"Yes," Professor Xie Wufeng said.
"According to Professor Mo Xuan's experiment logs and the confessions of the specialists of crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus who were caged in the Spiriters' Realm, the two Hyper Spirits, codenamed 'No. 17' and 'No. 18', were the products of failed experiments. Their core database had collapsed a long time ago, and their operational logic was rather chaotic. Therefore, Professor Mo Xuan abandoned them and sealed them in the Virtual Spirits Sector.
"However, as you have seen, the Hyper Spirits are the most terrifying artificial intelligence. A mere 'Moonlight Bringer' is already capable of seriously interfering with and even completely controlling the transportation hub of the entire Federation.
"Even if 'No. 17' and 'No. 18' are nothing but broken digits and text fragments left, they can still cause infinite trouble if they fall into the hands of somebody with ill intentions.
"Therefore, we have to find them and annihilate them for good!"
Li Yao nodded cautiously. "Indeed. However, Professor Xie, there is something that I don't quite understand. Judging from their codenames, 'No. 17' and 'No. 18' should be the Hyper Spirits in their later years. Before them, sixteen Hyper Spirits had been successfully refined, including such a complicated and powerful Hyper Spirit as' Moonlight Bringer '.
"By logic, Professor Mo Xuan should've accumulated abundant experience in the refinement of the Hyper Spirits at that time. Together with the enhancement of the extraterrestrial devils, it was unlikely that anything went wrong. Why did he fail twice in a row?
"Professor Mo Xuan did not mention the question much in his experiment logs. When he did mention No. 17 and No. 18, he did not mention them in detail, either. Even he seemed to find it strange and baffling. Over the past few days, you have completely analyzed all the crystal processors in Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital and interrogated so many 'Spiriters'. Have you found any clues?"
"Slightly," Professor Xie Wufeng said. "According to the confessions of the specialists, Professor Mo Xuan was too ambitious. After the first sixteen Hyper Spirits were successfully refined, his confidence soared crazily, and he intended to refine the ultimate version that was even more powerful than the 'Hyper Spirits'.
Professor Xie Wufeng said. "Even with Professor Mo Xuan's weird life form of 'star spirit' and the abilities of the extraterrestrial devils, the techniques that they want to bestow on the ultimate Hyper Spirits are far beyond their limits.
"They seem to have tried almost ten thousand radical algorithms and unique operation logics on 'No. 17' and 'No. 18'. All in all, they are the most cutting-edge virtual technologies. However, as the saying goes, every man has his limits, and the extraterrestrial devils are not omnipotent. When the latest untested technologies are piled up excessively, failure is inevitable.
"After two consecutive failures, they realized it themselves. Therefore, No. 19 Hyper Spirit obediently used the regular algorithm and operation logic to perform the modulation. 'No. 17' and 'No. 18' were the only ones.
"I'm afraid that Professor Mo Xuan had the same consideration when he sealed them in the 'Virtual Spirits Sector' instead of completely destroying them. He must've been planning to gather the specialists and resources of the entire Federation to continue the studies on the two ultimate Hyper Spirits after he completely seized power, didn't he?"
Li Yao and Long Yangjun looked at each other. They couldn't help but ask, "What kind of mission were No. 17 and No. 18 given exactly that they could only be supported by techniques that were too complicated for the extraterrestrial devils to realize?"
"The game 'Civilization'."
Taking a deep breath, Professor Xie Wufeng said, "The mission of the Hyper Spirits' No. 17 'and' No. 18 'is to control every platform, every DLC, and every person who is playing the game in' Civilization 'instantly.
"If they succeeded, they would've sealed all the players who were dwelling in the world of 'Civilization' in the immersive game cabins forever in the game world. They would never be able to return to reality without the permission of the Hyper Spirits or the extraterrestrial devils."
Li Yao was greatly alarmed. His blood was freezing.
'Civilization' was the largest game platform in the entire Federation. No. In fact, it had long surpassed the category of 'game'. It was a virtual communication platform that included the entire Federation. Games, social interaction, work, and even the functions of the government could not be separated from the platform.
According to statistics, more than ten billion people were online at the same time on the Civilization platform every minute. More than ninety percent of them logged into the various seed platforms that were derived from the platform every day. Almost a hundred percent of them logged into 'Civilization' at least once a week!
If the extraterrestrial devils did control the game 'Civilization' with No. 17 and No. 18, it would mean that they controlled the entire Federation!
However …
"How is it possible?"
Li Yao pondered for a moment and shook his head, not thinking it was a big deal. "The calculation is too demanding. Also, the mysteries that concern the deepest part of the soul of human beings are even more difficult than counting the stars in the sky!"
"It is indeed impossible," Xie Wufeng said. "That's why we failed twice in a row. Later, even Professor Mo Xuan, who was possessed by the extraterrestrial devils, realized that it was purely a waste of time and resources.
