Deep Sea Embers

Dusk fell, and a disordered breeze blew across the plain, and rolled up the fallen leaves on the hills, swirling and flying towards the high sky. The silhouette of the city at the end of the horizon was soaked in the sun, and gradually coated with a brilliant golden glow.

This "illusion" simulated by the Navigator II based on the remaining information in the database was so real that it was terrifying. Even a speck of dust and a breeze here were simulated to perfection. If Duncan had not known in advance that he was only talking to this ancient artificial intelligence at the level of consciousness, he could not even tell the difference between this hill and that plain and the real world.

However, this is just an illusion after all, and the perfect simulation itself is its biggest flaw. Every speck of dust here is part of the calculation result of the Navigator II. Those seemingly disordered breezes, before they blow across the plain, their trajectories have already appeared in the calculation core of the Navigator II. There will never be an event beyond the database and the calculation results, even a "random" dust being blown away.

The ancient kings all knew the truth about the end trend of the world and the great annihilation, but only Navigator-2, a strong artificial intelligence built by an advanced civilization that once crossed the star sea, understood the subtle and fatal "differences" in the basic laws of the "world". Now, he finally found another individual who can understand all this. The tired man in a white researcher's uniform sat down on the hillside. He sat on a big rock and looked at the simulated dusk in the distance in a trance. My creators, they have not yet reached the solid height that your civilization has reached, so I can't understand the specific nature of a 0.002 second slice of the universe, and what kind of future it will create - so I have to worry, worry that your plan is just creating a larger "infinite sea". "It may be huge, even enough to accommodate trillions of stars. It may have a long lifespan, even measured in billions of years like the real universe, but as long as the problem of 'final crossing the boundary' is not solved, it will still be a 'shelter'. Civilization development cannot exceed the upper limit of the blueprint, so those things that once destroyed our hometown can still destroy it. "Paranoia" is the second concept related to "human nature" that I learned after the creators disappeared. This "paranoid" and "fear" are deeply imprinted in the bottom of my system like source code, making me keep thinking and calculating to find the possibility that can make the "two-dimensional little man" 'stand up' on the plane. I call this possibility a super-system thing. "But I failed. "In a closed-loop system, events beyond the system are not allowed. I can make myself constantly adjust in one generation after another to make my logical system perfect, but the fact is that non-closed-loop and super-systematic are the privileges of the real universe. "

The hillside became quiet. Duncan and Navigator 2 looked into the distance together. After a long while, he suddenly broke the silence:

So for the Infinite Sea, Shirley is a 'super system existence, but is it possible that this is only because the 'information' I carry exceeds the framework of the Infinite Sea itself - and within the 0002 second universe that I represent, this part of information is still part of the closed loop system, and it cannot achieve self-transcendence."

Duncan quietly stated this possibility. He knew that this conjecture was not very good, because once this conjecture was established, it meant that the situation that Navigator 2 was worried about was bound to occur: whether in the old world or the new world, the "super system event" would never happen - civilization was destined to be trapped in a cage, even if the cage could be made very large.

Navigator 2 fell silent, and after thinking for a long time, he gently shook his head.

After meeting that girl, part of my thinking program took this possibility into account, but in the final calculation, I rejected this conjecture," he said slowly, "because you did not completely "reshape" her. In addition to your "influence", everything that constitutes Shirley is still a product of the shelter. This process can be regarded as a super-system event in the original closed-loop system, and you did not really change the "total amount of information" of the Infinite Sea Shelter in this process. In other words, the 0.002 second of cosmic information is still completely encapsulated in your body. "Based on this, I judge that the "super system itself should be your "characteristic". The changes that happened to Shirley were not because she was added with "information" outside the Infinite Sea Shelter, but because she was infected with your "characteristics." "Duncan frowned and pondered, but still couldn't help but speak: "But your judgment may not be accurate. As you said yourself, you have the "limitations" of the closed-loop system. " "Yes, I have the limitations of the closed-loop system, so I can't really perfectly analyze and calculate things related to you. The possibility that the new world is another Infinite Sea still exists. Navigator No. 2 stopped talking here and shook his head after a moment.

