An infinite journey starting from paradise

But, for some reason, he felt that the current situation was a bit awkward. Perhaps it was because the mummified corpse of the girl's mother was sitting not far away, quietly watching them.

"It doesn't matter. Everything here is virtual anyway. It's all fake... But are her current feelings of pain and helplessness also fake?

Byakuya Rinone, the girl in my arms, perhaps not even called that in real life. She is inextricably linked to the Paradise system, yet unaware of the truth of this world. In her eyes, what she is doing is truly a desperate struggle for life and freedom.

But, everything she did was actually planned by others..."

After a long pause, Linyin raised her head: "Actually... when we were in the white room, I really hoped that you would choose me once."

"what?"

Lin Shangren was caught off guard by Lin Yin's sudden words. What was going on? Was she going to confess her feelings to him after just a couple of hugs? Wasn't that too hasty?!

"Don't get me wrong... I mean... I actually want to experience what it's like to do that kind of thing. There are actually many things I want to try... running, jumping, eating delicious food, even if everything is fake... No, I'm tired of all the fake things! I don't want to sleep all the time..."

“Sizzle, sizzle…”

Lin Shangren could hear the noise of an electrical short circuit, and everything he saw began to distort and distort. It was as if the world had suddenly turned into a half-melted ice cream cone, everything was melting and collapsing.

"What the hell, what happened?!"

In shock, Lin Shangren suddenly opened his eyes and saw a pure white ceiling. The scene lasted only a moment, and the next moment, Lin Shangren's eyes went black again.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself still in the cave, but Rinyin in his arms was gone.

New memories flooded into his mind: he and Linyin discussed the details of the raid and left the room. After eating some compressed biscuits left over from more than ten years ago, he closed his eyes and rested, waiting for the action to begin.

"System, what just happened?" Lin Shangren asked in his heart.

My Lord, the Paradise system crashed briefly, and you temporarily returned to reality. However, the Paradise system quickly regained stability.

"Is that so? It seems, as I speculated before, there's more than one Sleeping Beauty. Both Hehuan and Rin'in are Sleeping Beauties. Hehuan still retains her own consciousness and is aware of the outside world, but Rin'in seems to have merged with the Paradise system. Just now, because I used the Eagle Finger to affect Rin's real body, she was able to temporarily regain some of her own consciousness."

Lin Shangren rubbed his neck.

"The more important discovery is that I can now confirm that even if I can crash the Paradise's systems from the inside, Han Kariha outside still has the ability to quickly restart them. She's only able to do this because of the presence of another 'Sleeping Beauty,' He Huan, right?

So, now I can only follow the process she set?

No… Since the collapse of the Paradise system can bring me back to reality, what if I completely destroy the two Sleeping Beauties in the Paradise system? If I can directly affect their bodies in reality, what if I can use the Eagle Finger to make them feel so good that they die?

This dangerous thought only flashed through Lin Shangren's mind for a moment, and he quickly shook his head vigorously to get rid of the idea.

"Let's follow her idea first..."

Lin Shangren looked around the cave and saw that the students, who were dressed like a blackened version of the KKK, were making intensive preparations.

"Is it about to begin already? They've clearly had no rest or preparation. Speaking of which, if this kind of false memory implantation technology were truly deployed on a large scale, it would be truly terrifying. And then there's this absolutely immersive virtual reality technology. I can kind of guess what the real world outside is like, the so-called near-future dystopia."

Lin Shangren shook his head and quickly entered the performance state. He now needed to play the role of a violent and reckless young man who was eager to rescue his childhood sweetheart.

……

A few minutes later, everyone gathered in the center of the cave, their eyes fixed on Rinne, who was standing at the front.

The entire scene was dominated by a tension that felt like the air was compressed and a silence that was almost painful to the ears.

With her eyes closed, Rin opened her lips and said, "Whether it's pain or sadness, it will all end today."

Suddenly, Linyin stretched out her hands: "Everyone, we have no choice. We have no relatives or friends, we have nothing, and we have always been their experimental subjects, guinea pigs.

We have been living in a false memory and may become experimental subjects or playthings for people's enjoyment at any time, or even die at any time.

In our lifetimes, we rarely had a chance to fight back. But this time, we saw the world for what it really is. We had this chance. We might die, but even if we die, it will be for ourselves: we will die as free people, not as consumables or experimental subjects for others.

And if we win, and we destroy that academy, we can escape from here, and we can truly be free as human beings!"

The venue was in a frenzy.

