Chapter 58: Entering the Virtual World

Chapter 58: Entering the Virtual World

Pu Liuqian and the pursuers were gone, and quiet settled back over everything.

The work of cracking and making use of the stolen quantum weapon materials, however, had only just begun. Engineer Lin and the base technicians were all deep in various experiments.

I used the downtime to send Du Xiaoran an alt-account message, asking how things were on his end and whether the equipment was safe. He said the moment I was exposed was the moment he was safest—the outcome in our partnership he was most glad to see.

The equipment was his livelihood, so he had moved it at the first possible moment. I suspected it might have its own invisibility or flight capability. Otherwise, how could he have moved it so fast?

For the next stretch of days, with nothing pressing to do, I wandered over to the base to watch Engineer Lin and the others work on cracking the quantum weapons. It would take time. The technical analysis and verification work alone was consuming a great deal of their energy.

Not wanting to sit in on their discussions, I drifted to the biological laboratory to look at the custom-fit bionic-human parasitic host that Engineer Lin was building for me. It was still growing vigorously inside its culture vessel.

I learned that the growth of a bionic-human body designed for parasitizing followed essentially the same process as natural human development—the full sequence from a single totipotent cell dividing into thirty-eight trillion cells. The difference was that it began by reverse-transforming blood cells from my true body into totipotent cells, then completing the entire process under precise AI control through rapid, catalyzed growth inside a biological culture vessel.

A body cultivated this way was almost indistinguishable from one born and raised naturally. The only difference was that the timeline had been compressed to two or three months. During cultivation, certain technological elements also had to be added—built-in wisdom structures and knowledge content in the brain, for instance, so that the body would emerge with something equivalent to a doctoral education. Knowledge, memories, and skills could all be loaded in.

Watching the parasitic host grow inside its vessel, I began to understand why Shiqing knew so much about the Elite World. It was not lived experience. That knowledge had been built in by his creators.

Thinking of Shiqing, I suddenly felt it was necessary to use his body and return to the Mundane World once. I had left too abruptly, and there were things I had never properly explained. I did not know whether Gu Kunling had been in touch with Uncle, but at the very least I had said nothing to Zhu Zhaojie or Du Xinlang before disappearing. They would be worried.

So I went to Uncle and asked, “Uncle, the custom-fit parasitic host still needs time. I want to use Shiqing to go back to the Mundane World and say hello to Gu Kunling, Zhu Zhaojie, and the others, and explain a few things. Is that possible?”

Uncle said, “Technically, of course it’s possible. But Shiqing is your trump card. Expose him too carelessly and the Soul Hunters may find him—and you’d be down one life. If all you need is to get a message to people in the Mundane World, I can have my avatar contact Gu Kunling and ask her to handle it for you.”

I said, “That works. There’s nothing urgent—I just feel that leaving so suddenly will worry them and invite speculation. Please contact Gu Kunling, then, and ask her to explain things to Zhu Zhaojie and Du Xinlang. They’ll understand.”

Seeing how much thought I was giving to Zhu Zhaojie and Du Xinlang, Uncle said, “I’ve already told Gu Kunling about our departure. I’ll have her inform those two ladies straight away. If you ever want them brought here to the Elite World, I have a way to bring them through a special passage.”

I shook my head. “That isn’t necessary. Du Xiaoran told me there are bounties here for anyone caught smuggling in—ten achievement points a person, enough to complete half a year’s task. It’s far too dangerous.”

Uncle said, “Good. As long as you can think these things through for yourself. You need to establish yourself first, in my view. Starting a family now would hold you back.”

I nodded. “I’m in no hurry.”

Uncle said, “Since you have to wait for the custom-fit parasitic host, going out isn’t practical right now. Here’s a thought—if you’re restless, I can arrange for you to enter the Elite World’s virtual world and have a look around. The virtual world is the primary way of life for elite people.”

I said, “Du Xiaoran said the same thing. But I still don’t quite understand—in the virtual world, do elite people share a single common world, or does each person build their own?”

Uncle said, “You’ve hit on the operational heart of the virtual world. Both modes you mentioned actually exist, and which one applies depends on the individual’s needs.

“The first type is a virtual world built for a single person. It is constructed around the entrant—a world that appears complete and entire but is purpose-built to serve that one person. However intricate the world may be, it bends to the will of the mind; all things converge into one. It is the philosophical realization of Descartes’s formulation: I think, therefore I am. This world does not intersect with anyone else’s. The person lives entirely within a private, constructed reality. We call it the Whispering World, or the Mind-Image World.

“The second type is a shared virtual world with a unified set of rules, where people live together. We refer to this collectively as the metaverse, or parallel virtual spacetime. This is the main arena of elite life. Most elite people live in this parallel virtual spacetime. After all, humans are social creatures—chance and uncertainty are what most closely resemble the real world.”

