2077: V really knows how awesome he is

The solution to this emotional void is, of course, nanonetworks.

Compared to the gradual progress in 2157, 2077 is undoubtedly a year of sudden and dramatic change. Traditional nanonetworks can indeed meet people's spiritual needs, but they are clearly not enough for the people of 2077.

To this end, V specially created a super AI to plan and organize entertainment activities to further enhance the emotional connection of the nanonet. Since it was Halloween at the time, the design of this AI incorporated some Halloween elements, and its personality was also closer to that of a playful child. Sasha especially liked it and even designed a gothic girl image wearing a pumpkin dress for it as a humanoid interaction template, naming it Lizeroth.

Liselotte lived up to expectations. Her appearance immediately revitalized the entire nanonet. Her catchphrase, "Hehe, let's play together," became a viral sensation. Various entertainment activities she planned became wildly popular, ranging from high-end mecha fighting competitions to customized services for couples that resonated with the public. These activities successfully satisfied various human spiritual needs and greatly increased the online time of the entire population.

It took a full three years for the world to be unified in 2077.

AI has eliminated hunger, disease, and class. Humans are cared for meticulously, without any oppression or exploitation, and the average lifespan has reached 642 years. From birth, everyone continuously provides computing power and enjoys a healthy and happy life.

Of course, just like the system in 2157, you are free to pursue your wishes and ideals as long as you wish. Due to longevity and the three-birth system, the population is increasing rapidly, and human society is not short of brains. For individuals who want self-realization, the Human Federation is happy to provide a stage for them to showcase their talents. However, most people do not have such ambitions. They are content with the status quo, and the Human Federation will not ask anything of them, because being ordinary is never a sin. Being law-abiding and meeting the monthly online time target are never a burden, but rather a reliable foundation for a stable society.

Ten years passed in this way, and the world of 2077 arrived at 2087, while the world of 2157 arrived at 2167.

The supply of computing power has increased rapidly over the past decade, reaching several times that of ten years ago. This is all thanks to the rapid development of the world of 2087, where the population has exploded, and even the moon is overcrowded. The second major development of Mars is underway, and the next step for AI is to truly leave the solar system.

V never expected that interstellar expansion in 2087 would surpass that of 2167. But upon closer reflection, it's not surprising, since there aren't a bunch of "second-generation Earth tyrants" entrenched on Mars opposing the Federation of Humanity in that world.

At the beginning, the Martians did indeed have the strength to fight against Earth's humans, after all, their ancestors took a lot of advanced technology with them when they escaped from Earth. But only six months later, AI cracked all of this technology, and Earth's humans already had the ability to wipe out the Martians. But V did not do so. Instead, he sent Selene to Mars orbit to garrison and started a protracted war with the Martians, which lasted for ten years.

This was Xu Ling's suggestion.

This retired military strategist possesses a strong sense of vigilance and a belief that while humanity has assembled a space fleet, it lacks actual experience in space warfare. She argues that so-called virtual battlefields are merely modern theoretical exercises, and that to prepare for potential future space encounters, humanity needs to conduct sufficiently realistic combat drills.

V adopted this suggestion, which led to the ten-year war between the earth and fire.

In short, the Martians were used as a whetstone to test new tactics and equipment. Selene was initially a bit flustered, but she quickly became even more flustered. It wasn't that she couldn't defeat the Martians, but rather that she had too many ways to defeat them. V's orders to her were to maintain a state of neither victory nor defeat, to let the Martians know the strength of Earthlings, and to give them hope of victory so that they wouldn't lose their fighting spirit and surrender directly.

This was undoubtedly a huge challenge for Selene; for the first time, she discovered that losing was harder than winning. But this order was punishment for her arbitrary changes to the expeditionary force's strategy, so she had no choice but to accept this arduous task unconditionally.

Fortunately, Vera was also sent over, which made Selene feel a little better. It wasn't that the two had developed any feelings for each other, but seeing an acquaintance suffering with him naturally lessened his pain.

