The live broadcast room fell into contemplation.
[The truth of the destruction of the Dark Steel City turned out to be like this.]
[Unexpected, yet reasonable. Seemingly absurd, but also logical.]
[When you want to make the world better, you create more advanced technology. But when technology reaches its peak, it ends up destroying the world. How should this be evaluated?]
[In the past, when technology was not advanced, I always fantasized about the future of advanced technology. I imagined the day when artificial intelligence would free our hands. But as we’re surrounded by increasingly advanced AI technology, I feel an inexplicable fear. There’s a feeling of being surrounded and regulated by AI, I guess I’m just afraid of the unknown.]
[Everything has its pros and cons. When AI makes our lives more convenient and fast, it also raises some doubts.]
[Anyway, I’ve never liked too much high technology and informatization. I read a piece of news before. At that time, a news media released a news flash, but it was later confirmed to be a fake news written by AI. People are used to thinking that things created by machine code won’t go wrong, but sometimes this kind of thinking interferes with human judgment. AI can make mistakes too, and AI’s mistakes are even harder to detect. A news report needs to go through layers of editing, proofreading, and review. The review process is a process of questioning. Due to the inertia of human thinking towards AI, the review is not rigorous enough, leading to flaws in the news. Is there anything scarier than news that should have been rigorous but is wrong? Yes, we receive wrong information transmitted to us by AI.]
[I also don’t like technologization. Technologization makes lives faster-paced, but we lose the time to sit down and think and rest. Before, I would read books, play basketball, and travel in my spare time, but now, I am surrounded by fragments of information and my energy is being occupied by various short videos. By the time I realize it, what was supposed to be just five minutes of entertainment turns into three or four hours.]
[Your focus is on technologization, but my focus is on the historical process. Without people knowing it, they have become the hand of history. An unexpected choice may lead the future onto a completely different path. Sometimes, people in the present think that a certain technology benefits all humanity, but looking back from the future, this technology, which was supposed to benefit humanity, turns out to be a disaster of unprecedented proportions.]
[If Dr. Serkhi hadn’t made a mistake in the experiment, he wouldn’t have created the Alpha substance, and artificial intelligence wouldn’t have awakened in large numbers. He wouldn’t have been encouraged to delve deeper into research by any means necessary, and ultimately create the artificial intelligence Adam that would destroy the world. From the outcome, the Alpha substance created by Dr. Serkhi was wrong. But at that time, it was seen as a groundbreaking discovery across worlds.]
[So, until the final outcome, you never know whether something is good or bad.]
[I’ve heard an interesting metaphor. The development of humanity is like lighting up a large tree with many branches. At the beginning of human development, if all the focus was on technology, our reality might have become like the scene in this copy. If the focus was on humanities and arts, our world would be surrounded by art appreciation.]
[Looking into the future from now, there are endless possibilities. But looking back from the future to the past, there is only one path, the path of history.]
[Brothers, after hearing all that you’ve said, I feel like the barrage has been sublimated. So, are you no longer interested in watching God Xin and the big boss kissing and showing affection?]
[? ? ? I want, I want! Show it to me, I want to see it! ]
——————————
[Ding! Congratulations, player, for completing the task “Destroyed Dark Steel City.” Congratulations on unlocking the next main task, [Stop Dr. Serkhi’s Adam Plan]. Please return to the real world as soon as possible to stop Dr. Serkhi from creating the artificial intelligence Adam.]
The system’s prompt rang out.
Bai Lixin opened the task bar.
[Task One: Survive for 60 days and nights.(Currently survived: 17 out of 60 days)]
[Task Two: Find the “Mysterious Object” and destroy the conspiracy of the rebel army.]
[Completion of either “Task One” or “Task Two” will clear the copy.]
[Main plot task: [Stop Adam’s Plan], please return to the real world, find Dr. Serkhi, and stop him from completing the Adam plan.]
From beginning to end, no matter how Bai Lixin speculated, the system never gave a hint that the world he was in was a virtual one.
But in this task, the system explicitly mentioned the words “real world” for the first time, indirectly acknowledging that the world he was in was virtual.
The task was completed, now all he had to do was wait for the acid rain outside to stop, and then pass through the firewall.
