"You're crazy," Jules said, her anger palpable. The scope of the "Dead Zone" is approaching them. This is really not a good time to have an argument. In response, Ji Xun bowed his head to her humbly.
"Thank you for your help, Jules." He said, "When I realized that the intelligence I obtained from you was seriously wrong, I had to adopt a costly emergency strategy to get out of danger. This is a need for micro-control. method of high-frequency weaponization, so I lost it before disengaging. That also meant I lost the jammer and targeting algorithm. It was a lesson worth reflecting on, and I think I was a little too much in this matter. Eager. And, based on my current speculation, maybe someone played a not-so-kind joke on me."
"We don't have time to waste talking nonsense," Jules said sternly, "Look around you! We are being driven to death!"
"Maybe you can try asking to cancel it." Ji Xun suggested.
Jules certainly seems intent on doing just that. She had reached out to Jin Ling, but suddenly she stopped again. Ji Xun observed her performance - he already understood the difficulty of this matter.
"There are three limitations to the use of the wishing machine: understanding, presentation, and description." He pointed out, "The wishing machine cannot be asked to achieve something we cannot describe. Jules, we haven't figured out these constraints yet. What is ours.”
Jules is still trying. At first she just meditated, but soon she abandoned this method, which might not be acceptable to the Divider, and spoke to the Golden Bell as the people of the city did every night.
"Eliminate the threats that surround us," she said.
The golden bell is silent.
"Keep us safe," she tried in another direction.
Nothing happens.
"Let's get out of here."
They were unable to determine whether this request was fulfilled. Perhaps this machine did move them for a moment when they made a wish, but it still left them trapped in this undefined "dead zone".
"Give me a glass of water," Jules said.
A glass of water immediately appeared at her feet. The cup is a transparent cylinder with perfect proportions. Jules kicked over the glass of water in annoyance.
"Tell me what the problem is." She softened her tone, as if she were talking to a living person. "Tell me what is surrounding us?"
Something did happen. Some signs of trance showed in her muscular reactions. But this madness disappeared as quickly and without a trace as it appeared. When she returned to reality, the blankness and annoyance in her eyes showed that she had failed to achieve her goal - informing and understanding are never the same thing. She continued to try, so much so that for a while she seemed crazy.
Ji Xun stood aside and watched her quietly until she gave up completely. It's not that he did nothing. In this less than ideal situation, the thread that occupied very little resources has been separated from the "Mystery of Chixian". He used the few resources he had saved to imagine Toba's presence. This is a strange thing. In the scene he simulated, the dramatist did not seem particularly happy. "Revenge" is a quite complex emotional mechanism. He also noticed that the tightening of the "dead zone" was accelerating.
Jules turned to him, defeated. But unlike her offspring, she does not lose her composure in rage. After she looked at Ji Xun carefully, her voice sounded completely calm and controlled.
"We have some wrong impressions about you, Mr. Ji Xun." She said frankly. "When we first contacted you, you made us feel that you have a... straightforward and decisive style."
"I tend to solve problems efficiently." Ji Xun replied.
"You hid important information from me, Mr. Ji Xun. It is precisely because of your deliberate arrangements that we are trapped here. I am not saying this to accuse. As you said, what is really important is to solve the problem. "
"Yes." Ji Xun agreed. He still stood there, as if waiting for Jules' next words. But Zhu Er also seemed to be waiting for his next words, so they could only look at each other. Until the end, the immortal man showed a helpless smile.
"You are threatening me, Mr. Ji Xun."
"I didn't intend to do this." Ji Xun declared, "For me, Zhu'er, the way to solve the problem is for you to bring me here. You completed the most difficult thing for me after losing the jammer information. A job. I never intended to get anything else from you."
"So what do you think of our current situation? It's hard for me to believe that you went through so much trouble just to get us into such a suicidal predicament."
"I'm thinking of countermeasures."
"You showed no such active effort."
"Perhaps my way of thinking is different from what you understand. Jules, my thinking is multi-threaded. In fact, since you appeared in front of me, most of my threads have been calculating a set of flexible enough expression formulas. .I only reserve a small part of my resources to deal with external affairs, like the conversation we are having now. You are talking to one of my threads, which is not to say that I am dealing with you, but in terms of the overall configuration, it constitutes my The strategy group as a whole is arranging to find a countermeasure. Once we enter the calculation center, the dangers that will appear in front of us will be random - at least, it will be random from our perspective, so I have to start over according to the situation Now I'm doing my best to do this, and leaving an extra thread to keep interacting with you won't be much less efficient. I want to keep at least a minimum level of attention to you, and I think you understand my caution. "
"It's like you never took us seriously."
