Chapter 300 University Town Civility Code (20)
When this strong negative cognition arose, a sharp pain suddenly swept through Guo Guo's brain.
She felt a terrifyingly strong suction force pulling her towards the projected image.
...It was impossible in the past, even if you beat me to death!
Guo Guo tried his best to calm himself down, closed his eyes and silently told himself that everything was fake, fighting against this attraction.
An unknown amount of time passed, until his entire back was drenched in sweat, and the strength slowly faded. Guo Guo opened his aching eyes, only to see that the projection room had returned to darkness. The projector that had been accidentally touched sat quietly on the shelf, with no visible light source indicating it was turned on.
Guo Guo lowered her eyes to look at the place she had just accidentally touched - there was still a thick layer of dust on it, and there was no sign of it having been wiped off.
Could it be that what she just saw was just an illusion?
She panted and thought for two seconds, then pressed her temple. A pair of contact lenses appeared on her nose, and a few lines of small data appeared on the lenses:
[[Dimensionality Reduction Glasses] are continuing to reduce the negative effects of your supernatural power [Sky Eye]. Currently, the remaining energy is 12%. Please recharge in time.]
Before the graduation exam, these items were fully charged. Now that they've suddenly dropped to the center of the Earth, it can only be that the "Sky Eye" has been triggered.
Realizing this, Guo Guo felt her head ache again. But now she was no longer the novice who fainted at the sight of illusions, and she would no longer blindly believe the images instilled in her eyes.
She believes more in herself, more in 606, and more in the future they are creating.
After gathering his thoughts, Guo Guo continued to inspect the projection room and soon found a machine that looked like it could print photos. There were two rows of small, two-inch photos taped to the side of the machine. The people in the photos were almost blank. Before Guo Guo could take a second look, a voice echoed in his mind:
"Xin Jue, Guo Guo, can you hear us?"
When Zhang You discovered that his roommate had disappeared, he was taking out medical medicine from his backpack, but he had to stuff all the bottles into Zheng Wanqing's hands.
Zheng Wanqing: "...I drink ten bottles?"
Since there were only two people left, they guessed that 606 should be divided into two teams, and the other team was naturally Tang Xinjue and Guo Guo. Comparing the map with the characteristics of the room in front of them, the two quickly identified their location:
"This should be between areas three and six of the archives room, mainly storing historical archives."
Zhang Youxing walked between the bookshelves, observing the books and materials on them.
They knew that the official language of the university town was a string of garbled symbols that only ghosts could understand, and most of the information in the library was also composed of these garbled characters.
But once they entered the core archive area, the presence of Chinese characters gradually increased, and they were able to understand more and more information.
"Experimental records... 077... 084... 097... Zhang You, come over and take a look."
Zheng Wanqing saw several newly bound black booklets with many words related to experiments written in them. They looked more like a diary than a book.
Today marks the activation of all anchor points and the beginning of the first inner world experiment. Although the concept of dates has long been abandoned in University City, I still want to record all of this, hoping that after my death, someone will inherit my will and goals and successfully dismantle University City.
To this day, I still believe that University City is a misguided creation. Its development is destined to run counter to our original intentions when we created it. We can only create a half-finished product. We cannot control the number and method of containment. Their ambition and greed will inevitably backfire on University City. If they can perish with University City and return to the ground, this record will never see the light of day again. But when University City begins to repair itself, it means that we no longer exist, while they are still here...
[To this end, I, along with others, have designed a final program to pull in new companions from the main world. Following the rules we've left behind, we will transfer the university town's energy and determine its fate.]
I don't want to name the program by myself; its name will be randomly generated by the 1000th bit of code. Although I won't see the day it runs, I hope it's a name full of poetry and power, just like us at the beginning.
