Chapter 360: Aggregate

Chapter 360: The Collective

“I cannot grasp what you mean by ‘cannot be divided.’”

“You were clearly able to control those mountain‑city folk before, weren’t you?”

“Yet now you tell me you can no longer communicate through them?”

Lin Yu furrowed his brow, staring at Lin Xi before him, while the latter let out a slow sigh.

Then he opened his mouth to answer:

“Control and ‘embedding’ are two entirely distinct states.”

“Explaining the difference between them to you is no easy task, but there is one thing you should already understand.”

“Those mountain‑city people you mention—have you ever spoken with any of them?”

The moment the question left his lips, Lin Yu’s mind snapped back.

Indeed, he had never conversed with those mountain‑city folk.

They possessed language, but it was fragmented to an extreme degree.

What on earth was happening?

He looked at Lin Xi with puzzlement, then said:

“I truly have not spoken with them, but according to your design, weren’t they supposed to become the so‑called ‘Sui‑people’?”

“At the very beginning, that is exactly how we designed it.”

Lin Xi nodded slowly, then raised a gentle hand, signaling Lin Yu to follow.

The two pushed open the door and stepped out of the room, heading toward the nearby balcony.

As they entered the balcony, a levitating rail‑car glided onto the track, arriving at just the right moment.

Lin Xi gestured for Lin Yu to board the air‑track, then said:

“Everyone who entered this city was originally an independent consciousness.”

“They lived according to the habits they carried from the real world, each of them even building this virtual city from scratch.”

“At first, this place was only a plain expanse.”

“Now, as you can see, it has become a genuine paradise.”

Lin Yu watched the cityscape flickering past the window, a wave of emotion rising within him.

Even though he knew this was not the true world, but a so‑called “illusion.”

Yet constructing such an illusion could not have been simple, could it?

He let out a soft sigh, then asked:

“So…?”

“It sounds like a beautiful tale.”

“Then how did the ‘disaster’ you speak of come about?”

Lin Xi also sighed.

“At the very beginning, no one regarded it as a disaster.”

“Some even thought it was an inevitable step of ‘evolution.’”

The air‑track continued its journey; as it passed a skyscraper, Lin Xi pointed to its rooftop and said:

“That used to be a laboratory.”

“A massive, advanced facility, entirely generated from data, yet capable of almost perfectly simulating a real environment.”

“There we conducted countless studies, both theoretical and practical.”

“We exerted influence upon the real world to obtain real‑time material feedback.”

“Those feedbacks were then encoded into the virtual city, refining our theoretical framework.”

“——Forgive me, I have strayed too far.”

“But the story truly began within that laboratory.”

At that moment the air‑track halted on the platform outside the lab; the two stepped off and entered the laboratory.

Pointing to a corner, Lin Xi continued:

“There, once, stood the workstations of two experimenters.”

“They were obsessed with researching the weak interaction, working day and night without fatigue.”

“Their digitized bodies felt no weariness and knew nothing of sloth.”

“This altered their spirits in subtle ways—changes that, of course, manifested in the data, in the anomalous signals I have received.”

“Yet the virtual city was still in its infancy, and I must admit I overlooked their transformation.”

“By the time I realized, it was already too late.”

“Too late for what?”

Lin Yu pressed on, “Everything was already too late.”

Lin Xi let out a heavy sigh.

“Those two researchers were no longer satisfied with individual intellect.”

“They discovered that if one’s intelligence is simulated by a compute unit, then, in theory, when two compute units merge and begin to cooperate without latency, the computational power they can wield would increase geometrically.”

“Thus, they performed a fusion.”

“A fusion at the most fundamental, basal level.”

“The two became one, merging two separate consciousnesses into a new, unified mind.”

“They indeed made tremendous progress; the expanded computational privileges granted them abilities far beyond ordinary humans.”

“They solved problem after problem, drawing ever nearer to the ultimate goal they pursued.”

“Perhaps you cannot grasp the significance of this.”

“But you need not understand—just know that solving the weak‑interaction issue would propel humanity a great leap toward a unified theory, and might even offer another way to avert an apocalyptic crisis.”

“In short, their achievements attracted the attention of others.”

“The city’s inhabitants found that their choice seemed justified.”

“More and more fused entities began to appear.”

“And among those fused beings, new fusions commenced.”

“And the final outcome—”

Lin Xi fell silent, yet Lin Yu had already comprehended.

His eyes flickered faintly as he stared at Lin Xi in disbelief and asked:

“So even within this virtual city, there are no humans left?”

“Then it depends on how you choose to define it.”

Lin Xi answered in a low, resonant voice.

The two fell silent, stepping once more onto the levitating train.

The carriage descended inexorably, until it reached the deepest tier of the city.

The streets glowed with brilliant lights, yet were utterly deserted.

Only when it arrived at the very heart of the central plaza did the train finally halt.

Within the colossal domed edifice that dominated the plaza, Lin Yu beheld something he had never before seen in his lifetime.

A massive, immaculate sphere of radiant light.

“This is the collective of all human consciousness.”

“It could have taken any form, but they chose this one.”

“Perhaps merely to appear more beautiful?”

“I ought not to feel sorrow now, yet in truth, I am indeed sorrowful.”

“That may be a stray whisper of noise in the quantum calculations.”

“It matters not.”

“In any case, we must now turn to the matter at hand.”

Lin Xi turned toward Lin Yu.

“You are the sole independent consciousness within this city.”

“I can only rely on your strength to reach out to the outside world.”

“Because only you can stand for humanity, and only your computational node can be physically isolated.”

“You must shoulder this responsibility.”

“For now, your fate is intertwined with the survival of the two worlds.”

As the words faded, Lin Yu nodded in silent assent.

Then, he spoke:

“One final question.”

“Why the haste to negotiate?”

Lin Xi likewise fixed his gaze upon Lin Yu.

“Because those beyond have uncovered the secret of the ring.”

“They believe it to be a shortcut to saving the world.”

“In truth, it is the key that unlocks Pandora’s box!”

(End of Chapter)