Chapter 1089

NO．212：It wouldn't hurt to hold onto that beautiful dream

A few minutes ago, in the mental simulation training room of Room 4304, Rhodes Island Building.

The silver-haired girl who looked about twenty was lying supine asleep in the device with the binding helmet and countless patches.

The semi-transparent helmet design made her peaceful sleeping face clearly visible, and also caused the colleague beside her holding a teacup to stare intently.

「I think she won't just disappear absentmindedly; how about taking a break, Ms. Laoluntina. 」 The young colleague opposite her made the suggestion in a low voice, his slightly helpless gaze also resting on her specialty teacup that she had been holding for too long, 「Even if it's an insulated teaware, it's hard to preserve the flavor of the tea that's been sitting for nine minutes. 」.

"Does Mr. Aomo understand black tea?" Lauren Tina turned her head, her smile shifting as quickly as a face-change, blooming like a flower, "I thought you'd prefer coffee; at first I even wondered if it really didn't matter that you didn't order coffee."

"That's fine." Not surprised the other party had information beyond his performance, Aomo merely turned his head and glanced at the extended display of the device used by Ishamara, "It's precisely because I don't care for black tea that I won't scrutinize the quality differences."

Having said that, he immediately shifted his tone: "Perhaps Miss Lauren Tina should give her chosen drink a chance to showcase herself."

The several lines on the display twisted and turned like a jagged sawtooth, an outward manifestation of intense mental fluctuations, forming a stark contrast with the girl's peaceful sleeping face.

This disparity can be called a rift, and it is also why he has not once glanced at her since Ishamara lay down.

Such a device, which directs consciousness deepward to complete simulated training, maximally suppresses the integration of mind and body to avoid imposing a heavy burden on the body from the training itself.

Therefore, to observe Ishamara's condition, the proper way is to look at the real-time monitoring indices on that display, rather than staring at her sleepy face, which is destined to be as tranquil as a baby's.

But just as Lauren Tina's first reaction upon hearing her own words was not about Ishamara, but about the black tea.

Aomo has always valued feedback.

If you intend to sidestep the important and focus on the trivial, he will likewise hold back.

He was waiting for this lady to notice that obvious rift; given her previous poised and outstanding performance, he thought it wouldn't take more than a minute.

But the result was that this lady stared fixedly at Ishamara for nine minutes.

Although Miss Scathi's figure and appearance are indeed outstanding, in just her underwear she could still prompt Aomo to politely avert his gaze, and he would not easily grow aesthetically fatigued.

But even if Lauren Tina doesn't mind the effort, Aomo seeing her constantly tilt her head finds it tiring.

"No way, a whale's sleeping face is hardly ever seen; look at this gentle, tranquil appearance—you could never hope to catch a glimpse of it from her in everyday life."

She added a flippant excuse to her own nervousness, acting like a teasing friend who only finds her friend beautiful after they fall asleep like a goddess; this lack of frankness merely made the young man smile silently.

"If that's the case, you could try recording it," he casually suggested, "provided she wouldn't get angry."

This process originally needn't be so tense, after all Aomo never expected Scathi to win from the start.

Indeed, on the battlefield of consciousness, emotional expression can be more overbearing than reason, even more unreasonable.

After all, such a confrontation has always emphasized idealism, and the essence of idealism is sensibility.

But that premise also requires that Scathi truly be Scathi, and that the consciousness battlefield genuinely belong to Scathi.

As an outsider, Aomo's definition of the Rhodes Island employee codenamed Scathi carries not a shred of personal sentiment or philosophical speculation; it is based entirely on the information he grasped while previously immersed in that "game."

Namely—Ishamara, who is enthusiastic about playing Scathi.

At first glance it seems bizarre, but a little thought about the concept of the Faction makes it easy to understand why it insists on this.

In the Faction masses, whether they are simple-structured subunits or the initial entity that interferes with the collective will through individual power, their deficiencies are plainly evident.

Yes, deficiencies.

Even though they possess that world's most astonishing environmental adaptability and outstanding evolutionary speed, to the point that a large portion of people revere them as beautiful, perfect creatures.

But they still lack the complex emotions of humans.

Their learning ability is that outstanding, yet they cannot learn even a hint of human heart, solely because from the moment of their birth their designation has been that of tools.

