Chapter 555 Nolan's True Identity

A program for monitoring and detecting the operation of the virtual world—this was Nolan's true identity.

Hao Ren found a large amount of information about the construction of the virtual world on the equipment in the cave, and it happened to mention Nolan. If he hadn't had a flash of inspiration to check these things, probably no one would have known that Nolan's true identity would be like this.

The Zolm people collaborated with the First Born to build a huge virtual system that could almost 100% simulate the real world. This system consisted of two parts: the biological will of the First Born and the AI part of the mechanical equipment. The biological will of the First Born was the main body of the virtual world. The entire system was actually built in the dream of this ancient creature. The First Born's huge mental power could accommodate billions of humans living in the same dream. The mechanical AI was more like an attachment to maintain the system. It lived in the massive mechanical equipment connected to the First Born. This equipment included the alloy cylinders Hao Ren had seen before and a large number of array servers deeper in the shelter. They monitored the operation of the virtual world at all times and were the sentinels and nannies left in the real world after the Zolm people fell asleep.

As a monitoring system, the mechanical AI was very complex, and Nolan was one of the presentation interfaces of these monitoring programs.

However, she knew nothing about her identity, because the earliest settings had modified her understanding of herself. She was just living in this virtual world, experiencing everything in the virtual world in a human way. All her perceptions were converted into a human perspective by simulated signals—the monitoring system used this method to determine whether the virtual world was still suitable for human survival, and this life as a "probe" was Nolan's mission.

Hao Ren didn't know what Nolan's final mission was in the original plan. This part of the information had been damaged due to system errors. In addition, the Zolm people's "Return to Reality Plan" had long become a bubble, and it was meaningless to pursue the original trajectory of the virtual world. And to be honest, now was not the time to pursue these details.

Under the guidance of the data terminal, Hao Ren quickly directed the autonomous machines to insert a large number of probes into the nerve ganglia of the First Born, strengthening the connection with the latter on a physical level. These connections allowed him to access the First Born's dream without using the hibernation pod. Then he leaned against one of the First Born's tentacles and sat down, trying to get his body as close as possible to the other party's nervous system. Then he said to Lily and Vivian beside him: "Next, I'm going to talk directly to the First Born. You guys take care of me from the side."

Lily jumped up and down and shouted: "Landlord, landlord, what if the cave collapses?"

Hao Ren shrugged: "Then of course we can only run away."

"I thought you were going to say something stupid like 'never retreat until death'," Vivian smiled and leaned down to pat Hao Ren's shoulder, "Don't worry, unless the cave collapses, I will never let anything disturb you."

Hao Ren made a victory sign, leaned his head on the nerve tentacles behind him, and silently said in his heart: "Activate the link."

The vibration and strange noises in the cave receded like a tide, and a piece of darkness attacked from all directions. Then, an unusual burning and dull feeling surged from around him as if to bury him. Hao Ren opened his eyes and saw that he was standing in a dim world.

This was a strange and desolate world, with only monotonous black, white, and gray colors making up everything between heaven and earth. On the boundless wilderness, one could still vaguely see the ruins of buildings that looked like city remains. These things that were once tall buildings now only had bare frameworks and cement debris left. They were like 3D models lacking details and rendering, with simple structures and rough surfaces. The way they were randomly piled on the ground everywhere reflected the bizarre feeling of a dream. There were no sun, moon, or stars in the sky, nor any other obvious light source. Some kind of gray-white mist floated high in the sky, evenly covering the entire earth.

In this rough world lacking details, the only complex thing left was humans.

Humans could be seen lying on the desolate ground everywhere. The clothes on their bodies had turned into smooth rubber-like things that looked like inferior three-dimensional models, while they themselves still maintained the only complex details, which meant that their soul data had not dissipated. Hao Ren casually looked down and saw that the humans lying on the ground were sleeping as if in a beautiful dream. Their expressions were peaceful, with strange smiles on their faces, as if they had obtained eternal peace in their dreams.

This was the euthanasia of the entire world, eerie and creepy.

Hao Ren raised his head and looked around for Nolan's figure. He had accessed this world with her as a springboard, so the latter should be nearby. Just as he was looking around, Nolan's voice suddenly came from the side: "The sky has disappeared, the plants have disappeared, and the colors have also disappeared... The whole world is dying down little by little..."

Hao Ren followed the sound and saw that Nolan had been sitting on a low gray-white block at some point—this block might be a part of a building, but now it only had an uncolored rough model left—she slowly raised her head and looked over here, her voice as if talking in her sleep: "Why didn't I fall asleep like them? Do you know what happened to this world?"

