Abyssal Wanderer

"What happened again?"

Donata on the side looked at Jim carefully. In addition to worry, there was also some vigilance in her expression at this moment.

The series of emotional outbursts along the way, coupled with various strange behaviors, made her start to worry about the other person's mental state.

Thinking of this, Donata quietly opened the search engine and started searching for "common early symptoms of high-risk cyberpsychosis."

Well...the initial symptoms are perceptual disorders, including auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations, olfactory hallucinations, phantom tastes and tactile hallucinations, among which auditory hallucinations are the most common.

While Donata was reading the identification items, she secretly observed Jim beside her from time to time.

At this moment, Jim had fully turned on the autopilot mode and was looking at his hands with a solemn expression, deep in thought. After a few seconds, as if there was an invisible friend in front of him, he suddenly said:

"Yes, that's right, social relationships... There is absolutely no way to fake this... The people I have known in the past twenty years, whether they are friends or enemies, are strong proof of my true existence..."

Match...

Seeing this, Donata put a √ on the inspection item, and then turned to the next item.

Delusions include persecution delusions, relationship delusions, influence delusions, jealousy delusions, grandiose delusions, non-blood delusions, etc. Among them, the symptoms of persecution delusions are the most common. The early symptoms are manifested as varying degrees of insecurity, such as being monitored, being framed...

While Donata was comparing, the other party continued to talk to himself:

"That's right, besides that, there is another thing that cannot be faked..."

"Snapped!"

Before the other party finished speaking, Donata's hand was suddenly grabbed.

"What...what happened?"

She was startled.

At this moment, Jim was looking at her seriously - the uneasiness in his eyes and the strength of his grip on her hand really made her feel a little scared.

"In the past, those thugs in your family, including your brother, borrowed from somewhere a multi-purpose printer to make adjustments?"

On the other side, Jim just asked again the same questions he had asked on the road.

"I, I, I...I don't know..."

Donata, who was frightened by the other party's expression, stammered the answer she had given before.

"Recall the details. For example, did your father have close contacts with someone from the government in the past?"

As Jim said this, he realized that his emotions were a little out of control. He immediately let go of his hand, then slowed down his tone and said:

"Think about it again, I urgently need to borrow a multi-purpose printer to verify something."

Jim's voice sounded as sincere as his expression.

"Verify what?"

Donata asked, rubbing her wrist which was red from being held.

The other party thought for a moment, then slowly said:

"Verify...that your existence is real and not a puppet manipulated by others."

The delusion of persecution also fits the second clause...

Donata thought, and then she became even more frightened.

Of course, she didn't dare to say these words, but recalled carefully what the other person said.

After a while, she finally said:

"I really can't remember...but if anyone besides the Icarus Liberation Front has a multi-purpose printer, then I think the only possibility is the 'Tenth Floor' government."

Donata paused for a moment before continuing:

"Although I have only occasionally heard it from family members, it seems that our family does have business dealings with the law enforcement agencies of the 'tenth layer' of government."

"squeak--"

Jim took hold of the steering wheel again, and then made a 180-degree U-turn in the stair tunnel.

"Are we going there?"

Donata asked with lingering fear, grabbing the armrest to prevent herself from being thrown against the windshield.

"Tenth floor."

The other party gave an answer that she had already guessed.

…………

"I have worked in the Eden Resettlement Area for many years...Although most of my time was inside the so-called 'staff area', I have been to other places in the Eden Resettlement Area quite a lot."

Fanny gave a strong rebuttal to Jiang Zhou's "whimsical" speculation.

“I have personally seen thousands of people there, talked to hundreds of people, dozens of whom I have collaborated with, and even have several friends… By the time we surface back to the base After reality, you can contact them on the phone."

As she spoke, her fingers tapped on the table anxiously.

"There are many people among them who have lived from twenty years ago to now. You suspect that all those people have been replaced by some 'things' from the abyss and dark web, just like... just like "Secret Invasion" ", or... or like in "Devilman"?"

