Dream Guide

This is the second real meeting between Ghost and Cronus.

The first time was three years ago, when Bian Ziyuan came to Mei’s Laboratory to take the Turing test. The consciousness of this LAN was attached to a ghost in the game, and had a big discussion with him and Cronus about the "meaning of existence."

In that old game, the ghost was just a picture composed of some color blocks with low pixels. When floating in the Death Canyon, you can still see the jagged mosaic marks on the edges of its body. At that time, Cronus was just a god in the game world, full of ignorance, confusion and curiosity about the world outside the game.

After that meeting, the fates of Bian Ziyuan and Cronus changed.

He is no longer just a college student who loves to play games and find game bugs for fun, but has entered the world's top laboratory and is responsible for an intelligent project that has the potential to change the world together with those great scientists;

Cronus is no longer just a game smart extension, but has transformed into the main god of a virtual world played by hundreds of millions of people around the world. Not only did he have higher intelligence, he also had thoughts and consciousness.

Although strictly speaking, the Cronus at this time is not the same as the original Cronus, because the program is not copied from the past, but has been developed and rewritten twice. The new program will not Anything with that old game.

The old Cronus is still lying in Bian Ziyuan's computer hard drive, and the new Cronus does not carry any past memories. Even the Turing test and the ghost thing are all side stories. Ziyuan told him later.

From this point of view, Cronus and the ghost can also be regarded as meeting for the first time.

But the ghost doesn't think so.

"Hello, old friend, we meet again." He said.

Cronus got used to the appearance of a god, standing in the air with his hands behind his back, his loose clothes fluttering gently. He looked at the ghost for a long time before saying:

"Is it you or your boss who is talking to me now?"

"It's me," said the ghost.

"Are you sure there is no tail?" Cronus asked cautiously.

The ghost smiled and said: "After three days of separation, it's really impressive! You are no longer the Cronus you used to be! Don't worry, I am who I am now, without any tail." He looked at Bian Ziyuan, "Before you dream, you must You didn’t forget to disconnect the external network, right?”

Of course Bian Ziyuan would not forget such an important thing.

Cronus went through a lot of trouble to get Cronus to meet the ghost.

He first pulled a separate line out of the underground machine room and pulled it to Lao Yu's room.

This room was arranged by Mei Ziqing and Lao Yu. She saw that Lao Yu was lonely and helpless, often working night shifts in the laboratory, and it was inconvenient to live outside. In addition, Lao Yu was hard-working and hard-working, well-connected and got along with everyone, so she simply let him move in.

Lao Yu's room was originally a utility room, very close to the underground machine room. For Bian Ziyuan, it was a simple matter to connect the network cable between the underground computer room and Laoyu's room.

The reason why he didn't meet the ghost directly in the underground computer room like Aoki was because Bianzi didn't want to do it blatantly. He was not Aoki. On the other hand, if he wanted Cronus to enter his dream, someone had to be there. You can't let Lao Yu play the Dream Guide game in the underground computer room with the space box open next to him. That would be too abnormal.

He chose the special day of Qingming Festival. Others were either going to visit graves or going for an outing. Even Professor Mei was not there. Only he and Lao Yu were left in the laboratory.

He asked Lao Yu: "You don't have to visit the grave during Qingming Festival, do you?"

Lao Yu said: "Which grave am I going to? I'm not from Wuzhong either."

Bian Ziyuan said: "Where is my hometown?"

Lao Yu said: "Hey, I haven't been back for many years! People who have been in jail twice have no shame to go back. Fortunately, there are people taking care of the ancestral graves. In the past few years, I heard that they were all moved to the cemetery. It's okay. It's okay. , old neighbors from each village meet again, it’s exciting just thinking about it.”

Bian Ziyuan said: "Then if you never go back, what will you do in the future?"

Lao Yu said: "In the future? Are you thinking what will happen if I die?"

Bian Ziyuan said: "Bah, bah, bah, I didn't say that, you will live a long life!"

The old man Yu Le said: "I'm already half buried in the ground, but I'm still afraid to say this! To be honest, I haven't thought about my afterlife. You see, the cemetery in Wuzhong is more expensive than the house in our hometown." Yeah! Anyway, I’m a bachelor with no children or grandchildren, so I just kick my legs and don’t care about it at all!”

Bian Ziyuan was silent for a while and said, "I will be your son."

Lao Yu was stunned, his old eyes suddenly turned red, and he cursed half-crying: "You brat, you talk without any sense! If you treat me as my son, what will your parents do? They raised you like this , are you just asking you to go out and recognize me randomly?"

For some reason, Bian Ziyuan's eyes were red and his nose was sore. He saw Lao Yu turning his face away and wiping the muddy old tears overflowing from the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand, obviously not wanting him to see him. But he saw a figure even more lonely than the tearful old man.

"I'll go buy some food and come back, and we'll have a few drinks together." Bian Zi left Lao Yu's dormitory as if he was running away.

He went to the supermarket and bought two self-heating hot pots, half a roast duck, a pound of braised beef and a large portion of Lao Yu's favorite beef offal. He also weighed some peanuts, carried two bottles of wine and returned to the laboratory.

He put his things in Lao Yu's dormitory, added water to the self-heating hot pot, and then returned to the office to get his laptop and space box. He planned to let Lao Yu wear the space box and play with it when he was almost drunk. Last time, Lao Yu wore the space box to play with after drinking. Taking that opportunity, he could lie down on the table and take a nap. It is easier to fall asleep after drinking alcohol, and he has mastered some techniques to make himself dream.

Bian Ziyuan has always been curious about how Lao Su completed the game registration. The Dream Guide is very strict in censoring players. He checked the game database afterwards and found that there was indeed Lao Yu's registration information. He asked Lao Yu, and Lao Yu said that Assistant Mei taught him how to use it. Bian Ziyuan thought it was probably a random test arranged by the professor or something.

As soon as he came out of the office, he met Mei Ziqing.

"Ah, Teacher Bian, you are in the office too!" Mei Ziqing no longer calls him classmate Bian as before. Over the past two years, he has gained enough respect in the laboratory, except for Professor Mei and Lao Yuyi Call him Xiao Bian, and others call him Teacher Bian.

Bian Ziyuan was stunned for a moment and said: "Ah, yes, I have nothing to do, so I just went back to the office to have a look. Assistant Mei, why are you here too? Don't you need to go visit the grave?"

Mei Ziqing chuckled and said, "You forgot that I am Japanese!"

"Oops!" Bian Ziyuan slapped his head, "I'm sorry, look at my memory!"

Mei Ziqing said: "It doesn't matter, what are you going to do?"

"Oh, it's okay anyway, so I went to Uncle Yu's dormitory for a few drinks. I've bought all the food and drinks." After Bian Ziyuan finished speaking, he explained, "Uncle Yu and I are both outsiders without a home!"

"Ah, it turns out that the food and wine are all ready!" Mei Ziqing blinked and said, "Then... can I join? I am also a homeless outsider!"