Elegy from Another World

After the projection faded, Dr. Jie Zhou sat quietly in the cold room for a long time. Only when the sky outside the window began to lighten and the CD player's neon lights faded did he finally let out a long, weary sigh. He stretched his stiff neck and tapped a few lines on the keyboard.

On the screen, the complex encrypted interface faded away, replaced by a stunning star map. But these were not the stars of the universe; rather, they were a network of countless twinkling points of light—each point representing a virtual world built or modified in the shadows of the internet, relying on the core source code they had stolen.

The points of light were densely packed, their number too vast to count. Jie Zhouyi zoomed in on a section of the star map, setting the filtering criteria to "scale" and "activity." Instantly, hundreds of large worlds as bright as stars and thousands of medium-sized worlds as clear as planets appeared, while the countless small worlds in the background, like stardust, almost merged into a blurry mist of light.

"It's a success... From a data perspective, it is indeed a success." Doctor Jiezhou murmured to himself, but his face showed little joy, only a sense of exhaustion after all his efforts were spent.

He opened another encrypted communication channel and sent a simple signal: [Operation complete, disband now.]

A few minutes later, three virtual avatars appeared almost simultaneously in the projection area of ​​his makeshift studio. There were no cheers, no celebrations, only a silence as if they had survived a catastrophe.

Besides M, who was already deeply bound to M, the other two companions also revealed their true identities.

Zarathos, a somewhat thin young man with exceptionally sharp eyes, whose fingers always unconsciously make the motion of typing on a virtual keyboard, is the true technical core of infiltrating the system and breaking through barriers.

Keane, on the other hand, has a cynical demeanor and wears flashy virtual fashion, but his eyes reveal a keen insight into people's hearts. It was he who orchestrated and ignited the global media storm.

With the addition of Jie Zhouyi (responsible for the most critical consciousness upload interface and the deployment of "Jasmine" units) and M (responsible for logistical support and risk warning), this "Spark" team of only four people accomplished a seemingly impossible subversion.

"Finally... it's over." M's voice trembled slightly, not just from exhaustion, but also from the release of long-term high pressure. "I haven't had a good night's sleep in months, I was afraid that one day I would be suddenly 'cleaned up'."

"Hey, don't forget the bonus." Keane snapped his fingers, trying to appear relaxed, but the bruises under his eyes betrayed his exhaustion. "I've used up all the creativity I have left in the second half of my life writing those nauseating 'NPC human rights' essays."

Zarathos merely snorted indifferently, his gaze sweeping over the prosperous "world map" on the screen, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth: "The source code has been released. How much of a storm it will cause depends on the ability of those who follow. Our mission ends here."

A brief silence fell once more. The emptiness of having achieved their objective, and a lingering doubt of "Have we really changed?", weighed on the four men's minds. They were bound together by a shared secret and risk, but they also knew that this bond was built on a single, earth-shattering operation. Now that the operation was over, the ties seemed to have loosened.

"So..." Keane asked tentatively, "Everyone go back to their own homes and find their own mothers? From now on... let's pretend we never met?"

Zarazos also looked at Dr. Jiezhou, waiting for him, the de facto leader, to make the final confirmation.

Doctor Jie Zhou shifted his gaze from the star map, slowly sweeping it over the virtual faces of his three companions. They shared the burden of sin, walked together on the edge of a precipice; the bond forged by this experience was far deeper and more complex than ordinary friendship.

He was silent for a moment, the image of Lissia disappearing into the network flashing through his mind, the data debris of the fifteen collapsed "Jasmine" units, and the kind smiles on his parents' photos. A strong sense of exhaustion, mixed with an impulse to refuse to give up, intertwined in his heart.

"I want..." Dr. Jie Zhou's voice was a little hoarse, but a faint light gradually gathered in her eyes, "I want to be a little one."

"Small? What's small?" M asked, puzzled.

"A world," Dr. Jie Zhou explained, her tone filled with an almost reverent longing. "A small world, not pursuing grandeur, not seeking excitement, not carrying any commercial or social experimental purposes... Perhaps just a small island floating in the void, with a sea, a forest, a small house. No predetermined tragedy, no imposed missions, just... a place where consciousness can exist peacefully. A truly beautiful, even insignificant, 'world'."

He looked up at his companions: "Do you... want to join?"

M answered almost immediately, with an undeniable firmness: "You know, from the day I agreed to help you get those shady equipment channels, it became impossible for me to leave you. Whether it's going to court or to the new world, I'll be with you. I'm in."

Zarathos stroked his chin, pondered for a few seconds, and a rare softening appeared in his sharp eyes: "Dealing with those cold codes and malicious firewalls all the time is indeed tiresome. Creating a 'little garden' to relax sounds... not bad. Count me in."

Keane glanced at Zarathos, then at Dr. Jie Zhou, and suddenly laughed: "Interesting! Staying in a 'wonderful' world might better highlight the awfulness of the outside world, and maybe even give me some new creative inspiration, or help me find a better angle to ignite public opinion next time? Okay, I'll join in too, just consider it a vacation."

Looking at them, Jie Zhouyi felt the heavy weight in her heart lift slightly. The seed of fire had been sown, and whether it eventually spread like wildfire or died out, these four who had lit the fire could perhaps build themselves a small corner to breathe amidst the embers.

"Then it's settled." A genuine smile, unseen for a long time, appeared on Dr. Jiezhou's face. "Let's... start from scratch and build a small 'world' that belongs only to us."