If I had to choose between a gap and a place where I was right now, more like the futuristic world, I would go this way - the sci-fi setset was so authentic that I couldn't pronounce a single thing. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Even though I had a gun in my back at the moment, I swore that I would be here of no choice, and that I wouldn't have suffered much if I had been shot. The owner of the pistol, wearing a gas mask, probably understood this, and he didn't even ask me to remove my weapon before leading me into the sunken oval, and I took off my helmet on my own initiative.

Of course, this man's attitude towards me was not very kind, and before I could figure out the structure of the building, he escorted me to a fully enclosed elevator to the laboratory-like room in front of me. I was nervous at first, fearing that I would be grabbed as a test subject, but he hadn't spoken to me since I came in, still wearing that steampunk-style brown gas mask, fiddling with the complex buttons and touch screens of all sizes that seemed to make people with dense phobias sick, in a strange and terrifying scene.

Is it really human this time? I was able to hit two low-probability events at once?

I had a stomach full of questions I wanted to ask, but he seemed to have forgotten that I was there, which made me impatient.

"What's that...... Maybe you forgot, but there's actually another person in your room. ”

The effect is not obvious. He didn't even lift his head. He didn't seem to worry at all that I would turn around and slip out.

"So I'm leaving?"

He finally raised his head and expressed his attitude in a sullen voice.

"Don't move."

He pulled something that looked like a tablet out of a drawer, and he walked up to me and took a picture of it at me, and the light flashed, and I don't know if it was taking a picture or doing a test, maybe both. My eyes flashed defenselessly, and I swayed my unsteady body to find a place to help, but there was not a single piece of furniture in the room to sit on.

He walked back to the table, picked one of the large handfuls of colourful thread that had bubbled outside, plugged in the little tablet, and went on tinkering. After a while, he brought me another metal rod with a white glow and swept it back and forth over me, as if I had passed through security. Maybe it's security. Because after completing this procedure, he rummaged through the cabinet and found a spray can with a size of at least one liter, and sprayed it up and down for a long time.

After layers of inspection, he was relieved and took off his gas mask.

It's a human face, and it's a beauty. With his back to me, he took off his hard protective cloak and threw it into the dark cabinet embedded in the wall, and the moment the door was opened, the cold air was overwhelming, and it looked more like a freezer. But I didn't have much time to think about the cupboard - and when he turned around, the body in the leotard made me wonder how I could see it as a man's body.

I glanced at his face again. It is not appropriate to describe this face as "like a woman", because it is simply a young woman's face, with soft facial contours, eyebrows outlined by a brush, a pretty nose, a slight pink cherry mouth, and soft black hair hanging down the shoulders. Although the skin is not as flawless as R5 to resemble a man-made object, it is far more delicate and smooth than the average person. If the white of R5's skin is transparent and about to disappear, the white of the person in front of him is the pale of not being exposed to the sun for a long time. In terms of physiognomy alone, there really can't be a trace of a man.

This is probably the prettiest woman I've ever seen, and it's even comparable to that of the Van Xi star named M6. But the more beautiful this face is, combined with the figure, the more it looks out of balance, as if a woman's head is rigidly grafted onto a man's body, which is simply weird. I think that even those girls who love beautiful men, when they see him, they probably feel a little too much.

He seemed to be so used to being stared at in amazement that he didn't bother me at all, and after undressing, he continued to study his screens.

"Uh......" I decided to end the boring wait, "let's get down to business." I have a lot of questions for you, and so do you. ”

He struck the next key with a gesture like a pianist pressing the last note of a piece, and finally lifted his pretty face to me.

"How about we tell each other what we know first, so it's more time-saving?"

"I—I agree."

There was an atmosphere of diplomatic negotiation at this moment, and I couldn't help but straighten up.

"Then I'll start first," he said leisurely, his voice sounding indistinguishable, "where you are right now may be the only remaining living facility on Earth, it has no name. Anyway, there is only such a facility, and there is no need to give it a special name. It is a place similar to a science station, bringing together the most cutting-edge science and technology of human civilization so far. And I, probably the only human on Earth who is still active, my name is Liyue. What do you call it? ”

"And ......," I hesitated, deciding to continue with the code name of the subgap, "Just call me Ning 08." ”

"See that coffin-like thing over there?" He pointed to a capsule-shaped object behind me, "I usually sleep there, and whenever a creature comes close to this underground fortress, something like an 'alarm clock' wakes me up, and then I go out in full gear, like today, kill the 'things' that might ruin this place, and then come back and continue sleeping, that's the purpose of my existence." ”

"The human weapons you're using are effective against these alien creatures?"

