Day of Imprisonment

“So, what am I supposed to do next?” Zhou Di accepted reality. Although all of this seemed incredibly crazy and unbelievable, if analyzed according to what Luo Xi said, the other party knew the secret of his love letter, knew his password, and even knew his graduation design, which was still in the conceptual stage.

This could only mean one thing: he did trust Luo Xi.

At least regarding the love letter, he would never have told anyone unless he absolutely trusted them, given his personality.

Moreover, according to Luo Xi, what they were doing now was absolutely righteous.

“Wait for this false world to restart.” Luo Xi leaned back in his chair, watching the progress bar on the screen.

The light extending outward from the computer mainframe had already penetrated the darkness outside, like roots piercing into the soil, and it was still spreading and expanding.

Zhou Di had gone through shock, doubt, fear, fright, and now understanding the situation, beginning to accept, comprehend, and trust.

The changes in his mindset during this process could be described as even more thrilling than riding a roller coaster.

But his personality was different from others.

He was outwardly reserved but inwardly relaxed. Once he accepted and approved of something, he would adapt very quickly.

For example, he previously thought this guy named Luo Xi was a madman, a criminal with ulterior motives, but upon discovering that everything the other party said was true, he immediately regarded him as a friend.

“Luo Xi, tell me about yourself.” Zhou Di leaned against the bedside, also glancing at the screen. “Judging by the progress, it probably won’t be finished in a short time. Let’s chat. Coincidentally, I also want to learn more about what you said about the outside world.”

“Myself?” Luo Xi thought for a moment. “Essentially, I’m the same as you, but also not quite the same. But what’s certain is that I am your colleague and your friend.”

“I can see that, otherwise, I wouldn’t have told you about the love letter. That’s my biggest secret.” Zhou Di nodded, acknowledging this.

“As for who I am, I’ve also thought about this question myself. Strictly speaking, I am not Luo Xi in the true sense.”

“What do you mean? What do you mean by ‘not in the true sense’? I don’t understand.” Zhou Di looked puzzled.

“Everyone has many sides. Towards family, considerate, gentle, and responsible; towards work, diligent and conscientious; towards enemies, cold and ruthless. I am the side specifically designed to deal with crises. Moreover, certain strengths and weaknesses in personality have been infinitely amplified. You can understand it as a virtual game character, with certain attributes adjusted and some other things added.”

As Luo Xi spoke, his eyes were fixed on the dressing mirror next to him.

In the mirror, people surged.

“Who I am is not important. What’s important is what you and I are going to do. Zhou Di, I don’t know what Mr. D is, but I know that its initial version was based on your graduation design. So, why don’t you introduce it?”

Luo Xi didn’t dwell too much on the matter of ‘identity.’

Just as he himself said, what he had to do was to resolve the crisis.

Apart from that, nothing else had any meaning or value in his eyes.

“Wait, I want to ask first, who came up with the name Mr. D?” Zhou Di asked.

“I did, what’s wrong?” Luo Xi asked in return.

“The name sucks.” Zhou Di said whatever he thought. “As for this thing, it’s just a card game. I studied computer science in college, and I also like playing games, so I decided to do this as my graduation design.”

“The initial design ideas and creativity of this game were very simple, like many card collection games, nothing new. In fact, many of the card designs in it were copied from classic masterpieces or elements from other games.”

Zhou Di began to explain in detail.

Just as he himself said, this so-called 'Mr. D' was just a very ordinary card game, even one with no special features, that incorporated many messy elements.

The things used for the graduation design were naturally pieced together and perfunctory.

“A handle for resistance. I said before that the ‘Traitor’ has almost the highest authority. Here, it can do anything. Originally, we had no way to confront it, but now with Mr. D, there is a glimmer of opportunity.”

Luo Xi’s words once again plunged Zhou Di into confusion.

“A broken game? What can it do?”

“That’s not a broken game. Any game has its rules, and the gameplay is the rule. And Mr. D was developed by you, a thing that can truly let us see victory, it can be regarded as the fire of hope.”

Before Luo Xi could finish speaking, a vibration suddenly came from outside, accompanied by a rumbling noise.

Zhou Di immediately jumped up in fright.

“What happened?” He looked outside. The fluorescent light that Mr. D had permeated had spread very far, seemingly covering a range of at least hundreds of kilometers, but the sudden vibration and strange noise seemed to be preventing Mr. D from permeating outward.

“The Traitor has begun to counterattack.” Luo Xi stood up and looked out the window. The violent vibration made the room somewhat precarious, but the fluorescent light that Mr. D had permeated was like dense roots, stabilizing the room.

No matter how strong the vibration outside was, there was no sign of collapse here.

