Robot fragments were scattered all over the ground.
Behind them was the robot army in hot pursuit.
Three figures darted through the intertwining corridors, with mechanical doors closing behind them, attempting to trap them.
At this moment, Xia Chi played a crucial role.
Amidst the frantic pursuit of the robot army and the chase of metal doors, Xia Chi always managed to find an escape route at the most critical moments.
After playing hide and seek with the robot army for ten minutes, they finally shook them off and hid in a narrow tunnel.
The thunderous footsteps of the robots gradually faded away, eventually disappearing.
Only when the footsteps were gone did the silver-black metal robot speak in an emotionless electric voice, “Two gentlemen, please follow me.”
Xia Chi gasped for breath, “Where to?”
The robot: “To meet my master.”
“Who is your master exactly?” “Why did you put Sister Cancan into the carriage by herself?” “What exactly are you up to?”
After their escape, Xia Chi finally had the opportunity to ask questions.
Robot: “My master is Li Cangshan.
Xia Chi laughed angrily, “It’s Li Cangshan again? Why are there so many Li Cangshans? Are you playing the game of ‘Who is Li Cangshan’? Didn’t you say ‘no comment’ earlier? Why can you say who the master is now? You’re just trying to deceive us.”
“…My master has given orders not to disclose his information in her presence. I received orders to safely escort Miss Li Cancan out of the base before I could continue to lead you to my master’s location.”
“Mr. Bai Lixin is also aware of this plan. If you don’t believe me, you can confirm with Mr. Bai Lixin.”
Xia Chi looked at Bai Lixin with questioning eyes.
At this moment, Bai Lixin’s gaze was fixed on the metal robot. He casually withdrew his scrutinizing gaze and straightened out the wrinkles in his clothes. “Yes, it’s correct. You can continue leading the way.”
Xia Chi tilted his head, glanced back and forth between the robot and Bai Lixin before following behind the robot.
Xia Chi: “Brother, my sixth sense tells me this robot is fishy.”
Bai Lixin: “I can see that.”
Xia Chi: “Sister Cancan is not in danger, right?”
Bai Lixin: “That tunnel is indeed an exit, and Cancan is not as weak as you think. In the world of mechanical code, it’s her home ground. Think about how many times she’s saved you.”
Xia Chi: “So, you’re pretending to cooperate with this robot?”
Bai Lixin: “You could say that.”
“Follow me, this way,” the silver-black metal robot said as it led them through a hidden passage and entered a new route.
This tunnel was rusty, with traces of decoration remaining on the walls. Some metal panels were peeling off, making it look like an abandoned passage.
There was a lot of dust around, and there were scattered footprints on the ground.
Pointing with its only remaining arm, the robot indicated towards the end of the tunnel, “The master’s hiding place is ahead.”
At the end was a tightly closed small iron door.
Bai Lixin stared at the footprints on the ground, and silently followed behind the robot.
After passing through this abandoned passage, they stood in front of the small iron door.
Xia Chi tensed up: “Brother, will Li Cangshan be inside? I’m a bit nervous.”
Bai Lixin: “I don’t know either. But if we don’t go in and see, we’ll never know.”
“Creak!”
The rusty metal door made an ear-piercing sound as it was pushed open. Xia Chi involuntarily tensed his shoulders.
The robot entered first, followed by Bai Lixin, and finally Xia Chi.
The lights were still on in the room. In the narrow room, there was a small bed, a desk, and a shoe cabinet at the door, with shoes on top of it.
Xia Chi glanced at the shoes on the shoe cabinet, and said in an excited voice, “Brother, these are Li Cangshan’s shoes. I’ve seen him wear this pair.”
The room showed signs of life, but there was no one inside.
The mattress on the bed had indentations, and the quilt was neatly folded into a tofu block at the foot of the bed, indicating that someone had rested on this bed not long ago.
There was a water glass on the table. Xia Chi reached out to touch it. There was still warmth on the surface of the water glass.
“The person must have left not long ago, the glass still has warmth,” Xia Chi said.
He looked at the robot and asked, “Didn’t you say you would take us to see your master? Where is your master?”
The robot: “This is the master’s secret hiding place. We attracted the attention of the robot army just now, so he was probably temporarily called away for additional tasks. You can wait here, maybe you’ll catch him when he returns.”
With that, the robot began to tidy up the room.
Walking to the left, it poured out the unfinished water from the cup, then skillfully began to tidy up the books on the table.
There are several books neatly placed on the corner of this table. The books are arranged from bottom to top according to size from large to small. The corners are neatly stuck. It can be seen that the owner of the books has some OCD.
This matched Xia Chi’s impression of Li Cangshan.
Li Cangshan had a magical skill; anything soft would turn into square tofu blocks in his hands. Nothing that passed through his hands had an irregular shape.
Even the rags used to wipe tables in the guild were folded into bricks by Li Cangshan.
The arrangement of this room indeed reflected Li Cangshan’s style: the quilt, the books on the table, and even the shoes on the shoe cabinet.
The only thing out of place on the table was probably the book turned upside down in front of the chair.
