Novel | Requiem (Virtual World Series No. 3)

1. Overture

Amid the beautiful music, two people are talking in a well-equipped secret conference room. The three-dimensional projection shows a panoramic view of a concert hall, and a young man is playing a piano piece selflessly.

"For geniuses, without that 1 percent of inspiration, that 99 percent of the effort is in vain." It seems that Edison said this. ”

"Totally agree."

"That's right, so I feel sorry for him."

The dialogue continues, and the scene in the three-dimensional projection is reduced to reveal a three-dimensional panorama of the virtual city. System Administrator of the Virtual World Jack. Lee is exchanging views with a commissioner sent by the government, Mr. Chang, on the treatment of prisoners in space. These space prisoners are some newly captured space city criminals, their bodies are placed in a special container, and there are special spaceships to transport away from the earth, the spaceship basically in a fixed orbit, becoming a planet of the sun. The prisoner's body can be far away from the earth, but the human consciousness is still retained in this virtual world, but temporarily loses the memory of the past.

Their identity as "he" in the virtual world is a musician. What was the world like at the beginning of the 22nd century? Where did you come from? Where are you going? For the musician Amo, it seems that it is no longer important. In a garden-style building called the "Temple of Art", he did not know how many years had passed. He is just there constantly creating, constantly generating new inspiration, with a beautiful melody of the music, constantly touching all the souls of the world. Here, singing, dancing and music are all he has. He often walks among the woods of the garden, fishes on the creek, meditates under the waterfall, and captures more inspiration from the sounds of nature. In his works, a variety of natural sounds are fused, and the violin concerto "Flowing Waters of Heaven" floats out of a flowing water-like melody, which is always reminiscent of the dream-like poetic place.

Round dances are also his specialty, and part of the reason he composes those dances is for another person, a woman who makes him obsessed.

2. Asher

Asher, a lonely ballet dancer, when she tiptoed up and spun on the stage, she was like a white swan spreading its wings on a calm lake. She especially loves poetry, and she likes Xu Zhimo's romantic and free verses the most.

"Gently I go, just as I come softly, I gently beckon, as the clouds of the western sky."

Amo liked Asher, and apart from composing music that ignited his passion, there was nothing more fulfilling than seeing Asher's intoxicated look when he listened to the music.

They often wandered together on the garden paths of the garden, feeling the birds and flowers of nature, and this platonic behavior was often accompanied by deeper philosophical discussions, and both Amo and Asher may have tended to think that the exchange of hearts was more meaningful than hot kisses and hugs, and that they were a pair of soul mates.

"Ash, what do you think the world is made of?"

"I think it should be made of atoms, isn't it?"

"No, I don't think it is, at least not here."

"Amo, don't think about it so much, you should listen to the therapist here, we both have amnesia and are cooperating with the treatment, I believe we will get better and one day we will remember everything."

"Ash, just yesterday, I had a strange dream of you dancing on stage, your body dissipating in the process of spinning, and then it disappeared completely."

"Don't say stupid things, I will always be with you, and Asher and Amo will never be separated!"

"Ash, I remember the lyrics of the music you wrote for me."

I'm heart-to-heart with you

Drink the holy spring water together

Rejoice together with sorrow and sorrow

Together forever

For freedom, for truth

Don't give up

Don't give up

In the garden, two young hearts collide.

3. Requiem

"Requiem" is a true masterpiece created by Amo, and since its inception, this piano concerto has been widely circulated in different regions, becoming a kind of existence that can penetrate time and space and break the barriers between different worlds. It is said that the dying will be calmed when they hear the song; the suffering will be comforted when they hear it; the frustrated will gain courage when they hear it; and the sorrowful will ease their inner pain when they hear it.

The music hall in the "Sanctuary of The Arts" is a circular arched building, and many visitors come every day to listen to the music. When the music is played, the dome of the music hall will show a three-dimensional image, and three white angels will fly in the air, as if descending from heaven. Once the music was composed, Amo became the conductor of a virtual band, a band of virtual people playing the pieces through different instruments.

