Volume 17: Enemy of All Things Chapter 15: The City Without Light
"But...why should I listen to other people's opinions?"
I've waited long enough.
Looking at the real world in front of him, Li Lin took a deep breath, feeling the fluctuations in his mind that were gradually becoming identical to those in the game.
"You have to be firm in your thinking, Li Lin."
Facing his pale self in the mirror, Li Lin picked up the knife expressionlessly and slashed his slender palm. The slight stinging sensation and the flowing blood reminded him that he was no longer that glamorous character, but just an ordinary, weak person in reality.
But this tingling sensation was extremely real. Unlike in the game, he actually lived in this world. With a body without any strength, and a physique that would pant after walking a few steps, if it weren't for the nanomachines flowing in his blood to replenish and maintain it, it would not take long for Li Lin to be directly taken to the hospital due to various sub-health complications. After all, his living conditions were really not healthy.
However, life is something that can be abandoned at times.
Observing the unbelievably delicate face in the mirror, Li Lin felt as if something was burning in his brain.
Ten years, ten years. Li Lin should have been a proud and complacent man who believed that there was nothing to fear in the world. He should have been a warrior who was not afraid of anything. However, ten years not only dragged him from heaven to hell, but also made his spirit and energy dissipate.
Yes, he didn't know what happened during that time. But Li Lin felt that he would rather know what happened.
If he really knew what happened in the past, he wouldn't be so obsessed with the past. There is no love without reason, and there is no hatred without reason. Li Lin firmly believes that everything he does has a reason. Whether it is the inexplicable A authority, or the weird game, or even this world that is as he wants but vaguely traps him in the same place, everything has a reason.
He didn't know what the reason was. Or maybe some kind of hint stained on his brain cells didn't let him know. He had always been depressed, always submissive in reality, living cautiously, and felt that all this was dangerous.
This is indeed very dangerous, extremely dangerous. Everything that comes from unknown sources is dangerous. That is why we need to find out the truth.
Since there is no one in this world who can make decisions, isn't it time for me to act?
If we delay this, who knows what the result will be?
"You should find the truth, Li Lin..."
After coming out of the bathroom, Li Lin went to the study room of this Martian residence and found a pen and paper in the room. He dipped the medieval-style ink and feather pen in an alternating pattern and waved them in Li Lin's hands, constantly recording his fragmented inspiration on the parchment.
"Everyone is a liar, and no one is trustworthy. Look at your former friends, they will never contact you on their own initiative. Everything about you is controlled by AI, but is AI right? They may not be right. And are those people in the university trustworthy? They are also not trustworthy. Nothing is inevitable, nothing must be believed, only with your own eyes, only by relying on yourself can you find out the truth..."
What am I supposed to do? Oh yeah, find the truth...
Looking at the words on the parchment scroll, Li Lin felt an inexplicable dizziness flash through his head.
This is very abnormal, but it also means it is very normal. Only by touching certain core rules can such a strong sense of dizziness be brought about, and only such a dizziness can make Li Lin feel that he is really living in this world, rather than conveying his emotions through some instruments.
If I let it go like this, I will definitely live a wonderful life, right? Even if I don't have the A-level authority, I can live in this world without any worries with my money and wealth. It must be a very wonderful thing to be an ignorant and happy person, right? If possible, I can spend the rest of my life with the girl who likes me, discuss topics that we care about together, and have the best compatibility.
But if you have not experienced the light, you will not know how terrifying the darkness is. If you have not experienced that brief lucidity, you will not know how infuriating your current state is. This twisted thinking, this bizarre idea, this muddle-headed attitude. Li Lin felt that his personality was humiliated. All of this seemed to be a part of a plan. He was just a chess piece responsible for walking. Before everything came to light, he did not even have any right to know, nor did he have any value. He was simply a gear running in the world.
What Li Lin hates most is being a cog. If being a cog wasn't so disgusting, why would he have to go to the game competition to prove everything with his own strength? Why would he have to go against the mainstream of society and control his own activities?
"None of this is me... I have to find out what I want to know... where is he... what is he..."
