Escape in the interstellar game world

For almost a whole night, Zhou's father could not fall asleep, or he would dream of the person he missed as soon as he closed his eyes.

So much so that he woke up very early and saw that there was no movement in the two rooms. He took out the note paper from the side cabinet in the living room, left messages for Zhou Tang and Cheng Mu respectively, left the fragrant and soft rice, and went out alone. .

At eight o'clock in the morning, the curtain in front of the window changes from a night sky full of stars to the rising sun, and simulated sunlight pours into the room.

Zhou Tang was blinded by the bright light. She shrank down and buried her head under the quilt. After a while, she slowly revealed her head and looked at the window sleepily.

Taking a closer look, you can see that there is plenty of light, but no temperature, and it is just a superficial thing.

Zhou Tang got out of bed, got dressed, opened the door and planned to go to the bathroom to wash up.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw Cheng Mu sitting on the chair in the living room seriously. When he saw her, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, obviously in a good mood, "Zhou Tang, you're awake!"

Zhou Tang looked around and Cheng Mu immediately replied, "He went out first!"

His eyes passed over Zhou Tang and looked at the door of her room, "He left a note for each of us."

Zhou Tang followed Cheng Mu's gaze and found a note on the door of the room. He stepped forward and tore off the note.

It read: Good girl Tangtang, my father has to work overtime today. He has already prepared food on the stove. Please warm it up when you get up.

He didn't mention that there was an Uncle Cheng in the family, and...

Zhou Tang casually put the note into his pocket, "Wait for me a moment! I'll wash up first."

Half an hour later, the two sat on chairs and enjoyed breakfast together.

After eating and drinking, Zhou Tang lazily suggested, "Let's have a chat here."

You are well concealed at home, and you don’t have to pay attention to the people around you all the time. The content of their conversations is extremely confidential.

"I think we got it right!"

Cheng Mu stretched out his hand to pinch his forehead and pressed his temples with his long fingers, "It..."

Zhou Tang changed his previous lazy posture, straightened his posture and asked, "You told me at the beginning that the Star Alliance Military Department discovered that the game "Ancient Blue Star" was attacked by an unknown virus, which resulted in a bug with extremely serious consequences.

The virus caused the consciousness of NPCs in some copies of the game to awaken, and these NPCs selected suitable bodies from the players who entered the copies to reveal their identities, and then replaced these players in real life.

Real players are now trapped or dead in the dungeon. "

Cheng Mu nodded seriously. This was what he said when he met Zhou Tang for the first time in real life and persuaded her to join the military.

"So do you think it is the NPC that generates self-awareness, or the consciousness brought by the virus that is put on the NPC?"

This question raised by Zhou Tang is very novel, and it can be considered as a new perspective on the problem.

In the military, those who came into contact with this task first considered that someone or some group in the Interstellar Alliance maliciously created such an evil virus and deliberately put it into the popular game "Ancient Blue Star" to inspire NPCs with the virus. Generate self-awareness.

Replace the consciousness of people in the alliance with NPC consciousness, thereby disrupting order and causing a great shock to the interstellar alliance...

"Tell me what's the difference between the two?"

Zhou Tang complained in his mind. It seemed that she and Cheng Mu had worked together for so many dungeons. The relationship between the two was harmonious and their cooperation became more and more familiar.

No matter how you look at them, they look like colleagues who have a friendly relationship and enjoy working together.

It's just that these are all false phenomena in the game. In real life, Cheng Mu is a boss who coerces and induces her to join the military and complete the mission.

Thinking of this, Zhou Tang's eyes were calm and his voice was cold, "The virus stimulates NPCs to develop self-awareness. Can it be equivalent to the robots in the alliance having thoughts? They learn to think, imitate humans, and want to integrate into humans?"

Cheng Mu followed this idea and thought about it. The origin of NPC in the game is a string of codes created by humans, which is not much different from the program set in the brain of a robot.

If there is any difference, it would be that the robot's programming is more refined, with dozens, hundreds, or thousands of pages of code, while the NPC only has one line and several pages more code...

Then such NPCs can generate their own thoughts, and robots with consciousness will be smarter and better.

In the Interstellar Alliance, everyone has been trying to avoid robots having the ability to think! Self-awareness is not allowed.

