Rubbings of Consciousness

2096, Xinhe City District. 38% Of people have Neulink chips implanted in the back of their necks, and the city is divided into two levels: the upper level is an augmented reality city for chip users, and the lower level is the "Carbon Net District", a settlement area for those who refuse implants. The chip automatically backs up a snapshot of consciousness every 24 hours, which officials call "consciousness rubbings." Chen Zhiyuan, chief scientist of Crystal Core Company, died. Officially, it was a cardiac arrest. But the backup of his consciousness was automatically uploaded after his death, leaving behind a sentence: "Xie Ling, the ghost is still alive." Xie Ling, 29 years old, is a person with a physical body. He lives in the Carbon Network District and specializes in digging out stolen memories from tampered backups. Seven years ago, his partner Shen Yiming disappeared during a consciousness uploading experiment. Officials said it was an accident. He never believed it. An anonymous message dragged Xie Ling into Dr. Chen's death. He sneaked into the Jingnuo data center and found that the backup had been modified. He proved the tampering in the dream court, but exposed himself. The survivors in the Carbon Network area told him: Among the 89 subjects of Project Zero, at least one person's consciousness was successfully uploaded and secretly sealed. The preservation number is Ghost_0, which is Xie Ling's own hacker screen name. Volume 1: Is the backup left behind by the deceased lying or asking for help? Volume 2: Who is using genetic databases to prepare criminals? Volume 3: Is a consciousness that has lived out of the body for seven years still considered a human being? This is a story about memory and identity. A lonely hacker, after confirming that he may not be "himself", chooses not to disappear.