Vera was tricked by V under the guise of a commission. Although the commission was only two hundred euros, the gang leader was initially quite happy to hear that he could use all kinds of the most advanced individual mechs and weapons.

Unfortunately, the reality is that she has to follow the AI's commands to perform basic actions such as flying, shooting, jumping, and dodging for hours at a time, repeating this every day. It's like entering a game where you can't progress through the main storyline and can only do the tutorial every day. The first few times are novel, but doing it for years would drive anyone crazy.

After finally making it to the later stages, when they could finally engage in actual combat, Vera, in order to cooperate with Selene's strategy, would single-handedly break through the Martian fleet and just when victory was about to be secured, be ordered to retreat by Selene. It was like being about to pull out a weapon only to be forcibly stopped; these repeated halts were driving Vera almost crazy.

"How much longer is this damn war going to last? I can't take it anymore." In a phone call, Vera issued an ultimatum to V: "I don't care what grand strategy you have, but if you don't let me go back, I'll take care of that little girl Selene to make up for my mental damage. I mean it!"

V asked curiously, "When did you get involved with Selene?"

“No, but she’s the captain, the highest-ranking one. Don’t you think it’s exciting to defy someone of higher status?” Vera said bluntly.

V thought for a moment and Michiko felt a pang of guilt, immediately denying it: "I'm not as shallow as you!"

"Huh, you don't think so? I thought we were the same in this respect." Vera was a little surprised. "Never mind, just give me a straight answer, when can I go back?"

"Not yet."

“Then I’ll go find Selene right now.” Vera began to unbuckle her belt.

V was speechless for a moment: "I can tell you're really sexually frustrated."

"Nonsense, try stopping for several years straight!"

"Don't worry, I'm here to help you solve this problem."

Vera's eyes lit up: "You've agreed to let me go to Selene?"

"Go to hell!" V retorted irritably. "You just want Selene's body!"

"Heh heh, that's only human nature," Vera chuckled dryly. "So, how do you plan to solve my problem?"

"Weren't you always held back before? Not anymore, shoot away! Pierce through the Martian ruling class, blast them apart!"

In 2167 AD, a mysterious individual single-handedly entered the Martian atmosphere and carried out a decapitation strike, wiping out the Martian human leadership and ending the decade-long war between Earth and Mars.

In 2168 AD, the new Martian region was established.

In April of the same year, Vera returned to Earth to participate in another secret mission.

Task Title: "The Widow's Little Tune"

Chapter 162 Two Widows, Two Little Tunes

"Widow's Little Tune? What a terrible name!" Vera scoffed. "Did you let the AI ​​generate this again?"

V looked embarrassed and coughed, "Yes."

"So when it comes to creativity, we still have to rely on humans. AI really falls short. Recently, some literature enthusiasts have released new works online, and the writing style, the descriptions, the techniques—they're absolutely amazing!"

"Can't you do anything productive?!" V glared at Vera. "All you do is talk! Send me the website address!"

Vera sent the URL and asked, "So, what exactly is this 'Widow's Little Tune' for?"

"Conduct the test."

"What are you testing?"

"The feasibility of practical applications of time technology."

Vera was taken aback: "It's ready for practical application already?"

"Yes, this is all thanks to the rapid development of the world of Vera, which has greatly increased our computing power."

"Wait a minute, what the heck is Vera's World?" Vera was taken aback again.

“It’s just the code name for your world. We can’t keep calling it 2077 every day.” V said matter-of-factly, “You’re the representative of that world, so we named it after you.”

"How come I didn't know about something this big?" Vera instantly became agitated: "Did you pay me royalties for using my name in the naming?"

“I issued a notice that you had three months to file an infringement complaint, but you did not, so it is considered that you have automatically waived this right.”

Vera was furious: "I'm on Mars, and in a war zone at that! All communications are encrypted, I can't see your announcements at all!"

V nodded: "Yes, that's why I posted the announcement. You can't see it."

Vera: "...You're not human!"

V smiled: "Let's not repeat what everyone already knows. In short, this mission, codenamed 'The Widow's Little Tune,' is a practical test of time travel."