The book was placed so casually like that, indicating that Li Cangshan must have been in a hurry when he left.
The room was very quiet, with only the sound of the robot silently tidying up the desk.
Xia Chi kept staring at the robot. When it flipped the book over to close it, he quickly stopped it, “Wait a minute.”
The robot stopped its movement and looked at Xia Chi with harmless blue eyes.
Xia Chi walked over, snatched the book from the robot’s hand, and flipped through it on the table. He took out an envelope sandwiched inside the book.
Xia Chi glanced at the envelope back and forth, then turned and handed it to Bai Lixin, “Brother, this is for you. It’s Li Cangshan’s handwriting.”
Bai Lixin took the letter. It had a few flamboyant characters written on the parchment envelope.
[To Bai Lixin, Top Secret, Please Destroy After Reading]
He opened the envelope and found a thin sheet of paper inside.
[God Xin, I originally wanted to tell you in person, but your appearance has alerted the base, and I was temporarily called to assemble.]
[I stumbled upon this space accidentally. It’s the most concealed place in the base. Because it is abandoned, there is no monitoring.]
[So I’m passing this information to you in the most traditional way.]
[I have a very important message that you need to retrieve, it’s hidden within the virtual world.]
[The information in it concerns the safety of all players.]
[I know you have many doubts, but finding that message might answer all your questions.]
[Inside the message are two important characters. In my consciousness, they are very crucial, but I’ve forgotten their content at the moment. When I try to recall and put them together, I forget everything. But when I recall one character, my memory remains unaffected.]
[One of the characters is: Di.]
[Sorry, this is the only key I remember.]
[Also, because of the signal interference in the base, the message I sent couldn’t be conveyed smoothly.]
[Regarding Dr. Serkhi, I discovered the reason for his obsession with artificial intelligence.]
[In Dr. Serkhi’s room, I found a photo of him, his wife, and child.]
[In the past, Dr. Serkhi was just an ordinary university professor.]
[After his wife and child passed away, he became obsessed with AI research. From my observations, I suspect he aims to resurrect his wife and child through this means.]
[I hope this clue helps you.]
[I’m safe, don’t worry. I’ll continue to keep an eye on Dr. Serkhi for you.]
[Traps have been set outside to besiege you. Destroy the letter immediately after reading and follow the robot to leave this place.]
[Li Cangshan.]
Xia Chi leaned in, “Important message… Di… the virtual world… what is Di?”
Bai Lixin’s hand holding the paper tightened, causing the paper to crumple under his grip, “…”
What is Di?
Of course it’s Dijia.
A name that once mentioned in full would be forgotten.
Then there was that broken string of signals he had heard in the virtual world.
—Zzt Zzt…D..Zzt…“+”…Zzt… D+…
The robot: “Mr. Bai Lixin, please destroy the paper as soon as possible. I’ll take you out of here.”
Bai Lixin held the paper in his hand, silently staring at the robot.
The two pairs of eyes, one glowing blue and mechanical, the other bright and human, locked onto each other. The blue eyes shifted first, looking to the side.
The two men and one machine stood in the narrow room, the air seemingly frozen.
“Tap.”
“Tap.”
“Tap.”
Suddenly, a sudden and faint sound of footsteps broke the silence. Footsteps rang out in what should have been the most hidden tunnel.
The footsteps were very light. By the time they heard them, the footsteps were almost at the other side of the iron door.
Xia Chi subconsciously looked at Bai Lixin, “Brother, the footsteps sound human, not like a robot.”
“Could it be Li Cangshan coming back?”
The robot spoke almost immediately, “Impossible, it’s not the master.”
Its emotionless electric voice became urgent, “Please destroy the paper immediately, Mr. Bai Lixin.”
Bai Lixin scrutinized the robot, “How can you be so sure it’s not Li Cangshan?”
The robot remained silent.
The footsteps had reached the metal door, and then the outside fell silent.
Neither of the two men in the room moved. The room fell silent again.
Xia Chi glanced at the tightly closed iron door, silently mouthing to Bai Lixin: Don’t worry, it’s locked.
As soon as he mouthed the words, the door “creaked” and opened from the outside.
Li Cancan, who was supposed to have left, looked a bit disheveled, panting as she gripped the iron door and glared at the people inside, her eyes almost spewing fire.
Xia Chi: “…Sister Cancan, what a coincidence.”
Li Cancan raised her eyebrows, walked into the narrow room, and closed the iron door behind her. “It’s not a coincidence at all. I followed you here.”
Xia Chi was stunned, “Ah, did you put a tracker on us?”
Li Cancan’s eyes flickered, and avoided Xia Chi’s question, “Why did you leave me behind? Give me an explanation.”
Xia Chi’s gaze fell very naturally on Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin shifted his gaze again, this time to the robot.
Li Cancan’s gaze followed from Xia Chi to Bai Lixin’s face, finally settling on the robot’s face. She scrutinized the robot up and down, speaking with a puzzled tone, “You?”
The robot: “…”
Li Cancan frowned slightly, “Could you be…”
The robot’s arm tightened, making a “click” sound.