This song is often played as a church hymn, and countless people seem to have obtained the salvation of their souls.

So far, all Amo knows is that it's an atmosphere created by powerful composing software. With his musical talent, he is familiar with the use of this kind of composition software.

"Fantastic, great!" A middle-aged man in a black suit walked up to the bandstand with flowers in his hand, and from his walking posture and straight body, it was clear that he was a soldier.

"I'm a big fan of yours, you can call me Mr. Chang."

"Mr. Chang, I've seen you on TV, and you're the mayor of the City of Angels?"

"Yes, I run the city, and the temple of art is within the city limits."

"I, I'm honored..." Amo didn't know what to say for a moment.

"That requiem just now is so amazing, he is even more beautiful and moving than Mozart's!" Mr. Chang expressed his heartfelt admiration. (Mozart's Requiem, composed before his death, is said to have directly led to the musical genius's death from exhaustion.) ）

"There is also good news, just after learning about your amnesia condition, I am very concerned, and I have introduced you to a new doctor, who has a complete set of the latest recall therapies, I believe it will help you."

"Thank you very much!" Amo felt that he was going to have good luck, the song was very popular, and the illness was about to be cured.

4. Recovered memories

In the rehabilitation center of the "City of Angels", Amo is undergoing hypnotherapy, and the screen of the physiotherapy apparatus shows the progress of memory recovery.

"The memory recovery is complete and the wake-up operation begins."

Obviously, the whole process is under tight control, in fact, the so-called doctor is just an artificial intelligence body, his only job is to ensure that the prisoner's brain does not appear abnormal fluctuations during the awakening process, otherwise it will have to be interrupted and restarted once to avoid causing more serious damage to his brain. The technology of brain science has developed to modern times, and part of human memory information can be suppressed or even cleared.

Yes, he was just a prisoner. He was now soaking in a container filled with gelatinous liquid, like a larva in a cocoon, breaking out of its shell, and when he first opened his eyes to look at the world, he was terrified and struggled desperately. All the plugs that had been all over the nerve endings of his body had fallen off, and the air mask on his mouth had been removed by him, and he began to cough violently, as if he were going to vomit out his internal organs, because all this looked so disgusting.

Remember, think of it all! Countless fragments of memories rushed into his brain at once, causing him a headache.

"My name is Mo Tianming, I used to be a citizen of Space City, and because of my dissatisfaction with the economic policies of the Space City authorities, I joined an underground resistance organization and became the chief technology officer there with my own qualifications, and was a core member of that organization. The soul of the underground resistance is their spiritual leader, a 20-year-old woman named Kurien Koshe who was born into a prominent Kurihara family, known for running high-fidelity humanoid robots. However, she gave up her superior lifestyle and membership as a member of the Space City Management Committee, and gave everything she had to seek the independence and freedom of the space city residents. She shared her famous essay "My Revelation" with all the citizens of the earth through the Chinese space quantum communication frequency band, and then the city management center we controlled was occupied by the robot special forces sent by the earth, and after completing the peripheral clearance, our internal fortifications were quickly breached by them, and finally they used sonic boom bombs to stunned all of us who were still in the command center. We ultimately failed! ”

"Kurien And I had expected this outcome before the incident, but we decided to choose to fight. She had known me before she became a spiritual leader, and it turned out that she was mine... fiancee! ”

Thinking of this, Amo felt a headache again.

"No, it's that face, she's Asher!!! Am I dreaming? He began to shout.

A three-dimensional image appeared before his eyes.

"It's not a dream, you think about it now, it seems that your amnesia treatment has been successful, you should have guessed that you have been living in the virtual prison we have arranged!" Now you have woken up from your dreams. ”

"Is that you?" Mayor Chang?! No, you're not mayor! Who are you? Mo Tianming asked, a look of confusion.

