This Game Is Too Realistic

Beta Universe, summer 2014.

"boom--!"

The ear-piercing gunshot rang in his ears, suddenly awakening the boy who was unconscious due to heat stroke.

At this moment, he was in a pure space.

However, this is not a hospital.

He subconsciously raised his index finger and touched his temple. The memory of the bullet piercing his skull was so vivid that cold sweat broke out on his back unconsciously.

I really don't want to experience that feeling again.

However, he felt relieved when he thought that the replicas far away in the α universe might have died over and over again.

No matter how many times he dies in the parallel universe, it all happens in multiple parallel universes.

Standing here, he only needs to die once more at most...

And at the same time, a semi-transparent floating window appeared in front of him.

Lines of text gradually appeared from the screen.

[This system is dedicated to improving the civilized level of the residents. Regarding the secrets of this system, holders are requested to explore on their own...]

It still feels that familiar.

Looking at the nostalgic words, the corner of his mouth curled up with a faint smile, and his clear eyes showed a calmness and calmness that did not match his age.

As if he is not 20 years old.

But 200 years old...

"We meet again, Observer."

The text on the screen stopped, as if the show was going through the motions and could no longer continue.

The being hiding behind that screen obviously didn't expect to hear his name here.

It didn't even expect to see an acquaintance here.

"...It's you? But, how is this possible... It should be 2014 now... Wait a minute -"

For a moment, it fell into confusion and panic, but that was only a moment.

There is no concept of time in the void.

Its projection can appear in any universe, even the universe it once abandoned.

And in just a moment, it had already traversed multiple universes and newly collected information that it had originally considered to have no observational significance.

And at this moment, it was completely shocked.

Multiple universes appeared, and there were also branches.

One part is still the same as before. The young man in front of him received the "tradition" gifted to him as he expected, but he made different choices in the process of becoming a boundary breaker.

The other universe was eroded by a fission consciousness from a certain universe, and the "Shelter 404-β" that could not have existed was born on the timeline, and interfered in its place. !

Seeing the astonishment coming towards his face through the screen, the man smiled lightly and teased.

"You seem surprised?"

After waiting for a long time, the observers expressed heartfelt emotions.

"It's unbelievable... you actually opened up something I've never seen before. I have to admit that even in the face of the massive samples I've seen, the miracle you created is rare."

After feeling sincerely, it continued without stopping.

"Although I don't want to be sarcastic, for you in the β universe, what you are about to do may be meaningless... According to your plan, the α universe will repeat countless experiments and fail countless times, and finally be able to There is only one beta universe to match!”

"In other words, your probability of success is only one of infinite! Everything you do in this universe has an infinite probability of paving the way for a certain failure in the α universe! Or in other words, for a certain failure㱕Experiment running with you!”

"It takes more than ten years to do something that has a high probability of being meaningless... Don't you think this fate is too desperate for you?"

Come on.

Return to the normal timeline.

Although the observer didn't say anything, the man standing here did hear the advice behind the voice.

Indeed.

It's still too late for Yantou.

Standing here, he is not a professor, but a Fission Variant with the number β. The fission variant is set to be a living person with 200 years of memory and experience until the time when the system was just obtained.

He just needs to leave the responsibilities of the future world behind, stay on the track arranged by the observer, learn lessons and act step by step, complete the task when it is time to complete it, and eliminate it when it is time to...

Although the world has declined and cannot be saved, at least the human civilization in this universe can avoid entering the wasteland era, and he can eventually become a boundary breaker.

This is not a good ending.

It's just that Plan 404 has been cancelled.

So that's a choice he would never make.

And he had no doubt that among the infinite beta universes, the one who pointed the gun at his head and finally stood here at the cost of death would definitely make the same choice.

That bullet ended not only the professor's life, but also ended countless possibilities!

And the observer's reaction was just right, his guess was correct——

This guy has traveled through all the universes, but still can't find anyone standing here. He has wavered and even made a compromise decision.

So it's anxious.

"...There is no point if you don't do it, and you will definitely not succeed if you don't do it."

"But what about the people in this world? Have you ever thought about the possible consequences of your interference?"

"Are you embarrassed to say this to me? Have you ever thought about this problem yourself? Wasn't the Wasteland Era the result of your interference?"

The professor chuckled, and his sharp question left the observers speechless for a moment.

He didn't pause, but continued word by word.

"Every universe I interfere with is the result of you choosing me as the boundary breaker and intervening in the universe. My interference only replaces your interference. If I fail, I will naturally interfere with myself. Erase from this universe and pretend that you and I have never been here.”

