I Have A Super USB Drive

by <unknown>

  "Ahem..."

  01 emitted a dry cough and stated, "Chen Chen, I mean...05. Forgive me, I'm new here. This is my first time attending the Lilith Assembly but I've had my share of experience with the Blacklight Foundation even before I was appointed to the role of 01 so I'm familiar with your operation. Based on what I know, Blackwatch never embarks on useless business ventures. Just like in the past when you planted your roots in Africa, everyone thought that you were crazy for choosing such a poor location, but you proved everyone wrong by carving a blazing path and surpassed the Earth Federation..."

  "You flatter me."

  Chen Chen smiled pleasantly.

  "Whether it's the military industry, space travel or outer space colonization, you have an established, strong vision for everything you involve your company in."

  01 continued. "I know that you've done this with the inheritance from your predecessor, but that's a topic for another day. What we want to talk about today is the game you released. We had our engineers look at the game chamber you recently developed and found that a majority of the parts inside are nothing that we've ever seen. We also notice a jarring absence of certain necessary parts in common gaming equipment...

  "We don't know what your plan is, but one thing we know for sure is that this game you call Ancient Civilization is more than it lets on."

  02 chimed in. "I agree with 01. The gameplay provided by the game chamber is indistinguishable from reality. The in-game physics shown are extremely realistic and shouldn't be achievable by today's game engine standards. It'd require at least hundreds of millions of lines of code to simulate an in-game physics engine of that kind, which we couldn't identify anything like that in the game chambers which you developed."

  04 added. "We had our specialized departments research the game thoroughly to figure out its backend structure. Based on the findings reported, it'd seem that the in-game world isn't a virtual world at all... When our team used microscopes and other similar equipment on samples collected in the world, they reported the discovery of common bacteria and cell structures such as atoms and molecules on surfaces of in-game objects. Are you telling me that you've manufactured an in-game system so detailed that you included the cellular structures of all objects in the game?"

  "That's not all..."

  01 said, "Our team managed to find a secret factory inside the game and managed to sneak inside after many attempts. They found countless corpses lying inside the factory which were transported to various spawn points scattered across the in-game world. It seems that after arriving at the spawn point, these corpses would suddenly spur to life. It appears that these are the avatars controlled by the players... If this is just a game, would you explain this unexplainable, intricate system to us?

  "There's more..."

  They started to bicker and talk over each other, eager to tell Chen Chen about the problems of Ancient Civilization.

  "Your point being?"

  After they were all finished with their piece, Chen Chen motioned for a suggestion. "If you think Ancient Civilization isn't a game, what is it? Dimensional travel?"

  "We need you to answer that for us, 05."

  03 sounded calm. "We want to know the inner workings of Ancient Civilization and its true nature as well as... What your goal is."

  Chen Chen shook his head upon hearing of this and produced a sigh. "Well, since you've confronted me like this, I shall tell you the truth. What I can tell you is that Ancient Civilization is more than a simple game, just as you suspected. The game world as you call it is a parallel dimension - a world set in a parallel timeline, only with slight deviations from our current timeline!"

  Chen Chen paused to allow for a moment to reflect. "I'm sure you're familiar with what a parallel dimension is. It's similar to the Rosen Bridge in the Indian Ocean which leads to the world of Resident Evil. Ancient Civilization is another parallel world formed from our encounter with the Consciousness Stealer."

  "I see..."

  The mystery was unraveled and the members of the Lilith Assembly seemed relieved to finally uncover the truth. They had considered this possibility once, but could not be certain of it until Chen Chen directly confirmed it himself.

  Now that they had verifiable proof from Chen Chen himself, the setting of the game suddenly made sense. The fusion plague that mirrored the fusion plague that once happened in the current world, the four major continents, and the remains of mankind. Suddenly, there was a plausible explanation for everything seen in Ancient Civilization.

  "The game chamber is just a device used to transfer the consciousness of the player to another body placed in that dimension. In this sense, the game chamber serves as a transmission point that allows the players to control the body in another dimension remotely."

  Chen Chen explained, "The reason I launched Ancient Civilization as a game is to take advantage of the volunteering players to expand the dimension. This is my true goal."

  "What about the reality anchors?"

  03 enquired, "The reality anchor is Blackwatch's tactical weapon from what I understand. Why did you deploy more than three hundred of them in that dimension?"

  "To suppress the planet's psionic force."

  Chen Chen answered without skipping a beat, "I'm sure you're familiar with the background of the world. It's a world conquered by the Consciousness Stealer. In the past when we barely defeated the Consciousness Stealer in our current world, it was only in its infant stage. In that dimension, the Consciousness Stealer has fully matured and has become far more powerful. There's only one way for us humans to defeat it."

  "To suppress its psionic potential and kill it while it's weak?"

  03 shot up from his seat and seemed astounded by the mere idea.

  "That's right and I've already done it."