Li Cancan: “Are you Li Cangshan’s robot?”
The robot’s arm made another “click” sound, “Yes, my master is indeed Li Cangshan. He doesn’t want you to be implicated, so he ordered me to escort you out.”
Li Cancan’s gaze continued to wander back and forth on the robot’s body. Her eyes glanced at the paper in Bai Lixin’s hand, then swept across the room, and finally returned to the robot’s face.
During this back and forth scrutiny, Li Cancan’s gaze gradually shifted from scrutiny to astonishment, then to suspicion. When her gaze fell on the robot’s face again, her pupils were trembling slightly.
“Are you Li Cangshan?”
The robot made two “Zzt Zzt” sounds, “No, miss. Li Cangshan is my master. This is his room, he often comes here for covert operations.”
Li Cancan: “You’re talking nonsense.”
“I followed the tracker all the way here. There are only three types of footprints on this tunnel: one belongs to Xia Chi, one to God Xin, and the other to you. There’s no third person’s footprint at all!”
She casually took the shoes from the shoe cabinet, held them in her hand, and pointed the soles towards the robot. “Look at these soles, there’s not even a speck of dust. They’ve been cleaned and left here, untouched.”
“God Xin’s and Xia Chi’s footprints only appear once, but yours have come and gone several times. This room is obviously set up temporarily to make us believe that Li Cangshan lives here.”
“If it’s not the enemy deliberately creating this illusion to deceive us, then there’s only one explanation, someone wants us to believe that Li Cangshan is still…” Li Cancan suddenly clenched her fist, her eyes slightly red. She took a deep breath, “No, I was wrong.”
“You’re right, your master is Li Cangshan, take us to see him.”
The robot didn’t move, just stood there quietly.
Bai Lixin didn’t speak, but his calm eyes seemed to have already seen through everything.
Only Xia Chi stood there in astonishment, his eyes gradually changing from dazed to dull, and finally completely shocked.
He opened his mouth wide, “Li Cangshan?”
The robot retorted, “I really am not Li Cangshan.”
“I’m just an artificial intelligence robot, please don’t invest too much emotion in me.”
Li Cancan obviously didn’t believe it, and still stared at the robot, trying to make it tell the truth with this method, “If you’re not Li Cangshan, then take us to see the real Li Cangshan.”
The robot’s blue eyes dimmed slightly, “Sorry, miss, I cannot fulfill your request.”
Li Cancan opened and closed her mouth, her gaze finally falling on Bai Lixin’s face.
Bai Lixin: “I think, it really isn’t Li Cangshan.”
Li Cancan was obviously stunned for a moment, “Why?”
Bai Lixin: “Because it doesn’t make sense.”
“If it were Li Cangshan, wouldn’t it be too blatant for him to reveal himself? Since he can arrange this room so meticulously, how could he overlook the obvious shoeprints in the corridor?”
“The reason there are only robot footprints outside is probably because Li Cangshan left by stepping on the robot’s traces, creating the illusion of the robot coming and going. Once this place is discovered, only the robot will be exposed.”
“You’ve known Li Cangshan for a long time. He’s always meticulous. How could he overlook such an obvious thing as shoeprints?”
“Maybe he did it on purpose?”
“When Serkhi discovers this room one day, he’ll have the same reaction as you.”
“A robot cannot do anything beyond its master’s orders. From the beginning to now, it has escorted you away, brought us here, all following Li Cangshan’s orders. You came late and didn’t know that there was a cup of hot water on the table just now, it was left by Li Cangshan in a hurry. You can ask Xia Chi if you don’t believe me.”
Li Cancan looked at Xia Chi doubtfully, and Xia Chi nodded.
“There’s no need to overthink.”
“I think Li Cangshan probably wanted to meet us, but just didn’t have the chance.”
“This robot just follows Li Cangshan’s orders.”
Robot: “Yes, I just obey my master’s orders. Now that you’ve been exposed, please leave as soon as possible.”
After listening to Bai Lixin’s words, Li Cancan looked a bit embarrassed as she looked around. She smiled apologetically at the robot, “Sorry, it seems I misunderstood.”
After saying that, she muttered to herself, “I’m really stupid. How could a person become a robot? Am I going crazy?”
In a place she couldn’t see, the robot and Bai Lixin glanced at each other, then quickly looked away.
Half an hour later, the robot escorted the three of them to the maglev train platform.
Before the carriage doors closed, Li Cancan looked at the robot again, her gaze fixed on the broken arm, “Why don’t you come with us? I can help you fix your arm.”
Robot: “Thank you, Miss Cancan for your concern, but there’s a location bomb implanted in my chip. Once I leave the allowed area, it will explode.”
Li Cancan frowned, “Today’s incident has caused such a big fuss, you’ve been exposed, staying here is just waiting to die.”
Robot: “It’s okay. My master has backed up my memory chip, and he can give me a new mechanical body. Please take care of yourselves on the way, have a safe journey, and I hope you can all leave here safely.”