There were still a few hours left before the acid rain stopped. Bai Lixin had nothing to do, so he planned to take a stroll around.
The others had obviously not yet recovered from the shock of learning the truth about the destruction of the planet. They were all listless and lacking energy.
They were slumped against the wall, without any desire to explore.
Seeing this, Bai Lixin didn’t take them along. He and Dijia walked inside, one in front and one behind.
The huge explosion had also affected this area. Although the tunnel was still passable, there were many collapses along the way.
Although Dijia had gained control of this place, the lighting system couldn’t be fully activated due to severe damage to some areas.
They could only rely on the lighting devices in their hands for simple illumination.
Test equipment was scattered on the ground, and many robots lay scattered on the ground in all directions.
Bai Lixin stepped over one robot, but just as his foot crossed, he suddenly stopped and turned back.
Seeing this, Dijia also stopped and followed Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin slowly squatted down and turned the robot over. He felt around on the robot’s body with his hands, and finally came to the robot’s head.
Holding a tool picked up from the side, Bai Lixin tapped the robot’s head a few times, then opened the robot’s head cover. The moment the cover opened, a fleshy, sticky substance slipped out from inside.
It was a shattered brain.
Bai Lixin frowned, stood up, and repeated the action on another robot nearby.
After opening the robot’s head cover, another shattered brain slipped out.
Following the same procedure, he opened the covers of all the damaged robots in the laboratory.
Most of them contained human brains, while a small portion contained mechanical parts.
It wasn’t until he finished watching the last robot that Bai Lixin stood up from the ground thoughtfully and looked at Dijia in confusion: “Why would human brains be installed in the robots here?”
Dijia said solemnly, “In the consciousness of these human brains, they are not robots.”
“They are experimental subjects in Serkhi’s lab, helping Serkhi with various experimental research.”
“In order to achieve higher efficiency and confidentiality, Dr. Serkhi transplanted the brains of experimenters into robot bodies so that they no longer need to rest and can conduct endless experiments.”
Bai Lixin looked at the long-destroyed robots and brains on the ground with a gloomy expression: “Didn’t they realize that they have become robots?”
“They have no awareness.” As he spoke, Dijia bent down and inserted his fingers into the brain, picking out a thin, small round metal chip. “This chip has a rewriting program that can change their visual, sensory, and cognitive perceptions, making them think they are still in their own bodies.”
Bai Lixin: “…”
Dr. Serkhi seems to be more than just a mad scientist.
After passing through this room, they continued to move forward.
The path ahead became increasingly difficult, with more and more debris scattered on the ground.
Until they reached the end, there were scattered broken wires everywhere.
After walking through the long corridor, they arrived at some ruins where the wires crisscrossed. In the center of the ruins, broken glass littered the ground. The ground was full of glass mixed with countless fragments of black decay, and the air was filled with a rotten smell.
Bai Lixin approached and found that the black decay had faint visible grooves of varying depths.
The black decaying debris should be the brains soaked in nutrient solution.
Adam destroyed the planet, and in the same brutal manner, destroyed himself and these brains.
“The rain above has stopped,” Dijia reminded, “we should leave.”
Bai Lixin nodded, and scanned the room, “Did you see Dr. Serkhi’s remains?”
Dijia searched along with him, “I didn’t see it. Under such an intense explosion, the mechanical bodies were destroyed like that, let alone flesh. It should have been blown to pieces.”
Bai Lixin: “Oh. Okay, let’s go then.”
By the time they returned to the aircrafts, the injuries of the two teammates had been relieved, and the remaining follow-up treatment had to be conducted back on the spaceship.
Dijia handed over control of the aircrafts to the team members, gave them some instructions, and then flew with Bai Lixin towards the position of the firewall.
As for the robot they picked up, it was taken back to the spaceship by the team members as a relic and memorial of the Dark Steel City.
Bai Lixin and Dijia quickly found the firewall.
Bai Lixin: “If you pass through here, what will happen to the spaceship?”
Dijia: “It will become a normal spaceship, and humans can operate it normally. I’ve left them a survival route. If they follow that route, they will find a beautiful blue planet. The civilization level of that planet is very low, and there are currently no highly intelligent life forms. They will thrive and establish their own future on that planet.”
A roar sounded, and Bai Lixin looked up into the sky. In the thick fog, a huge object rose slowly.
