“Gao Yuxuan” said: “This is my first time participating in a mental-type experiment. After this ends, aren’t memories supposed to be erased?”
He was actually a bit confused.
Because those memories really did have a big impact on a person. For example, the joy he felt at first sight of “Zhao Yi” was entirely because the two of them had been iron brothers in the virtual world.
But in reality, they were actually strangers.
The kid’s voice was a bit loud. “Zhao Yi” stiffened, turned, and covered his mouth: “Shut up, don’t shout.”
He lowered his voice to explain to this younger brother: “Memories are supposed to be blocked. Normally when you wake up, you have no idea what happened during the experiment.”
“Gao Yuxuan” was as sharp as he’d been in the world: “So…”
Zhao Yi: “So this is actually… non-compliant. I don’t know where they went wrong. But it’s best not to make a fuss.”
If the pharmaceutical company discovered this operational error or management oversight and came to erase everyone’s memories, then what about him and “Zhang Lesi”?
Even “Gao Yuxuan” would forget their friendship.
Gao Yuxuan immediately shut his mouth.
The two of them didn’t find “Zhang Lesi,” but they did find “Li Jiangbing” and “Su Yu.”
Li Jiangbing’s figure was really eye-catching. You could spot him at a glance in a crowd.
The two of them saw that back and, with a kind of telepathic understanding, had a premonition. They walked over—sure enough, it was “Li Jiangbing.”
“Li Jiangbing” was also delighted to see them, bumping fists and hugging them.
“Su Yu” smiled too.
“Gao Yuxuan” looked at “Li Jiangbing,” looked at “Su Yu”: “You two…”
“Li Jiangbing” tenderly held “Su Yu’s” hand: “We’re getting married.”
“Su Yu” didn’t mind that “Li Jiangbing” was a sub-human second-class citizen. “Li Jiangbing” didn’t mind that “Su Yu” wouldn’t live long.
That they could meet because of a mental power experiment—that was fate arriving.
“Zhao Yi” tried hard to control his tears.
“Gao Yuxuan” was young and simply couldn’t control it. He’d already started crying.
He opened his mouth and said: “I…”
“Zhao Yi” was too familiar with him. He immediately stepped on his foot and interrupted him, saying to “Li Jiangbing”: “Let’s add each other’s contact.”
They touched wrists, and the smart brains on their wrists added each other as friends.
“Li Jiangbing” said: “You’re looking for Lesi? Go ask at the service desk.”
“Zhao Yi” was precisely afraid that reminding the pharmaceutical company that everyone’s memories hadn’t been erased would cause trouble, so he didn’t dare.
But “Li Jiangbing” said: “Jingshuo already went.”
“Gao Yuxuan”: “Huh?”
“Li Jiangbing” also said: “Don’t be surprised when you see Jingshuo. His real appearance is different from the virtual world.”
—
The Service Desk.
“She’s a young woman, named Jiang Cheng.”
“I’m sorry, we cannot disclose the private information of other experiment participants.”
“Is that so?” “Song Jingshuo” had both hands in his pockets. “An ultra-realistic virtual world with over ten thousand participants? This is explicitly prohibited by law. And not blocking participants’ memories is itself a violation.”
It was a threat.
But the customer service rep wasn’t afraid either, because instructions had long been given from above.
“Sorry for the misunderstanding, but this is because this experiment placed a relatively heavy burden on everyone’s brains, so we specifically gave everyone time to rest.”
As the rep spoke, they pressed a button. A broadcast rose in the hall: [Experiment participants who need memory blocking to erase virtual memories, please follow the guide robots along the green indicator lights. If you do not need memory blocking, the liability waiver has been pushed to your smart terminals. Please confirm on your personal terminal.]
Quite a few people stood up, following the guide robots along the green line lights on the floor to get memory blocking.
But many people didn’t move.
Quite a lot of people were willing to keep those ten months of memories.
So it sounded like memory erasure wasn’t mandatory.
“Zhao Yi” breathed a big sigh of relief.
Only “Song Jingshuo” at the service desk furrowed his brows.
That back figure was about the same as in the world—you could tell at a glance it was “Song Jingshuo.”
“Gao Yuxuan” raised a hand and waved, calling him: “Jingshuo—!”
“Song Jingshuo” had been the number two figure beside Jiang Cheng in the virtual world. When “Gao Yuxuan” called out like that, many people turned to look.
“Song Jingshuo” also turned at the sound. Seeing two young boys, he smiled.
But “Zhao Yi” and “Gao Yuxuan” both froze.
“Li Jiangbing” had actually warned them in advance to be mentally prepared for the difference between real people and the virtual world.
But clearly “Zhao Yi” and “Gao Yuxuan” hadn’t truly prepared themselves.
“Song Jingshuo”… turned out to be a middle-aged uncle.
“Don’t say it,” Jiang Cheng said, holding her chin with great interest. “Jingshuo like this is more charming than his younger appearance.”
The real “Song Jingshuo” was a fully mature adult.
His figure wasn’t as lean as in his younger state, but it was still well-maintained.
His face hadn’t actually changed much, but you could tell he’d been through things—probably because there was no youthful flamboyance, all restrained bearing.
When he spoke with “Zhao Yi” and “Gao Yuxuan,” his conversation and demeanor were even better than the Song Jingshuo in the “world.”
It really felt like Song Jingshuo after he’d matured.
“He looks like he has good genes.” Jiang Cheng praised, pulling up his file.
