Embers Ad Infinitum

Shang Jianyao didn't care that "Zhuang Sheng" Du Heng was in front of him, he clapped his hands and said:

"It turns out that the authority refers to this!

"That guy Wu Meng just refuses to speak human words!"

Du Heng didn't pay attention to Shang Jianyao's casual intervention, and said with a slightly self-deprecating smile:

"At that time, we were all overwhelmed with joy, thinking that we had really passed the stairs and entered the forbidden area of ​​​​the gods, and we would see each other forever."

"I now believe that Wu Meng is your student." Shang Jianyao said sincerely.

They all have the same tone, the only difference is that Wu Meng often knows what is happening but does not know why, and tries to "integrate" Tao into life.

Du Heng laughed:

“We spent a lot of time thinking about our title, and we all agreed that we couldn’t just use the title God, because it would be too tacky.

"As you know, I like games very much. I found inspiration from the game and decided to use 'Zhi Sui' to refer to our group of gods, and then choose the corresponding month to take charge. It just so happened that there were thirteen of us in total, which matched the ten The concept of two months plus a leap month, I never gave 'Truth' permission later on, because after it was added, the number would be exceeded, and it could not be strictly corresponded, and the beauty of mathematics and setting would be lost..."

"Isn't it because the 'last man' occupies the position?" Shang Jianyao asked in surprise.

"No." Du Heng shook his head.

Shang Jianyao sighed for a while:

"If I were the 'truth' and knew the real reason was this, I would never rest in peace."

"But in a sense, it is the 'last man' who occupies that position." Du Heng thought for a moment.

As long as "truth" becomes the rule in a way that replaces "last person", there is no such thing as being unable to strictly correspond and losing the beauty of mathematics and settings.

"Yes." Shang Jianyao was convinced and praised sincerely, "As expected of a senior gamer, he values ​​the beauty of the settings so much."

As for the beauty of mathematics, he cannot appreciate it.

Du Heng did not continue this topic, and said with emotion under the rapidly flashing lights:

"I also like Taoist culture very much, so I gave myself the title 'Zhuang Sheng'. They also changed their names to 'Bodhi', 'Shuangri', 'Si Ming'..."

"If I can reach the age of 10, what should I be called? 'Hey' is such an unserious title... How about 'destiny'?" Shang Jianyao fell into a dilemma.

Du Heng didn't answer his question, and his eyes showed a bit of vicissitudes of life:

"Everyone has selfish motives. After the initial adaptation stage, we plan to monopolize the 'god forbidden area' and prevent others from becoming Zhi Sui.

"To this end, we took advantage of the specialness of the 'New World' and jointly established the 'Hall of Stars' to manifest everyone's 'spiritual world' and 'ocean of consciousness' into the 'Ocean of Origin', and through the creation of the 'Soul Corridor' The way connects the ‘sea of ​​origin’ together.”

"What's going on at the gate of the 'New World'?" Shang Jianyao was quite curious about this.

Du Heng said "ha":

“Of course we also open the door to the ‘new world’, which is both a trap and an opportunity.

“We can control the door to appear in any room of the ‘soul corridor’ and give hints to make people feel familiar and have the courage to continue exploring.

"As long as any one of us is willing, we can let the awakened person who has just entered the 'soul corridor' see the door directly. However, when pushing, we need to consume additional energy and give a certain amount of help, otherwise the 'soul' at that level will The strength of the awakened person in the corridor is not enough. He must explore the depths and improve himself before he can easily open the door with his own strength.

"Coming to the 'New World' is equivalent to fully accepting our management. You can't make waves anymore, let alone become the leader."

Shang Jianyao expressed his confusion:

"Why do you say it's still an opportunity?"

This is an obvious trap!

"Without the door we provided, human beings can currently only reach half of the 'New World' level." Du Heng simply explained, "Do you think that the amplification and improvement of brain waves can have such a strong electromagnetic manipulation effect, and even interfere with it?" Material? Only when you are in the 'Soul Corridor' and the 'New World' can you use the specialness here to do things that currently seem ordinary."

Shang Jianyao's focus went astray again. He rubbed his chin and said:

"In other words, even if there is no 'Hall of Stars', no 'Soul Corridor', and no that door, normal awakened people can still reach the 'New World' level step by step, but the induction range and ability strength are much weaker? "

"Yes." Du Heng nodded.

Shang Jianyao asked:

"If such an awakened person can enter the second research area you mentioned, find a way to bypass the restrictions, take control of the machine, and steal the permissions, can he also become an executive?"

Du Heng nodded gently:

"There is another prerequisite, which is to enter the experimental chamber, receive the final stimulation, and develop the brain to a certain extent."

He went on to say:

"Otherwise, why do you think I would take control of the remaining people in the Eighth House and let them guard this place and kill all efforts to figure out the cause of the destruction of the old world?"

"Another reason is the power required to maintain the machine." Shang Jianyao added helpfully.

Suddenly, his expression changed:

"Brain waves! You just said brain waves!

"Is the brain control device those people from the Salvation Army talking about true in a sense?"