"Actually, you can call me General Chang, I am the one who controls everything behind the scenes, and the sneak attack on the rebels in Space City was also arranged by me."

"Rebels? I remember it all, many of my comrades were killed by the army you sent, you executioner! Mo Tianming gritted his teeth in hatred.

"Don't get excited, it's a resolution of the Earth Federation Parliament, and I'm a soldier and I have to do my duty to implement their resolutions. But I'm also a big fan of yours, and today I'm here to inform you of the good news. Given the wonderful experience that the songs you composed in the virtual space bring to the human race on Earth, we have decided to reduce your sentence, and you will be released immediately, and you can return to Earth, but never to the space city. ”

He went on to say, "The unmanned spaceship you're in is a space prison that carries you felons around the sun, like a comet that rotates the sun every ten years in Earth time." Now it's orbiting close to this side of Earth, so you can quickly return to Earth. ”

Mo Tianming turned his head and looked around, on his left and right sides were placed countless huge cocoon designers like him, through the faint light, a person's body could be faintly seen in each container.

"Which one is Asher?" He thought to himself.

"Don't look for it, her sin is heavier than yours, and she has to stay here for the rest of her life." In that Space City incident, she was the main culprit, and you were only coercive, so we could get you a reduced sentence or even early release. You are so talented, your musical works are already famous all over the world! ”

"If I can't be with her, I'm not going anywhere!" Mo Tianming said firmly.

"I'm sorry, Amo, you can't do that!" General Chang's virtual image disappeared.

5. Earth

Mo Tianming felt that the cocoon describer he was in began to vibrate, and another three-dimensional image appeared in front of his eyes, that is, the location of the earth and the destination landing site.

The liquid in the container he was in began to turn pale blue, and more and more, and finally filled the entire container. He could breathe in the liquid now.

"Attention! Deep Sea mode is activated, and the return capsule is ready to pop up. ”

It turned out that this was in preparation for the impending overweight and violent shock, and his "return capsule" was soon ejected and flew to Earth.

The re-entry module was captured by the gravitational pull of the earth during the flight change, and in the process of rapid descent, the entire container became a fireball, the built-in AI activated the anti-gravity device at an altitude of 5,000 meters above the ground, and the return capsule finally landed very smoothly at a certain location on the earth, which was a square on the outskirts of Shanghai, and the property belonged to the headquarters of the Shanghai Earth Federation Council.

As he stepped out of the return capsule, he was paralyzed on the ground due to a momentary inability to adapt to the gravity of the Earth. At this moment, an ambulance appeared in front of his eyes, and a man who looked like an official stepped out of the car with two soldiers.

"Mo Tianming, on behalf of the Earth Federation Council, I hereby announce to you your pardon order."

After going through the necessary legal procedures, Mo Tianming was freed, and at the same time he knew that he was still being watched by the focus, and it was impossible to see the Chestnut Garden Lodge who was still on the prisoner's ship.

"But I will try to see Ashher again, she is my spiritual pillar, even if it costs my life!" He made up his mind secretly.

Of course, as a former CTO, he has his means, but he can no longer access any high-end network hardware equipment. He only had that song in his heart, and it would never go away.

"Don't give up, Amo and Asher will never be separated!"

6. The Sound of Death

Mo Tianming walked alone on the streets of the new Shanghai City, and found that there was no big difference between the streets of the New Shanghai City and the Space City, but the area of the New Shanghai City was so large that he could not imagine, compared with the previous century, the area of the city was expanded tenfold, even Suzhou and Changzhou were included in the jurisdiction of the New Shanghai City, they were connected into a huge super city, there was no so-called rural road in this city, the original rural area, It has been replaced by a large number of elliptical or hemispherical steel structures of the new urban area, and the edge of the city is a giant mahogany forest planted by artificial planting, the spider web of magnetic levitation roads in all directions, and countless wheelless suspension cars shuttle through the roads. At night, the buildings are suspended with changing three-dimensional three-dimensional neon advertisements, which make them like colorful Easter eggs embedded in the earth, and also like giant cocoons that imprison human beings.

