Night World Players

Chapter 211: That Prosperous Future Will No Longer Have My Figure (Two-in-One)

The image displayed on the light screen was still the pure white and bright intensive care unit.

However, ever since the conversation between Grey and Amys that day, a rather special instrument has appeared among the many medical devices in the ward.

This is a large optical quantum computer equipped with an external voice input interface... It can use virtual calculations based on massive language samples to simulate a similar personality in the optical quantum computer based on big data.

That is the reproduction of the human "soul" by means of artificial intelligence——

If the soul stored in the human brain is called "natural fluctuating light", then the virtual soul created by technological means is the so-called "artificial fluctuating light".

However, the virtual personality born in the optical quantum computer, which is like a soul... also needs to be filled with information and big data to make it complete and lifelike.

Without the completion of massive amounts of data, artificial fluctuating lights without any memories or data would be as empty as the soul of a newborn baby.

But Amis was not a visitor from the Sixth Epoch. She had never left any traces in this world, and naturally, there was no data at all... Therefore, the artificial Fluctlight that simulated Amis' soul was initially as empty as a blank sheet of paper, with no sense of reality at all.

Only through her constant dialogue with it, constantly leaving her own language samples and dialogue data, and correcting and adjusting it step by step, can the artificial flute become gradually perfect.

On the originally blank white paper, it was gradually stained with her color, the color called Amys.

……

Within the light curtain, the flow of time continued to accelerate as if the fast-forward button had been pressed.

Both "pseudo-personality" and "artificial fluct light" were cutting-edge technologies in the Sixth Epoch at the time, still in the experimental stage...with numerous flaws and shortcomings.

No one knows how much time it would take, and how much big data and language samples would be needed to perfect a completely blank "artificial fluctuating light" to the point where it is lifelike and comparable to a real person's soul.

Perhaps one day it could be completed, but everyone knew that the time left for the girl named Amis would be counted in weeks, or even days.

That's why, at the very beginning.

Both Grey and the medical team members simply regarded it as a small wish of Amys and the spiritual sustenance she was looking for.

It is also the last bit of "hospice care" provided for this little girl who is only in her early teens but is much stronger than most adults and always faces a terminal illness with a smile.

The so-called "hospice care" is to provide the highest possible quality of life for terminally ill patients who are destined to be incurable and are heading towards death... This includes using medication to relieve physical pain and spiritual comfort, and that's all.

They believed that fulfilling Amy's wish would bring her spiritual comfort, so they played this last game with the little girl.

However, no one could have imagined that the thin little girl's seemingly unintentional words, spoken on a whim, were actually extremely serious.

After that, in addition to cooperating with the medical team's treatment with a more positive attitude, Amis devoted almost all of her waking time and energy to the cold optical quantum computer, constantly talking to it.

Some of what she described was very ordinary, just some daily details about the small town of Canaan - for example, the white windmill by the lake outside the town would stop turning every time it rained, and for example, on the third Sunday of June every year, traveling merchants from other places would come to Canaan, and Amis would then use the cloth she had saved to exchange for various cooking seasonings from the merchants.

Some of the content is quite private, such as when Amys was lost in the cave, it was Rast who led the adults to find her in the heavy rain.

For example, the dishes and snacks that Rast likes to eat, and the flavor of his preferred porridge for breakfast...

These were the most secret things in Amy's heart, precious memories that she regarded as treasures and was unwilling to share with anyone else.

But at this moment, everything is told in great detail, bit by bit.

Day and night.

Every morning and evening, sunset and dawn...

Amys sat leaning on the hospital bed, talking non-stop, pouring out her heart to the cold optical quantum computer.

She expressed her longing for Last, her nostalgia for the peaceful daily life in that border town, and her reluctance to no longer be by his side... She poured out all these burning emotions to the blank Yaoguang that was gradually being born in the quantum computer.

Spring warmth, summer days, autumn days, winter nights…

Before anyone knew it, Amys, who was originally diagnosed by the medical team as having a maximum survival time of no more than three months, had actually survived for nearly a year.

And the artificial light that was originally as empty as a blank sheet of paper gradually became real, clear and lifelike under Amy's persistent dialogue and confession.

However, Amis's body was visibly weakening and becoming haggard, and even the time she could maintain lucidity each day began to decrease.

No matter how advanced the medical technology is, it is only a temporary solution to the "aftermath of space-time collapse" and not a cure for the root cause.

The fact that she had survived for so long was due to Amy's active cooperation with treatment and her optimistic attitude, which was extremely rare among patients, as well as the use of a large number of new drugs that had not passed clinical trials.

And now, her illness has finally developed to the final stage.

……

It was still an evening with sunset.

The setting sun was as red as blood, shining into the intensive care unit through the small window, covering the hospital bed and the girl on it with a layer of light golden neon.

Gray opened the door and walked into the intensive care unit again.

On the hospital bed, the little blonde girl was still leaning sideways towards the cold optical quantum computer, whispering something.

Perhaps due to her weakness and illness, Amy's voice was very soft, almost whispering, and she would pause for a long time after each sentence before continuing.

Fortunately, the microphone of the optical quantum computer was sensitive enough. On the screen next to it, a number was growing at an extremely slow rate as Amys spoke.

That was an indicator of the degree of perfection of the "artificial fluct light." The higher the value, the closer the artificial intelligence was to human-level performance... Before this, even experts in the field of artificial intelligence had never imagined that someone could actually perfect artificial intelligence to this level.

Amys was extremely devoted and serious in her confession. It seemed as if just saying these words had exhausted all her energy, leaving her completely unable to focus on anything else. Perhaps the illness had affected her hearing...

