β Universe, 2025, winter, a pleasant resort island in the South Seas.

Ever since the news of the upcoming open beta of Wasteland OL has been released, the mysterious fully immersive virtual reality game has caused such a global sensation that this otherwise bustling resort destination has become so popular that it has become a huge hit.

The beachside bar is deserted with an empty bar, with only a bartender mechanically repeating the action of wiping glasses, and a customer who has only ordered a cup of coffee.

The atmosphere here is both harmonious and laid-back, but also full of weirdness.

There were no other customers in the shop, and I don't know where to get so many cups that couldn't be wiped.

And the guest was even more eccentric, but the eyebrows in his early thirties exuded a calm and relaxed atmosphere that had seen two hundred years of wind and rain, but his mouth popped out two sentences from time to time as if he couldn't stay idle, as if he was chatting with a non-existent guest.

"It's the 'other me.'"

Receiving the prompt that the task was completed, the man sitting at the bar smiled faintly, as if he had let go of the burden of a thousand catties, and even his straight shoulders relaxed a lot.

Memory is the cornerstone of consciousness.

If you fuse memories that don't belong to you, you will gradually become no longer yourself.

He is in this world with loved ones, friends, and all the people he knows...... All remember his name.

But for him, they are like old photos that have been on for 200 years, and when they see them again, they are different from what they remember.

It's not fair to them.

As his dear assistant said, it was not just his own memories that constituted his "conscious existence", but the memories of others.

For those people, they have lost a self that they once knew so well, before they became "professors".

However, even if it is unfair, he does not have many options, and there is no best of both worlds in this world. At this time, even if I deleted the memories from another world, it was impossible for me to go back to the summer of 2014 and start over.

The world line has changed.

The one from the past has died in a dream and has been replaced by another self from a parallel world.

Fortunately, "α" did not follow the same path as him, but chose to continue along his own path.

That's the best way to go.

He had guessed a long time ago what that man would choose.

"But in this case...... Master, don't you just not go back? The voice of worry came from my ears, like wind chimes dangling at the door.

It was the voice of his assistant.

After coming to this world, he created it as soon as possible...... Like he did once in the original timeline.

The clear voice made him a little distracted for a while, but the blank eyes quickly turned into a blank look.

He smiled, took a sip of the cold coffee on the table, and said in a lazy voice.

"Go back? Where else am I going? ”

The voice that drifted into his ear whispered.

"Didn't you say you're from another world?"

"Did I say so, wasn't I a man of this world from the beginning? I just happened to have a dream about a parallel world. ”

But this dream is really long enough, almost three times the size of an ordinary life.

The intelligent program running elsewhere was at a loss for a moment, and after a moment of waiting, it spoke.

"Uh...... I think I can understand it that way. ”

"Really?"

The professor smiled, put down the coffee cup in his hand, and continued.

"If you get on that observer's thief ship and get off the ship, the end result is a mess of the world, and it is better not to get on the ship in the first place. I believe that the wisdom of the people of this world will surely create a better future than the era of prosperity...... After all, the effects of force are reciprocal, and while the consciousness of the β universe exerts influence on the consciousness of the α universe, in turn β the consciousness of the universe will also be affected by the latter. ”

As he spoke, the news began to play on the LCD TV not far from the bar.

The Pangu fusion reactor in Daya Bay is conducting its first ignition experiment, and the project's leader and initiator is a professor named Yan Feng.

This guy did put a lot of thought into it.

Even, he spent more time on that reactor than on the "game", and even almost went crazy.

However, it can be regarded as a hard work that paid off, and he finally walked out of his "well".

In the end, it is reasonable to be able to achieve positive results.

"Tsk, this was originally the result of 'me'......"

Looking at the emotional reporter on the screen and the fusion power station behind her, which condensed countless eyes from all over the world, the corners of the professor's mouth couldn't help but curl up a faint smile.

Never mind.

That's all another world's thing.

The bartender standing at the bar put down the glass in his hand, looked at the professor with a nostalgic expression on his face, and said in a respectful tone.

"What's next for you?"

The bartender was one of the original residents of Vault 404, or a member of Vault 404β, and was responsible for secrecy and security.

In fact, it's not just this bartender.

Most of the inhabitants and android operators of Vault 404β live in seclusion on a resort island with a population of hundreds of thousands as "digital nomads".

As for the main body of Vault 404β, it is located in the open sea, not far from the island, a trough about three kilometers deep near the Pacific Rim of the Volcanic Belt.

With the current technology in this world, there is no possibility of discovering that sanctuary even in another fifty years. For the residents of the 404β shelter, the round-trip is only with the help of a deep-sea submarine, and a trip back is even more convenient than taking an international flight for business.

"Hmm...... I haven't thought about it yet. In fact, I'm just starting to think about it. ”

After thinking about it for a long time, the professor, who was originally undecided, suddenly moved in his heart and said with a smile.

"Perhaps...... Go where I would have been? ”

The subordinate standing behind the bar was slightly stunned.

Not only the subordinate, but his ubiquitous AI assistant also expressed confusion and asked in confusion.

"Originally...... Where will it go? ”

The professor said with a faint smile.

"That's right, let's go to Mars first, I have to get the 'Venerable' who stays there first. Well, it's the one that will keep me with you a little longer...... I'm going to drink it myself this time. ”

The legendary water of eternal life.

Drink it to gain an infinite lifespan.

This world does not need "complete lifeforms".

Besides, he had already done that project once, and he was not interested in doing it a second time.

But then again, what do you do when you have an infinite lifespan?

It seems boring to stay in the solar system all the time.

