There is no absolute privacy in the world. No matter how much one wants to hide their memories, as long as someone is determined to manipulate them, they will be uncovered.
Perhaps out of sympathy for the weak, the world has given them one last protective mechanism- as long as you are alive, your memories will always belong to you.
...
Simpson rubbed his forehead and instinctively reached for his neck, then looked at his hand.
No blood, no injuries, but the skin on his hand was wrinkled.
Memories gradually returned to his mind. Simpson remembered who he was and what had just happened.
His phone... he searched for it, but there was nothing in his pocket.
Where was he?
The old man looked up and found himself in an infinite expanse of pure white space, with no end in sight from any direction.
He was sitting at a desk right now, and ten meters away from the desk was a tightly closed door. Other than that, there was no other object in this autonomous space.
Customer service center?...No, that's not it.
Although the customer service center was also in a strange space, that space was endless black. And there must be an electronic device on the desk that could communicate with the "little black person". In that world, he could pay points to the "little black person" for answers, or do nothing and wait to be kicked out.
"Enter the inner world, and we will assimilate you bit by bit, giving you endless time."
The terrifying words of the monster before his death echoed in his mind.
Simpson frowned, wondering whether he was alive or dead in his current state. Even that website couldn't interpret the boundaries of death. As a scientist, he didn't believe that a person would go to heaven or hell after death.
After death, there is nothingness, which was a consensus reached by people.
Simpson stood up and felt his seventy-year-old body, finding it difficult to walk. He leaned on the desk and took a few deep breaths before sitting back down.
He couldn't act rashly... he needed to calm down and sort out the details of the situation.
Suddenly, the doorknob ten meters away turned.
Subsequently, the door was pushed open, and a young man wearing a white coat and round glasses walked in.
When he saw Simpson, he looked pleasantly surprised, "Professor... Professor? You finally came!"
Looking at the young man, Simpson was very surprised to see one of his students here.
"Bertram, what are you doing here? Have you also encountered a bizarre event?" Simpson asked.
Bertram was a poor individual that Simpson had saved from the "black market" before.
At first, Bertram was just a Singularity Individual, but one day, he suddenly became an author.
To repay Simpson's life-saving grace, Bertram voluntarily became Simpson's apprentice and research material.
Bertram trusted Simpson and was willing to do dangerous research if it could help his teacher. He was willing to give his life if necessary.
"Professor, don't you remember? Both of us were trapped in the eternal world. At that time, we gathered over a dozen authors to jointly study how to decrypt the bizarre event..." Bertram's words interrupted Simpson's thoughts and brought him more reflections.
"I have no memory of that... Is it because of reincarnation?"
"Reincarnation..."
"You know something? Tell me everything."
"The process is meaningless now, we only need an interpretation of our current state," the young man said. "You have doubted countless times that the eternal world is the real one, and that the past reality is just false memories. Now I can tell you that your doubts are not wrong."
"I don't remember real existence with distorted faces!" Simpson exclaimed.
"They're not monsters, they are the managers of the eternal world. Perhaps their actions are exaggerated, but they mean no harm to us. Your safe presence here in front of me is proof," Bertram continued. "Teacher, don't you want to live forever? There are more authors waiting to be rescued. The managers don't want to see them lost in confusion. So please provide information about other authors."
Simpson laughed at himself.
One moment, the monsters killed his wife and daughter, and then him. The next moment, his student appeared before him asking for information about other authors. Did they think he was a fool? That he had no feelings of "hatred"?
"Perhaps you have turned into a monster, or perhaps you've been brainwashed. You're no longer my student..." Simpson surveyed the white space, his cloudy eyes filled with anger, trying to find the person behind the scenes. "The managers of the eternal world, manipulating people's emotions and memories, is it amusing? What is your purpose?!!"
An infinitely white expanse without any trace of color.
Simpson recalled his author friends, the black shadow monsters that appeared in his home, and the scenes he had experienced over the years.
Bertram stared at the old man with a complex and incomprehensible gaze.
"Teacher, if you don't believe, you can close your eyes for a countdown of ten seconds. When you open your eyes, you will know... believe in this eternal world, we truly mean no harm."
Simpson let out a deep sigh. He took a deep look at the person in front of him, who looked exactly like his student, and slowly closed his eyes.
Regardless of what was happening behind the scenes, at least he wanted an answer.
Ten... nine... eight... seven...
Faint sounds appeared in his ears, somewhat like the wind blowing in the woods.
Six... five... four...
He smelled the aroma of food and felt the warmth coming from the front.
Three... two... one...
"Dad, are you tired? You seem really drained."
Simpson suddenly opened his eyes and realized he was sitting at the dining table, with steaming dishes placed on it.
Shanshan was sitting across from him, her chin resting on her hand, looking at him with curiosity and concern.
"Dear, you're always in the lab. Now that you're back, relax and forget about those experiments," Qiong said with a smile on her face, taking off her apron and wiping her hands. "I don't understand you academics. What's the point of sacrificing sleep and meals every day?"
