71 Trial 01
◎You are the creator of this "New Earth"◎
The judges sat upright, their black robes buttoned tightly around their necks, leaving thin lines. They solemnly flipped through the documents on the table, then began a question-and-answer session with Dr. Xu.
Inquisitor: Are you aware of the prophecy that human civilization will be destroyed?
Dr. Xu: I know.
Inquisitor: Are you aware that the reason a group of people, led by your students, developed "A General History of the Universe" was to gather the fragments of human history so that they could restore civilization when the prophecy came true?
Dr. Xu: I know.
Inquisitor: Are you aware that when your student He Landao filed his "Universal History" with us, he chose you as the temporary custodian of the civilization fragments he had collected? Of course, we also considered you the most suitable candidate in the entire galaxy, and we thought you would be very reliable.
At this moment, someone in the audience cast a brief glance at Helan Dao.
Dr. Xu was unmoved by the minor commotion in the audience. She looked the judges straight in the eye, as if she was not the one being tried.
She still said slowly: I know.
Inquisitor: Why, then, did you choose to betray your students and all of humanity?
Dr. Xu: I have not betrayed humanity.
There was a moment of silence in the courtroom. A document was circulated among the judges. Those who had read it began to whisper with the people around them, seemingly discussing something important.
After a brief discussion, the Inquisitor's eyes flashed with a sharp light as he continued to interrogate Dr. Xu: As far as we know, you seem to be conducting a secret experimental activity in your base.
Dr. Xu: The experimental base conducts countless secret studies every day. I don’t know which one you are referring to.
Inquisitor: I am referring to the experimental research on the genes of ancient humans and ancient organisms.
Dr. Xu: The whole galaxy knows that I am doing this work.
Inquisitor: Oh, really? Then, Dr. Xu, do you dare to reveal your purpose?
Dr. Xu remained calm: Preserve ancient genes and develop new species.
The Inquisitor sneered: "And then, you hatched them, nurtured them, created a brand new ecosystem at your base, and allowed them to grow freely, simulating the Earth's environment from the time of ancient human civilization. This includes you, the very people sitting in the audience—your students. This is what you call ancient and pure human bloodline, the rulers of the entire Earth. You made them the most powerful weapons of all humanity, and these most powerful weapons all obey your commands."
Dr. Xu: If they had listened to me, they would not have developed "A General History of the Universe."
Inquisitor: Whether they obey you or not is not important. What is important is that you created the heavens and the earth in this "New Earth," the air, water, plants, birds, fish, shrimp, insects, and wild animals. You created white, black, and yellow people. You are the Creator of this "New Earth," you are... their God.
The Inquisitor continued, "You control all the resources. This secret plan was proceeding smoothly until the emergence of the Universal History. Humanity intended to use the system to collect the fragments of civilization and complete a historical archive. This way, when civilization truly ends, humanity can rebuild from the ruins without the help of anyone else." This contradicts your plan, and your "New Earth" will no longer be useful. Therefore, you have repeatedly told your student Augustus to look forward to the future. At the same time, you have publicly expressed your disapproval of the development of the Universal History.
Dr. Xu: I have no interest in ruling over humanity. I simulate and develop the living environment of ancient humans because...
Judge: Why?
Dr. Xu: I can’t say. The only answer I can give is that the act of destroying civilization fragments has nothing to do with my research and development plan.
After she said this, she finally turned her gaze to the audience. She glanced past Xu Wenjun's concerned eyes and fell directly on Helan Dao, as if she had deliberately found him, and then immediately looked away.
Dr. Xu looked back at the judge and spoke slowly, "The moment the world slid towards destruction, nothing could be undone. The only thing humanity could do was to keep a meaningless record. This is not inherently problematic. Throughout our history, most of it has been made up of meaningless moments. I destroyed the fragments of civilization simply because some unnecessary sacrifices should not be borne by one person alone."
The Inquisitor frowned. "What do you mean?"
Helan Dao's heart sank suddenly.
Dr. Xu stared at the Inquisitor. "Every fragment of civilization is a massive set of data. Have you ever thought about how it's preserved?"
People at the table started whispering to each other. Could there be another explanation for this?
Inquisitor: "Of course it's the system that comes with the Universal History."
Dr. Xu shook his head. "To date, no system has the storage space to hold millions of years of human civilization data. The same is true for the 'Universal History' system you mentioned."
