Standing in front of me was a completely unfamiliar girl. She was tall, probably about the same height as the female gangster Bingtis. She had long flaxen hair, and her face was featureless but also very beautiful.
She has a slightly energetic look and a pair of slightly energetic eyes. She is wearing the uniform of the Imperial Army, but I am sure that this is the first time her face has appeared in the military zone. I was stunned by this strange girl at first.
, but she quickly greeted me quite familiarly, and then I noticed a small sign hanging on her chest, with a line of bad words written on it: "Xiling, like picking up.
Please contact the military department, thank you."
"Are you Xi Ling?" I looked at the completely unfamiliar girl in front of me in surprise, feeling that the world view was strange and inadequate, "How did you become like this?"
"Well, when I was taking the test, I was in a daze, and then I forgot what I looked like last time." Xi Ling said with a smile, looking very happy, and not realizing that there was anything wrong with himself changing like this. I heard
I was dumbfounded by the other party's answer, and I realized what the so-called amorphous life form was like before... As expected of a guy who has recorded information about all known species and can switch body shapes at will. Her usual game is simply too advanced.
——I wonder if Qian Qian has tried to make her become a bicycle?
Anyway, the unlucky slime at home has quickly learned to turn into a bicycle.
My eyes fell on the small sign on the other person's chest. It was about the size of a palm and looked like the work badge of some big company. It was tied by Xiling with a red rope and hung around his neck. Qianqian is really a whimsical guy.
…
"My mistress gave this to me. She said that I run around all day long and always change my appearance. She is afraid that I will get lost." Xi Ling happily shook the small white metal plate, as if using it as a
Necklace, "But I feel like this is of no use. As long as the soul remains unchanged, you can recognize others? Oh, of course, I will take it with me. I will also take it with me when I run to other places."
It seems that Xiling already knows many characteristics of Xiling apostles, such as how to identify other people through the unique identification code of the soul, but she still doesn't know that the high-level officials of the empire are not normal Xiling apostles at all: We are still used to relying on our faces.
I know someone. Qianqian was probably like me a few days ago and met such an "unknown" Xiling, so she made such a sign for her in a flash of her mind. This thing looks silly, but
Don't tell me, why does it look so funny when Xiling hangs it around his neck?
Although this is an unexpected encounter, since we have met, we naturally have to chat by the way. Besides, I don’t have anything too important to do now. I have been accompanying Anulili everywhere for the past two days, and I don’t have time to meet her.
Meet this "big man" who has just returned to the empire. Now it's time to take this opportunity to understand the current situation of this confused super consciousness.
The most relaxing place nearby and the most suitable place to rest and chat is of course Sylvia’s shop. That shop is next to the separation wall of the military zone and less than 200 meters away from the assembly square. I dragged Xi Ling there.
At that time, it happened to be the moment when the shop sent away the only few customers of the day: at this o'clock, there would be a few mass-produced bubbles coming to buy desserts. Basically, the only customers Sylvia could expect were them.
Come on, the student guests from the Military Academy are rare elites. Except for holidays, they rarely refresh within half a kilometer of the military zone. After all, if they are caught by their instructors coming here outside of holidays,
It's not fun to go shopping somewhere.
A few nervous and very excited mass-produced bubbles disappeared at the end of the street under my watch. Then I pulled Xi Ling to push open the glass door of the shop and greeted the person who might be in a daze waiting for lunch.
Store manager: "Sylvia! We have customers!"
"Call Mao, call Mao, I've seen you two already, aren't we preparing drinks for you two!" A series of brisk and rapid voices like popping beans came from behind the counter, and I stared at the hands and feet of the silver-haired mole.
She quickly packed up the packaging bags and other debris on the counter. Behind her were coffee beans floating in the air and tearing off the packaging. The creature that looked like Sylvia looked up at me and curled her lips, "Let's talk first.
.There are only coffee and black tea, the orange juice was drunk by 001, the cola was ionized by 036, helium three... you definitely don't drink helium three. I really don't know if those guys are here to help or to be a disservice, the food is better than
Everyone has more, and before leaving, each person takes a bag..."
Needless to say, this must not be Sylvia...
"Bella Vera? Why do you have time to come out? Doesn't it usually take a lot of energy to come out?" I smiled and looked at the raven who was complaining because his "daughters" were useless.
Wang, she is neither like the slow and lazy Sylvia, nor like the sinister and cold Bella Villa. During the time she lived in the Shadow City, especially after spending so much time with us.
After a while, Bellavela has become very familiar with everyone. Perhaps in front of outsiders, she is still the terrifying shaper, but in private, she is actually a good person: she just has a bit of a poisonous mouth.
"If I don't come out to help, am I going to let that stupid guy continue to receive subsistence allowances and food relief every month?" Bellavilla summoned a big water ball and snapped his fingers. In an instant, the water ball floating in the air began to boil.
At the same time, the coffee beans floating in the air on the other side ground themselves into powder. The way she made coffee was really amazing. "I share the same body with her. She usually
I was living in a daze and I was also unlucky. Every time I woke up and recalled the life of this body while I was sleeping, I felt very heavy. That guy didn't even know how to buy new clothes..."