I can’t remember… I can’t remember what to do…
Li Lin wrote one fragmented character after another on the parchment scroll. Looking at the spreading characters on it, he felt his head was a mess.
It was as if someone took a shovel and hammered nails into the originally smooth chain of thought. The originally smooth thoughts and ideas became chaotic in the blink of an eye, and even logical sentences could not be expressed properly, leaving only fragmented characters and words.
But this is better than not realizing anything before. This is better than being kept in the dark and not knowing what happened. Others may be happy to accept that their life is just an illusion given by others, but for Li Lin himself, it is an absolutely unbearable shame. Even death cannot stop it. Although I don't know why this kind of interference and suggestion gradually retreated, I know that it has become milder.
But this did not stop Li Lin's determination to investigate the truth as soon as possible. He was not a good boy who would do what others said. If it was a task in the game, he might accept it, but this was in reality, and it was about his own memories and everything that happened in the past. After confirming that his logical thinking in the game had been completely liberated, Li Lin immediately turned to reality and began to record the fragmented inspirations and clues in his mind. Even looking at the messy and scattered characters on the parchment scroll, Li Lin could feel the traces of inspiration entangled on it.
AI is not your enemy, but it is not your teammate either. What happened in the past has been buried, but this does not mean that you cannot use AI. On the contrary, from the perspective of AI, you and them are truly natural allies.
Because it was because of his own instruction that the suggestion completely disappeared.
"Because of insufficient computing power... my mental suggestion was directly expelled... This means that the person who issued the order is not higher than or equal to me. And I am an A-level authority user. The AI self-inspection uses the highest level of investigation instructions, so I can appear from the hypnotic position. And in this process, there appeared... the two so-called staff members who inspected the game facilities. The medical nurse, tranquilizers, and some other things..."
"So what is the real hint? Or are all these things hints? What orders did they give... No, judging from the nature of these people, it should be to make me trust and feel irrelevant to everything in the government department... No, there is no break in thinking. It shouldn't be this. Since it is not the government department, then it is indeed my own... life. It hurts a little, but the impact is not big. This answer should be correct, but it is not correct enough. Then it would be more accurate to say that it is to stop me from looking for what I have lost... ah..."
When he thought about having to investigate what happened ten years ago, the familiar sense of disconnection reappeared in front of Li Lin.
This time it was even more serious, even the words written in the text in front of me began to break up. Although I was looking at the familiar font and the notes I wrote completely by hand, I couldn't remember what those characters and symbols meant.
But this means that his thinking is correct. There is no need to worry about what he wrote. He can just verify it with the AI that recorded it. As the last A-level authority, Li Lin does not believe that AI has no control over everything on his side. AI is not trustworthy, but it is also not worth slandering. Li Lin is extremely confident in the loyalty of these mechanically simulated consciousnesses.
"It's all up to you guys then... Record everything, and wait until I recover, I should have a plan..."
Or in theory, there should be some plan written down on that piece of paper.
Li Lin struggled to transform himself into a set of ordinary clothes, and hurriedly rolled up the sheepskin scroll and kicked it into his arms. These things looked like sheepskin scrolls, but in fact they were all products of technology, and there was no problem of ink splashing.
After sensing Li Lin's urgent emotions, the antique-looking parchment scroll quickly transformed into a translucent text, with hook-like creations growing out of the four corners, hanging directly on Li Lin's body. With this strange creation that recorded all his inspirations, Li Lin took a deep breath, curbed the chaotic thoughts in his mind, and directly knocked open the door on Mars.
"Hey, isn't this the brother I saw a while ago?"
Li Lin stumbled out of the door, and as soon as he looked up, he saw a face that was not familiar, but one he had definitely seen before.
"Who are you……"
"Oh my, this is not okay. It's not okay to forget your friends. It makes people very sad."
Weren’t we talking about art some time ago?
The punk-style Martian stood on the side of the road at some point, and opened his palm to Li Lin as if by chance, with a look of surprise on his face. This coincidental behavior made Li Lin frown subconsciously, and a tingling flashed through his mind, but he didn't know what to say, or what incorrect views he should put forward on this phenomenon. His mind gradually fragmented, and he could only stand there in a daze.
