Chapter 302 Linglong Group (asking for monthly tickets!)
“I’ll tell you, don’t kill me. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Please don’t kill me.”

Lin Xian’s aura immediately made Tang Yun’s face pale. She seemed to realize her situation at this moment and said quickly: “It was…the organization called Crimson World that brought us here. They said…they said that we can access digital life here, and we can…we can not be affected by the invasion of darkness. We can…we can hide safely and happily in the polar night and wait for the end of the world!!”

“You guys?” Lin Xian’s eyes narrowed: “Besides you, who else?”

“And my husband!”

As she spoke, she finally remembered something, looked around at the center of the hive, and murmured:

“Hubby, where is my husband…”

Tang Yun’s mental state seemed extremely unstable. She was completely unable to control her emotions and kept searching frantically. Fortunately, her survival instinct allowed her to maintain her remaining sanity and she was able to partially communicate.

The long sleep made her almost lose the coordination of her limbs. She tried to stand up, but she kept struggling on the ground and even lost a lot of her sense of direction.

From the other party’s intermittent explanation, Lin Xian learned that Tang Yun participated in this project together with her husband Wen Cheng and several other collateral relatives of the Wen family. As senior members of the Crimson World, they enjoyed extremely high treatment.

They came here to receive the Crimson World’s introduction to the Mycelium Network and Project Zero, and personally participated in the experiment of being briefly invaded by illusion spores, experiencing the joy and magic of entering the illusion consciousness.

The purpose of the Zero Element Project is to use a survival capsule and a special biological isolation device to temporarily access a kind of tenderized mycelium here, allowing consciousness to enter the mycelium network, while maintaining happiness and consciousness while being protected from infection by the darkness of the underground polar night. The entire Zero Element Center remains unmanned for the purpose of absolute secrecy and safety. The isolation device can perform timed blocking according to the active time of the mycelium network to avoid long-term brain overload and the unstoppable growth and spread of the mycelium.

But the problem is, even if the brain is overloaded for only 9 hours, it is not something that ordinary people can bear. The life support device in the survival capsule can’t save them at all. People keep dying in every cycle. The Crimson World has foreseen this situation a long time ago, but in the words of these Adventists, such death is not a real death, but the consciousness has been uploaded. So even if the body dies, it can still exist forever in the mycelium network as consciousness. When the darkness is over, it is entirely possible to reverse the consciousness through genetic cloning technology, achieve “rebirth” or even return to youth!
Therefore, for these Crimson members, whether it is rebirth after avoiding the disaster or eternal life with consciousness, it is an excellent plan to escape doomsday. This is also the reason why the members lying here are basically people over 40 years old.

“Their people said that the mycelium here is a very special life form, more than one level higher than human life. If the brain is connected to the mycelium network, it will not be affected by the invasion of darkness, nor will it be attacked by strange bodies. Therefore, no staff are allowed to exist here. The purpose is to maintain ‘cleanliness’ and create a safe environment. The mycelium network…” Tang Yun’s face was nervous and scared, and her eyes kept looking at Lin Xian: “and… live in harmony.”

“Live in harmony?” Lin Xian laughed when he heard the word, “Does anyone believe this nonsense?”

Tang Yun wrapped herself in the blanket Luo Yang had found for her, sat on the ground and whispered, “They have made multiple emergency plans. They said that our consciousness will not be completely separated, and the intelligent brain will periodically cut off the mycelium network so that we can rest and survive. The second emergency plan is that even if we die, our consciousness will…will enter the mycelium network, survive in an immortal state, and be very happy.”

She looked at the ground with her pupils wide open, and said with a look of longing: “We have all tried it. In that consciousness, we have everything we want: wealth, freedom, sex, power, delicious food, fragrance, touch… all the wonderful feelings, everything we want. That kind of happiness is not the nerve stimulation of drugs, nor is it a false fantasy. It is so real, as if that is the real world…”

“Isn’t that still a fantasy?” KIKI frowned: “I’m still lying there, nothing has changed.”

“No!”

Hearing KIKI’s words, Tang Yun suddenly retorted loudly: “This is different. They are right. If the essence of life is consciousness, then what I feel here in this body is different from what I feel in the mycelium network. There is no difference. I can feel the sweetness, sourness, bitterness, spiciness and saltiness of 60 or 80 years of life in the mycelium network. I can have everything alive. If this is the case, why do we have to worry about the end of the world and fear the night coming?”

“Even if the whole world is destroyed, I will live forever in that world of consciousness, but other people will be truly dead. So, tell me, at that time, who is alive and who is dead? Which side is reality and which side is illusion?”

“But you know that it is an illusion created by the brain. None of this is real!” Luo Yang couldn’t help but respond after hearing this.

