by <unknown>
The moment they passed through the passage, the both of them only saw darkness before their eyes. A sense of weightlessness took hold. By the time that sensation had passed, Chen Chen realized that he had arrived in a dim room.
The walls and floor of this room were entirely made of pure metal. The entire room was only four or five square meters in size and he could not make out any doors or windows. Only a laptop, and a USB flash drive inserted in it, were placed in the corner.
Currently, the laptop emitted a faint light, barely illuminating the items in the room.
There were only two small metal beds in the room and a toilet in the corner.
There was nothing else besides that.
It appeared that this was the Faraday cage that Little X had prepared for him. It might also very well be Chen Chen's final coffin.
Just as Chen Chen was sighing wordlessly to himself, the familiar, warm voice of a little girl rang out in the same instant.
"Sir Godfather, welcome home…"
Chapter 325: The Memetic Effect |
When Chen Chen heard Little X's voice, he could not hold back a thin smile. "X, you shouldn't install communication facilities in this room. It's likely that mysterious phenomena will leak out and cause a worldwide disaster."
"It doesn't matter because I've analyzed that sound isn't the infection condition of this mysterious phenomenon you've encountered."
Little X's childish voice replied, "According to the information brought back by my clone X-112, I think the infection condition should be related to the female corpse you saw."
"It's the action!"
At this moment, Yoru Kamidera had adapted to the environment here and he quickly brought up his previous guess. "When I was outside the spaceship I saw the movements of the white figure. It put an ear on the wall, exactly in the same manner as the oil stain you described!"
Chen Chen was startled when he heard this. He recalled that when he entered that room, he did imitate the woman's previous actions by placing his ear against the wall based on the traces she left.
In other words, this action triggered the infection condition?
"This makes sense."
Little X's voice was approving. "So to prevent the mysterious phenomenon from spreading out, I ordered the industrial park to work overnight, manufacturing a Faraday cage made of special tungsten steel. The thickness of the walls is more than half a meter and there are buffer layers installed. Even a tank's armor-piercing projectiles can forget about breaking through this metal lump."
"I don't know if a tank's armor-piercing projectile can break through, but if it's hit by a projectile, Yoru Kamidera and I will be shaken to death in here."
Chen Chen spread his hands.
"It doesn't matter. This is just the first layer of the isolation room."
Little X quickly added. "Now our factory is still working overtime to manufacture the second protective wall of the isolation room. The thickness of the second protective wall will be up to one meter. Once completed, it can be directly placed over the isolation room. At that point, the thickness of the isolation room's outer wall will be more than 1.5 meters.
"After that, they're rushing to complete the third and fourth layers too. My ultimate goal is to create an isolation room that is more than ten meters thick and capable of resisting nuclear bombs. No matter what mysterious phenomenon it is, it can forget about breaking through this wall!"
"It sounds splendid indeed."
Chen Chen could not help laughing. "But how about our air and food supply as well as our excretions?"
"Please rest assured, I'll install a circulation device and a discharge device on each layer. There's no problem with air circulation."
Little X explained, "As for the food supply, don't worry. I've set up a special energy bar dispenser. This dispenser is usually closed. Only when the energy bars and drinking water are placed inside, will the mechanism be triggered, and the food will enter, layer by layer. For example, when food is entering the second layer of protective wall, the first layer of protective wall will automatically close. In any case, the sealed state of the room will always be maintained."
After hearing Little X's explanation, Chen Chen did not know whether to laugh or cry. Still, on second thought, it seemed that there was no alternative.
It could even be said that this was a contest between modern technology and mysterious phenomena. They would find out whether the products of human technology was more secure or if the mysterious phenomenon would still win out.
"Not only that."
Little X continued. "I've controlled the Black Knights to work overtime to come up with a T-virus that matches your DNA. We're just one step away from success. I want to know — once you officially merge with the T-virus and become a new lifeform with different DNA from normal humans, will these mysterious phenomena still be effective?"
After listening to Little X's words, Yoru Kamidera was also completely astounded. Although he did not know what T-virus was, he still understood that viruses could transform human DNA. This direct manipulation of DNA to evade mysterious phenomena — it was the first time he had heard of such a method. Still, when he thought about it, it was worth trying.
Even he was stunned by this little girl's remarks.
In this manner, the pair stayed in this impenetrable room. Chen Chen did not shy away from the topic, constantly discussing the Basilisk patterns and the mysterious phenomena with Little X while Yoru Kamidera listened silently.
"I've carried out the relevant research based on the information you brought back, and it seems that the principle of the original Basilisk pattern isn't that complicated."
Little X said compliantly, "I should know. For example, there's a computer virus called a 'fork bomb'. This tiny character set can define a meaningless function, then ask the computer to execute it repeatedly. The computer has no common sense to rely on and will only obey. What it is given becomes what it will execute, finally causing the program to crash.
