The World of Prayers finally failed after hundreds of years. The Elven Queen and the Council of Elders who established it had to admit to the public that it was another waste. However, the World of Prayers still achieved some unexpected results during the hundreds of years of operation. Not everything was so precise. Only the hyperdrive would be greatly affected by the microscopic laws. Many other things could be tested under virtual conditions. The first batch of scholars who entered the World of Prayers created more advanced space equipment and ecological dome maintenance devices through simulation calculations. They also simulated a large number of projects related to social forms and rationing systems. These results were still playing a huge role. It was because of these results that the World of Prayers was not completely shut down. Instead, it was put to other use.
Although it was not a perfect laboratory, it was at least a perfect virtual paradise.
The elfins realized that the World of Prayers could greatly reduce the consumption of their society. Some of the less demanding daily research could still be done in the laboratory. At the same time, this virtual world could also allow them to have a good dream and temporarily forget the dry and boring real world outside. More importantly, after entering the World of Prayers, the bloated and useless body that consumed too much energy could be abandoned.
"A thousand years ago, we passed the 'World of Prayers Stripping Law', allowing more people to apply for uploading into the server," Hilda said slowly. "Didn't I tell you? As the speed of environmental change in the dome exceeded the elves' ability to adapt, some of the floating islands had deteriorated to the point where the elderly elves could not survive. Many of us had incurable diseases. The royal family could not execute them just because they were sick. However, these elves who had lost their labor force due to being infected by diseases could only wait for death in the past. However, after the 'stripping law' took effect, they were sent to the World of Prayers. The old, the sick, the disabled, or the elves who had lost their social value for other reasons had to accept the uploading. Their consciousness was extracted into the server, and their bodies were destroyed and decomposed into resources. They were still alive, but they would no longer cause any consumption. They could also continue to contribute to Aerymian society in a healthier form in the World of Prayers, such as doing research. Some of the less demanding projects could still be carried out in the virtual environment. Now, this is the home of almost every Aerymian elf. We can't leave a lifeless body in the world to continue breathing air. It's better to break it down into nutrients in the dome and element blocks in the factory. "
Hao Ren didn't know what to say.
He was no stranger to the virtual world. Whether it was from the science fiction novels on Earth or real examples from the Imperial Data Network, he was familiar with the concept. But most civilizations created virtual worlds for entertainment, and a few for scientific research or to reduce energy consumption were not as extreme as the Aerymian elves. Those civilizations would leave their bodies in a connector, waiting to wake up and experience the real world again. But the Aerymian elves were different: they only connected to the World of Prayers after their bodies had lost the ability to work, so that they could abandon their bodies and let their minds continue working.
They didn't even want to waste a single breath.
"In fact, for many elves, the World of Prayers is a paradise," Hilda suddenly revealed a strange smile. "It's sunny there, there's a vast sky, you can drive for thousands of miles without seeing the walls, and there are some mountains and rivers that only exist in legends and video discs. Every elf who uploads into the World of Prayers will send back a word of thanks. They finally don't have to endure the reality of exhaustion."
"Why don't everyone just go in and dream? I think this is a huge temptation for you. "Hao Ren asked a very direct question.
"Because then there's no hope." Hilda spread out her hands. "That's escape. The World of Prayers is not created to escape from reality. Someone has to watch over it in reality. We have an old proverb: Hold on until the next day. We believe that as long as we're alive, there's hope, so we've been alive until today. We have never given up our efforts to fly to other stars, and the World of Prayers was built on this premise. If everyone is immersed in the illusion of abundant resources, who will save the reality? The server will eventually collapse, and the servo mechanism outside will sooner or later be damaged. This is suicide. It's just being prolonged and anesthetized by the sweet dream. "
In the end, she added, "Even if the world is going to collapse, I hope to be able to see it collapse with my own eyes, and not lose my home in my sleep without knowing it."
Hao Ren pondered for a moment. "But not everyone thinks so, right?"
"Yes, we are, after all, mortals. The Lotto Organization is an extremist organization that wants everyone to escape from reality and let everyone enter the World of Prayers to spend the rest of their lives. Their core is a group of technical elites, the descendants or apprentices of the scholars who built the World of Prayers. When the World of Prayers project was announced to have failed, the elders discussed how to deal with the virtual world. A group of builders could not bear the pressure and released a lot of unfavorable information, which eventually led to the emergence of the Lotto Organization. This organization thinks that the real world is hopeless, and entering the dream can at least let everyone die peacefully. They have been dormant for a while, but after the last space-time accelerator explosion, they seem to have been stimulated and are now more active. "
"Can't they sneak in by themselves? Anyway, as long as they lose their labor force, they can enter. Why do they have to make such a big fuss? " Hao Ren did not understand. "If it's just to escape from reality, they can just sneak in. Now that they've come out, they'll be stopped."
"Because they're not trying to escape from reality, but they really want to change the entire Kingdom of Aerym." Hilda shook her head. "The Lotto Organization is not simple. Perhaps from another perspective, I would admire them: they want all other elves to be happy. But this does not change the nature of their blindness. "
It seemed that this was a group of idealists who had gone down the wrong path. In this case, it was no longer easy to judge who was right and who was wrong: everyone had a noble purpose, no one was doing it for themselves, but they were in opposition to the mainstream society, and there were a lot of such things going on.
"Well, a group of idealists... But if the resource problem is solved, they probably won't continue to jump around," Hao Ren whispered, then looked up. "You have a minister who got himself into trouble because of this?"
"The Lotto Organization somehow controlled the main memory and established their own power in the World of Prayers. They pulled some of their digitalized elves into an undetectable place. I don't know what they're planning, but it's definitely a big operation. The citizens of the World of Prayers are also citizens, so Cardillon personally led a group of elites to investigate the situation — but he disappeared. "Hilda sighed." I understand his actions. After all, he's already middle-aged, and his mobility and brainpower are not as good as before. He'll soon exceed the value consumption rate line, and will probably be extracted and uploaded in a few years. But this time, he really went at the wrong time. "
Here's an additional explanation: in Aerymian society, mental workers "retired" much earlier than manual workers. That was because the value of their bodies to society was less than their intelligence. Many mental workers, even if they were healthy, had to be extracted and uploaded after middle age, and the upper class were no exception. Therefore, the Aerymian elves usually chose the same occupation to form a family: it was to avoid such premature separation.
Hao Ren realized that he might have one more problem — he could not ignore the group of elves that had been uploaded to the server and their bodies had been destroyed.
At this moment, a small blue light suddenly flew from afar, and the MDT almost smacked him in the face. "Yo, I'm back!"
Hao Ren dodged the bitch in the nick of time and asked, "Are you done?"
"Yes, the backup energy pool is also full, enough for them to repair the main line. Now a group of engineering ships is repairing the hole outside the floating island," the MDT skillfully got into Hao Ren's pocket. "Damn, I'm exhausted, I almost died..."
Hao Ren patted his pocket and said goodbye to Hilda. "I have to go back and look into this matter. You settle down and restore order to society, I'll give you an answer soon."
Hilda did not speak, just bowed her head deeply.
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