Recap
Shen Xiuzhe raised his hand to interrupt him, “Let’s talk about the situation on the tenth floor first. Did you see anything?”
Chu Shici calmed down.
“The tenth floor is where the monster room is. You should know that.”
He thought for a long time and said hesitantly: “I can’t describe it, it’s very shocking. Buildings slowly emerged one after another, and various monsters continuously appeared in the area.”
“It’s like…the scene of a game loading.”
___
After Chu Shici finished speaking, the room was quiet for a long time.
After a while, Shen Xiuzhe shook his head hesitantly.
Chu Shici explained it again in detail.
“We already know that this is a holographic world, and the tenth floor is a scene in this world. Most of the scene changes happen in the monster room.”
“Last time they took Officer Li there, when the elevator door opened, I saw an empty and dark hall. The scene hadn’t started yet, so the tenth floor was very quiet and I couldn’t hear anything.”
Chu Shici shook his charging cable and carefully recalled the scene he had seen before.
“This time there were several strong men in the hall. Their faces were covered with blindfolds, and the guards were removing their handcuffs. The venue slowly turned into a gladiator arena, and many monsters appeared in it. The ones I saw included pythons and giant spiders. There were also swarms of motionless zombies.”
Shen Xiuzhe’s fingers trembled.
Chu Shici continued to describe: “Transparent figures were sitting in the auditorium beside each other. The black figures could not move and had no names. While the white figures were shouting and waving their fists and they had various nicknames. It was too noisy and I couldn’t hear clearly. It seemed that they were talking. Telling the guards to activate the monster room quickly.”
“There were also scrolling subtitles all around the arena. I remember the biggest one had read: ‘Punishing criminals while bringing you the most exciting visual feast! Please choose the dog you like the most before the countdown ends. Everyone in the Monster Room welcomes your arrival!’”
Shen Xiuzhe was speechless. He needed time to digest the information.
Chu Shici held his chin, “I can guess who those figures represent. The black figures are likely the guests who have not entered the area, and the white figures are the ones who have already entered.”
“Officer Li represented a dog, and the fat steward had planned to take him to the tenth floor before. He is a good man and a policeman. The subtitles say that criminals will be punished, but it is just a lie. The law sets a very strict bar for implementation. As a result, there are very few people sentenced to death in the country for several years in a row. With so few people, how can this prison have so many death row inmates?”
Halfway through, Chu Shici suddenly had an idea.
He wrapped his arms around Shen Xiuzhe’s fingertips excitedly.
“Officer Li said that according to the regulations of this country, the proceeds from the live broadcast of death row prisoners will be used for charity, but the New Entertainment Prison is clearly under the control of the local government.”
“Live broadcasts of death row inmates can bring in a lot of revenue. There are only a few death row inmates in the country every year, which is simply not enough for these broadcasts. If a bad person wants to use the New Entertainment Law to make money and there are no death row inmates at hand, they will resort to targeting other criminals or even ordinary people.”
“The viewers watching the live broadcasts cannot recognize all the death row inmates. In addition, if they were to put masks on those victims, their crimes will not be exposed. Few people will doubt the authenticity of the official live broadcasts.”
The situation is now clear.
Where this prison is located. The corruption that is within the government, and the filthy prison filled with innocent victims.
Even if the innocent were not assigned as death row inmates, they may have faced the tragedy of being tortured to death during the live broadcast.
People here take ordinary people who are similar in stature to death row inmates, put masks on them, and make them appear to be the death row inmates who are scheduled to be in the live broadcast.
Chickens, dogs, monkeys and rats are their chosen commodities.
Dogs bring in money through the live broadcast of the New Entertainment Law.
The rest are three different kinds of animals, which are new income channels they have exploited by taking advantage of the fact that this entire place is a prison.
When a missing person is reported, no one will immediately think of going to a prison to look for the person.
In addition, the patrons of this prison are the rich and powerful. They can set up some informal live broadcast platforms and invite special groups of people to watch live content that violates the New Entertainment Law.
Officer Li said that the New Entertainment Law has strict regulations.
Let the prison wardens broadcast live, scenes of live assault of rapists, scenes of wild beasts eating the criminals alive.
This kind of inhumane operation cannot possibly comply with national regulations no matter how anyone thinks about it.
At first glance, it is for unscrupulous people to watch these illegal live streams.
The cover of prison and ‘death row inmates’ gave these scumbags confidence.
They are able to satisfy their selfish desires without feeling any guilt, and even believe that they are little messengers of justice.
Shen Xiuzhe held his forehead, “As long as the country is not beyond hope, this kind of thing can’t be hidden for long.”
Chu Shici nodded, “But after the New Entertainment Law is combined with holographic technology, it will not be so easy to investigate.”
“What do you mean?”
“Currently, there are two of you in this holographic world. There is at least one of you in this place, who does not exist in the real world. It is a virtual character created by the data. It is more convenient to completely erase a piece of data than to destroy the evidence that a person once existed.”
He didn’t know if it was Chu Shici’s illusion, but he felt that when he said these words, Zhe-ge’s expression seemed to turn much darker.
