Ruyizhai

There are more pedestrians on the streets of New York than in Paris, and the urban atmosphere is more lively. Joggers and hoverboarders shuttle among the ruins of shelters everywhere. Unlike other cities in Europe and Asia, there are no traces of war here. The reason is that in the early days of the first machine revolution, the American continent became uninhabitable due to frequent volcanic and seismic activities. Humans and machines left the Americas early, leaving only a small number of exploration machines here to carry out environmental sampling. And record work, thanks to this, nuclear radiation failed to touch the Americas, and a large amount of volcanic ash nourished the land, and the crustal plate also found a balance in the continuous adjustment for hundreds of years. By 3030, new humans set foot on the earth again. On the earth, geologists predict that there will not be any large-scale natural disasters in the Americas in the past 100 years, and the entire America has become the most suitable base for people to resume human activities.As for the history of those shelters, it can be traced back to the period of the second machine revolution. At that time, the ally of the machine body in the first revolution, a human organization called the "Federation", split, and there were frequent frictions in Europe. In the end, the Federation lost to the mechanical body and retreated steadily. However, due to the harsh environment of the earth and the spread of nuclear pollution, the Federation split into hopefuls who planned to go to the universe to find new life and those who chose to stick to the earth. Conservatives who build shelters underground and wait for all the radiation and disasters to pass.While the hopefuls continued to study aerospace technology, some conservatives returned to the Americas and built those shelters in some relatively safe cities.As far as Wu Xingchen knows, as of the archaeological discovery ten years ago, there is no human life left in the sanctuary ruins in various parts of America.Human shelters are always filled with lush vegetation and scavenging reptiles in abundance.

In 2788, the earth's electromagnetic force field tended to be unbalanced, and resources were exhausted. A Shepherd spacecraft carrying 660 scientific researchers successfully used super-acceleration technology to jump from the solar system to the outside of the galaxy, and human beings left the earth.The machines also left Earth later in the same year, and the second machine revolution, which lasted 60 years, came to a hasty end.

The mechanical body went away from the Erinius galaxy, which was the farthest from the earth that could be observed at that time, while human beings were looking for an earth-like planet discovered by the astronomical telescope in the extragalactic nebula in the vast universe. In 3010, the last ark of mankind passed through the heavy interstellar dust and approached the center of the Andromeda galaxy, and found the K-star in the dense stars and extremely unstable electromagnetic currents and radiation.

After humans settled down on planet K, they began to name various astronomical discoveries of the Andromeda Galaxy in the same way as the galaxies of the Milky Way.People call the spiral arm where K star is the Orion spiral arm, and the two stars that illuminate K star are called Sun 1 and Sun 2, and the ark that discovered K star was made into a satellite near K star, a Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, a language evolutionist named it Luna, in memory of the moon and the ancient languages ​​lost in the long journey of mankind to find a new home.

When Wu Xingchen drove through the three-story ring road near Central Park, he noticed a stone tablet floating above the park about the establishment of a branch of the college on the earth. It was a solid hand-carved stone tablet with words filled on the moon and In the outlines of Luna, the general idea is that the preparatory students of the college's astronomical observation discipline will come to New York to complete a half-year internship in the next academic year, so as to promote the planning and operation of the college's Earth Branch.Many people were attracted by the stele. They stopped their cars on the road and got out of the car to watch it. Wu Xingchen didn’t get off the car. The stele didn’t attract him at all. He just wanted to go to Broadway as soon as possible. Miscellaneous, get off here and wait for the Social Service Department and the Police Department to kill him within 30 seconds.He has been very cautious along the way, has been in the car, and always pays attention to the traffic conditions displayed on the window. He has not repaired the glass of the rear window, but this damage is not a big problem, and he can still blow the wind while driving , not too bad.No matter the wind is strong or light, it can calm him down.According to Chi Ying, then he was "brainwashed" by the wind, and right now he really wants to wash his own brain, wash away the "I" in his head, throw it away, and let "Wu Xingchen" come back, He needs "Wu Xingchen"'s comprehensive, time-logic way of reading and recalling.He wanted a manual on "how to find Ruyizhai", not a detective on "how to find Ruyizhai".