"But it doesn't matter. Even so, we can't have a better plan. "Do our best" is often the only thing we can do. "

Duncan didn't say anything else, just nodded gently, and then sat on the hillside with him, enjoying the luxurious tranquility in the evening breeze, looking at the sparkling waves in the river on the plain.

In this simulated illusion, the flow of time can be very slow—

And Duncan hasn't emptied his mind like this for a long time.

But whenever there is an end, the luxury of rest always seems short-lived.

"It's time for me to leave," Duncan said suddenly, standing up from the hillside. "There's still a long way to go."

'Yes, you still have a long way to go.' Pilot 2 also stood up and looked at Duncan calmly. 'You still have to meet the remaining two of us before traversing all the external barriers. After the node, Gemona is still waiting for you to go to the appointment - don't let the lady wait too long. "

Listening to the other party's words, Duncan was silent for a moment:

"You should know my plan, right?"

"—You are patrolling along the outer barrier,' which is the first step in destroying this world," Pilot Two laughed, smiling.

With childlike purity, "I know that when you leave Gemona, the countdown to the real destruction of this world has begun - after all, no matter what form the new world will be born in, the old world The destruction is the most basic part of this process. We must first find a way to end the "Great Annihilation" that continues to this day. ""

He raised his arm and offered a hand to Duncan, still with a pure smile on his face.

'I don't know what the success rate of this is, and I don't know if we can really be retained by you in that new world and if we do get there, what new 'posture' we will usher in, but I believe you will do your best, so see you in the new world.

Duncan looked at the hand stretched out in front of him. After a brief hesitation, he held the other person's palm.

A little green fire jumped silently between the two clasped fingers, and disappeared in an instant.

‘See you in the new world. "

Duncan's figure gradually disappeared into the air - the access link was disconnected.

The invisible breeze blowing on the plains and hills gradually stopped at some point, and the golden-red glow that filled the sky became darker unconsciously. A man wearing a white researcher uniform stood quietly on the hills, In his field of vision, the entire world was gradually disappearing into darkness.

The vague memories from his hometown returned to sleep in the darkness. He stood in the darkness for a long time. After a long time, he slowly raised his right hand.

A little green fire was still dancing on the fingertips, but in the blink of an eye, the green fire was dyed with a hazy starlight, as if it had transformed into its original "true posture".

Pilot 2 raised his hand and waved lightly in the darkness. A large area of ​​intertwined light and shadow instantly emerged from nothingness. In a series of astonishing changes, a picture was quickly sketched out - the vast boundless sea, shrouded in the darkness. The city-state, the fog surrounding the entire world, and the looming nodes and barriers on the edge of the fog are the "monitoring" picture of the entire world.

Pilot 2's eyes swept across the projection, and he saw a faint star glow on the looming nodes and barriers at the edge of the screen.

Those stars spread from the node representing "Queen Leviathan", traced a quarter of the arc along the outer barrier, and were currently staying on his "Navigator Node".

The starlight seems to have eroded the barrier. Even if it is just a scene of "simulated data" transmitted through countless sensors, it still exudes some powerful and vast - "sense of presence"

And the breath of destruction.

Pilot 2 waited quietly. After an unknown amount of time, he finally saw the starlight that stayed on the Navigator node suddenly flicker, and then began to spread towards the next node.

The starlight spreading on the barrier ring is like a "dial" indicating the day when the world will end.

After thinking for a moment, Pilot 2 turned his gaze slightly, and a line of information appeared in his field of vision and was sent to the distance:

"Sending source - LH02, the Lord of Fire has gone to you one by one."

In the darkness, Pilot 2 waited for a long time. In his memory, Tarijin seemed to have never been so slow in replying to messages.

But he finally received a reply, and a line of information appeared in front of him:

"Source of the message - Lord of Fire - I understand, I'm ready."

"Sending message source-LH02——You are very slow to reply. Is the situation okay?"

"The fire is dying, but I'm still there."

Bartok, are you still there? "

"exist.

"Queen Leviathan, are you still there?

Um.

The hollow roars from the Death Wilderness and the murmurs from the Deep Sea Temple were vaguely heard. Pilot 2 exhaled softly and waved away the remaining dim light in the air.