  Chen Chen shrugged and declared boldly, "This is all I can tell you. There's no need for you to be cautious of what I do with the game anymore because I've already achieved my goal. It doesn't matter if you want to shut down the game or send more members to reverse-engineer it. It doesn't bother me at this point."

  The four of them could hardly believe their ears when they heard Chen Chen making such a bold claim.

  "I know what you're going to say next."

  Sensing their reaction, Chen Chen spoke before any of them could, "The game chamber's most useful feature is its quantum communication technology. This is the technology that enables it to transfer the player's consciousness without any delay. Although this technology is still in its developmental stages, I wouldn't mind sharing it with all of you so we can refine it together."

  "What?"

  They were dazzled by this offer. Each one of them had committed their resources to research quantum communication technologies, only to no avail as of yet. They could not ask for more if Chen Chen would publicize his research findings.

  "This is very unlike you."

  03 hesitated and probed, "We all know there's no such thing as a free meal. What do you want in return?"

  "I believe you've seen the urban central management system in Eco Science City and Ares Science City?"

  Chen Chen smirked. "My request is very simple. You only need to implement the 'Skynet system' and the 'digital judge' developed by yours truly into your city structure!"

  ...

  Chapter 641: Wang Xi Appears |

  Nobody knew what Chen Chen discussed with the four members of the Lilith Assembly.

  After the meeting, despite their reluctance, they agreed to implement Blacklight Biotechnology's "Skynet system" and "digital judge" in certain specific cities for demonstrative purposes.

  The so-called "Skynet system" was a project that utilized an artificial intelligence system to replace human-oriented law enforcement. First, ultra-high-definition cameras layered with many features which included facial recognition would be installed all over the city and ensure that not a single blindspot was left.

  This included private companies, shops, streets, elevators, and
corridors in residential buildings. All surveillance of public areas would be connected through a series of cameras and the combined feed would be relayed to the AI. Upon detection of criminal activities, there was no need for the victim to contact the police since the AI would notify the related agencies automatically and immediately.

  This was the basis of the Skynet system.

  Meanwhile, all of the court cases and trials were entrusted to the worthy hands of the "digital judge" artificial intelligence to analyze and hand out judgments systematically. All of the procedures involved were presented intelligently and transparently. This way, the governmental hierarchy could not intervene with the process. Unless the offenders could somehow influence the digital judge, this system would effectively bring an end to practices such as court favoritism, bribing, and other corrupt activities.

  The only way to overturn the decision of the digital judge was if several high-level officials joined together and raised valid arguments in favor of the accused.

  The reason why Chen Chen wanted to implement the digital judge was partially due to the looming threat of subspace. Based on his previous conversation with the three consciousnesses in subspace, he found that human beings or any intelligent creatures were the most vulnerable to the influence of subspace.

  The subspace was a mirror of reality and reflected the many thoughts, emotions, and intentions of intelligent beings. It was a place where these combined factors manifested and became magnified.

  Chen Chen determined that this was how subspace threatened reality, by imposing its ill intentions on the intelligent beings of the real world.

  Which was why he saw it fit to speed up his plans and use whatever advantage he could to implement the Skynet system and accelerate the coming of the third era - the Skynet era which would cultivate a more civilized and orderly civilization. A well-structured, disciplined society was a powerful deterrent against the effects of the subspace.

  Everything Chen Chen was doing now was to lay the foundation. Once the foundation had been set, everything he had envisioned should run its due course over the next few years.

  "We've already paved the path for the third era. Everything should work out in time."

  After exiting the meeting, Chen Chen considered the matters again. It was then when he received another piece of information from Little X.

  "Sir Godfather, I found Wang Xi..."

  "Professor Wang Xi?"

  Chen Chen was startled by this. "You mean to say that you found tracks of Professor Wang Xi online?"

  "Yes."

  Even Little X sounded doubtful of this discovery. "According to my original database, Wang Xi should've completely vanished off the face of the earth due to the antimeme. The only reason I even know of the false existence of this person was that you were the one who told me about him. The strange thing is that earlier, I suddenly noticed Professor Wang Xi's information lying idly in my database like it had been there all along. This included all of his information such as his childhood, studies, work, family background, and so on!"

  "Which means that Professor Wang Xi has returned?"

  Chen Chen flung himself out of his seat and motioned for the virtual display to appear in front of him. There were countless rows of data and graphical information on the screen, all of them were directly related to Wang Xi. All of them surfaced out of nowhere.

  "Wang Xi is currently in Haizhou, Central Continent. He's giving a lecture at Jiaotong University."

  Little X spoke like she could not believe the validity of the information she was uttering, "This must be him, I've hacked into the Jiaotong University network and confirmed that he's scheduled for a lecture today. He's giving a lecture as we speak. He's the professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences teaching the freshman biology students..."

  Chen Chen was not going to let the moment go to waste. He left the office immediately and went to the teleportation room of the Spire Experimental Base, then teleported to the professor's location using the Gantz black sphere.