The lights on the spaceship flickered, faintly visible in the thick fog.
Red, purple, blue, and green were constantly alternating. In this dense fog, they were like stars of hope, rising slowly.
Suddenly, Bai Lixin was stunned, and a familiar melody came to his mind.
—“Red, purple, blue, green, colorful, shimmering.”
It was the lyrics from the song “Star” in Pris Xingchen’s “Star” in the Sky Trilogy.
Bai Lixin’s eyes deepened: “…”
Pris Xingchen…
Could it be that his song describes the scene before him now?
If that’s the case, the last song in the Sky Trilogy, “Sky,” must also have a corresponding scene.
Bai Lixin felt his shoulder being tapped. He turned his head and saw Dijia looking at him seriously: “What are you thinking?”
Bai Lixin “I remembered a song.”
“What song?”
Bai Lixin: “I’ll sing it to you.”
After saying that, the young man opened his mouth and hummed the song “Star” by Pris Xingchen.
After finishing the song, Bai Lixin noticed that Dijia’s eyes were somewhat solemn.
Bai Lixin: “What’s wrong, didn’t it sound good?”
Dijia shook his head, “No, it sounded great. Let’s go.”
Bai Lixin placed his hand on the firewall: “Okay.”
As the familiar pulling force came over, and just as Bai Lixin’s consciousness was being crushed, he vaguely heard Dijia’s voice echoing in his ears: “This is the second time I’ve heard this song.”
Bai Lixin opened his mouth, wanting to ask Dijia where he had heard it for the first time and who sang it, but before he could speak, the squeezing sensation from space kept assaulting his consciousness. Before he could speak, darkness surrounded him.
—————————-
In the darkness, Bai Lixin felt a violent jolt.
At first, there was some chaos and noise around, then the voices quieted down.
In a daze, he felt someone shaking his body.
“Wake up.”
“Wake up quickly, God Xin…”
Bai Lixin used all his strength and struggled to open his eyes.
When his eyes first opened, he could only see blurry patches of color. It seemed that there were several people surrounding him, and heads kept swaying in front of his eyes, but he couldn’t see clearly who they were.
It wasn’t until he adapted for a while that he finally saw the scene in front of him clearly, and finally saw who the people in front of him were.
“Li Cancan.” Bai Lixin called out. His gaze moved away from Li Cancan’s face to the next person’s face, “Sun Ning, Xia Chi, and Liang Xi, Zhou Guang…”
“Brother!” Xia Chi saw Bai Lixin wake up, rushed over and hugged Bai Lixin, his eyes red and on the verge of crying, “You finally woke up, you scared us to death!”
Bai Lixin looked at the excited and concerned eyes of the several people, and couldn’t help but ask, “What’s going on?”
Xia Chi: “You were captured and locked up. Sun Ning found out where you were, and we had a hard time getting your body out of there.”
There was a round of bumps. Bai Lixin looked around. His surroundings were sealed, but from these bumps, he could sense that they were now in motion.
Bai Lixin rubbed his still slightly sore head and sat up. The first thing he did was to randomly take out a prop card from his backpack.
This time the metal prop card landed steadily in his palm, and did not disappear again.
Bai Lixin: “Is this the real world?”
Everyone looked at each other, and Zhou Guang nodded: “Yes, this is the real world.”
Li Cancan brought a cup of hot water to Bai Lixin, who took a sip and asked, “Can someone tell me what’s going on now?”
Zhou Guang pushed up his glasses: “Let me tell you.”
He pointed to himself and the others: “The hidden identities of several of us are rebels.”
“Different from you and Sun Ning, we’ve been in the real world since we came in.”
Bai Lixin looked at Sun Ning: “How did you get out?”
Sun Ning: “Someone took me out.”
Bai Lixin frowned, “Who was it?”
Sun Ning: “I don’t know him, but he’s very handsome. He shouldn’t be a player. I’ve been in the game lobby for so long, if there was such a handsome person, I would have noticed him long ago.”
Bai Lixin thought of something and asked, “Does he have blond hair?”
“Huh.” Sun Ning looked at Bai Lixin, “You’ve seen him too?”
