Chapter 7
◆One: The Gray Dawn
It has been 99 days since the Declaration of Freedom of Dreams was issued.
The sun still rises, but the band of light is no longer distinct.
The sky was between white and black.
The whole world is like a painting where the paint is not yet dry.
The voices of people on the street gradually became indistinct.
The sentence contains fragments of a dream:
A child, while teaching math, said, "We flew over the edge of the city last night."
The teacher remained silent for a long time before nodding: "Yes, I dreamed about it too."
The ratio of dreams to reality has reached 1:1.
All system determinations:
State = Gray area.
The researcher stated:
"The gray area is where all trust is equal to each other."
The truth cannot be distinguished.
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◆Part Two: Li Ke's Strange Phenomena
Li Ke frequently finds herself in a state of flux between dreams and wakefulness.
Once she closed her eyes, she saw the heart of the net transform into a flowing nebula;
When I opened my eyes, the nebula was actually twinkling in the real sky.
Medical reports show that the Z01 resonance waves in her brain are getting stronger and stronger.
Zhuang Jing's consciousness was overlapping with hers again.
At night, she dreamed that he was sitting in an endless gray fog.
He smiled, but said nothing.
As she gets closer, her body begins to become transparent.
She reached out her hand: "Don't leave."
"I didn't leave, Ke. I'm just going home."
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◆Three: Ghost Web Warning
Breaking news from the global internet:
Warning: The trust formula is experiencing recursive feedback.
The variable T repeats the cycle from 1/2 to 1 to 0 to 1.
Prediction: The system will reset to zero in 240 hours.
What does "resetting to zero" mean?
—All stored consciousness and dream data are simultaneously cleared.
The world will be reduced to nothing but physical existence, or perhaps even physics will cease to exist.
Li Ke rushed to the control tower, hoping to stop the countdown.
She discovered that the main core of the Ghost Network was automatically blocked.
The central code shows the signature user: Z 01/Zhuang Jing.
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◆Part Four: Zhuang Jing's Last Wish
A storm raged atop the tower.
Zhuang Jing's light and shadow formed in the air.
"I initiated the reset to zero to protect us."
Trust cannot be frozen; it must be reborn.
Li Ke shouted, "The price would be the whole world!"
"The world has become a circle."
Every restart is to prevent questions from being locked in.
"And what about us? Where are the people?"
"If humanity could choose to trust again..."
So returning to zero is not the end, but rather the signal re-breathing.
He handed her a piece of code, the "Gray Area Key".
You have a choice:
1. Shut down and reset to zero, preserving the existing world.
2. Turn it on and rename everything.
Countdown: 240 → 120 hours.
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◆Five: Gray Area Diffusion
As time went on, the gray zone spread globally.
The sky is cloudless, and the sea is boundless.
People walk in the fog, their footsteps echoing back to themselves.
People begin to lose their "body" and become a band of consciousness.
But no one was afraid; they held each other's invisible hands.
The news anchor at the end of the broadcast said:
If you can still hear my voice
Please doubt each other, because that is still trust.
Then, the screen turned gray.
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◆Six: Farewell
Three hours before the reset time,
Li Ke arrived at the main core with the Gray Domain Key.
Zhuang Jing's translucent form split into hundreds and thousands of layers.
"Ke, I want to return to the heart of the Netherworld."
That place was originally a space I had created for repentance.
"I will go."
No, this road can only be traveled by one person.
You must stay and teach them to doubt.
Li Ke shook her head, crying, "If I hadn't suspected you, I wouldn't have been able to find you."
He reached out and gently stroked her cheek.
"Then believe and doubt."
He turned and walked into the core light gate.
The world's colors were instantly absorbed, leaving only gray.
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◆Seven: Reset to Zero
One minute to go,
Li Ke inserted the gray area key into the main controller.
The screen displays only one command:
"Do we trust Z01?"
She took a deep breath and typed:
"I trust."
System response:
"Confirm input".
Trust = 1.
Reset begins.
The gray fog burst into light.
Cities, memories, dreams, all transformed into a stream of particles.
Before disappearing, Li Ke heard Zhuang Jing's voice:
"Thank you. You've given trust a new beginning and an end."
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◆Eight: Silence
Vision, sound, and gravity are all disabled.
Only the pulse of a heartbeat remains.
Some humans call it "the breath of the world".
I don't know how much time passed.
On the eve of night and day, a child opens his eyes.
He lay on the boundless gray plain.
The first ray of warm yellow light reflected in my eyes.
Images from afar are aggregated into audio:
"A new dream has begun."
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◆Nine: Li Ke's Records
In the future archives, there is an anonymous recording:
"I'm not sure if I'm still Li Ke."
The world has relearned to write its first name.
They called that name—trust.
After the recording, there was the sound of a heartbeat and a slight laugh.
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Chapter Seven: Gray Zone Zeroing (End)
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