"At that time, their destiny will be in their own hands, and there will be no and no need for an outsider to be responsible for them. I think this will definitely be a bad outcome for humans in this world."

The observers are still unwilling to give up and are still trying to make a last ditch effort.

"Even if it means that your efforts in this universe have an infinite chance of being in vain?"

Looking at the observer who tried his best to persuade him, the man smiled lightly.

he knows.

What the observer really cares about is not him, nor humans, just like he doesn't care about the bacteria on a certain leaf, let alone whether the latter's efforts will be in vain.

What this guy really cares about is sewing the universe together and breaking the boundaries.

It is worried that it will ruin its good deeds.

This kind of thing is indeed possible, and it can even be said that it is bound to happen.

Once it intervenes on its behalf, it will completely take control of the situation. Even if it can find other consciousnesses to exert influence, that will only happen in other universes or long after its own death.

There are limits to the observer's interference. Unless there are special circumstances, it is almost impossible to establish contact with two independent consciousness entities in the same universe.

Each interference corresponds to a new universe, and this was decided at the moment the universe exploded.

It is precisely for this reason that it will persist in trying to dissuade him and try to make him change his mind.

But——

What does that have to do with him?

Rather than heat death after hundreds of millions of years, he cares more about the continuation of the world he once lived in, where everyone he knew lived. If they cannot continue, their existence will be meaningless.

He is different from those guys floating in the void. Living in that world, he is a living person, not an illusory projection!

He won't just slap his butt and say "It's all your fault for not executing it well" after screwing up everything and leave!

"Since you have seen the shot I fired, you should have guessed how I will answer you. Why would you ask such a stupid question?"

"Before I came here again, I was already prepared to die."

"This game will start with my death, and my end will become a new beginning——"

"Give up, I don't know how to do it, and there is no way out!"

The pure space began to collapse, and the boundless boundaries gradually turned into ward walls.

All the noise fell silent at this moment.

It's gone.

Probably won't come again.

But in fact, it is hard to say whether it is capricious or not just once or twice.

He felt that it didn't need to be so desperate. Since he hadn't seen the ending, it was still worth looking forward to.

Moreover, his Project 404 might inspire it to save other universes.

The man sat up from the hospital bed with the curtain hanging on it. He pulled out the needle hanging on the back of his hand as if nothing had happened. Under the strange look of the nurse in front of the bed, he got up, got dressed and left the ward.

An acquaintance who came to pick him up saw that he was in good health. He was pleasantly surprised and was about to say hello to him when he met a pair of unfamiliar eyes and was stunned for a moment.

He still remembered that unfamiliar face, but standing here two years later, he could no longer match that face with the name in his memory, so he just nodded politely and passed by it.

It's 2014 now.

There are only 7 years until 2021.

During these seven years, he had to complete the preparations for Shelter 404-β and the launch of the game in this old world that had not yet entered the era of prosperity.

There are still a lot of things to do.

There is no time to waste...

…

…

Alpha universe.

Shelter No. 404, manager's office on the B5 floor, the picture on the screen freezes at the last gunshot.

"boom--!"

Hearing the deafening sound, Chu Guang, who was standing at the door of the room, suddenly woke up and quickly walked to the chair.

A rusty revolver was placed on the chair, and a bullet casing lay next to it.

As for the remaining blood stains, they have long since turned into dust.

The AI ​​in this shelter recovered the professor's body and then completed its own formatting.

And now its number is 777...

Chu Guang stared at the pistol blankly, and finally completed the last piece of the puzzle.

He understands everything.

A little about Project 404 and this shelter.

About your origin.

And where the players come from.

not only that.

The details that he had temporarily placed in the corner of his memory due to lack of clues gradually became clear as the last piece of the puzzle was added.

Including where the residents of this shelter have gone, including how the helmets are in the hands of the players.

Just as he guessed, he himself was the first generation manager, and he did it all over again 777 times in 200 years!

Sometimes it's ten or eight inches apart.

Sometimes they are resurrected dozens or hundreds of times in a single period of time!

The original rules of the game were what he had continuously improved and summarized over and over again...

Chu Guang's Adam's apple moved and he looked up at the screen in front of him.

"Do you have to die?"

As if he had guessed that he would ask this question, the professor standing on the screen smiled lightly and said in a gentle voice.