  "Boom!"

  There was a tremendous explosion when Chen Chen took off at supersonic speed. He soared at thirty times the speed of sound and made for the city center at breakneck speed. The closer he got to his destination, the heavier his expression became. His solemn expression was mixed with great caution.

  At this point, he decelerated to only several times the speed of sound and began his slow descent. By the time he reached the skies of Jiaotong University, he had almost come to a complete stop.

  Chen Chen looked at the familiar university that had only recently been renovated and landed from above. Resting at the center of his palm was a levitating black item. Its mysterious powers made it so that the crowd of people circling back and forth around the campus did not notice him descending from above.

  After landing, Chen Chen turned his attention to a building nearby. He considered for a moment, then took his first step and began advancing toward the building.

  At last, Chen Chen arrived at the door of a classroom.

  The door was made of sandalwood that was only recently sanded to give it a mint condition. After so many years, it seemed like everything had changed and yet not much changed at the same time. Chen Chen extended his arm outward and pushed the door gently.

  "Creak!"

  The door obliged and opened.

  Hidden behind the door was the familiar sight of a large multimedia classroom. The seats were arranged along several elevated levels with stairs leading up to each row. The seats faced toward the lowest section of the classroom, where there was a holographically projected podium, meeting up to modern standards. A gentle-looking old man was giving his lecture with a warm, inviting smile.

  "There's a limit to the lifespan of men. We all go through phases of being born, getting old, becoming sick, and dying. Can somebody explain why we go through these processes?

  "As we all know, the unit of life is cells. Each one of us here is the divided result of a tiny, fertilized egg cell... However, this division isn't infinite.

  "Theoretically, human cells can only divide up to 56 times. According to the calculation of the cell division cycle, the lifespan of a person should be around 120 years old. This theory is called...

  "Why don't we have our classmate over there diving under the table to answer this question?"

  "Hahahaha!!"

  The students erupted with laughter. A young man whose cheeks had turned beet red from embarrassment emerged from under the table and rose awkwardly before stammering, "Is, is it the Hayflick limit?"

  Chen Chen remained at the entrance of the classroom and watched this scene unfold quietly. The present scene overlapped with his memories and put him in a sudden state of trance. He could not differentiate whether this was a dream or reality...

  "Correct, please sit down!"

  The old lecturer gestured kindly for the boy to sit down before continuing. "However, science and technology are advancing with each passing day and various advancements that can prolong life have been developed. The most iconic one of them all is, of course, the 'age-reversal treatment' technology.

  "With our current technology, the effective lifespan of men has been extended between two to four decades and has reached more than a hundred years. We expect to see this rise up to a hundred and twenty years old very soon. The Hayflick limit has been overcome, but this isn't the limit...

  "We humans can live longer than this!

  "Technological modification, genetic modification, and psionic modification... Of these three options, the one I see the most potential in is none other than psionic modification. To sum it up, each and every one of you seated here belongs to the generation that is closest to achieving the dreamlike immortality!

  "There's so much of the truth of the universe that is still waiting to be discovered by humans. Perhaps achieving immortality will be the first and most important step in the pursuit of the ultimate truth...

  "In any case, the future is in your hands. Alright,
that's enough for class today!"

  The ringing school bell echoed the lecturer's dismissal only moments after.

  "Clap, clap, clap…"

  The students applauded and thanked the lecturer for the lecture before packing up their belongings and shuffling out of the lecture hall.

  They shuffled out of the only exit in the lecture hall and would intentionally curve around Chen Chen as if driven by an invisible force, like a stream of river splitting around a boulder. They did not even look at Chen Chen at all. He stood in the center of the stream completely invisible and yet declared his presence like an invisible obstacle...

  After all the students left, only two figures remained in the lecture hall.

  One of which was Chen Chen.

  The other was an old lecturer, still smiling - Wang Xi.

  Chapter 642: Showdown |

  Wang Xi had a kind, inviting smile that could light up an entire room. This was the effect he had on people. However, Chen Chen returned the old lecturer's smile with a blank, stoic look.

  "It's been so many years and you still haven't changed your script."

  Chen Chen took two steps forward, all the while fixing his eyes on the old lecturer who single-handedly altered the course of his life. "I'm sure this is the same sermon you gave when Zhao Shanhe was present.

  "Am I wrong, though?"

  Wang Xi suddenly erupted with laughter. "Chen Chen, you truly lived up to my expectations. Even those three rascals in the subspace couldn't corrupt you. I must say I'm very pleased!"

  "If you're so pleased, why don't you tell me what your goal is."

  The professor's compliments failed to soften Chen Chen, who continued speaking with an indifferent tone, "You left the dimension key that presented infinite possibilities to me. You were the one who steered mankind to the subspace. The moment I discovered that it was your doing, you vanished with the power of antimemes and now, you made an unannounced reappearance. Would you tell me what it is that you're planning?"