sin of lumen

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"These should be indicator lights, one for each disk," Lu Ting broke the silence, suppressing the disordered breathing, and glanced at the server in front of him that was a head taller than him, it was a little hot , the heat image is tangible, burning Lu Ting's face, "The three colors, red, yellow and green, should have different meanings?"

Without saying a word, Dun Mochi had already pulled out half of a nearby disk, the original green light was extinguished, and he carefully wiped off the thick layer of dust accumulated at the end of it.A fingernail-length barcode was revealed.

"I'll scan." Lu Ting rolled up his cuffs, facing the scanning hole on the wristband.The result popped up almost instantaneously, floating above the wristband glistening blue, which was a person's basic information.

The owner of this disk—let’s call it that for the time being—is a young Caucasian woman with a gentle smile in the photo. Her name is Amorie. She was born in July 2080, so she should be 7 years old now.According to the data, she has met the health standards in all physical indicators. She used to live in the Central Special Zone. She is a pianist and has won many related awards.

It is the No.18 batch, which is the most recent group of Mars immigrants.

Lu Ting lowered his hands a little stiffly, and the information sheet was closed, and Deng Mochi inserted the disk back to its original position.The green light came on again.

That's a small blob of light, and this disk is only a small part of the server.Perhaps it should not be called a server in the ordinary sense. Its four walls are all interfaces, and all the disks are plugged in. "There are 256 on this side." Lucy counted.

Then the number of disks managed by this "server" may be thousands.

"Can you monitor how many servers there are?" Lu Ting asked.

"Sorry, the signal is too messy," Lucy's voice faltered, "I think there are hundreds of them. If you can replace me with a more powerful CPU, I can give a more specific answer."

You should stay in the bracelet, Lu Ting thought, I know there are many, if this one is the home of about a thousand people, then more than 40 people... there are at least four hundred.

Are they really all dead?

The information left in this world is like a piece of paper.Lu Ting suddenly found it ridiculous, it was a kind of absurdity full of bone-chilling chills, in this federation, a short line of barcode is really meaningful, it can be used to mark a person's birth, and can also define a person's death.

Deng Mochi walked a few steps forward quietly, came to the head of another server, selected a disk with a red light on it and pulled it out.Lu Ting scanned again, and the information popped up was a gray-haired black man who used to work in Xingu Hospital and was a professor of cardiovascular disease.

"I know him." Shu Rui said suddenly, "It's my teacher."

Lu Ting's wrist trembled, and he held his breath and looked at Fa Xiao.

Shu Rui stared at the slightly trembling, friendly smiling face on the ID photo, and said slowly: "I gave him a cardiopulmonary function physical examination. Six years ago, he was in the eighth batch. I was still in graduate school, and others didn't trust me, so I wanted the chief physician who was in charge of this area to do it, and the teacher and his family chose me."

"Have you been in touch recently?" Lu Ting asked with difficulty.

"He passed away. He said it was pneumonia. The funeral was held more than two years ago." Shu Rui bit his lips. "It's funny. At that time, I wanted to go to Mars to pay my condolences. The Immigration Bureau didn't provide a round-trip travel program, so I was very worried." .”

Lu Ting saw his weakness, but didn't know how to comfort him.The reality is too heavy, they are gradually seeing it clearly, it is like sweeping away the floating dirt from the tip of the nose of a dormant monster, or like a corner of a mountain being pried open, and the few of them huddled in that crack, not knowing when the iron rod for prying the mountain will break .But that mountain really exists, there is no escape, and the monster will wake up sooner or later. The huge shadow blocks the lucky sunlight, and they have already seen it.

Deng Mochi said: "The ones with green lights are alive, and the ones with red lights are dead, so there is no need to provide communication services."

"What is that yellow?" Lu Ting stared blankly at the whole patch of light spots in front of him, "The yellow is the least."

"It's on the phone." He Zhen said, "It's written here."

Lu Ting raised the flashlight to illuminate the position he was pointing at. In the upper left corner of the server side, there was a small iron plate marked with red, yellow and green legends by electroplating.Red and green are exactly what Deng Mochi speculated, and yellow does mean that this disk is working, which means that its "owner" is talking to someone.

Watch it quietly for a few seconds, and from time to time, the green light turns yellow, and some yellow dots turn back to green.

"Someone is picking up and hanging up the video..." Lu Ting murmured.They still firmly believe that it is their distant relatives and friends who are talking to them, and they feel comforted and warmed by it.

"It's really creative." He Zhensheng laughed a little.

Shu Rui rummaged through the green disk without saying a word, wiped the dust messily, and scanned it with his wristband.When he found the fourth one, he stopped, "I also know this person," he pointed to the information sheet, and said word by word, "It's my senior sister. It's the same batch as the teacher."

