Chapter 348 Speculation and Connection (Two Chapters Combined)
Two days later, the sun shone brightly in the early morning.
As agreed, Jemin met up with Amy and Victor at the iconic Star Trails Square in the city center.
When he arrived, he happened to see Amy, who had been waiting for a long time.
"Here, here!" Amy waved excitedly, dressed in a vibrant casual outfit.
Victor, maintaining his meticulous academic style, nodded to Jemin.
The three of them quickly finalized their itinerary, deciding to first go to the largest shopping mall, "Global Mall," to pick out a gift for Amy's aunt, then browse around casually, and finally catch a movie.
Walking on the wide, clean streets where floating cars silently shuttled by, Jemin casually observed his surroundings.
His gaze swept over the huge public screens on the facades of those towering buildings time and time again.
On the screen, news about the "Frontline Galaxy Battle" was being played in extremely realistic holographic images—huge starships were clashing in the deep universe, energy beams crisscrossed, and explosions silently erupted.
The announcer described the intensity of the battle and the bravery of their own soldiers in a serious tone.
However, in stark contrast to the news of the ongoing war, the surrounding social atmosphere was peaceful.
There were no recruitment stations, no wartime rationing notices, and no sense of tension under any emergency.
At the bus stop, young men and women were enthusiastically discussing the latest holographic immersive game and the scenery of a newly developed tourist planet.
On park benches, elderly people leisurely basked in the sun and chatted about the community dance party.
Everyone wore an almost normal calm on their faces, seemingly...completely unmoved by the wars on the screen that concerned the survival of civilization.
There was no fear, no excitement, not even basic attention; it was as if it were an entertainment program taking place in another dimension, unrelated to daily life.
"Does distance make the heart grow fonder? Or have we just become numb?" Jemin's doubts deepened.
But none of that seems right. No matter how you look at it, a civilization in the midst of a fierce interstellar war could never have such a relaxed social atmosphere.
Whether it's excitement, despair, or tension, it's all fine, but it should never be this peaceful.
Upon arriving at Huanyu Mall, they went directly to "Xinghai Yingqu," a chain store specializing in movie merchandise.
The store was filled with a dazzling array of movie posters, character figurines, and prop models that were completely unfamiliar to Jemin.
Looking at these things, Jemin realized that this was yet another large amount of "real" information outside of his knowledge base.
Watching Amy and Victor enthusiastically browse and discuss among the various goods, Jemin also pretended to be interested while looking around, but in reality, he was constantly absorbing fragments of this world's culture.
Amy ultimately chose a limited-edition villain spaceship model, feeling it suited her aunt's "unique" taste.
After buying the gifts, the three of them strolled around the shopping street.
Just then, Jemin stopped abruptly, his gaze fixed on a giant holographic advertising screen in the center of the square.
On the screen, a live broadcast of a high-tech product launch is underway.
Standing on the stage was a chief scientist dressed in a white research lab coat, speaking eloquently and confidently.
The other party was none other than another wizard whom he had glimpsed once when the expeditionary force was assembling!
“Another one…” Jemin was shocked and silently memorized the company’s name and the “scientist’s” appearance.
Subsequently, at Amy's strong recommendation, the three of them went to the cinema to watch a recently popular interstellar epic movie.
Throughout the film, Jemin was once again convinced that the films here, from their narrative techniques and aesthetic style to their values, were completely different from the art forms of his previous life on Earth and even in the wizarding world. They were independent and mature cultural products.
By the time we finished watching the movie, it was almost dusk.
The three of them followed the flow of people out of the mall. Just as they reached the exit, a clear, cool, yet slightly languid and magnetic female voice came from behind them:
"Amy?"
Amy turned around, a smile immediately spreading across her face: "Auntie!"
Jemin followed her gaze, and when he saw the person's face clearly, his pupils suddenly contracted, and he almost stopped breathing.
Standing there was a tall woman with long, flowing silver-gray hair that swayed gently in the evening breeze. She had delicate features, fair skin, and an air of cool elegance that exuded an indescribable intellectual and mysterious aura.
The key point is that this face is all too familiar to Jemin.
The other person was none other than Senior Viola!
Amy happily took Viola's hand and introduced them: "Auntie, these are my friends, Jemin and Victor, whom I told you about."
Viola—or rather, the "Viola" of this world—turned her gaze toward the two of them, a kind and approachable smile on her face that strangely blended with her inherently aloof and cool demeanor:
"Hello, Amy often talks about you. I also graduated from the university you are attending now, so I'm your senior. You can just call me Senior Viola."
Jemin's eyelids twitched suddenly, and his heart began to race uncontrollably.
Another senior student?
Fortunately, Viola's attention quickly returned to Amy, and she asked with a smile, "What brings you here today?"
