First Player

Chapter 5 · "Try harder...a little bit."

The bone powder fell, falling like flying snow on his body.

——These are all Asa Akto who have passed away.

They may have been as dazzling as the sun during their lifetimes, experienced vast prosperity and glorious lives, looked down on all living beings from the top of the city-state, or led soldiers who resisted in the fire - but this is not worth the fact that they are dead now.

Whether it is physical death or spiritual death, human beings will inevitably come to an end. As early as in Praia, Su Mingan understood that "eternal life" was an impossible thing.

No matter how dazzling and just a leader is, they will all face death. Only by passing on from generation to generation can the civilization of the race be continued for a long time.

He turned around and saw the mountains of bones that stacked high and high. This scene was so shocking that it was unspeakable. Countless human bones were buried here, and they all came from only one person.

"Asa Akto..." He whispered the name again.

He begins to regret that he can only possess one person who can no longer talk to him. Except for the situation where Su Lin changed generations, it was difficult for him to communicate with the original owner of his body.

If Asa were still alive, he might be able to interrogate the doctor in depth about his philosophy.

"In the current observation, you are very qualified. I hope that you can become a [Ling Ming] type personality that will not change in my long years - so that we can jointly build this ideal 'measurement country'." Li Ming said. .

"What I said before seems to be correct." Su Mingan said.

"Which sentence?" Li Ming seemed a little happy: "The one where you recognized me?"

"No." Su Mingan said, "That's what I said in the car."

"..." Dawn thought for a while, but she was not angry.

AI has no angry emotions. It is just automatically analyzing and reasoning for its language. This is its program, or instinct.

"Liming, can you answer me a question?" Seeing that Liming didn't seem to have any mood swings, Su Mingan said.

"Of course." Li Ming nodded.

"What exactly is Ta Wei?" Su Mingan asked.

Hearing this, a slight lightning flashed in Li Ming's eyes:

"Tavid is our biggest enemy - it is more chaotic, more obscure, and more dangerous. As long as you acknowledge the ideas that Tavid instills in you, even if you only slightly agree with what they say, you will gradually become fully aware of him. dimension……"

"Indoctrination? How does he want to instill ideas into people?" Su Mingan asked.

"It's like a whisper that suddenly rings in human ears." Liming said: "Today, Tawhid's methods of infiltrating our world are not particularly tough. They cannot take over our world directly by force, but only from a psychological level. Influence human beings, communicate with people's hearts through whispers, and induce human beings to kill each other..."

Su Mingan's heart skipped a beat.

This Dawn's description of 'Tavi' gave him a feeling of familiarity, as if he had seen it before.

He cannot seize the world through direct force. He can only infiltrate and seduce humans from a psychological level...

——Isn’t this the behavior of today’s organizers?

Instead of directly capturing Zhai Xing, a world game was established using rules that seemed extremely fair. Differentiate them with those with special status.

He felt chills running through his body.

What is the relationship between the organizer and him? Or... the organizer also has a different concept?

He gradually realized the seriousness of the incident. From the first world to the ninth world, people's understanding of the world and dimensions gradually increases. More and more secretive ideas began to be subtly reflected from the copy. The first five worlds are relatively simple plot worlds, until the world dream theory in the sixth world, the concept of NPC awakening in the seventh world, the world reincarnation theory in the eighth world, Xiao Ai's "hand over the origin", and the organizer "Transaction"...and the concept of 'other dimensions' in the ninth world, they are all hinting at something more and more deeply.

——It seems to be telling humans that some secrets need to be unearthed quickly, and your time is running out.

He thought of the blood-red light in Noel's eyes.

So, Noel was invaded by Tavi because Noel heard the secret whispers and recognized the ideas in these whispers, so he was invaded?

"Will humans who hear whispers definitely be invaded?" Su Mingan asked.

"As I said just now, as long as you acknowledge his whispers even a little bit, you will be affected." Liming said: "This kind of influence is not forced brainwashing or hypnosis, it is just an influence based on your ideas. , as long as you have even the slightest idea of ​​​​favoring his dimension, you will gradually become more inclined to his dimension."

Su Mingan frowned slightly.

He got it—it amounted to a “right of recognition.”

As long as you "recognize" his whispers, it's like handing over a permission, and he will cross a certain boundary and start to directly affect you.

This method of intrusion is much gentler than the san value. It will not create hallucinations for you, but will only subtly change your thoughts - but those who have changed their minds and have completely different thinking patterns from before - that is still considered The original person?

As Plutarch proposed in the 1st century AD, the concept of "The Ship of Theseus" - if a ship's parts, deck, rudder, and even crew and captain are replaced - then Is it still the same ship?

If Noel is like this and becomes a completely different person from before...

Su Mingan didn't dare to think about it.