The door slowly closed, and as Li Cancan watched the robot’s figure gradually become smaller, her heart skipped a beat. Although she had confirmed from Bai Lixin that the robot was not Li Cangshan, and confirmed from the robot’s mouth that Li Cangshan was still well, for some reason, after seeing the robot disappear, she still felt a dull pain in her chest, as if some sharp object was scraping against her heart.
She couldn’t explain this inexplicable anxiety, so she could only silently bury her head in the computer in front of her to distract herself.
Halfway there, Bai Lixin received a message.
Unknown: [Thank you for helping me get through this.]
Bai Lixin: [You were too careless.]
Unknown: [Yes, I was careless, but luckily you were there. She trusts you and believes in you.]
Bai Lixin: [She just trusts me out of habit. She’ll find out one day.]
Unknown: [It doesn’t matter, by then she’ll be safe.]
Bai Lixin: [What about your body?]
Unknown: [it was destroyed, I wish you all a pleasant game, goodbye.]
Bai Lixin: [Will there be another chance to talk?]
The message sank into the abyss, and there was no response from the other side.
“Weird.” Xia Chi muttered, “Why did that robot say ‘I wish you all can leave here’ at the end? Aren’t the three of us already on the train? His use of ‘all’ doesn’t seem to refer to just us three, it seems like there are many people.”
Bai Lixin looked at Li Cancan, who was staring blankly at the blue screen in front of her, seemingly not hearing Xia Chi’s muttering.
“Cancan,” Bai Lixin called out.
Li Cancan stared fixedly at the screen in front of her, unmoving.
“Li Cancan.” Bai Lixin raised his voice slightly and called again.
“Huh?” This time Li Cancan heard it, turning her head to look at Bai Lixin blankly, “What’s wrong, God Xin.”
Bai Lixin then noticed that Li Cancan’s eyes were red, and her voice sounded a bit nasally.
“…” Bai Lixin paused, “Nothing, I know you’re good with computers, I just wanted to ask if you could help me find the entrance to the virtual world. I speculate that the virtual world should be a world constructed by code, and humans enter it in the form of brainwaves.”
“Oh.” Li Cancan wiped the corner of her eye, “Which virtual world do you want to enter?”
Bai Lixin: “I remember you mentioned that a hive area shares the same virtual world. I want to enter the virtual world of my area.”
Li Cancan: “Okay, when we took your body from that hive area, I also stole the virtual signal from that area. Give me two days, I’ll simulate the anchor point of that virtual world, and then you can disguise yourself as a data chain to enter that virtual world. I’ll do it for you now.”
Watching Li Cancan’s somewhat flustered movements, a light flickered in Bai Lixin’s eyes.
She knew.
She also knew that he knew she knew.
But she chose to pretend not to know.
And she knew he had discovered her pretending not to know.
The two of them looked at each other in the air. Li Cancan withdrew her gaze in panic and continued to look at the screen in front of her.
At this moment, they were like two ends of a scale maintaining a delicate balance. Neither of them spoke to break the silence.
It seems that as long as they didn’t speak, all the speculation and discoveries would just be baseless suspicions.
As long as they didn’t speak, the tragedy wouldn’t exist.
Lies were just too easy to expose.
How could a person who left in an hurry prepare such a detailed letter.
Perhaps it was because he felt that it was the last letter he would leave, so even though he knew it was full of loopholes, he still chose to use such a long message in his native language.
S419M: [Lord Host, Is that robot really Li Cangshan?]
Bai Lixin: [Remember the robots we saw at the base in second virtual world? Pry open their heads, and inside are human brains.]
S419M: [Are you saying Li Cangshan has also become like that? Can he still be resurrected? Use the resurrection skill of the Mermaid Heart. Didn’t you also resurrect dead players like Zhou Guang, Hong Yue, and some others before?]
Escape System: [He can’t be resurrected, Brother M. Li Cangshan’s situation is different from theirs. Resurrection with the Mermaid Heart has conditions; the deceased needs to retain enough physical characteristics. But Li Cangshan’s body has been destroyed, leaving only a brain. He doesn’t meet the conditions for resurrection with the Mermaid Heart. That’s why he couldn’t see the system interface in the virtual world, because he was already dead at that time.]
S419M: [But didn’t Li Cangshan pass through the firewall?]
Escape System: [After death in the virtual world, the person’s body in the real world will die. I speculate that Li Cangshan’s original body died long ago, and what passed through the firewall was a clone.]
[Dr. Serkhi took out Li Cangshan’s brain after his consciousness died and transplanted it into a robot body. In reality, there has always been a robot Li Cangshan working, but we didn’t know that when we were in the virtual world.]
[Although clones are different individuals, because the virtual world is just a series of data chains, cloning is equivalent to copy-pasting, and the data chains are almost identical. So the clone passed through the firewall, the consciousness was received by the robot Li Cangshan in reality, which stimulated him and restored his self-awareness.]
Escape System: [In the letter left by Li Cangshan, he emphasized that Master Bai Lixin should find the message, it probably contains some important information. Finding it may reveal what happened to Li Cangshan.]
Escape System: [That may be the last message this steel-like man left for this world, Master Bai Lixin.]
