This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 640: The Pancake Five Light Years Away

Chapter 640: Chapter 640: The Pancake Five Light Years Away

Falling Feather had continuously shared his experiences from the residual memories of the Lair on the Forum, while Chu Guang learned about the central city Lair from Xiaoyu, who resided in Sanctuary B4 Layer.

Thanks to Heya for this.

She enhanced the Neural Connection Device produced by the Black Box and designed a specialized neural network data exchange interface for Xiaoyu, connecting it to the servers on Sanctuary B6 Floor.

It was as if he was wearing "Virtual Reality Glasses," allowing him to communicate directly with Xiao Qi through consciousness.

One has to commend Xiaoyu; this little fellow had a remarkably high acceptance of tools invented by humans.

The headset that Heya had installed previously had been ingeniously utilized by him, and with the new toy, he was more delighted than ever.

With Xiaoyu’s assistance, Xiao Qi had reconstructed and restored the memories retrieved from the Lair.

Thus, not only Chu Guang, but any intrigued new or existing players could access these ancient memories via the Neural Connection Device...

"Incredible... such a beautiful planet and it’s only five light-years away from us!"

Floating in the boundless void, Heya couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration as she stared intently at the planet that seemed within arm’s reach.

A brand new ecosystem!

A vast, living DNA database!

Could there be anything more thrilling for an expert engaged in this field of research?

Standing beside her, Chu Guang felt the same,

except his sentiments weren’t as technical and were more of disbelief—

This planet is living?

And it has its own consciousness!

All signs indicated that the life forms on this planet had followed an evolutionary process entirely different from that on Earth.

Of course, another possibility shouldn’t be ruled out—that the ecosystem on Earth is a unique case in the universe, or that each planet’s biological evolutionary process is unique.

After all, before he crossed over, the human civilization of that world hadn’t truly ventured beyond the Solar System, and knowledge of the extraterrestrial world was still based on countless speculations and paradoxes.

The two were currently connected to the shelter’s server through virtual reality devices.

Actually, Yin Fang was here a moment ago, but that guy, having been a prospector at the Academy with extensive experience, just took a quick look and left after finding nothing of interest to him.

Compared to an abstract memory, he was more intrigued by the evolutionary bodies the players had brought back from the city center.

Those were living fossils left from two centuries ago!

Not to mention those relics originally sealed by the "Mutated slime fungus" underground!

This victory was of monumental significance for the Alliance, almost describable as a geographical discovery!

He didn’t want to waste a single minute outside the laboratory.

While the two stared at that planet, deep in thought, Xiao Qi’s voice floated over.

"Master, the memory analysis is complete!"

Hearing Xiao Qi’s voice, Chu Guang immediately asked,

"Can we get a little closer? I’d like to take a closer look."

"Getting a bit closer is not a problem... but if you wish to land on that planet, there isn’t much to see there."

Xiao Qi’s voice carried a hint of difficulty as he softly continued,

"That Lair only has a vague memory of the Gaia planet; it somewhat knows about the planet but hasn’t actually lived there... If you wish to go there, I could create some maps based on those memory fragments, but the gap between them and the actual conditions might be quite large."

Hearing Xiao Qi’s reply, Chu Guang could predict that the player named Falling Feather was probably already complaining on the Forum about releasing an unfinished map.

As a player, it was impossible not to peek at a new map.

Without Xiao Qi’s help, getting closer would entail that he wouldn’t even see the "maps."

But Chu Guang was already used to this.

After all, these fellows would attribute any inexplicable phenomena in the game to him, either claiming the ’Dog Planner’ hadn’t finished his work, or that the ’Dog Planner’ was plotting something big.

He usually didn’t bother explaining and even enjoyed his dear players misunderstanding; sometimes he himself needed to gather in-game news through the Forum.

Is there anything illogical about an unfinished game during the closed beta phase?

This is perfectly reasonable!

"...Apart from the planet itself, do those memory fragments of the Lair contain any other content about Gaia?" Chu Guang continued to ask.

