Did the world end today?

Chapter 399 Trigger

Chapter 399 Trigger
In the interrogation room.

Lin Xu faced off against Qin Shizhong once again.

Jiang Xingye remained on guard, the scene was exactly the same, but the atmosphere between the two sides was even more tense than last time.

This was a true "interrogation," not just an "interrogation."

If Qin Shizhong does anything uncooperative or dangerous during the process, Lin Xu will not hesitate to press the alarm button.

Immediately afterwards, the "security system," which relies entirely on simple mechanical structures for operation, will completely eliminate Qin Shizhong within a tenth of a second.

"how did you do it?"

Lin Xu got straight to the point and asked his first question.

"How did you manage to control and influence people without entering a higher-dimensional channel?"

"Such abilities go beyond the scope of psychology and must come from some kind of special high-dimensional influence."

"but"

"Let's put this issue aside for now."

Qin Shizhong slowly shook his head, interrupting Lin Xu.

Then, he spoke:
"It's all over."

"For me, it all ended the moment you brought me into this interrogation room."

“My plan was perfect, but I have to admit that you are far more vigilant and powerful than I imagined.”

Even after obtaining most of the truth, they still did not loosen their control over me.

"This is something I never expected. I've been holding back my trump card for so long, but it didn't work as expected in the end."

"What a pity."

At this moment, Qin Shizhong finally revealed his complete and authentic self.

Unlike the extreme, broken, yet somewhat human "living" version of him that Lin Xu had met before, this time he appeared exceptionally gloomy and profound.

This performance was exactly what Lin Xu had expected.

He didn't press further about Qin Shizhong's "special abilities," but instead said with a hint of sarcasm:

"I thought you would continue acting."

"But now it seems you've really given up."

After a brief pause, without giving Qin Shizhong time to answer, Lin Xu continued to ask:

"So, your original plan was to lower our guard, extract more information about higher-dimensional channels from us, and then find a way to enter those channels?"

"What's in there?"

"What exactly are you trying to achieve through that flaw?"

As Lin Xu finished speaking, Qin Shizhong sighed softly.

His eyes were somewhat vacant. After a long silence, he suddenly spoke and asked in return:

"Do you remember the immortal jellyfish I kept?"

"remember."

Lin Xu nodded, and Qin Shizhong slightly moved his wrists, which were resting against the interrogation chair, and said with emotion:

"I must say, you are incredibly perceptive."

"It was just a few jellyfish. Actually, when you started focusing on the jellyfish, I already realized that I had no chance."

“But I still want to give it a try.”

"So I chose to take the risk—but such hasty action was destined not to bring good results."

That's why we're sitting here now, instead of...

Qin Shizhong stopped abruptly before finishing his sentence, and then said:

"But you should already be able to guess what I'm going to do, right?"

Lin Xu did not answer.

indeed.

When Qin Shizhong brought up his "Turritopsis dohrnii" jellyfish, his intentions were already quite clear.

Reincarnation, rebirth.

These two words had already appeared frequently in Lin Xu's field of vision when he first began to explore the topic of "doomsday".

Even the so-called "Planetary Reincarnation" organization has "reincarnation" as its core doctrine.

It seems that for all those who want to escape the apocalypse and "understand the apocalypse" through higher dimensions, "reincarnation" is the first question they would ask.

so.
"Your true intention is to make this world smoothly enter the cycle of reincarnation?"

"Or do you want to restart this world?"

"Yes."

Qin Shizhong nodded solemnly.

"This is an imperfect world."

"In fact, an imperfect world cannot escape the end of the world."

"All the struggles we are making now are nothing more than the struggle of a trapped beast."

"You have indeed made many efforts, and you have indeed achieved many results."

"But these achievements are nothing more than a fleeting moment before the end of the world, nothing more than empty and meaningless illusions."

"Or to put it more aptly, this is more like a final burst of light before civilization dies down."

"If you blindly pursue something while in a state of temporary resurgence."

"The final result is nothing more than soaring high and then falling heavily."

"Makes sense."

Lin Xu shrugged.

Qin Shizhong's idea wasn't actually that problematic—after all, he and Jiang Xingye had made similar attempts in the world of the Leap Forward era.

The so-called "spell" is just a means to change the course of a world and make its development tend toward "perfection," isn't it?

The difference is that I use "other worlds" outside the world of Destinystone as my experimental medium.

Qin Shizhong seems to intend to use the main world as the experimental platform directly.

For Lin Xu, this was an absolutely unacceptable adventure.

Thinking of this, he continued:

"Even if you restart this world, you can't make it a better place."

"Besides, we don't have time."

"You know when the end of the world will come. Every restart is just a meaningless waste of 'time resources'."

"Your goal was flawed from the start—it's even more illusory than a so-called last gasp, isn't it?"

"No."

Qin Shizhong looked directly into Lin Xu's eyes.

Then, he spoke:
"We cannot escape this doomsday."

"I told you, we can no longer escape this apocalypse."

"However, the end of the world is itself the beginning of a cycle."

"We have been reincarnated countless times, and each time we have been unable to escape the final destruction."

"In the future, and in countless cycles thereafter, this outcome will repeat itself."

"And the only way to change the outcome."

There's only one.

"Leave enough opportunities for civilization to leapfrog forward."

"This is what I'm doing."

"I have never thought about saving the world, nor have I ever thought about saving this era."

"I just think."

"To save the next civilization of the future."

“That’s what I’m going to do.”

After Qin Shizhong finished speaking, Lin Xu also fell into a brief silence.

Before he could speak, Qin Shizhong continued:

"I don't know if you know this, but this apocalypse is a reboot for the entire universe."