Robot fragments were scattered all over the ground.
Behind them was the robot army in hot pursuit.
Three figures darted through the intertwining corridors, with mechanical doors closing behind them, attempting to trap them.
At this moment, Xia Chi played a crucial role.
Amidst the frantic pursuit of the robot army and the chase of metal doors, Xia Chi always managed to find an escape route at the most critical moments.
After playing hide and seek with the robot army for ten minutes, they finally shook them off and hid in a narrow tunnel.
The thunderous footsteps of the robots gradually faded away, eventually disappearing.
Only when the footsteps were gone did the silver-black metal robot speak in an emotionless electric voice, “Two gentlemen, please follow me.”
Xia Chi gasped for breath, “Where to?”
The robot: “To meet my master.”
“Who is your master exactly?” “Why did you put Sister Cancan into the carriage by herself?” “What exactly are you up to?”
After their escape, Xia Chi finally had the opportunity to ask questions.
Robot: “My master is Li Cangshan.
Xia Chi laughed angrily, “It’s Li Cangshan again? Why are there so many Li Cangshans? Are you playing the game of ‘Who is Li Cangshan’? Didn’t you say ‘no comment’ earlier? Why can you say who the master is now? You’re just trying to deceive us.”
“…My master has given orders not to disclose his information in her presence. I received orders to safely escort Miss Li Cancan out of the base before I could continue to lead you to my master’s location.”
“Mr. Bai Lixin is also aware of this plan. If you don’t believe me, you can confirm with Mr. Bai Lixin.”
Xia Chi looked at Bai Lixin with questioning eyes.
At this moment, Bai Lixin’s gaze was fixed on the metal robot. He casually withdrew his scrutinizing gaze and straightened out the wrinkles in his clothes. “Yes, it’s correct. You can continue leading the way.”
Xia Chi tilted his head, glanced back and forth between the robot and Bai Lixin before following behind the robot.
Xia Chi: “Brother, my sixth sense tells me this robot is fishy.”
Bai Lixin: “I can see that.”
Xia Chi: “Sister Cancan is not in danger, right?”
Bai Lixin: “That tunnel is indeed an exit, and Cancan is not as weak as you think. In the world of mechanical code, it’s her home ground. Think about how many times she’s saved you.”
Xia Chi: “So, you’re pretending to cooperate with this robot?”
Bai Lixin: “You could say that.”
“Follow me, this way,” the silver-black metal robot said as it led them through a hidden passage and entered a new route.
This tunnel was rusty, with traces of decoration remaining on the walls. Some metal panels were peeling off, making it look like an abandoned passage.
There was a lot of dust around, and there were scattered footprints on the ground.
Pointing with its only remaining arm, the robot indicated towards the end of the tunnel, “The master’s hiding place is ahead.”
At the end was a tightly closed small iron door.
Bai Lixin stared at the footprints on the ground, and silently followed behind the robot.
After passing through this abandoned passage, they stood in front of the small iron door.
Xia Chi tensed up: “Brother, will Li Cangshan be inside? I’m a bit nervous.”
Bai Lixin: “I don’t know either. But if we don’t go in and see, we’ll never know.”
“Creak!”
The rusty metal door made an ear-piercing sound as it was pushed open. Xia Chi involuntarily tensed his shoulders.
The robot entered first, followed by Bai Lixin, and finally Xia Chi.
The lights were still on in the room. In the narrow room, there was a small bed, a desk, and a shoe cabinet at the door, with shoes on top of it.
Xia Chi glanced at the shoes on the shoe cabinet, and said in an excited voice, “Brother, these are Li Cangshan’s shoes. I’ve seen him wear this pair.”
The room showed signs of life, but there was no one inside.
The mattress on the bed had indentations, and the quilt was neatly folded into a tofu block at the foot of the bed, indicating that someone had rested on this bed not long ago.
There was a water glass on the table. Xia Chi reached out to touch it. There was still warmth on the surface of the water glass.
“The person must have left not long ago, the glass still has warmth,” Xia Chi said.
He looked at the robot and asked, “Didn’t you say you would take us to see your master? Where is your master?”
The robot: “This is the master’s secret hiding place. We attracted the attention of the robot army just now, so he was probably temporarily called away for additional tasks. You can wait here, maybe you’ll catch him when he returns.”
With that, the robot began to tidy up the room.
Walking to the left, it poured out the unfinished water from the cup, then skillfully began to tidy up the books on the table.
There are several books neatly placed on the corner of this table. The books are arranged from bottom to top according to size from large to small. The corners are neatly stuck. It can be seen that the owner of the books has some OCD.
This matched Xia Chi’s impression of Li Cangshan.
Li Cangshan had a magical skill; anything soft would turn into square tofu blocks in his hands. Nothing that passed through his hands had an irregular shape.
Even the rags used to wipe tables in the guild were folded into bricks by Li Cangshan.
The arrangement of this room indeed reflected Li Cangshan’s style: the quilt, the books on the table, and even the shoes on the shoe cabinet.
The only thing out of place on the table was probably the book turned upside down in front of the chair.
