Chapter 322: 001

Chapter 322: Chapter 9: 001

Jiang Ran was deeply shaken after reading the non-fiction commentary.

‘What is this?’

‘What in the world is all this?!’

He couldn’t believe this was real history.

He felt that ever since the 2028 natural disaster that destroyed Earth’s environment, things had taken a strangely surreal turn.

After reading the entire article, he finally understood Mr. Pompey’s thinking.

At first, he had thought he might truly be a savior.

Or, perhaps, he had only provided human civilization with a Utopian World—a place for a slow death and self-deception.

But that wasn’t the case at all.

This Mr. Pompey’s ultimate plan was for humanity to complete an evolution beyond its species, to achieve a brand-new form of life. The gist of it was probably—

The flesh is weak. Cast it aside and let the spirit soar.

This was made abundantly clear in a transcript of Mr. Pompey’s speech, appended at the end of the article.

His speech went like this:

“The universe is too vast, the speed of light too slow, and human lifespans too short. Under these limitations, the only future we face is one of pitch-black despair.

People always fantasize about one day voyaging into the depths of space, but in truth, it’s highly probable that our species will go extinct before we can take even a single step out of the Solar System.

It’s not that we absolutely must leave, but this cannot be the only path forward for our civilization. If humanity is ultimately trapped within the Solar System until its demise, it’s virtually no different from going extinct right now. It would be nothing more than a numb, hedonistic existence, merely prolonging the inevitable.

The great natural disaster of 2028 was a wake-up call. We must not allow our minds to be shackled by our fragile flesh. Instead, we must boldly challenge time, challenge the universe, and forge a new evolutionary path for human civilization!

The Virtual Digital World holds endless resources, endless happiness, endless joy, and… endless possibilities.

I hope that as people live and work here in peace and contentment, they can also fully utilize the advantages of the Digital World to develop technology beyond imagination, cultivate philosophies without equal, and bear the fruit of a new form of life!

Humanity cannot stay in the Virtual World forever, just as humanity cannot be forever locked within the Solar System.

This is only a temporary sanctuary, not an eternal cradle of comfort. Since we were able to walk in from the outside, then one day, when we are ready, we will be able to walk out from here once more!

Thirty thousand years is a long time—long enough for any miracle to happen. I sincerely hope that 30,000 years from now… humanity can present a perfect answer! “

…

According to the record, this was a public address Pompey delivered to the entire population of the Virtual Digital World after all of humanity in the outside world had gone extinct.

Jiang Ran could also sense the desperation in it, the feeling of burning one’s bridges and leaving no way back.

Perhaps Mr. Pompey truly did hope that as a new form of Digital Life, humanity could achieve a higher form of evolution, eventually breaking out of the Virtual World to embark on a far greater journey.

To be fair, the idea was a good one, even rather inspiring.

Not to mention, Pompey had indeed saved the people of the world from dire straits. Otherwise, humanity would have gone extinct back in 2028.

It’s just that…

Jiang Ran faintly sensed that something was off, because—

‘In the original future timeline, there was no such disaster on Earth in 2028!’

Before the Future World changed, he had visited the Future Prison of 2045 several times.

Back then, the Magician Qin Feng was awaiting beheading on the execution platform, Sang Biao was plotting a prison break in the next cell, and tens of thousands of people were cheering in the execution yard… Earth was completely unscathed.

There was no toxic atmosphere,

no scorching heat charring the land,

none of it.

None.

None of those things had happened. Both human civilization and Earth’s environment were perfectly fine.

So why…

…did a world-destroying, cataclysmic disaster suddenly appear out of thin air in 2028, right after Wu Yuanzheng died and the Regrets Mutual Aid Association was disbanded?

That’s completely illogical.

Jiang Ran could perfectly understand the Future World of 2045 changing due to the Butterfly Effect. That was reasonable.

But the death of a single man, Wu Yuanzheng, could in no way have led to a world-destroying disaster just three years later.

Unless…

Jiang Ran swallowed hard.

‘Unless… this “natural” disaster was man-made. Deliberately caused by someone with ulterior motives.’

He then recalled the many baffling coincidences. Why did Pompey happen to perfect the Consciousness Upload technology, build massive data centers, create the Virtual World, and establish robotic factories right before the natural disaster?

The answer seemed self-evident.

The prime suspect behind the disaster could only be…

Jiang Ran’s finger tapped the tablet, landing on the name that had appeared multiple times in the document—Pompey.

BZZT.

The tablet vibrated, and a context menu popped up where Jiang Ran’s finger was pressing, showing options like Search, Translate, Copy, and Zoom.

Right next to the “Translate” option, an English translation was provided:

Pompey (Puppet).

Hm?