“What exactly is this Traitor you’re talking about?” Zhou Di asked. He had been curious about this matter for a long time.

According to Luo Xi, the origin of all this disaster was that ‘Traitor.’

"It's called Wei Si. You can understand it as an intelligent program that is almost human," Luo Xi said.

"Artificial intelligence?" Zhou Di studied computer science, so he immediately understood. Moreover, at this moment, his eyes were bright: "I understand. The artificial intelligence program betrayed humanity. Isn't that the plot that appears in science fiction novels and movies?"

"Wei Si isn't that simple. Now you should know how difficult things are, right?" Luo Xi noticed that in the darkness outside, far away, something seemed to appear.

Tearing through the barrier of darkness, invading this place.

"I understand. The false world is actually created by artificial intelligence, so here, it's like an omnipotent god. But there's one thing I don't understand. Why are we here? I've read many science fiction periodicals. I know that even if, one day in the future, technology develops to the point where a person's consciousness can enter a virtual world, they can still return to the real world. Why are we here, fighting against an opponent that is impossible to defeat?"

Zhou Di was obviously a smart person. He asked about the core of the matter.

He thought that Luo Xi could answer this question, but to his surprise and disappointment, Luo Xi actually shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I don't know about this either. I said before, I'm actually similar to you. Some memories no longer exist. Even the things I told you before are just information written in my memory. I guess you and I should be a backup that was left a long, long time ago."

Zhou Di pondered this sentence for a moment before he understood what it meant.

In an instant, goosebumps rose all over his body.

His hair stood on end.

At this time, Luo Xi pointed to the distance: "There's something over there."

There was indeed something in the distance. A kind of dark light appeared in the distance, and what came into view were huge, unbelievable tentacles, reaching in from the dark void.

Normal people simply cannot understand and bear the impact of this scene.

Zhou Di was a normal person. He was almost immediately defeated by everything he saw in front of him. He widened his eyes, trembling all over, slumped on the ground, his mouth open, wanting to say something, but he couldn't utter a complete sentence.

Relatively speaking, Luo Xi was much calmer.

He just looked up, staring at the huge tentacles in the distance that were beyond everyone's imagination, and then showed a contemptuous smile.

"Wei Si, our game has only just begun!"

The huge tentacles were about to approach, and it seemed that the other party could easily annihilate this room, which was like a speck of dust.

The silver light, like roots, that originally permeated from the room was also blocking the huge tentacles at this moment, but it was obvious that it was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot and could not really block it.

But just as the tentacles impacted with world-destroying power, the progress bar on the computer in the room, which was originally stuck at more than seventy percent, suddenly reached one hundred percent.

Almost at the same time, the computer instantly burst out with a dazzling light.

This light was too strong, especially in this dark void, like a giant star suddenly appearing in a silent universe.

Instantly, it illuminated everything around.

The huge tentacles and the light group began to confront each other. The scene was very terrifying. This small house was like a lone boat on an endless dark sea, enduring stormy waves. It always felt like the next terrifying wave would completely annihilate it.

Moreover, the light emitted from the computer was actually weakening at this moment.

"Zhou Di, this place can't hold on anymore, but don't worry, you are already bound to Mr. D and will not be affected. After all, you yourself have become a part of this world. Wait for me, I will come to find you. If one day you see me, tell me what I told you today without changing a word."

Luo Xi seemed to sense something, and at this time, he turned his head and said to Zhou Di.

However, before Zhou Di could speak, the house finally couldn't withstand the terrifying pressure and completely collapsed.

Zhou Di watched Luo Xi being swallowed by the darkness and disappearing without a trace.

At that moment, he was scared to death.

He thought he was doomed too.

But the facts proved that he was not.

Just like Luo Xi said, even if the room was annihilated, Zhou Di did not die. He felt like he was swept into the dark seabed, personally feeling the darkness around him, feeling the destroyed world, and then the storm stopped.

After a long time, everything around was reconstructed.

First, it was the floor under his feet, then slowly the furniture in the house, then the walls, bit by bit, were reconstructed. Slowly, this reconstruction began to spread outside the house. He immediately walked to the door, opened it, and walked out.

Outside, the city was gradually outlined, filled, and colored. However, it was at night, and the sky was gloomy. Also, the entire city was extremely silent. Although there were lights, it felt like there was not a single living person besides himself.

After that, figures appeared out of thin air outside, on the road, in the car, in the windows of the building opposite.

Zhou Di realized something, and he muttered to himself.

"The scene is initializing."

As soon as he finished speaking, the city, which was originally silent and seemed like time had stopped, was instantly activated in the next second, as if a switch had been turned on.

Various sounds also appeared suddenly.

Including the sound of the wind.

Before this, even the wind was imprisoned by some kind of force.