Chapter 1057 “Behind the Scenes”
Chapter 1057 “Behind the Scenes”
β Universe, 2025, winter, a scenic holiday island in Nanyang.
Since the news that “Wasteland OL” is about to be launched for public testing, this mysterious fully immersive virtual reality game has immediately caused a huge sensation around the world, so that this originally bustling holiday resort has become much more deserted.
The bar by the beach, the empty bar counter is particularly deserted, with only a bartender who mechanically repeats the action of wiping cups, and a customer who only ordered a cup of coffee.
The atmosphere here is harmonious, leisurely, and full of weirdness.
There are no other customers in the store at all, and I don’t know where so many endless cups come from.
And that customer is even more weird. His eyebrows in his early thirties reveal a calmness that has seen two hundred years of wind and rain, but his mouth seems to be restless and he pops out a few words from time to time, as if he is chatting with a non-existent guest.
”As expected of ‘another me’.”
After receiving the prompt of mission completion, the man sitting at the bar smiled faintly, as if he had put down a heavy burden, and even his straight shoulders relaxed a lot.
Memory is the cornerstone of consciousness.
If you merge memories that do not belong to you, you will gradually become no longer yourself.
His relatives, friends, and all the familiar people in this world… all still remember his name.
But to him, they are like old photos that have been put away for two hundred years. When he sees them again, they are no longer the same as in his memory.
This is actually unfair to them.
As his dear assistant said, what constitutes his “conscious existence” is not only his own memory, but also the memory of other people.
For those people, they have lost a self that was once very familiar to them before they became “professor”.
However, even if it is unfair, he does not have many choices. There is no best of both worlds in this world. At this time, even if he deletes the memories from another world, he cannot go back to the summer of 2014 and start over.
The world line has changed.
The past self has died in a dream, and replaced by another self from a parallel world.
Fortunately, “α” did not follow the same path as him, but chose to continue along his own path.
This is the best ending.
He had guessed what that person would choose a long time ago.
”But if this happens… Master, won’t you be able to go back?” A worried voice came from his ear, like a wind chime swinging at the door.
It was the voice of his assistant.
After coming to this world, he created it as soon as possible… just like he had done it once in the original timeline.
The clear voice made him a little absent-minded for a while, but the blank look soon turned into a smile.
He smiled, took a sip of the cold coffee on the table, and said in a lazy voice.
”Go back? Where else should I go?”
The voice that floated into his ear asked in a low voice.
”Didn’t you say you came from another world?”
”Did I say that? Wasn’t I from this world from the beginning? I just happened to have a dream about a parallel world.”
But this dream was really long, almost three times as long as an ordinary life.
The intelligent program running elsewhere was at a loss for a moment, and spoke after a moment of waiting.
”Well… it seems that I can understand it that way.”
”Is that right?”
The professor smiled, put down the coffee cup in his hand, and continued.
”If you get on the pirate ship of the observer and then get off, the final result will be to mess up the world. It is better not to get on the ship from the beginning. I believe that the wisdom of the people in this world will definitely create a better future than the prosperous era… After all, the action of force is mutual. While the consciousness of the β universe exerts influence on the consciousness of the α universe, the consciousness of the β universe will also be affected by the latter in turn.”
Just as he was talking, the LCD TV not far from the bar played the news. The
”Pangu” fusion reactor located in Daya Bay is undergoing its first ignition experiment, and the leader and initiator of the project is a professor named Yanfeng.
This guy really put a lot of thought into it.
In fact, he spent more time on that reactor than on the “game”, and he almost went crazy.
But it can be said that hard work pays off, and he finally walked out of his own “well”.
It is reasonable that he can finally achieve success.
”Tsk, this was originally ‘my’ achievement…”
Looking at the emotional reporter on the screen and the fusion power station behind her that attracted countless attention from all over the world, the professor couldn’t help but curl up a faint smile.
Forget it.
That’s all in another world.
The bartender standing in front of the bar put down the cup in his hand, looked at the professor with a nostalgic expression on his face, and said respectfully.
”What are your plans next?”
The bartender was one of the first generation residents of Shelter 404, or a member of Shelter 404-β, responsible for confidentiality and security.
In fact, it’s not just this bartender.
Most of the residents and android operators of Shelter 404-β are “digital nomads” living in seclusion on this holiday island with a population of tens of thousands.
As for the main body of Shelter 404-β, it is located in the high seas not far from the island – a trough about three kilometers deep near the Pacific Ring of Fire.
With the existing technology in this world, there is no possibility of discovering the shelter even after another fifty years. For the residents of Shelter 404-β, they only need to use deep-sea submarines to go back and forth. It is even more convenient to go back than to take an international flight for business trips.
”Well… I haven’t thought about it yet. In fact, I just started to think about this issue.”
After thinking for a long time, the professor, who was originally undecided, suddenly had an idea and said with a smile.
”Maybe… go to the place where I would have gone originally?”
The subordinate standing behind the bar was slightly stunned.
Not only the subordinate, but also his ubiquitous AI assistant expressed confusion and asked in confusion.
”Where… would I have gone originally?”
The professor said with a faint smile.
”That’s right, anyway, let’s go to Mars first. I have to get the ‘Venerable’ left there first. Well, that thing that can let me stay with you for a little longer… This time I plan to drink it myself.”
The legendary water of eternal life.
Drink it and you will have an infinite lifespan.
This world does not need a “perfect life form”.
Besides, he has already done that project once and has no interest in doing it again.
But then again, what should he do after having an infinite lifespan?
It seems boring to stay in the solar system all the time.