A long time later, when Amys took a break, she discovered Gray who was silently watching her beside the bed.

"Sister Gray..."

She tried to sit up, but found that she had lost the strength to do so.

"No, we can just communicate through 'heart-to-heart dialogue'."

Gray spoke softly. She sat down next to Amis, a light flickering in her eyes, and the "Fool's Library" was activated.

The next moment, her voice rang deep within Amy's heart.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Xiao Ai, but according to the medical team, if I don't come to you this time... maybe I won't have the chance to talk to you again."

"I understand, Sister Grey."

Amys nodded gently. "My life span is almost over. I know that from the day I asked you for help, I have been prepared to die."

"and--"

She turned her head to look at the display screen of the quantum computer beside her: "The artificial light called 'Amys' is also complete..." "I just wanted to perfect it as much as possible before I left."

Amys said softly, "With this, when I die... there will be someone to stay by his side instead of me. He won't feel lonely in this strange world and fall into despair or even give up on himself."

"Xiao Ai..."

Gray seemed to be hesitant to speak. "Don't you feel unwilling or even jealous?"

"If it were me, I would share my feelings and memories with a loved one with a replica."

"To watch your beloved treat a replica of you, with the same appearance, personality, and memories, as your own, letting a substitute take the place that should have belonged to you."

"Honestly... I can't even imagine it."

This is Grey's true feelings after putting herself in the other person's shoes.

If I were in Amys's shoes, I would have to share my memories, experiences, and all my emotions with my brother Last with a replica of his virtual soul... Let that replica take over my life for the rest of my life, and walk through the future with my brother Last...

Even just thinking about this kind of thing made Gray feel sour in her heart.

She rejected and disliked the occurrence of such a thing from the bottom of her heart.

"Of course I'm jealous, of course I'm unwilling..."

After a brief silence, Gray heard Amy's voice echoing in her heart, as if there were emotions that had been suppressed for a long time accumulating.

"How could I possibly want to share those things with someone else, to see another person by his side, to take over my own life?"

“I didn’t want to hand it over to anyone.”

"I like Rust and I like the feeling of being with him."

"I want to be by his side, grow old with him, and when one day we are both too old to walk anymore and can only sit on a lounge chair in a mountain hut, basking in the sun, we can talk about our youth and still look at each other and smile."

"My past with him in Canaan, every little thing we went through together... I feel shy just thinking about it..."

"All of that, clearly, belongs only to me. Neither the gods nor fate have the right to take it away from my heart."

"But--"

Amys paused. "Rather than having my life replaced by another replica, and rather than the bitterness, resentment, and jealousy welling up in my heart... I don't want to see him fall into despair and abandon himself because he's lost the company of someone he knew."

"I hope he can smile, regain his own life, and have a bright future."

"even if--"

"In that vast future that belongs to him, there will no longer be a trace of me."

……

"To be honest, I didn't expect that this skinny little girl would give such an answer."

"It was a wake-up call in my ears."

"Compared to the feelings she harbored for you, Brother Luster, my longing for you, or perhaps even my possessive desire for you, which has gradually twisted and degenerated over the past two hundred years...seemed to pale in comparison in an instant."

Gray's voice echoed through the light curtain, carrying a silent sigh.

"It was at that moment that I finally made a decision in my heart."

"Decision on how to use my third and final wish from 'Wish Upon Destiny'."

"It's also the only way to atone for the sins I committed in my first two wishes...to put your fate, Brother Luster, and Xiao Ai's fate, which was twisted by my momentary thought, back on track."

"Just as Leader Sissel paved the way for me with his own life... after I make my third wish, human civilization after the Sixth Epoch will also have an even more prosperous future."

"Even if the price of making this last wish is—"

"Even in that prosperous future, I will no longer be there."

……

Gray's narration ended.

And within the light curtain, in the memory scene from Gray's perspective—

After being stunned for a moment, Gray spoke again.

"In fact, your 'sequelae of space-time collapse' may have the possibility of being completely cured."

"If this attempt succeeds, perhaps you can see Brother Rast again...see Rast, and continue to accompany him for the rest of his life."

"A method to completely heal me?"

Hearing Gray's voice, the sky-blue eyes on Amy's pale face suddenly lit up again.

"Ah."

Gray nodded. "The root cause of your current illness...is that you were implicated when I made the wish. You were forced to travel through tens of thousands of years, becoming an outsider who doesn't belong to this era, nor to the current historical juncture."

"The long river of history has a strong power of correction. It will spontaneously eliminate and exclude those time travelers who do not belong to the current era, or impurities."

"And your illness is actually due to the rejection of this force of historical correction, which is why your body is constantly deteriorating and decaying."

"For this symptom, any external remedy will only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. Even the slightest mistake could backfire, exacerbating the rejection of history's revisionist forces against you."

"The only way is to change yourself—"

Gray gazed into the eyes of the blonde girl on the hospital bed. "Make yourself strong enough, strong enough to ignore the correction force of history and the distortion of time and space collapse."

"Let yourself reign supreme over time, reign supreme above the calamities of the changing eras, defy the erosion of time, and truly ascend the throne of eternal immortality... Whether in the past, present, or future, there will never be a moment of weakness."

"Whether upstream or downstream in the long river of history, we maintain our absolute uniqueness."

"At that time, regardless of time or space, you will be you, the only you... Then that virtual, artificial Fluctlight will also be you, a part of you, without distinction."

"Or, to put it more simply—"

"Xiao Ai, you have to become an 'angel'."

(End of this chapter)