Wasteland Development Diary

Zhou Yi carefully observed his surroundings.

There was no path ahead, and behind him was a narrow passage leading downwards.

The stone platform where the player was located was surrounded by a multitude of bones, like stars surrounding the moon. Many fireflies rested on these bones, emitting a scattering of light, making the cave seem not so dark.

Zhou Yi figured that these intruders who had fallen into the BGM world must have had their flesh eaten away by these insects.

He then looked at the black player.

He should go back and examine it carefully later to avoid any complications.

Zhou Yi took off his sports jacket, wrapped the player in it, held it in his hand, and then walked out.

He followed the path he had come from, and after bypassing two bends, he saw the light.

Back in the iron shack, Zhou Yi gave the player to Emerald City, asking it to first seal it in its metal arm. Then, Zhou Yi walked out of the mountain cave.

At this time, on the ground, the Spine Hunter had transformed into its attacking triangular prism form, emitting red light in the air.

The 12 Hammerhead soldiers wearing translator transceivers each carried iron hammers and pickaxes, standing ready.

The Black Hand Mushrooms were lined up neatly, each carrying a wooden box on their back.

Red Falcon issued orders in the air: "All units, prepare..."

Upon discovering that Zhou Yi had come out, it quickly arrived beside him: "Are you alright?"

Its five electronic eyes scanned him.

"There are no signs of damage to the machine body."

"The signal is stable."

"It seems you're fine."

Zhou Yi asked, "What is all this?"

"You've been inside for more than three hours. I mobilized all the personnel the company could currently mobilize, preparing to have the Black Hand Mushrooms use explosive mushrooms to blast this mountain, and then have the Hammerhead soldiers dig through it."

Only then did Zhou Yi realize that the little Black Hand Mushrooms were carrying explosive mushrooms.

"I'm fine, everyone disperse."

Upon receiving the chairman's order, the assembled team dispersed in batches.

...

Zhou Yi returned to Emerald City's 3101. Sand Duke, dragging his injured body, quickly came to greet him.

"Mr. Zhou, you are indeed alright."

Sand Duke, shaped like a large sea leopard, twitched his long whiskers as he spoke, and his squinting leopard mouth looked a bit silly and cute.

Appearance is also a talent.

It was indeed making good use of its advantages by taking a people-friendly approach among the territorial lords.

Zhou Yi opened a can of cola and asked him, "What would you like to drink? Sweet, light, or plain water?"

"Sweet is good."

Sand Duke took the cola Zhou Yi handed him, pulled open the tab, took a sip, and his face immediately relaxed: "Actually, I really like sweet things, but Dead Sea vintage isn't cheap, and it hurts a bit to buy it."

"The Sand Port area has been poor for too long and hasn't completely recovered. All industries need Light Seeds to subsidize and develop, so I'm not very daring to spend money. I have to calculate it every time in my heart."

Zhou Yi also felt a sense of empathy.

Just take land reclamation and farming as an example. It requires constant investment of Light Seeds, and the current output is not profitable at all. It's considered a success if the crops can successfully grow fruit.

If you don't have "Zhanjiang Bay No. 1" like Baili Duke from the start, creating an industry from scratch can be said to be difficult every step of the way.

Sand Duke took two sips of the sweet drink before inquiring, "Mr. Zhou, what kind of alien was in that cave?"

"There were no aliens."

Zhou Yi shook his head: "There was only a mechatronic life form inside. It can launch consciousness attacks, causing various life forms that enter it to be controlled. I found many skeletons deep in the cave, which should be those people and Light Seed races who went in and never returned."

Sand Duke was stunned: "So that's how it is."

"I originally thought that areas like the underground that cannot be explored, plus places where even Light Seed races cannot escape, are likely to be Dead Sea aliens sleeping underground..."

"This is truly a joke, making you run an errand for nothing."

Sand Duke quickly said, "I didn't handle this matter well. I'll go back and find the connections I know to continue collecting information about Dead Sea aliens. I will definitely find a confirmed alien for Mr. Zhou as an apology."

The other party was very perceptive.

Zhou Yi also said, "Then thank you very much. Actually, I don't have many hobbies. I just like collecting Dead Sea aliens."

"I understand, I understand."

A flash of light appeared in Sand Duke's eyes, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Zhou Yi added: "Given the current situation, I'll send you back to Sand Port first."

"Okay."

...

Emerald City returned to the company, and peace was restored.

Only then did Zhou Yi begin to examine the black rectangular box in his hand.

Its body was made of aluminum metal, with a brushed panel. There was also a small display screen on the front, with a transparent sticker that said "Please remove the protective film before use."

On the right was a cylindrical large knob, which was both the power switch and the volume key. On the left was a golden "EverSolo" logo, with DMP-A6 printed below, which seemed to represent the model.

Zhou Yi didn't recognize this brand.

He would just call it A6.

The A6 had digital and analog output ports on the back, as well as two blue USB ports and three short antennas.

This machine was very well preserved.

Zhou Yi turned the knob.

With a click.

The screen lit up, showing changing spectrum graphics, and music sounded again from the machine.

It was still "Summer Wind."

What Zhou Yi found strange was that whether he tried to communicate or input energy, it was all to no avail.

The player just played songs.

Zhou Yi asked Red Falcon.

The drone hovered above the black metal player, and its electronic eyes scanned it.

"It's not a mechatronic life form, just an ordinary Divine Era mechatronic device."

