magical Girl Pazuzu] for two weeks now.

Today, he was also watching over the white-haired loli Panya as she ran hard on the nearly deserted university sports field.

Why do virtual YouTubers need to exercise? Even if they really wanted to enhance their bodies, wouldn't it be easier to just pay for it? With Angela, Karen, and Professor Albion's help, enhancing human bodies with alchemical potions would be quick.

But Hayden still made Panya get up early every day to exercise. This little girl, who used to stay cooped up in the network control room all day, was almost driven crazy by him.

By the way, exercising like this for only one or two weeks won't make your body stronger immediately.

"But they help you get into character."

Hayden, however, said this.

"You need to cleanse your mind and body completely, otherwise how can you truly become the [Magical Girl Pazuzu]?"

To be honest, Panya really suspected that Hayden was playing a trick on her, but she still obediently did as she was told. At least her obedience improved. Later, Hayden asked her to carefully consider the fans' replies and letters, and to actively interact with them and tell stories, and Panya learned her lesson.

When interacting with fans sincerely, one naturally projects their own genuine feelings. This is, after all, a tragic era. Sometimes, when Pania hears fans recounting their hardships, she can't help but feel sad and sympathetic. If the opportunity arises, Hayden will arrange for her to use her astral form to go there and lend a helping hand with the power of [Magical Girl Pazuzu].

That being said, Pania still sometimes has some doubts: Isn't doing this kind of thing increasingly different from the original character design of [Magical Girl Pazuzu]? The original character design of [Magical Girl Pazuzu] was so arrogant, domineering, and cool, like a proud wind that was about to soar into the sky, so it was obviously not like this now.

If Hayden had heard her say that, he would have laughed first, and then told her:

If you want to complete the ritual, a ritual of rebirth, you must first kill your "past self" and then redefine your "new life".

All of this process, all the rituals, must be told in the story.

168: What do you think God is?

This is not a major city like New Jersey.

A man finished a long day's work, the exhaustion of working from nine in the morning until ten at night, and strolled through the dirty lower-class streets.

He had just been scolded by his boss and forced to work overtime until 10 p.m. His boss's smile was clearly one of watching his blood and sweat be slowly drained. Yet he was powerless to do anything but stay in the office, where the lights were off to save on lighting costs, until late into the night.

Streetwalkers were selling their bodies to passersby, while large screens on high-rise buildings along the street were displaying the newly updated Astral Form of the Mitra Group's "Five-Colored Celestial Maidens" virtual idol group. Their movements and voices could be heard and seen from afar.

But the man did not linger there. Neither the prostitutes' bodies nor the idols singing and dancing on the big screen were what he truly needed, nor were they what could comfort him.

Only at home can he find salvation, waiting for him to return.

Even at night, the lower-level neighborhoods in July are exceptionally hot. The air is thick with oppressive heat. The dirty, narrow stairwells are filled with frustration and anxiety.

The man returned to his empty home and turned on a lonely, flickering light. Even though his home wasn't large, it felt desolate.

From the next room, the sounds of his neighbor and his mistress having sex could be heard intermittently. People of similar low social standing came and went in the hallway. From the other side, a chaotic cacophony of curses and fights emanated, interspersed with the occasional sobbing of a child.

But is that all there is to his life?

No, not entirely.

In the dimly lit corner, the only precious thing in the man's room was a helmet placed on the bed. It was a helmet specifically designed to connect consciousness to the StarNet.

If you don't want to just use your phone to look at things on the screen and browse the internet, if you want your consciousness to truly enter the StarNet, you have to buy such a special tool, because directly using your brain to cast spells to access the internet is illegal—but such laws have nothing to do with this man anyway. He's not a high-level licensed arcanist; he doesn't have that kind of technology, he can't read code, and he can't write programs. He can only access the internet through tools anyway.

So as soon as he got home, he quickly put everything else aside, placed his somewhat worn helmet on his head, and activated the built-in sympathetic arcane magic. The next instant, his thoughts were already in Paradise.

His heart had already flown into the live stream of [Magical Girl Pazuzu].

Thankfully, the magical girl's live stream isn't over yet. The adorable little girl with lion ears is sitting atop the tower in her virtual space, happily chatting with her viewers and fans while reading letters they've sent.

