It was raining heavily at night, neon lights were flashing, and red rampaging motorcycles were passing through the rain.
Gu He was soaked by the rain and felt a little cold. The girl who said she was a star boy was driving a motorcycle and was running rampant on the road. She controlled the body to swing left and right and passed one car after another on the road.
The rain also wet her black hair and black leather clothes, which reminded him of Lorna again.
All the way out of Juhui Street, out of Kabukicho, the car drove towards the harbor area.
Gu He looked at the streets that were constantly retreating. Everything had changed a lot. There were many more high-rise buildings. There were people living in each unit. The windows emitted light, forming dim yellow grids in the rain.
What remains unchanged is that this is still a city of light.
Gradually, he saw a sea appearing in front of him, and the sound of crashing waves blended with the sound of rustling rain.
Xingtong's violent motorcycle decelerated to a sudden stop, the body swung violently, and the two tires violently rubbed against the road surface, making a screeching sound, and then stopped steadily.
"We're here, let's see enough." Xingtong put down the legs of his motorcycle, jumped off the car, and looked at the sea not far away.
Gu He also got out of the car, staring at the sea and then behind.
The rain kept falling, the surroundings were desolate, the sea seemed far away, and the shining city behind also seemed far away.
"Don't you think it's a bit empty here..." he said, "Even on a rainy day, there are a few cars on the road to the seaside. What about people? Why are there no other people!"
Xingtong looked around and said helplessly: "Boss, it's raining heavily now."
"No, no, it rains almost every day in Flowing Light City, but people won't stop."
Gu He suddenly had that strange feeling again, as if he saw pixel grids churning up in the sea, and the strange feeling caused by the nerve speed being faster than the regional calculation speed...
If something moved him, he jumped over the highway guardrail and rushed to the beach.
After taking a few steps, his hands released bloody threads to form tentacles, pulling a large rock on the coast and leaping away.
"Boss?" Xingtong shouted, waving his hand, he also released a tentacle and jumped after him.
Her black figure flew quickly through the rain and landed next to the reef. Gu He, who landed first, had already rushed towards the endless sea, wading under his feet and rushing towards the waves.
"Boss..." Xingtong sighed and had no choice but to continue to follow, stepping into the sea water with his feet.
The sea water poured into the leather boots, and the water level over her feet became higher and higher, and her steps became heavier and heavier...
Suddenly, she saw the boss in front of her stop and laugh wildly: "I knew it, I knew this was an illusion!"
Xingtong was about to say something when she saw a green wall of light flashing across the sea over there. From one end to the other, it stood on the entire coastline and extended to the end of the horizon. She was suddenly stunned.
.
"You can't get through here, there's a wall of air blocking it!" Gu He continued walking forward, but he just couldn't get through, just standing still, "It's empty over there, it's an area where the data hasn't been prepared yet."
The sea water and rain were very cold, but his mood cheered up, and he slapped the wall of air heavily with his flesh and blood tentacles.
Bang, bang, bang!
Every time it is slapped, a large pixel grid will be splashed, and cracks of light will spread.
Suddenly, the wall of light continued to appear, and then all of it appeared. There was a circular dome of light in the rainy sky, covering the entire city. Countless codes flowed in the light layer, and pixel grids continued to fall from the curved roof.
As these pixel grids fell, they flickered into rain.
Xingtong looked up at all this and looked around, his young face completely stunned.
Her body was trembling slightly, it was very cold here.
"Neuromancer." Gu He looked back at the girl, "I can't be trapped in an illusion like this."
"She is not me." Suddenly another female voice said, "I didn't bring you here just to trap you."
Gu He and Xingtong both turned around and saw a figure appearing on the beach, wearing a beautiful printed kimono, with long black hair, and a face with a beauty mark that looked young but mature.
"Kana Sakai..." the star boy said in surprise, that was the current Sakai Kana, a super movie star.
The figure walked towards this side, her feet on wooden clogs did not fall into the sea water, she was walking on the surface of the sea.
