Genius Playground

Pompey could guarantee he wouldn’t abuse his power or rule like a dictator. But in the Digital World, permissions were everything, and it was hard to ensure others wouldn’t be tempted. Therefore, the best method… was concealment.

Secondly.

It wasn’t hard to deduce that Pompey wasn’t actually the person with the highest level of permissions in this Virtual World.

Since there was a room he couldn’t enter, that proved the room’s owner must have permissions superior to his.

Judging from the Virtual World’s various realistic structures, it was clear Pompey was a very by-the-book person. Even though this world didn’t need sewers and ventilation ducts, he still created them for the sake of realism.

Given his personality, he would never have allowed the flesh-and-blood Rhine Cats or that absurd amusement park on Basement Level 42 to exist. If he could allow that, then a dragon might as well fly over and burn down East Sea City with a single breath.

But alas…

The facts were the facts. These things that defied common sense did indeed exist on Basement Level 42 of the memorial hall.

This meant Pompey was helpless to do anything about it. His permissions were completely insufficient to control the area, so the only thing he could do was bury these absurdities deep underground and seal them away.

This would also explain why the Human Civilization Memorial Hall was never open to the public and was surrounded on all sides by Permission Walls, preventing anything from getting inside.

‘So, the bizarre scene on Basement Level 42 is just as I suspected—’

Jiang Ran narrowed his eyes.

‘That strange Hang City Paradise, and the Rhine Cats that came to life… all of it came from Cheng Mengxue’s imagination.’

Cheng Mengxue had never been to Hang City Paradise, so naturally she couldn’t imagine what it truly looked like.

When Cheng Mengxue died in the car accident, Rhine Cats had only been popular for half a year, so she couldn’t have imagined the new models released in the years that followed.

No wonder Jiang Ran had always felt that the Rhine Cats on Basement Level 42 were very simple in design. Most of them were basic models, completely lacking eye-catching designs like the Rice Cooker Rhine Cat, the Time Particle Rhine Cat, or the Godfather Rhine Cat.

After all.

These fancy Rhine Cats were all released later. Cheng Mengxue, who died an early death in 2023, naturally would never have come across them.

‘Alright, that just leaves one last question.’

Jiang Ran straightened up, looking at the brilliantly shining sun above.

He thought back to the room at the end of Hang City Paradise. Cheng Mengxue was suspended in mid-air. Countless streams of light, as fine as silver threads, emerged from the top of her head, extending densely upwards to an unknown destination.

The feeling was very much like the World Tree from Western mythology, where the roots of a colossal tree connect to every corner of the world, forming the world itself.

Perhaps the myriad streams of light above Cheng Mengxue’s head worked on the same principle.

And considering the English words carved on the silver gate—”Central Control Zone”…

Then, the answer was practically staring him in the face—

‘Does this Virtual World exist inside Xiaoxue’s brain?’

‘Or… did Pompey use Xiaoxue’s memories and consciousness as the very foundation upon which he built the framework for the entire Virtual Digital World?’

After thinking it over.

Jiang Ran believed the second speculation was more likely.

In any case, the first idea was too unrealistic.

He knew from his research in the library that the Virtual World now had a population of over three billion. Of those, 2.4 billion came from the Consciousness Uploads of humans who survived the Great Catastrophe. The remaining 600-plus million were entirely new lives, born and raised within the Virtual World.

A scholar had once proposed calling these new lives born in the Virtual World “Virtual Beings” to distinguish them from the Earthlings who once possessed physical bodies.

But Pompey rejected the proposal.

He had always insisted on the unification of the human species. Whether they were original humans from Earth or new lives born in the Virtual World, he believed they were all part of humanity and should not be differentiated in any way.

Besides, in 150 years at most, the last “Earth Human” would also die in the Virtual World. For the vast 30,000 years to come, the continuation and development of human civilization would be passed entirely into the hands of these children.

Anyway, to get back to the point.

Jiang Ran didn’t believe Cheng Mengxue’s mind, small as it was, could possibly contain the lives of three billion people in meticulous detail.

A human brain only has 100 billion neurons—fewer than the number of transistors on a top-tier CPU. How could it possibly complete such a complex computational task?

‘Besides, Cheng Mengxue’s brain… was cremated along with the rest of her body.’

This was the most decisive piece of evidence.

Since this was a virtual world, it had to have a physical entity in the real world, right? Otherwise, what was the point of all those data centers Pompey had set up in advance?

Therefore, the second speculation was comparatively more plausible.

‘The foundation upon which Pompey built this Virtual Digital World was Xiaoxue’s memories and consciousness. That’s why he said Patient 001 *was* the world itself. That description wasn’t entirely wrong.’

‘And it’s precisely because Xiaoxue is the most fundamental, base-level architecture of the Virtual Digital World that her permissions are the highest. It makes sense, then, that even Pompey couldn’t enter the room on Basement Level 42, and that he was powerless against that magical amusement park.’

At that, everything clicked into place.

But the fundamental question remained unsolved—

What was the deal with the number 3911, and the world rebooting every 39 minutes and 11 seconds?