"Judging from the experiment data that we have collected, No. 17 and No. 18 only have 1% of the virtual pieces left after the collapse. That being said, we still have to find them. On one hand, we cannot allow them to fall into the hands of the ambitious schemers. On the other hand, the core files and the underlying operation logic may be of help to us when we analyze other Hyper Spirits."
Li Yao thought for a moment and asked, "So, we are going to enter the Virtual Spirits Sector?"
"The specialists have all kinds of methods to unravel the mysteries deep inside the super crystal processors where the 'Virtual Spirits Sector Project' was carried out," Professor Xie Wufeng said. "However, it is indeed the most time-saving and intuitive approach to send someone to check the collapsed Virtual Spirits Sector first."
Li Yao frowned. "Will it be dangerous?"
At the beginning, Professor Mo Xuan, Lu Qingchen, and even Su Changfa had all been involved in the chaotic virtual swirls when the Virtual Spirits Sector collapsed. Their souls were heavily wounded, and some of them were killed or corrupted.
Li Yao did not want such a tragedy to happen again.
Wei Qingqing smiled. "Rest assured. Although the Virtual Spirits Sector is a mess right now, it is still rather stable for now. As long as we do not modify the data on a large scale, there shouldn't be a second collapse."
"Of course there are dangers," Professor Xie Wufeng said.
"That's also why we hope that you and Fellow Cultivator Long can lead us into the Virtual Spirits Sector for investigation together. You are both super experts close to the Divinity Transformation Stage, and you have both demonstrated remarkable soul abilities in the fierce battle against the extraterrestrial devils. With you with us, even if we are trapped in the Virtual Spirits Sector, we will not be at a loss. There should be a way to break the illusions and return to reality, right?"
Li Yao thought for a moment. He was very curious about the Virtual Spirits Sector that was used to breed virtual lives, too. Besides, it was a virtual world that had been abandoned for decades. However dangerous it might be, it could not be more dangerous than the Spiriters' Realms that were directly controlled by the extraterrestrial devils, right?
Li Yao looked at Long Yangjun and asked for her opinion.
"Don't look at me. I promised Professor Xie a long time ago."
Long Yangjun opened her hands and said solemnly, "Theoretically speaking, there shouldn't be any danger in the Virtual Spirits Sector. However, there is a fatal factor that we must take precautions against."
Li Yao was greatly alarmed. He hurried to ask, "What factor?"
"You!"
Long Yangjun glanced at him. "This is a simple investigation that is not dangerous at all. But now that you are involved, Monster Li, it will be a hundred times more dangerous than before. I can almost hear the alarms ringing deep inside my head!"
Li Yao: "…"
…
In the control center of the super crystal processor in the No. 1 space station of Hundred Flowers City, Li Yao, Long Yangjun, Professor Xie Wufeng, and a few other specialists of crystal processors were all soaked in the warm nerval interaction liquids.
Wei Qingqing and the other spectral Cultivators, or rather, the Spiriters, were all connected to the enormous super crystal processors through the crystal wires, too.
It was a well-planned inspection operation. Naturally, there were countless doctors, Meditation Healers, and crystal processor specialists who were closely monitoring their body and brain conditions to minimize the risk.
"Are you ready? The investigation of the Virtual Spirits Sector will begin in ten … nine … eight …"
Professor Xie Wufeng's voice penetrated through the thick nerval interaction liquids like fuzzy tides.
When the transparent cover of the cabin was slowly closed, the light of the outside world seemed to have been cut off. Li Yao felt that the darkness was covering his head inch by inch.
His surroundings suddenly turned cold. He was about to struggle to his feet, only to discover that his head was not on the cover of the cabin.
The cover of the immersive virtual cabin was gone. Or rather, the real world was gone.
Right now, he was sitting on a lifeless beach deep inside the broken Virtual Spirits Sector. His legs were still being washed by the almost black tides.
It was a world that was dying.
Looking at the horizon, at the end of the horizon was an enormous star that almost occupied Li Yao's entire vision. It gave him the weirdest shock, as if it were not a sphere but a giant mouth that was collapsing inward and was about to swallow the planet that he was on. It was exactly that enormous.
Although it was enormous, the star did not emit any dazzling light. It was burning with its last breath, occasionally emitting one or two rays of light that were better than nothing. It only brought a touch of bleak red to the beach, but it did not bring any warmth.
Rather than calling it a star, it would be more accurate to call it a mottled red paint smeared across the sky. That was all.
It was the same for the black ocean.
At first, Li Yao thought that the ocean was frozen and that all the tides and tides were still. But after observing carefully for a long time, he discovered that the ocean was actually surging, except that it was surging at an extremely slow speed. It seemed to be a hundred times slower than the tides in the real world, reminding him that he was in a dying Spiriters' Realm.
-----
Happy New Year's Eve and Happy New Year to all of you!
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
