Chapter 107 Back to Reality
The suffocating cold and darkness suddenly receded like the tide.
Song Youning gasped suddenly, like a drowning person finally emerging from the water. He suddenly opened his eyes and sat up almost instantly.
Her heart was beating wildly in her chest, and she was gasping for breath. The feeling of suffocation from the cold river water flooding her mouth and nose seemed not to have completely dissipated. Ji Siyun's desperate and crazy eyes seemed to still be in front of her.
But...something's wrong.
The touch doesn't feel right.
There was not cold river water under me, but a soft mat.
The light was wrong too; it wasn't the gray of a winter riverbank, but a soft yet bright light.
Song Youning looked around blankly.
It was a pure white room, resembling a laboratory or medical observation room. She was sitting on a simple white single bed, wearing a strange "helmet" on her head.
She tentatively raised her hand and touched the "helmet". It was made of hard metal and connected to many thin things that looked like fiber optic cables.
Where... is she going?
"Mr. Song, you're awake." A concerned voice sounded.
Song Youning looked in the direction of the sound and saw two other people in the room besides her.
One was Gao Jing, her secretary, who was very familiar to her. She was wearing a smart suit, with a look of nervousness on her face, but more of curiosity.
The other person was a gentle young woman in a white researcher's uniform. She was the one who had just spoken. Now, with a soft, professional smile, she looked at Song Youning and asked again, "Mr. Song, are you awake? The 'Real Mirror' experience is over. How are you feeling? Are you feeling any discomfort?"
Real mirror...
Without the film that seemed to cover his mind, Song Youning's covered real memories finally saw the light of day.
She remembered.
Song Youning finally remembered that today she came to a cutting-edge technology company called "YNING" to discuss cooperation.
This previously unknown emerging company became famous for developing a revolutionary brain-computer interface device.
Published data demonstrates that this technology can create an incredibly realistic and immersive experience. Applied to gaming, it can give players the feeling of truly entering the game world. Furthermore, its time compression and extension technology allows users to experience richer content within the "real world," while real-world time appears to pass by in a fraction of a second.
Song Youning is not interested in the gaming field. She is more interested in the possibilities of "real mirror" in the clinical medical field - by connecting to the brains of brain-injured patients and inputting specific signals, patients can experience rehabilitation training immersively, which is expected to have a miraculous effect on the reconstruction of neurological function.
YNING has not yet reached a cooperation intention with any large group. Now is the critical period for her and her elder brother to compete for the inheritance rights of the group. Whoever can win the cooperation with YNING first will undoubtedly add another bargaining chip for themselves.
Today is the day for the meeting she has scheduled.
Song Youning remembered that after she arrived at YNING, the receptionist enthusiastically expressed that in order to better demonstrate the technical effects, they hoped that she could experience the equipment in person before the formal meeting.
To show his sincerity in cooperation, Song Youning readily agreed.
What's more, seeing is believing, and she also wanted to see how real the so-called "being there" was.
The staff introduced several relaxing experience scenarios for her, such as a leisure vacation, a stroll in a classical garden, etc. She clearly remembered that she chose the most harmless-sounding "island vacation" scenario and put on the helmet.
And then...
A flood of images instantly flooded her mind—Jisiyun, covered in wounds and running a high fever on a thunderstorm night; Jisiyun, who kept calling her "Miss"; Jisiyun, who knelt at her feet and kissed her palm; Jisiyun, blushing and opening his collar to seduce her; Jisiyun, tearfully begging her to love him more; Jisiyun, with bloodshot eyes, refusing to let her leave; and finally, Jisiyun, who jumped into the water with her amidst the swaying waves, his eyes filled with despair...
So... all the love and hate, the years-long entanglement, the near-death experience... are all just an... immersive experience?
A strong sense of absurdity and dizziness came over her.
She subconsciously raised her hand, wanting to touch her chest, where there seemed to still be a suffocating feeling of being submerged in the river water, and... some kind of indescribable, dull pain.
Everything she experienced in the "real mirror" - Ji Siyun's careful and humble flattery, his desperate and crazy attempt to keep her after the illusion was torn apart, and the last moment, when he jumped down with her without hesitation and hugged her tightly despite being extremely afraid of water - all these strong emotional impacts and memory fragments, like a surging tide, collided violently with her real cognition, making her unable to distinguish what was real and what was illusory for a moment.
She was pale, breathing rapidly, and didn't speak for a long time.
Seeing her unusual expression, the staff member beside her carefully asked again, "Mr. Song, what's wrong with you? Did you feel uncomfortable during the experience?"
Song Youning seemed to have finally come back to her senses. She sat there for a while, then suddenly raised her head and asked a question that neither of them had thought of: "What time is it now?"
They were both stunned for a moment. Gao Jing was the first to react. She quickly glanced at her watch and answered accurately, "Boss, it's 10:03 am now."
The palms of his hands on the bed clenched unconsciously. Song Youning opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but he lowered his eyelids and fell silent again.
Ten o'clock... It was not yet nine forty when she entered the experience.
The four years in the "real mirror", from college to work, from mutual testing to sleeping in each other's arms, experiencing life and death, betrayal, in the real world, only half an hour passed.
This huge tearing sensation in her perception of time made her dizzy and her stomach churned.