Gu He looked at the girl next to him, then at the woman, and said in a deep voice: "I don't care which one of you is the right one, or both of you, that's enough, don't use their images."
"Don't you want to express your anger on the image of Sakai Kao? Maybe you would like me to use this image?"
After the female figure said this, a burst of light and shadow twisted and flashed all over her body, turning into the appearance of Lao Fan, wearing a chef's uniform.
Xingtong took two steps back in confusion, "You, you..."
"This is an illusion." Gu He said seriously to the girl again, "Everything here is false."
"This is the result of supercomputing." The intelligent agent in the image of Old Fan said, "I have calculated based on your situation in the original world. This is the most likely future scenario, whether Gu He returns or not.
"The only difference is that if Gu He goes back, he will die together with Lorna Lude in the resistance activities of Bone and Blood Town.
"And no matter which future it is, Lorna Ludd will die, the first one to die."
As the intelligent agent said that, the waves suddenly surged, and Gu He felt that his mind was also turbulent.
He held down his head, but a large amount of light and shadow data still rushed towards him like a huge wave. In a few moments, he seemed to have seen the future results mentioned by the intelligent agent. The scenes were so bizarre that his eyes almost burst.
He saw Lorna covered in blood, surrounded by Bones and Blood Town, which was being bombarded by shells and completely turned into ruins.
He held her tightly and called her, but he could not prevent her from disappearing.
"I'm sorry..." She tried her best to smile, and her life froze...
The light and shadow changed, and he saw Elizabeth. She still had red hair, her beautiful face was no longer young, and she had a mature charm, but the fire-like light in her blue eyes was gone.
Elizabeth Sterling, becomes dim.
"Angel, this is no longer the past." She said, "People have changed, we have changed, people will always change."
He felt more pain in his heart and felt a little more inexplicable melancholy. The light and shadow changed again, and he saw Sakai Hanaqing.
She looked much more confident, but also much gloomier. She no longer focused all her thoughts on her face.
"No one can stay young forever." Sakai Kao said, "He Sang, no one can stay dreaming either."
The scene in front of Gu He's eyes flickered, as if he had experienced Yakuza being cleaned up, the red rain clouds disappearing, the fish ponds being demolished, and everyone dying one by one; it was also as if he had another experience, they did not die, but their eyes
, all lose their light.
People will eventually grow old, and some dreams are just dreams after all.
The rain continues to fall, the wind continues to blow, and the light continues to pass.
"I can't calculate the kind of future you want," the agent said. "There is only death, change, and burial."
Gu He let out a hoarse roar, trying to break free from the sea of data, "Fake, all fake..."
"What about me?" Xingtong asked blankly at this time, "What am I? Am I just false data?"
"You are the Star Child, another Star Child, the Star Child living here." The intelligent agent added, "I took some of your personality raw materials and created another Personality Rubik's Cube with you in the future with the highest probability.
.”
In an instant, the surrounding sea and Flowing Light City scenes disappeared, turning into a matrix space.
Only he, the girl Star Child, and the intelligent body were in this blank space intertwined with black matrix lines.
They seem to be in the middle, and they seem to be anywhere.
"Well, I've never been to a place like this..." Xingtong murmured, "It's been a long time since I've lived."
Gu He was also surprised, "Can you copy others?"
"No, I can't copy it. The consciousness of the heart network will counter it." The intelligent body said, "I create and I resurrect."
The old figure took a few steps and said, "She is not a star child, but she is also a star child. They are one person, but they are also two people. They are still many people."
Rows of TV screens appeared in the matrix space. Gu He and Star Child were both looking at them. Those screens showed different scenes of Star Child. She was in front of a street rat, she was in a fish pond, she arrived in the wilderness, and she returned
To Flowing Light City...
She stole beef from Beiye Butcher Shop, she ran away with a pair of old sneakers, she hugged Lorna in the fish pond and laughed.
She wandered around in the truck of the wilderness tribe, she participated in gang fights on the streets of Yeyu, she committed murder, she walked into the different Licai Club, she stood by the sea and looked into the distance...
