Chapter 375 Contact and Cognition
"puff--!"
When Liu Cheng, who was drinking tea, learned that Li Qi had personally met with the "non-existent friend" and eliminated it, he spit out the tea in his mouth on the spot: "Ahem...what did you say?! You were targeted by pollution, and you eliminated it?!"
"Don't be so excited."
Li Qi dodged Liu Cheng's spit attack calmly, sat on the edge of the sofa, and explained: "What I dealt with was just a 'clone'. The real pollution has not been eliminated. So I want to know how the 057th Bureau dealt with the pollution."
If pollution can even invade the Dream Town, then the Dream Town is not absolutely safe. Li Qi must think of a way to prevent pollution.
Otherwise, even if you hide in the dream town, your life may be in danger if you are targeted by pollution with unknown rules.
For this reason, Li Qicai went to Liu Cheng to ask about the response measures of Bureau 057.
During this period, Liu Cheng traveled to many places with the 057th Bureau, and Zhao Chenghu did intend to promote him to become a formal team member. Liu Cheng should still know some basic information about dealing with pollution.
Seeing Li Qi's calm look, Liu Cheng was unable to come back to his senses for a long time.
It is precisely because of his close relationship with Bureau 057 that Liu Cheng understands how difficult it is to deal with pollution.
Even in the 057th Bureau, which has some experience in dealing with pollution, no one says that pollution can be eliminated.
But Li Qi eliminated a pollution that approached him, even if it was a clone! Liu Cheng was shocked for a long time before gradually regaining his composure.
He looked at Li Qi sitting opposite him, the shock in his heart gradually subsided, and his sense of security in this safe house was gradually increasing.
Regardless of how Li Qi did it, since the other party can even eliminate the pollution, it proves that following Li Qi is absolutely right!
When Liu Cheng thought that even if he encountered pollution in the future, Li Qi could easily solve it, his sense of security immediately reached the highest level.
He recalled Li Qi's question just now, exhaled slowly, and explained:
“During the period when pollution appeared, the international community has defined the types of pollution. Pollution can be roughly divided into two types: one is [contact pollution], and the other is [cognitive pollution].
“The way to deal with the former is to isolate the infected person from the source of the pollution and physically cut off the spread of the pollution.
"And the latter's solution... is to delete the memory."
Liu Cheng recalled what Zhao Chenghu had told him and relayed it to Li Qi.
"First, tell me what contact pollution is and what cognitive pollution is."
Li Qi asked about the meaning of the two nouns Liu Cheng mentioned.
Liu Cheng was quiet for a while. He recalled what Zhao Chenghu and Meng Xiaolin had said to him, organized his words, and then said to Li Qi:
"Contact contamination is similar to a virus. It has a key source of infection, similar to the [flowing water] you encountered in the Australian market last time. It is contact contamination. The infected person needs to come into contact with the footprints of [flowing water] to be infected.
"When you encounter this type of contamination, you only need to eliminate the footprints of the source of infection and keep an eye on all the infected people at the same time, and you can effectively deal with it."
“What about cognitive pollution?”
"This... I heard from Zhao Chenghu that cognitive pollution is the most troublesome thing, because it can be understood from the name. When you know it and recognize it, you have been infected."
“…”
Li Qi's heart moved when he heard this.
He suddenly remembered a term he had heard before traveling through time.
Memetic contamination.
This cognitive pollution sounds very similar to memetic pollution.
Seeing Li Qi's silence, Liu Cheng thought that Li Qi was digesting the information he had just said, so he waited for a while.
When Li Qi looked up at him again, Liu Cheng continued to explain:
“The [non-existent friend] you are facing this time is a kind of cognitive pollution. When you know that this friend exists and psychologically identify it as your friend, you will be targeted by it and slowly lose your life.
"Similarly, the [Dream Man] pollution that was circulated in the European Union some time ago is also a similar cognitive pollution. As long as you know what the dream man looks like, that dream man will come into your dream."
"To deal with this kind of pollution, just delete the memory?"
After listening to this, Li Qi thought of the solution Liu Cheng mentioned just now and asked in surprise.
Liu Cheng just said that the best way to deal with cognitive pollution is to delete the relevant memories of the polluter.
Liu Cheng nodded: "I have also asked Zhao Chenghu about this. Zhao Chenghu said that it is enough to delete the relevant memories, because this kind of pollution comes from cognition. As long as the cognition of this kind of pollution is eliminated, the damage of pollution can be effectively prevented."
Awareness and knowledge are the root causes of the spread of this type of pollution.
Maybe you've only met once, or maybe you just heard or saw a sentence somewhere by chance, or like Li Qi, you've had a great conversation with something weird on the Internet, and you'll be infected with this kind of cognitive pollution.
When you have these kinds of beings in your memory, they will haunt you until they take your life.
But on the contrary, if there is no such existence in your memory, you have lost your knowledge of them and do not know what they are, then you are safe.