"Even if I don't die, I can't live today, unless I freeze myself into a popsicle... This doesn't actually mean much, does it? There are not many of my old friends left, and even the youngest students are gone. It’s almost gone. The only thing I can’t let go of is digital life... and I’m destined to not be able to stay with it forever.”

"Instead of letting it wait for the pain that is destined to come, it is better to arrange a pretty good ending for it while I am still awake. So there is no need to regret and feel sad for me. This is not the best arrangement for myself. ”

"As for my death, it is also part of the plan. If I don't send the memory of pulling the trigger into the beta universe, the 'fission reaction' I described will not happen. Even if the observer does not intervene, there is no need The voice from the void confuses the other me, and the other me will not carry out my plan, not even once."

"Why? I've never heard of morphogenetic field connections being mediated by death—"

Chu Guang subconsciously asked this question, but just halfway through, the answer suddenly appeared in his mind.

Indeed.

Death is not the prerequisite for the morphogenesis field, but it is the prerequisite for Project 404.

As for why, the reason is obvious——

Looking at Chu Guang, who had a sudden expression on his face, the professor on the screen smiled lightly and continued in a matter-of-fact tone.

"It seems that you have realized that some things can only be done once or countless times. Can you expect others to do things that you can't do? You are repeating the experiment countless times, while the beta fission body is facing infinite If he executes the plan, he will face infinite bad endings. If he does not execute it, the probability of one of the infinite ones will not exist, and you will not be able to stand here today. "

"It's magical, isn't it? This is the morphological field. The sound is not spoken with words, but reflected in actions. It must be done involuntarily. If I don't pull the trigger, The other person will either not be able to accept the message I conveyed to him, or even if he did, he will definitely not 'pull the trigger'."

Chu Guang nodded slowly.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, a similar thing happened on the Orion guided missile cruiser.

At that time, he understood the whole story from the player's post, but now he thinks that it should be a similar reason.

However, the difference is that the information transmission across time was completed under extreme circumstances and was not the carefully designed layout of Project 404.

"So the more than 20 years I spent in reality...were actually faked?"

"Not entirely. Your interpersonal relationships are real. You have indeed interacted with those netizens you are familiar with. You have known each other several times and played many games together. As for your identity and background, as well as your employment There are indeed traces of forgery in the companies we have worked in and the houses we have rented. After all, it is impossible for us to really create a clone in the beta universe and then watch him go to school and grow up like a normal person... This is not possible in terms of time. Allowed.”

"Actually, in the first few reincarnations, you started as me. As for the final decision to delete my memory and become 'Chu Guang', it was also a decision you made yourself in one of the early reincarnations."

When he said [here], the professor standing on the screen smiled and said in a joking tone.

"Didn't you realize it? You actually don't have the contact information between those people and the landlord...especially the latter, who didn't even think of asking you for rent."

Chu Guang said with a bitter smile.

"I thought they thought it was bad luck and deleted me."

After working for a long time, these people didn't exist at all, or they didn't exist in the beta universe he was matching at the moment.

It’s no wonder that the major institutions and organizations in that world couldn’t find [him].

His information wasn't even erased using any high technology, it was simply not there.

If we can check his information, we can only say that someone took the funds for himself.

Looking at Chu Guang who was in a complicated mood, the professor standing on the screen smiled like an old father.

That smile was exactly the same as his, just like the smile he showed when he watched the alliance rising from the ruins like the morning sun——

It's like looking at your own child.

Even though the nihilistic image was blurry, standing in front of the screen, Chu Guang still felt like he was looking in a mirror.

"...Actually, you don't have to feel confused. Just like my assistant said, your existence is not only your memory, but also other people's memories of you. Except for those people who don't exist in the first place, you and The experiences of everyone you have ever crossed paths with are extremely real.”

"Although I was worried a long time ago that you would be unable to implement Plan 404 as you go further and further, the result is exactly the opposite... It is you who are completely disinterested in me who created things that I cannot create. of miracles.”

"And I am also happy that you can make that decision and let go of things that I can't let go of. From the moment you call yourself Chu Guang, you are no longer me, but my continuation. "

"Of course, as you said, you want to control your destiny in your own hands. And now, I plan to hand over this right of choice to you."

While he was talking, the shadow disappeared from the office screen and was replaced by an open folder.

There are files with different formats and mosaic icons stored in them, numbered from 0 to 776.

Chu Guang knew what it was without asking.

There is no doubt that what is preserved there is the memory of the 776 production restarts in the past 200 years!