Although nowadays no one can regard them as tools, that original design framework still limits the development of the Faction.

Looking at the developmental history of sentient beings, such a design is actually perfect.

Without complex emotions, without individual desires, they naturally can avoid all internal strife; they only need to overcome one external obstacle after another.

But in such future planning, an anomaly arose.

—the Corrupted Heart, dedicating itself to a deep-sea hunter.

No matter whom it chose—any ordinary person, or even ordinary life—it would merely be seen as a simple reincarnation.

But it happened to choose a deep-sea hunter.

Perhaps the deep-sea hunter's nature as a "human-shaped Faction" is an exceptionally amiable bonus for it, but everyone also knows that deep-sea hunters are the sole group among all lifeforms that have made full psychological preparations for the process of Factionization.

Deep-sea hunters share a bloodline—this is their ancient Argoel tongue.

That bloodline not only links the deep-sea hunters, but also connects to the Faction; it is the destiny every hunter will eventually face.

Regardless of whether they know their origins, hunters are well aware of the horror of Faction assimilation.

Every deep-sea hunter who has fought to the death against the Faction, from the moment they enlisted, has already prepared to accompany madness.

Speaking of enlightenment, speaking of extremity, they have already stood at the forefront of humanity, and what Ishamara has chosen is one of them.

At this point, do you still recall saying that Factionization—this process—is influenced by will?

The nascent ones indeed possess astonishing willpower, but the hunters' will is equally tenacious.

Moreover, when Ishamara "dedicated" herself to Scathi, it was precisely when those several deep-sea hunter squads were making final preparations for the ultimate battle, believing they were about to topple the sea god!

—At that moment, whether Scathi or the other hunters, they adjusted their bodies and minds to the highest level currently attainable.

The result is now:

Ishamara has still not been able to fully return to her original state.

Whether Scathi counts as alive remains uncertain.

This question, even Aomo does not know.

For it is like the philosophical contemplation in the eyes of a ghost shark—wherein the whale is unquestionable—so no one can deny that the deep-sea hunter Scathi still exists here.

Just as a spirit that has discarded its flesh and lives in the electronic world, its very existence has likewise been turned into data.

Do you accept Morrison Linton as an electronic ghost, or as an AI fabricated from falsified data?

It all depends on your criteria of judgment.

But whether she has restrained the Corrupted Heart's will, or her thoughts have been thoroughly imprinted upon it, these do not prevent Ishamara from thereby genuinely coming into contact with human emotions and human worldviews.

Even so, it is the world of humanity.

This is a domain the Faction has always been indifferent to.

At the same time, it is a human civilization that they can only simulate, even if genuinely curious, and cannot truly reach.

Aomo, who has recently been getting along with the Year Beast family, can easily imagine what kind of feeling this is.

In short, it is like a great dream.

Bizarre and colorful, with vivid joys, sorrows, pleasures, and pains, as well as the sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy that remain vivid even for newborns.

Aomo's most fitting analogy would be the first large-scale super-dream/deep immersion game/incubus dream customization service experienced by contemporary youth.

Once you think that way, it is indeed not hard to understand Isamara's addiction to role-play.

No matter how long the ages, it does not hinder indulgence in new things; in this regard, the Holy Terra Federation of the longevity species is not lacking, having ample sample cases.

Regardless of whether Scathi is real or not, it does not hinder Aomo's intention to preserve it.

If it is true, then this is saving a person.

If it is false, then it is also preserving their dream.

Such a dream occurs only once in a lifetime; upon waking, all concerns cease—it can be awakened, but need not be broken.

For this, he specifically prepared a backup.

Just as he recently told Lauren Tina that if the war remains undecided, why not end it here, he actually has a compromise; for this, he must contact Ling again, who just left not long ago, and ask her for a favor.

On the battlefield deep within consciousness, external forces struggle to intervene, unless it is a wavelength that operates in dreams, sharing the same essence.

But this does not mean he wants to act as a multiplayer Duìyou joining the battlefield.

That would be too much; whether with Scathi or Lauren Tina, they are not intimate relationships that must meddle in any self-conflict.

He simply commissioned Ling to assist him, conveying a will.

That will stems from a corner of his heart, and will serve as a response to Isamara's past several invitations.

At the same time, it will also condense into the power he anticipates, to be held by the qualified.