The instant she was submerged in the white light, Alice opened her eyes in the hibernation pod.
Two unfamiliar heads were looking at her from above. Seeing her awake, the two girls were immediately overjoyed. Chengzhu was more mature psychologically than Mary, and also appeared more reserved.
"I'm back!"
"It's good that you're awake."
The hibernation pod's lid detected Alice's awakening, automatically adjusted the internal conditions, and opened, allowing Alice to sit up smoothly. The lower temperature inside the pod, upon contact with the outside air, instantly turned into a lot of white mist, which quickly dissipated into the air.
"Ahem, have you guys gone to the server room yet?"
Alice's body had just awakened, and she wasn't feeling quite comfortable yet; she felt weak all over.
But thinking about it, it makes sense. Almost everyone in this world has been asleep for hundreds of years. The only reason they are still alive is because technology is advanced enough that artificial intelligence can accurately freeze and preserve the human body, allowing human consciousness to return to the body and still function normally.
Mary shook her head and said, "Not yet. I don't know why, but I always feel a little scared."
Anyone who opens their eyes and finds themselves seemingly in a coffin, surrounded by a large group of humans lying neatly in hibernation pods, would feel somewhat uncertain.
Am I the only conscious person in the world?
Mary seemed somewhat dazed.
Immediately afterwards, Cheng Zhu's consciousness detached from the virtual smart city and returned to Christine's body in the original world.
She opened her eyes, but something still felt off.
Cheng Zhu had originally thought he would hear a clearance announcement after leaving that world, but... nothing happened. Could there be some unsolved mystery in this instance world? He should have already escaped the virtual world.
Through the indistinct reflection of the transparent lid of the hibernation pod, Cheng Zhu vaguely realized that his body did not seem to belong to a woman.
The Rules of the Strange Dungeon World does indeed have a mechanism where, within the same dungeon, the new Chosen One inherits the physical body of the previous Chosen One who died in the dungeon. However, Cheng Zhu, who had been using Christine's appearance for so long, almost forgot about this. Now, seeing himself transformed into a skeletal man, he was still somewhat unaccustomed to it.
Taking a deep breath, Cheng Zhu watched as the hibernation pod gradually opened its lid. He then crawled out of the pod and began to rehabilitate his strength by crawling around on the ground.
Since it's not your own face that's being used, it's not your own person who's being disgraced.
This scene terrified Mary, who almost thought she had been infected by the virus. She frantically climbed onto someone else's hibernation pod and watched in horror as a thin man crawled around on the floor. Only after they both regained their senses and briefly discussed the situation did they find Alice in the vast "ice coffin," waiting for her to finally awaken.
Alice struggled to emerge from the hibernation pod, and with Cheng Zhu's help, steadied herself and looked around at her surroundings. It was a classic science fiction movie scene; the silver metal buildings exuded a reassuring professionalism.
Clearly, only the three of them have left that virtual world so far.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of. Compared to that, I think it will be more terrifying when the virus discovers that someone has left the virtual world.” Alice stretched and realized that her body was at least forty or fifty years old, with obvious signs of aging on her skin.
"But I never expected Alice to look like this..."
Mary glanced furtively at Cheng Zhu, then at Alice, feeling a little embarrassed. Although she herself looked quite different from those in Wisdom City, her physical age was indeed in her teens, unlike her two roommates, one of whom had become an aunt-like elder, and the other, although not that old, had undergone gender reassignment surgery.
As for their names, the three of them are completely different in their real-life forms and in the virtual smart city. Since names are just code names, they simply use their original names for convenience, except that Cheng Zhu was changed from "Christine" to "Christian".
Although Alice was mentally prepared for this, she still couldn't help but laugh when she actually saw it.
"Artificial intelligence has done its best. After simulating each person's life, it will randomly start that person's next life, erasing the memories of the previous life. These are stored in the data archives we destroy. If they are not destroyed before leaving, then a clone of us will appear in the virtual world. When leaving, a large number of memories from several lifetimes will enter the brain, which will cause the brain to be filled with countless information all at once, which can be fatal."
"So, does this mean that only the three of us are awake in this world right now?" Mary truly understood what it meant to be "asleep while everyone else is asleep."
The whole world was eerily quiet, but thankfully Chengzhu and Alice were there to keep him company.
Alice found a monitor and tapped it. Soon, a human voice, slightly distorted by radio waves, filled the room: "Hello, Miss Sweeney, welcome back to your senses. May I ask how I can help you?"
"Check the list of those who have regained consciousness."
The artificial intelligence quickly revealed the names of the three women.
"Check if there are any surviving humans outside the fully intelligent city."
Alice's next question made Cheng Zhu frown. These were the very words she wanted to ask! If they went back to Future Star, wouldn't the people suspect that she had been slacking off the whole time and relying on a powerful figure to carry her?
To be fair, Chengzhu guessed half of it correctly.
Her ghost story livestream was plagued by frequent screen glitches in the early stages, and later relied entirely on Alice's guidance, leaving the think tank completely unable to determine whether Chengzhu's skill was genuine or simply due to good luck. So, they watched and watched, and even as Chengzhu neared completion, the think tank still couldn't reach a conclusion.
This time, the artificial intelligence remained silent for a relatively long time before finally providing the answer: "The area outside the base is completely under virus control and cannot be queried."
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