Xiao Qi immediately responded.

"There are some other fragmented pieces, mainly concerning Gaia and the colonizers who landed on Gaia. If you’re interested, I can organize them for you."

Chu Guang: "It would trouble you."

"Hehe, not troubling at all; serving the master is Xiao Qi’s honor!" A shy voice floated lightly, followed by a pale blue window appearing in front of Chu Guang.

This message was primarily from the viewpoint of the "mutated slime fungus," narrating an old story of early human civilization contact with "Gaia."

Since the ’mutated slime fungus’ did not communicate through sound, the concepts stored in the sea of the Lair’s consciousness were recorded in pure biological information without corresponding languages.

However, thankfully, with the Alliance having Xiaoyu, who had evolved a "voice function," as an interpreter,

Xiao Qi could translate this abstract memory into language understandable and interpretable by humans.

Seeing Chu Guang so engrossed, Heya, who was floating nearby, also curiously leaned in.

Just like the shock that "Gaia" had brought to the United Human, upon noticing the existence of humans, the omnipotent Gaia was equally astonished by these extraterrestrial visitors.

It had existed on this planet for countless stellar cycles and ruled the planet like a deity for just as many, yet this was the first time it encountered such peculiar organisms.

They melted the soil and rocks with flames, laid refined elements on the ground, and summoned thunder from temperatures rivaling those of stars, making everything revolve around them.

And most unimaginably, these organic beings were not under its control!

This was something It couldn’t understand.

It not only couldn’t control them but even failed to establish communication, and they were completely oblivious to Its existence, repeatedly killing the mucosal entities It sent to contact them.

At first, It considered these colonizers to be a virus brought by a "meteorite from beyond" or something similar, as such incidents did occasionally happen.

Thus, It evolved "antibodies" through its own abilities to eradicate these organic bodies.

Initially, Its antibodies did have some effect; the extraterrestrial visitors infected by the mucor quickly developed symptoms of weakness, coughing, and listlessness.

However, Chu Guang knew without guessing that, with the technology level of the Prosperity Epoch, such a mild illness wouldn’t pose any threat.

And the development of events was just as he thought.

The colonizers soon developed a vaccine through advanced medical techniques and analysis of local species and even eradicated "Its antibodies designed for humans" on a broad scale.

This was perhaps the first direct conflict between Gaia and human civilization, with both sides kicking off this unprepared war without fully understanding what the other was.

After discovering that the virus and bacterial attacks were minimally effective, the enraged Gaia gradually escalated the scale of the war, trying to initiate global disasters and evolved more aggressive mucosal entities, attempting to physically eliminate the ever-expanding colonizers.

The United Human, of course, wouldn’t give up on this hard-found paradise due to a minor setback and began pouring more resources into developing the colony, adeptly addressing the series of measures issued by Gaia.

Interestingly, it was during this process that the scholars of the United Human finally discovered the existence of "Gaia"!

The series of disasters occurring on the planet Gaia were not isolated; all were controlled by a unified consciousness entity!

The biologists of the United Human proposed this hypothesis while comparing the DNA of extraterrestrial organisms, and the discovery of the Mind Interference Device later confirmed it!

From the perspective of the mutated slime fungus, it was the first time humans truly heard Its voice and established direct communication with It.

"Mind Interference Device?!"

Heya’s face showed surprise when she read this part of the information.

After a moment of contemplation, she mumbled to herself.

"The more intelligent the creature, the richer the information it receives, and the weaker the interference it suffers...sssh, so that’s how it works!"

She had found it strange when researching the data from Shelter No. 117.

The original intention behind the Mind Interference Device project was to replace the infrasound fence used in the colonies for driving away variants; however, according to the intelligence they collected, the variants in the colonies were all mucosal entities of the mucor.

Sharing a unified consciousness, theoretically, they shouldn’t be driven away by the Mind Interference Device.