"I..." Simpson was speechless as soon as he spoke. His voice became deep and powerful, without the hoarse and aged feeling of an elderly person.
Looking at his hands again, the wrinkles had disappeared.
"Dear, are you really okay? Maybe you should rest before eating?"
What is happening?
Simpson felt confused. He seemed to have forgotten many things.
Like a dream, everything is illusory.
He instinctively reached out his hand and held his wife's hand.
Warm and soft, yes, this is real.
Forgetting what was already not important, he just wanted to continue this ordinary and warm life.
Facing his wife's worried gaze, Simpson smiled, "It's nothing, just suddenly remembered some bad things. Thank you for your concern, let's have dinner."
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Like other "natives" of the eternal world, the author will not leave a body after death, only a few pieces of clothing.
Number 16, who transformed into Simpson's appearance, tore off the clothes he was wearing, bent down and picked up Simpson's outfit, slowly putting it on himself, imitating the actions perfectly.
Number 8 still maintained the appearance of Shan Shan, holding Simpson's phone, casually leaning on the sofa in the living room, crossing her long legs while quickly browsing the records on the phone.
After checking that there was no hidden audio or video recording function on the phone, Number 8 entered the group chat of "A Happy and Harmonious Family".
Looking at the chat history above, Number 8's eyes gradually became sharp.
[Number 13, you must find a chance to kill that nun. This woman isn't mentally unstable, she knows too much.]
[It's all about contribution points that can be moved, killing anyone is the same.]
[I advise you to give up on the idea of raising gu, don't underestimate them.]
Number 13 didn't pay much attention.
So what if the author knew? Even if they were hit, they would still die eventually.
Number 8 lurked in the group.
After reading Owen's account, Number 8 contemplated for a moment and came to the conclusion that the authors already knew that "monsters" can also reincarnate and retain the memories of their past lives.
But that didn't matter, from the beginning, the "rules" assumed this possibility and acted accordingly. Owen was just testing that possibility.
The authors still didn't know that reincarnation weakened them. As long as the author had this mentality, there would never be a chance.
That jumping Owen... he was just lucky, the area he was in hadn't been assimilated yet, and the Eternal Life Church's actions over there were not going smoothly. If he dared to act recklessly again, the Eternal Life Church would make sure he never returned.
After waiting for a while and confirming that there were no new messages in the group, Number 8 used its own phone to dial the direct line of the Minister of State Security.
The Eternal Life Church had infiltrated into the National Security Department for many days. Now, half of the Cabinet were followers of the Eternal Life Church. It could mobilize a thousand-strong force to suppress the remaining three authors.
Let the fake Simpson contact the three authors and obtain their location, then let the armed forces forcefully intervene and eliminate them directly.
After these three authors died, dig out their memories. Ambush at the birth point in the next reincarnation, waiting for the author called "Rules" to fall into the trap.
Why did the four authors come to Jerusalem? The answer must be in Simpson's memories.
As for whether Simpson would cooperate and reveal his memories, Number 8 was not worried at all.
Simpson would soon become a member of the Eternal Life Church and become more loyal than anyone else.
...
Under the orders from the top level of the Eternal Life Church, there was a hidden turmoil in Jerusalem.
The airport and train stations were closed one after another, and the security checks at the checkpoints became exceptionally strict. There were increased patrols of guards on the streets, and many surveillance drones hovered in the sky.
Those with keen senses could feel the seriousness of the atmosphere and quickly took shelter at home.
Disguised as Professor Simpson, number 16 and his companions communicated through a phone call and headed to the designated location.
The infantry and weapons squads carried firearms and mortars, and had already arrived at the scene to make preparations in advance. Several amphibious assault vehicles were parked at the bottleneck of the checkpoint as backup.
For the soldiers, this was a secret counter-terrorism operation organized by the military high command, with orders to eliminate the three terrorists at all costs.
By checking Simpson's flight records, the military obtained the portraits of the three "terrorists"; with the use of GPS positioning system, they knew the approximate location of the "terrorists".
Even without number 16, the suspects had no chance to escape. But for the sake of stability, number 8 still decided to make an observation.
"Simpson" arrived at the scene and met three men wearing masks and dressed strangely at the agreed location.
Although none of the three men showed their faces, based on their clothing and physical characteristics, the military confirmed that they were the targets of the high-level wanted list.
Without hesitation, several mortars were fired, and the explosion enveloped the terrorists, "Simpson," and several innocent bystanders.
"Elimination at all costs" meant that the priority was to eliminate the enemy rather than ensuring the safety of the civilians.
After the explosion, the infantry squad entered the ruins to comb the battlefield, but found nothing.
Although the author did not leave behind a body after death, their presence was not seen in the boundless white space, proving that they were still living somewhere in this world.
"No, those three people are not the authors, they are not dead." Number 8, on the other end of the phone, said expressionlessly, "Carry out a carpet search and shoot all the suspects, do not let any of them go."