Lin Shangren stood in the enthusiastic crowd, looking at Lin Yin quietly: "All of this is fake, and everything that follows is doomed to fail. However, that is only limited to this virtual world."

He turned his attention to the system's task panel again, where there were two tasks to choose from.

【Save Sleeping Beauty.】

【Destroy Paradise System.】

"Want to be free? Want to feel everything a normal person can feel? Okay, I'll satisfy you."

Lin Shangren made up his mind.

Chapter 23 Next, he will become immortal once more and achieve the super god

Everyone was covered in black rags - the targets of the attack were students, and the attackers were also students. This was to help them distinguish between friend and foe, and also to blend into the darkness.

Lin Shangren was among the crowd, crossing the forest and entering the secret passage that Lin Yin mentioned.

Everyone was silent, moving in complete silence in the pitch darkness before dawn. This was as it should be; after all, they were merely virtual data without any independent consciousness.

"But I still have to get into the role and act realistically. I have to temporarily abandon my self-perception of being the time traveler Lin Shangren and temporarily transform myself into an angry young man who only wants to rescue his childhood sweetheart."

"call……"

Lin Shangren let out a long sigh, and then he began to deduce the psychological state of the "role he needed to play" based on his false memories and the way ordinary people think:

"I'm still worried, but I have no choice. My chances of success are better with them than facing He Huan and her followers alone. No matter what, as long as Ye is rescued, I only need to consider Ye's safety. Don't think about anything else..."

The raiders, draped in black, had sneaked into the school without causing any trouble. Their target was the gymnasium, the headquarters of He Huan and her followers.

A thin crack opened from the inside of the gymnasium's emergency exit, and the silent crowd formed a single file to sneak in. Guided by a spy within the academy, everyone moved towards the stage.

"Is there no one? I didn't see He Huan and her followers. Are they behind that red curtain?"

"Who is it? Who's there?!"

While Lin Shangren was thinking, a sudden angry voice broke the silence of the gymnasium. He Huan's men finally discovered the group of people who had secretly infiltrated.

Covered in black cloth, they showed no sign of panic. Their actions remained unchanged from when they first entered the stadium, and they continued to move towards the red curtain on the stage.

"Enemy attack! Those people have sneaked in!"

The roar startled He Huan's followers, who were resting in various places in the gymnasium, and they began to rush in to fight. Soon, the two groups were fighting each other. The black-clad raiders were not interested in the ordinary students who hurriedly responded to the fight; their main goal was to kill He Huan.

Although they chose this desperate situation to save their lives, many of them also coveted the position of "dictator." Kill the dictator, become the new dictator, and have the power to rule the academy and all students wearing collars.

As long as you kill Hehuan, you can have all of this.

But these have nothing to do with Lin Shangren.

Now he looked completely like a mad dog, smashing the wing point with a baseball bat crazily while asking frantically: "Where is Ye?! Tell me, where is Ye?!!"

"So this is what it feels like to smash someone's temple. Even though the skull is less than three millimeters thick at the pterion point, it still takes some force to crack it open.

It's really realistic. After a severe brain injury, instead of falling unconscious, the person will twitch and spasm for a while. Ouch, I smell something bad. Is he incontinent? Disgusting.

Without examining the corpse beneath his feet, Lin Shangren rushed towards the others. A surprise attack was meant to catch the opponent off guard, the faster and more brutal the better.

"I'm starting to like this virtual world. Crush the jaw, break the neck. Remember not to hit the top of the head; it's too hard to be fatal."

"Tell me, where is Ye? Tell me now!"

Although he kept questioning them, judging from the brutality of Lin Shangren's attack, he had no intention of getting an answer from them.

"Are we almost reaching the red curtain? Linyin's side is advancing with great force, while Hehuan's side is being defeated layer by layer. It looks like accidents are about to happen."

Just as Lin Shangren was repeatedly hitting a hapless person on the head, hoping to even out his brains, his hand gripping the bat suddenly froze. A sharp pain shot through his side, and every time he tried to move, the pain pierced through him, making it difficult to breathe. Fireworks shot out before his eyes.

"What the hell...? What's going on?"

Lin Shangren looked around and saw, as expected, the students covered in black cloth began to groan and fall to the ground. During the time they were completely unable to move and rolling on the ground, the situation had completely reversed.

The red curtain suddenly opened, and several students in black clothes who rushed onto the stage were blown away and fell to the ground in a pile. After uttering a few screams, they were silent.

"Hey, hey, hey, this is too unreasonable! What's with this sudden group control?!"

