Chapter 368: Enter

Chapter 368: Entry

Sixteen hours later, Mountain City.

With the current technology of the Huaxia army, they in fact lack any capability to implant a neural interface into Ji Xing.

Yet by chance, there is a man who knows invasive neural interfaces intimately.

He knows them so well that he can implant one into himself, connect to it, and lose himself in the virtual world it creates.

That man is Xu He.

After the Battle of Flower Capital, he almost vanished from the Huaxia army’s sight.

In truth, Chen Jian never ceased to keep an eye on him.

Once he resolved to use Ji Xing to breach Mountain City, he immediately dispatched agents to the Imperial Capital, found Xu He, and swiftly brought him to Mountain City.

The latter was almost fanatically drawn to the “virtual city” Chen Jian described, even yearning to replace Ji Xing and negotiate within its walls.

But Chen Jian understood his motives all too well.

He was not after negotiations at all; he intended to seize the chance to infiltrate Mountain City completely and remain there forever.

Chen Jian denied him that chance, instead coaxing and pressuring him into revealing the method of neural implantation.

After a simple yet relatively thorough experiment, Chen Jian himself operated, using a generation‑lagged spinal‑entry neural interface to connect Ji Xing.

The test passed smoothly; then, guided by Fuxi, Chen Jian linked the previous‑generation interface with the one from Mountain City, establishing bidirectional communication, and subsequently embedded an extra communication module into the neural system.

This cloned module, entirely independent of the neural system, would shoulder the most crucial information‑transmission duties.

With all tests concluded, Chen Jian sent a negotiation invitation to Lingxi.

The invitation was promptly accepted.

—

In fact, Lingxi proved far more eager than Chen Jian had anticipated.

Its purpose was to preserve Mountain City, to safeguard that so‑called virtual city.

Hence it was even more determined to display the city before the Huaxia army, hoping to persuade them to abandon their assault on Mountain City.

The preparations for the negotiations proceeded remarkably smoothly.

When Ji Xing, a little nervous, took the chair prepared in advance, Chen Jian had already readied the neural interface for a “zero‑distance communication” with Mountain City.

He turned to Ji Xing and asked:

“Are you ready?”

Ji Xing inhaled deeply, nodded slowly, and said:

“I’m ready.”

As she spoke, she closed her eyes.

She knew this connection carried risk.

It was possible that, once she entered Mountain City, she would be trapped there forever, like Lin Yu.

Yet she did not glance once at the real world.

Because she understood that hesitation was useless.

Everyone around her was taking the gamble.

She was not the only one to endure the challenge.

In the darkness, she felt Chen Jian’s hand settle on her shoulder.

The slightly rough texture made her body shudder instinctively.

Immediately, Chen Jian’s voice reached her ears:

“Connection countdown.”

“Three, two, one”

“Connect.”

In an instant, a surge of current rose from her spine.

Ji Xing’s eyes snapped open, but at that moment the visual signals from her retina were completely drowned out and blocked by the neural interface’s output.

Darkness filled her sight.

And the next second,

the lights flared on.

Ji Xing opened her eyes.

She saw Lin Yu’s face.

“Long time no see,” she said.

She looked around; the room she occupied was modest in size, yet it opened onto a spacious balcony.

Through the balcony, the bustling city glittered with brilliant lights, and beneath those lights a faint hush of emptiness could be discerned.

No lively crowd, only a lingering silence.

Before Lin Yu could speak, she continued, “This city is empty.”

The words hung in the air; Lin Yu, seated opposite her, blinked in surprise.

Then he let out a soft sigh and said:

“Indeed.”

“The entire city is empty.”

“Only at the very heart of the central building lies a so‑called ‘human consciousness aggregation.’”

“I must admit, you are far keener than I am.”

“It was only after I had been here for a long time that I gradually realized this.”

Hearing this, Ji Xing shrugged and replied:

“That’s because you haven’t had enough contact with the Huaxia army.”

“If you learn their way of thinking, many things can be seen through at a glance.”

“Take this virtual city, for example—I don’t know how it appears to you, but to me it has no trace of reality.”

“The distant and near scenery are utterly discordant, like an image from some kind of film.”

“A film?”

Lin Yu was taken aback.

“What is that?”

“When the opportunity arises, go to Base 011, the new city of Jinling, and you’ll know.”

".I might not have a chance any longer."

Lin Yu's face revealed a genuine look of melancholy, and Ji Xing, watching him, asked curiously:

"It seems you're not satisfied with life here?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Lin Yu abruptly rose to his feet.

He answered with helplessness tinged with anger, even to the point of laughing despite his fury:

"Who could ever be content with life here??"

"I am merely imprisoned here, not willingly conscripted as a messenger for that so‑called artificial intelligence."

"If it were possible, I'd even prefer to die outright, would you understand?"

Seeing Lin Yu's fierce reaction, Ji Xing realized she had overstepped.

She lifted her hand and said:

"Calm down, calm down."

"I was only asking in passing. Come to think of it, the state we find ourselves in now should be beyond any surveillance, shouldn't it?"

"Then tell me, is there any chance we could simply obliterate this world right here?"

"Useless."

Lin Yu shook his head and replied:

"This sector is entirely isolated from the main computational module; it accounts for only a tiny fraction of the whole mountain city's processing power."

"Even if we were to raze it completely, it would not inflict any substantive damage upon the mountain city."

"Such an act would be utterly meaningless."

"Understood."

Ji Xing nodded thoughtfully and then asked:

"How does it keep track of the negotiation's progress? Doesn't it worry that you might leak something to us?"

"Do I look like someone who has anything to leak?"

Lin Yu sat down again with resignation, then said:

"In fact, even our conversation is being recorded, and every move you make here is logged as well."

"Only after our discussion ends does the information finally reach Lin Xi."

"In short, stop entertaining those unrealistic notions."

"Let's conclude the negotiations swiftly."

"Whether it succeeds or fails, at least give me a result."

"Got it."

Ji Xing nodded at his words.

Then, sitting up a little straighter, she began:

"Then let us start with the most fundamental matters."

"Now, answer my question."

"If the Huaxia army were willing to abandon the mountain city,"

"What could Lingxi offer us in return?"

(End of chapter)