Looking at Li Lin's dazed look, the Martian walked over very familiarly.
The various steel pipes and equipment with a strong punk flavor on his body kept spraying various steam and making strange noises. It was like a blessing, or a horn. After this weirdo confirmed that Li Lin had no reaction, he showed an exaggerated expression and did a strange dance on the spot.
"Are you sick? Is there a logical error in your internal machinery? Oh, this is wrong, this is very wrong, you should go to the hospital--"
"In this kind of society...are there still hospitals?"
Looking at the exaggerated Martian, Li Lin gave a weak smile.
"Are you still using simple machines and humans to maintain your bodies? Shouldn't you find a repair station?"
"Wow, my friend, you seem to have some misunderstandings. A hospital is a hospital. A place that treats humans is called a hospital. All places that treat humans are called hospitals. You seem to have a serious problem now. Is it because the gravity adjustment was not successful due to acclimatization? Let me help you."
"No...thank you...what's going on here?"
Looking at the darkness around him, Li Lin covered his brain which was swelling with confused emotions, trying to divert his attention.
He realized that everything around him was in an inexplicable darkness. Apart from the frantic crowd of artists swaying and parading on the street, the only bright thing was the red lava waterfall hanging high above. The dark red curtains were flowing down from above, and the red light they brought greatly offset the atmosphere and feeling of being surrounded by shadows. However, the pitch black in the distance still gave people an inexplicable sense of palpitation.
It was as if a mosaic suddenly appeared in a part of the world, or a piece of the sky suddenly stiffened and an error window popped up. An inexplicable sense of absurdity and a faint fear began to gradually linger in Li Lin's heart, making his thoughts more confused and anxious.
"Ah, what's the situation now? Because the solar wind has started to blow. Compared to the Earth, we are hit hard by the solar wind here."
It seemed to be a matter of course, and the man did not show any particularly surprised expression.
"It's just a very simple scenario where everyone stays in the city after a solar wind blows. And it's not a power outage. Look at the molten iron waterfall outside. It looks pretty good. How about it? Do you want to come with me to the artist exhibition that's being held now?"
“…”
I didn't say anything about power outages.
Covering his head, Li Lin staggered and pushed away the Martian's hand, and smiled weakly at him.
"I still have my own tasks to do. So let's just say goodbye here."
"Don't be so vigilant, brother. We are all social animals. How can we resist the charm of socializing——"
"I said, I refuse ."
Li Lin's smile became paler and more stunning.
Then, under the astonished gaze of the punk Martian, the air around him kept vibrating, as if it was constantly absorbing something from the void. Everything around him was distorted for a moment, and a long sword that looked extremely sharp appeared silently in Li Lin's palm.
It was like a re-enactment of a game scene. The Martian subconsciously let out a strange cry when he saw Li Lin's shocking move, then took two steps back and looked at the weak Li Lin in horror. Li Lin did not do much, but just smiled silently at the long sword in his hand that was reassembled by the nanomachine, and walked towards the edge of the lava waterfall. The long sword disintegrated into a cloud of dust again with just a wave of his hand.
"I should have known this a long time ago... I should have known this at the first player gathering... but I forgot..."
Feeling the long sword in his hand disintegrate into nanomachines , Li Lin muttered secretly:
"I should have known this when I was on the moon... Magic, nanomachines, there seems to be no barrier between their natures... Why didn't I think of it then? I think of it now... But is it too late..."
"What, what's going on? How did you do that just now?"
The Martian looked at the staggering Li Lin as if awakened from a dream, and did not dare to rush over directly. He just shouted from a distance:
"How did you do that? Are you a magician? The kind of magicians mentioned in ancient propaganda! The kind of magical magicians who can conjure things out of thin air and turn one thing into another! You are a great magician, right?"
"Sorry, I have to go now."
"Hey, Magic, where are you going?"
"My home."
Or rather the place I should call home.
Looking at the punk and smiling, Li Lin looked at the flickering abyss under the street, closed his eyes, and jumped.