That is also an excellent doctor, Korean, 28 years old, specializing in cardiovascular diseases.

"Call her." Deng Mochi looked at him and said.

Shu Rui was stunned, "Okay." He forcefully inserted the disk back into the interface, and then dialed the communication code on the bracelet.They were connected soon, and the green light spot also turned into fluorescent yellow. According to the communication regulations of Fireland, they have a maximum of 6 minutes of talk time.

"Hi," Shu Rui looked at the familiar face in the light curtain, "Sister Huizhen."

"Are you...?" The woman in the video has her hair tied high in a bun, behind her is a closet, a sink and a stove.

"It's me," Shu Rui took off the mask, and put the wig behind his ears, "I'm so sorry."

"Xiao Shu?" Hui Zhen smiled, "Long time no see!"

"Are you cooking?"

"That's right, today I'm making stewed beef brisket with potatoes..." Huizhen still said with a smile, "What about you?"

"I'm with my friends," Shu Rui pulled Lu Ting into the camera range, and then called He Zhensheng in with a wink, "Did you see them?"

Huizhen seemed a little hesitant, as if she didn't want to stay on the topic of friends. She cut potatoes on the chopping board, and then talked about her delicious beef brisket, "I really want to make it for you to try." On her apron There were also a few drops of water splashed, so clear that you could touch it with your hand.

"Senior Sister," Shu Rui collected himself, "I don't know what to say..."

"Huh?" Hui Zhen raised his eyes.

"You are no longer here." Shu Rui's eloquence in the past was gone, and he looked like a child who made a mistake. "Do you know about this?"

Huizhen seemed to be stuck, but it was only for a second, and tenderness and understanding immediately returned to her face, "I'm not on the earth, of course I know."

"I mean, you're dead."

Huizhen stuck again, and it became more obvious, "What's going on?" She asked, "What's going on? What's going on?" She had the same expression and the same tone again, To keep repeating this sentence is like a machine that has been given wrong instructions to repeat a meaningless process, which appears hysterical and full of blame.Until Deng Mochi pulled out the disk and the video stopped abruptly, the words seemed to be still lingering in his ears, lingering.Was her dream awake at all, she was just turned off.

The silence began again.Four people who were too young encountered something too incomprehensible.

Shu Rui leaned against the side edge of the server, panting heavily.

Deng Mochi sat down on the spot, took out his laptop from his bag, plugged in a disk and started to analyze, his eyes were sleepy, a little tired.Lu Ting probably understood what he was going to do. At present, it seems that memory can be stored, and so is human consciousness. They are programmed into a certain program, together with the voice and appearance of that person before life, so it becomes so simple to copy a living person .Chatting between people is nothing more than about memory or the status quo. Who would have nothing to say "you are dead"?And the scene on Mars is so simple, and the response of the code is so accurate—as long as the images are impossible to touch, and the contact is limited to a few fixed and quantitative conversations every week, the flaws will be almost impossible. does not exist.

A person "lives" in the disk, and can even live, grow old, sick and die according to the arranged plot.What is reflected in reality is only the color change of a small light spot on the disk.

However, what is certain is that as long as there is a program as a carrier, Deng Mochi can take it apart down to the bone. He has successfully separated the project file of the AI ​​program. There are tens of thousands of lines, and the sliding is not smooth.

Lu Ting squatted aside, looking at the screen and the expressionless Deng Mochi, his mind seemed to be experiencing a severe load, which directly affected his language function. "Boss, boss," he said almost guiltily, "Lucy recorded everything just now, both video and audio, and I'll send it to you right away."

Dun Mochi didn't respond.

"I think we can use this as a bargaining chip, as well as the signal pathways and human activity signs we analyzed before, just to let my dad know that we can make it public at any time," he nervously pressed on his wristband , select the freshly saved file, "Then he didn't dare not listen to us, and sent the No.19 batch up. Let's stabilize him first. Because if it is directly exposed, the whole world will be in chaos... it will be immediately Start dead."

Deng Mochi stopped typing on the keyboard and looked up at Lu Ting.His face was hidden under the mask, presumably lacking change.But his breathing was a little fast.

Lu Ting closed his mouth.He didn't know whether he hesitated to speak or was speechless.The sea of ​​light spots makes one unable to bear to look closely. Is life so easily deprived and condensed?Then it is stored in the densely packed solder joints on the chip with high density and high efficiency, and is installed in the disk.All these devices, including those servers with excellent performance, also have a limited lifespan. Even if the traces of maintenance are still there, and the maintenance responsibility list is hung under the legend plate, they will always be crushed by the violence of time.

It's like people have life and death...it's ridiculous, can this be the same?