"Star boy." Gu He couldn't help but whisper, feeling that the girl in black leather clothes next to him had life.
"Don't you think Star Child looks a lot like Lorna Ludd?"
The agent walked again and said, "Whether it is her experience, her mind, her character, her abilities, or her traits, she is like another reincarnation of Flowing Light City.
"In these reincarnations, I see Molly Millians, I see Motoko Kusanagi, I see Trinity, I see Panam Palmer...
"I see the past, I see the future, I see this world, I see other worlds, I see a lot of scenes that you can't see. There are many Lornas, there are many star children, and there are many you.
"Liuguang City is reincarnated again and again.
"Human beings also reincarnate again and again."
Gu He grabbed his aching head and stared at Old Fan, "What on earth do you want to say..."
Xingtong was still looking at the screens blankly, "Do I look like Sister Lorna? If it were her, I would have beaten you up a long time ago, right?"
The figure of Old Fan seemed a little helpless and said to Gu He:
"When you look at my image, you will associate me with Lao Fan, even if you know that I am not Lao Fan, like someone who is angry because of a dream, because your brain will be deceived.
"You are a psychiatrist. Do you know what archetypes are? Human beings are subject to biological instincts and collective unconsciousness, and their souls are not that rich. In fact, in my opinion, there are only a few types of comings and goings, which are too simple.
"Actually, by your standards, neither the body nor the personality data are that real.
"You are limited by your body like this, and you are still trying to find the truth."
Gu He saw that in the matrix space, there suddenly seemed to be data fluctuations, and another figure appeared.
Wearing a casual T-shirt, beach shorts, and a friendly round face, he is the administrator uncle who calls himself a food-preparing genius.
"Xiao He, stop obsessing about what is true and what is false." It was the uncle who spoke, "Because we will never be able to figure this out. If you are obsessed with this, no matter which world or time you are in
No matter who you face, you have every reason to doubt whether it’s true or false. Our perception can be a neurochemical reaction simulated by other information.”
The intelligent agent in the image of Lao Fan also said: "Are you doubting that he and I are actually the same existence? I know you will."
"I can't bear it anymore..." Xingtong looked back, "Boss, do you want to take action? You and I will do it one by one."
Gu He looked at the fat food-making man and the strange food-making man standing side by side, and for a moment he couldn't tell them apart.
"You think the fantasy world is an illusion and the original world is reality." The intelligent agent continued, "But how can you be sure that the original world is the material world and not another information world?
"Why do data codes and extraordinary programs work there? According to your scientific standards, where is the reality?
"I call these worlds the fantasy world, the origin world, the material world, and the information world, just to make it easier for you to understand what I mean, not that I think so.
"Maybe in the end, it's all the same, it just depends on how you choose."
"I really don't understand." Gu He asked the two figures, "Why do you want to keep me so much?"
The image of the intelligent agent suddenly changed again, turning into the image of a young and tall man, Gu He.
Gu He looked at the other party as if he were looking at his own reflection, with various indescribable feelings swirling in his heart...
"You are very good. You are so greedy for my boss's body!" Xingtong looked at her and said with a smile.
"We want to keep you because this is the mechanism itself." Gu He's image of the agent said again, "When someone who masters the core auxiliary program appears, has been to the original world, and entered here again, I will try to stay
he.
“This is how the Blackstone team designed it, and I and all administrators still respect this design.
"This mechanism is also the source code of the illusion itself.
"Here, or there; body, or information.
"You, or me.
“The Blackstone team doesn’t have the answer, this mechanism is about generating the answer.
"If you really want to leave, I can't keep you here, but if you still have hesitation in your heart, and you can't deny your hesitation, it's not me trapping you, it's you who can't leave."
After saying that, the figure of the young man gradually disappeared into the void.
The round-faced uncle smiled kindly at Gu He, and while disappearing, he said:
"Xiao He, the reason why the mind network is a mind network, not a brain network, is probably because we cannot rely on our brains to exist. It is the mind that allows us to exist.
