Reality Programming Association

Chapter 65: Chapter 27: Genius and Perfect Crime

Suddenly, he remembered a detail—one he had overlooked earlier.

”Right, the TDI website stated that it doesn’t support iOS devices. Is that related to the audio fingerprinting technology you just mentioned?”

Wen Xiao nodded vigorously. ”If that’s the case, then it absolutely confirms they’re using audio fingerprinting. Apple has been very strict about privacy protection in recent years. They inject random noise into device fingerprints. Plus, iOS device fingerprints already tend to be quite uniform, resulting in very little information. They wouldn’t be able to use this technology to distinguish whether you’re Zhang San or someone else.”

A complex wave of emotion welled up in Yu Xian’s heart. It turned out that the seemingly enigmatic experiment, the so-called ”Dream Magic” that supposedly subverted perception and transcended eras, was actually backed by a series of technical logic combinations. Tracing the entire process, every single step was exquisitely crafted:

1. Utilizing the uniqueness of audio fingerprints to bind the device’s hardware, outputting a piece of audio that only matched that specific device’s fingerprint.

2. Utilizing the hypnagogic state—the shutting down of the prefrontal cortex and the opening of the auditory channel—to play the audio, thereby tricking the sleep spindles into dropping their guard.

3. Utilizing specific frequencies, such as slow oscillation waves, to sync with brainwaves and input information into the hippocampus while it emitted sharp-wave ripples to consolidate memories.

4. Utilizing the acoustic wave carrier as a ”transmission medium” to package and write a guiding blueprint for the dream, constructing that white, void-like dreamscape.

5. Utilizing neuroplasticity combined with the logic of reinforcement learning—much like Pavlov training a dog—to repeatedly reinforce an action in the dream and inject it into the basal ganglia.

6. Utilizing the MCH neurons’ dream-forgetting mechanism to make the test subjects forget the training process that occurred in the dream, retaining only the training results.

It was genius.

After figuring all this out, Yu Xian felt only one thing: ethics and morality aside, whoever designed all this was a sheer genius. Every step maximized the use of the cutting-edge technology of this era. There was nothing supernatural about it, yet it achieved supernatural results. It was flawless, watertight, and perfectly integrated.

However, there were still a few things he hadn’t figured out yet:

1. How did this audio trick the sleep spindles? Just as Senior Sister Yiyi had said, sleep spindles were the brain’s ”firewall.” How on earth did this audio hack into the brain?

2. Why was Schoenberg’s Piano Overture used as the ”catalyst”? What was so special about this piece of music?

3. How exactly was a piece of code used to construct a dreamscape in the brain? How were that pure white space and the text inside it built?

Neither Senior Sister Yiyi nor Wen Xiao would likely know the answers to these three questions yet. He would have to delve deeper into research with them later.

”Yu Xian, are you okay?” Seeing Yu Xian freeze up like a crashed computer, Wen Xiao waved a hand in front of his face. ”You still haven’t told me the main point. What exactly is the connection between this TDI project and the smiling suicide cases?”

Yu Xian snapped back to reality. He glanced at the pitch-black curtain of rain outside the window, then checked the time. It was almost midnight. He had intended to take the subway back, but the trains had already stopped running for the night.

”Wen Xiao,” Yu Xian said, turning his head to look at the girl before him. She wore an expression of intense curiosity mixed with a hint of fear. ”You mentioned earlier that a common physiological trait was found in the medical records of those who committed suicide. It was ’lethargy,’ right?”

Wen Xiao nodded. ”Yes, they all slept for exceptionally long periods.”

”And what if I told you that they weren’t ’sleeping’ at all?”

Wen Xiao froze. ”Then what...” As she spoke, her gaze drifted to the audio player on the computer screen.

”Exactly. My guess is that they might have been ’logging in’ to a dream to undergo some kind of... high-intensity ’training’.”

”Training? In a dream... what could they possibly train?”

”They were training instincts.” Yu Xian took a deep breath. He hadn’t wanted to tell Wen Xiao this much, afraid she would be scared, but keeping her in the dark would only lead her imagination to run wild. ”If, as you said, that audio is a piece of ’code,’ then the dream you have after listening to it is the ’program.’”

He stared into Wen Xiao’s eyes. ”That dream program runs a protocol similar to ’reinforcement learning.’ It treats a person like an AI model, forcing you to repeat a single action over and over again.”