I didn't expect Bellavilla to hide such deep resentment, but I can't understand her resentment. There are three famous poor people in Shadow City, and the two people who top the list are of course Asida and Assi.
Sister Dora, followed closely by Sylvia... Bella Vera, who shares a body with Sylvia, is really destined to be dragged to death by her pig teammates.
"Haha - your way of grinding coffee is quite interesting." I laughed dryly and made no comment on Sylvia's idiot's daily life. I changed the topic by the way. There was a boiling figure floating in front of Bella Vera's eyes.
She took a set of filters and put them under the big water balloon. Magicians were just different from ordinary people. They could handle just a cup of coffee.
"Do you think I'm willing to go to such trouble?" Bellavilla sighed faintly, "001 dismantled the coffee machine and played with it..."
I am now very sure that those mass-produced ravens coming to the store to help are doing a disservice.
"Here, this is a work of confidence," Bellavilla delivered two cups of coffee to me and Xiling, then raised her fingers at the counter, and a large pile of pastries was directly transferred to the round table, "I made it myself.
Okay. You guys eat and chat slowly. I have to go back to bed first. I’m very tired after being out for an hour. I have to go to Tianjie City to help in the afternoon. By the way, I’ll remember to pay the bill later.”
I said thank you, and Xiling across from me had already started stuffing snacks into her mouth, but a few seconds later, Bellavilla was still standing by the table without moving. I looked up at her curiously: "You're not
Do you want to go back to sleep?"
The silver-haired woman looked down at me blankly and said slowly: "Yes - she has fallen asleep -"
Me: "..." Why can't I meet a few normal guys?
"I like the dim sum here!" Xi Ling didn't seem to care about the surrounding environment at all. Her mouth was bulging. But she spoke as clearly as usual, "The first time I ate was here."
Then I realized that Xiling’s first stop when she first came to the real world was not Monster Town, but this dessert shop located next to the Shadow Fortress. This is easy to understand, even though Xiling can teleport everywhere regardless of distance and obstacles.
herself, but when she came into contact with the outside world for the first time, the distance she wandered would definitely not be far away from the crystal where she originally lived. Sylvia’s shop was much closer than the Monster Town in another space. Xiling initially had no idea about the real world.
Knowing nothing about her life, she just casually changed into a similar appearance according to the clothes of the base personnel. Then she wandered here. At that time, she didn't know that there was such a thing as "eating" in the world.
Then she was entertained by Sylvia, that silver-haired mole whose thinking was always out of touch with the real world. Without a doubt, she entertained a racial consciousness (pseudo) whose thinking was in tune with the real world for the first time. Xiling like this
A life form with no need for food at all, but she remembered this first reception well and regarded eating as a very important thing: by the way, she also regarded Sylvia as her first friend - although
She's not quite sure about the concept of friends yet.
In other words, if Bella Villa could wake up just once in those few days, we would have saved the whole city from having to impose martial law...
"Are you getting used to it these days?" I looked at Xiling who was eating happily, and I felt like I was looking at an ignorant sister: Of course, this sister is a bit bigger.
Xiling nodded. He continued to answer with his mouth completely full but still articulate: "Well, the outside world is quite interesting. The same things look completely different at home and outside. Tavel
I have read all the things I was given and memorized them all - although I still don’t quite understand them.”
When Xiling said this, she seemed a little embarrassed and felt sorry for her low understanding, but she quickly cheered up again and smiled confidently: "But even if I don't understand, I will try my best!
Tavel said, as long as you know what you should do, don't worry about why you do it for the time being - anyway, the emperor's order is the truth, and this is what the underlying agreement says."
My expression should be a little subtle, but Xiling can't tell. It's not yet certain whether this immature super consciousness can take on a big responsibility, but she must have already possessed the most fundamental principles of Xiling's apostle: obedience to orders, execution ability
, efficient, and loyal.
I talked to her about some things about the spiritual network, which was a way to understand this huge data network from another perspective. The topic continued in this direction and finally brought up the long-lost other half of the spiritual network.
To be precise, it is the other half: during the old empire, there were one hundred and thirty-five sky zones, and the scale of the spiritual network was unprecedentedly large. However, after the catastrophe, only the network of fifteen sky zones survived due to isolation. Hopefully,
Lingbian is the remaining consciousness of one hundred and thirty-fifths of the network. She is only the most inconspicuous part of the network in its heyday, and the backbone of this network is now in the hands of the fallen apostles.
The huge casualties caused by the catastrophe may have severely damaged that backbone, but I believe that even then, the spiritual network controlled by the fallen apostles is several times stronger than that of the empire.
"The lost... other half," even though Xiling seemed a little too optimistic, his expression became serious when he brought up this topic, "I have no impression, I can't remember what happened back then, but I really feel like this.
, my body is very weak now. And inexplicably I feel... my family is very... very..."
"Very narrow?" I remembered the word Xi Ling mentioned when I met him for the first time.
"Yes, it's very narrow, and the living space is much smaller, so my body becomes weaker. I can't remember what I was like back then, but subconsciously I always feel that... the current network is not normal, and at the edge
Where there is a great rift valley, the place that could have been reached has now become nothingness.”