The book was placed so casually like that, indicating that Li Cangshan must have been in a hurry when he left.
The room was very quiet, with only the sound of the robot silently tidying up the desk.
Xia Chi kept staring at the robot. When it flipped the book over to close it, he quickly stopped it, “Wait a minute.”
The robot stopped its movement and looked at Xia Chi with harmless blue eyes.
Xia Chi walked over, snatched the book from the robot’s hand, and flipped through it on the table. He took out an envelope sandwiched inside the book.
Xia Chi glanced at the envelope back and forth, then turned and handed it to Bai Lixin, “Brother, this is for you. It’s Li Cangshan’s handwriting.”
Bai Lixin took the letter. It had a few flamboyant characters written on the parchment envelope.
[To Bai Lixin, Top Secret, Please Destroy After Reading]
He opened the envelope and found a thin sheet of paper inside.
[God Xin, I originally wanted to tell you in person, but your appearance has alerted the base, and I was temporarily called to assemble.]
[I stumbled upon this space accidentally. It’s the most concealed place in the base. Because it is abandoned, there is no monitoring.]
[So I’m passing this information to you in the most traditional way.]
[I have a very important message that you need to retrieve, it’s hidden within the virtual world.]
[The information in it concerns the safety of all players.]
[I know you have many doubts, but finding that message might answer all your questions.]
[Inside the message are two important characters. In my consciousness, they are very crucial, but I’ve forgotten their content at the moment. When I try to recall and put them together, I forget everything. But when I recall one character, my memory remains unaffected.]
[One of the characters is: Di.]
[Sorry, this is the only key I remember.]
[Also, because of the signal interference in the base, the message I sent couldn’t be conveyed smoothly.]
[Regarding Dr. Serkhi, I discovered the reason for his obsession with artificial intelligence.]
[In Dr. Serkhi’s room, I found a photo of him, his wife, and child.]
[In the past, Dr. Serkhi was just an ordinary university professor.]
[After his wife and child passed away, he became obsessed with AI research. From my observations, I suspect he aims to resurrect his wife and child through this means.]
[I hope this clue helps you.]
[I’m safe, don’t worry. I’ll continue to keep an eye on Dr. Serkhi for you.]
[Traps have been set outside to besiege you. Destroy the letter immediately after reading and follow the robot to leave this place.]
[Li Cangshan.]
Xia Chi leaned in, “Important message… Di… the virtual world… what is Di?”
Bai Lixin’s hand holding the paper tightened, causing the paper to crumple under his grip, “…”
What is Di?
Of course it’s Dijia.
A name that once mentioned in full would be forgotten.
Then there was that broken string of signals he had heard in the virtual world.
—Zzt Zzt…D..Zzt…“+”…Zzt… D+…
The robot: “Mr. Bai Lixin, please destroy the paper as soon as possible. I’ll take you out of here.”
Bai Lixin held the paper in his hand, silently staring at the robot.
The two pairs of eyes, one glowing blue and mechanical, the other bright and human, locked onto each other. The blue eyes shifted first, looking to the side.
The two men and one machine stood in the narrow room, the air seemingly frozen.
“Tap.”
“Tap.”
“Tap.”
Suddenly, a sudden and faint sound of footsteps broke the silence. Footsteps rang out in what should have been the most hidden tunnel.
The footsteps were very light. By the time they heard them, the footsteps were almost at the other side of the iron door.
Xia Chi subconsciously looked at Bai Lixin, “Brother, the footsteps sound human, not like a robot.”
“Could it be Li Cangshan coming back?”
The robot spoke almost immediately, “Impossible, it’s not the master.”
Its emotionless electric voice became urgent, “Please destroy the paper immediately, Mr. Bai Lixin.”
Bai Lixin scrutinized the robot, “How can you be so sure it’s not Li Cangshan?”
The robot remained silent.
The footsteps had reached the metal door, and then the outside fell silent.
Neither of the two men in the room moved. The room fell silent again.
Xia Chi glanced at the tightly closed iron door, silently mouthing to Bai Lixin: Don’t worry, it’s locked.
As soon as he mouthed the words, the door “creaked” and opened from the outside.
Li Cancan, who was supposed to have left, looked a bit disheveled, panting as she gripped the iron door and glared at the people inside, her eyes almost spewing fire.
Xia Chi: “…Sister Cancan, what a coincidence.”
Li Cancan raised her eyebrows, walked into the narrow room, and closed the iron door behind her. “It’s not a coincidence at all. I followed you here.”
Xia Chi was stunned, “Ah, did you put a tracker on us?”
Li Cancan’s eyes flickered, and avoided Xia Chi’s question, “Why did you leave me behind? Give me an explanation.”
Xia Chi’s gaze fell very naturally on Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin shifted his gaze again, this time to the robot.
Li Cancan’s gaze followed from Xia Chi to Bai Lixin’s face, finally settling on the robot’s face. She scrutinized the robot up and down, speaking with a puzzled tone, “You?”
The robot: “…”
Li Cancan frowned slightly, “Could you be…”
The robot’s arm tightened, making a “click” sound.