“Is this world definitely the real world?!” Unexpectedly, Tang Yun responded immediately: “…There is a saying in Buddhism, a grain of sand is a world, a leaf is a bodhi. Our blue planet, our Milky Way, may just be a neuron point of some cosmic creature. Our whole life is just a flashing conscious neuron signal, right!”

Tang Yun spoke faster and faster, and her thoughts seemed to become clearer and clearer. Blood began to seep from the corners of her bloodshot eyes, and dark red blood flowed out of her nose, quickly staining the blanket in front of her red.

Seeing Tang Yun’s current state, Lin Xian couldn’t help but feel a little startled, remembering the huge shock caused to the scientific community by the massive Digital Life Prohibition Act many years ago, which triggered a tsunami of ideological debate around the world.

Countless people have different views on the concept of “being alive”, and those who support digital life have the same idea as Tang Yun at this moment, believing that the essence of human survival is ideology, and the body is just a carrier. As long as the consciousness can be maintained, replacing the body with a robot, a terminal computer, or entering the Internet is essentially the same. The digital immortality school believes that uploading consciousness is the ultimate form of life continuation, and it may even transcend the limitations of the body.

But the key to the introduction of this ban bill lies in its philosophical dilemma about the definition of life, that is, it is impossible to determine whether the existence of consciousness simulated by data is the same as the human brain’s own consciousness iteration and has the ability to iterate. Therefore, it cannot be regarded as real life, but an AI, whose logic is completely contrary to human morality.

He originally thought that this crimson world was just a gimmick to fool some rich people who still had resources in their hands at the end of the world, but he didn’t expect that they actually combined the theoretical logic of digital life with the characteristics of the mycelium network, had their own perspective on the end of the world, and were unwavering in doing so.

“Oh, there’s no hope.” KIKI shook her head and looked at Lin Xian speechlessly.
“Lin Xian, what do you say we should do?”

“No… No…” Tang Yun was in a daze at this time. She kept trying to struggle to get up from the ground, but because her limbs had not been used for a long time, she didn’t know how to stand at all. She began to say: “I want to go back, I want to go back, my son, my husband, they are also in there, I can’t wake up now!”

“You still want to go in?! 7% of the people in here are dead. You’re lucky to come out alive without your head being devoured by the mycelium.” Lin Xian looked at the mycelium fragments on Tang Yun’s head and thought to himself, wondering what kind of technology this crimson world used to isolate the mycelium from physical invasion of the brain while allowing access to the mycelium network. This is really bizarre.

“Her situation is relatively rare among this group of people. Her mental strength is very strong, so her body has maintained its vitality.” Ding Junyi walked over with a mobile terminal and said, “Other people with weak resistance will not be able to hold on for too long if they allow their brains to overload.”

Lin Xian heard this and said, “It seems that this Crimson World did not tell them this.”

“They did say that.” Shu Qin also said with a complicated expression: “When you die, your consciousness is uploaded and you become an eternal life.”

“Wow.” Luo Yang raised his glasses. “They actually have a perfect logical closed loop. These people are really amazing.”

KIKI stood beside Lin Xian with her arms folded: “Of course, otherwise how could I fool these rich people.”

Tang Yun, who was listening to the conversation, was shocked and said in disbelief: “Impossible!…” As she spoke, she suddenly thought of something, stood up and rushed towards the glass curtain wall, “My husband, my son is still in there!!”

“What’s the name of your husband’s son?” Luo Yang asked.

Tang Yun immediately responded: “My husband’s name is Wen Dong, my son’s name is Wen Jiacheng, and he is born in the same year as… Wen Qi.” As she spoke, she looked at KIKI.

“Found it… Wen Jiacheng, cabin 0912…”

Luo Yang, who was standing by, was holding a mobile terminal. He had already connected to the monitoring center. He frowned and looked at Lin Xian and the others and whispered, “The vital signs show that he has been dead for a long time.”

“What?!” Tang Yun was horrified. “Impossible, absolutely impossible! He was there when I was in there, he couldn’t be dead.”

Tang Yun’s words made Lin Xian have some doubts. He looked at Ding Junyi and said, “Director Ding, do you think the uploading of consciousness has been completed?”

“Yes, yes, yes, it must be like this, it must be like this!” Tang Yun shouted hysterically.

Ding Junyi’s face remained calm and she responded in a calm tone:
“The information I found in the Zero Element Center is not enough to prove that this mycelium network has data transmission and storage properties similar to distributed cloud networks, so I can’t be sure. Even if it is, it is not logically feasible.”

“How to say?”