Turning to the next page, the handwriting turned into a scribbled mess:
[001 Experimental Record. First attempt: Success; Second attempt: Failure; Third attempt: Success…]
The rest was filled with repetitive records and terminology, with no new information or text. Zheng Wanqing was silent for a moment, then turned to look at Zhang You. "Is the name [Dormitory Survival Game] poetic?"
Zhang You: "...Maybe that's the aesthetic of the program."
It's too late for them to lose their memory now. Although the counselor warned them not to actively touch upon things related to the "Origin of the University Town" in the copy, this should be considered... passive contact?
The two of them were unsure for a moment. Whether it was because they had guessed correctly, or because of the uniqueness of the space they were in, they didn't know. Even though they had memorized a secret about the university town, they still stood there for several minutes without any punishment.
"Then it's all right." Zhang You breathed a sigh of relief and made a quick decision: "In that case, let's take a closer look."
She had a feeling that the emergence of this information was closely related to the end of the graduation exam. If they knew more about it now, it might be helpful for them to pass it.
The second understandable document was on another bookshelf. The pages were a mixture of garbled characters and Chinese characters, and seemed to be about issues related to "underground miasma".
Zhang You was not good at studying such complex and fragmented texts , so he simply handed it over to the paper-crazy Zheng Wanqing. After reading it once, the latter accurately extracted the above information:
"This records the debate between two factions, probably twelve in total. Six advocated sealing all possible miasma leaks to prevent future problems. However, the other six held the opposite view, believing that blocking is worse than draining. The university town's foundation is still unstable, and forcible suppression could easily lead to collapse and...earthquakes."
Zheng Wanqing noticed that the word "earthquake" appeared several times in the information. "The following is a discussion about earthquakes. They predict that in the near future, an earthquake will occur in the university town, causing the underground space to connect with the university town, allowing a large number of ghosts to enter without being screened. In order to prevent them from surviving until then to take charge, they need to create a more complete backup system in advance to control the situation."
Zhang You seemed to be thinking: "What's next?"
Zheng Wanqing frowned and said, "They're still arguing later... I feel like they're more like dividing up the inheritance."
According to various information, if these 12 people were the founders of the first generation of university towns, then in this record book, they had already determined that they would soon disappear, and after their death, the university town would be their "legacy."
The creators couldn't agree on how to handle the university town. Some advocated establishing a strict regulatory system, where only beings more terrifying than ghosts could suppress them and prevent them from wreaking havoc. Others advocated creating a rich ecological and internal circulation space, allowing ghosts to live normally there, and then completely sealing off the university town, turning it into an isolated island that would never be discovered.
"...Some people also say that we can try to throw the university town back to the main world and let the humans in the real world decide its fate."
Zheng Wanqing read out another person's rebuttal:
"But how can we ensure that when we're thrown into the main world, the timeline anchor point is both after the 21st century and before their timeline... If the main world isn't prepared, the university town will become a nightmare beyond human comprehension."
[There will definitely be a more neutral approach. Until then, I suggest putting the university town on hold... until preparations are complete.]
"What's next?"
“No more.”
"No more?"
"Yes." Zheng Wanqing turned the page at the back, but it was blank.
After that sentence, the words on the back of the entire document seemed to have been collectively erased, leaving no information.
"Isn't there a part you don't want us to know?" Zhang You nodded.
In fact, even without reading the subsequent records, they can already roughly deduce what happened next: the Ministry of Education, Eyeball Teacher, Exam World, the advent of games...
Everything is a pre-set procedure.
Zhang You pinched his brows and said, "Let's look for any other information."
They were trapped in these archive rooms, unable to retreat or move forward. Apart from looking for information, they could only wait.
Waiting for the opportunity to contact teammates and leave.
Zheng Wanqing didn't move: "I heard a sound."
Zhang You's eyebrows jumped suddenly, and he was about to defend himself when he suddenly heard a familiar voice coming from his sea of consciousness.
It's a spiritual connection!
The last time they entered the library, although the four of them were separated into four different spaces, they could still communicate normally through mental connection.
