Chapter 4: The Metaverse

Chapter 4: The Metaverse

The place Gao Minjun chose for our talk turned out to be the mysterious little room where all the graduating students had been examined after Meng Ran’s death.

At the agreed time, I arrived alone in front of the building.

The door was half open.

I pushed it open, thinking it would be very dark inside. To my surprise, it was bright. All the lights were on, and with all the equipment inside, the room looked like a film studio. It didn’t feel very large either.

Principal Gao was sitting in a chair covered with wires. When he saw me come in, he waved me over and had me sit in another identical chair.

After I sat down, he gestured for me to put on the helmet hanging from the chairback.

I had just put on the helmet when I saw him press a button in front of his chair. With a boom, the room went dark.

Very dark.

And very quiet.

Then came the tap, tap, tap of a woman’s footsteps, drawing closer from far away.

With a creak, a door opened, and a beam of strong light shone in from outside.

I hadn’t expected there to be another door in that direction.

A woman with a graceful figure stepped out of the light. She walked all the way up to me, waved, and gestured for me to follow her.

What did that mean?

I hesitated and turned to look at Principal Gao.

Principal Gao was gone.

Where was Principal Gao? Was this an illusion, or was it real? I couldn’t quite tell.

I simply got down from the chair and followed the woman toward the door. But I suspected everything was only an illusion, so I deliberately bumped into her.

“What are you doing?”

The woman actually reacted.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to. I lost my balance,” I said hurriedly.

That also confirmed that the woman I had bumped into had physical substance and warmth. She felt like a real person.

We passed through the door. Outside, unbelievably, was a sunny, fairy-tale world.

Dense forest, birdsong, flowers, even the fresh scent of nature in the air.

But I clearly remembered that in this direction, beyond the room, there should have been the school’s perimeter wall. And beyond the wall were fields. How could there be a whole new world here?

The woman pointed toward the forest, where a girl was riding a horse, and said, “Look. Who is that?”

“Zhu Zhaojie?”

How could Zhu Zhaojie be here?

“Gu Beichen, what are you doing here?”

Zhu Zhaojie soon spotted us. She galloped over on horseback, smiling as she greeted me.

Was this real? Why did it feel like a dream?

But if it was fake, how could I really smell the reek of horse urine, mixed together with the woman’s scent?

When Zhu Zhaojie rode up in front of me, I deliberately reached out and touched the horse’s coat. Sure enough, it was very rough. The feeling under my hand couldn’t lie. It had to be real.

The horse’s coat was a nice color.

I patted the horse’s rear, and there was even a warm feeling.

“Zhu Zhaojie, why are you here? Where is this?”

“This is a brand-new world. It’s huge, and it’s really fun. We’ve been here for two days. You’re welcome to join us too.” Zhu Zhaojie let out a string of laughter.

I asked, “When you say ‘we,’ who else is here?”

“Lots of classmates. This world is huge. Everyone scattered off to find places they like to play.”

As Zhu Zhaojie spoke, she was about to jump down from the horse.

Suddenly—whoosh.

A whistling arrow shot over and struck the horse in the side. The horse reared back in pain and let out a long scream, throwing Zhu Zhaojie off.

Then came another whistling arrow.

One after another, arrows shot toward us.

I hurriedly pulled Zhu Zhaojie down and dragged her aside.

I saw countless wild men, bare-chested and wearing hide skirts, holding bows, arrows, and machetes. They were chasing a huge spider-like demon beast, running toward us. And on the demon beast’s back, there seemed to be someone riding it.

“Ye Ziping?”

Sure enough, Ye Ziping was controlling the demon beast as he ran. He shouted at me, “Beichen, grab a weapon! Kill them!”

What the—

Where the hell was this? While I was still completely lost, Ye Ziping suddenly threw a long spear down from the demon beast. I quickly picked it up to defend myself.

At that moment, a dozen or so wild men noticed the two of us. They raised their machetes and turned to charge at us. I hurriedly pulled Zhu Zhaojie behind me, lifted the spear, and swept it across. I knocked several of them down at once.

The remaining wild men kept charging at me as if they had no fear of death.

What the hell.

Time to run.

I grabbed Zhu Zhaojie and ran for my life back toward the little room from earlier.

Oh my god. That scared me to death.

The moment I ran into the little room, all the lights suddenly came on.

Everything inside was just as it had been.

Principal Gao was looking at me with a smile, one hand holding mine.

Holy crap. This wasn’t Zhu Zhaojie at all. This was obviously Gao Minjun. Disgusting. I hurriedly shook off his hand.

“Not bad. You still know how to rescue a beauty. That means your heart is still kind.”

Gao Minjun looked very pleased with himself.

“Principal Gao, was that—was that real or fake?” I was almost incoherent.

“That was only one entrance to the metaverse.”

“That was the metaverse?”

Grandma had told me about the metaverse a long time ago. It was an intelligent product from before the global Human–Machine War. Supposedly, it could interactively merge virtual reality and actual reality into a three-dimensional virtual space. Later, once artificial intelligence developed to the AI stage, people phased the metaverse out as a low-end entertainment game.