Even without "theoretically," in Qingquan City, there were vast expanses of mucosal entities, and the Mind Interference Device was utterly useless against them.

After all the trouble, were those colonizers not replacing the infrasound fence but establishing diplomatic relations with Gaia using it?

Chu Guang didn’t speak but thought of something else.

This was previously mentioned by Dr. Method in Shelter No. 101.

During the Prosperity Epoch, a radical trend was widely popular in the society of the United Human.

That is, regarding the definition of a person.

Radicals believed that people are societal people, societal people are people, and the United Human should keep pace with the times. Meanwhile, conservatives believed that a person is a unified entity of societal and natural people, neither of which could be absent, and ancestral laws should not change.

The two factions had extensive disagreements over issues such as bioperson civil rights, the applicability range of cloning technology, and socialized upbringing.

In this unique historical context, the emergence of "Gaia" actually had a significant impact on the society of the United Human.

Ordinarily, the human natural world observed only the gestalt societies of boring and inefficient insects like ants and bees, but now a nearly perfect totality had appeared before everyone.

In the eyes of some, Its existence provided a nearly perfect solution to the disagreements between radicals and conservatives.

That is, by studying Gaia and establishing a thinking gestalt network similar to Gaia’s, connecting the consciousness of every individual in society into a whole, then all disagreements would resolve themselves.

Such was Gaia.

Before humanity’s arrival, there had been no concept of conflict, and thus no divergences could exist.

And those who first established contact with Gaia were these people.

Most of them were scholars and researchers who had voluntarily applied to migrate from their mother planet to the colony, having had enough of the endless quarrels and interference from the Scientific Ethics Committee.

In this memory that lingered in the Lair, It held a positive view of these humans who embraced Gaia voluntarily.

In Its perception, It did not kill for the sake of killing but responded to the call of the human "followers of Gaia". Under Gaia’s guidance, It came to liberate the suffering organisms of this planet.

Of course, this was not a magnanimous and selfless expedition; it was also for Its mother.

According to those sympathetic humans, if they didn’t resolve the problem at its root, the conflict would never end.

Through billions of years of evolution, the word "plunder" had been ingrained in the genes of most species on that planet.

"...No wonder that Lair accepted believers from the Torch Church." It took Chu Guang a long while to squeeze out these words.

These people had visited Shelter No. 401 and taken the mind interference device and related technologies, objectively, they possessed the tools for communicating with the mucor Lair.

And their ideas and stances happened to coincide with those of the Gaia-sympathizing "followers of Gaia," just a tad more extreme towards their own kind.

But what did that matter?

For an inappropriate analogy, the way the Lair views them might be the same as how he views Xiaoyu.

After many years of conflict, a group of humans who could understand its demands finally emerged. Perhaps the DNA possessed by the Torch Church was even given to them by the Lair in Qingquan City!

"Are there any other memories?" Having watched the memory to its end, Heya eagerly looked towards the direction from which Xiao Qi’s voice came.

"No, that’s all it knows." Xiao Qi replied helplessly.

Hearing this, Heya’s expression inevitably carried a slight, lingering disappointment, but she did not press further.

"It’s incredible... This piece of information completely overturns my understanding of the ’Mutated slime fungus’," Heya touched her nose bridge and suddenly looked at Chu Guang excitedly. "You know? I have a whole bunch of new ideas in my head now... Nevermind, it’s hard to explain to you. I might need to seclude myself to research this for a few days."

Seeing Heya’s eager expression, Chu Guang guessed that she probably got new inspiration for her own research field from that memory.

Indeed, that professional matter was beyond his knowledge.

Without inquiring in detail about what it was, Chu Guang cleared his throat lightly and said.

"You can seclude yourself for as long as you need, but before that, there’s something I need to consult you about."

Heya raised her eyebrows curiously.

"What is it?"

Chu Guang tried to describe his idea.

"I want Xiaoyu to... make some improvements to the cityscape of Qingquan City."

It was more of a wild idea than an actual plan.