But this time, as soon as the other three disappeared, Tang Xinjue discovered that the mental power connecting to 606 was also disconnected.
She immediately understood that this was the result of interference from external forces.
Combined with the last encounter with the "foreign NPC" in the library, the external factor this time is also likely to appear near her.
Sure enough, just after passing a few shabby bookshelves, Tang Xinjue saw the source of the "magnetic field interference": sitting at a round table in the corner of the room were three... stick figures?
The matchstick people who existed in three-dimensional space in two-dimensional form didn't seem to notice Tang Xinjue's approach. They were talking intensely, and the arms of the matchstick lines were waving in the air.
When Tang Xin Jue approached, the mixed voices of boys and girls entered his ears:
"Have you forgotten the most basic rule of the university town? The university town belongs to the students! If you add programs like teachers and directors, the rules will become contradictory, and the probability of bugs will increase several times!"
A boy asked fiercely.
"That's right, so we not only need to bring in teachers and educational programs, but also open up the entire system, integrate it into normal community and urban life, attract more similar creations, and let them gather around the university town. The university town must become a real city so that it can create the energy needed for maintenance."
A girl said calmly.
"Excuse me, why not just destroy the university town? Instead of hoping the semi-finished product will automatically evolve into a finished product, wouldn't it be much easier to just destroy it from the timeline?"
Another girl interrupted in a stern tone.
"What are you talking about?" The stickman who first raised the question shook his head in disbelief. He obviously felt that the other two stickman's suggestions were more outrageous than the last.
"Are you crazy?"
"We're not crazy, we're just dead, Abu."
"...Everyone is searching for the most suitable home for the university town. This is our ultimate responsibility, regardless of whether we exist in those prosperous timelines..."
When he walked to the front of the round table, Tang Xinjue only heard the girl's last two slightly sad sighs.
Tang Xin Jue noticed three student ID-sized ID badges on the table. Unlike their student IDs, however, the small two-inch photo area on these ID cards was covered with a stick figure drawing, obscuring the original photo.
Could it be that this is related to the formation of the stickman state?
When she raised her eyes again, she found that two of the stick figures beside the round table were gone. Only the depressed male stick figure from the beginning was left, staring blankly at the small window on the wall.
Tang Xin Jue: "There's nothing outside the window."
"I know." The stick figure made a self-deprecating sound, actually talking to Tang Xin Jue: "A large amount of white mist accumulates here all year round. Do you know why this is so?"
Tang Xinjue answered truthfully: "I don't know. Why?"
Stickman: "Because there is no budget."
Tang Xin Jue: "..."
The stick figure continued, "Because constantly facing the white fog can cause depression, we held more than a dozen general meetings and ultimately decided to overcome the challenge and ensure eight hours a day without seeing the fog. This task was ultimately assigned to me, and I completed it perfectly."
Tang Xinjue realized something and raised his eyebrows slightly: "How did you do it?"
Stickman: "I set the fog to dissipate at night. When it becomes pitch black, no one can see the fog outside the window."
"."
Expected, but unexpected. Tang Xin Jue didn't plan to communicate with it for too long: "Excuse me, but I want to go find my friend. Staying near you will affect our communication signal. Can you help me find a way to leave?"
"Oh, sorry to have delayed you."
The stick figure was also very polite, apologizing repeatedly, picking up the black hat and standing up to leave. But just before leaving, it suddenly turned around. On its large, stick figure head without any facial features, Tang Xinjue seemed to see a pair of eyes staring back at him:
"I'm sorry, but I'd like to take up a moment of your time to ask a question."
Tang Xinjue naturally withdrew his hand that was about to take the student ID card on the desk: "Go ahead."
"As you can see, I'm currently struggling with a dilemma. There are two paths before me: one is to accept my fate and perish with my companions; the other is to use my limited abilities to become a lonely coward. Classmate, which path do you think I should choose?"