"The darkness before dawn," Hao Ren quickly stepped forward and grabbed Nolan's hand. This action seemed to cheer the latter up a little, "Do you trust me?"

"What else can I do?" Nolan asked back.

"Then open your heart," Hao Ren looked into Nolan's eyes, "I will use your mind as a springboard to talk to the controlling consciousness behind this world. During this process, you will feel that your whole body and mind are being spied on, but I promise you that I will not do anything to your mind. I just need you to establish a connection. It's difficult to explain, so I can't explain it to you. Are you... willing?"

Nolan slowly blinked her eyes. The machine devices in the real world were gradually collapsing, and her thinking was also affected by this, but she finally understood what Hao Ren meant and nodded slowly: "I don't know what to do, so I'll leave it all to you."

Hao Ren nodded and issued an instruction to the on-standby data terminal: "Terminal, open Nolan's login interface and turn on the translation mode."

The moment the last step of the jump was completed, Nolan's body trembled, and then her eyes widened and she fell into a state as if her soul had left her body. At the same time, Hao Ren felt that his spirit was suddenly guided to another huge, indescribable, and almost incomprehensible consciousness.

For the first time in history, a human directly connected his spirit with the First Born.

This was an unprecedented adventure and feat, because no one before could withstand the spiritual power of the guardian. Not to mention direct connection, the mentally strong monks on Holletta only heard the First Born and the guardian giants' dreams and fell into madness. The danger of this connection was conceivable.

However, Hao Ren didn't feel any signs of madness. Although he realized that he was connected to a complex will that humans couldn't understand, this complex will didn't have any hostility.

The First Born was just curiously observing this "little thing" that suddenly connected with itself. From the latter, it felt several familiar things. One was the divinity of the True God, the reflection from Raven 12345, and the other familiar aura contained Source Blood, the Goddess's creation, and... unanalyzable things.

In the hallucination, Hao Ren seemed to see endless light. In the light, there was an amorphous shadow that could not be judged in color and size. He thought this was the First Born, at least the soul form of the First Born that he could understand with a human mind. He tried to talk to this shadow: "Can you hear my voice?"

An uncomfortable silence, this silence seemed to last for a century, and then a voice finally sounded in the illusion space: "Pain."

"Pain?"

"Very painful, very hot..." the voice came from all directions, "Very scared..."

Hao Ren was stunned for a moment. He knew that this voice should be the First Born's thinking, but he didn't expect the other party to be so frank, even frank... like a child.

"You are the guardian of this planet, right?" Hao Ren quickly recovered from his brief shock and said the situation outside in a rapid tone, "I know you are suffering a lot now, but please hold on a little longer. We are trying to..."

He was interrupted halfway through his words. The First Born seemed to be in chaos. Its complex and chaotic thoughts suddenly came from all directions:

"Mom told me to protect my younger brothers and sisters here, but Mom never spoke to me again after that..."

"Mom said the brothers were crazy, she told me to hide the entire ecosystem..."

"In the end, I can only let everything return to the Source Blood, but why didn't Mom tell me what to do next..."

"It's so hot outside, so hot, so hot..."

"I didn't hurt anyone, I was just helping Mom take care of the garden..."

"Why doesn't Mom talk anymore, Mom hasn't talked to me for a long time..."

"I miss Mom, I really miss Mom..."

The First Born's voice was like countless thoughts mixed together and noisy at the same time. The massive amount of thoughts in an instant made Hao Ren's head ache, but before he was about to be overwhelmed by these spirits, Raven 12345's divine blessing suddenly made him regain his clarity. Grasping this moment of clarity, Hao Ren shouted the most effective, and possibly the only effective, sentence in this situation: "I'll take you to find Mom!"

Countless voices sounded at the same time: "Mom?"

"Yes, we are also looking for the whereabouts of the Creation Goddess—that is, your mom," Hao Ren shook his head, "She has some problems and is currently sleeping in the depths of the universe. If you can hold on, I will take you to find your mom."

"You... who are you?" The First Born seemed to finally realize this question.

"Who we are is not important, what's important is that we are here to solve the problem," Hao Ren said quickly, "This planet is falling into the sun, but I have a spaceship that can transfer your brain core out. You keep all your consciousness and the souls of the Zolm people in the brain core... You know what the brain core is, right? It's your thinking core, the place where all memories are stored. I'll take it to a safe place, and that will solve the problem. You won't be burned to death by the sun, you must believe me!"

The First Born's voice was silent for a moment, and when it sounded again, it was with regret: "No, that won't work."

"Why?"

"There is no brain core..."

Hao Ren: "?"