——AD.2156.5.21——

Normandy, restaurant.

"Good morning, Neo."

"Neo? Didn't you sleep well? ”

As Anderson limped to the restaurant on the second deck, he received many surprised glances.

"Well, I don't know, it was normal before going to bed last night, and my limbs were sore when I woke up this morning." Anderson grinned at Trinity, who was trying to help him, and casually found a seat at the white table.

"It must have been over-exercising in the connection program yesterday." The young man who seemed to be called "Mouse" said with a grin.

"Exercising too much in the virtual space?" Anderson squeezed his arm.

"Although the lethal feedback has been removed there, there have been previous instances of serious injuries being fed back to reality," the mouse tapped on his own head: "Believe that if you die, we will really die, believe that if you are injured, the limbs will also react accordingly, and you, Neo, you think you exercised too much yesterday." ”

"......" Anderson began to try to convince himself that he hadn't exercised too much yesterday and that he didn't have sore limbs now.

"It's late, it's reality, and those psychological hints aren't universal here." At this time, several chefs pushed the food cart over, and Trinity took a metal box and placed it in front of him.

"Hmm...... These ......" Anderson opened the lid, and inside was a grid of food, cereal, bread slices, and some kind of meat, at least as it seemed.

"They're all industrial products," said the pigtailed tank, "maybe it doesn't taste good, but Zion has done his best." ”

"I've actually been thinking about a question," the bald password tapped on the plate, "When we were in the matrix, the taste we got was simulated by it, right?" But how does a group of machines know what normal food tastes like? Maybe the steak we ate inside was actually chicken, but because we had never eaten either steak or chicken, we didn't know at all. ”

"That's why we're going to beat the matrix." Morpheus, with a plate, sat down at the table, interrupting the discussion that was about to take place, and then looked at Anderson, "We need to meet someone in the matrix today, Neo." ”

"Is it a prophet? I seem to have heard everyone talk about it," Anderson nodded, "but why isn't he on board or in Zion?" Is he reluctant to leave the Matrix? ”

"It's 'her'," Morpheus shook his head, "she can't leave the Matrix, but the prophecies she made are never wrong, and a large part of the reason we can find you is her." ”

"Oh......" Anderson, who didn't know what to say, began to taste the breakfast, which was indeed bland and tasteless, but still tasty.

"This is the last operation before returning to Zion, the task is not heavy but tedious, everyone cheers up!" Morpheus turned to scheduling work.

"Don't worry, Neo, I'll protect you." Trinity, next to Anderson, whispered to him.

In every sense, right?

【——AD.1999.5.21——】

"Bell bell bell—"

In the middle of an empty building, a mottled warehouse with low wooden tables and an old-fashioned turntable dial-up telephone rang incessantly, looking ready to keep ringing if no one answered.

"Bell bell bell—"

As the ringtone sounds, green letters and numbers begin to appear around the phone.

"Bell-" "Click. ”

When the bell rang for the sixth time, a figure froze from nothingness, and picked up the phone behind him, interrupting the anxious ringing. Heyuan Book Bar

"We're in." Morpheus, wearing a trench coat and sunglasses, said into the earpiece.

At the same time, Trinity, Anderson, the code, the switch, and the pager are simultaneously figured out behind him.

Everyone's clothes and expressions were very serious, but Anderson said, "My muscles don't hurt anymore?" The expression spoiled the atmosphere.

————

Moments later, Anderson sat in the switch-driven car, looking out at the familiar and unfamiliar streets and pedestrians.

"One thing comes to mind." He said suddenly.

"What?" Morpheus, co-pilot, responded.

"If everyone here is the 'battery' of the matrix," Anderson pointed out the car window, "then their numbers don't seem to match, as far as I know, there are only 6 billion people on the entire Earth, and ...... for that number of galaxies."

"So, what do you think?" Morpheus was noncommittal.

"I thought, maybe a large part of the population is dormant?" Anderson said uncertainly.

"No, Neo," Trinity said this time, "because there's more than one Earth in the Matrix." ”

The answer to "......" exceeded expectations, leaving Anderson speechless.

"We don't know how many there are, and the inhabitants of the same Earth don't have any common traits to speak of, as far as we know, the Earth you're on is numbered [616], and the earliest Earth is called [Earth 0]," Morpheus continued.

"That's a pretty good number." Anderson replied dryly.

"We're here." At this point, the car stopped, and Morpheus nodded to Anderson and pulled the door to get out of the car first.

"Hmm...... Is this it? When Anderson got out of the car, he looked at the scene in front of him and didn't know what to make for a while.

It is a large manor house, and through the iron gate of the main entrance, you can see a verdant meadow, and in the middle of the meadow is a white stone road decorated with statues on both sides, which leads to a three-story European-style villa in bright yellow and turquoise.

"It doesn't matter what she looks like, the institutions she sets up in each world are different, but they all have a similar function - to take in children who perceive the reality of the world and show 'superpowers' or 'magic'." Morpheus and Anderson stood side by side, looking at the villa together.

"Can't Zion pick up those kids? No, wait, every world? Do you mean that 'prophet' is a procedure? Anderson turned to look at Morpheus in surprise.

"In principle, we will not take away underage children, whose minds and bodies are not suitable for growth in the real world," Morpheus shook his head: "As for the second question, I also asked the Prophet, and she replied, "What do you think?" 】。 ”

"That's—"

"If you have any questions, you can ask her personally, we have lost enough time." Morpheus interrupted Anderson's questioning and walked to the college villa first.

"Uh...... You're not coming? Anderson looked at Switch and Trinity who were left in the car.

"I'm going to have to wait here, and I can always drive away," the short-haired switch head in white replied without looking back, "Those agents could come out of the sewers at any moment." ”

"I asked the Prophet about my future before," Trinity gestured to the villa, "Trust me, if you asked the same question, you wouldn't want to see her again." ”

"Hmm......" Although Anderson still had a lot of questions, such as why the password and pager weren't working with this side, Morpheus was already about to enter the manor gate, so he had to chase after him quickly.

On the nameplate at the entrance of the manor, a row of copper characters is clearly visible in the sunlight:

"Xavier Academy for Gifted Youth".