Volume 11: Memetic Crisis Chapter 540: Rushing to the Contaminated Area
"No." Ke Lan shook her head, "I don't feel any discomfort."
"It seems that the experts' guess is correct... As the 'mother' of the cloned tissue, you will not be infected..." Lin Qiming's face showed a trace of obvious excitement.
"What about you? Are you feeling any discomfort? Itchy skin, joint pain or... respiratory distress?" What Lin Qiming didn't expect was that Ke Lan actually threw this question to him.
He felt a little strange: "I... I didn't see any pictures of the untreated 'source of infection'?"
"No, you saw it."
Ke Lan closed the "dangerous" image file, pointed at her eyes with the index and middle fingers of her right hand, and retorted: "You said before that not only videos and image files, but even images in the mirror are contagious. So you were staring at me and observing my reaction just now, and the reflection of the image on the screen must have appeared in my eyes."
Lin Qiming: “This…”
"Although this reflection is hard to see if you don't look carefully, it does exist." Ke Lan continued, "But you are like me, you are not infected."
"This... I just... didn't notice it at all..."
Ke Lan sighed: "Perhaps... the way it is spreading now is almost the same as what the experts call 'memetic transmission', except that its 'meme' is incomplete and must meet certain conditions to spread."
"It's because I didn't 'see' them subjectively that I wasn't infected, isn't that what you mean..." As expected of the deputy chief of the crisis management department, Lin Qiming reacted immediately.
"Yes. When you don't notice, or your brain 'thinks' that you haven't seen those things, the specific conditions for 'memetic transmission' cannot be met. Even if you have actually seen those eyeballs, you will not be infected." Ke Lan said, "This is probably a paradox at the cognitive level. It is a bit like idealism in philosophical theory - that is, spirit determines matter: what you see and what you know is real." Ke Lan said.
"Then if someone can temporarily change his perception of the world through his own strong willpower... then wouldn't he be immune to infection?"
"In theory, as long as you can 'lie to yourself', for example, you see those eyeballs, but you can tell your brain, 'I didn't see anything', and firmly believe it, you can literally 'turn a blind eye and a deaf ear'... then this person can completely ignore the meme infection." Ke Lan paused, "But this is difficult to do, and the judgment of cognitive boundaries is extremely vague. At least if the mind is a little lax, it will..."
"But this is still a very groundbreaking idea! Could you please send the content of our conversation to the experts at the institute? I think this should be of great help in solving the incident."
"Whatever you want..." Ke Lan waved her hand. "Anyone with a slightly wild imagination can come up with this kind of thing. Those experts probably fell into the trap of their inherent ideas... But the problem is that this thing cannot be explained by any existing theory or law of mankind."
"Indeed." Lin Qiming nodded in agreement. At this time, he was already somewhat convinced of Ke Lan, this "special temporary boss". "At first, we tried to have people drive mechas into the contaminated area, and automatically block the eyeballs that appeared in the surveillance cameras through the program, but because the AI could not recognize it, it could not be coded in the first time. None of the first two batches of pilots who entered the contaminated area were free from infection.
Some people have suggested that the rear personnel perform manual identification, but manual identification will have a delay of several seconds, and there may be omissions... In addition, the cost is too high. The people responsible for identification are like consumables. A human life can only buy a few minutes of time for a mecha at most...
The countermeasures team came up with several plans, such as deliberately rendering the image blurred, but the specially processed image is still contagious. The only way is to directly cover it with color blocks or other layers, just like you just said, 'out of sight, out of mind'.
As for the thermal infrared detection mode, it is completely useless - the temperature of those things is exactly the same as the environment, and they are 'invisible' in the infrared field of view..."
I don’t know since when, Lin Qiming’s way of addressing Ke Lan has changed from “you” to “you”.
"It's all hypothetical anyway, so we might as well be bolder." Ke Lan stood up, "Have you ever thought that these eyeballs may not exist in the real world at all? Maybe... they only exist in our cognition? Otherwise, why can't AI recognize them?"
"Huh?!" Lin Qiming was suddenly shocked, and his whole body shook.
"Since things are so outrageous, let's just let it be outrageous to the end." Ke Lan shrugged. "Of course, assumptions are assumptions. This thing is definitely not that simple... At least, it has the ability to interfere with reality and is not completely virtual. A 'meme' is a piece of information, but the thing that carries the information must be something in the real world. It's just that whether it is the shape of an 'eyeball' is hard to say."
"I have sent these proposals to the front-line countermeasures team. The experts in the team are discussing it intensely... The tablet in your hand also has access to the countermeasures team. You can use it to listen in or directly participate." Lin Qiming said.
"Forget about participating. I know my own strengths and weaknesses. I just provided them with a 'possibility'." Ke Lan shook her head. "Since you said time is tight, let's set off quickly... The experts were right about one thing: 'memes' can change at any time, and no one knows what they will look like in the end."
"The high-speed train is on standby at the nearest station. It only takes us fifteen minutes to reach the blockade outside the contaminated area." Lin Qiming said immediately.
"Um... there is one more thing. Please help me find someone."
"who?"
"God Hunter Group, Asano Akira, I need him as my assistant." Ke Lan said, "This mission is tailor-made for him."
As Ke Lan said, if the vector of the "meme" is vision, then a blind person is naturally immune.