Zhou Yi frowned upon hearing this.

Such a digital device should have been damaged long ago in the course of time. It was impossible for it to remain so intact in the cave environment. It could only be a mechatronic life form to maintain its brand-new and intact state and still be able to operate.

"Although I don't know how it works, it is definitely not a mechatronic life form," Red Falcon insisted.

Could there be someone else intercepting his consciousness?

But Zhou Yi had checked everywhere in that cave and found no other suspicious objects. The bones next to the stone platform were normal, and the fireflies showed no abnormal behavior...

Zhou Yi summoned No. 2, Xiao Fu.

The Stream Tracer said, "This machine is not the main body. It is a conceptual life form that has only chosen this machine as a carrier. The machine can remain intact because the conceptual life form chose it, like its shell and house... The conceptual life form is operating and maintaining it."

"Conceptual life form? What is that?"

"Conceptual life form is a general term. They exist in various civilizations and are themselves considered intermediate to advanced life forms."

Xiao Fu thought for a moment: "Like the Seed of Life we collect, each carries a considerable amount of consciousness information. That information is created by many individuals, usually part of a civilization's achievements."

"Able to influence more life through its conceptual form, gain more consciousness accumulation and Seed of Life."

"Seed of Life is an extension of civilization, like branches growing from the main trunk of civilization. Conceptual life is a step further than Seed of Life. They are branches and leaves, closer to the Great Holy Spirit."

"Normally speaking, the closer to the Great Holy Spirit, the higher the energy utilization and conversion rate... But I don't know what's going on with you. You clearly have a body, but you can still have such a high conversion rate."

Zhou Yi was a little confused by what it said.

"What is the Great Holy Spirit?"

"Huh? Your civilization system doesn't call it the Great Holy Spirit? It seems you have other ways of describing it... Most intermediate to advanced civilizations call it that anyway."

Xiao Fu said, "The Great Holy Spirit is the connection point for billions of consciousness bodies."

"Every world where life is born has a Great Holy Spirit. Whether it created this world or this world evolved it, it exists anyway."

The Stream Tracer explained: "The closer to the pure consciousness information form, the more efficient the energy utilization, because it is separated from the material carrier that would otherwise have losses and internal support. This brings it closer to the Great Holy Spirit."

"The Great Holy Spirit cannot be directly observed or touched, but it does exist. The closer to the Great Holy Spirit, the higher the Seed of Life strength. The further from the Great Holy Spirit, the dimmer the Seed of Life."

In the Stream Tracer's cognitive system, the Great Holy Spirit objectively exists in every civilization, and its strength is also a measure of a civilization.

It can be simply understood that the Great Holy Spirit is a world's collection of all things consciousness.

Zhou Yi silently remembered this term and first focused on solving the immediate problem: "You mean that conceptual life is a special form of consciousness body, like the one I encountered. How do I touch or interact with it?"

"This... I don't know."

Xiao Fu's voice suddenly became smaller.

"..."

Zhou Yi's teeth itched with anger.

You were so calm and collected at the beginning, I thought you had everything under control, but it turns out you're just a theoretical expert and you fall apart when it comes to practical operations.

"Aren't you asking too much? The forms of conceptual life itself are all strange and bizarre. Their mechanisms are different, each belonging to a separate category. It is impossible for me to know how to deal with them..."

Xiao Fu tried hard to defend himself: "However, most conceptual lives have their conceptual core. Like this one, the conceptual core is sound, or music. Starting from this direction will not be wrong, and then you try connecting through the consciousness key."

"Won't it run away?"

"Usually not. Conceptual life also has a carrier. Unless the carrier is damaged, they will be forced to find a replacement."

Zhou Yi began to try.

Although the A6's music was always playing, he was never again intercepted by consciousness and dragged into a consciousness fabrication.

He spent several days using all his existing methods, but to no avail.

Zhou Yi had to give up temporarily.

He would first use the A6 as an ordinary music player.

Listening to music on the balcony, enjoying the evening breeze, and drinking a little beer felt quite pleasant.

Zhou Yi hummed along with the music.

"The evening wind in summer night

Caresses you in my arms

Your hair is fluffy

Entangling me and swaying in the wind..."

However, as he sang, he suddenly felt a strange resonance, connecting himself with some kind of power.

Could it be... the key to communicating with A6 is karaoke?

Zhou Yi didn't care about anything and started humming along with the player.

The A6 stored hundreds of songs, but fortunately most of them were classic songs from the past, so it was difficult not to have heard them. Only a small number needed Zhou Yi to learn them now.

The body feedback was obvious when singing in tune, and there was no response when singing out of tune, like there was an invisible scoring mechanism.

After his student days, Zhou Yi had never learned songs so seriously, singing until his mouth was dry and his throat was on fire.

Fortunately, the screen could fast forward, so he specialized in learning the songs he didn't know.

Although it was stumbling, Zhou Yi finally achieved great success after four days and finally followed all 120 songs.

The entire round of singing successfully ended.

Suddenly, a strange synthesized electronic sound rang in his ears: "Hello, singer, thank you for liking my songs."

Zhou Yi's heart was shaken, and he tried to say: "Actually, I can sing many other songs."

"Sing one, sing one."

Zhou Yi sang a song called "Stubborn."

"Nice!"

The other party was very interested: "Can I record it? I want to learn."

Zhou Yi's heart moved.

It was promising.