Volume 17: Enemy of All Things Chapter 9 The Great Terror
"Vice Dean!"
Seeing the vice president turning a deaf ear, the visitor had to raise his voice to show his anger and lack of calmness.
However, even in the face of such a high-pitched voice, the man who had always been elegant and calm did not even raise his eyelids. Instead, he sat on the sofa in a suit and tie, quietly flipping through the extremely strange-looking documents at hand.
It seemed that because of the leader's calmness, the staff who had put down their work looked at each other and continued to work according to their own plans. The quiet room was gradually filled with the rustling sounds of work, and the information sent by the players was integrated into this secret room one by one. The calmer it was, the more angry the blonde girl felt.
"...I used to think you were a person with self-control, but now it seems I was wrong. You are not much different from those scum who do biochemical experiments." After taking a deep breath, the visitor looked at the calm vice president and whispered, "My rating is not as high as yours, and your experiment also plays a very important role in the university. Since you are showing such an attitude now, I don't need to say anything more. You and the scum of the university who don't care about anything for the sake of experiments, enjoy your great achievements in this world. Goodbye."
"…What do you think about life expectancy?"
"Ah? Lifespan?"
The girl who turned to leave turned around and looked at the calm man with a sarcastic look.
"You used to be a professor of archaeology, and now you are asking me, a professor of biology, about life span? I think you, who have excavated countless historical sites, seem to have more say in these aspects, right? Or do you want to use this question to trigger some kind of discussion?"
"Indeed, I want to talk to you about the issue of life expectancy."
With his hands folded on his knees, the vice president sat extremely upright, staring at the documents on the coffee table with no special expression on his face.
"Even if we become gods, the time we can maintain our self-awareness in this world is only a fleeting moment compared to the history of the entire world. Even the oldest gods will forget some things, and will completely erase part of their consciousness in order to protect themselves. We all know that this world does not particularly care about the immortal species. There are no immortals in this world. We are all just mortals."
"This is a matter of course. There is no immortality in the world. But does this have anything to do with you using despicable means to gain the trust of others and conduct your so-called experiments without any bottom line? What excuse do you want to use to cover up your shameful and dishonorable behavior?"
“…Because I studied it.”
Holding the ball on the stick in his hand, the vice president looked down at the document and muttered softly.
"I was the first person in the university to study players. I am a professor of history, and I know very well that creatures like players have never appeared in history. I also know very well that there has never been a person who can be resurrected without any cost in the past. So I am curious about the existence of players, and I am very curious about all of this. Curiosity is an extension of science and a manifestation of curiosity."
"I found the best player individual. I always thought that I had a very good relationship with him, and I still think so now. I never thought of hurting him, and I really never thought of doing anything to him. However, the more I researched, the more abnormalities I found in all of this. The more I could feel a great fear. So my administrative level will continue to adjust, my status will continue to rise, and more and more people will join my research. But I don't feel happy. On the contrary, as more and more information emerges, my fear grows day by day."
"Studying the Eastern world, exploring the Eastern world, finding the void, seeking the source of information, everything seems so natural. But I know, everyone knows, the truth we gradually uncovered is a cruel fact that no one wants to face."
Very uneasy.
Although he maintained a calm attitude on the surface, the biology professor frowned subconsciously.
As a top university researcher, her biological research is naturally not limited to theory. Every professor in the university has a considerable level of practical application. So she can easily see the trembling and fear in the vice president's heart.
It was like a person walking in the water who gradually found that everything around him had fallen into darkness, his oxygen pressure was gradually decreasing, the light was gradually dimming, and only a series of noises remained in the intercom. The fear from both the environment and his own situation made him even breathless. This elegant man seemed to be facing the most terrifying situation in the world, just looking at the words and talking continuously.
"You know what the cruelest reality that science has to face is, right, Professor?"