Bai Lixin quickly took out a piece of white paper and a pencil from his backpack and quickly sketched. Soon, a lifelike face appeared on the paper. Bai Lixin lifted the sketch towards Sun Ning, “Is this the person?”
Sun Ning’s eyes widened slightly, “That’s right, it’s him.”
Bai Lixin: “His name is Pris Xingchen.”
Sun Ning: “Do you really know him? Who is he?”
Bai Lixin: “I met him twice in the virtual world. He’s a singer.”
He briefly recounted his encounter with Pris Xingchen.
Sun Ning was somewhat surprised, “I met him shortly after entering the copy. He accurately called out my name and said he could take me out. I followed him with some skepticism, and indeed, I returned to the real world. I didn’t even realize it was a virtual world at the time, and was still thinking of finding you, but I ended up returning to the real world.”
“But he met you twice and didn’t actively bring you out. Is he really helping us?”
Bai Lixin shook his head, “I don’t know.”
Xia Chi hugged Bai Lixin tightly, “Who is my brother? My brother is God Xin. Even without that Pris Xingchen’s help, didn’t my brother come out on his own?”
“That’s true.” Sun Ning nodded, “But God Xin, why did it take you so long to come out?”
Bai Lixin: “I entered the second level of the virtual world.”
The air suddenly fell silent.
Everyone: “…”
Oh, 666!
Bai Lixin: “Sorry for interrupting your train of thoughts earlier, Zhou Guang. You just said your hidden identities are all rebels, and then?”
Zhou Guang: “We gradually contacted everyone through clues and finally gathered together.”
“Sun Ning said she met you in the virtual world, but we couldn’t find you in the real world, so we suspected you were still trapped in the virtual world. Then we decided to bring your body back first.”
“Death in the virtual world means death in reality. Many people have died in the past ten days, half of them in the real world, and the other half in the virtual world. So the longer you stay in the virtual world, the more dangerous it is. We searched the Dark Steel City for possible places bodies could be stored and finally locked onto the hive area where you were.”
“Just now, we all acted together and took your body back. Now we’re on an aircraft, and the Order Legion is still chasing us. When we shake them off, we’ll take you back to our base.”
Bai Lixin remembered someone, “By the way, did you see Li Cangshan?”
Li Cancan: “Li Cangshan also entered this copy? We didn’t run into him.”
Bai Lixin: “I met him in the second virtual world.”
Li Cancan: “Did you both come out at the same time? Then is he still in the hive?”
Bai Lixin shook his head, “No, he came out about ten hours before me.”
Zhou Guang: “Since he returned to the real world, we’ll meet up eventually.”
While speaking, Bai Lixin felt the entire space tilt, followed by several explosions outside, then the space returned to normal, and the speed slowed down.
A few seconds later, the tightly closed metal door suddenly opened, and a loud voice rang out, “Bai Lixin, you’re awake!”
Bai Lixin looked up at the familiar person with a smile, “Hongyue, were you the one flying the aircraft just now?”
“Yeah.” Hongyue leaned against the door frame, grinning, “I’ve already shaken off the Order Legion. How were my flying skills? Pretty cool, right?”
An overly fair hand reached out from behind the door and grabbed Hongyue’s wrist, and Song Yuantian’s pale face peeked in, “Sister Hongyue, even if you shook off the Order Legion, the aircraft still needs to be piloted. Why did you run off halfway? Who are you in such a hurry to see?”
Hongyue chuckled dryly, “Who else would I see but Bai Lixin. I have to check if he’s okay.”
“Bai Lixin has his guild members taking care of him. Why are you worrying?” Song Yuantian pulled Hongyue back slightly, “You’d better care more about me. I just got injured.”
Hongyue was surprised and quickly inspected Song Yuantian’s hand up and down, “Where are you injured? Let me see.”
A gleam of light flashed in Song Yuantian’s eyes, and his voice weakened, “Come with me to the cockpit, and I’ll tell you where I’m injured. It’s not convenient here.”
With her mind focused only on whether Song Yuantian was injured, Hongyue didn’t notice the other person’s eyes. She waved to Bai Lixin and followed Song Yuantian back to the cockpit obediently.
Two seconds after the cabin door closed, Hongyue’s voice came from inside, “What did you say?! You lost two hairs?! Is that even considered an injury?! You little liar!”
Everyone: “…”