He had noticed on the forum earlier that Professor Yang was encouraging Falling Feather to send the few million cheap descendants he had just picked up to the assembly line to make money.

Honestly, this audacious maneuver was something Chu Guang hadn’t expected, and even Falling Feather, who was being encouraged, felt it was somewhat unrealistic.

After all, if something like that were to happen, not to mention the gaming experience of other players, even the NPCs’ gaming experience might be wiped out.

This cheat would be better kept in collective hands.

"Improve the cityscape?" After listening, Heya was stunned and looked at Chu Guang perplexedly, "How... can it be improved?"

Chu Guang explained patiently.

"Currently, Qingquan City is in ruins. If millions of mucosal entities could also participate in the rebuilding, a project that would originally take hundreds of years might be completed in just a few."

His request was not high.

Even if only parts of Qingquan City were restored to a livable standard, it would greatly benefit the Alliance.

And allowing Xiaoyu to make some visibly recognisable contributions to society could also reduce concerns from those Waste Land Wanderers who don’t understand it.

Seeing Heya still silent after a long while, Chu Guang added another comment.

"Of course, this is just an immature idea..."

"Um... it’s not about whether the idea is mature or not. The idea actually sounds quite good, but there’s one issue," Heya paused for a moment and continued with a nuanced expression.

"According to our research, the hive consciousness isn’t as omnipotent as it seems. To a large extent, its control is manifest on a macro level. Take Xiya, for instance; its ability to micromanage is slightly better than its mother’s. Yet even then, when the number of its offspring entities rises to a thousand or even ten thousand, it’s quite difficult to manipulate each offspring entity’s actions specifically."

"So it tried the assimilation mode, allowing the assimilated offspring entities to retain part of their self-awareness, which enables them to carry out detailed actions based on vague instructions. The general view in the research institute is that this is an ability evolved from the ’Mutated slime fungus’ learning from human society."

She paused, then continued.

"As for Xiaoyu, its control over the offspring entities within Qingquan City is actually weaker than the Lair it assimilated. Firstly, it communicates through sound. Although this medium transmits over a longer distance and faster than spores, there is definitely a reduction in information entropy. After passing through sound and spores, these two mediums, when the orders reach the offspring entities, it’s hard to say whether they can understand those complex commands."

"In other words, if it wants those Eaters to bite people, they would certainly understand, but if it wanted them to move an object from one place to another, that would really test Xiaoyu’s command art."

After listening to Heya’s explanation, Chu Guang felt slightly regretful.

"I see..."

Seeing Chu Guang’s look of regret, Heya couldn’t help but add another comment.

"This is just my speculation; my guess might not be correct. Plus, you really should be asking Xiaoyu directly about this, not me. That creature is a born biologist, its very existence is an incredible miracle for us, a singularity outside our established cognitive Viewrange."

As she spoke, she made a joke.

"To give a vivid but inappropriate analogy, we researchers of nature’s secrets are like magicians who depend on sophisticated wands and arcane spells to cast magic."

"But it is different."

"It is magic itself!"

...

Sanctuary B6 Layer.

Standing in a pale red ocean, Xiaoyu let out a long, slow sigh.

Like waves, the pale red spore coats rolled and spread in circles, eventually merging with the black machine case standing like a rock in the engine room.

It seemed that fungi had their own troubles.

Taking off the virtual reality glasses he wore on his head, Chu Guang sat at the entrance of the engine room and placed the glasses on the robot’s head that resembled a trash can.

Sensing its worries, Chu Guang did not immediately speak his mind but asked in a casual tone.

"What are you thinking about?"

The placid thoughts traveled along the pale red tendrils into the carbon-based semiconductor inside the machine case, and Xiao Qi translated it into human language.

"I couldn’t convince Xiya."

This fellow could actually speak,

but the information entropy in human language was too low for its liking, so it preferred to communicate in its own way, with Xiao Qi translating for it.

Chu Guang pondered for a moment before speaking,

"You don’t have to feel sorry for it. It chose its own destiny and followed its mother’s path to the end. There are no perfect outcomes in this world, and you have already done very well."