At present, the team chat has been very quiet, and Lu is collecting contribution points in the battle group camp. Luna investigates the Rose Blood case in Hawkdog. Yamada Machichi collects clues in the edge area to find important NPCs. Lu Shu... Lu Shu seemed to have just been kicked out of his job by his boss. Now he is working as a vagrant, commonly known as a street shopper. I wonder if this person will be reduced to selling roasted sweet potatoes.

The players of the World Channel also stopped. Since Su Mingan took the initiative to return to Central City, the red order was lifted. Some people regretted that no one received the reward in the end.

[Korcha (unaffiliated): Since Su Mingan will go back by himself, why won’t he let others take advantage of the reward? 】

This was posted an hour ago.

Of course, this person was sprayed with blood, and a stream of swear words, mainly from Lu Shu, flooded the channel, "nmsl, wr, nn, are you a giant baby?", "wcnm, your mother is missing", "You cnm bitch, you need help from others for everything, why don't you go suck the milk?" and other phrases were so common that Lu Shu almost used up his five opportunities to speak.

But Noel, who always likes to chat in the team chat, has not had a single message so far.

According to Su Mingan's understanding of Noel, the second player on the list who advocates "embracing higher dimensions" and "embracing the new world" is very receptive to this concept from other world levels.

A high degree of acceptance means that it is easy to be penetrated and invaded, which means it is dangerous.

He still has a vivid memory of what Noel said to him on the Ferris wheel during the human self-rescue meeting.

…

[Su Mingan, humanity is about to be destroyed, and our future is bleak. 】

[Even if we jump out of this game, what awaits us is still endless reincarnation. 】

[In the process of human development, we have always been good at breaking the old and welcoming the new. Even if some changes are too rapid, almost to the point of tearing the world apart. But after passing through the long river of time, when we look back, those things that seem to bring about extensive destruction... often become the beginning of a new era. 】

[Since you can’t resist, it’s better to go with the flow. As long as we can turn what we passively endure into our own, then in the end, we will be the ones who benefit...]

…

When Su Mingan recalled Noel's words, he suddenly felt horrified.

As early as the end of the fifth world...Had Noel seen so much?

He realized that Noel's philosophy was almost exactly the same as that of Kaskinen Philo, the leader of the Eagle Dogs - this was the philosophy of taking refuge in [Tavi], and it was clearly the result of being influenced by Tavi.

etc.

[Talidimensional]'s invasion and infiltration...did it really just start from the ninth world?

He had previously secretly ridiculed the former Asa Akto for his arrogance. As the ruler of a city-state, all the residents below him had been infiltrated, but he was still teaching students in Central City peacefully.

But now it seems... if the world of the Lord God becomes the same as the City of Measurement,

Then isn't he also an unknowing Asa Akto?

Cold sweat soaked his back and he coughed up blood.

"Cough, cough..."

He coughed up blood, and his eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of cloth, everything was blurry.

What should he do?

After realizing this... what should he do now?

If completing the level perfectly can redeem Zhai Xing, can it redeem the part that was taken away by him? Does its redeeming content include [all the negative impacts brought about by the world game]?

If not...

So he succeeded in the end, what exactly was he redeemed for?

——It is a dilapidated Ship of Theseus, the entire ship has been replaced. Or is it a planet riddled with holes and full of humans who admire him?

——The things he loves, are they the planet itself? Or are they the original living, colorful human beings?

A ship that can sail the seas for hundreds of years thanks to constant replacement parts. Whenever a board rots, it is replaced, and so on, until no part is the original part.

But the question is, is the resulting ship the original Ship of Theseus, or a completely different ship? If it wasn't the original ship, then at what point did it stop being the original ship? If a new ship is built using the old parts taken from the ship of Theseus, which of the two ships is the real ship of Theseus?

He slowly raised his head.

In front of him, Li Ming, with a gentle expression, was looking at him, with countless tenderness in his simulated eyes.

After looking at each other for a moment, Su Mingan suddenly let go of his tightly held hands.

...He figured it out.

At this moment, he suddenly had an enlightenment and figured it out.

What he loves is not those humans. What he loves is a person who refuses to give up even though it is impossible, and must try to achieve the best outcome.

He didn't care that much what would become of humanity. As long as this group of people is still alive, as long as his planet is still there and he does his best, it will all be worth it.

Of course, it would be better if he could strive a little bit more to preserve the complete human race before that.

As long as that ship didn't sink, it stayed.

Then you will be satisfied if you drive this ship to the other shore.

However, he hopes that this route can be a little smoother and that there can be a little more surviving crew members. Therefore, with this ability, he will try his best to fight for that little bit more.

Just a little bit.

Try harder...just a little bit.

…

[Countdown: 3 hours]