Her mind was filled with memories of reality, and the intense emotional impact had not yet subsided. The violent collision with her cognition of reality made her feel unprecedented confusion and discomfort. She pursed her lips, her face pale, and fell silent again.
The female researcher looked at her and suddenly stopped talking, her expression changing. She asked with a hint of doubt: "Mr. Song, are you...are you okay?"
Song Youning seemed to be awakened from distant thoughts. She raised her eyes, a little dazed, but quickly focused. The sudden influx of memories in her brain made her forget to maintain politeness and courtesies for a moment. She asked directly, "Is it possible that your brain-computer interface malfunctioned during operation?"
"For example, not following the pre-set script? Or...will there be unexpected interference between different experiencers?"
A trace of displeasure at having her professionalism questioned flashed across the female researcher's face, but it was quickly suppressed by her professional ethics.
She maintained a gentle smile, but her tone was filled with undeniable confidence. "Mr. Song, you're joking. Our 'Real Mirror' system was put into trial use only after the developers themselves had tested it thousands of times. By the time you tried it, it had undergone at least tens of thousands of drills and optimizations. Its stability and security are absolutely guaranteed, and there's absolutely no chance of such a low-level error as you describe. Each user's 'reality' is independent and controlled."
She paused, trying to get the topic back on track, and reminded, "Mr. Song, Mr. Fang from our company is waiting for you in the next conference room. Regarding the specific details of the cooperation..."
The anticipated cooperation was right in front of them, but Song Youning suddenly stood up.
She was in a state of confusion. The emotional aftershocks brought by that virtual world were too strong, especially the desperate and crazy look of "Ji Siyun" at the end, which made it impossible for her to calm down immediately and conduct a business negotiation that required high concentration.
"My apologies," she interrupted the researcher, her voice tinged with a subtle mix of fatigue and determination. "I need some time to reassess and reconsider my cooperation with your company. I'll take my leave now."
After saying that, she didn't wait for the other party to react and walked straight out of the laboratory, her steps even a little hurried.
Gao Jing was stunned by this sudden change. She had been with Song Youning for many years and had never seen her boss behave so inappropriately or even rudely just before such an important business meeting.
Without time to dwell on it, she quickly bowed and apologized to the stunned researcher: "I'm so sorry! Our President Song may indeed be feeling a little unwell. We'll arrange a time to discuss the cooperation in detail later. Please explain to President Fang. I'm so sorry!"
Then he quickly grabbed Song Youning's coat and bag and trotted out.
Even after arriving at the underground garage and getting into the spacious back seat of the car, Song Youning still looked uneasy. She leaned back in the chair, closed her eyes, and unconsciously pressed her fingers on her temples, her brows furrowed.
Gao Jing had never seen her boss like this before. Even when he was being pressed by his opponent at the negotiation table a few years ago, Mr. Song always remained confident and calm.
She hesitated for a moment, then took the initiative to speak, her voice very soft: "Boss... do you think... there's something wrong with that YNING company?"
How else could one explain why she, who had always prioritized rationality, decisiveness, and work, actually gave up this great opportunity she had been striving for for a long time, which was enough to influence the battle for inheritance rights?
Song Youning slowly opened her eyes, a complex and difficult-to-understand emotion in them. She didn't directly answer Gao Jing's question; she simply couldn't bring herself to express the story she had experienced in the mirror.
After a long while, she finally said in a tired tone, "Gao Jing, help me check someone."
"Ji Du..." She paused and corrected, "Now, his name should be Ji Siyun."
Gao Jing was stunned for a moment. She had some impression of the name Ji Du.
Ever since she started working with Song Youning, she'd known that her boss had been secretly supporting a child from a remote area named Ji Du. Every month, he'd receive a letter from the child, and while his boss didn't reply often, he'd always read it. However, that was many years ago, and somehow, they'd lost touch.
She replied cautiously, "Boss, if there's only one name, the search would be too extensive and would take time. Do you have any more specific information?"
Song Youning pondered for a moment, memories of the mirror and information from reality intertwining in her mind. She tried to sift through the possible truths: "He should have taken the college entrance examination...about five or six years ago. He did very well, and his score...could probably get him into Tsinghua University."
"His hometown is in a place called Qinghe Town, but he probably didn't go to high school there. Focus on checking if there were any reports of sixteen or seventeen-year-olds getting admitted to Tsinghua University."
"Okay, boss, I'll contact them right away." Gao Jing agreed, took out his mobile phone and started looking through contacts, starting to arrange the investigation.
Song Youning turned her gaze out the window again. The bustling scene of the city was rapidly receding, but it could not be seen by her.
A large number of real-life memories impacted her reality, giving her a severe headache. Song Youning closed her eyes again, and the flashing neon lights outside the window swept across her tired and confused face.
Even though she had left that world, even though only a few tens of minutes had passed in real time, everything she had experienced in reality, those four clear years, every day, every person, all existed truly in her mind.
Especially...
Song Youning pursed her lips, her mind was full of Ji Siyun's appearance - him who was paranoid and crazy and yelled at her not to leave, him who was crying and so fragile that it made people feel distressed.
My chest feels tight, as if something is missing.
She felt so uncomfortable that she had no time to care about how the failure to cooperate with YNING would have an adverse impact on the competition between her and her elder brother Song Zhiyan.
Song Youning, who always put his career first, was thrown into confusion for the first time because of a "memory" that was difficult to distinguish between true and false.
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