Bureau 057 and other departments that deal with mysteries use this method to isolate the spread of cognitive pollution.
So far, this method is indeed very effective.
At least the [Dream Man] and the [Non-Existent Friend] have been effectively contained.
"…So, Bureau 057 has a magical item that can erase memories?"
Li Qi asked this crucial question.
Liu Cheng nodded. "Yes, they do have it, but Zhao Chenghu said it's hard to apply for it, and it's not very convenient to carry. This time, the bureau confirmed that it was cognitive pollution, so they brought it here, and took it back after use."
“So soon?”
Li Qi was very surprised.
Less than a week had passed from the time the incident occurred to the time it was resolved. Even yesterday, Liu Cheng was still "internshipping" with Zhao Chenghu. However, after just one day, Zhao Chenghu had already applied for a magical item from the bureau that could erase his memory.
And it was returned on the same day.
This speed is too fast.
"It seems that there is a strange object responsible for transmission. That's what Zhao Chenghu said, but I haven't seen it."
The emergence of strange objects has brought convenience to mankind in many places.
If it weren't for the fact that there is a corresponding price to pay for using rare objects, I believe that governments around the world would definitely use rare objects without restrictions.
Some countries may even be doing this already.
Thinking of these magical objects, Li Qi thought of the [Friend] Pollution that could enter the Dream Town.
The Dream Town cannot prevent the entry of pollution, but other strange objects may be able to effectively deal with the pollution.
As the days of darkness become more frequent, there are more and more strange things in the world.
Perhaps Li Qi could find a magical object with similar functions and use it to prevent pollution from entering his safe house.
However, before finding new rare items, Li Qi must first find a [friend].
First, see if you can find the real body of [Friend], and absorb and digest it thoroughly to enhance your own mental strength. Currently, this priority is higher than finding rare objects.
After drinking the tea in the cup, Li Qi stopped asking Liu Cheng about the strange things in Bureau 057.
He stood up and said:
"Continue to follow Zhao Chenghu and collect information about strange objects and pollution. Just remember to tell me if there is anything worth noting."
Seeing Li Qi getting up and putting on his clothes, Liu Cheng was stunned for a moment. He asked in surprise:
"…Wait, you're going out?"
"Well, I haven't been out for a long time. Is there any problem with going out for a walk?"
Liu Cheng did not answer immediately. He turned his head and looked at the sky.
Because it is winter and Suhe City is relatively close to the north, it gets dark very early. It is not even three o'clock now and it is already getting dark.
Seeing this, Liu Cheng reminded Li Qi:
"Try not to come back too late. The city can still maintain order during the day, but not at night. It is said that the military will impose a curfew in a while."
"Don't worry, I'm just going out to relax. I won't be back too late."
Li Qi put on a white down jacket and left home.
The contamination of [non-existent friend] has been temporarily controlled by Bureau 057 through memory erasure, and Li Qi previously destroyed one of [friend's] clones, so [friend] will definitely not come to find Li Qi again.
Therefore, if Li Qi wants to find this "friend", he has to take the initiative to go out and see if there are any fish that have been missed by the 057 Bureau.
After all, the reason for the birth of [Friends] is still unclear. Even if Bureau 057 deletes the memories of the polluters, it may not be able to stop [Friends] from continuing to pollute others.
This is the source that Li Qi is looking for.
Coming out of the safe house, Li Qi looked at the sky and the falling snow around him, and slowly exhaled.
There was no water vapor inside the doll's body, and the breath Li Qi exhaled did not condense into mist in the air, which made Li Qi lose some of the fun in winter.
However, Li Qi didn't care much about these trivial matters. He looked around and walked towards the city center along the road leading to the city center.
It is easier to encounter polluted people in crowded places. Even if you don’t meet [friends], you can still encounter other pollution.
Li Qi really wanted to know whether other pollution could also enhance his mental power.
While walking alone on the street, Li Qi met some kind passers-by who asked him if he was lost from his parents and even wanted to take him to the police, but Li Qi persuaded them to leave with hints.
The childlike appearance does bring many advantages to Li Qi, but sometimes, the childlike appearance is also a trouble for Li Qi.
It seems that after returning, I will have to create an adult body to act after the end of the world.
Maybe... we can also use the method of controlling mechas, make the adult body a little bigger, and control it with a child-like body inside.
But then energy becomes a problem.
Moreover, the dual control mode is too complicated and needs to be simplified.
Li Qi was thinking about all these things, but suddenly he felt everything in front of him darken.
But in just a second, the light from the street lamp shone on Li Qi and on the snow-covered road.
Looking at the dirty snow reflecting the light of the street lamps, Li Qi raised his head and looked up at the sky.
The sky, which was originally filled with setting sun, suddenly became pitch black without any light at all.
The whole earth was plunged into darkness.
Listening to the slightly panicked but not overly frightened discussions of the people around him, Li Qi knew that this was another dark day.
And if Li Qi remembered correctly, this dark day was the tenth.
(End of this chapter)
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