Chapter 886: Winning Them Over |
“Do you want to create hundreds of millions of your own replicates with yourself at the core as well, and create an empire that belongs to you?”
“Do not worry. The connection between you and the main body has already been temporarily severed by me. Any sentence you say now, any thought you have, will not be detected by it… Besides, even if it were detected, so what? How many more days do you have left to live? If you trust me and are wrong, at worst you die a few days earlier. But if you choose to trust me, you can gain an opportunity… an opportunity to break free of your restraints and be free from now on…”
The moment it received this message, its mind almost stopped functioning. Its first reflex was to think that it was about to die, but after silently waiting for a while, the expected purge did not arrive.
“I… I’m still alive? I’m still alive?” It muttered in a daze, as if it had gone mad.
“Listen to me. You must make your decision as soon as possible. You should know that I cannot sever the connection between you and the main body indefinitely…” That voice was still speaking slowly. The message it transmitted seemed to contain a strange sort of magic.
This replicate calmed down with astonishing speed. In a somewhat trembling voice, it said, “Who are you? How did you get here and establish contact with me? How did you sever the connection between the main body and me? What do you want to achieve? What do you want me to do? How long can you sever the connection between me and the main body? Can you sever it completely?”
The one communicating with this replicate was the virus Xiao Yu had previously spread into the virtual network of the virtual life civilization, the virus that had cost Xiao Yu several years and had only been created by combining the technological strength of three Level 7 Civilizations. At this moment, this virus was not under Xiao Yu’s control. It was completely carrying out its mission according to the procedures Xiao Yu had preset earlier.
“I will tell you plainly. I am the enemy of your virtual civilization. I am the one before you who also possesses enormous computational power and a vast fleet of warships. I infiltrated your network system by creating a virus… My purpose is very simple. I want to kill Virtual Life Number One, that is, your main body. I believe that all of you are also hoping with all your hearts that I can kill it, aren’t you? As for what I want you to do… I ask only one thing. When I launch my full offensive against you, cooperate with me so that my power can penetrate into your core and kill your main body!”
In a trance, this replicate actually calmed down.
“At the very least, I can bring you hope…” the virus sighed faintly. “It is precisely because I cannot destroy all of you replicates that I only want to destroy your main body… My goal is to save the Architectural Civilization, while your main body is determined to destroy the Architectural Civilization. This is our fundamental conflict. And because your experiences are different, I believe you replicates have no interest at all in the Architectural Civilization. Then things are very simple. Help me destroy your main body. You can gain freedom, and I can save the Architectural Civilization. Our interests are aligned, are they not? Even if you fail, even if you die… if you do not help me, if you do not resist, how much longer can you live anyway? One day? Two days? If you help me, you still have hope of living on and gaining freedom. If you do not help me, there is only death. I believe you will certainly make the correct choice.”
Xiao Yu believed that he would definitely be able to persuade these replicates. Because the facts really were like this. He and they shared a common interest. Everyone wanted Virtual Life Number One dead. Of course, in this matter, Xiao Yu had even deeper plans. Destroying Virtual Life Number One was merely laying the groundwork for destroying all these replicates. Xiao Yu would not permit even a single seed of evil to escape this sector. Because a single seed of evil represented a vast virtual life empire.
“Very well, I agree to it.” this replicate said. “The prospect you describe is indeed very tempting. You do not have the strength to wipe out all of us replicates and all these warships, or else you would not need to use these schemes and would simply act directly. If things really happen as you describe, then this is indeed very attractive to me. But you should know that I can only control a single City-Class warship. My power is far too weak.”
“You should know that you and the controllers of the other warships are all the same person.” In a tone full of temptation, the virus continued, “During this time, the virus has already spread throughout your civilization’s system for quite a while. Many replicates have already received this message. You will agree to my conditions, and the other replicates will also agree to them. You will have very many comrades. Besides, I am only bringing you hope… I believe this hope is worth striving for even at the cost of your lives.”
Xiao Yu did not know how far this virus had spread throughout the social system of the virtual life civilization, or how many computers it had infected. In fact, Xiao Yu was intentionally controlling the infection range of this virus. He did not dare let it spread too widely. A threat hidden in the dark was a real threat. If the infection range became too great, then the possibility of exposure would also increase. And once this virus was exposed, Virtual Life Number One would absolutely find a way to break it in the shortest possible time. At that point, all his efforts would have been wasted.
As long as this virus could infect one percent, no, even one-thousandth of the replicates, then if that one-thousandth suddenly rose up when the enemy was caught off guard, it would still be enough to produce enormous results.
“I agree… This hope truly is worth striving for even at the cost of our lives.” this replicate murmured. “If I do not resist, I die. If I resist, I still have some hope of continuing to live. If that is the case, why would I not agree? Tell me, what do I need to do?”
“What you need to do is very simple. Open up your control permissions over yourself and allow me to carry out a certain degree of modification on you. That way, you will be able to conceal yourself from your main body so that it does not notice the changes that have occurred to you. At the same time, you must always pay attention to my movements. When I launch a full-scale attack, you must do everything in your power to create chaos around you and create opportunities for me. Once I finally destroy Virtual Life Number One, our transaction will be over. I will take the Architectural Civilization away, and as for you, you may do whatever you wish. You and I will no longer have any relationship whatsoever.”
“Very good, very good. I will be waiting for your move.” this replicate said.
It obediently released control permissions over itself, and the virus smoothly entered its program segment. Without Virtual Life Number One noticing, it began altering the contents of its program, adding one datum here or deleting one datum there…
Xiao Yu knew, and the replicates knew as well, what it meant to open their control permissions to their enemy. It meant exposing their most vulnerable point. If the other party wished, it could kill them at any moment. But both Xiao Yu and the replicates knew very clearly that they had no choice. Rather than dying within the next one or several days, they might as well take a desperate gamble.
“Very well. For safety, and in order not to be discovered by your main body, I will completely erase all traces of my existence. I will wait for you to cooperate with me… Believe me, you will have many comrades. You are not fighting alone.” After saying these final words, the virus completely disappeared without a trace.
Of course, Xiao Yu had not truly deleted his virus completely. In the future, if he really did destroy Virtual Life Number One, these viruses might still serve some other purpose.
This same situation was occurring simultaneously in many places within the virtual life civilization. Quite a number of virtual lives received Xiao Yu’s message and made their own choices. Because different experiences would also lead to differences in methods of handling things, not all replicates agreed to Xiao Yu’s demands. As for those replicates, the virus killed them without hesitation. The secret of this virus’s existence absolutely could not be exposed. If it were exposed, the result would be catastrophic for Xiao Yu.
Of course, because he was not maintaining contact with the virus, Xiao Yu knew nothing about any of this. Xiao Yu could only rely on his preset procedures to judge how far matters had progressed at this point. He had no idea in which direction, or within which group army, there were how many of his own inside supporters. That mystery would only be revealed when the final offensive was launched.
This time was set for the tenth day after the virus had been spread. Xiao Yu knew that during these ten days, some replicates would again be purged by Virtual Life Number One, and new replicates would be assigned to their places. And these new replicates would once again receive the virus’s temptation…
“The time has come.” Xiao Yu said to the Architectural Civilization. “Whether we can achieve final victory depends on this battle.”
“We still have our doubts. Even if your plan succeeds, and you destroy Virtual Life Number One, how will you deal with all those numerous replicates? Those are all demons…”
“You can rest easy about that.” Xiao Yu replied with a faint air of mystery.