___
Now there are only two possibilities.
Assuming that the country in this novel is a waste, and the filthy things done by the prison have not been exposed, then it has successfully transformed into a holographic virtual prison.
Those who were originally arrested and imprisoned were transferred directly from the prison to the holographic world in the holographic capsule. These capsules are presumably left somewhere, with their consciousness imprisoned in the holographic world, while draining out all their value.
There are at least one to two hundred people in this building, including staff and undercovers.
Chu Shici didn’t know whether the holographic capsules were expensive to buy, but with hundreds of cabins operating 24 hours a day, the cost would certainly be high.
Another possibility is that the state has discovered the problem early and investigated the prison to the core. Release all those who have been wrongly imprisoned, and the remaining garbage are arrested and sentenced to prison.
But at the time the prison was thoroughly investigated, holographic capsules had not yet become a common sight, and holographic technology had not yet been used in the New Entertainment Law.
There is a policy gap here.
Individuals can easily buy holographic capsules, and the state has not yet begun to monitor the use of holographic technology in New Entertainment Prisons.
The prison purchased these capsules privately.
Maybe some people who had been sentenced to life in this prison had hid the data secretly. Add them to the holographic world to generate living people, and use these people generated by data to make money.
It may also be that the people sent to take over the prison later discovered business opportunities and made money from these things.
After all, people generated from data cannot be considered a real person. Even if they are found out, it will have no impact on their business.
There are mainly three groups of people in this holographic prison now.
Artificial humans generated from data.
They use the victims who were once imprisoned as templates, they give them the memories, personality and behavior patterns of their original, and regard them as living people.
People who enter the virtual world through holographic capsules.
These include people like Dr. Sun and the fat steward who work inside the prison. And the external group who always speak with accents and seem to have a deal with the prison.
The third group of people are the real living people.
Previously, Chu Shici used the program to eavesdrop on the conversation between the fat steward Brother Liu and the protagonist’s adoptive father. Last night, he even saw a conversation between a Boss Li and Brother Liu in the chat history.
This prison also provides services to the wealthy in private.
Those big bosses spent a lot of money to support the prison. They should’ve reaped some benefits off this deal.
After all, they can still communicate with each other via a mobile phone anytime they want.
But if the male protagonist’s adoptive father wants to know about the male protagonist’s recent situation, he needs to specifically ask the fat steward. The boss last night obviously didn’t know Teacher Hao very well.
If Chu Shici’s guess is correct, after the prison was transformed for the New Entertainment Law, it has been engaged in human trafficking.
But the actions taken by those in charge have been discrete enough to not have been noticed.
Through some means, people are secretly put into the holographic capsules, forcing them to enter the virtual world unknowingly. These people are then transformed and brainwashed according to the client’s requirements.
When the transformation phase is over, lead them to the public hall. Give the clients the opportunity to inspect the goods through the live broadcast. If the client was not satisfied, then they will take them back and continue the transformation. Once the clients are satisfied, wake these people up from the holographic capsule.
By that time their thinking had been set in stone.
They have been shaped into a person who has their own thoughts and feelings, but perfectly aligns with the client’s wishes.
In actuality, there is a certain connection between the person and the client, they already have intersections in reality.
The adoptive father has always been dissatisfied with the male protagonist’s painting skills and firmly believes that his lack of progress is due to interference from the outside world.
According to Zhe-ge, after having a meal with his adoptive father and taking cold medicine in the villa, he closed his eyes and opened them to find that he was already caught and brought here.
Chu Shici now suspected that the cold medicine had been replaced by the adoptive father. He had drugged the male protagonist, stuffed him into the holographic capsule, and imprisoned him to the prison for reform.
Let Shen Xiuzhe completely disconnect from the outside world and paint day after day in a completely enclosed space. The fat steward regularly sends his paintings to the adoptive father.
He will not be awakened until he can create a painting that satisfies the adoptive father.
After he ran through his hypothesis, Chu Shici can deduce what evidence Dr. Sun wants the protagonist to find as soon as possible.
The beasts in this prison cannot be trusted to carry out just punishments.
The New Entertainment Law only allows virtual live broadcasts of death row inmates.
The Law does not protect artificial people, but real people.
Shen Xiuzhe needs to find evidence that the prison has private transactions with clients, as well as the unjust imprisoning and abuse of ordinary people in the virtual world using holographic capsules.
Now that there are changes in the real world, the government has decided to close down and destroy all holographic capsules, the data will also be erased by them.
t’s up to them to get the evidence that can bring prison staff and clients to court before the government implements its cleanup plan.
___
After listening to what the little speaker said, Shen Xiuzhe fell into deep thought.
After a long time, he sighed silently: “Am I a real person, or an artificial human?”
Chu Shici said without hesitation: “Of course you’re a real person.”
Zhe-ge’s soul is in this body, how can it be a fake?
The system, who has been tuning into this lively scene, finally encountered something it can understand.
It shook its head: [No, that’s not certain. Have you never read a novel about falling in love with an NPC? The author of the novel can turn the NPC into a living person in the game. If necessary, the Time Travel Bureau can also insert a soul into the dummy body.]