Soon, Lin Shangren was the only person wearing a black cloth still standing in the gymnasium. Lin Yin, the leader, was pinned to the ground by two students, and the others fell to the ground in all directions, their lives or deaths unknown.

Several students, armed with daggers, slowly approached Lin Shangren, seemingly afraid of his mad-dog behavior. Even though he was now almost unable to move, they still didn't dare to approach him easily. Of course, Lin Shangren knew in his heart that this was just a "plot need."

"I can't use any strength at all, it's like I've been given anesthesia from a distance. The pain is unbearable if I move."

Lin Shangren's vision began to blur, his head drooped weakly, and his hearing seemed to be impaired. The groans that had filled the gymnasium stopped at the same time, and everything was silent.

Then he heard footsteps and the clanking of chains.

"Hehuan..."

"laugh."

He Huan walked leisurely in front of Lin Shangren, a smile of absolute victory on her face. She played with the chain in her hand and suddenly pulled it forward with force.

"what!"

"leaf!!!"

In front of Lin Shangren, the figure of Fan Qiye appeared with her feet bound, her hands in shackles and connected to her neck with an iron chain, and she was being held in Hehuan's hand like a bitch.

In an instant, Lin Shangren's blood began to boil. With bloodshot eyes and rage, he tried his best to shout with his paralyzed tongue: "Ye... Let go... Ye!"

"Pfft..." He Huan laughed contemptuously, "What are you talking about?"

He Huan extended her index finger towards Lin Shangren and gently stroked his cheek and lips: "Your lips are quite soft."

"ah!"

He Huan suddenly opened his eyes wide in surprise, then immediately returned to a look of contempt: "Haha, so cute, just like a puppy's nibble."

She easily pulled her fingers out of Lin Shangren's teeth and stroked his cheek again. Although her hand was soft and smooth, it was chillingly cold.

"That's right. You're probably using all your strength just to stand right now. This is the anesthetic the consortium uses to treat test subjects like you. It's in the collar."

He Huan explained, reaching out to Lin Shangren's neck. "You don't think the collar will stop working if only a small part of it is damaged? As long as you don't take it off, it will remain effective. It's a very convenient tool."

"Click."

He Huan took off the collar from Lin Shangren's neck. "Look, it's this little thing that has been controlling the fate of you experimental subjects. It's like the sword of Damocles hanging over your heads."

"First, pull it there, then pull it down... I hope my fingers aren't too thick to fit in the real world."

Lin Shangren stared at Hehuan with despair and anger, and remembered the method Hehuan used to help him remove the collar.

He Huan continued, "Okay, the last group of rebels have been dealt with. Now it's time to think about how to punish you. Shang Renjun, what do you think I should do?

Ordinary punishment methods are not worthy of you. Hmm~ I have an idea."

He Huan signaled two of his men to bring Rin Yin over. "Hey, Rin Yin, you long for freedom, don't you? You hate being treated like an experiment, so I'll just turn you into an object completely.

I'll fold you up in the toilet wall with cement, leaving only your head, breasts, arms, legs, and butt exposed. Then, you'll become a glorious toilet bowl, living solely on men's piss and cum. You don't have to think about anything, just open your mouth.

Isn’t this a good idea? Hey~Rin-chan. "

"Next up are Shangren-kun and Ye-chan. What's the best thing to do? How do you normally punish a lover? Do it in front of the husband? Isn't that too common?"

As he spoke, He Huan pulled Fan Qiye, who was kneeling on the ground, to the ground and stepped on her face. "Shang Renjun, can you give me some advice? How should I punish you? Hey, hey, don't stare at me like that, it's scary. You don't want to kill me, do you? Right now?"

"It's now……"

Lin Shangren, who had been accumulating strength, suddenly jumped up, and Hehuan in front of him fell to the ground, and he grabbed her neck tightly with both hands.

"Woo...Woo..."

He Huan's eyeballs bulged, and bright red bloodshot shot out of her white sclera, turning her entire body red with blood. She struggled, repeatedly pounding Lin Shangren's chest with her hands.

"Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick..."

Their eyes met, and Lin Shangren saw relief in Hehuan's eyes.

“Ding ding ding.”

After typing this final Morse code on Lin Shangren's chest, Hehuan lost his life.

“i love u.”

"Om..."

Everything in front of Lin Shangren began to collapse.

The next moment, he opened his eyes in the real world.

What caught Lin Shangren's eyes was the pure white ceiling.

"The familiar ceiling... Ha, have you escaped?"

Chapter 24: Paradise and the Truth about Sleeping Beauty