Amy immediately presented the beautifully wrapped gift like a treasure: "Auntie, happy birthday in advance! This is a gift that my friends and I picked out for you!"
Viola's face lit up with just the right amount of surprise as she accepted the gifts, her smile gentle and bright: "Thank you, Amy, and also Jemin and Victor, it's so thoughtful of you."
Her performance was impeccable; she was a gentle elder who was genuinely happy to receive the kindness of her juniors.
However, Amy tilted her head, her face showing obvious wariness and doubt, and looked her aunt up and down.
Viola was a little confused by her gaze and blinked: "What's wrong, Amy? Is there something on my face?"
Amy wrinkled her nose and said bluntly, "Auntie, your reaction today is so strange!"
"What's wrong?"
"Because if you were in your usual situation, receiving a gift that you picked out with a friend would definitely make you say something like, 'Hmph, even the best of friends will eventually part ways for various reasons, and it's impossible to maintain this kind of relationship forever,' which would be super disappointing!"
Upon hearing this, Victor also showed a surprised expression, clearly unable to understand Amy's description of his "aunt's" personality.
Jieming, listening from the side, was speechless. This personality... is indeed very much like Senior Viola.
The "confusion" on Viola's face vanished instantly, replaced by a bright smile with a mischievous grin. She gently tapped Amy's forehead with her index finger and said in a soft, melodious voice:
"I won't say those things today. Because—keeping them out will only cause you more pain."
"I hope you can always hold onto this feeling of unease, and I hope you can always be troubled by this unanswerable question. And even if you eventually have to part ways with your friends, I will only say one thing to you softly at the end..."
She leaned forward slightly, her smile growing even brighter, and said, word by word:
“'Serves you right,' oh well.”
Amy: "..."
Victor: "!!!"
After holding it in for a long time, Amy blushed and stomped her foot, saying, "Auntie! Your personality is still so awful!"
Victor was also shocked, clearly taken aback by Viola's nasty personality.
Standing to the side, Jemin, besides being completely speechless, inexplicably felt a sense of relief, as if to say, "I knew it."
He was even somewhat relieved that his identity in this fake world was not more closely related to this "Senior Viola," otherwise his days before this would probably have been even more "colorful" and miserable.
Viola chatted casually with Amy for a few more minutes when she was stopped by a young man in a suit who looked a little nervous, seemingly about an urgent work matter.
After saying goodbye to the three men, she turned around gracefully, her face still bearing that impeccable, gentle smile, and naturally handed the handbag to the man.
The man accepted the gift with a flattered expression, a blush rising to his face, and followed her closely as they left.
Amy watched their retreating figures, shook her head helplessly, and muttered under her breath, "Another poor soul..."
Jemin and Victor looked at them with suspicion.
Amy sighed and explained, "My aunt... she's like that at work too. She especially likes to flirt with male colleagues using ambiguous and suggestive tactics. Just when the other person is really falling for her and thinks they're about to succeed, she'll reject them without hesitation."
"Then... well, in her words, it's about 'appreciating the spectacularly painful expressions on their faces when their dreams are shattered.' And since she's so beautiful, this tactic almost always works."
Jemin and Victor exchanged a glance, both able to see the cold sweat beading on each other's foreheads.
The man carrying the bag now appeared to them no different from a lamb about to be sacrificed.
“What a…terrible person,” Victor commented dryly.
Jemin secretly wiped away a cold sweat, feeling that this person really matched the personality of his senior in his memory.
The three then said goodbye at the entrance of the mall.
On the way back, Jemin made an excuse that he wanted to take a walk and deliberately took a longer route.
He wandered through different neighborhoods of the city, observing the details of the world more broadly.
As he passed a public elementary school with a colorful running track and cheerful laughter, he involuntarily stopped again.
Through the white fence, he saw a burly man in sportswear playing games with a group of seven- or eight-year-old children on the playground, his face full of a kind smile.
The man moved nimbly yet cautiously, as if afraid of bumping into the children, his loud voice filled with encouragement and laughter.
Jemin's pupils contracted again.
This man...he remembers too!
He is a level 5 wizard in the expeditionary force!
Moreover, Jemin had a very deep impression of this person because even just a glance at him was enough to clearly feel the violent aura emanating from him.
But now, judging from the situation, he is actually a physical education teacher in this elementary school who is deeply loved by the students.
Looking at the almost overflowing satisfaction and happiness on his face, Jemin felt a strong sense of absurdity.
He stood silently for a moment, then turned around and quickened his pace back to that "home".
Locked himself in his bedroom, Jieming leaned against the door, took a deep breath, and began to systematically organize the information he had gathered that day.