"I'm certainly not using the kind of weapon you think. I was going to shoot you with a pistol just now, just to show who I am human. Otherwise, will you come here with me? ”

I nodded. It seems that when I was immersed in the superiority of accompanying him to the house, he was the one who really pretended to be weak.

But where did his special weapon come from? I was about to start asking, but he interrupted me first.

"I know you have a lot of questions to ask, but before I do, allow me to ask you questions."

"Okay."

"You've managed to get help from the Puma people, haven't you?"

I was going to be like him, but I was dumbfounded at the first question.

"How do you know?"

He didn't answer, just stared at me intently and motioned for me to answer his question.

"Theoretically, a group of humans like me are now protected by the Pomma in the sub-gap, where we usually live, and only a small number of them are regularly teleported back to Earth in the form of homing teams."

"You don't look like the first humans to be introduced into the sub-chasm."

"Well, I'm the second batch." I'm not really the best person in terms of overall numbers.

"Has anyone revealed to you the selection rules for your second group of humans? What is the criterion for judging? ”

"No one has ever said that I only know that the first batch of elites experienced mass brain death after entering the interspace, and then based on the analysis of survivors' data, the second batch of screening rules was derived."

He began to fiddle with his instrument, and I wasn't sure if he heard what I was saying.

"Then you haven't seen a human in a long time, right?" I asked.

He did not admit it and did not deny it.

"I'm on standby most of the time here, and when I wake up, I'm busy, with all sorts of bioanalysis and patrol work to do,"

I suddenly thought of another possibility, maybe what I was looking for was actually a robot? In the current environment of the earth, it is impossible for ordinary people to live until now, and judging from the amount of information he obtains, his knowledge of the current situation of the earth is no less than that of the people in the subgap, and it may even be more.

"You think I should be more excited when I see a human?" He raised an eyebrow and asked.

Can a robot make such a rich expression?

"It's not exciting, it's just that you seem to be used to it."

"No, I have that attitude regardless of whether the subject is human or not. What's more, your current form is nothing more than a simulated state of iron against human vision. ”

Iron? Simulated status? Are you talking about bionails?

"You've confirmed my race, but I haven't confirmed yours yet." I said to him.

He shook his head. "Your human identity has not been confirmed, of course, you have no problem confirming my race, but with all due respect, since you have all followed me here, it has been proven that you believe that I am human. Even if I'm not human, since I can trick you here, then I have all the ways to test the measures that have deceived you, so it's the same whether I prove it or not. ”

I did agree with him in my heart, but I still didn't want to be led by the nose all the way, and there was nothing else to do but be surprised.

"Haven't any of the return teams ever spotted you before? Our signal detection system should ......"

"Since the signal detection system exists, the technology of the shielded signal detection system must also exist."

"Why block? Don't you want to be found out by us? ”

"Of course I hope, but it's based on a number of big premises that have not only not been met so far, but may have gone in the exact opposite direction."

"You mean the time has not come?"

He bypassed my question and instead threw me another question. "Tell me about how your way of life in the sub-chasm is different from that on Earth."

"Can I sit on the ground and say? Of course you have to sit down, or I'll look up and you'll be tired. Liyue looked a little unhappy, but finally sat cross-legged across from me.

"Appropriate concessions are conducive to reducing the time wasted on meaningless disputes. Okay, you can get started. ”

"The sub-gap satisfies all human desires. In the interstitial space, humans do not age, do not get sick, do not get hurt. Whatever people want, they can immediately get it through the 'selection system', so the world doesn't need such a thing as money. At the same time, we will not be thirsty, we will not be hungry, we will not have a metabolism. In the eyes of the Puma people, a cow and a green onion are as important as humans, so the food we can obtain is all virtual ingredients, only virtual texture and taste. There is a limit to the amount of items you can get, and once you exceed this limit, the excess items will automatically disappear. As for the house, you can choose any style of house in the property selection system and decide where it will be built. Because you can arrange the nearby environment by yourself, it doesn't matter which location is good or which is bad. ”

After listening to my description above, Liyue's face did not show longing, nor did she feel that I was talking about the discrimination of a fool.

"Is the selection system you just mentioned obtained through a computer in a similar way to online shopping?"

"Close, but different, every immigrant from Earth in the sub-gap is equipped with a bracelet, and there is a chip in the bracelet......" Speaking of this, I lowered my voice weakly, and sure enough, I saw Liyue purse her lips, "Through the chip, we can complete any action we want to complete, including selecting items, contacting other people, looking up maps, etc., similar to the role of smartphones on Earth before." ”

"What if you want something but can't get it in the system? What is the basis of which the system builds its database? He continued.

