Memory inheritor

Chapter 248 Unveiling the Secret (Part 2)

Shen Qing experienced three lucid dreams tonight. The feeling in the dreams was very magical. She could weave her own dreams at will, as if she had the power of a creator.

Zheng Han's explanation is basically consistent with her actual experience.

Take Wei Hongsi from her current dream, for example. At first, he wasn't very vivid. Based on her understanding of Wei Hongsi and some imagination, Shen Qing kept adding details, and Wei Hongsi in her dream became more lifelike.

However, Shen Qing still felt that something was amiss. Her intuition told her that the changes in Professor Sterling in Zhou Huai's dream and Wei Hongsi in her dream were not the same.

She thought about it carefully and said, "But the Professor Sterling I met didn't just seem to become more vivid, or rather, he came to life completely."

"How do I describe this feeling? It's like a piece of music. If you only look at the sheet music, it's just a series of symbols written on a staff; but when it's played, it becomes a melody with breath and soul."

A hint of doubt appeared in Zheng Han's eyes. Although he wasn't tone-deaf, he didn't know much about music and couldn't quite understand Shen Qing's analogy.

Wei Hongsi has some musical knowledge and is quite familiar with Shen Qing. Recently, the two have been working together on research projects, and they often exchange and discuss musical elements. Wei Hongsi is able to roughly understand what Shen Qing wants to express.

He asked, "Are you trying to say there's a difference in emotions or attitudes?"

"Yes, yes!" Shen Qing couldn't help but grasp Wei Hongsi's hand. "That's exactly what I meant!"

She then looked at Zheng Han and said, "Teacher Zheng, in the dream where I was interacting with Zhou Huai, Zhou Huai's attitude towards me was not much different from that in reality. His purpose was to lure me to the Xilinger Music Academy."

"And that Professor Sterling, he gave me the feeling of being a superior and a controller. When he talked about what he was going to do to me, he made no attempt to hide it, as if what he said was perfectly justified."

"Also, Professor Sterling's voice is completely different from Zhou Huai's. After he came back to life, the music in his dream changed significantly, and some recognizable musical phrases appeared."

Wei Hongsi asked, "Is that high-rise observation deck in Zhou Huai's dream located at the Westringer Conservatory of Music?"

Shen Qing said, "Yes, it's the school's landmark building, usually called the Westring Tower."

"Has Zhou Huai been there?"

"He must have been there. I heard from Zhou Huai that he studied at the Xilinge Conservatory of Music for half a month."

Wei Hongsi pondered for a moment and said, "This time is not long, and he can't stay in the observation deck the whole time, so he probably isn't very familiar with the environment there."

Shen Qing said, "That should be the case."

Wei Hongsi said, "Professor Zheng, I believe that Professor Sterling in the dream has an independent consciousness. Zhou Huai did not obtain the memories of this clone, or only obtained part of the memories."

Zheng Han nodded and said, "I agree with this speculation."

According to Shen Qing's previous description, after Professor Sterling "came to life" in the dream, the interior of the observation deck showed more details, and the city street scene outside also became more concrete. This should be supplemented and improved by Professor Sterling's memories.

If Professor Stirling were a teacher at the Westringer Conservatory of Music, living and working there year-round, his familiarity with the school and its surroundings would certainly far exceed that of Zhou Huai, who had only stayed for half a month.

Therefore, the point Wei Hongsi made is quite convincing.

Wei Hongsi said, "Perhaps we can find another piece of evidence, which is the language Professor Sterling used in the dream."

"That makes sense!" Zheng Han nodded, glanced at the digital clock on the wall, stood up and walked outside. "The dream interpretation report should be ready by now. I'll go get it."

During the interaction of consciousness, the brain signals that Shen Qing received were all translated by the relay real-time processing unit. Therefore, no matter what language Zhou Huai and Professor Sterling used, it sounded to her as a statement mainly in Chinese.

Therefore, Shen Qing could perceive changes in the other person's tone and voice, but she couldn't identify the language they used. Lip reading is ineffective in dreams.

Wei Hongsi asked Liu Lu, "Any results yet?"