First, and most importantly, the density of "familiar faces" is unusually high.
The city has a population of tens of millions, and he encountered Kevin (the former school bully), the "chief scientist" of a high-tech company, senior Viola, and the "physical education teacher" in succession within only his limited range of activities—his route to and from school, the downtown business district, and the area he deliberately avoided today.
This was only because he recognized him after meeting him only once.
It should be noted that the wizards he could recognize were only a negligible fraction of the nearly two million wizards who had fallen.
what does that mean?
This means that the number of individuals scattered throughout the world, built on the "prototype" of the Fallen Wizard, may be unimaginably large!
Second, the authenticity of these "acquaintances" far exceeds that of his "parents."
Whether it's Kevin's roguish ways, the chief scientist's elite demeanor, the PE teacher's sunny and loving nature, or Viola's wicked personality to the core, they all exhibit extremely distinct and self-consistent individual characteristics and independent life trajectories.
Unlike their "parents," who are rigid and flawed, they are full of human complexity and authenticity.
Third, the world's vast array of independent cultural products.
Movies, games, art styles, social news...
All these elements that constitute the world's context are beyond his personal knowledge base.
Yet it is logically consistent, forming a complete and authentic civilization system.
If the person behind the scenes were to construct such a vast and realistic otherworldly culture solely for him, the cost would be incomprehensible.
Connecting these clues, a bold and heart-pounding conjecture gradually took shape in Jemin's mind:
Could it be that... this so-called "false world" is not just a cage prepared for him alone?
Instead, it included all two million fallen wizards at the same time?
Each of them, perhaps like him initially, was implanted with different identities and false memories, scattered in various corners of this world.
Just as drops of water merge into the ocean, together they form a part of this "reality"?
If that's the case, then many of the contradictions become clear.
That true knowledge may have originated from the contributions of other fallen wizards.
Those vivid "acquaintances" are extensions of their own lives under false identities.
That vast cultural background was generated by integrating all the cognitive materials of the fallen ones and then using the rules of the plane!
"A... gigantic stage that can hold at least two million 'actors'?" Jemin felt more and more certain that his guess was correct.
More importantly, this also explains part of the reason why the Xuan Gang Red Dust Barrier failed.
The opponent doesn't need to break through the Xuan Gang Red Dust Barrier's protection; they just need to arrange the entire plane in the corresponding manner.
Just like in "The Truman Show," when the entire world is a deliberately constructed real world, even the Xuan Gang Red Dust Barrier cannot function.
"But it still doesn't explain how those false memories were generated..."
Jemin shook his head, deciding to put that problem aside for the time being and instead focus more on the previous issue.
To verify this conjecture, the key is to confirm whether there are other "real people" around him—those who, like him, come from the wizarding world but have been temporarily deceived and fallen.
His gaze involuntarily fell upon "Viola," whom he had encountered that day.
His intuition told him that there was a very high chance that this senior was the "real person".
...After all, it's rare to find someone as gifted as her, who finds pleasure in the suffering of others.
Jemin asked himself honestly, even if he racked his brains to fabricate something, he probably couldn't come up with those quotes like "it's more painful if you don't say it" and "you deserve it."
That deep-seated wickedness and keen insight into human nature seem to be a natural performance by Viola herself.
“If we calculate the timeline, it makes sense if my senior was among the first batch of support troops to be stranded here.” Jemin recalled the timeline of the expeditionary force.
Viola had previously stated that she was selected as part of an elite combat unit and sent to support this bizarre dimension, which makes perfect sense.
It is undoubtedly easier to distinguish between truth and falsehood and obtain more useful information by testing someone you know than by testing someone you don't know.
"It's decided. The next goal is to confirm Viola's true condition."
With a clear direction for the next steps, Jieming felt the confusion that had been lingering in his mind dissipate somewhat.
He lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and once again focused his mind on his dantian.
With the continuous and tireless "adaptation" of the Body Tempering Method, the efficiency of mobilizing spiritual energy seems to have improved slightly again.
The estimated time to successfully connect to the internal space has been shortened again.
...
...
The faint morning sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, casting long, narrow patches of light on the floor.
Jemin slowly opened his eyes, his eyes bloodshot from staying up all night, and his eye sockets were marked with obvious signs of fatigue.
However, in stark contrast to his haggard appearance was the barely suppressed excitement in his eyes and the relieved smile on his lips.
It was a success!
After a whole night of tireless and focused guidance, that wisp of spiritual energy, thin as a thread yet stagnant as lead, finally managed to barely touch the invisible barrier at the entrance to the inner space at dawn!
Jemin could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
To be honest, he was also lucky.
If "entering meditation" were not considered a "state" related to mental state and comprehension in the cultivation system, rather than a "level" ability that purely depends on mental strength.