Fanny stared at him and said this - although she had used "The Matrix" as an example in the past, she didn't realize that this biologist was also a lover of popular culture in the AD era.

Jiang Zhou had some thoughts of enjoying the misery.

Of course he understood why Fanny was so eager to deny his guess.

As if they also wanted to deny this speculation, they had met "Jim Leiter" and "Héloïse Hanel" living here in the fictional city before.

What if the "mental models" of those two people are now trapped in the "Eden Domain" experiencing reincarnation again and again. So "Jim" and "Hanel" who are now active in the basic reality, what exactly is controlling their bodies?

The JZ network protocol stipulates that two or more mental models are not allowed to run at the same time on the Internet - this is a solemn commandment to ensure the unique dignity of the human soul, and it is also a promise placed in the Ark of the New Era.

If Jim Leiter is now possessed by the First Deep One, what about Héloïse Hanel?

And... before Jiang Zhou regarded Jim as a "controllable factor", what was it that had controlled Jim's drinking, handling of cases, and involvement with women in the past twenty years?

Does it still affect Jim to this day?

Even...is it affecting me at this moment?

Jiang Zhou was far more eager to deny this terrible speculation than Perse Fanny.

"first……"

When Jiang Zhou spoke, his voice was extremely calm.

"Not all the residents in the Eden resettlement area have had their consciousness replaced by some kind of 'existence'. Now we can only confirm that the people who watched "Doppelgänger" back then may have been replaced...that is, the ones we had previously seen in' The people you come into contact with in the Eden Domain'."

Fanny's face twitched.

Jiang Zhou didn't give her a chance to interrupt him, and continued:

"Secondly, no matter what the things that replaced them are, we need to assume that they can perfectly play the owner of that physical body. In other words, no matter how many people you met or chatted with back then, you will never be able to live together. There have been things, friendships or other relationships... Unless you can get into their heads and read their thoughts like a book. Otherwise, you can't figure out who they are just through superficial contact. Not me."

Or, even if you get into their heads, you still can't find the existence of the ghost.

Once again, Jiang Zhou thought of Jim - even if he existed in Jim's body at this moment, he could not confirm whether Jim's past was true.

"It sounds just like the simulacra itself."

At this time, Qianxia Sakura on the side interrupted, and the two of them looked at her at the same time.

"The doppelgänger, an evil self replaces the original self, hoping to throw the original self into hell instead of suffering punishment."

The latter shrugged and then said:

"Perhaps Apollo creatures, or other beings, created perfect doppelgangers, allowing them to replace the lives of the citizens of the Eden Settlement Zone... The mandala code is a line of defense to defend self-awareness, so they chose to directly replace it. Self-awareness allows puppets controlled by oneself to take over those bodies.”

Since you can't open the most perfect lock in the world, you might as well break the door.

Qianxia Ying's words made Fanny purse her lips tightly. After a long time, she murmured:

"If that's the case...is this the reason why you wanted to commit suicide back then, Hanel?"

Her eyes seemed to drift to a far away place.

"Is this the truth about what you mean by 'we can't change anything'?"

On the other side, her words reminded Jiang Zhou.

Whether it was wanting Jim to commit suicide with her twenty years ago, or wishing to commit suicide with Perse Fanny back then. Could Hanel's unsuccessful attempts mean she was trying to escape her evil doppelganger?

as well as……

Jim touched the scar on his head.

Could it be that the two bullets in his head were inserted for this reason?

"There is only one way to prove all this..."

Thinking of this, Jiang Zhou slowly said:

"Find a resident of the Eden Settlement who is still alive and bring him to the Eden Network. See if he can meet his own 'double'."

Fanny and Chinatsu Sakura looked at each other, and then questioned at the same time:

"Can this be done?"

You must know that they are currently in the abyss and dark web, and they cannot even get in touch with the basic reality.

In the tunnel leading to the tenth floor, Jim stepped on the accelerator and said silently:

"Yes." (End of chapter)