The way Xi Ling describes it sounds weird to me, but this is her perception of the spiritual network through her own perspective. This has a huge reference value for outsiders. We know that everything about Xi Ling: her memory
, thinking, and soul are all rooted in the spiritual network. The defect of this network will cause her performance to decline, and also lead to the "shrinking" of her shelter. She can't remember what happened back then, partly because of this:
Her processing performance was greatly damaged by the network split that year, so that the remaining system resources were not enough to maintain the original huge consciousness. So she had no choice but to give up, or passively lost many memories.
Another reason is related to her hiding in the crystal: a mere memory crystal, no matter how large its capacity is, cannot completely preserve a super consciousness like Xiling. She should have given up when she uploaded herself into the crystal.
Having lost a lot of memories, coupled with the wear and tear over the past tens of thousands of years, it is quite good that she still remembers that her name is Xi Ling.
"Do you still remember what happened when you hid in the crystal?" I asked a question that no one could understand. "You seemed to have planned your own escape route back then. You jumped out of the Fifteenth Sky Area and escaped.
The contaminated area at that time drifted all the way to the far reaches of the border. Then it was picked up by the Merova people... The last one may be an accident, but other than that it seems to be planned."
"I don't remember," Xiling shook her head, "Was I so smart back then?"
"Well, it's possible..." I said noncommittally. Now it has been confirmed that there is a consciousness hidden in the crystal, so Shandora's original judgment instantly has higher credibility: the crystal deliberately planned itself
However, even if this hypothesis is true, we are still not sure whether Xi Ling really planned everything back then. She did not communicate with anyone at the time. No one in the entire empire knew of Xi Ling's existence. She was alone.
How do people complete such a sophisticated plan?
Or... at an earlier moment, the consciousness generated by the spiritual network was using its own power to subtly influence the apostles in the Fifteenth Heaven District, preparing for her future escape?
The matter is still confusing, and it seems that it is impossible to get the answer from Xi Ling. So I gave up looking for answers in her messy memories and moved to another topic: "You just mentioned, from your perspective
, does the spiritual network have an obvious 'edge'? Is there a rift or something?"
When Xi Ling mentioned these two terms just now, I didn't pay much attention because I felt that it was a very high-tech thing. But now that I think about it, I suddenly feel that this is probably not an ordinary incident. The result - Xi Ling's next step
What he said really made people unable to calm down.
"Well, it's quite an obvious fault zone," Xi Ling stirred the coffee in front of her, "At home... I mean on the spiritual network, the connections between each node should be smooth, even at the edge of the network, where the connection points end.
, there should also be a complete termination signal, which is determined by the underlying protocol. But I always feel... there is an abnormal margin at the end of the network, where the mental network does not terminate normally, but as if the thing on the opposite side suddenly disappeared.
, cut it with one knife, and then left no edges... Well, I found this metaphor temporarily, and it feels like this. Beyond the margin is a big rift valley that I dare not set foot in. It also seems to be a big hole, and there is nothing there.
, once I get past it, I feel like I will lose my node forever.”
It is very difficult to understand Xi Ling's unique perspective, but I still try my best to understand her words, because I have already noticed that this is probably an extremely serious matter.
The spiritual network of the empire... it is a fundamental thing. Any situation in it will be magnified dozens of times!
There is a disconnection in the spiritual network, which reminds me of the concept of separation for the first time. However, of course, it is true that the spiritual network in the 15th day area is isolated from the main network, but this isolation is also based on compliance with the underlying protocol.
Yes, as Xiling said, on the normal boundary of the network, each limit node should have a normal termination signal. This signal is probably the kind of footnote like "the number of available forwardings here is zero" to express this
The node has no successor nodes.
The abnormal margin mentioned by Xiling does not have such a termination signal.
People in the real world will not be threatened by this abnormal situation, but Xiling, who lives on the Internet, regards this rift as a scourge.
"Because there is no termination signal, if you are not careful, you may slip into the rift," Xiling said worriedly, "It is equivalent to sending all the data to a memory that cannot feedback information, and I will fall into the hole...
…Not long ago, I cautiously took a look at that edge and was horrified.”
After Xiling finished speaking with lingering fear, she poured all the coffee into her mouth, as if to suppress her shock.
This abnormal network termination situation has never been discovered by anyone, and even Bubble, which always monitors the entire network, has not reported a similar situation.
"You haven't told anyone about this yet?"
"Well, because I just discovered it two days ago, I can't figure out what the margin is, so I want to figure it out before reporting... Now, Your Majesty, did I do something wrong?"
"It's not wrong, but it's a bit risky. Don't step into that edge alone for the time being," I frowned, "I want to discuss it with Bubble and Sandora... I have to find a way to translate your perspective into
Using the method of real language, we can then determine where those margins are from the real world. It would be too dangerous for you to go alone..."
I didn't say clearly what happened next.
But my intuition tells me... I am afraid that this margin comes from the fallen apostle, or even from... "that adult". (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian to vote for recommendations and monthly votes.