Chu Shici: …
Fuck, all these talks of dimensions.
Being a little flustered by the system, Chu Shici raised his head and looked at Zhe-ge carefully.
In this holographic world, there are at least two Shen Xiuzhes.
One who is cooperating with Dr. Sun and understands the cause and effect of this entire place.
Another is a diversion created by the fat steward, and he doesn’t know anything.
The Zhe-ge in front of him currently is the one who looked confused this whole time.
Chu Shici’s heart went cold.
It’s over, looking at it sideways and straight, this Zhe-ge doesn’t seem like the real one.
What should they do then? After the data clears, will this Zhe-ge disappear with this virtual prison?
Shen Xiuzhe’s expression was as calm as ever.
He pursed his lips and suddenly chuckled: “Why don’t you say anything?”
Chu Shici was thinking about what to say, but Shen Xiuzhe continued talking on his own.
“I know nothing about the outside world. I don’t know how long I have been imprisoned here. I can’t remember how many paintings I have painted. They blinded me, as if they don’t care whether I can paint well or not.”
“No matter how you look at me, I don’t look like a real person.”
Hearing the last self-deprecating sigh, Chu Shici’s mind immediately flipped.
He wrapped around his lover’s pale fingertips and said, “No, Zhe-ge. Doctor Sun uses voice codes to transmit messages. Xiao Jinzi also used special playing cards in the public hall last night. These can only be read by blind people.”
Shen Xiuzhe tilted his head slightly, “But I don’t know the code words. Those code words have nothing to do with me. There’s an agreement between them and another Shen Xiuzhe.”
“That’s hard to say. What if the artificial person goes behind your back and takes the initiative to contact Dr. Sun?”
“Ah Ci, do you have confidence when you say this?”
Chu Shici lacked confidence, so he remained silent.
___
Shen Xiuzhe didn’t continue the topic.
He stroked the small speaker gently and changed into a relatively comfortable position. In a voice without any emotion, he relayed to Chu Shici the information he had received from Xiao Jinzi.
The back of the playing cards has been treated so minutely that no abnormalities can be seen with the naked eye even when viewed from a close distance and can only be felt by fingers.
The password uses the most common password in the world, which is very simple and easy to understand. It is available in bookstores and can also be found online.
The information she conveyed clarified their doubts.
There are indeed two Shen Xiuzhes here, and the person who wrote the note vaguely noticed that the two people had been swapped.
Xiao Jinzi told him that the ‘Shen Xiuzhe’ they were looking for was in another room No. 3.
That is the room opposite Shen Xiuzhe.
The reason why ‘Shen Xiuzhe’ never showed up is because there is a cycle in this prison, and it’s not his turn yet.
She hoped that Shen Xiuzhe can help that person.
Xiao Jinzi and the note man, on behalf of their respective forces, gave Shen Xiuzhe a promise.
They couldn’t tell which of the two Shen Xiuzhe was the real deal, but promised that once the evidence is found, they will move the dummy Shen Xiuzhe to a safe place.
Even if the virtual prison is destroyed, he can survive in another virtual world.
That world is warmer and more beautiful, and he will no longer be locked up in a small room.
Xiao Jinzi’s words confirmed some of Chu Shici’s previous conjectures.
He was a little excited and wanted to applaud himself.
Shen Xiuzhe touched the small speaker casually, covered himself with a quilt and prepared to sleep.
Chu Shici tilted his head and squeezed into his arms.
“Zhe-ge, if you are a real person, you will find a way to get me into your mobile phone after you go out, and I will be your desk pet from now on. If you are an artificial person, we will move to a new house together.”
Chu Shici thought for a while, “If Xiao Jinzi doesn’t stay true to her words, the worst we can do is disappear together. Maybe to others, we just disappeared, but in fact we just went to another world.”
He gently rubbed Shen Xiuzhe’s cheek, “It’s okay, Zhe-ge, don’t be afraid. No matter what the future holds, I will face it with you.”
The room fell silent again.
Just when Chu Shici thought Zhe-ge had fallen asleep, Shen Xiuzhe suddenly picked him up. And placed a very light and gentle kiss on his shell.
The next second, a message pops up in the background of the system.
[The vitality value is increased by 20 points, and the current vitality value is 41/100.]
At the same time, Chu Shici heard Shen Xiuzhe say something. His voice was very small and soft, like he was mummering in his sleep.
“I agree.”
After speaking, he fell silent and did not explain it.
Chu Shici was confused for a long time, and suddenly realized that this seemed to be a confession.
Zhe-ge agreed to his pursuit and wanted to be with him.
__
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Update: Tomorrow~
- After becoming enemies with the lord god
- Blog
- Completed
- Don't talk to me!
- Dropped
- Ghost Marriage
- Hunger Academy
- I opened a safe house in the Infinite Stream
- Notices
- Ongoing
- The Dragon Lord is Weak and Helpless but Has a Big Appetite [Interstellar]
- Want to ascend? Then fall in love.
- What can I do, I'm not human.
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