The total population of a city on Earth has exceeded the population of the entire space city combined. So, how do you survive in a world of hundreds of millions of people? Mo Tianming strolled on the Bund, and the Oriental Pearl Tower in the distance had long lost its former luster, he thought as he walked.

"Are you the great musician, Mr. Amo?"

A gentle man's voice came from behind him.

"My name is Mo Tianming, how do you know the name I use in the virtual world?"

"Oh, for us, music travels through time, no matter where you created it. We have been working for the Franciscan Church, arranging important religious ceremonies and so on. So when we learn that you have been released, we will come and find you immediately. Your "Ode to the Virgin", and that "Requiem", are simply god's works given to mankind by heaven! ”

"What can I do for you?" Mo Tianming asked bluntly.

"We just need you to play those songs of yours for us personally on important religious holidays. There are also weddings or funerals arranged for important believers, and you are also invited to participate in the performance, and the whole world recognizes your talent, so the rewards are also very rich! ”

"What, even the church has to engage in this kind of tacky business operation?" Mo Tianming secretly thought in his heart, although the boss in his heart was unwilling, but after all, this was a good job, and it would be difficult to avoid it in order to survive.

Whenever the sound of that day was played in the church, all the people were deeply intoxicated.

Through his own efforts, he quickly became famous and became recognized as a great musician, and he conducted live concerts that were often hard to find. Most importantly, through church connections, he also obtained a set of advanced artificial intelligence surgical instruments, allowing his most reliable friends to find and remove the miniature tracker that parasitized him, so that even the government and the military could not grasp his whereabouts. In the eyes of a senior programmer, a high-end quantum computer is the most effective weapon. Mo Tianming's talent for programming was even higher than his musical talent, and he quickly showed both talents at the same time, and in an unusual way.

"What? Do you want me to perform euthanasia for you in the Requiem? ”

"Yes, it is only in that piece of music that I can get a complete rest of my soul." A parishite looked at him very calmly.

"But you have to know that in the virtual world, the so-called soul of human beings is like a piece of code, and if I delete your consciousness, your body will really die in the real world, and there is no chance of regret at all." 」 As a former chief technology officer, Mo Tianming knows exactly what he can do, but he is not willing to use his talent to kill people.

"That's exactly what I want, and I implore you to do that, and I'll hand over all my estate to you, $1 billion worth of Bitcoin."

"Are you insulting me? It's not a question of money at all! My Requiem is comforting, not a murder weapon! His face flushed with gas.

"In the real world and the virtual world, all I feel is the nothingness and despair that life cannot bear. Ten years ago, my wife and daughter were visiting Space City when they were killed in a war. They said it was a collateral injury and only gave me some pensions, such bastards! Confession to God can no longer save me, I just want to see them in heaven now, so please understand me, please! When he finished speaking, his parishionest fell into tears and fell to his knees on the ground.

"Well, I'll help you!" When he heard about the brutal war in Space City, Mo Tianming suddenly changed his mind, because he knew that he himself was partly responsible for it.

Halfway through the melancholy tune of Requiem, Mo Tianming started some kind of program he had compiled on the piano in the virtual world, and in that beautiful melody, a white light covered the person's body, and the parishioner's body was instantly reduced to dust. Subsequently, his soul rose into the air like several glowing balls guided by the light of heaven.

A few seconds later, a physical body in the real world stopped beating.

7. The last encounter

"Yes, to extract the DNA, in that virtual world, he could create some kind of logic bomb to destroy the DNA provider's code!" But so far, I think he's just helping others commit suicide, and it was his Requiem that triggered this weapon, what a fascinating way to die! "The System Administrator of the Virtual World, Jack. Lee is reporting the incident.

"I can't allow music to be used as a weapon there!" Find him out, and this time I'm going to interrogate him personally! General Chang looked frustrated.