His father was probably hoping that time would pass and the immigrants would have reached a reasonable age to die, so they wouldn't have to bother maintaining the machines.

Don't think about it anymore, at least not now, Lu Ting warned himself.The world surrounding him fell into dead silence, only the singing and music continued, up and down, far and near.What is it singing?Lu Ting could only understand a little Italian, but his strict art education since he was a child reminded him that he had heard this passage before, which was the second act of "Rigoletto", adapted from Hugo's play.

Then he heard sobbing, turned around and saw that Shu Rui was covering half of his face, wiping back and forth in vain.His tears couldn't seep through the mask, and he didn't know what he was wiping, and he was not used to showing weakness in front of Fa Xiao, so he walked out of the corner quickly, chasing He Zhensheng to find the exit - he must not return the same way, the opera house is very You will soon find out that the famous actress is absent, and you may call the police, but the door lock can only be blocked for a while. Even if the security door that requires iris fingerprints will not be opened for the time being, the large number of people can hide outside the door, waiting for the rabbit, not hurrying. Given time, they might still be trapped in this deep underground machine grave.

Lu Ting got up, left the previous pistol beside Deng Mochi, and chased after Shu Rui side by side.His idea was to find a breakthrough at the top of the cave.The inclination angle of the side wall is relatively friendly. Using the hook lock should be able to barely climb up. Since the singing can be transmitted from the top, at least some parts will not be so thick. Maybe a piece can be blasted and returned to the ground directly from the theater.

He believed his experience was the best of the four in estimating the explosive yield.

"Huh," Shu Rui sniffed, "Most things in the world really won't be soft-hearted to us."

"...Don't put too much pressure on yourself. You were cheated when you gave them a physical examination." Lu Ting patted him on the shoulder. "Besides, the biggest liar is my own father. I really am," He smiled, because it was hard to say against his will, and he didn't feel ashamed, "I really don't know what to think."

"Is it the same? I can't imagine how I would feel if my dad did it. Anyway, he died so early," Shu Rui pretended to be relaxed, "It's hard to understand each other about this kind of thing."

"En." Lu Ting finally saw He Zhensheng's back clearly.The man had already tied a rope around his waist and was hanging himself to the top of the cave.

"Yeah." Shu Rui also said.

Lu Ting glanced back again, in a flash, he just wanted to see.Dun Mochi was very blurry in the dark, only the strange face was illuminated by the screen as a bright spot.

Turn the corner again and he will lose sight of him.

Lu Ting stopped suddenly, "You go first!" Before he finished speaking, he ran back quickly.He felt that he couldn't leave, even though Dun Mochi didn't say a word, he still sat there quietly, but he just had this strong feeling that he had to go back.

"Boss," he squatted back to Dun Mochi's side, "what's the matter?"

"Why did you leave?" Deng Mochi asked unexpectedly.

Lu Ting couldn't understand: "I'm going to get the explosives and I have to go out from above—"

"I'm done with the report." Deng Mochi interrupted him.

"What report?" The strange feeling was still there, and Lu Ting suddenly felt that the words just now did not come from Deng Mochi's tone.It was as if they were all quiet, and the quietness on Deng Mochi's body just now was indescribably depressing and weird.

"Summary report. Contains all the details and all the evidence." Deng Mochi said, connecting the computer to the server, on the socket of the empty disk, and the server was connected to the tower, and connected to the signal all over the world.To say the least, at least the people who are talking to the yellow chip can definitely receive it, so it will spread in an instant.

"You want to send it directly?"

Deng Mochi stopped talking, and tapped the keyboard a few more times, then put the laptop on his lap aside, panting violently against the server, as if he had just finished something beyond his tolerance too quickly, and now he has to Do not let go of your strength.The screen shows that the process has started, the communication line of the signal tower has been cracked, the data of that report is being compressed and transmitted, and the filtering conditions for receiving objects are... no conditions.

Lu Ting had never read any program so fast before, and he quickly realized that he could stop this runaway as long as he unplugged the data cable—if this frightening fact suddenly appeared in front of everyone in the world It can be said that it is out of control.

But he didn't, the only thing he can do now is to hug Deng Mochi, the pain is unstoppable, Deng Mochi's breathing seems to be dying, the back of his hands and neck are covered with beads of sweat, Lu Ting Pressing against his forehead, he took off his mask and saw his pale face.

"Don't go." Deng Mochi looked at him and said, this sentence sounded like himself again.The black eyes fogged up.

"I'm not leaving." Lu Ting also tore off his mask, pressed him back into his arms, and used his arms to separate him from the hot server surface.Scanning the screen from the corner of the eye, Lu Ting saw that the transmission has been completed. This signal tower has such a powerful transceiver function that within a few minutes, the report will appear in its entirety on mobile communication devices all over the world. "Why? Yes. Tell me what's wrong." Lu Ting just said that.