Li Cancan: “Are you Li Cangshan’s robot?”
The robot’s arm made another “click” sound, “Yes, my master is indeed Li Cangshan. He doesn’t want you to be implicated, so he ordered me to escort you out.”
Li Cancan’s gaze continued to wander back and forth on the robot’s body. Her eyes glanced at the paper in Bai Lixin’s hand, then swept across the room, and finally returned to the robot’s face.
During this back and forth scrutiny, Li Cancan’s gaze gradually shifted from scrutiny to astonishment, then to suspicion. When her gaze fell on the robot’s face again, her pupils were trembling slightly.
“Are you Li Cangshan?”
The robot made two “Zzt Zzt” sounds, “No, miss. Li Cangshan is my master. This is his room, he often comes here for covert operations.”
Li Cancan: “You’re talking nonsense.”
“I followed the tracker all the way here. There are only three types of footprints on this tunnel: one belongs to Xia Chi, one to God Xin, and the other to you. There’s no third person’s footprint at all!”
She casually took the shoes from the shoe cabinet, held them in her hand, and pointed the soles towards the robot. “Look at these soles, there’s not even a speck of dust. They’ve been cleaned and left here, untouched.”
“God Xin’s and Xia Chi’s footprints only appear once, but yours have come and gone several times. This room is obviously set up temporarily to make us believe that Li Cangshan lives here.”
“If it’s not the enemy deliberately creating this illusion to deceive us, then there’s only one explanation, someone wants us to believe that Li Cangshan is still…” Li Cancan suddenly clenched her fist, her eyes slightly red. She took a deep breath, “No, I was wrong.”
“You’re right, your master is Li Cangshan, take us to see him.”
The robot didn’t move, just stood there quietly.
Bai Lixin didn’t speak, but his calm eyes seemed to have already seen through everything.
Only Xia Chi stood there in astonishment, his eyes gradually changing from dazed to dull, and finally completely shocked.
He opened his mouth wide, “Li Cangshan?”
The robot retorted, “I really am not Li Cangshan.”
“I’m just an artificial intelligence robot, please don’t invest too much emotion in me.”
Li Cancan obviously didn’t believe it, and still stared at the robot, trying to make it tell the truth with this method, “If you’re not Li Cangshan, then take us to see the real Li Cangshan.”
The robot’s blue eyes dimmed slightly, “Sorry, miss, I cannot fulfill your request.”
Li Cancan opened and closed her mouth, her gaze finally falling on Bai Lixin’s face.
Bai Lixin: “I think, it really isn’t Li Cangshan.”
Li Cancan was obviously stunned for a moment, “Why?”
Bai Lixin: “Because it doesn’t make sense.”
“If it were Li Cangshan, wouldn’t it be too blatant for him to reveal himself? Since he can arrange this room so meticulously, how could he overlook the obvious shoeprints in the corridor?”
“The reason there are only robot footprints outside is probably because Li Cangshan left by stepping on the robot’s traces, creating the illusion of the robot coming and going. Once this place is discovered, only the robot will be exposed.”
“You’ve known Li Cangshan for a long time. He’s always meticulous. How could he overlook such an obvious thing as shoeprints?”
“Maybe he did it on purpose?”
“When Serkhi discovers this room one day, he’ll have the same reaction as you.”
“A robot cannot do anything beyond its master’s orders. From the beginning to now, it has escorted you away, brought us here, all following Li Cangshan’s orders. You came late and didn’t know that there was a cup of hot water on the table just now, it was left by Li Cangshan in a hurry. You can ask Xia Chi if you don’t believe me.”
Li Cancan looked at Xia Chi doubtfully, and Xia Chi nodded.
“There’s no need to overthink.”
“I think Li Cangshan probably wanted to meet us, but just didn’t have the chance.”
“This robot just follows Li Cangshan’s orders.”
Robot: “Yes, I just obey my master’s orders. Now that you’ve been exposed, please leave as soon as possible.”
After listening to Bai Lixin’s words, Li Cancan looked a bit embarrassed as she looked around. She smiled apologetically at the robot, “Sorry, it seems I misunderstood.”
After saying that, she muttered to herself, “I’m really stupid. How could a person become a robot? Am I going crazy?”
In a place she couldn’t see, the robot and Bai Lixin glanced at each other, then quickly looked away.
Half an hour later, the robot escorted the three of them to the maglev train platform.
Before the carriage doors closed, Li Cancan looked at the robot again, her gaze fixed on the broken arm, “Why don’t you come with us? I can help you fix your arm.”
Robot: “Thank you, Miss Cancan for your concern, but there’s a location bomb implanted in my chip. Once I leave the allowed area, it will explode.”
Li Cancan frowned, “Today’s incident has caused such a big fuss, you’ve been exposed, staying here is just waiting to die.”
Robot: “It’s okay. My master has backed up my memory chip, and he can give me a new mechanical body. Please take care of yourselves on the way, have a safe journey, and I hope you can all leave here safely.”