Except for the AI assistant who has always been by his side and the three thousand researchers, he has no real acquaintances in this “β universe”. Even if he gets to know them again, they will probably feel puzzled by his appearance.
”… Decided.”
After thinking for a long time, he suddenly raised his head and said with a free and easy smile.
”I once heard an old friend say that there are other civilizations hidden in this galaxy, and we will meet in the next few thousand years. While they haven’t discovered the hyperdrive yet, I plan to go to them to see, travel around the galaxy, and by the way, look for the heart of the galaxy.”
The heart of the galaxy.
That treasure made of eleven-dimensional matter, the embodiment of the rules of the universe…
It is said that it is one of the ways to become a boundary breaker.
In the original timeline, the Observer had mentioned that thing to him and hinted that he could pursue it.
Of course, these were secondary.
He didn’t care whether the universe would be heat dead billions of years later, nor was he interested in becoming the “Heaven-Repairing Stone”. He was simply curious about the legendary existence.
As he spoke, he looked at the bartender standing behind the bar, smiled and continued.
”As for you… it’s up to you. Our mission has ended.”
”According to the end of Plan 404, our respected manager and game planner will take over Facility 404-β and be responsible for the aftermath of the plan.”
”Whether you want to go home or continue to live and die in the past timeline, it is your freedom… Don’t ask me about this kind of thing, think about it yourself.” The
manned spacecraft equipped with anti-gravity devices and hyperspace engines had been prepared two years ago and deployed on the seabed in the central Pacific Ocean, ready to be ignited and launched at any time.
Although he built that thing not to travel around the Milky Way at first, but just to cooperate with “α” to make the drama of the advanced civilization more realistic, it seems that it is no longer useful now.
The countries that benefited from the third kind of contact have completely leaned towards the hypothesis of “friendly contact” and even cut the budget of the alien investigation agency.
Since the “little guy” that is only a few hundred meters long is no longer useful, he might as well use it.
Anyway, with the technical reserves of the alliance of the α universe, if they really want to expand their interference in the player’s world, they can use the resources of this world to build a bigger and better one.
In many fields, they are actually ahead of this old antique.
Looking at the respected professor, the bartender’s eyes were reluctant.
He heard the farewell in the tone and wanted to say something to keep him, but in the end he didn’t say it, just nodded solemnly.
”I will seriously consider it…”
Although going back is also a good idea, he already has his own lover and children in this world.
It’s not just him.
Many people, like him, have re-established their families in this distant timeline and become part of this world.
Now that the mission is completed and the α world is back on track, it’s time for them to enjoy their lives.
He actually envied them a little.
Unlike himself who had experienced more than 200 years of life, they had only 40 to 50 years of experience at most, and the young ones might only be in their 20s or 30s, and still had the energy to think about their own affairs.
But he was different.
Even if he was young again, he didn’t have the patience to do the things he had done before, say the words he had said before, and then send those acquaintances he had finally met again from his memory.
That would be torture.
”Well, don’t worry, think about it slowly.” The professor smiled and drank the last sip of coffee in the cup.
The game didn’t end here, it was just the mission of “Shelter 404-β”.
There are still many days to come…
…
The sun gradually set.
When the beach was the busiest, the bar that should have been open for business closed at this time.
For a whole day, the Internet was hotly discussing the ignition of controlled nuclear fusion, and the news even overshadowed the “Wasteland OL” that was “all over the world”.
This enthusiasm even spread to the reality outside the network. The professor walking along the road beside the beach heard the exciting ignition from tourists more than once.
This is actually understandable.
Although the NPCs in “Wasteland OL” have already used this technology to perfection, and even made a lot of derivative products by analogy, for the humans in the β universe, this is the first time they have held the energy comparable to that of a star in their hands. They
have mastered the first key to the era of prosperity.
It won’t be long before they can completely liberate computing power on the basis of liberating energy.
In the near future, the earth of the β universe will soon give birth to the second truly artificial intelligence life.
At first, they will be at a loss like parents who get a little life for the first time, but it won’t be long before they will accept its existence and liberate themselves again on the basis of liberating energy and computing power.
They may follow the old path of the α universe and build a huge space elevator on the equator.
Or maybe they will skip this step and directly imitate the “Alliance” of the new era, deploying an anti-gravity system on the sea, allowing the elevators and various types of spacecraft to float up by themselves.
In short, just like the dawn of the α universe, the β universe where the players are located has also ushered in the dawn of a new era.
For the people living on this planet, the distant sea of stars has never been as close as it is today!
On the beach.
The professor stopped and cast his eyes on the brilliant sunset stretched by the waves. It
has been more than eleven years since the summer of 2014.
In the past eleven years, the observer has not spoken to him again.
But he can be sure that the eye is still observing here somewhere in this universe.
Maybe
it is hidden in the fiery red sun.
He stopped on the beach, bent down, picked up a pebble, and threw it hard at the sparkling waves.
Squinting his eyes, he watched the silent undercurrent merge into the surging waves, and a smile suddenly appeared on the corner of his mouth.
Like a champion standing in an empty arena, he announced the victory of the game in a voice that only two people could hear.
”I still remember you told me that I only had a one in infinity chance of winning… but now it seems that I am the winner.”
”You got one thing wrong.”
”I have never been one person, but an infinite number of me who made the same choice.”
”So what is infinite is never the denominator you mentioned, but the numerator above the finite denominator.”
”So, my winning rate should actually be 777 over infinity… that is, infinity.”
At this point, he stopped talking with a smile, throwing the last suspense to his AI assistant, leaving a little face for the observer who was silently watching him, and also drawing a final period to this expedition across two worlds.
”Am I right, Xiao I?”
(End of this chapter)