But Deng Mochi didn't make a sound, just lowered his head, trembling in his arms unstoppably.Lu Ting has never seen such a huge despair in this person, but they are interlinked. Deng Mochi's despair is like a big net, and Lu Ting is accurately involved in it. He feels that the people in his arms are all Trying my best to break free from something, but not myself.

"Damn it!" He Zhensheng's shout came from far above, "Brother Deng, it's on fire! It's the server next to you, why are you still sitting there doing something, run away, we'll blast the hole right away!"

Lu Ting snapped back to his senses and saw the flames.It turned out that it wasn't just the server that was hot, the memories of thousands of people were burning, and the reddish air had enveloped them.

"Let it burn, Lu." Deng Mochi regained his composure and whispered in his ear.

"No, you are not him." Lu Ting sprang up, grabbed Deng Mochi by the collar and dragged him up, "You are a prophet, right? You made him make the report just now, didn't you?" Arriving late on the server, it doesn’t matter if you start, or if you don’t start, you can only yell loudly and indiscriminately, “There’s something wrong with you, you’re sick, you’re haunted, come out quickly! "

Lu Ting couldn't be sure whether the words had reached the prophet's ears. He only saw that Deng Mochi's eyes were bright and dark, as if he wanted to speak, but also as if he was trying to contain the out-of-control language.Finally he spoke: "Prophet, use my anger."

"I know, you're angry, that's why that big bullshit octopus broke through the line of defense...so it's on fire, right!" Lu Ting just wanted to run with the man on his back, the surrounding flames were gathering and connecting, and the encirclement circle was forming At this time, Shu Rui's curse of hating iron and steel came to his ears, saying that there were already blocked people outside the door, at least [-] people, who were preparing to blast, and the infrared nanometer detector he left just now showed it.

"41 dead people," Deng Mochi said slowly, still as if in a fugue, "I can feel them all."

Lu Ting was stunned. What kind of feeling does the dead have? Is it despair, anger or resignation? Could it be that these are all on Deng Mochi's body at the moment?

"Let's go first, boss, can you not think about anything," Lu Ting pulled Deng Mochi's wrist, trying to move him, "It's like turning off your brain!"

Deng Mochi was still in a chaotic state, let alone moving, it was difficult for him to say a word.His cheeks and those two thin lips, which were always bright red, also lost their color. He looked at Lu Ting with all his strength in confusion, as if the meeting of eyes was the last thread to prevent him from drifting away from the world, "I can't do it , I can't do it," he said hoarsely, "Knock me out, or everything in here will burn!"

Lu Ting only felt that his soul was about to be forced out of his body, but after all, he was not trapped by the little children's thoughts. Using the method taught by the old criminal policeman, he stabilized the spine on the back of Deng Mochi's neck. And with a firm pinch, the man's body immediately softened and fell on him, and he picked up the man on his back, squatting down to pick up the computer and handbag with great effort.Fearing that Deng Mochi would slip down, he bowed his waist very low, passed through the lower part of the fire ring, miraculously his clothes were not ignited, but the flames were still chasing after him.

After running, Lu Ting's perception of space has become blurred, and Deng Mochi, who even suspected that the prophet could no longer enter the coma, began to attack himself.Fortunately, he heard the greetings of two friends, and then heard a bang, and the light leaked out. Did it come from the bright opera hall?

He watched Deng Mochi being pulled into the egg yolk-like light by the few hanging ropes he tied.

Later, Lu Ting himself was supported by hooks, and he was lifted up half-hanging and half-climbing. He Zhensheng took the lead and handed over all his belongings to Shu Rui for safekeeping. Lu Ting was the last to carry Deng Mochi back.When he followed the light and drilled out of the hole that was falling gray, the noise and panic of the crowd really came to his ears.

The performance of "The Rigoletto" was not over yet, and the auditorium was more than half emptied by the sudden explosion of the stage on the right. Many people crowded the exit, and the rest of the audience, those who hadn't got up in time, those who didn't want to leave, and those who didn't want to leave. The heavily made-up actors who stayed on stage out of professional ethics were watching these four gray-headed humanoid creatures from the ground.

"Get out of the way at Exit A1!" He Zhensheng strangled the hostage Shu Rui's neck, and fired a shot at the ceiling, "Run!"

The crowd dispersed, and Lu Ting ran towards the exit under the cover of two friends, reached into his pocket, and pressed Aldebaran-b's shortcut ready button.He felt the real weight on his shoulders and waist, and suddenly he was no longer afraid of anything.

I just feel that I have seen the ghost clearly, but I have also returned to the world.