Then, emphasizing every word, he said, ”Ten thousand times.”

”So, that’s what they call... habit formation?” Wen Xiao asked. Yu Xian could sense her trembling on the sofa beside him.

”Yes. I suspect... the content of the training for those deceased individuals was ’smiling’.”

In the dim, yellow glow of the wall lamp, Yu Xian saw Wen Xiao’s pupils dilate instantly. She covered her mouth in sheer horror.

”You mean... *that* smile?”

”Yes.” Yu Xian felt a chill run down his spine. ”Why did their corpses bear that standard, uniform smile, yet during the time leading up to their deaths, they hardly smiled at all?”

”Are you saying... they practiced it in their dreams?” Wen Xiao looked at Yu Xian in disbelief.

Yu Xian said nothing, but his eyes told her that it was exactly what she thought. Wen Xiao stared blankly at him. She opened her mouth but couldn’t utter a single word.

After a long time, she recovered her senses and asked, ”Then why hasn’t this project been shut down?”

”Because when you wake up, the training process of the reinforcement learning is deleted. Only the training results remain.”

”Then how do you know about the training process?” Wen Xiao stared into Yu Xian’s eyes as if she had just realized something.

”Because... my training process was retained. For some unknown reason.” Yu Xian smiled bitterly. He truly didn’t want to recall that experience.

”So, you are... a survivor of the experiment?” Wen Xiao’s gaze locked onto him.

”Yes. In that dream, I recited their user agreement ten thousand times. For ten days and ten nights.”

Yu Xian’s voice trembled uncontrollably again as a wave of nauseating spasms churned in his stomach. Suddenly, two cold little hands grasped his left hand. Yu Xian’s palms were slick with cold sweat, but Wen Xiao held on tight.

”Yu Xian, are... are you okay?”

”I’m fine. I made it through.” Yu Xian forced a smile and gently withdrew his hand. ”I got used to memorizing texts back in high school.”

He tried to make a joke to lighten the mood. But Wen Xiao didn’t laugh; she just kept looking at him.

”I don’t know whether the victims broke down because they were repeatedly tortured in their dreams, or if the TDI project team directly wrote a ’suicide’ command into them. But I believe the smiling suicides are definitely connected to this project,” Yu Xian said, standing up and walking over to the floor-to-ceiling windows.

The torrential rain outside was still raging, washing away all the secrets hidden in the city.

”And if the suicides really are connected to the experiment, then TDI could be considered the perfect crime—one that can never be convicted.”

Wen Xiao stood up as well and walked over to his side. ”Yu Xian, if this is true, then your current situation...” She looked at him urgently. ”If the team behind TDI finds out that there’s a test subject who hasn’t lost their memory, they will definitely try to eliminate the threat.”

Yu Xian said nothing, just continued to stare out the window.

”I... I’ll reverse-engineer the information content of that audio as soon as possible to see if I can help you.” Wen Xiao’s tone carried a hint of determination.

”All right, I’ll leave it to you then... Whatever you do, absolutely do not test that audio yourself.” Although it was bound to a specific device, he still felt the need to warn her. He checked the time; it was past midnight. ”I’ll get going now. You should rest early.”

”I know. Be careful on your way back. The South District is quite far from here.”

***

After bidding farewell to Wen Xiao, Yu Xian took the elevator down to the first-floor lobby.

It was very late, the subway had stopped running, and no one was taking ride-hailing orders. It seemed he wouldn’t be able to return to his cousin’s place today. Fortunately, he had a dorm room at JCU.

By the time he got back to the South District, it was almost one in the morning. Classes were suspended, but the boys’ dormitory building was brightly lit. The light hadn’t vanished; it had merely relocated. A mixed scent of instant noodles and foot odor drifted through the hallway. A few guys were washing up in the communal washroom, discussing whether they should brave the rain to play at an internet cafe tomorrow.

This was the true essence of earthly life.

Pushing open the door to his dorm room, he was greeted by the furious clattering of keyboards and frantic clicking of a mouse. Wearing headphones and heavily engaged in a game, Shi Zuozhou heard the noise and turned his head. Yanking off his headphones with a look of sheer surprise, he exclaimed, ”Holy shit! Old Yu? Why are you back?”