Ding Junyi said: “First of all, as a dark species, we don’t know the biological logic of this mushroom hyphae. To give the simplest example, the original digital life plan is to simulate neural networks through the super computing power of quantum computers, compress consciousness data into iterable quantum bits, and realize consciousness “upload” and “eternal life”. The underlying operation logic is quantum bits, that is, 0 or 1, while traditional computers use binary bits, that is, 0 and 1. But no matter which one it is, this is the operation logic designed by us humans, so if we really want to realize this hyphae network, then the operation logic of this hyphae network must also be compatible with the neuron operation logic of the human brain. Do you understand what I mean?”

“I see. This is simple. It means that the ‘operating system’ of these alien creatures is different from that of us humans.” KIKI understood it directly.

“Yes, but this is my logic. The boundaries of my thinking are limited by my human identity and the education I have received. Superpowers may cover the field of higher life forms, so my logic is not necessarily correct. However, from a practical point of view, there is another guess, that is, the son she saw was an illusion “simulated” by her brain through calculation. We have experienced this before, so we should understand it.”

Lin Xian frowned when he heard this: “I think I understand.” At this time, Luo Yang, who was searching on his mobile terminal, said again: “That’s not right. I searched several times, and there is no other surname Wen except Wen Jiacheng. The name Wen Dong has never appeared before.”

“What did you say?!”

Tang Yun, who was in a state of confusion, didn’t know where she got the courage from when she heard this. She frantically climbed up from the ground and rushed over to snatch the mobile terminal from Luo Yang’s hand. She kept searching through the information of everyone in it, but she couldn’t find any information about her husband.

Instantly, her face turned paler and paler. She slowly stopped moving her hands and sat down on the ground helplessly. Her mind went blank and she kept muttering, “Impossible…”

KIKI took the mobile terminal back from her hand with a telekinetic move. Lin Xian took it and looked at it, and seemed to understand something.

“It seems that your husband doesn’t completely believe in this perfect plan for eternal life.”

Hearing this, Tang Yun turned around and looked at Lin Xian, trembling all over: “You…what do you want to say?”

As soon as these words were spoken, others immediately understood what Lin Xian meant.

One speculation is that Wen Dong was afraid and fled at the last moment, not daring to enter.

The second possibility is that Wen Dong planned it and deliberately sent his wife and children here, but the reason for doing so is intriguing.

Tang Yun was not a fool. Although her head was dizzy at the moment, she clearly remembered everything that happened after she came here. She recalled her husband’s lukewarm state, which was completely different from her and others, who had doubts, joy, and fantasies after learning about the eternal life consciousness plan. Now that Wen Dong’s name was not on the survival capsule list, she finally came to her senses.

In an instant, all her panic and nervousness disappeared. She collapsed to the ground, her face pale. She didn’t care at all that her private parts were exposed in front of everyone, her eyes full of disbelief and despair.

Seeing this scene, Lin Xian sighed in his heart, turned his head to look at KIKI, and whispered
“He is one of your acquaintances. I will follow your instructions on what to do.”

Judging from what KIKI said before, this woman should not be a bad person. Now she has ended up with a miserable end of lying in a coffin and turning into nutrients for mycelium. Miraculously, she survived and is even dreaming of eternal life. She can be considered a pitiful person. If she was just a stranger, Lin Xian might just plan to let some other convoys that were about to turn north to the Dawn Center take her away. Life and death are determined by fate, but this person can be considered a relative of KIKI’s family, so Lin Xian decided to ask her what she thought.

KIKI nodded after hearing this, but glanced at Lin Xian, as if she had some ideas of her own: “It’s easy to save her, but aren’t you curious about why they came here, and what happened to the Wen family in Jinhai?”

Lin Xian’s heart moved, and he wondered why he suddenly lost his mind. It had to be KIKI, who was always thinking about her family’s property for Lin Xian. If it were in peaceful days, she would definitely be a good wife among thousands!

After the episode, Lin Xian asked someone to bring some hot water and clothes to Tang Yun from the car. After Luo Yang and his companions solved the problem here, they went out to patrol the tunnel, leaving Lin Xian and KIKI behind.

Tang Yun was in very poor health at this time. She did not accept the clothes and hot water that were handed to her. KIKI looked at her, took a deep breath and walked over.

“Hey, we are still in the polar night. Danger can happen at any time. If you want us to save you, at least cooperate. It’s embarrassing to be naked.”

Her hair was disheveled and her face was dejected. She lowered her head and her eyes seemed to have lost their luster. She murmured:
“What’s there to cover up with a few pieces of flesh? Men and women all look the same lying there…”

After saying that, she raised her head and looked at KIKI for a long time before saying
“We all thought you and your father were dead, Wen Qi. There’s nothing I can do to help you. I just suggest you be careful of the Wen family…”

“My surname isn’t Wen, it’s Zhao!”