"Yi wu."

Xiaoyu murmured softly, seeming to feel a bit better.

As the first human it encountered after awakening, Chu Guang was like a mother and father to it, and it always trusted his words.

Initially, it didn’t understand this feeling, but after meeting Xiya and the Mucor Nest, it had come to appreciate a sense of what that so-called legacy meant.

Just like Xiya had inherited her mother’s will.

Its worldview was primarily shaped within the Alliance’s society, and aside from its shape being different from humans, it hardly saw any differences in other aspects.

After all, for it, which possessed countless entities but only a single consciousness, shape was the least important thing.

This was the direct opposite of humans, who were adept at establishing boundaries based on "first impressions."

After a moment of silence, Xiaoyu suddenly asked a strange question,

"Am I human?"

Chu Guang thought for a moment and answered truthfully,

"Objectively speaking, you are clearly not."

Hearing this, Xiaoyu felt a slight sense of loss, but it quickly rallied and asked,

"How can I become human?"

Sensing the seriousness and innocence in the question, Chu Guang couldn’t help but smile warmly and said,

"You don’t need to become human. You are you. You should feel that we have never excluded you."

"Yi wu!"

Seeming quite pleased with the answer, Xiaoyu’s voice carried a hint of joy as it excitedly extended a tentacle from the pale red sea toward Chu Guang’s shoulder, trying to rub his face.

This was one of its ways of expressing friendliness.

It had learned it from a creature called Nicole.

Sitting on Chu Guang’s shoulder, Xiao Qi moved aside in reluctance and protested discontentedly,

"Yi! Don’t get that sticky stuff on me! My head will rust!"

The figure Chu Guang had received from Pai was its favorite among all its entities.

Although Yibers had recently presented a model that also suited its tastes, featuring a life-size doll, it didn’t feel inclined to use it, as that one, like Frost and Solar Eclipse, had its own AI core and it felt weird about it.

"Yi wu..."

Xiaoyu called out aggrievedly and shifted to the other shoulder of Chu Guang, avoiding Xiao Qi.

The two little ones actually got along quite well.

After all, most of the time Xiao Qi acted as Chu Guang’s messenger, and when Falling Feather was offline, it was mostly Xiao Qi who kept him company.

Watching Xiao Qi leap onto a wastebasket, Chu Guang laughed and was not bothered by Xiaoyu’s affectionate nuzzle; after all, he didn’t have to wash his power armor himself.

Chu Guang remained quite open-minded about new things.

From a practical standpoint, if the methods of the United Human could have resolved the issues, he wouldn’t be needed to clean up this mess.

Moreover, from another perspective, if his wild idea could be realized, Xiaoyu would be nothing short of a planetary-scale environmental manipulation device!

If he encountered a planet brimming with carbon dioxide or other harmful gases, just shy of being habitable, he could simply drop Xiaoyu there for a chew before even contemplating colonization.

Interstellar communication shouldn’t be harder than interstellar travel.

It wouldn’t even need to rely on spores like its ancestor "Gaia;" with the help of human civilization’s technology, opening a channel would be sufficient.

Cost-wise, this was certainly more economical than conventional ’atmospheric modification projects.’

Its footprints would also broaden to a world far more vast than its ancestors ever imagined, driven by the Alliance’s fleet and the ambition to explore new worlds.

This was a win-win situation!

Of course, exploring new worlds was still too distant a goal for the current Alliance; the old world had plenty of troubles waiting for him to address.

Seeing Xiaoyu in a good mood, Chu Guang smiled and put forth an idea,

"I’d like to ask you for a favor."

"Yi wu!"

Xiaoyu excitedly nodded its extended tentacle, agreeing without even asking what it was.

Chu Guang joked,

"Aren’t you going to ask what it is?"

The pale red mycelium filling the engine room moved lightly like water plants, straightforward as if one could see through it like lake water.

"I trust you!"