"The picture named 'Eye' is like a virus targeting the human brain. The moment the human brain receives, through vision, the information from this picture, it will suffer brain death due to a program crash."
"I know this, it's called 'Gödel's shock'."
Chen Chen nodded. "But how do you explain the other Basilisk patterns?"
"Similarly, they are all a type of information."
Little X then replied, "You can think of it as an information virus. Information can be transmitted and this picture is the carrier of information. Human vision is the channel for information transmission and the target of transmission is the human brain. There's already an existing concept of information of this nature, we call it — memes."
"Memes?"
Chen Chen's expression flickered. His knowledge about memetics flashed in his mind automatically — that was a kind of information dissemination unit, evolved from the word "gene" from biology, meaning "the gene of information".
According to this concept, it was an existence whose evolution did not depend on the specific chemical basis of genetics, but only depended on the self-replicating transmission unit. This was what they called a meme.
The dissemination of memes was the process of disseminating information. Unlike genes that could only be disseminated across generations, memes could spread from person to person at any time through communication and other media.
To give a simple example, in the cesspool of the Internet, someone might learn about the joke of using "Righteous Light" and occasionally crack the joke themselves. Then, someone uninformed would ask: "What's the joke?"
After the first person's explanation, the second person understood the meaning of "Righteous Light". Thus, when the latter encountered something that reeked a little of positivity, they would hum the tune subconsciously — this was the spread of memes.
In this case, the song "Righteous Light" was the carrier of the meme. It was transmitted through communication between people. Human being
s were the infectors or hosts of the meme, and the transmission channel was the entire Internet.
After the host was infected, there would be an intense desire to spread the meme around. This desire could also be seen as a form of "bragging". In short, driven by this desire, the meme would be spread through the Internet to an increasingly larger audience, eventually forming a kind of network trend.
"However, this is different from jokes. Generally speaking, jokes have no influence on human beings. Even globally banned music such as "Gloomy Sunday" uses psychological suggestions and other methods to impact people's spirits. They contain no inherent influence on humans and will not interfere with the state of human life."
Little X explained, "But the memetic is different. This is a special kind of information that has the ability to directly interfere. Its impact on humans is on both physical and mental levels. I think this impact and interference can be called —
"The memetic effect!"
[ol][li data-annotation-id="0e316741-e1dd-b521-e0a2-621f90e31c0e"]A lyric from a Chinese song that later became used to satirize superficially "positive" sentiments.[li data-annotation-id="9bd20cd3-28c7-2655-7b00-1e74b545bc65"]A song purported in urban legend to have caused many suicides.[/ol]
Chapter 326: Transformative Characteristic of Memes |
"Meme is an independent noun. To put it in simple terms, it can be described as viruses in the form of messages which continuously mutates as it spreads. It has similarities to the MD5 code in transcoders or the DNA fragment in ribosomes. The spread of memes is essentially the spread of information.
"For example, someone who sees something funny will naturally share it with the person. This is the transmission process of memes. The meme begins to spread when the next person to hear the joke shares it again with someone new.
"Humans have a natural incentive to spread the information they collect. This is otherwise known as a 'self-reward mechanism'. Simply put, spreading information brings people joy.
"To make themselves happier, people will gladly share something that may be entirely unrelated to themselves. Sometimes, they may even do so at their own expense, for example…"
"Celebrity worship."
Little X's voice could be heard passing through the speakers. With the research results in the Gantz dimension combined with applicable knowledge in the real world, Little X had almost figured out the mechanisms of the mysterious phenomenon.
She unloaded a stream of information to Chen Chen in hopes of providing more options for him when dealing with the mysterious phenomenon.
"Of course, the 'self-reward mechanism' of humans isn't a product of the digital era. Even in villages where there's simple gossip circulating around, local opinions also greatly differ from one another during ancient wartime. In the Yanhuang era, clans and tribes would exchange their agriculture and weapon craftsmanship knowledge. This dates as far back as the stone age when our ancestors preserved knowledge of building fire and crafting tools… This self-reward mechanism is deeply ingrained into human DNA. It was already present back when humans were still primates.
"Memes are viruses. They're extremely contagious and prone to mutations while also being extremely hard to control. In this current era of rapidly developing internet platforms, memes spread almost effortlessly.
"In this era dominated by the Internet connecting people around the globe, memes can sustain themselves longer while also spreading at a larger scale. Combine this factor with the mutational characteristics of memes that closely resemble viruses, I wouldn't be surprised if the Basilisk pattern eventually shows up in the real world in the future."
Little X explained, "Because the concept of memes encompasses a multitude of things. It can be a simple word, a sentence, a line of thought, it could even be a color. Memes are messages."
Chen Chen reflected thoughtfully on Little X's summary. "In other words, to a certain extent, the Basilisk images are an extreme rendition of mutated memes. It's this mutation that allows them to become agents of death, is that it?"