Except for the AI assistant and the 3,000 researchers who have been following him, he has no real acquaintances in this "β universe", and even if they start to know each other again, they will probably feel inexplicable about his appearance.

“…… It's decided. ”

After pondering for a long time, he suddenly raised his head, smiled freely and said.

"I once heard an old man say that there are other civilizations hidden in this galaxy and that we will meet in the next few thousand years. Before they discovered the faster-than-light engine, I plan to visit them and travel around the galaxy to find the galactic heart by the way. ”

Heart of the Galaxy.

The treasure composed of eleven-dimensional matter, the embodiment of the laws of the universe......

It is said that this is one of the ways to become a Boundary Breaker.

In the original timeline, the Observer had mentioned it to him, and hinted that he could make it a target to pursue.

Of course, these are secondary.

He didn't care if the universe died in eons of time, and he wasn't interested in being the "Heavenly Stone" himself, he was purely curious about that legendary existence.

With that, he looked at the bartender standing behind the bar, smiled, and continued.

"As for you...... Leave it to you, our mission is over. ”

"At the end of Project 404, our esteemed manager and game planner will take over Facility 404β and take care of the aftermath of the plan."

"Whether you want to go home, or continue to stay in the old timeline to live, grow old, sickness and die, that is your freedom...... Don't ask me about this kind of thing, you think for yourself. ”

The manned spacecraft, equipped with anti-gravity devices and hyperspace engines, was ready two years ago and was deployed on the seafloor in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, ready to be ignited and launched.

Although at first he didn't build that thing to travel around the galaxy, but only to cooperate with "α" to play that high-civilization drama more realistically, it seems that it is no longer useful.

Countries that have benefited from the third type of contact have thoroughly embraced the "good faith" hypothesis and have even slashed the budget of extraterrestrial investigation agencies.

Since the "little guy" who is only a few hundred meters long is no longer needed, it is better for him to use it.

Anyway, with the technical reserves of the alliance of the α universe, if you really want to expand your interference in the world on the player's side, you can make a bigger and better one with the resources of the world here.

In many areas, they are already ahead of their own antiques.

Looking at the honorable professor, the bartender had a hint of reluctance in his eyes.

He heard the goodbye in his tone, and wanted to say something to save him, but in the end he didn't say it, just nodded solemnly.

"I'll seriously consider ......"

Although it would be a good idea to go back, he already has his own lover and children in this world.

It's not just him.

Many people, like him, have reformed families in this distant timeline and become part of this world.

Now that the mission is complete and the α world is back on track, it's time for them to enjoy their lives.

He was actually a little envious of them.

Unlike themselves, who have experienced more than 200 years of life, they only have 40 or 50 years of experience at most, and the younger ones may only be in their twenties or thirties, and they still have the energy to think about their own affairs.

And he is different.

Even if he is young again, he doesn't have the patience to do what he has done again, say what he once said, and then send away those acquaintances who have finally re-acquainted him from his memory.

It was nothing short of torture.

"Well, don't worry, think slowly." The professor smiled and finished the last sip of coffee in his cup.

The game doesn't end here, it's just the mission of "Vault 404β".

The days to come are still long......

……

The sun was setting as the sun went down.

At the busiest time on the beach, bars that should be open are closed.

For a whole day, there was a heated discussion on the Internet about the ignition of controlled nuclear fusion, and the limelight of this news even overshadowed the "Wasteland OL" that was "all over the world" for a while.

The heat even permeated the reality outside the Internet, and the professor who walked along the road by the beach heard the uplifting ignition from the mouths of tourists more than once.

This is actually understandable.

Although the NPCs in "Wasteland Online" have already used this technology to great power, and even made a lot of derivative products by inference, for humans in the β universe, this is the first time that they have held the energy comparable to stars in the palm of their hands.

They have the first key to the Age of Prosperity.

It won't be long before they can completely liberate computing power on the basis of liberating energy.

And in the near future, the earth β the universe will soon give birth to a second real artificial intelligence life.

At first, they will be as helpless as their parents who have given birth to a little life for the first time, but it will not be long before they accept its existence and liberate themselves once again on the basis of freeing up energy and computing power.

They may follow the path of α universe and build a gigantic space elevator on the equator.

Or maybe they will skip this step and directly imitate the "alliance" of the new era, deploy an anti-gravity system on the sea, and let the lifting capsule and various types of spacecraft float up on their own.

In short, just like the α universe that ushered in the dawn, the β universe in which players live also ushered in the dawn of a new era.

For the people living on this planet, the distant sea of stars has never been more accessible than it is today!

On the edge of the beach.

The professor paused and set his eyes on the brilliant sunset, stretched by the waves.

It has been more than 11 years since the summer of 2014.

In the past eleven years, the observer has not spoken to him again.

But he could be sure that the eye was still watching here somewhere in this universe.

It's not good -

It was hidden in the fiery red sun.

Stopping on the beach, he bent down to pick up a pebble and threw it hard at the sparkling waves.

Squinting at the silent countercurrent merging into the surging waves, a smile suddenly appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Like a champion standing on an unmanned field, he announced the victory of the game with a voice that only two people could hear.

"I remember you told me that I only had a 1 in infinity chance of winning...... But now it seems that I was the one who won. ”

"You're getting one thing wrong."

"I've never been alone, I've made countless choices."

"Therefore infinity is never the denominator you call it, but the numerator above the poor denominator."

"So, my win rate should actually be an infinite 777 points...... That is, infinity. ”

At this point, he stopped with a smile and threw the final suspense to his AI assistant, leaving a thin layer of face for the observer who was silently watching him, and at the same time drawing the final end to the expedition that spanned two worlds.

"Am I right, little I."