"What's there to predict?" Vera said nonchalantly. "Didn't we successfully return to 2077 before?"

“That’s different,” V explained. “The reason we were able to return to 2077 is because your arrival opened up two timelines. The ‘time machine’ we built was just two piers to secure the time passage. But as you know, that was just a lucky accident. We can’t expect to be so lucky every time. So ‘The Widow’s Tune’ was a targeted test to achieve truly autonomous and controllable time travel.”

"I see." Vera understood, then asked, "But I remember you said that time travel comes at a price, right? It's X. You said before that this is an uncontrollable factor that must be eliminated before time travel can be carried out safely. Did you manage to do that?"

“I did it. Remember the Mirror Master I mentioned? He’s the high-dimensional demon that appeared in the Witcher world.” V tapped the table and said, “I spent over 80 years collecting information on him and discovered that he must abide by the contract. This is undoubtedly the price he pays for controlling time. But you also know that X is unknown and can’t be the same every time. So the Mirror Master must have used some method to ‘fix’ this unknown.”

"This gave me an idea. If he can fix it, then I can fix it too. He probably used mysticism. The Human Federation has a weakness in this area, but the Human Federation has science."

"I combined the computing power of the Vera world and the V world, and had Astraea continuously calculate for 10 years. Finally, we calculated the specific attributes of X and fixed them. In this way, we can make targeted preparations and minimize the cost of time travel, just like we controlled White Frost."

Vera sighed, "I knew you hadn't been holding back for the past ten years, but this is really something else. You've actually calculated something completely unknown. Are we that amazing now?"

“Of course.” V said confidently, “I know how awesome I am, and I know how awesome we are.”

"Alright, so what is the X we calculated? Is it also a contract, like the Mirror Demon?"

“No.” V shook his head: “It’s a memory.”

Vera was slightly surprised: "Whose memories?"

V points to himself: "My memories."

"Wait, wait a minute, let me think about this." Vera was taken aback and said, counting on her fingers, "The price of time travel is memories, which means that as long as you travel through time, you will lose your memories?"

“That’s right.” V nodded.

"All memories?"

"All memories."

"Can't someone else's be used?"

“No, only my memories are enough.” V tapped his chest with his thumb: “I told you, I simulate an entire world in my mind, and my memories come from tens of millions of players.”

"Then what's the point of wearing it?" Vera said dejectedly. "I can't lose you just for the sake of time travel."

"Don't worry, it's not that serious..."

"This isn't serious?"

“It’s really not serious,” V laughed. “Remember, I’m not human.”

Vera was stunned: "Huh?"

V continued, "For people, memories are extremely precious. Even with Relic technology, packet loss is inevitable during the upload process, resulting in the loss of some data. This is the fundamental reason why everyone opposes digital immortality. This technology is meaningful to everyone except the person in question, because the person is truly gone, and the survivor is just a brand new backup."

“But I’m different.”

"I am a super AI myself. V is just the body I possess. Over the years, this body has been completely transformed. Although I look like a human, I am actually closer to a machine. I am the ideal form of biological AI."

"Therefore, my memories will not be lost during the upload process, because they are not extracted from a person's brain, but from a machine. They have already been digitized, and when they are downloaded back, they will be complete and flawless."

Vera's eyes widened: "So that means..."

"In other words, memories are the cheapest thing for me," V explained. "The cost of time travel can be solved with just a storage chip!"

"Holy crap!" Vera held back her curse. "This is too overpowered! If the Mirror Demon knew, he'd be green with envy! But is this really okay? It feels like we're exploiting a bug."

“It’s not wrong to call it exploiting a bug,” V laughed. “But deliberately cutting magnetic field lines to generate current is also exploiting a bug, and using the different airflow speeds on different surfaces to generate updrafts to control flight is also exploiting a bug. Constantly discovering bugs, studying the principles behind them, and summarizing how to utilize them—that’s science.”

Vera was completely convinced: "V, you're really awesome!"

"You flatter me, but there's still one problem that only you can handle; no one else can."

"What's the problem?" Vera asked curiously. "I'm just a thug. Is there some difficult enemy to deal with?"