I said, “I once stepped into a metaverse at Liutan Town Middle School, but it was a stripped-down version, not much different from a game.”

Uncle said, “That wasn’t a true metaverse—just a proof-of-concept game. The metaverse developed by the Elite World is a mature system. It runs on the Elite World’s core supercomputer and is a refined parallel virtual spacetime. You cannot tell it from reality. The only difference is that it breaks through the physical and chemical constraints of the real world, vastly expanding the ways people can imagine living—science-fictional, romantic, spectacular, endlessly varied, with superpowers beyond number. Murder and horror exist within it as well, of course. But crucially, none of it causes any real harm to the true body. That is precisely why elite people choose to live inside it.”

I said, “Then if I—or members of the resistance—enter, the core supercomputer will know. Could it do anything to work against us?”

Uncle said, “It won’t. If it did, it would break the foundational rules of the virtual world and bring the entire logical framework crashing down. That is one of the interesting properties of the virtual world. Logic is the rules. It is the cornerstone on which parallel virtual spacetime stands. Any cheating or backdoor design would undermine that cornerstone—and that was agreed upon by everyone at the very beginning of the virtual world’s design. Beyond that, elite people actually welcome the resistance entering. Think of it as a hunting ground: without prey, what is the point of hunters? The virtual parallel world is full of uncertainty. Only the rules are fixed. As an architect, you should appreciate the logic of that.”

I nodded.

Even if the core supercomputer wanted to cause trouble inside the parallel virtual spacetime, it could do nothing to the true body. On that basis alone, entering should carry no real danger, regardless of whatever backdoors the design might contain.

The day after that conversation, Engineer Lin used the phase-displacement method to integrate the three green jade tokens into my chest. The tokens did not enter the body—they rested on the surface of the skin like a tattoo, flat and unobtrusive. From that point on, I had no need to worry about losing them. When I needed to use them, I could take them out with a thought.

On the third day, Uncle brought me to a large workroom lined with soft beds and various instruments. He pointed to one of the beds and said, “Lie down there. I’ll have the staff start the machine and send you in.”

I asked, “Du Xiaoran mentioned that entering the virtual world costs something. Twenty or more achievement points, I think?”

“That’s right,” Uncle said. “This is a virtual-world terminal machine. Every community and street in the Elite World has them. Some high-status families keep a few at home—same as this one.”

I lay down. One of the staff even draped a down comforter over me. It was surprisingly comfortable.

Uncle continued, “I’ve prepaid the achievement points for you. Stay as long as you like. If you want to leave, you can choose to exit. If someone kills you inside, the system will eject you automatically—and re-entry will require a fresh payment. Achievement points aren’t easy to come by for elite people; that’s precisely why Du Xiaoran was willing to take the risk of working with a stranger the first time you met. Spend them carefully. That said, if you kill an opponent, or kill someone who deserves to die—a murderer, an evil ghost—or if you save someone or make a contribution of some kind, you’ll earn achievement-point rewards as well. Remember: this is your first time in. You’re here to get your bearings. Don’t be in a rush to earn anything.”

I nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind. One more thing—can I use my superpowers in there?”

“Of course,” Uncle said. “The virtual is reality. Go on.”

I closed my eyes.

The sound of machinery rose around me. My consciousness seemed to lift and fly, and a brief wave of dizziness washed through me.

When I opened my eyes, I was standing in an empty palace.

Where was this? I had forgotten to ask Uncle what kind of existence I would have inside. Did I even have a home in the virtual world?

Then I noticed a display in the upper left of my vision: achievement points, 30. Entry fee, 20. Remaining, 10.

Was this currency? How was it meant to be used?

I walked out of the palace hall. Jade steps, carved balustrades, corner towers, red walls—set against a sky flushed with rosy clouds, the whole place looked extraordinarily grand and imposing, something fit for an emperor’s residence.

I descended the jade steps slowly and came to the carved balustrade. What lay beyond stopped me cold.

Below it was an endless sea of clouds. In the far distance, scattered mountain peaks thrust up through the cloud layers; between them, radiant light streamed in every direction—clouds in rolling billows, the haze suffused with color, the spectacle vast beyond words. Even the churning clouds directly beneath the balustrade glowed orange-gold.

I leaned over and looked down. Through the rifts in the clouds I could faintly make out a city below, and the rolling shapes of hills. Stairways and walkways of carved stone descended from where I stood, but they did not go far before arriving at the gates of several lower palaces.

I was in a palace suspended in the sky.

This couldn’t be right. How was I supposed to get down?

Was I an emperor? A celestial immortal?

I was still puzzling over it when a servant boy in blue robes came striding out from the palace to my right and hollered across at me, “Hey, you there! Get over here and help me carry the young lady’s flowerpot.”