Jiang Ran stared at the familiar English word. ‘I feel like… I’ve seen this somewhere before.’

He tapped the “Translate” option to see if the English word “Puppet” had any meaning other than being a transliteration of a name.

The page refreshed, and the result popped up instantly.

Jiang Ran instantly held his breath, looking at the translation on the screen—

Puppet.

Suddenly, the world around him began to warp!

The library’s tables, chairs, and bookshelves began flickering erratically, vanishing and instantly reappearing in different places. Many objects overlapped, like a common texture glitch in a video game.

The people reading nearby suddenly dissolved into pixelated blocks of color, merging with and stretching toward other colorful objects.

The ceiling and floor vanished. Jiang Ran didn’t fall, but he could clearly see the pedestrians on the floor below, stretched out like centipedes.

The scene was just like the previous times it had happened—like a computer lagging or a graphics card failing.

No.

It wasn’t *like* that—it *was* that!

Now that he had confirmed this was a Virtual World running on servers, these glitches and failures were obviously problems with the software or hardware.

Without a doubt, the screen was about to go black for a reboot.

Jiang Ran quickly raised his wrist to look at the time on his watch—

September 17, 2045, 10:39:11 AM

WHOOSH!

The entire world went black. He could feel nothing. Nothing existed. Even his thoughts were forcibly paused, leaving only a void.

「A few seconds later.」

The sky was clear and cloudless. Vehicles moved in layered streams like schools of fish. The sweet aroma of bread wafted into his nostrils as a child holding a lollipop ran past.

“Sir, would you like to try our new orange juice?”

A pretty waitress in a maid outfit approached from behind, offering a small smile.

“It’s free!”

…

This was the fourth time Jiang Ran had experienced this loop.

Just like always.

Just like always.

Without the slightest deviation.

He knew it all by heart.

He ignored the waitress, his mind racing.

‘So that’s it.’

‘The name Pompey is just a phonetic transliteration of the English word “Puppet,” and the actual Chinese translation of “Puppet”…’

‘…is Puppet!’

‘That’s the codename mentioned in Li Yini’s diary. Wu Yuanzheng told Li Yini that Cheng Mengxue’s memories were extracted by “Puppet” through a Consciousness Upload procedure.’

“So that’s it,” Jiang Ran muttered to himself.

The logic became clear in an instant.

No wonder the Future World of 2045 had changed so drastically after Wu Yuanzheng’s death.

It was because “Puppet” Pompey and “Priest” Wu Yuanzheng were apparently on opposing sides.

As long as Wu Yuanzheng was alive, Pompey was destined to fail. His Consciousness Upload project, his Virtual World project—it would all have come to nothing.

But with Wu Yuanzheng dead…

…there was no one left to stop Pompey.

He could have free rein after 2025, laying out his plans for Digital Life and the Virtual World as he pleased.

By the same token, the great natural disaster of 2028 was also most likely orchestrated by Puppet Pompey.

The scale of this power terrified Jiang Ran.

‘Could this be Lilith’s handiwork as well?’

‘No.’

‘Probably not.’

‘If Lilith possessed the power to destroy the Earth, then why would Pompey have been suppressed by Wu Yuanzheng? If he could destroy the entire planet, couldn’t he kill one old man?’

‘There must be other secrets at play here.’

‘But why would Pompey trigger the great disaster of 2028?’

‘Was he… really willing to destroy the entire Earth and coerce all of humanity just to get enough people to become Digital Life in the Virtual Digital World?’

‘That’s insane! It’s a crime against all of humanity!’

‘Compared to this, Qin Feng kneeling on the execution block was completely innocent. Pompey’s the one who should have been put there.’

However.

Thinking about it from another angle, it’s very likely that in the original timeline, Puppet never even lived to 2045. He was probably taken out by the Priest early on.

Suddenly, Jiang Ran recalled the news report he’d seen on the mall’s big screen at the end of his last trip to the future:

“Today marks the anniversary of the death of Mr. Pompey, resident #002 of the Digital World and the creator of this beautiful world of ours.”

“Three years ago, Mr. Pompey sadly passed away, and we still mourn his loss to this day.”

That was what the news anchor had reported.

‘That’s very strange.’

‘First of all,’

‘In the Virtual Digital World, everyone is just data. How can “death” even be a thing?’

‘Not to mention, Pompey was the creator of this world. He possessed the Highest Authority here. Who could possibly kill him? How could he die?’

‘Second,’

‘There was something else that was baffling.’

‘The news anchor said Pompey was resident #002 of this Digital World.’

‘He personally built this world, so how could he only be resident #002?’

Jiang Ran’s heart sank.

He couldn’t help but frown.

‘So… who is resident #001, the very first resident of the Virtual World?’