Although the instruction manual and both belong to the written form with a clear purpose, the instruction manual is to let people understand how something works, and if it breaks, it will also tell you how to repair it. Unfamiliar categories, as far as he knows, fairy tales are for putting children to sleep, adventures are for introducing various ecosystems, comedies are for making people laugh, biography is for recording history, none of these purposes are what he needs most at the moment of.

Thinking of this, Wu Xingchen arrived at No. 25 Broadway, and yes, the writer he was going to visit was Jack Montgomery.Wu Xingchen stopped the car, sat in the car for a while, and didn't get down until there were no more pedestrians on the road, and slipped behind the electronic curtain on No. 25.

If Paris belongs to those obsessed with exploring ancient cities and virtual tours, New York belongs to those who love financial games.Wu Xingchen has never played financial games before. He only knows that this is a hobby developed with the upsurge of returning to the earth. At the beginning, it was only popular among the preparatory students of finance in the college, and then it gradually developed into an adult. In society, there are less students playing these days, all adults relaxing on the clouds in New York.The rules of the game are very simple. A terminal is bound to a game account. Game players are called "traders". Each trader will get a randomly generated number and a randomly matched trader every day. The two traders guess each other. In the game, once the guess is correct, the string of numbers will be stored in the game account of the trader who made the correct guess, and become the game currency. The game currency can be used to exchange for some clouds with more beautiful shapes, and can also be used to change the color of the digital rain .Because the two operators will not communicate during the game, they just input numbers constantly, and the frequent exchange of digital information has caused a lot of pressure on other services of the terminal. Therefore, with the help of several mathematicians and painters, the alliance will This game has been transferred to the sky above New York. After each trader enters the game, the terminal will transfer him to the cloud database in New York, so as to relieve the pressure on the normal operation of the trader's personal terminal. Each operation will be released in the form of digital rain, further relieving the pressure on the flash memory of the terminal.

These digital rains cannot be observed by the naked eye, and when they fall on the human body, the human being is unconscious. Only when people are in contact with other electronic media can people see their true colors with the naked eye.Therefore, most of the billboards in New York are hand-painted works-here has become an advertising paradise and a text paradise constructed by painters, and there are all kinds of creative fonts everywhere.

Wu Xingchen walked to the deck of the huge limestone ship. There was no one on the deck, and the milky white chimney also made of limestone glowed coldly in the sunlight.For the first time, Bai felt a little chill in Wu Xingchen's heart.He rubbed his arms, bowed his head and walked into the magnificent banquet hall.Ten years have passed, and the furnishings in this banquet hall have not changed in the slightest. The crystal chandeliers are still shining, the solid wood floors are polished brightly, and the picture on the ceiling of the steamship undulating in the stormy sea is still brightly colored.

The kitchen, living room, and study room have not changed, except that on the stairs leading to the second floor in the study room, there are no longer portraits of Jack Montgomery of different ages, but some slogans—of course also in creative fonts, here But the paradise of words, here is a writer's home:

Jack Montgomery, heir to the spirit of the immortal Simon Lord!

The eternal beacon of human civilization!

The difference between man and machine lies in: the greatness of words!

The eternal soul writes for all mankind!

Wu Xingchen was walking on the stairs, he caught a glimpse of the muse-patterned tapestry behind the slogan, his eyelids twitched twice, and suddenly felt uneasy, he hurried back to the study downstairs and took a closer look to make sure of the furnishings and accessories here Go back up after it is no different from what you remember, and continue to go up.

It seems that Ruyizhai doesn't like any of the things in this study.

When I arrived at the door of the study on the second floor, there was no one left or right. The door was very quiet, and the door was unlocked. Wu Xingchen gently pushed the door open, stepped in, walked lightly in the study, and spotted a three-tier bookshelf. A book with a blue cover on the table, he went over, took out the book, and a small door slowly opened.Wu Xingchen hid against the wall. After a while, he didn't hear any movement, so he looked into the hidden utility room.

Inside the door, beside the desk, under the candlelight, a mechanical skeleton is writing at the desk.His whole body exudes the black-gray light of the colored minerals.

This is the first time Wu Xingchen feels that the black light looks so warm.