As for the file numbered 0,

It was 200 years ago... and it has always been the old era before the era of prosperity. It belongs to the memory of the "professor" who once created the era of prosperity!

"...These are the memories you actually experienced before you woke up from the door of this shelter. You may have vaguely glanced at some fragments in your dreams, but those are just noises from the traveling world. It’s not a complete memory.”

"After all, the morphological field does not only appear when we need it, but occasionally flashes by in front of us in the form of a sense of sight."

Thinking about the wild experiences he had seen in his dream, Chu Guang made a helpless expression.

"That was truly an unforgettable experience. I will never forget it even after I die."

"Indeed... those are really painful to watch, but they are indeed things that happened before."

The professor smiled and said in a soft voice.

"Now I give you the right to choose, and this will be the last point of departure for your destiny."

"You can choose to think of the past and become the person you want to be, even including becoming me, the 'professor' who created the prosperous era... You can be me, I can also be Chu Guang, we will Become one.”

"Or, you can treat it as the memory of 'another person' and only keep the current memory. I am still me, the professor who was born in the old era. And you are still you, the one who woke up in Wasteland Era 211. Chu Guang, the 'manager' who led the survivors to create a new era."

The room was quiet for a long time.

Chu Guang was silent this time for longer than before.

However, the choice itself is not difficult.

"Well... although the former sounds more attractive, I still choose the latter."

No matter how much he knows about the "Gestalt Life Form" and the inside story of "Project 404", one thing will not change at all——

He is Chu Guang.

There is no doubt about this.

"Really? I also think you would choose this way...Haha, that's great."

The professor who reappeared on the screen seemed to be relieved, but obviously he was not so sure.

Chu Guang couldn't help but wonder whether he in another world would have made a bad choice, inherited the professor's memory, and become an omniscient and omnipotent "" with a new identity. "Philosopher King" has since led human civilization to create dozens of thousands of prosperity within the Milky Way.

But that's another world.

He didn't want to imagine the possibility that didn't exist.

Whether it is ending the wasteland era or forming an alliance, it has nothing to do with Project 404.

He has always followed his own heart and will continue to be himself in the future.

"Can I keep these things?" Chu Guang looked at the items in the folder as if he were looking at an ancient cultural relic.

The professor had a hearty smile on his face and said happily.

"Of course, they are important historical documents... Although I don't recommend you insert it in your head, I don't recommend you delete it. However, in order to avoid the void's interference with our world line, I suggest You’d better make some appropriate cuts to the content.”

Chu Guang said with a smile.

"For example, is it right to delete the traditional part?"

"Yes, although you and I both know that observers cannot transmit unavailable information out of thin air, and other people do not know it. I don't want others to misunderstand science as fate or a gift from the void... Then I will fall into the trap. You don’t want this to be a trap of emptiness, right?”

When he said this, the professor suddenly remembered something, with an embarrassed smile on his face.

"By the way, there are some personal matters... Forget it, I will handle the things in folder 0. You can decide on folders 1 to 776. Those things have nothing to do with me."

Looking at the embarrassed expression, Chu Guang smiled knowingly and expressed his understanding.

Of course he would be scrupulous about those things.

After all, the manager knows how to poop, so we can't put the scene of him squatting in a large size in a museum.

Even if some things are to be made public, it is best to bury them in the ground for a while.

"No problem. In fact, this is what I plan to do even if you don't tell me. As for the files numbered 1~776, I will leave them to Xiaoqi to sort out. And after the sorting is completed, I will set a confidentiality period of 100㹓 for the information, etc. [The ban will be lifted after the confidentiality period has expired.”

The professor breathed a sigh of relief, with a vague smile on his face.

"You decide this. My era is over, and the rest will be left to you. Speaking of which, is it Xiaoqi? It's really a good name."

"It thinks so too," Chu Guang said with a faint smile, "Not surprisingly, this is probably the nicest name among all the names I have given."

"Haha, really? You have to treat it well. It is the child of my most capable assistant."

There was a happy smile on that blurry face.

Although Chu Guang still wanted to talk to him about something, other times seemed to be too busy.

What remains here is not the professor himself, but an echo recorded 200 years ago.

Its only purpose of staying here is just to hand over the last key to [himself] after the end of the day, and immediately end the mission he has been carrying.

The real professor died 200 years ago in the previous video...

"I promise you."

Chu Guang nodded solemnly, watching the ethereal echo gradually fade away and merge into the invisible void...

——

(Thanks to the book friend "Yi Shang Mi" for the reward!!!)