Liu Lu said, "We couldn't find anyone matching or similar to 'Sterling' in the faculty and staff list published on the official website of the Siringer Academy of Music. We've been searching through other channels, but it will take some more time."

Shen Qing couldn't help but worry: "If Professor Stirling isn't a teacher at the Siringer Conservatory of Music, it won't be easy to find him, will it?"

Liu Lu said, "It has been confirmed that the college's official website does not list all the teachers."

Wei Hongsi said, "Whether Professor Stirling is a teacher at the Westringer Conservatory of Music or not, he must have a deep connection with the school. We should be able to find him based on this clue, right?"

Liu Lu nodded and said, "Yes."

A short while later, Zheng Han returned with a stack of printed materials: "Professor Wei, your guess was right. Professor Sterling's first sentence after he appeared was in Chinese, and then it was all in English afterwards."

Wei Hongsi took the materials and quickly flipped through them. The report's content was basically consistent with Shen Qing's account, but most of Shen Qing's subjective feelings could not be reflected in the report.

After reading it, Wei Hongsi said, "Teacher Zheng, I have another guess. The scenes that Shen Qing experienced at the end may involve the core secrets of the Light Guide Society's memory implantation technology, which is probably not something that members of Zhou Huai's level can easily access."

Zheng Han nodded and said, "That is indeed a possibility. In essence, Zhou Huai and the others are just high-level tools; the higher-ups of the Light Guide Society will not share core secrets with them."

Wei Hongsi said, "Perhaps the memory material database that Professor Sterling showed us isn't their most core secret. But anyone who can become a high-ranking member of the Light Guide Society must know the organization's core secrets, even if it's only a part of them."

Zheng Han nodded again: "Yes, that should be the case."

Wei Hongsi said, "The most important part of the memories that high-level tools like Zhou Huai are instilled with is the consciousness clone of the high-level members of the Light Guide Society."

Zheng Han suddenly realized: "Teacher Wei, I understand what you mean! This consciousness clone is not a simple functional entity. It carries many memories of the higher-ups of the Light Guide Society. These memories will not be shared or merged with the tool person."

Previously, experts believed that the leaders of the Light Guide Society implanted their own consciousness clones into the "tools," which was equivalent to imprinting a mental mark on the brains of the "tools" to facilitate their control; at the same time, it worked together with the consciousness anchor to form a subconscious firewall.

This kind of consciousness clone focuses on the realization of functions, like a string of pre-set instruction codes. It doesn't need to be too complex, and it doesn't contain too many memories of the higher-ups in the Light Guide Society. From a human perspective, the higher-ups in the Light Guide Society would not share their secrets with a tool.

This view was first proposed by Wei Hongsi, and was later supplemented and expanded by Zheng Han and others.

However, based on what Shen Qing and Zhou Huai observed during their recent interaction, the situation is not like that.

In the dream, Professor Sterling not only possessed independent consciousness but also detailed memories of the West Ring Tower observation deck. He was also very familiar with the living memory material library of the Light Guide Society and clearly knew what he wanted to achieve by using Shen Qing.

This is sufficient proof that the memories of Professor Sterling implanted in Zhou Huai's brain contain a great deal of information, far more than the simple functional entity they originally thought.

Memory is a net, and this net is sticky. Since it's impossible to precisely control the transfer of a certain part of memory to a tool, the best approach is to not transfer it at all.

This is the fundamental reason why Zhou Huai was unable to obtain Professor Sterling's memories.

Since Zhou Huai did not obtain Professor Sterling's memories, then what Shen Qing saw in her dream was Professor Sterling's doppelganger. To some extent, this doppelganger can be considered equivalent to him.

Examining this detail—Zhou Huai disappearing in his own dream and Professor Sterling "coming back to life"—becomes somewhat chilling.

At that time, Zhou Huai was probably truly offline, his mind dominated by Professor Sterling's consciousness.

This kind of thing can happen in dreams, and it can happen in reality as well. Whoever can control a person's mind can control everything about that person.

Considering Professor Sterling's statement that "your finite life will be infinitely extended as a result," the meaning becomes quite clear.

Judging from what happened to Zhou Huai, they are now capable of doing this, although there are still significant flaws.