Can this virus do this?

Even if the virus does have such an effect, what is the ultimate goal of the person who created and owned the virus?

but…

Cheng Mu then thought about it, if there really was such a super lethal virus, then its owner wouldn't have to use a game and use such a roundabout way to show it!

Until he entered the game copy again, they found less than ten actual cases like this in the alliance.

This is too inefficient...

Simply put the virus directly on all the robots in the Interstellar Alliance. These robots can completely destroy the vitality of the Interstellar Alliance.

and so…

Is it the second type?

"Tell me about the second possibility."

"The second one is even simpler. There is consciousness in the virus. They just stay on the NPC's body temporarily. It seems that the NPC has developed self-awareness! Its essence is the same as when we players enter the game!"

Cheng Mu equates players with these NPCs who have become self-aware due to the interference of the virus.

"They... don't have bodies!"

Zhou Tang took a deep breath. She finally chose to tell her secrets, but where was she going to go...

"Do you still remember the concept of 'immortality' I mentioned to you in the last copy?"

Seeing Cheng Mu nod, Zhou Tang turned his gaze to the room. The window curtains in the room were now sunny, and there were green trees outside the window.

This kind of scenery makes people feel comfortable and relaxed.

Zhou Tang's gaze didn't seem to be looking at the blue sky, white clouds and green trees anymore, he was just thinking about something through this picture.

She said quietly, "The topic of immortality is the ultimate pursuit of many human beings in all eras!

When you and I were children, we only thought about eating, drinking and playing, and we also thought about growing up quickly and becoming adults.

When we grow up and have strong bodies, we will choose to explore the mysteries of the universe and remain firm in our original aspirations.

In short, during this period, we have the power to do whatever we want.

But when we enter old age, the body ages, the appearance fades, or even you feel that the body's strength is not as good as the day, you will have new desires in your heart.

Especially the rich and aristocratic people who have reached the top of the league. They long to live a few more years and have everything forever. " Cheng Mu, who was in his prime, didn't quite understand these people's physical and mental demands for "immortality", but he clearly understood that what Zhou Tang said was correct.

But he still put forward his own opinion, "In the Interstellar Alliance Medical Alliance, we have been studying the topic of immortality you proposed. But unfortunately, the Medical Alliance has done its best to develop our human genes to the extreme. We are also studying many ways to extend human lifespan to between 150 and 200 years."

"But this is not real immortality." Zhou Tang's eyes still fell on the blue sky, white clouds and green trees. Cheng Mu only saw nothingness in her eyes, and a freedom that could never be grasped or possessed.

For some reason, he particularly disliked feeling emotions from Zhou Tang's body and eyes.

"What do you mean by immortality?"

Zhou Tang sighed softly, "I remember that there was a project on the ancient Blue Star called the Blue Brain Project. It is to combine the consciousness and thinking methods generated by the human brain, as well as the person's experiences from childhood to adulthood, And all relevant information is copied to the computer."

"That is to say, this person died in real life, but he did not really die. He is still alive in the world created by the computer, that is, the virtual world."

"This is also a kind of 'alternative' immortality." Zhou Tang finally withdrew his gaze and stared at Cheng Mu closely.

Cheng Mu sneered, "This is indeed an alternative form of immortality."

Zhou Tang shook his head, "I have only seen such a plan in ancient history, even the start and end time of the plan, how many people participated in the plan, and whether the plan changed from quantitative to qualitative changes over time... You and I don’t know anything about this.”

Uninformed means we don’t know the depth.

Cheng Mu remained silent.

"Our topic has gone a bit far." Zhou Tang then added, "This topic of immortality can only mean that it is the beginning of the whole thing."

"The owner of the virus may be involved."

"Also, the last two or three dungeons we have experienced do not have a specific boss. It... seems to be showing us this through these three dungeons."

"Whether it is good or bad, we actually don't know! Even what does it want to do? Who is it? We don't know."

……

It was almost noon before Zhou Tang saw Uncle Cheng off.

Neighbor Granny Wu's eyes widened when she saw No. 187 Zhou Tang and a young man coming and going in public.

"You! You...you little girl! You want to do bad things."

Zhou Tang didn't care about Granny Wu's slander against her, and sent Cheng Mu out for a long time without looking back.