"Built on the existing things of the earth. The problem you are talking about should be another situation, if a person wants to get a game console and use it to play a game, it can be done, but if he wants a game that is half made on the planet at the time, then he can't get it. If you really want something that is not in the system, you can select the crafting tool from the system and make it yourself. My personal experience so far is that you can only make something that exists within the known range from what you know, for example, if you make a dish with ingredients, condiments, and cooking methods that no one else has tried, then the dish will taste exactly the same as when it was originally cooked, and there will be no chemical reaction between the ingredients. ”

"It seems to be a system similar to a wish machine."

"Don't you think I'm lying to you with nonsense?"

"I don't think so."

"But these things, as a narrator myself, feel a bit fantastical. If I were to speak to ordinary people, most people would only think that I had a mental problem. ”

"No, what you're saying is entirely possible, you haven't been thinking about it for so long since you've lived in the Achasm, have you? With a little thought, you should be able to come up with a more realistic answer. ”

His words touched on a question that I had been deliberately avoiding.

Yes, we have had too many opportunities to "think a little" for such a long time in the inter-chasm, but most of these thoughts are quickly overwritten by thoughts such as "it is useless to think too much" and "there is no way to change the status quo". Actually, I am more or less aware of the problem, but "being content with the status quo" is too tempting for most people in the sub-gaps. So we tend to believe that aliens do have the power to build us a Garden of Eden for free.

"Let's start with your mech. Judging from the wear and tear of the mecha on your body, you must have encountered a lot of alien creatures, right? So what do you feel uncomfortable about right now? ”

“…… No. ”

"Have you ever been physically attacked by an alien creature? Have you ever been injured at the level of bleeding from a severed limb under normal circumstances? ”

"Yes."

"Then why don't you have anything to do now?"

I roughly guessed the reason for his step-by-step question, but I answered him anyway. "Each of us will wear transparent bioarmor when we land on Earth, and the official version is that this thing is resistant to damage, wear and tear after wearing, and can withstand all the damage we endure. The pain we feel when we are attacked will remain, but it will be slightly less...... Well, just tell me, what are you trying to tell me about all this? ”

"Have you ever heard the metaphor of the 'brain in a vat'?"

"Sure enough...... Is that so......" I covered my face with my hands that couldn't help but start shaking.

Is the brain in the vat Hillary? Putnam proposed a thought experiment in which he hypothesized that a person's brain had been surgically cut off from the body and placed in a vat containing a nutrient solution that kept the brain alive. The moment Liyue mentioned this word, there was no need to say anything else.

"The nerve endings of the brain are connected to a computer, which is programmed to send information to the brain in order to keep it hallucinating that everything is completely normal. For him, it seems that people, objects, and the sky still exist, and his own movements and body sensations can be input. This brain can also be fed or intercepted (the memory of the brain surgery is intercepted, and then the various environments and daily life that he may experience are entered). He can even be coded and 'feel' himself reading a funny and ridiculous text here. "As if afraid that I wouldn't understand, Liyue specially read the introduction of 'Brain in a Jar' to me again.

"But if you follow the quantum theory......"

"You're in a different situation, so we don't need to discuss matter determining consciousness or consciousness determining matter, or the relationship between quantum theory and philosophy, and you don't know anything about these things anyway," he continued, "but you don't need to be too flustered, I'm not saying you don't really exist." My current inference is that you so-called 'immigrants' from Earth do not really exist in the sub-chasm, that you have been moved past only by consciousness, and that your physical body remains in a cocooned state, remaining on Earth. Dealing with consciousness is the most convenient thing to do, and the people of Puma don't need to put too much effort on you to reach a paradise that satisfies all of you. But when you go back to the earth for 'return', of course, there is no physical body, and then you need a physical substitute, so there is no transparent biological A, and this biological A itself is the limb stem when you return to the earth. On top of controlling this limb remotely with your consciousness, you bring your helmet and weapons, and that's it. ”

"Then why can we pick our own weapons? We can even define the appearance of the weapon at will. ”

"There are only a few kinds of weapons, for example, if you want a specific sword, maybe the Puma people can't do it, but it can give you a normal sword, and then make you think that this is the sword you want. As I said, when you come to Earth, everything you see about yourself and others is just a projection of human vision. ”

"Are these aliens ......?"

"No, these alien creatures are real, I can prove it."

"That'...... You just said that the signal from the sub-gap is blocked here, why can I still move? ”

"Since the Poma people can connect your consciousness from the Earth to a sub-space located in another space, it must be easier to synchronize your consciousness to a certain location on the same Earth, which is also located between two bodies on Earth, and the consciousness is 'same-medium transmission', and the transmission of consciousness between the body and the sub-space on Earth is 'trans-medium transmission'." 'Cross-media transmission' has special conditions that need to be met, such as the so-called 'signal'. ”

"You're just guessing, aren't you?" I tried to grasp at the last straw.

"But you already have the answer." Li Yue stared directly at me intently.