Moreover, the solution to this flaw might lie with Shen Qing, at least that's what the Light Guide Society believes now. For this purpose, it wouldn't be surprising if those lunatics did anything.

Zheng Han hadn't thought of these things before, simply because her mind was still stuck in the established work procedures and she hadn't quite grasped the concept yet. With Wei Hongsi's continuous reminders, she quickly sorted out the key points.

His expression turned serious. He glanced at Shen Qing, then said to Wei Hongsi, "Teacher Wei, the situation has become quite serious!"

Wei Hongsi said, "That's true. But this could very well be a breakthrough point; perhaps the key to 'breaking the circuit breaker mechanism' lies in eliminating that consciousness clone. While that won't be easy, it at least provides a clear objective to overcome."

Zheng Han nodded and said, "That makes sense. Based on this analysis, the one that triggered the circuit breaker mechanism is most likely that clone."

Wei Hongsi said, "It's just that we can't confirm yet whether what happened to Zhou Huai is an isolated case or if every member of the Light Guide Association is like this."

Zheng Han asked, "What are you planning to do?"

Wei Hong thought for a moment and said, "We can try starting with Zhou Huai. We already have a fairly clear understanding of his situation. In addition, I want to expedite the diagnosis of those teenage victims. They should not have undergone memory fusion yet, making them good subjects for observation, and perhaps the problem will be easier to solve."

Zheng Han nodded and said, "Okay, we'll do our best to cooperate."

Wei Hongsi said, "There's one more thing I need to ask Professor Zheng. Two adult victims will be coming to the Third Research Institute for comprehensive testing tonight and tomorrow morning."

Zheng Han said, "I know about this. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on it, and I'll let you know as soon as I get the results."

Wei Hongsi then looked at Liu Lu: "The screenwriter who ran away to Country A is probably in a bad situation. If we can find her in time, we might be able to get some clues."

The few people in the Daoguang Society in Yuecheng were basically all looking for targets.

They would focus on certain special individuals and, when needed, transform them into tools to perform special tasks for them, such as Peng Jun.

Public figures like Zai Tong and Meng Cai can also be considered in this category, although the methods of control and the tasks they perform are somewhat different.

Now we can add another category, such as Shen Qing and Liu Dongni. Perhaps the Guiding Light Association originally intended to use them as tools to serve as public figures, but in the process of getting to know them, they discovered their special qualities.

Wei Hongsi estimated that Liu Dongni, having been lured to Country A by Zhou Huai, was likely to become a living memory bank. If Liu Dongni was to be used as a tool, keeping her in her home country would be the only way to maximize her value.

Liu Lu nodded and said, "Understood."

She looked down at her tablet to jot down some information, then suddenly saw a message notification. After checking it, she looked up.

He said, "Mr. Wei, I just received news that there was indeed a Stirling professor at the Westringer Conservatory of Music, but he died last October."

She zoomed in on the photo in the message and placed the tablet on the table.

Shen Qing stared at it for a moment, then nodded and said, "It should be this person."

Zheng Han frowned and said, "How could he be dead?"

Wei Hongsi said, "I have serious doubts about this. They may have discovered Shen Qing's special talent relatively early, but Shen Qing only took on the role in GG in the last few months. Professor Sterling's death was probably also part of the plan."

Liu Lu nodded, picked up the tablet on the table, and sent a message.

Zheng Han nodded, agreeing with Wei Hongsi's suspicions. Based on their findings and deductions tonight, even if Professor Sterling's body were right in front of them, it wouldn't necessarily mean that the man was truly dead.

After the four finished their debriefing and analysis, Zheng Han began writing a report on tonight's consciousness infiltration operation.

Tonight, Yu Xiufeng is working in the decoding operations room to coordinate with us. Without his old partner and capable assistant, Teacher Zheng has to work a little slower by himself.

Wei Hongsi helped Zheng Han write part of the content, which contained many of his speculations and opinions, making it convenient for him to write it.

After the report was completed, Wei Hongsi had Liu Lu read it as well. Their work also needed to be reported to the leaders of the special task force.

Report: This matter is handled by Liu Lu. Let her read the report once; they don't need to go over the repeated points again.