"The real mind generates kinetic energy, which is the key to the existence of the Personality Cube in the mind network.
"Use your heart, not to discern, use your heart to feel.
"Let your heart tell you what choice you want to make, and that is the truth for you."
Gu He was at a loss and wanted to give an answer immediately, but he couldn't.
Yes, he still had hesitation deep in his heart.
When the two figures disappeared completely, the matrix space suddenly began to shake, and the black matrix lines swung violently and intertwined messily.
The images on those TV screens were flying out, some exploding into pixel grids, and some overlapping the figures of the two people.
Both of them could see that this space was about to collapse, and they glanced around anxiously, but they couldn't do anything at the moment.
"Boss..." Xingtong released the bloody thread with both hands, but she couldn't find the enemy. Is that all, her life.
She looked at the man who once looked like her brother and said with a smile: "I have never said thank you to you. Thank you for helping me at Beiye Butcher Shop. I later figured out that you gave me a kind of hope.
, it still inspires me to this day..."
Gu He looked at the young star boy, his eyes condensing.
He suddenly reached out and grabbed her, "Hold on, not everyone has the opportunity to play with another version of themselves."
"Sounds like it's fun." Xingtong's black eyes flashed with a new fire.
Boom! This matrix space exploded with a bang, and the pixel grids dissipated one after another.
The sound of crashing waves reached his ears again, and the light cast by the evening sky tore through the void. Gu He felt that the texture under his feet was different. He was not holding anyone in his hands, and he was on the bustling Jianghai City beach again.
Over there, Pang Dahai barked happily and ran towards another wave.
On the other side, Vivian, wearing a colorful bikini, posed with the photography team to take photos.
Everything in the Streaming City and the matrix space just now seemed like a dream.
"Here..." A surprised voice sounded, "Boss?"
Gu He turned his head when he heard the sound, and grinned when he saw the girl Xingtong appearing next to him.
"Starboy, we are both overdrive second-programmer dolls, but I am faster than you. How could you say I am the boss?"
"What are all the things here?" Star Child looked around, "Is it still an illusion?"
"Yes, come with me and talk as we go. We still have a lot to do."
Gu He strode over, ignoring the photographers, and took Vivian's hand, "It's time to get down to business."
"Huh?" Vivian felt that his hand was very strong, as if he had regained his extraordinary strength. She couldn't help but wonder, and what made her even more puzzled was that the girl in black leather pants who was following behind seemed familiar...
"You are..." The girl looked surprised, "Vivian, sister Vivian!"
"Wait a minute, don't tell me who you are." Vivian quickly stopped the other party and asked the photographers who were anxious to be disturbed by other people to leave it alone. "Let me guess, I've already thought of it."
The girl wears goggles and has camouflage on her face, so she can face off against a cunning little girl.
Vivian was surprised: "Star boy?"
"It's me!" Xingtong laughed, "Sister Vivian, you said that when I grow up, you will teach me how to make up and dress up. I have grown up, haha!"
"How did this happen?" Vivian looked at Xingtong and then at Gu He. Even a happy person was a little frightened at this time, "Da He, we are not going to die anymore, right? How long has it been in the outside world?
"
"Don't care how long it has been outside, don't care whether it's true or not." Gu He walked towards the top of the beach embankment, "We have to get to the forefront of the world's timeline first. Only then can we really attack it."
The evening has passed, the sky is quickly getting dark, and the high-rise shops and buildings on the seaside are lit up everywhere.
Do you feel it with your heart? Yes, he still hesitates. This is also part of human nature...
However, those illusions and scenes also made him understand better.
Some people, some places, some things are important to him.
"Fucking fish pond." Gu He said, "Whoever wants to demolish it, I will kill."
In that kind of future, no matter how likely it is to happen, I will never let it happen. I can't. I don't know the answers to the questions the Blackstone team has, and I can't figure out what they are and aren't.
It's almost done, now I only know what I have to do.