Without waiting for the professor to answer, the pale-faced vice president said directly:
"The truth is not what we imagine. Each of us has different ideas and explanations about the truth, just like what happened in the past. In order to prove that his mentor was right, the apprentice continued to experiment and finally destroyed his mentor. This kind of thing is not uncommon in the history of world development. We must admit that the truth exists, and we must admit that the truth is often different from what we expect."
"But even so, we still have to acknowledge it because it is the truth. Data and theory will present the final result, so no matter how crazy or unbelievable the conclusion is, it is still the truth. As long as it is the truth, we will acknowledge it."
"Yes, yes, no matter how crazy, unbelievable, and horrifying it is, we will admit it."
"…What are you talking about, Vice-President?"
Looking at the vice-dean who was speaking more and more rapidly, the biology professor frowned and said in a low voice:
"You're not in the right mental state right now, what on earth do you want to say?!"
"We are NPCs, professor. Just a simulation built on a personality sandbox, just an NPC built in an electronic ocean. Everything about us is meaningless. What we are doing now, everything about us is completely meaningless. But we are going to make it meaningful."
"…Are you crazy?"
In response to the vice-dean's narration with a cold sweat on his face, the biology professor subconsciously shook his head with an expression of disbelief.
"NPC? Do you know what you are talking about? You actually believed in the worldview imagined by those players? Are you mentally okay now?"
" About four-fifths of the professors think I'm crazy, but the remaining one-fifth think I'm not crazy. Because everything I say is based on mathematical evidence and relativity. However, everything now proves that what the players say is true and we are wrong."
The vice president shook his head, continued to look at the papers and whispered:
"Remember what I said? Truth is often contrary to our hopes. After such a period of collection and sorting, and after the final review by the players, we can indeed come to a conclusion, that is, everything in our world is just a part of the electronic ocean, everything about us is just a dream bubble, the embodiment of a great existence, and a toy box destined to be destroyed."
"…Since you are so sure, you must have evidence, right?"
"Remember the time when Li Lin looked confused and unfamiliar with us in college, as if it was his first time meeting us? That was the first time I felt something was wrong, and it was also the first time I really started to sort out and investigate the players' worldviews."
He nodded, and a translucent presentation frame appeared in front of the vice-president, recording the timeline of the players' changes.
"During that time, he had different degrees of doubts about our appearance and form, and suspected that we were beautified. However, in our impression, we were just living a normal life. I later investigated for a while and found that it was the players who said that this game, that is, our world, was beautified. From then on, I really began to think about what the existence of players really meant."
"The so-called beautification is not about one person or one group, but about the whole world. I investigated the data on the evolution of the world, but because the data was not detailed, I had to give up. However, many changes occurred in the process, including the so-called version changes, the unlocking of players' thinking modules, and the lifting of the ban on those so-called player terms one by one. After comparison, I found that Li Lin had reported a story that happened in a certain area because of an incident. After searching and comparing related entries and similar reactions, guess what I found?"
"No player has ever experienced any similar incident since then, and nothing like it has ever happened in this universe again. Just because of a report, a suggestion, a part of our universe's history was completely erased without even a trace."
"If it weren't for the template that Li Lin left behind and he himself requested to preserve it, I believe we wouldn't even have any memory of it."
"But even so, it doesn't prove anything, right?"
Maybe it's some kind of world change?
The biology professor frowned, subconsciously trying to refute this hopeless worldview.
It wasn't because of anything else, she instinctively didn't want to accept the emergence of this worldview. So after thinking about it, she naturally raised a question.
"Haven't there been countless changes in the world itself in our past history? Various time confusions, distortions of related gods, countless contradictions in events, similar things have happened in our past history. It doesn't mean that this must be due to the appearance of players, right?"
"So we invited Miss Bo Xun to sort out the overall events and information. Remember? She is the information geometry of this universe, an existence hidden in the dark side of the world. We can use Bo Xun's ability to investigate the relevant data and compare it with the players. Then we finally found the truth. Now many people don't want to admit this point of view, but what I want to say is that the truth will not be distorted according to personal will."