How did this place have one of those?

Gao Minjun didn’t seem surprised that I knew about the metaverse. He took the initiative to explain. “Although the metaverse is a product from before artificial intelligence reached the AI stage, and it isn’t as practical as AI, it is still very helpful for training, entertainment, and helping students understand the three-dimensional world.”

“But wait, Principal Gao.”

I hurriedly cut off Gao Minjun’s introduction.

Because I knew there was a legal issue here. After the Human–Machine War, the whole world prohibited the production and possession of all artificial intelligence products, to prevent artificial intelligence from once again surpassing humanity and becoming a great threat.

This was clearly written in law. So I immediately said, “Principal Gao, after the global Human–Machine War, the production and use of all artificial intelligence products were explicitly banned worldwide. Wouldn’t secretly keeping an intelligent product like this be illegal?”

Gao Minjun answered at once, “You’re right. The United Nations does have such regulations. That is why there are AI purge agencies everywhere. The deaths of Meng Ran and Vice Principal Bi are a case in point.”

“However, our system is different. It was approved by the state. Or rather, it is an important facility the state deliberately placed in the school for normal student use.”

I said, “You mean artificial intelligence products aren’t all banned? There can be exceptions?”

I had to press him on it. Because the legal texts I had read contained no exceptions.

“What do you think is the difference between humans and animals?” Gao Minjun changed the subject.

“Making and using tools, of course. Marx said that.”

This, I knew.

Gao Minjun said, “Correct. Human life cannot be separated from tools. Production and daily life both require tools. The metaverse is also a tool. It is a tool needed for spiritual life and education. Of course, you will ask: if this is part of artificial intelligence too, why isn’t it illegal? In truth, the difference lies in whether it poses a threat to humanity. For example, a knife is necessary to humans. It is a tool. But if that knife grows a brain, develops thoughts, and can autonomously decide whom to cut, then it becomes a threat to humanity. It must be banned.”

After Gao Minjun finished speaking, he even took off his own helmet.

I asked, “Then how do you define it? Who gets to decide?”

I disliked him, so I wanted to argue with him on purpose. I continued, “You can’t just say, this one is useful to people and doesn’t pose a threat, so it’s fine, while that one threatens people, so it’s a problem. If that’s the case, I think the Wisdom Capsule Meng Ran used was pretty good. It was very useful to people. In the future, nobody would have to go to school. Just install a Wisdom Capsule, and you’d understand everything. How great would that be? How does it threaten people?”

Gao Minjun raised his voice. “Gu Beichen! That line of thinking is very dangerous!”

It was as if I had poked a sore spot. Gao Minjun grew agitated and said loudly, “The main lesson from Meng Ran is that the artificial intelligence product he used, if not prohibited, could very likely develop into an ultimate killer weapon exceeding human intelligence. Do you understand? The metaverse, on the other hand, is only a virtual game. It is not a utility tool, but a teaching and entertainment tool. There is a huge difference. Interaction between virtuality and reality forms a correct understanding of problems. That is the optimal method of teaching. It poses no threat to people. Meng Ran’s Wisdom Capsule, however, belongs to the practical application of AI and has vast room for autonomous development.”

I liked seeing him flustered, so I deliberately picked another fight. “After all that, at their essence, both are artificial intelligence tools. They don’t pose a threat now, but in the future, who knows? Can you guarantee it won’t develop and evolve?”

Gao Minjun suddenly realized that if we kept arguing this way, he might lose. He immediately changed his tone and became much gentler. “Beichen, do you know why I showed you the metaverse?”

I said, “No idea. It wasn’t just to broaden my horizons, was it? Though to be fair, this really was my first time seeing it. Pretty fun. I liked it. Principal Gao, what I said just now was actually for your own good. I’m afraid you might end up walking the same road as Vice Principal Bi. Then we’d feel so bad about it.”

Even now, I still hadn’t figured out his purpose in finding me.

Gao Minjun had not expected to fall into the weaker position in the conversation. He said, “Ah, you little brat. What you said just now was actually what I meant to say in the first place. I didn’t expect you to nearly talk me in circles. Somehow I became the villain.”

Gao Minjun adjusted his emotions and continued, “Today, I showed you the metaverse because I wanted to tell you just how powerful and tempting artificial intelligence can be. Especially for young people, it can give you almost everything you hope for. For example, the real world is restricted by physics. You cannot turn a person into an object, or make a tiny spider as large as an elephant. But the metaverse can. It is not bound by real-world physics and chemistry. That is what makes artificial intelligence frightening.”

I immediately followed with, “But what does any of that have to do with me?”

This guy kept circling around. I had to drag the topic back to the real issue. Who had time to chat nonsense with him? I was busy.

“Because you are very special.”

Gao Minjun finally returned to the main point. He fixed his eyes on me with a focused stare and said fiercely, “You must tell me how you did it.”