Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 561 Virtual and Reality

"The food here is really good." Zheng Zha couldn't resist opening another bottle of wine, downing more than half of it in one gulp, and commented, "So when are you guys going to get down to business?"

Mu Xiang looked at him suspiciously: "I thought you knew what was going on... It was so quiet, and now you're telling me you didn't know?"

"What do you mean?" Zheng Zha was taken aback.

Zhang Jie said, "It started a long time ago... If you are interested, I can project what that consciousness sees. Oh, in the terminology of this technique, it should be called soul splitting."

As he spoke, Zhang Jie waved his hand, and a three-dimensional image of his spiritual power appeared in front of the two of them.

"What kind of abilities do you have..." Zheng Zha clicked his tongue, seemingly a little envious. "You can do everything?"

Mu Xiang shrugged: "It's related to my major... If the deep network of this world hadn't been built using a high-end data technology to create a virtual reality, and had mature consciousness uploading, Zhang Jie wouldn't have been able to do it so easily."

Zhang Jie chuckled and looked at the other "self" in the mental image: "For them, this technology is almost flawless... It's a pity they ran into me."

"This also confirms another thing." Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses. "That is, this group... uh, let's call them the Referee Committee for now, although their real name might be something like the Maintenance Committee? That means these technologies must have been given to them by external forces. Liu Xi's ability to discover and imitate the data construction is related to her abilities, but we can also blame these guys for being too technically inept."

Zheng Zha scratched his head: "Because they never expected this possibility?"

“Yeah… It seems like they didn’t expect us to hack in, but actually they don’t even know their own vulnerabilities.” Mu Xiang smiled dismissively. “Knowing how to use it and not knowing the underlying principles seem contradictory, but there’s a simple solution.”

"That means this thing itself doesn't belong to them."

While the three were making their evaluations, Zhang Jie's split soul was also moving within the deep network. As Mu Xiang said, the deep network where the referee committee was located was a virtual reality constructed from data. However, this so-called virtual reality was far different from the virtual reality technology that Zhang Jie knew, or rather, it was fundamentally different from the virtual reality technology understood by anyone in the Zhongzhou team.

Virtual reality... is reality first, and virtuality second.

Virtual reality achieved through data and code.

"Even if the referee committee is what Mu Xiang called a traitor, this virtual reality is still very valuable..." Zhang Jie looked at the loading space with its dazzling lights and sighed in his heart, "Either they are highly valued, or the technology itself is incredibly awesome."

Although Zhang Jie entered the system by exploiting a loophole in consciousness uploading, the fact that he could even exploit it already reveals a lot... In a typical data world, so-called consciousness uploading is merely a copy of memories and a calculation combining past records and the current situation. Such consciousness uploading could absolutely not be connected to the spirit or soul.

But uploading consciousness to this world is possible!
All the data had been retrieved, and after a long series of tests, the data body finally entered the special space of the referee committee.

Two seemingly antique doors slowly opened in front of Zhang Jie, but this was merely a visual effect set up by the referee. Zhang Jie thought to himself, "Does this 26th-century little thing even understand these things?" Even a roughneck like him could quickly see that these so-called antique doors were extremely clumsy… Perhaps it's because people in the 26th century have a worse understanding of ancient culture than he did.

Despite the tedious and meticulous process of waiting for the door to open—that is, waiting for the loading process—Zhang Jie remained completely unfazed. Regardless of his actual strength, his methods were flawless. Apart from the referee's consciousness, nothing about this data body had been altered, and the consciousness-level identifiers were preserved intact by Zhang Jie. This world's defenses against data consciousness anomalies were extremely tight, perhaps intended to prevent errors in the data that served as the carrier of consciousness from leading to uncontrollable consequences… However, against Zhang Jie's methods, such defenses were insufficient.

Whether it was the self-check at the level of consciousness or the instant connection with the backup, both were interfered with before Zhang Jie's mental power could penetrate... In Zhang Jie's view, while this data system targeting consciousness surprised him, it still had many aspects that it hadn't yet addressed regarding mental consciousness. After possessing another body, it wouldn't be difficult to evade these detection methods.

"So Zhang Jie, do you approve or disapprove?" Zheng Zha couldn't help but ask as he listened to Zhang Jie's inner thoughts in the video.

Zhang Jie remained silent for a long time, then sighed and turned to look at Mu Xiang.

Mu Xiang also sighed. The two of them were caught in a strange cycle again... one couldn't explain it, and the other couldn't understand it.

“Let me explain. Zhang Jie certainly appreciates it, but he appreciates the technology, not the person.” Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses. “Actually, not only Zhang Jie, but I am also very surprised by this technology. You know, if it is a poor data space or virtual reality, it is just a means of continuing self-deception.”

"If it's a backup of a person's consciousness uploaded after death, then it's barely something to remember them by; but if someone's consciousness is uploaded like this while they're still alive, and they don't leave a physical body, then they're really unlucky... So what does the survival of that data consciousness have to do with you personally?"

Mu Xiang smiled and said, "This kind of clumsy consciousness upload is precisely why Zhang Jie can't exploit it... It's because Zhang Jie succeeded that he has to marvel at the power of this technology."

Zheng Zha watched as Zhang Jie walked into a magnificent hall in the video and talked with the other referees with different appearances. He nodded as if he understood: "So... before this, I thought these people were just pure data."

Zhang Jie shook his head: "If it were just pure data, there wouldn't be so many fancy decorations and so on."

"In other words, they really are alive... just in a different form, different from us and the vast majority of people in this world."

Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses: "If it's just data, then we'll use technical means... But if it's conscious, then there's another way. Zhang Jie, let's give these guys who use technology that doesn't belong to humans, yet rule over humanity, a surprise."

At the same time, Mu Xiang was thinking about something else.

This so-called deep network is far too sophisticated... If we didn't have such a powerful mind controller, it wouldn't be possible to achieve this so easily.

Building worlds with data...that's quite similar to a certain technology I already know of, though much more rudimentary.

[The Universe of Rune Culture...]

But isn't there only one civilization possessing this technological capability...?

What could this world possibly have to do with that civilization?!

(End of this chapter)