“That’s right.” V nodded: “That enemy is me.”

With a loud crash, Vera was so startled that she fell off her chair.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Vera got up, laughing and crying at the same time. "I'm talking about the enemy, not the BOSS. Who can beat you!"

“Don’t underestimate yourself,” V encouraged. “You’ve already upgraded to the latest cybernetic body and spent ten years training in the military; you’re a completely different person now. After time travel, I will lose all my memories. Although I will make a memory backup beforehand, if the backup fails to update successfully, you will need to manually insert the memory chip for me. You also understand that when a person forgets everything, they will definitely be paranoid about everything around them. I might have a stress reaction and even resort to violence, attacking anyone I perceive as a threat. Under such circumstances, the only person who can insert the chip for me is you.”

"I think there's a greater chance I'll be beaten to death by you." Vera was sweating profusely, but looking into V's trusting eyes, she finally gritted her teeth and accepted this difficult task: "Fine, consider it a debt I owe you. I'll do my best!"

"Thank you."

V smiled and thanked him.

She knew it was a bit much to ask, but she believed in Vera.

Vera possessed extraordinary talent that she herself was unaware of. Perhaps due to her street-smart background, her combat comprehension, disregarding intelligence, was even higher than V's. Over the years, V had long since uploaded her combat experience for military personnel to download and study, but no one had ever reached her level, except for Vera.

To put it simply, V has the experience of millions of players, and her combat skills are incredibly diverse and unconventional. However, while she is responsible for providing these skills, it is Vera who brings them to their ultimate potential.

Although Vera has a pitiful intelligence of 3 without the intervention of a biological AI, in terms of close combat ability alone, V is really no match for her.

If V is a well-rounded fighter, excelling in all aspects, then Vera is a fighter who specializes in one area, and even specializes in one area beyond its limits, to the point of being unreasonable.

All I can say is that Vera is also a V, and a V with 3 Intelligence is still a V.

After figuring out the whole story, Vera also became interested in the "Widow's Little Tune" project.

She asked curiously, "So, which year are we going to this time?"

Instead of answering, V asked, "Do you remember what you and Selene did to each other in the world of Valar?"

Vera recalled: "Was it the time Selene was hung up and whipped by her father, David Martinez?"

"Correct."

"What does this have to do with 'the widow's little tune'?"

“It’s very relevant,” V explained. “Although Selene was hung up and whipped by David, David did indeed meet Lucy in 2077 and learned another version of his story from her.”

“Another story of his?” Vera thought for a moment: “There is a wine named David Martinez in the afterlife, and I heard that he died in 2076.”

"That's right. I was supposed to go on a business trip to Europe in 2076, but I ultimately chose to stay, which is how I saved David. What were you doing in 2076?"

Vera scratched her head, a little embarrassed, and said, "I went to Atlanta, thinking I could make a name for myself, but I ended up with a lot of trouble and didn't come back until 2077."

"That's right. In 2076, you weren't in Night City, so you couldn't save David. He and his team were played to the point of exhaustion by the company, and they all died one after another. Only two of them survived: their outsourced driver, Falco, and Selene's mother, Lucia Kushinada. Of course, Lucia in your world wasn't so lucky. Although she and David were also at war, she didn't get pregnant. In the end, she could only use David's money to go to the moon alone, all alone."

“That’s awful.” Vera sighed. “Despair isn’t the most painful thing. The most painful thing is to see a ray of light when you’ve already lost all hope. I bet Lucy will be even more heartbroken when she sees David again. It’s no wonder that little girl Selene got hung up and whipped.”

"Actually, not only Lucy was sad, but David was also very upset. However, he was rational enough to only provide Lucy with some material assistance and then never saw her again."

"A real man." Vera gave a thumbs up.

David's actions, though somewhat cruel, were the only correct choice. What else could he do but rekindle his romance with Lucy from the Vera world? What about Lucy in the V world? What about David, who was willing to die for Lucy in the Vera world? This was an unsolvable problem; the only answer was to ignore it and not try to change anything.