Chapter 294 NO0125: Lonely Moment and Axe

Chapter 294 NO.0125: Lonely Moments and Axe

Jim grasped other clues and tried to piece together a complete picture of the shattered memory. Unfortunately, the result of doing so not only failed to relieve his anxiety, but instead pushed him into a deeper abyss of despair.

When he began to recall the past, Jim was shocked to find that countless details of his life that he usually took for granted, countless things that he thought he could remember immediately as long as he recalled them carefully, now began to blur and forget like a dream after waking up.

He even forgot when he last used the Mandala code.

And...how did he do things like opening a bank account that required the Mandala code without remembering the Mandala code?

But on the other hand, his memories of his past in the Eden resettlement area were still clear, and as clear as...as if he was watching a simulation of someone else's life.

If that's the case... then wouldn't the previous self be...

"Calm down first!"

Sensing the other party's thoughts, Jiang Zhou did not try to continue using the puppet circuit to control the other party's emotions. Instead, he directly used the connection between the two to transmit his stand-in program to the past and generated it in the cyberspace where Jim was.

Using the Sage City as a transit station, Jiang Zhou can now transfer his stand-in program to the "controllable elements" and the people he has marked at will. Of course, the premise is that the other party must be in the Abyss Dark Web or connected to the universal printer.

Accompanied by a burst of changing color blocks, Jiang Zhou appeared in this nothingness without a base construction. He looked directly at Jim and said:

"Whether you were false in the past, you now... now you who can realize your existence, there is no doubt that you exist, right?"

In theory, the two people connected by the "Janus Program" do not need to communicate through "meeting".

But humans are creatures that pay attention to "ritual sense". Just like some people would clench their fists and talk to themselves before a game to cheer themselves up, some clear thoughts need to be said like this to achieve the greatest effect.

"Take me for example."

Jiang Zhou pointed to his chest and said:

"In fact, I have no way to guarantee whether I am really the 'First Deep Diver' a hundred years ago. Or is it just a replica implanted in Jiang Zhou's memory, a shadow of the past fabricated by super artificial intelligence. But this does not affect me to do what I should do within the scope of my current cognition - it has always been behavior that defines identity, not the other way around."

"It's easy to say!"

In response, Jim shouted directly in cyberspace.

Obviously, Jiang Zhou's words of therapy did not have much effect.

After venting his anger, Jim Ritter took a deep breath, then lowered his voice, but did not lower his emotions at all and said:

"A hundred years have passed since the era in your memory, and everything you are familiar with is no longer there. Under this premise, whether your memory is true or not, it is a brand new beginning for you... After all, what can you lose?

"But what about me? If the 'Jim' in the Eden domain is the real 'me', then what is the current me who lives with his identity? Between me and him, who took whose life? And if he can return to reality, who will take care of this body? "

Jiang Zhou was about to speak, but Jim, who had already seen through what the other party was going to say, interrupted directly:

"Okay, even if you can use a universal printer to print out a body, who will inherit the social relationship of 'Jim Ritter'? Is it him who was born in the Eden resettlement area, or me who has lived in the Nord resettlement area for twenty years? "

Speaking of this, a terrible thought loomed in his mind.

If the "Jim" in the Eden resettlement area was the original one, then he would never let him...

Jim's thoughts naturally had no way of being concealed from Jiang Zhou.

"If the Jim in the Eden domain remembers the correct mandala code, then according to the JZ network protocol, he is the real Jim Leiter...at least that's how I designed it back then."

There is no point in lying between two people connected by the Janus program, so Jiang Zhou spoke his mind directly.

Technology that can replicate human self-consciousness will obviously cause all kinds of ethical problems. Therefore, when the Janus project was designed, he ensured the uniqueness of the soul at the source - the JZ network protocol ensures that only one mental model will ever run. And this guarantee has been embodied in the development of the past hundred years as a unique mandala code for each person, firmly bound to self-consciousness.

"So what am I? "

Jim, who understood this better than anyone, asked somewhat helplessly.

Just like in that simulacrum movie, a "duplicate" who stole the identity of the original owner?

"I don't know."

Jiang Zhou answered honestly, and then continued:

"Maybe it's the amnesiac version of Agent Smith downloaded into the human body? Maybe it's the non-superpower version of the Root Ritual that was born from the human body? Or maybe it's Jim Leiter's evil twin brother? Well, although for your In essence, I can't find a reasonable inference, but no matter what, in the eyes of others, you are Jim Leiter between the ages of twenty-five and forty-seven...even in the Eden settlement. That one has to admit it too.”

Jiang Zhou said, spreading his hands and making a helpless gesture.

"After all, the person who reincarnated in the Eden Domain has never experienced what you have experienced. I think even if he comes back, he will not want to have a memory window of more than 20 years... Believe me, I have a lot to say in this regard. It is not comfortable to find yourself sleeping in a strange future world for many years.”

Shrugging, Jiang Zhou continued:

"To be honest, you don't actually need to worry about who you are. The past is just a piece of history, and the future is a mystery. Only the present can be grasped. For personality, existence can only be anchored in the present. What does the poet Borges say in his poem..."

"Your body is just time, time that keeps passing by, and you are just every lonely moment."

Jim Leiter lowered his head and helped Jiang Zhou finish the following words - although he also translated this sentence from Jiang Zhou's memory.

Then, he raised his head and looked at Jiang Zhoudao:

"So this is your plan...to bring out Jim Leiter from the Eden Network, and then sew his mental model together with mine?"

Jiang Zhou shrugged:

"Don't say it so harshly. I call this record synchronization... Ye Qian did this before. But after you synchronize your memories, it doesn't matter who is who. For you, he is the anchor of your identity. For him, you are his memory of the future. Of course, his resentment will definitely be bigger by then. After all, who didn’t think that he was a fool in the past? "

"Then I am now..."

Jim muttered with a bitter look on his face.

"Imagine it like putting two half-destroyed Ships of Theseus together. It's probably easier than you think to get used to it."

"Zizi——"

Jiang Zhou was talking, but at this moment his substitute began to break down inch by inch as if the signal was poor.

"Besides, this is not your problem alone. There may be tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people in the Eden network, just like you... zizizi..."

Jiang Zhou's voice began to become more and more... no, not only his voice, but also Jiang Zhou's thinking began to become more and more blurry.

"Zizzi-ah-ahhh!"

Immediately afterwards, the disturbing hissing sound was replaced by a miserable scream.

Jim didn't realize it was his scream until he completely lost consciousness.

…………

"Ahhhhhh!"

Jim Leiter, who fell to the ground in the electric sparks, opened his eyes wide, and at this moment, a scream that was enough to make his vocal cords crumble came out of his mouth.

The first person among the crowd to react was Wang Ying. She subconsciously reached for the holster, but she missed it completely - the weapon had been stored at the door of the lighthouse before.

So, she rushed forward with bare hands.

It was not until the detective from the Public Security Bureau rushed over that Lao Huo, who was closest to the scene at the moment, realized what had just happened.

Half frightened and half puzzled, he asked the "old acquaintance" holding a fire ax in front of him:

"Kim Hyungjun, what are you doing?!"

Upon hearing his words, Jin Hyungjun, who had previously cut off the data cable connected to the back of Jim's head with an axe, just turned his head and glanced at him - no, it's hard to say that it was a "glance". Because at this moment, his eyes had lost focus and were moving rapidly in their sockets.

Then, at a speed that a native should not have, he rushed towards Jim Leiter, who had fallen to the ground, and struck his neck accurately with the ax in his hand.