"'I love all the songs you sing! Your ambition to climb to the top is so cool! I get so excited watching your live streams! People with dreams are just as amazing as their dreams. Keep it up!' -- Hehehe, of course! Of course I'm awesome! Because I'm the most awesome devil!"

Reading the praise and compliments from her fans, [Magical Girl Pazuzu] was naturally very happy, practically wagging her tail in the air.

As everyone knows, these fan emails are pre-screened by the back-end operations staff. On one hand, with so many fans and so many emails, reading them all would leave the streamer with no time for anything else; on the other hand, the operations staff needs to remove emails whose content might cause problems during the live stream.

What if someone writes it to insult others? What if someone uses a lot of profanity? Even if there's no profanity, what if it's just direct sarcasm?

After this screening process, basically only the letters praising the anchors remain.

Even so, fans and viewers can still enjoy watching.

"Although the resurrection ritual failed last time, I will definitely succeed next time! I will stand on the stage of the gods and lift my throne high into the heavens!"

The magical girl stood with her hands on her hips, striking a haughty pose.

In fact, anyone who follows the virtual YouTuber community or has been following [Magical Girl Pazuzu] knows that after the failed resurrection ritual, Smoke Mirror seems to have abandoned [Magical Girl Pazuzu]. Now, Smoke Mirror is busy investing resources in their new magical girl idol group, and [Pazuzu] is practically been abandoned.

Despite this, she never showed any despair or resentment; her words and actions still exuded a strong sense of confidence and optimism. In any case, she remained a child with dreams.

The dream of climbing higher! Who hasn't had that dream?

So even though Smoke Mirror has given up on Magical Girl Pazuzu and her fanbase has dwindled, she still manages to maintain a fairly good number of fans.

"Okay, next letter!"

【Pazuzu】picked up the fan letters that had been screened by the staff in the StarNet space and began to read them with a smile.

"'At work today, I felt completely numb. My hands were still moving on the assembly line, when suddenly everything went black and I collapsed onto the line. One of my ears was ripped off by the machine.'...What!?"

Naturally, Pazuzu was momentarily stunned upon reading this. But being a professional broadcaster, she quickly recovered and continued reading:

"Because it affected the production line, I was scolded by the boss and had 100 yuan deducted from my pay. I couldn't go to the factory canteen for lunch, so I could only go downstairs to the convenience store and buy two rice balls to fill my stomach. Just then, my mother called. I didn't dare to say much, so I could only tell her that everything was fine."

"After clocking out at 9 PM, I got back to my rented apartment and saw you livestreaming yourself eating ramen. So I spent the same 100 yuan to write you a reader's letter, not knowing if you'll ever see it."

“However, the thought that even if you didn’t see it, this money would still end up in your stomach makes me think it’s for the best.”

“I’ll get paid tomorrow, but I don’t know if it will be enough to see a doctor. I’ll come back to watch your live stream after I go to the hospital tomorrow.”

The letter has been read.

As they read on, even Pazuzu's voice began to tremble. Now that they had finished reading, the room fell completely silent.

A silence.

Whether they were just watching for fun or were her true fans, everyone was curious about how Pazuzu would react next.

Is she about to break down? Or is she holding back, or will she just say a few words and move on to the next letter?

"...You guys are really something, actually writing me a letter like this."

After a long pause, [Magical Girl Pazuzu] finally put down the letter in her hand, took two deep sniffs, and...

"Seriously, does this mean I'll definitely have to manage this? --- A tool! Operations guy! Are you listening to me? Help me adjust my sympathetic connection!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a portal opened in the live stream space. [Pazuzu] flicked her black wings gracefully and flew inside.

Her budget has been significantly reduced, so she no longer manifests illnesses from sick fans and then attacks them like before. But then again, if the goal is simply to heal and save lives, such an energy-intensive approach isn't necessary; just letting [Pazuzu] breathe is enough.

If Angela heals wounds and illnesses by breathing out the life force of the soul to fill all gaps, then Pazuzu, the great demon of disease, heals patients by absorbing their wounds and illnesses—the principles are almost exactly the opposite. But there's no need to discuss that now.