With his mental strength now suppressed to the level of an ordinary person, it's impossible for him to internally visualize his dantian and perform such a subtle operation.
His own spiritual power is a product of the fusion of essence, energy, spirit, and spiritual energy, naturally bearing the imprint of his will.
The moment that slender thread of spiritual energy connected with the entrance to the inner space...
Buzz!
A strange sense of resonance came over him, and Jemin felt his spirit suddenly lighten, as if he had broken through some kind of heavy barrier. A familiar and intimate aura enveloped his probing little mental thoughts.
They're in!
Although only a tiny wisp of spirit could be injected, it became noticeably more active and agile the moment it entered the body's internal space!
No longer like in the outside world, dancing as if wearing heavy shackles.
"As expected... my internal space has begun to take shape as a plane, possessing an independent foundation of rules, which can offset the suppression of the external plane to a certain extent!" Jemin realized.
Unfortunately, the total amount of spiritual energy he could probe was too small. The boost brought by this "liberation" only made him more flexible in controlling this wisp of spiritual intent, far from enough to break the shackles of the outside world.
Without the slightest delay, he used his will to drive this wisp of spirit directly toward the automated factory in the core area of the space.
Inside the factory, various precision instruments continued to operate quietly and methodically.
Jemin's "gaze" immediately locked onto the timer on the main control panel, which was constantly displaying numbers.
The clear numbers came into his view.
Six years, four months, seventeen days, eight hours, and thirty-two minutes...
Jemin's heart sank at first, then he let out a long sigh of relief.
It's been more than six years!
More than six years have passed in the outside world since he was trapped in this dimension!
The ten-year deadline given by the commander of the second expeditionary force has already passed more than halfway!
A sense of urgency surged up like a cold tide, but was quickly suppressed by relief.
Thankfully, we haven't run out of time yet!
There are nearly four years left.
Although it wasn't a comfortable situation, it at least gave him a chance to struggle and break through, preventing him from immediately facing the worst possible outcome.
His thoughts swept over the legion of black giants standing silently like black mountains in the distance, and the guard units that patrolled the edge of the spatial barrier like ghosts.
They are in a stable state, full of energy, and quietly await their master's call.
Jemin tried to mobilize this wisp of mental energy, wanting to send a small reconnaissance-type talisman artifact out of his body.
However, the thought vanished without a trace.
The magical artifact was blocked at the entrance to the space by an invisible, powerful force, making it impossible to penetrate.
“As expected, it didn’t work…” Jemin wasn’t too disappointed.
The suppression of extraordinary powers from the outside world is comprehensive, and it obviously includes spatial-level blockade.
Furthermore, his physical mental strength was severely restricted, making him like a person with weakened physical strength who, even with a large number of weapons in the warehouse, could not be dragged out of the locked door.
The hope of breaking through the impasse by relying on the reserves within the body seems slim at present.
"However, being able to confirm the time is already the biggest gain!"
His thoughts then turned to the information terminal set up in the space.
The terminal started up successfully, and the light screen lit up, but it displayed a glaring red warning: No signal connection.
"They can even completely intercept information flow... This dimension's closed nature is even more thorough than I imagined." Jemin thought with a chill.
This means that it is almost impossible for him to communicate with the outside world through his internal space.
Composing himself, Jemin slowly withdrew the intruding spiritual energy.
As consciousness returned to its physical form, a wave of intense fatigue washed over me.
After resting, Jemin made up his mind that the plan had to be accelerated!
Over the next few days, Jemin's behavior at school underwent a subtle change.
He no longer passively received classroom knowledge, but began to actively and purposefully use all available time to learn about the various knowledge systems of the world with great eagerness.
From basic science to social sciences and humanities, we are trying to understand more deeply the rules of this "stage".
At the same time, he also began to ask Amy more about her aunt Viola, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
For example, her work habits, places she frequents, her recent itinerary, etc.
This unusual level of attention alerted Amy. She looked at Jemin with concern and earnestly advised, "Jermin, you...you don't actually have feelings for my aunt, do you?"
"Take my advice, don't! With her personality, getting close to her will only lead to unhappiness! You're the school bully, with a bright future ahead of you, don't let beauty blind you!"
Jemin could only give a vague and exasperated response. Fortunately, although Amy was worried, she still managed to reveal a crucial piece of information under his subtle guidance:
Viola is apparently going to participate in the 'Clean Beach' environmental volunteer activity in the South District in about ten days.
"Clean up the beach" volunteer activity... Jemin silently began to recall, "That would be a good opportunity."
He was not unfamiliar with this volunteer activity, after all, related news had been broadcast on TV for the past few days.
(End of this chapter)
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