"Understood, but the soldiers are not a part of the Church, so it might be difficult to execute."
"Bring the uncooperative ones for conversion; our time is running out, we need to finish before the next cycle begins."
After hanging up the phone, number 8 stood up and said to number 13, "They have been discovered and are on guard... How is the decoding of Simpson's memories going?"
"It's not perfect, but we have already identified the core content."
"Show me."
Soon, a novel with Simpson as the protagonist appeared in the hands of number 8. The book was incomplete, with many blank pages, but as long as number 8 could see the narration of this cycle, it would be enough.
"Good. Simpson's memories have filled in the key information erased by the life-saving items. We should forever occupy the laboratory in Jerusalem and cut off the authors' method of 'archiving'."
"Memory quantization?" Number 13 studied the principle of memory retention in Simpson and suddenly understood why number 8 was so afraid of the authors.
These people were too proactive; it seemed that if they were left alone, something big would indeed happen.
After leading the army to occupy the laboratory, number 8 discovered that the large microwave laser was still there, but the memory transmitters were the only things missing.
There was no problem, as there was only one microwave laser in the world that met the conditions for quantization. As long as they guarded this place, the authors would never be able to archive their memories through quantization. And in the next loop, the memory transmitters would refresh back to the laboratory.
In Simpson's private laboratory, Number 8 and Number 13 found a piece of paper.
Number 8 unfolded the paper and saw a line of calligraphy:
"The rotten wood reveals the hidden charm, a game once brought many springs. Invincible since emerging from the cave, forgive when it's the right time to forgive."
"Did the author leave this?" asked Number 13.
"Hmph, existence is a sin, and it must be eradicated," Number 8 tore the paper into pieces.
Although the escape routes of the authors had been blocked, there was less than 24 hours until reincarnation.
Whether it was arranged by someone with ulterior motives or a coincidence, a mutiny suddenly broke out within the military, but it was quickly suppressed through preaching, wasting several hours.
As the day was breaking, Number 8, who had just calmed down the rebellion, stood at the door of the laboratory. The yard was in a mess, with dozens of extra clothes from cleaning up the rebels. It sighed.
The three authors still managed to escape.
It clearly had a chance.
Number 8 didn't understand how they discovered Simpson's death.
Could they have used some props again?
But the authors' props had long been drained in countless cycles.
Forget it, let them struggle for a while longer. At least, the Eternal Life Church had control of the microwave emitter.
From now on, every time the cycle started, the Eternal Life Church would destroy the microwave emitter, completely cutting off the possibility of the author's "quantized storage."
-------------------------------------
A rocket flew alone in the high altitude of 120 kilometers, with a bright trail extending tens of meters behind it. However, compared to the "within reach" colossal blue planet, it was as tiny as a speck of cosmic dust.
The low-orbit rocket was very fast, and Xu Fang had already circled the Earth several times. At first, Xu Fang wanted to use the Demon Eye to see what was happening on the surface, but it was too far from the land. Once he focused his attention, the energy was quickly drained. Moreover, the thick clouds blocked all the spots of light, making it impossible for Xu Fang to observe the ground accurately.
At this moment, Xu Fang was holding a silver-white cube the size of a Rubik's cube.
The core of the memory transmission, the synchronization device.
It was the micro-rocket assembled by Moulton that sent the synchronization device along with the four-eyed memories to Xu Fang's hand.
The lab had the materials, and there was even a semi-finished product, so assembling the rocket was not difficult. The difficulty lay in precisely launching the small rocket to Xu Fang's location.
At that time, Xu Fang only gave Moulton a three-dimensional coordinate, with the xy-axis representing latitude and longitude, the z-axis representing height, and the current speed.
After calculations, Moulton managed to keep the error of the micro-rocket within ten kilometers. It seemed that the previous claim of being an "astronomy enthusiast" was too modest.
Xu Fang slightly adjusted the rocket's speed and obtained the synchronization device.
The old Moulton and the others knew that if the enemy obtained Simpson's memories, the path of quantumized memory would be blocked, and in the next cycle, the synchronization device would also disappear. It would be better to take a gamble with Xu Fang and send the four-eyed memories to space.
Xu Fang observed the synchronization device.
The device contains integrated circuits, chips, and batteries, as well as a small amount of unknown substances.
The light spots passing through the unknown substances exhibit extremely regular movements, different from the movement of electrons in the circuit, as their motion does not rely on any material medium.
It seems that this substance endows electrical energy with intelligence.
Xu Fang vaguely guessed the working principle of the synchronization device: the integrated circuits and chips serve as the signal transmission function, and the electrons processed by the unknown substance actively simulate the topological structure and then transmit the processed signal in a form understandable to humans. It is a wonderful way of operation, as it does not treat electrons purely as tools like integrated circuits but rather "trains" them to work on their own.
Since that's the case, can the synchronization device be used to better manipulate one's own duplicate?