At this moment, all the viewers and fans saw was how [Magical Girl Pazuzu] used her astral form to fly from the Star Web to the material world, to the fan who wrote the letter, and absorbed his injuries.

After receiving a letter from a fan, the idol personally went to treat his injuries. It was a truly heartwarming scene.

What are the feelings of fans and viewers after seeing this scene?

Many people will undoubtedly think this is all staged, a carefully crafted script orchestrated by investors and manipulated by event management. In fact, many viewers, perhaps even the majority, likely think this way. Most people would assume it's simply for the sake of the show.

Capital and the internet have combined desirable things to create virtual idols.

But this beauty is ultimately virtual. The girl under this costume is certainly not so innocent, nor so free, and cannot truly save every one of her admirers.

Even so,

Even so,

The man watching the live stream still had a smile on his face. It was a smile of joy, reverie, and reverence.

He's been following [Magical Girl Pazuzu] for over a month, but he's only really become a fan in the last ten days or so.

This livestream room has become his only space to relax in his life. After get off work, he takes off his clothes, puts on his helmet, connects to the StarNet, and curls up in a corner of the livestream room, where he can see the lively and cute magical girl greeting him warmly.

She sings beautifully, and you applaud silently; you're overwhelmed with work, and she tells you to eat well and take care of yourself; you confide your painful feelings, and she cries for you. She happily shares everyday trivia with you, and you find yourself smiling too.

Suddenly, you find yourself feeling a connection with this beautiful girl that you had longed for but could never have.

These are all fake, not real. Idols aren't real; they're just a fabricated, idealized concept. No matter how cute they are, they're still fake.

Even so,

Can't people find virtual salvation in virtual beauty?

Can't people find solace in profit-driven entertainment companies?

is allowed.

Because even if the tears of virtual idols might be fake, people have nothing else left.

If reality were going well, who would want to indulge in the comforts of the cyber world?

The man watching the live stream knew that being obsessed with virtual idols was childish. His reason told him that this adorable "Magical Girl Pazuzu" was just a character being portrayed. Her activities were definitely scripted, and the ultimate purpose of this project was commercial. Virtual idols were nothing more than a game for adults.

Does he really understand her? Do they know about her life after she goes offline, her family and friends, her hobbies? They don't know—and shouldn't know. Virtual idols are just fairy tales that adults can accept. The content of these fairy tales is meaningless; they only offer temporary forgetting and indulgence.

But when he looks at her, as long as he's willing to believe the persona she's portraying, it all feels real. He can separate himself from reality during the live stream, immersing himself in this virtual construct of reality. This reality is even more real than the real world.

In reality, this man was scolded by his boss yesterday, he has been scolded by his boss today, and he will continue to be scolded by his boss tomorrow.

In reality, he couldn't find his own value in life. He felt insignificant to the world. Endless anxieties plagued him daily, completely consuming his life and leaving him busy but aimless, his mind empty.

But at this moment, in the live stream of [Magical Girl Pazuzu], he was happy. Here, he didn't need to think about work, interpersonal relationships, the meaning of survival, the value of life, or his future.

He only needed to immerse himself in this fabricated beauty. In that moment, his life was complete!

Why would anyone like these virtual idols? It's just so stupid. It sounds like a "brain in a vat."

...But there are far too many people in this world suffering, despairing, and anxious. They slowly drown in the deep, lonely sea. Their unfortunate souls yearn for solace.

So in the end, all they wanted was to reach out and grasp that tiny bit of fluorescence.

It's late at night and it's time to sleep.

This man has to get up early tomorrow for his 996 work schedule, and he has his own painful life to face. But he believes that when the sun shines tomorrow, when he feels frustrated at work, when he feels that life is meaningless, he will find a way to persevere for one more day.

Good night, and see you tomorrow.

At least at this moment, this man is happy.

--------------------------

After the live stream ended, Panya opened the control pod and came out of the box.

She sniffed, feeling a little like crying.

"Why did you break down during the live stream?"

Hayden sat calmly a short distance away from her and asked. He didn't need a helmet or control pod to connect to the internet; he dared to connect directly to his brain. After all, no one had the ability to capture him or hack his brain.

"What, can't I break through your defenses?"

Pania said irritably,