Chapter 399
Chapter 399: Chapter 52: The Soul’s Questioning_3 Chapter 399: Chapter 52: The Soul’s Questioning_3 Lin Xian watched as VV, sounding from the television, said:
“What do you mean by that?”
“I just had a very dangerous thought all of a sudden.”
VV’s voice was calm and unusually serious:
“Ever since the day you told me that the mysterious old man said the same thing as Kevin Walker, I’ve been thinking, thinking, and thinking for a long time…
Combining various situations from your dreams that you’ve told me about, I suddenly have an uncertainty—”
“[Is your dream world truly the real world?]”
Living room.
It was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him.
“I’ve confirmed this question many times.”
Lin Xian replied:
“There are things in the dream that are beyond my cognition, knowledge that I am completely unfamiliar with, and all those things that are ahead of their time are correct, the historical predictions that are precise are also entirely correct, such a world can’t be fake, right?
Only the real world, 600 years from now, would have such things.”
“Lin Xian, you haven’t understood what I mean.”
VV continued:
“I’m not saying that those things are fake, nor am I saying that the existence of 600 years in the future is fake.
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I’m purely skeptical that your dreams might be false.”
“You’ve seen ‘The Matrix,’ haven’t you?
You’ve also seen ‘Source Code,’ right?
In these movies, they set up a supercomputer with very powerful computing power and a terrifying amount of storage.
Then they use this computer as a server to simulate a game that is completely identical to the real world.”
“From the smallest details of plants to the laws of physics, everything in this virtual world is exactly the same as reality.
In the year 2023, there’s definitely no such supercomputer.
But what about 600 years from now?
If such a supercomputer with extreme computing power truly exists 600 years from now, it can perfectly simulate a completely real virtual world, one that you wouldn’t be able to detect as fake.”
“This virtual world is like a game world, with bookstores, books, knowledge, history…all these things are copied from the real world 600 years in the future, so of course, these pieces of knowledge and history are also real, and if you brought them back to 2023, you would naturally be able to verify that they’re correct.
Or perhaps…the Black Hand behind the simulation of this virtual world wants you to see what’s correct, so you see it as correct; if they want you to see mistakes, you see mistakes.”
“Likewise, you said that your actions in the real world can change the future world in your dreams.
I want to ask, is this Space-Time Butterfly Effect instantaneous?”
“It’s not instantaneous.”
Lin Xian shook his head:
“I always feel that there is a certain lag.
Because of this, I have even deduced the concepts of Temporal Flux anchor points and the law of Space-Time Elasticity.
But I can’t verify if these two laws are correct.
Actually, according to my own understanding, Temporal Flux and the Space-Time Butterfly Effect should be instantaneous and sensitive.”
“Even if I were to breathe in a bit more air, or drink a little more water, that should cause a butterfly effect that changes the future.
But my dreams are not like this; that’s a rule I’ve never been able to grasp.”
“If it’s really as you say, my dream world is a game created specifically for me by some people 600 years from now, a highly realistic soundstage, and I am the clown surrounded by cameras, as they watch me perform.
Now and then, they modify some of the details based on my actions in 2023, giving me the illusion that a Space-Time Butterfly Effect is occurring.
Sometimes, they even replace the entire dream world copy and give me a brand new world…
and continue to watch me perform.”
“How would that be possible?
They exist 600 years in the future, so how could they know what I did 600 years in the past, what actions I took, and use that as a clue to modify the future world, which is also a fake future world?
It’s obviously impossible, unless they surveil me 24 hours a day, but there are many places where I spend my days that can’t be surveilled.”
“[Memory].”
VV said coldly:
“Your memory is the only channel that can communicate between the present and the future 600 years from now.
Even to say, if the Dream World 600 years later is really a game, a copy, a soundstage custom-made for you…
then your memory is quite simply the most favored and tailor-made information exchange machine.”
“They can read your memories to find out what you’ve done in 2023, then calculate the possible Space-Time Butterfly Effect that could be triggered, and use the terrifying computing power of the supercomputer to make modifications in the dream world showed to you.”
“If the Space-Time Butterfly Effect is minuscule, they ignore it; if it’s small, they make minor modifications; if it’s significant, they tear it down and switch to the next dream world copy.”
“So Lin Xian, I’m not entirely certain right now, but as I come to understand more about your Dream World, out of the first principle ‘absolute protection of your personal safety,’ I must remind you to be aware of this possibility because your dreams are the only place I can’t enter, see, or help with in any way.
You must maintain a skeptical attitude—”
“[Your dreams might very well be a virtual game, a soundstage, artificially created by enemies.]”
…
VV’s words plunged Lin Xian back into thought.
He finally figured it out.
𝑛𝘰𝘃𝕘𝗼.co
What had been feeling “off” during this time.
It was the doubt about the reality of the dreams.
He began to question the Space-Time Law, considering it too lax.
Often when he believed a Temporal Flux should occur, nothing happened;
times when he thought it shouldn’t happen, it occurred unexpectedly;
and moreover,
his range of movement in the dreams had been shrinking.
From one world, to two cities, to the City in the Sky, to the Fourth Dreamland where the backdrop seemed grand, but he could only take two steps before being unable to move.
It became less and less tangible.
He felt less and less of reality.
Lin Xian did not doubt VV’s words.
He believed that with the normal pace of technological advancement, how could human civilization 600 years later not be able to create a supercomputer capable of simulating the real world?
In 2023, there were already geniuses like Kevin Walker, hackers with almost magical skills.
If he could live through a Hibernation Pod to 600 years later, it was hard to imagine what a terrifying existence he would become…
Perhaps in the flesh, he would be even more terrifying than the super artificial intelligence VV.
“Wait a second.”
Lin Xian suddenly realized.
His heartbeat gradually sped up…
He turned slowly, looking at VV who had just engaged in this whole conversation with him, the super artificial intelligence he had personally brought back from 600 years in the future to 2023, letter by letter—
VV.
“What about you?”
Lin Xian asked soulfully:
“If the entire Dream World is virtual, a soundstage set up by enemies for me, then you are someone I brought back from this soundstage with my own hands.”
“VV…”
Lin Xian asked in a low voice:
“Who are you then?”