The judge asked, "Then, Dr. Xu, how should such a vast amount of valuable data be preserved to ensure its safety?"
Dr. Xu said, "No other system possesses such a large space, unless... it's the human brain. The 'Universal History' system possesses a high degree of human consciousness. Have you ever considered why this is so?"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone looked at Helan Dao.
The "General History of the Universe" system was created by this man.
Dr. Xu said, "Let me tell you the answer, although some of you may have already guessed it—the creator of the system connected his own brain to the system, allowing the system to think and feel what he thought. The system transforms everyone into a spiritual form and enters the "Universal History." This way, even if a player is injured or even sacrificed within the system, their life will not be truly endangered.
"I'd say the dumbest method is the best. When a person's brain is connected to the system, the civilization data collected by the system can be stored directly in the human brain. However, while the human brain's storage capacity is unlimited, the human mental state has a critical point. When a person is about to collapse, they need to transfer some of the civilization data in their brain and send it to me for temporary storage. Then, I can gradually raise the threshold of their mental critical point and continue to collect new civilization fragments. Such a person, because they devote all their mental energy to the system's operation, will appear quite weak in the world of 'Universal History', where players are ranked by their mental energy."
The Inquisitor asked, "What happens after all the fragments of human civilization are found?"
Dr. Xu: "Once we've gathered all of them, we'll need a human brain to serve as a container for storing these billions of terabytes of data. This will serve as the spark of human civilization, preserving it until the day when human civilization is supposedly destroyed. Then, we can rebuild the ruins of civilization. And the best candidate for this human brain is obvious, isn't it?"
"...Someone has to sacrifice, and any of us could be sacrificed." The judge looked at Helan, who had no expression on his face, and said, his words were a little pale. "But that's no reason for you to destroy the data."
Dr. Xu closed his eyes for a long moment before finally speaking, "Everything you do is in vain, so there's no need to sacrifice anyone. You'll soon realize that the destruction of a small civilization is nothing compared to a true disaster."
The trial of Dr. Xu has come to a temporary end.
The court imprisoned Dr. Xu in the highest-level prison. During the trial, she mentioned too much information about the "New Earth" plan and the "real disaster". The judges had to suspend the interrogation and hold a new meeting to discuss the matter, but they were really puzzled.
Dr. Xu remained silent about these matters, so they could only keep sending people related to Dr. Xu to visit her in prison, hoping to break down her psychological defenses.
However, after entering, she ignored both Xu Wenjun and Augustus, one of Dr. Xu's most proud students, and confronted them indifferently through a glass.
The last person to visit the prison was Helan Dao.
The judges, probably out of a desire to compensate Helando for binding himself to the system, allowed him to cross the glass and go inside to talk face to face with Dr. Xu.
Before entering, a judge who had been following Helan Dao said to him: "This is a hard-earned opportunity. Even her own daughter doesn't have this kind of treatment. You..."
Helan Dao gave him a blank look.
The judge swallowed the words "grasp it well".
He Landao entered Dr. Xu's room. The window of the room faced west, facing the setting sun. There were several lush plants on the windowsill, and the leaves were gleaming in the golden sun.
Although it is a detention center, the layout of the room is no different from that of a normal living room - that is, ignoring the fact that the east wall is made of a whole piece of transparent glass, so everything that happens in the room can be seen clearly by people outside.
At this moment, Dr. Xu was standing by the window, caressing the leaves lovingly.
Helandao looked at her silently.
"I know you won't ask anything. You were forced to come here, right, kid?" Dr. Xu spoke with his back to him.
Helan Dao glanced outside the glass wall and saw a look of joy on the judge's face.
"It's okay. I took the initiative to talk to you," Dr. Xu said. "Don't feel any pressure. I destroyed the fragments of civilization because of you. Let's just chat."
Helan Dao withdrew his gaze from outside.
Dr. Xu turned around, stared at Helan Dao, and asked with a smile: "Has the protagonist of the curse appeared yet?"
Helan said: "..."
He shook his head in denial: "Augustus made a mistake."
"Well...it's nothing serious," Dr. Xu said. "Don't even worry too much. He'll be fine, I promise you."
"Dr. Xu, you..." He Landao suddenly frowned, and a thought flashed through his mind.
Dr. Xu interrupted him: "Go out and tell them, and say that when the time is right, I will tell them the truth."
"You can't tell me now?"
Dr. Xu winked at him and said, "Now is not the time."
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