"That's their own imagination." Du Heng denied it first, and then said, "For the awakened ones who rely on themselves instead of the platform we built to become the 'soul corridor' or even the 'new world', complete electromagnetic shielding can indeed Prevent the influence they exert, but as long as we can take advantage of the specialness here, the protective effect will not be very good."

"Oh." Shang Jianyao then remembered that he had diverted the topic for a while, and the lights around him flickered to an urgent level, "You can continue talking about business."

Du Heng glanced at the door, sighed slightly and said:

"In the beginning, everything was great until we discovered that we were hungry and needed to feed on human consciousness."

"Isn't it enough to rely on biochips and power supply?" Shang Jianyao was full of resistance.

Du Heng shook his head:

"Our form of existence is very special. We only rely on it, rather than being rooted in the biochip. When we use our abilities, we can indeed draw electrical energy through it and increase our power, but the consciousness itself will also decay.

"Those mechanical monks cannot avoid this, but their consciousness has been transplanted into a biochip, and the decay rate is very slow, allowing them to survive for hundreds or even thousands of years.

“Hey, after we were so hungry that we couldn’t stand it anymore and became weak, we betrayed our conscience and morality and started to eat people. Moreover, we also discovered that even if we don’t need to feed on human consciousness, we still have to do so in the end.

"The formation of this 'new world' is related to the extraction of a large amount of human consciousness when the 'old world' was destroyed. It itself is also decaying little by little. Living water must always come in to maintain stability, otherwise it will collapse in a dozen or more decades. Completely disintegrate or disappear.”

Du Heng was silent for a few seconds and sighed:

“From that day on, we were never the same, and some of us truly stopped seeing ourselves as human beings.

"During that time, I did not impose any restraints on all the Zhi Sui, and allowed everyone to do their own thing. As a result, multiple sects were born on the dust, human disputes could not be calmed down, and there was chaos everywhere.

"Judging from the situation at that time, even if more than 90% of the people died when the old world was destroyed, and even if a large number of 'heartless people' were active in the dust afterwards, after seven or eight winters, humanity could still slowly rebuild. After all, many scientific and technological materials and industrial machines have been well preserved, but those of us who have joined in have allowed the dust to continue to slide into the abyss."

"Yes, it is because there is no hope in the chaotic era that the 'Salvation Army' appeared." Shang Jianyao sighed.

Du Heng nodded:

"When the number of humans dropped significantly again, and civilization was partially cut off and in danger, I teamed up with several Zhi Sui who were worried about this, and had several frank talks with the remaining ones, and fought twice.

"Considering the importance of human beings to our stability in the 'New World', we finally reached an agreement, that is, Zhi Sui should try not to interfere in Huitu's affairs, reduce the frequency of 'unintentional diseases', and allow humans to recuperate.

"At the same time, after winning the victory, I also imposed restrictions on the other leaders so that they could not leave the 'Tower' normally, so that their every move in the 'New World' could not be hidden from me. This is equivalent to their operation. The diary is transparent to me, so their private connections are either through the people and objects on the dust, or with the help of 'truth'."

"Why is there no restriction on 'truth'?" Shang Jianyao asked in confusion.

Du Heng said:

"He is also a researcher himself. He just entered the Eighth Hospital and was transferred to the Second Research Area. He lost his body due to the disaster and entered the 'new world'.

"He woke up late. At that time, we had completed the distribution, and no one wanted to have one more person to share authority.

"Later, when a conflict broke out between us, he kept hiding and did not show up, so he was not imprisoned in the tower. In addition, he was not an executive and had no operation log. I have a split personality and often fight against myself. It is impossible to do everything in detail. Monitor the affairs of those awakened people in the 'New World', thus making him the most special one.

"At critical moments, he can also gain certain authority through the people behind him."

Before Shang Jianyao could ask again, Du Heng brought the topic back on track:

“After that conflict, the Gray Earth ended the age of chaos and began to count the years according to the new calendar.

“The executives who were restrained and restricted lost part of their freedom, and they would definitely not be willing to do so. And as time went by, we discovered another problem.

“That is, machines also have a lifespan, and machines will also age.

“Once that machine is finished, the ‘new world’ that loses its connection with the dust and corresponding support will either collapse or completely float in the ‘darkness’ until it dissipates.

"Many parts can be replaced, but the core components cannot be operated while powered. As long as the power is cut off, we may disappear directly.

"'Si Ming' and the others hope to make preparations in advance and rely on the remaining people from the Eighth and Sixth Houses to build another machine and then try to transfer it, but this will probably require a large amount of human consciousness to act as a catalyst or stabilizer.

"At that time, I had already made a decision and did not agree to them. They began to collude and resist privately, and turmoil broke out again and again."

"What decision?" Shang Jianyao asked curiously.

Du Heng looked at him and smiled:

"I'm going to destroy that machine, put an end to this, put an end to this decades-long disaster."

"Ah?" Shang Jianyao was shocked.

Du Heng saw this and smiled teasingly:

"Otherwise, who do you think gave that nuclear warhead to your team?"