"We tried to track him, but it didn't work, his signal was faintly visible in different places, and it seemed that he could already block our tracking."

"Contact me digital force commander Huang Chao 23 and let him solve it!" General Chang suddenly thought of a man.

For more than two years, in order to be able to see Asher again, Amo made a careful plan, and he used different false identities to log in to the virtual world's servers many times, hoping to find a way to enter the City of Angels in order to see Asher as soon as possible.

Fingerprints, voices, irises, these identities can be forged, the only thing that can not be changed is the DNA on his body, that is, each person's unique genetic information code, if the virtual world of electronic hounds have a sharper sense of smell, or can quickly track him.

Only senior personnel and government secret service personnel of the company that developed the online game software "City of Angels" know the location of this secret cyberspace, and it is possible to enter it as a tourist to participate in the game through a layer of encrypted firewall system. Through the relationship of the church, Mo Tianming did know such a programmer involved in the debugging of the game, and through him got an unfortunate news.

Asher is suffering from leukemia and has not lived more than three months!

It turned out that the physical body of the real world suffered from various diseases, which also had an impact on the consciousness in the dream, and in a prisoner's spaceship, there was no better medical condition that could be provided to cure this terminal illness except for some injections. In other words, both Asher's physical body and consciousness in his dreams are dying.

After changing his identity several times and changing his path, Amo evaded tracking and entered the city.

After crossing the last barrier between them, the wall outside the garden of the Temple of Art, he met her!

"Asher?!"

Ash's face was pale, she was wearing a white down jacket and a nylon hat on her head, and she sat on the ground against a pear tree, with holy spring water flowing from the stream next to her.

"You're back, I know you'll be back!"

"Yes!" They snuggled up to each other and sat together.

"I'm sick, my hair is about to fall out, it must be ugly!"

"No, you're like an angel in heaven today, do you remember this?" Amo had a handful of hair in the palm of his hand, and a red ribbon was tied to it.

"This is your keepsake to me!"

"Yes!"

They talked a lot together, and Ashley's lost memories were quickly restored, and to Amo's surprise, she still seemed calm when she learned that she had gone through so much suffering.

"The revelation I share with you is actually the dream of all the citizens of the entire Space City, and the common hope of all mankind on earth. It allows humanity to truly recognize itself, stop the cruel plunder and mutual harm, and walk together to the more distant starry sky. For me, my body is imprisoned, but my mind is free. ”

Ashher struggled to say every word, and Amo listened quietly.

"Just take a break, don't think too much about it." Amo said bitterly.

Then there was the roar of a helicopter in the air, interrupting their conversation.

"The suspect below listens, you're already surrounded. Mo Tianming, immediately put your head in your hands and lay me on the ground, we are about to arrest you! ”

Digital Force Commander Huang Chao 23 was shouting at the bottom with a loudspeaker.

"I know who you are, you were the commander of that Space City raid, you were just a tool of killing they cultivated, go back and tell your master, I'm not afraid of him!" Amor roared at the sky.

"Amo!" Ashler screamed and began to gasp, and it was clear that she was no longer able to do it.

"It's time, Ash, will you come with me and be my bride?"

She nodded softly and buried her head in Amo's arms.

Amo took out a music box, and when he opened it, the melody of the requiem floated out, and in the music box there was a crystal ball with snowflakes falling in it, and a ballerina in a white dress was spinning on her tiptoes.

"Beautiful!" She murmured softly.

A strong white light emanated from the crystal ball, and the two of them instantly turned into dust. The helicopter in the air hurriedly made a evasive maneuver.

"Logic Bomb !!!"

Then, there was a faint speck of dust that shone up and drifted toward the sky. The souls of the two of them are together forever!

The afterglow of the requiem still echoes in the city of angels, as if all the souls of the virtual world have been washed away, the ugliness has disappeared, the holy spirits have taken root everywhere, and the flower of freedom has begun to bloom, heralding the birth of a new era.