Coupled with Asano Akira's unreasonable fighting power, even if the "meme" really has the strength of a Type B mutant, he can easily kill it alone.
…
…
The "high-speed special train" mentioned by Lin Qiming is more like a space shuttle placed horizontally on a magnetic levitation track than a train.
At the rear of the train, there were even four rocket thrusters with nozzles nearly two meters in diameter installed... Ke Lan could even imagine the terrifying feeling of being pushed back when the train started...
"For safety reasons, please put this on." Lin Qiming handed over a box containing a heavy composite anti-gravity suit. After Ke Lan put on the suit, a staff member from the crisis management department immediately inserted a tube into the interface of the anti-gravity suit, and a semi-solid fluid similar to gel quickly filled the interlayer of the suit.
Ke Lan felt as if she was trapped in an oversized jelly, even her head was wrapped tightly.
The isolation walls between the blocks have been lowered, but a hole is still reserved on the isolation wall for trains to pass through - of course, the only train that can pass through this place is the one that Ke Lan is riding.
All public transportation inside the Ark has been suspended, so even if this train equipped with rocket thrusters runs faster, there is no need to worry about running into other trains - in the entire Ark's magnetic levitation track network with a total length of tens of thousands of kilometers, this is the only train still running.
What made Ke Lan speechless the most was ... this train even shouted "three, two, one, ignition" when it started - then, a push on his back strong enough to make a person faint for a short time was applied to him. Although the gel filled in the anti-gravity suit had buffered most of the G-force, Ke Lan was still oppressed by this force and unable to speak.
The surrounding streets were receding rapidly, and the scenery outside the porthole soon became a long, blurry shadow. Everyone in the car leaned against the back of their seats, holding on to the armrests of their seats tightly with both hands.
The pressure did not ease until the train stopped accelerating. Ke Lan glanced at Lin Qiming beside him. His condition was obviously not much better than hers.
Of course, it could also be due to excessive blood loss from the gunshot wound just now.
"The wound didn't break open, did it?" Ke Lan asked.
"It's okay." Lin Qiming shook his head. "Me too... This is the first time I've tried this kind of transportation today... This isn't actually a train..."
"I see, this thing is modified from a space shuttle, right?" Ke Lan pointed to an emblem on the back of the front seat, "Even the Second Cruise Fleet's logo is still there."
"Yes." Lin Qiming nodded. "This is a high-speed transportation device designed for emergency situations, but it is still just a concept machine. This plan was just proposed four months ago."
"So... this thing is still a semi-finished product?" Ke Lan was stunned for a moment, "Is it safe? Although we don't have to worry about a crash, if it derails, no one on this car will survive, right?"
Generally, space shuttles are equipped with ejection escape devices. If the space shuttle crashes, with the help of this device, the crew has at least a 70% survival rate... But the problem is that they are now inside the Ark. Except for some special blocks, the height of a single floor in most areas will not exceed 150 meters. Some places with tight space even have single-digit floor heights - if they eject in such a place, they probably won't even be able to open the parachute and will directly crash into the dome...
"Safety... should be guaranteed..." As he spoke, Lin Qiming's face turned even paler. Ke Lan noticed that crimson liquid was dripping down his trouser legs, and a small pool of blood had formed under his seat.
"You said your wound is fine?" Ke Lan frowned, "How about we stop the train and treat the wound?"
"Really... it's okay... don't waste... your precious time for me." Lin Qiming said intermittently , "Besides... once the car stops, you have to refill the fuel if you want to start it again..."
"You are the same as those people in the Security Bureau." Ke Lan sighed helplessly, "You always put your mission first and never take your life seriously."
"I'm a level 4 enhanced person, this injury is really not a big deal..." Lin Qiming said, he unbuttoned his anti-gravity suit and inserted a syringe under his shoulder.
At first, Ke Lan thought it was a blood coagulant, but if it was a blood coagulant, the injection point should be one inch away from the wound on the torso... It was not until Lin Qiming finished injecting the medicine and pulled out the syringe that Ke Lan realized that it was actually a military stimulant.
"He's really a guy who doesn't care about his life." Ke Lan shook his head.
After taking the stimulant, Lin Qiming's condition improved instantly, and his speech was no longer intermittent: "They will be there soon. I just received news that your companions have arrived at the front-line command center where the countermeasures team is located."
"them?"
"Except for Asano Akira, who you mentioned, other members of the God Hunter Group are also here," Lin Qiming replied, "I have informed the crew in advance and obtained permission."
"Aren't they just adding to the chaos? They're not blind, why are they coming here to mess things up? Don't they think it's trouble enough?" Although he was touched, Ke Lan couldn't help but curse, "Tell your people to keep a close eye on these guys and never let them enter the contaminated area!"
"I understand." Lin Qiming nodded. "At first I was going to reject their request, but they said they would not let Asano Akira go unless I agreed. They even threatened to use violence to snatch him away... The team responsible for finding him almost had a conflict with them, so we had to compromise."
"You guys are smart. If you really fight with those bastards, I will quit now." Ke Lan said.
"I know that those people are very important companions to you, so I have repeatedly emphasized this point to the people in that group." Lin Qiming said.
Just as he finished speaking, the train finally began to slow down...