"This is not the correct interpretation." Ji Xun stated flatly, "If you want to look at it from a pure efficiency perspective, there is no moral component in this matter. Regarding you or your child, it does not affect my decision-making. If you want a true answer, it’s that you are not adapted to the times. There is no need to preserve paths that are impossible to succeed.”
"Is this what you really think?"
"Yes, Jules. But you can put away the weapon hidden in your clothes. There is no need to reserve your system and ideas. That does not mean that I will devise some way to kill you. Wait for me Finish what you need to do, and I can let you go."
"This is a very contradictory statement."
"It's not contradictory." Ji Xun said in a gentle tone, "It's just irrelevant."
The annoyance completely disappeared from Jewel's face, and her free hand reached out of her coat pocket. At this moment, she began to stare at Ji Xun with some surprise and suspicion.
"you……"
"I'm not an information agent - but if you think about this carefully enough, Jules, even in your time, you will find that the line between machine and life is very blurred. It is not a special An imperceptible problem. In fact, although you have failed to create a truly infinite structure, I noticed that you are very close to the information collective mind. If you had enough resources at that time, perhaps a new mind would be born from the computing center .This has happened more than once in the organization you are planning to join. There is so much unknown information for you in this era, and once the cosmic censorship here disappears, I don't think you or your colleagues will cause any Risk. The first thing you have to do is just survive this era."
"Your new era is an era of chaos," Jules repeated, "an era of complete chaos."
"Did you never imagine that the universe would usher in such a new era?"
"I thought it would be pretty much the same as before - that's what cycles are like, Mr. Ji Xun. But I think I should congratulate you on having more choices. Anyway, there is a gift from us. Yes. Our remaining strength has paved the way for a new era, and I hope the expedition will go even further."
Jules stepped back. She began to move away from Jin Ling, and moved closer to the edge of the "Death Zone". Ji Xun stared at her actions, wondering whether she would jump into the undefined dream of death. If he wanted, he could get her thoughts by analyzing her brain waves, but it wouldn't be worth it. That requires calling too many devices and threads. He is indeed concentrating his resources on more important things - finding out the definition of "Dead Zone" - or figuring out how to survive - it is almost impossible to control a activated three-level wishing machine in such a short period of time. Hopeless, unless using a higher level machine. But in the small thread he had freed up, Toba's simulated data was roaring. No, it doesn't give her any chance. It demands vengeance rather than compensation. He had no choice but to assist, which was his duty as a partner.
"You left no gift," he said.
"You can keep that view. I'm not going to make a merit argument."
"This is not just opinion - I have noticed many clues long before you arrived, Jules. This is also something we have talked about, I told you that the origin of the expedition is not important, it cannot be from To you, because you got the order completely wrong."
What? - Jules moved his lips silently.
Data Toba let out a horrifying laugh.
"Higher-level wishing machines are compatible with lower-level infinite machines." Ji Xun explained under the urging of the vengeful spirit, "When you asked this wishing machine to escape, it did not take you there. The next era. Imagine that you are in a primitive universe that has just been born. All the resources that need to be brewed and deposited have not been completed. Even changes in space density and certain constants will kill you. It determines that you cannot be in the new world. The era must survive, so it decides to take you to escape to the upper reaches of history. In terms of performance, it can easily reset history and turn you into a group of time travellers, but that must be with the permission of a more advanced wishing machine. Unfortunately, such a wishing machine did exist before your time, a machine that reached at least Level 4, and its user requested to maintain the stability of the current historical line. Therefore, when your wishing machine comes to this It was accommodated in the form of cosmic censorship, a star layer that is forever in a state of collapse and cannot be observed by the outside world - I think this is why you are always falling away from the outside."
Ji Xun picked up the overturned cup. Clear water rose from the bottom of the cup, and his desire to test was fulfilled. Before the official crackdown attempt could begin, he used a magnet mounted under his skin to pull Jules back to the center of the platform.
"We can explain it this way," he said briskly, "For this era, you may also be a potential future, a final ending that may happen. I cannot absolutely deny the connection between you and me, because if If things go wrong enough, our descendants may think they are the only successful advanced civilization in the universe."