The door slowly closed, and as Li Cancan watched the robot’s figure gradually become smaller, her heart skipped a beat. Although she had confirmed from Bai Lixin that the robot was not Li Cangshan, and confirmed from the robot’s mouth that Li Cangshan was still well, for some reason, after seeing the robot disappear, she still felt a dull pain in her chest, as if some sharp object was scraping against her heart.
She couldn’t explain this inexplicable anxiety, so she could only silently bury her head in the computer in front of her to distract herself.
Halfway there, Bai Lixin received a message.
Unknown: [Thank you for helping me get through this.]
Bai Lixin: [You were too careless.]
Unknown: [Yes, I was careless, but luckily you were there. She trusts you and believes in you.]
Bai Lixin: [She just trusts me out of habit. She’ll find out one day.]
Unknown: [It doesn’t matter, by then she’ll be safe.]
Bai Lixin: [What about your body?]
Unknown: [it was destroyed, I wish you all a pleasant game, goodbye.]
Bai Lixin: [Will there be another chance to talk?]
The message sank into the abyss, and there was no response from the other side.
“Weird.” Xia Chi muttered, “Why did that robot say ‘I wish you all can leave here’ at the end? Aren’t the three of us already on the train? His use of ‘all’ doesn’t seem to refer to just us three, it seems like there are many people.”
Bai Lixin looked at Li Cancan, who was staring blankly at the blue screen in front of her, seemingly not hearing Xia Chi’s muttering.
“Cancan,” Bai Lixin called out.
Li Cancan stared fixedly at the screen in front of her, unmoving.
“Li Cancan.” Bai Lixin raised his voice slightly and called again.
“Huh?” This time Li Cancan heard it, turning her head to look at Bai Lixin blankly, “What’s wrong, God Xin.”
Bai Lixin then noticed that Li Cancan’s eyes were red, and her voice sounded a bit nasally.
“…” Bai Lixin paused, “Nothing, I know you’re good with computers, I just wanted to ask if you could help me find the entrance to the virtual world. I speculate that the virtual world should be a world constructed by code, and humans enter it in the form of brainwaves.”
“Oh.” Li Cancan wiped the corner of her eye, “Which virtual world do you want to enter?”
Bai Lixin: “I remember you mentioned that a hive area shares the same virtual world. I want to enter the virtual world of my area.”
Li Cancan: “Okay, when we took your body from that hive area, I also stole the virtual signal from that area. Give me two days, I’ll simulate the anchor point of that virtual world, and then you can disguise yourself as a data chain to enter that virtual world. I’ll do it for you now.”
Watching Li Cancan’s somewhat flustered movements, a light flickered in Bai Lixin’s eyes.
She knew.
She also knew that he knew she knew.
But she chose to pretend not to know.
And she knew he had discovered her pretending not to know.
The two of them looked at each other in the air. Li Cancan withdrew her gaze in panic and continued to look at the screen in front of her.
At this moment, they were like two ends of a scale maintaining a delicate balance. Neither of them spoke to break the silence.
It seems that as long as they didn’t speak, all the speculation and discoveries would just be baseless suspicions.
As long as they didn’t speak, the tragedy wouldn’t exist.
Lies were just too easy to expose.
How could a person who left in an hurry prepare such a detailed letter.
Perhaps it was because he felt that it was the last letter he would leave, so even though he knew it was full of loopholes, he still chose to use such a long message in his native language.
S419M: [Lord Host, Is that robot really Li Cangshan?]
Bai Lixin: [Remember the robots we saw at the base in second virtual world? Pry open their heads, and inside are human brains.]
S419M: [Are you saying Li Cangshan has also become like that? Can he still be resurrected? Use the resurrection skill of the Mermaid Heart. Didn’t you also resurrect dead players like Zhou Guang, Hong Yue, and some others before?]
Escape System: [He can’t be resurrected, Brother M. Li Cangshan’s situation is different from theirs. Resurrection with the Mermaid Heart has conditions; the deceased needs to retain enough physical characteristics. But Li Cangshan’s body has been destroyed, leaving only a brain. He doesn’t meet the conditions for resurrection with the Mermaid Heart. That’s why he couldn’t see the system interface in the virtual world, because he was already dead at that time.]
S419M: [But didn’t Li Cangshan pass through the firewall?]
Escape System: [After death in the virtual world, the person’s body in the real world will die. I speculate that Li Cangshan’s original body died long ago, and what passed through the firewall was a clone.]
[Dr. Serkhi took out Li Cangshan’s brain after his consciousness died and transplanted it into a robot body. In reality, there has always been a robot Li Cangshan working, but we didn’t know that when we were in the virtual world.]
[Although clones are different individuals, because the virtual world is just a series of data chains, cloning is equivalent to copy-pasting, and the data chains are almost identical. So the clone passed through the firewall, the consciousness was received by the robot Li Cangshan in reality, which stimulated him and restored his self-awareness.]
Escape System: [In the letter left by Li Cangshan, he emphasized that Master Bai Lixin should find the message, it probably contains some important information. Finding it may reveal what happened to Li Cangshan.]
Escape System: [That may be the last message this steel-like man left for this world, Master Bai Lixin.]