Sure enough, he wasn’t just a gene-optimized individual—his gene score was quite high.
How had he fallen to this place?
A bankrupt business owner.
His résumé was quite impressive.
In the “world,” he was a financial elite. In reality, it was the opposite—he came from a technical background, a self-made industrialist.
He’d once been very successful.
So this brother wasn’t putting on airs—the uncle really had once been a high-end business professional.
His life’s greatest mistake was bringing in external investment because he wanted to expand.
Industrialists built from zero. Capital was speculative and bloodthirsty.
A technically-bred entrepreneur was nearly played to death by financial capital.
In the end, he was kicked out of the company he’d founded by capital and left with debt.
“Song Jingshuo” said: “Still haven’t found Lesi?”
“Zhao Yi” shook his head.
“Gao Yuxuan” said: “I heard not everyone is here. People left in batches. Maybe Lesi isn’t in this batch.”
Youth is so optimistic.
“Song Jingshuo” had actually already thought of other possibilities.
But there was no need to say them. When you’re young, you have to hit the south wall yourself.
“Zhao Yi” asked: “Are you looking for Jiang Cheng?”
“Song Jingshuo” said: “Yes.”
“Li Jiangbing” hadn’t looked for Jiang Cheng. “Su Yu” not minding him was already good enough. He didn’t expect everyone not to mind him.
No rich people came to be medicine people, but even those down-and-out gene-optimized individuals would still look down on sub-humans like Li Jiangbing.
But “Song Jingshuo” also said: “Not looking anymore.”
He said: “If I can’t find her, it means no fate.”
As he spoke, he stared at the enormous corporate logo on the distant wall.
There was the pharmaceutical group’s logo, but in a higher position was a family emblem.
[Jiang]
In ancient script.
“Song Jingshuo” was quite erudite. He recognized it.
His gaze deepened.
“Oh.” Jiang Cheng’s lips curved. “Worthy of him.”
Uncle Jiang nodded: “The ‘persona’ in the virtual world only refers to the identity the system assigned them.”
But in this large-scale interactive consensus matrix, what each person displayed when interacting with others was their own mind and personality.
The smart people in the “world” couldn’t possibly be fools in reality, and the shy, introverted people in the “world” wouldn’t be bold and uninhibited people in reality.
So “Zhao Yi” and “Gao Yuxuan” in reality still hit it off at first sight.
So “Li Jiangbing” and “Su Yu” still liked each other.
“Song Jingshuo” asked about the two of them’s studies, encouraging “Zhao Yi”: “Go. Search well. Don’t miss it.”
Zhao Yi was also a gene-optimized individual.
Gao Yuxuan was a natural human. A natural human was a child born from a man and woman having sex without genetic pairing selection.
In the capital star circle, natural humans from out of town were all bottom-tier workers doing the lowest-end jobs. But in the border regions, there were especially many natural humans.
The planet owned by the Jiang Family Consortium’s pharmaceutical R&D center was in the border region. Because it was in the border region, they could find so many cheap drug testers.
The initial site selection planning had been very clear.
But Gao Yuxuan was clearly the kind of natural human who’d won the genetic lottery.
His intelligence was visible.
Drug testers were mostly financially strained or even very poor.
Someone like “Zhao Yi” was probably the best among drug testers—a university student.
Maybe financially struggling at the moment, but still had prospects in the future. At least more prospects than the others here.
No matter what “Zhang Lesi” was like in reality, she shouldn’t look down on “Zhao Yi.”
Unless…
Though “Song Jingshuo’s” attitude was very warm and comfortable, “Zhao Yi” and “Gao Yuxuan” were still a bit reserved.
After all, one was a true adult, and the other two were still students.
After parting, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.
“Gao Yuxuan” said: “We’re doomed. Jiang Cheng might be an old auntie.”
“Zhao Yi”: “Huh?”
Jiang Cheng: “…”
“Gao Yuxuan” said: “Look, Jingshuo is an uncle, and Jiang Cheng is so in sync with him and talks so well with him—she must be an old auntie. When I see her later, I’ll have to call her Auntie Jiang.”
“Gao Yuxuan” punched his palm: “I told you, Jiang Cheng can keep me completely under control—she’s like my mother.”
“…” Jiang Cheng watched the surveillance screen in her office, grinding her teeth. “Brat.”
Logically there was actually no error.
The mistake was in information asymmetry. Jiang Cheng had received targeted training from birth—she was trained specifically to become a consortium manager.
So she matched very well with a middle-aged entrepreneur.
Jiang Cheng flipped through “Song Jingshuo’s” life story.
You could tell he was a very excellent talent.
Jiang Cheng smiled: “Say, if I gave him two choices, which would he choose?”
At this moment, someone ran past “Zhao Yi” and “Gao Yuxuan’s” eyes: “Robot, robot, wait.”
“Song Jingshuo” also saw that person.
He and “Zhao Yi” both didn’t speak. “Gao Yuxuan” had originally wanted to greet him but was stopped by “Zhao Yi.”
That person called out to the robot: “Take me to get memory blocking.”
He followed the robot away.
“Why stop me again?” Gao Yuxuan said. “Isn’t that Brother Zhou? Why not say hi.”
“Zhao Yi” wanted to tell him the truth.
But the so-called “truth” was merely something false that happened in the virtual world.
Then what about love?
“Zhao Yi” suddenly became afraid.
Love had to be real, right?
Look at “Jiangbing” and “Su Yu”—their mutual affection was real.
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