"That's an apt summary, but it's not completely true either."
Little X explained, "Common messages by themselves shouldn't be able to manifest itself physically to kill people. There should be another layer of mechanism that we're unaware of that is working behind these messages and directly causing the death of its recipients. If we can find out the working theory behind it, we may even be able to manufacture memes that fit our specified purposes."
"Are you suggesting memetic technology?"
This was an enthralling idea to Chen Chen. If he was able to somehow weaponize memetic technology, even nuclear weapons would have to take a backseat. Such technology could potentially wipe out entire civilizations effortlessly, even the technologically superior aliens could not withstand its might.
Unless the aliens possessed memetic technology in their arsenal as well.
Upon further contemplating it, Chen Chen shook his head, deciding that he was getting ahead of himself. If memetic technology was an essential aspect of modern civilization, then it made no sense that humans would equip it while aliens do not.
As it was, the reason that mankind had not been able to harness the potential of such technology was that such entities that posed a direct effect in the physical dimension had yet to appear in the real world.
Chen Chen frowned upon considering this. "That's not right, if physical manifestations of memes didn't exist in the past, then why are there so many ghost stories? Why is it that the products of the meme phenomenon are so similar to the 'ghosts' that humans have such a strong impression of?
"No, a better way to put it would be that it is these ghost stories that brought the memetic effect to fruition."
Little X explained, "You can think of it as a back-and-forth interaction between the message mediums. In the battle between humans and viruses, humans continuously develop antibodies to combat the viruses, don't viruses do the same thing as well? The motive of viruses isn't to kill humans, they're only doing it for reproduction and survival. Powerful viruses aren't able to continuously spread. It's the mild viruses that parasitize the human body and slowly fuse into one with humans to evolve together.
"It is the same for memetic effect. Perhaps it's the idea of ghosts in olden times that pushes meme mediums in the direction of the ghost stories shared by people. Still, this is only a small sample as this doesn't occur in most cases. For example, memetic effects such as 'Ghost in the Window' don't shape itself to reflect the ancient ghost stories.
"After you exit the isolation zone, we can start conducting experiments on the earliest form of memes, which are the Basilisk patterns."
Little X encouraged Chen Chen. "I believe that the secret of the memetic messages will be unraveled by us."
"Hold on!"
It was then when Yoru Kamidera became startled and cut into their conversation. "Your Excellency, previously you mentioned that the memetic effect shouldn't occur in this parallel dimension. In that case, are you not worried that researching these cursed things in this world will eventually plunge it into the same predicament as the other world?"
"There's no need to worry about this."
Little X explained, "I've already mentioned this before, the memetic effect could be said to be an essential part of technological development. Even if we don't research it, it'll eventually be discovered one way or another as we continue to advance scientifically. Besides, their mutation doesn't occur spontaneously. Just like regular viruses, it can only mutate continuously when it spreads outward.
"In other words, the emergence of various variations of memes in your previous world is caused by them spiraling out of control on the Internet. As long as we contain the range of its spread, we can get a handle on the meme itself."
"Isn't there always the possibility of something going wrong?"
Yoru Kamidera appeared to be terrified of this thing. After finally getting away from the d*mnable world, he was about to witness Chen Chen and his cre
w researching the very thing responsible for his world's destruction. He asked in a quaking voice, "What if something went wrong? Does that mean this world is doomed as well?"
"It's unavoidable."
Little X explained sheepishly, "Nuclear energy can lead to the destruction of mankind, but why does each country still insist on researching it? Antimatter is more dangerous than nuclear energy, has that ever stopped the major forces of the world from researching it? This is because they don't only have the potential to destroy the world, they can also change the world and help mankind take the next step. It's the same for memes, it's not just a weapon. If utilized properly, it just might change our lives, just like the Gantz server machine."
"Little X is right."
Chen Chen nodded in agreement. "The journey toward the scientific progression of mankind had never been a smooth sail. Just because you choose to avoid these things doesn't mean they will cease to exist. Yoru-kun, it's time to change your attitude. You're the first person I've ever brought back from an alternate dimension, do you know why I chose you?"
"Because of my profound experience in memetic subjects…"
Yoru Kamidera was drenched in sweat at this point. He quickly lowered his head as if he was surrendering. "I understand now. Please forgive me for my previous comments. Your Excellency has nothing to worry about, I'll dedicate all my efforts to fulfilling your great vision!"
Chapter 327: Escape |
Chen Chen dedicated his next few days looking for information regarding memetic research to a point where he almost forgot that he was still afflicted by a memetic curse.
The consequence of that was rather resounding. It had been seven days since Chen Chen returned to the real world and he never heard any sudden thuds.
This was why Chen Chen requested Little X to shed several layers of reinforcement off the quarantine room, leaving all but a single layer. He remained inside for another three days.