Tang Yun looked at the clothes and hot water in front of her, her eyes changed, and she said

“I know you don’t have any feelings for the Wen family, but you were able to survive that plane. Maybe this was God’s will…”

KIKI frowned when he heard this and asked warily, “What do you mean?”

Tang Yun took a deep breath: “I don’t know much, but judging from the reactions of your aunt and others after you and your father got into trouble, they…may have known that something bad would happen to you.”

Lin Xian, who was standing by, became interested when he heard this and came over to say

“You mean, his father was killed by a setup?”

Tang Yun shook her head, “I’m not sure. After the apocalypse, Wen Qi’s father took over the power and decided the life and death of the entire family in the doomsday. He used the resources of the construction business and the shipping business to bet on both the Federation and the Phoenix. In addition to the underground city plan, he also planned to give three 3-ton bulk grain commodity freighters directly to Dawn City in exchange for a [Dragon Whale] deep-sea aircraft carrier originally under the Federation and an entire escort fleet for sea escape. In addition, he also cooperated with Silent City and planned to transform an Eternal-class doomsday train at the Jinhai Train Industrial Center for family members to catch up with the Dawn Center along the land route.”

“Oh my god, underground city, sea route, land train, you put all your eggs in so many baskets.” Lin Xian was a little amazed when he heard this.

It has to be said that Linglong Group is also the chosen one, because after the Apocalypse Day, the assets of most of the Fortune 500 companies became nothingness in a short period of time, because money is no longer money.

But some companies are different, such as Jian Xuwei of Finger Group, the one who owns the Silver Star. As a technology group, Finger Group controls transportation, machinery, manufacturing and energy. The assets of the group can be said to be the most popular among the popular ones in the doomsday.

Linglong Group is involved in construction and shipping. The former is relatively simple. Linglong Group will definitely have a place among the contractors of the federal underground city project. Linglong Group also has a security company with armed forces, which gives it extremely high cooperation value and weight in the dialogue with the government.

Not to mention shipping, the shipping business of bulk commodities often starts at 50 tons for a single ship, and Linglong Group, as one of the top ten shipping companies in the world, has more than 410 large and small shipping vessels under its umbrella. Among them, there must be ships transporting food or energy in the doomsday turmoil. These things are very valuable. In the doomsday, food is gold and energy is money. KIKI’s father can mobilize these resources in a short period of time and quickly exchange them with the government or other organizations for benefits before civil unrest, rebellion, and large-scale population extinction occur around the world. From this point of view alone, KIKI’s adopted father can be said to have quite decisive means.

Although the Dragon Whale that Tang Yun mentioned sounded a bit outrageous, Lin Xian knew that the strategic direction of the former Federation, which is now the Dawn City, was to build underground cities, and some of the surface aircraft carriers separated from the Interstellar Army were basically useless and could not fly. 150 million tons of food could at least feed 1000 million people for a year and a half, and even for two years if it was the minimum living needs. It made sense for the former Federation to use the unused surface aircraft carriers to exchange food with the Linglong Group.

“Oh, I understand what you mean.” KIKI perked up: “You mean that your Wen family now has an Eternal-class Doomsday Train Fortress under construction, a Dragon Whale chasing Noah of the Phoenix Order, and a quota for the Underground City Project. All the Wen family resources have been divided into three directions, right?”

“Four strands, right?” Lin Xian spoke at this time, and glanced at Tang Yun who was sitting on the ground: “She is not here.”

Tang Yun shook her head when she heard this and said, “These plans were arranged by your father. But after your father passed away, your aunt Wen Hui was the main person in charge. She immediately canceled your father’s plans and prepared to donate all the resources to Dawn City in exchange for… a seat in the federal parliament. She thought that in this way, the entire Wen family would not have to be torn apart, and the Wen family could continue to maintain their upper-class status in Dawn City…”

“what?”

Lin Xian couldn’t help but frown when he heard this: “Good fellow, you want to kill everyone with one blow, right?”

“Oh my god~” KIKI jumped up in anger after hearing this, gritting her teeth and saying, “What a pig brain! The doomsday has come and she still wants to be a senator and a superior person. I was so excited when I heard about the Eternal Train and the Dragon Whale just now, but she ruined them all?”

“I’m not very clear about the specific situation. I only know that the Eternal-class train has been half-modified… the rest…” Tang Yun said.

“So this is how you guessed that she and her father were set up?” Lin Xian asked.

Tang Yun shook her head when she heard this: “No.”

“The reason why I have such a guess is because I found that my husband and KIKI’s aunt Wen Hui had secretly contacted this deep red world a long time ago.”

“It’s even possible… before the Day of Revelation!”

(End of this chapter)