Cheng Mu walked carelessly, repeating Zhou Tang's words in his mind, "We are the people closest to the answer. I guess one is about my mother, and the other is about your work, both will be given." We bring revelation'.

At noon, Cheng Mu returned to Maintenance Department 3 and met Zhou's father who was back for dinner.

"Brother Zhou, I haven't slept so peacefully for a long time, and I fell asleep all of a sudden." There was a vague blush on Cheng Mu's face.

Zhou's father didn't care, but turned his head. Seeing that there was no third person around them, he complained to him, "The environment in this dormitory is too bad, and there are so many people coming and going! You, you have to be tight these two years." Please save more money and buy a studio outside at a low price like me! Move out of the dormitory as soon as possible!

Don't be reluctant to pay no rent in the dormitory, etc. Only when this person is comfortable can he devote all his energy to work. Hey, how could they not think of this? ! "

Father Zhou's words became lower and lower, and Cheng Mu didn't reply. He just waited for him to finish speaking before saying, "Brother Zhou, I have something to tell you. When I came out of your house, Tangtang gave me a ride." , happened to be seen by your mother-in-law next door!"

Father Zhou waved his hand indifferently, "Grandma Wu! I know, I will tell her clearly when I get back! His grandma is always at home, and she likes these family affairs and gossip."

He slapped his forehead and realized that he seemed to have done something wrong at this time. He should not have left Zhou Tang and Cheng Mu at home trying to avoid the children's questions.

He looked at Cheng Mu again. Cheng Mu was actually five years older than Tangtang...

After Cheng Mu greeted Father Zhou, he returned to his office.

As soon as I sat down, before the seat was even warm, I was urgently called away by the director of the office to handle matters.

After Zhou Tang watched Cheng Mu leave the Pingdilou street, he wandered around thinking about the weekend.

Shanhe Cave is divided into flat buildings, Zhongdi Streets, and high-rise buildings.

Among them, the mezzanine building is the best and most expensive because it has only one floor, while the other two are overlapping with many households.

After leaving Shanhe Cave, Zhou Tang followed yesterday's memory and continued walking towards the street where people were coming out of school.

I don’t know if it’s because of the weekend, but there are obviously many more people on the street than yesterday.

If she didn't know clearly that this place was actually underground, she would only think that she was walking in a bustling commercial street of some big city.

She is aimless and stops and goes.

Suddenly someone tapped her shoulder, "Hey! Zhou Tang! I didn't expect to meet you on Jin Street!"

Zhou Tang turned around and saw her deskmate.

"Hey, why were you running so fast after school yesterday? Don't we get out of school together every day? You live in a flat building and I live in a high-rise building! They are both in Shanhe Cave."

"Hey, did you get what I said to you yesterday? You were too embarrassed to run away? Just study secretly! I don't mind if you hide behind your back and start a little fuss!"

My deskmate smiled broadly, and his eyes were full of smiles. He seemed to be the same on the outside, and he said everything he was thinking.

Zhou Tang had an idea and deliberately explained, "No! My eighteenth birthday is coming soon, and I want to go home quickly to find my dad."

Sure enough, as Zhou Tang expected, the original person and Zhou Tang did talk about everything, and he knew most of Zhou Tang's things.

"Oh! It's your birthday! Your eighteenth birthday is coming soon! It's the 29th, right? Tomorrow...the day after tomorrow! Hey, my birthday has already passed this year. I have to wait until next year, in March!"

Zhou Tang glanced at his deskmate, turned around and left.

The deskmate hurriedly said, "Hey!" twice, "You guy! I know! What you want to say, isn't it the agreement between you and your father?"

"But I think your dad will still think of ways to delay it!"

Zhou Tang slowed down his steps, feeling unhappy all over his body.

"My guess is correct, isn't it? Your father must have rejected you yesterday! Let me tell you! Why do you care so much about your mother? She hasn't appeared in more than ten years..."

Zhou Tang suddenly turned around and glared at his deskmate, then hurried forward.

The deskmate fell silent for a moment, then reacted and grabbed Zhou Tang's arm, "I was talking nonsense! Can I slap you?"

"But I advise you sincerely. Your father tried his best to hide it, so there is a high probability that it will not be a good thing."

"As my grandma said, bad things should be let go with the wind."