Chapter 317: Strange World, Strange Senior

Chapter 317: Chapter 7: Strange World, Strange Senior

Jiang Ran took a deep breath.

He inhaled the fresh scent of recently trimmed holly, the faint and familiar fragrance of flowers from the beds.

A gentle night breeze swept by, lifting the corner of his jacket.

‘Looks like I was right. After the two-hour limit, I’m immediately kicked back by the World Line to 2025, returning to the moment I departed.’

He glanced at his phone. The call timer with Chi Xiaoguo was ticking upward, second by second. Only a few seconds had passed.

‘So, the flow of time between the two worlds is still out of sync.’

‘Two hours in 2045 is still just an instant from an observer’s perspective in 2025.’

‘In that case, the fixed reset every 39 minutes and 11 seconds in the 2045 Virtual World… probably has nothing to do with me.’

Jiang Ran narrowed his eyes:

‘It’s that strange world itself… *it’s* the one with the problem!’

…

The dorms would be locking up soon, and the lights would be out, so he couldn’t linger. Jiang Ran waved goodbye to Chi Xiaoguo through the window, and they went their separate ways.

He returned to his graduate student dorm room. It was empty.

Fang Ze wouldn’t be back for a few more days. For the coming week, Jiang Ran would have the room to himself.

It had been a while since he’d felt this relaxed. After a quick wash, Jiang Ran sat at the desk by the window. He picked up the copy of *Narrow Gate* that Fang Ze had left there and began to think…

To be honest, what he had seen and heard in the Future World of 2045 had truly shocked him.

The impossibly advanced technology.

The impossibly delicious food.

The impossibly happy lifestyles.

The impossibly free and harmonious Utopia.

Experiencing it all firsthand had left him with a dazed sense of unreality.

But in the end, it turned out it hadn’t been an illusion.

Because… that Future World of 2045 wasn’t real to begin with!

‘Digital World.’

Jiang Ran silently repeated the term the news anchor had used.

They called the world they lived in the Digital World, not the real world.

This deliberate distinction made it clear: his journey to the future hadn’t taken place in the real world, but in a Virtual World, something akin to an online game.

A couple of years ago, a concept called the “Metaverse” had been all the rage.

Simply put, it involved creating a digital world independent of reality, where people could create their own avatars, buy land and houses, trade assets, chat, and so on.

In reality, it was something with little value or productivity, so once the novelty wore off, the hype died down instantly. Now, hardly anyone talked about it; the concept was basically dead.

But what Jiang Ran had never imagined was…

…that this kind of Virtual World, one that perfectly simulated real life, had actually been achieved by 2045!

‘Does that mean the skyscrapers, the flying cars, the hyper-futuristic city, even the cake and orange juice I ate… were all fake? Just computer data?’

He pressed his lips together. The more he thought about it, the more something felt off.

He picked up the glass of water on his desk, raised it, and took a sip…

The cool, pure water flowed down his throat. GULP. GULP. The sensation of reality was indistinguishable from when he’d drunk those two large glasses of orange juice in 2045. In fact, he could almost still feel the sweet and sour tang on the tip of his tongue.

‘Could technology really advance that much in 20 years? Enough to create a Virtual World that perfectly simulates reality?’

Even though Jiang Ran’s major in World Line 0 was computer science, virtual reality wasn’t his area of expertise.

So, driven by curiosity, he opened his laptop and started searching online.

The results were disappointing…

The concept of a Virtual Digital World mostly existed only in sci-fi novels and movies. Real-world technology was nowhere near that level.

If he had to stretch it, the Metaverse or role-playing online games could be considered prototypes… but their crude interactive experiences were completely incapable of simulating the real world, let alone achieving the 2045 version’s level of realism.

There was also another question.

Even if some technological explosion in the next 20 years allowed humanity to build such a realistic Virtual World, were the people living inside it real or fake?

Were they NPCs controlled by computer programs?

Or was every pedestrian he saw on the street a real, living human consciousness?

…

Wait.

Jiang Ran’s eyes suddenly flew open.

‘Real… human… consciousness… memory…’

‘Digital Life!’

He suddenly remembered the concept Professor Yan Chonghan had discussed.

During a graduate seminar, Professor Yan Chonghan had shared his research topic from his time at Dartmouth College—

“People in vegetative states, including patients in comas, often have their consciousness, personality, and memories perfectly intact.”

“Therefore, we hypothesized: what if there were a technology that could extract this healthy data from the brain—the consciousness, personality, and memories—and allow it to live on as a form of Digital Life within mechanical hardware and a Virtual Network World…”

“Wouldn’t that be a happier and more comforting outcome for both the patients themselves and their families?”

…

In an instant, it was as if two perfectly matched puzzle pieces had clicked into place.

‘It all lined up.’

‘The logic of it all fit perfectly.’

He thought back to the Future World of 2045. From the pedestrians on the street to the foul-mouthed Sang Biao, everyone’s reactions had been so real. They didn’t seem at all like computer-controlled programs.