Reality Programming Association

Chapter 125: Chapter 52: The Kind-Hearted Bun Head’s Changes

After hanging up the phone, Yu Xian sat back down at his computer, trying to resume the resource cleaning work he had been doing.

The mouse cursor moved slowly across the screen, but he couldn’t focus no matter how hard he tried.

The news that ”Wen Xiao is sleeping” kept circling in his mind.

”Why would she go to sleep so early...” Yu Xian muttered to himself, his finger mindlessly scrolling the mouse wheel.

It was only seven in the evening. For an eager developer rushing to meet a deadline, going to sleep at this hour was definitely off.

For some reason, sudden flashes of imagery appeared in his mind.

They were the photos from the case files of the ”Smiling Suicides” from two weeks ago.

According to what Wen Xiao had secretly seen in Dr. Wen Yu’s medical records, those who committed suicide all shared a common trait before they met their demise:

Excessive sleepiness.

”Because they slept for way too long, and it was like they were in a coma. It was incredibly hard to wake them up, and even when they were awake, they were completely out of it, like they had lost their souls,” Yu Xian recalled what Wen Xiao had told him over the phone back then.

A chill crawled up his spine.

The last time he went to the North District Apartments to look for Wen Xiao, she had let it slip that she actually listened to that bus audio.

Could it be... related to that audio?

Yu Xian shook his head vigorously, wanting to drive this absurd and terrifying thought out of his mind.

”That’s unlikely. Impossible,” he comforted himself in a low voice.

What Wen Xiao had listened to at the time was the bus version with the third part, the ”black box patch” waveform, removed.

She knew the structure of that audio better than anyone. The possibility that the black box patch contained malicious instructions hadn’t been ruled out yet. She definitely wouldn’t be foolish enough to risk her life by listening to the original version directly... right?

As Yu Xian’s thoughts reached this point, he suddenly froze.

A thought struck his brain like a bolt of lightning, causing his pupils to shrink.

Wait. She definitely wouldn’t be stupid enough to listen to the original bus audio.

But... what was their current plan?

A bait-and-switch.

That is, clean the original resources, strip out the patches carrying unknown risks, and then...

Re-inject the genuine MCH-suppressing audio source file that Yu Xian had sent her, the one he had obtained from Senior Sister Yiyi!

As a responsible developer, what was the first thing one did after writing code?

Testing and debugging!

Write a segment, run it once, check the results, tweak a parameter, run it again, and check the results once more.

If she wanted to verify whether this ”injection” process was successful, whether the generated ”clean version” of the audio played properly, and whether that MCH-suppressing waveform would actually take effect in the brain...

The only way to verify it was to listen to it herself.

”Damn it...”

Yu Xian’s palms began to sweat.

Although the genuine audio taken from the lab definitely didn’t have any ”suicide commands” or malicious ”backdoors,” it was still an MCH-suppressing audio!

Its core function—suppressing MCH neurons so the brain couldn’t forget dreams during REM sleep—was still present!

He remembered Senior Sister Yiyi’s warning:

The biggest side effect of the MCH-suppressing audio was ”source memory confusion.”

It would make a person remember the contents of their dreams, gradually blurring the line between which memories were reality and which were dreams.

This in itself was an incredibly risky, experimental technology.

If Wen Xiao—in order to test the script’s stability and adjust the injection parameters—had listened to the synthesized audio over and over again...

Once or twice might be fine, but if she was bombarded by the MCH-suppressing waveform at a high intensity over a short period of time, even if it was a ”clean version,” would it cause any side effects?

Over time, or under high-frequency stimulation, would Wen Xiao... develop severe cognitive dissonance? Her brain might start failing to distinguish reality from the dreamscape.

What’s more, that dreamscape could clearly stimulate the deepest desires and impulses within everyone. Would Wen Xiao become addicted to it? Although he trusted her self-control, many addicts didn’t believe they would lose themselves before they tried it for the first time.

At this thought, cold sweat instantly poured down Yu Xian’s back.

He suddenly recalled that day in the North District Apartments—Shao Yiyi’s pale face and the divination she had spoken: ”The Solitary Star and the Widowed Constellation; the White Tiger descends upon the door. Those who draw near face peril, and those who love suffer harm.”

His parents had died in an accident.

Xia Li had inexplicably vanished.

His cousin was dragged into various bizarre cases, left utterly exhausted.

Senior Sister Yiyi, in helping him investigate Professor Mo and the industrial fund, was swept into this storm. Not only had she fallen gravely ill, but her life might also be in danger.

And now...

Was it Wen Xiao’s turn?

Was this kindhearted girl with the little hair bun going to fall into danger just because she got close to him?

He would never forgive himself for the rest of his life.

No... absolutely not...

Yu Xian’s fingers trembled slightly. It took him several tries to finally dial Shao Yiyi’s number.

”Hello? Brother Cos...”

Before Shao Yiyi could finish, Yu Xian shouted into the receiver:

”Yiyi! Hurry! Go check on Wen Xiao! Right now! Immediately!”

Shao Yiyi was startled by this sudden roar.

”Ah, what are you doing, Brother Cos! You scared me to death! Isn’t she sleeping...”

”Go quickly! Check if she’s wearing headphones!”

Yu Xian’s voice had gone a bit hoarse from tension, and his tone was somewhat harsh, but he couldn’t care about that right now.

”Don’t panic, I’ll go check.”

A series of rustling sounds—RUSTLE RUSTLE—came from the other end of the phone, as if Shao Yiyi was climbing out of bed and walking over to Wen Xiao’s bedside.