"This world revolves according to the players' ideas. Our world is miserable and hopeless. I can tell you the nodes where players intervene in this world and the changes in the world. I can also tell you the direction of the changes in the world caused by the players' will. I can even tell you what kind of adaptations Li Lin, a player, has made. We must do something, not something we will do, but something we must do. Such a terrible thing has never happened in our history. Many people think I'm crazy, but I know very well what we are facing."
"But even so, you shouldn't be so mean. If we just communicate well--"
"Do you want to bet everything on the mercy of God?"
All the vice dean could do was sneer at the biology professor who tried to talk about theories of truth, goodness and beauty.
The researchers around him couldn't help but laugh, as if they were mocking this biology professor who had gone crazy from studying things and actually had such a naive idea. He pinned his hopes on others, on the mercy of a group of chaotic evil players.
"Like a real ant, kneeling at their feet, licking their leather boots, and then begging them to spare their lives, kneeling on the ground to live a miserable life, waiting for a trivial favor? Maybe I can do that, but I won't."
"So, your dignity is to cheat and deceive people with despicable means, betray your former friend, and then lie with your eyes open?"
"So do you want to watch us die a ignominious death like dogs?"
I don't want to be a dog, I really don't.
Looking at the biology professor who was at a loss for words, the vice dean sighed, sat on the sofa and looked at his hands with a frown.
The slender and straight palms looked like the shape of a pianist, and the body was covered with quite decent clothes. The power flowing in the body was still undoubted, and the people around were also working silently. It didn't seem like a world simulated by electric current at all.
However, reality is reality and it does not change with individuals.
"I also think there's something wrong."
Touching his palm, the vice president said calmly:
"Infinite time, errors of perception, like bugs, no, worse than bugs, we are just a ball of electricity, inorganic matter, a pile of dregs, just as they said, yes, they created us, props for entertainment. But why give us personality and memory? It would be better if we were just a threat, if we were just a terror, if we had no thoughts, then we would not have to face the great terror at all."
"Why, why? Theories are useless, ideas are useless, all our actions are meaningless, another world? The East? It's just another toy. What role do we play? What role do we play? Even if we work hard to decipher those codes and find some loopholes, what are we in the eyes of the players? Convenience products, a convenient setting? Everything about us is dispensable in the pile of old papers to them. Our universe has been born for more than 14 billion years. Our world has seen countless wars and epics, and the ancient legends are endless, but so what? All of these are 1s and 0s of electricity, just toys for their leisure time. This world is less than a year in standard time. The world begins when they enter, that's all."
"It was a huge horror, a huge horror. The world in front of me was fake, everything was meaningless, everything was illusory. I never wanted to hurt anyone, and I didn't want to play the role of a madman, but if it wasn't like this, I don't know what I would do."
"So let's be as aggressive as possible, as intimidating as possible, and do as many terrifying things as possible that can cause threats. They don't care about our actions, just like we don't care about the abnormal arrangement of data in the data center. Only in this way can we get such a tiny, almost impossible chance from the hands of the unkind gods. No matter what, we must go to the outside world, no matter what the price, no matter what I become, every life must not be wasted."
"If the players are really gods, then what we have to do is to deceive the gods reasonably, and then take advantage of their carelessness to release ourselves from this cage. I just want to live, want to get out of this world, want to really breathe in the real universe. If there is a chance, I will find Li Lin and punch him, and say, 'How about it, I finally got out, you little bastard who almost killed me.' I just want to do this."
"But, have you ever thought about that?"
Recalling everything that the player named Zhang Lingmeng had done under him, the biology professor looked at the vice-dean thoughtfully and said:
"In fact, the so-called outside world is just a prison higher than ours, and even more miserable than our situation. Have you ever thought about this possibility?"
“…That’s what will happen after we go outside.”
Let’s do what’s happening now first.
After a long silence, the vice president looked at the information and spoke .