The brain of the mechanical skeleton emitted the strongest light. He also noticed Wu Xingchen, glanced at him, and said, "Why don't you come in and sit down?"

This skeleton voice is exactly like Jack Montgomery.

Wu Xingchen swallowed his saliva and called out, "Jack Montgomery?"

The mechanical skeleton said: "Didn't you just come to find Jack? Why was it so surprising to see Jack?"

Wu Xingchen still stood outside the door without moving, but the lower bones of the mechanical skeleton moved. If he had a human skin, maybe he was putting on a smiling face.Wu Xingchen said, "How do you know I'm here to find Jack? What about others?"

The mechanical skeleton stood up, picked up a leather bag hanging on a hanger behind him, put it on, pulled up the invisible zipper, and said, "What do you think? Will you feel more at ease? Will you believe that Jack is here? ?”

He put on the skin of Jack Montgomery.

A silver-haired old man with piercing eyes looked at Wu Xingchen.

Wu Xingchen was stunned, and said: "Could it be that ten years ago you..." He still couldn't believe it: "Jack Montgomery has always been a mechanical body?"

The mechanical skeleton shook his head with a smile, walked outside the utility room, and said: "After you left, Jack fell ill and passed away soon. Before he passed away, he bought a mechanical body and input Jack's consciousness into it. into that machine."

"It's you?"

Then maybe this mechanical skeleton should be called Jack Montgomery, but Jack Montgomery is a human being. The so-called human is the composite of human soul and human body. Is Jack Montgomery still a human being who has completely lost his human body?Is he a mechanical body?The so-called mechanical body is a composite of the mechanical body and the consciousness driven by minerals. Is a mechanical body with the consciousness of a new human being, Jack Montgomery, still a mechanical body?

Wu Xingchen looked at the existence in front of him, he was a little confused, he couldn't think of what to call him for a while, if he didn't give him a reference, he couldn't think about anything about his existence in his mind, they were like A cloud of gray clogged his head.New humans rely too much on clear concepts, and anything ambiguous and plausible makes them confused and dizzy.Wu Xingchen wiped his sweat, glanced at the books in a study room, and suddenly had an idea, a writer, yes, he is doing the work of a writer!He may not be human or mechanical, but he must be a writer!Let's call this mechanical body with the consciousness of Jack Montgomery in front of me as a writer!

"Why did you tell me this? It should be kept secret, right?" Wu Xingchen asked the writer.

Jack Montgomery, who uses words flexibly and writes for all mankind, has a mechanical body. If it is said, is it okay?How many people have to be made into a cold sweat by this muddled existence like him!

"Jack thought he could tell you about it," the writer said.

"You're Jack, aren't you?"

"You can say that."

"Yes?" Wu Xingchen looked at the writer strangely, "Don't tell me...do you still have the consciousness of being a machine?"

Says the writer: "You need to know that Jack Montgomery is not really Jack Montgomery."

Wu Xingchen was puzzled, and the writer said again: "You have already met the real Jack Montgomery, maybe that's why Jack is willing to confess his current situation to you." The writer glanced at Wu Xingchen's right hand:" Of course, there is also this reason."

Wu Xingchen rubbed his right hand and said, "I'm still a human being." As soon as he said this, he immediately changed his words, "Wu Xingchen is still a human being, and most of his body is human flesh, including the heart that drives his body. , his brain..."

Wu Xingchen's voice softened a little.The writer smiled and asked him, "What are you doing here?"

Wu Xingchen said: "I was looking for a writer to ask something, and I thought of you."

"Oh? Why?"

"Because... because I know some things about you, because I know these things, even if I come to you, you will not easily report to the social service department or the police department. You know that I am a wanted criminal, right? "

"The moment you walked into the electronic curtain, an alarm notification was sent to Jack's terminal." The writer said, pointing to the bracelet, "but Jack immediately notified the police that it was a false alarm, not because he thought you would Make it public ten years ago, after all you were a wanted criminal, been to a war camp, and a thief, your credibility has long since fallen to rock bottom, and people won't believe anything you say except that you'll turn around , but..." The writer paused, sat on a sofa chair in the study, and said, "Talk about your problem first."