"Such restarts have been carried out many times, but not every restart will erase all matter and all information in the universe."

"Very limited information will be preserved."

"And this information ultimately makes us who we are."

"Humanity."

At this point, Qin Shizhong raised his head.

His eyes reflected a chilling, even blinding light. "Do you really believe that humans like us are a native civilization in this universe?"

"wrong."

"We are the legacy of the previous cycle of reincarnation."

"Only we have been left behind as a legacy."

"That's why we are the only and most lonely life form in the entire universe."

As soon as Qin Shizhong finished speaking, Lin Xu unconsciously stood up.

This time, the information revealed by the other party completely exceeded his expectations.

To date, he is the only higher-dimensional experiencer who has truly explained the truth about "reincarnation".

heritage
Are humans a legacy from the previous cycle?

Lin Xu finally fully understood the significance of the "Turritopsis dohrnii".

When the environment begins to deteriorate, the immortal jellyfish will actively degenerate and downgrade to the most basic life form in an attempt to survive its "doomsday".

What Qin Shizhong wants to do is turn humans into "Turritopsis dohrnii".

He doesn't even want to downgrade human civilization.

He went even further; he simply wanted humanity to leave behind a single, meaningful "DNA".

In the next cycle, this DNA will continue to develop and grow into a more mature human civilization.

With each cycle, human civilization will come closer and closer to perfection.

When that threshold is finally broken, perhaps humanity will already have...
The ability to break the cycle of reincarnation?
This is what the so-called "saving the future" means.

"You are even better than I imagined."

Lin Xu was momentarily at a loss for words, while Qin Shizhong smiled and added:

"We need to make it more mysterious, right?"

"You probably never imagined that my true nature is like this, did you?"

"But in fact, everything you see is real."

"Everything I experienced was real."

"It's true that I'm tormented by love, it's true that I hate my parents, and it's true that I'm dissatisfied with this world."

"It's just that on top of these realities, there's another layer of reality."

"really."

Lin Xu did not press the matter further.

In fact, he had already gained more than enough from this conversation.

Let's get back to the original topic.

"How exactly did you manage to influence other people's minds without using higher-dimensional channels?"

"I did not affect anyone's mind."

Qin Shizhong replied:

"It's not as complicated as you think at all."

"Don't you already know that I achieve my goal through 'pre-set' information?"

"Then what makes you think I can't make preconceived notions about the people I want to influence?"

“I can change all of humanity’s understanding of a single word, which, according to you, is a ‘secondary message’.”

"But this is not the only secondary information that I can influence."

"So, what I need to do is very simple."

"All I need to do is plant the same subconscious idea, the same trigger, in everyone's mind."

"I will pull the trigger when I need to use it."

"That's the answer."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Xu, who had already sat down, suddenly stood up.

trigger??
This is not a trigger.

This is the nuclear button.

Qin Shizhong has fully demonstrated his abilities, and now he is revealing the details to me.
It's not a confession.

It is a threat.

It's all over.

This does not mean that his plan has failed or ended.

Rather, it means that his plan has reached its final stage, the point where it has to be launched!
Seeing his expression, Qin Shizhong sighed again.

"Actually, I didn't intend to actually launch this plan."

"Because it is inherently risky."

"Even I'm not sure whether the world will return to the trajectory I need if the trigger is pulled, or whether it will be destroyed."

"But now, I have no choice but to do it."

"Because you have strayed from the right path."

"I cannot stand by and watch humanity perish in its final, desperate celebration."

"In that case, the truly perfect world I want may never be realized."

"The legacy accumulated by humanity in countless previous cycles will also be immediately wiped out."

"so."

"it's all over."

The handcuffs on Qin Shizhong's hands rattled.

He looked at Lin Xu and said, word by word:

"You don't have much time."

"You need to make a decision as soon as possible."

Lin Xu stared at Qin Shizhong without saying a word.

A few seconds later, he raised his hand and said:
"Anesthetize him."

"Project Mirror, launched ahead of schedule."

Half an hour later, at the airport.

The private jet, which was ready at any moment, opened its cabin door. Lin Xu led Jiang Xingye, Ayana, Yu Shiliang and others into the cabin. Behind them, Qin Shizhong, who was in a coma and was being heavily "protected" or rather guarded, was being carried onto the plane on a stretcher by medical staff.

After sitting down, Lin Xu quickly checked the preparations of each department throughout the entire Mirror Project process using his tablet.

In Hangzhou, the quantum-level brain-computer interface device is ready.

At the Lop Nur experimental base, the transmitter used to send "mirror information" has also entered the final testing phase.

Yu Shiliang and Ayana are in good condition.

The high-dimensional channel location has been locked, and the launch procedure can be initiated immediately once the information is ready.

The entire plan has no flaws—at least not at present.

Lin Xu breathed a slight sigh of relief, while Jiang Xingye, who was standing to the side, took the opportunity to ask:
"How accurate do you think the information provided by Qin Shizhong is?"

Lin Xu frowned slightly and replied:

"Based on the current situation, the credibility is almost 100%."

"He no longer has any need to lie. At this point, we have completely broken off relations."

"I actually anticipated this situation."

"But I really didn't expect his motive to be such a macro-level reason."

"I didn't expect that either."

Jiang Xingye looked slightly regretful.

“I have not received any information about him and know nothing about him.”

"I've always believed he was just a speculator."

"If I had known in advance that he already possessed such high-level information, I would have given him a warning."

"It's ok."

Lin Xu patted Jiang Xingye's hand reassuringly, then said:
"There's still time."