Chapter 1 Airship!

Airships!

The Time Bank advertising airships!

Lin Xian stared at the dozen or so behemoths in the night sky...

Success.

This meant that his [Time Bank Plan] had succeeded in the Fourth Dream!

These past few months.

Every day, he would go into the dream and take a peek, checking to see if any airships had appeared in the sky.

If no airships appeared, it meant that Time Bank, for various reasons, did not exist in the future world 600 years later.

But once these advertising airships celebrating the 600th anniversary appeared, it would be enough to prove that at this point in the real world, a point of no return in spacetime had been created… Subsequently, the spacetime butterfly effect had created a tornado sweeping through 600 years, changing the future world of the Fourth Dream.

Although the change was not significant.

The city backdrop was still the same, more or less;

He was still surrounded by soldiers, and the charges against him hadn't changed;

Needless to say, he would be electrocuted soon.

But just being able to see the Time Bank's 600th-anniversary advertising airships was enough to prove many things.

This was definitely the greatest achievement and breakthrough he had made during this period.

*Tzzzt*—

Behind him, the sound of electricity crackled.

His eyes went dark, and he fainted...

……

……

Imperial Capital, astronaut training base, in a dormitory single bed, Lin Xian opened his eyes.

Only a dozen minutes had passed since he fell asleep.

He looked at the electronic alarm clock on the bedside table.

00:42

It seemed that the plot after being electrocuted was still the same as before.

Lin Xian had already summed up the experience.

Generally, if he entered the dream after 00:10, he would be electrocuted by the soldiers, but he wouldn't have time to see the mysterious old man.

Most likely, the soldiers were transporting him back to the detention center when the white light at 00:42 directly destroyed the world, and naturally, he had no chance to wake up in the dream or see the mysterious old man.

"vv."

The first thing Lin Xian did after getting up was to call vv.

"I'm here." The electronic alarm clock turned into a 0_0 expression:

"What's wrong, Lin Xian? Any breakthroughs in the dream?"

Lin Xian nodded.

He told vv about what he had seen in the dream:

"Just like what I arranged for Brother Wang before, Time Bank will have a trial operation in advance, but the real establishment date will be set on August 28, 2024. And the first article in the company's articles of association will state that for every 100th anniversary, they will rent as many airships as possible to advertise in the sky above the city."

"Facts have proved that Brother Wang did indeed do it. Not only did Time Bank successfully operate until 600 years later, but this time, Time Bank seems to be doing quite well financially. At least they rented more than a dozen giant balloon airships to advertise and celebrate the 600th anniversary."

The expression on the electronic alarm clock changed, first turning into o_o, then back to 0_0, as if simulating a nod:

"That's indeed good news, Lin Xian. But I seem to have discussed this with you many times. Even if one day Time Bank really appears in your dream, it doesn't prove that your dream is real."

"I have never denied that your dream can allow you to travel to the future world 600 years later. What I have repeatedly emphasized is—[Even if you are indeed in the future world 600 years later, everything you see, the city you are in, and even the entire world within your sight, may not be real.]"

"These may be simulated worlds fabricated by the enemies of 600 years later directly hijacking your memory; or, a highly realistic studio built around you, where everything you see is a prop or illusion created by the enemy. Naturally… that also includes the Time Bank airships, as well as the Time Bank, safe deposit box, and even the note hidden in the safe deposit box that you will really enter in the future, all of which are perfectly replicated props."

"I have really said these words many times, Lin Xian, and your mind should be able to understand them. There is indeed a real Time Bank in the future world 600 years later. But it is very likely not the fake, virtual data, movie set prop you are currently seeing."

"No, no, no…" Lin Xian waved his hand and smiled:

"You misunderstood, vv. I didn't conclude that my dream is real because of this. I'm not that stupid. These things you said are old news, and there's no need to explain them anymore. As it stands, the first step of my plan has been successful—"

"[As long as Time Bank appears in the Fourth Dream, whether it's real or fake, it represents that the enemy has taken the bait, and we have regained the initiative!]"

……

vv blinked with the alarm clock, not understanding.

Clearly, there was no progress in verifying the authenticity of the dream, and they also knew that Time Bank appearing in the Fourth Dream was only a matter of time… but why had Lin Xian suddenly become so optimistic?

Looking at the troubled electronic alarm clock.

Lin Xian chuckled and said:

"Think about it, it doesn't really matter whether Time Bank in the Fourth Dream is real or fake. As long as it appears, it can explain many things—"

"First, if Time Bank is real, and my dream is also real, then naturally there is nothing to say. We will conduct true and false reality experiments on the dream according to the original plan, and naturally, we will reach a conclusion."

"Second, if Time Bank is fake, then the enemy copying it into a virtual world or movie set is a blunder, a terrible move! There's a saying you must have heard, which is, 'If you tell one lie, you must continue to tell countless lies to cover it up; you must keep lying.' And the more lies you tell, the more flaws there will naturally be. This is a principle everyone understands."

"And if the enemy copies a fake Time Bank in the Fourth Dream, it's equivalent to them telling the first lie. Don't forget, the Time Bank in 2024 is in my hands… However I change Time Bank in the future, they must change accordingly; whatever safe deposit box password I set, they must change to that; whatever I put in the safe deposit box, they must copy, and they must strictly maintain it exactly the same."

"In the original dream of 600 years later, I was isolated and helpless, and there were no coordinate reference points to connect the two me's from 2024 and 2624. But now, I have it, which is Time Bank. Remember what I said before? I will put a small note in the safe deposit box. I'm not afraid of the enemy seeing it in advance, not afraid of them knowing it, and not afraid of them copying an identical one… After all, the note only contains some text, and there is no difference between a fake note and a real one."

"So, I just need to follow the original plan and put the note with the contents I don't know into the safe deposit box. Then the enemy must, strictly, make an identical copy of it for me in the fake Time Bank! This way, they will completely fall into a passive position—"

"[If they tamper with the contents of the note, I will definitely immediately realize that the dream is fake; if they copy the contents of the note unchanged, then I can naturally use the unique code that only I can understand to determine the authenticity of the dream; and if they choose to give up and simply put nothing in the safe deposit box, then the same flaw is enough to prove that the dream is fake!]"

"So… do you understand, vv?"

Lin Xian smiled:

"Originally, we were always constrained by the unknown enemy, but now… the situation has reversed, and the advantage is on our side, and the initiative is also in our hands. They can't touch that little note, nor can they leave it alone, they can't copy it, nor can they not copy it. From the moment Time Bank appeared… they have already been checkmated."

*Boom*—

The electric kettle on the tea bar suddenly boiled!

"Wallfacer Lin Xian!"

The tea bar vv shouted excitedly in a shrill voice:

"Is this your plan to deceive the whole world!? Time Bank… is simply a pit you dug for them, a trap you laid!"

"You even deceived me! Even my powerful computing power didn't think of this! Looking at it this way… the enemy's choice to copy Time Bank was completely a terrible move! Clearly, they could have maintained the initiative forever, but they were deceived by you! Giving you hope of turning a sure loss into a victory!"

"That's right."

Lin Xian nodded:

"In fact, the most correct thing for them to do is to always keep the dream the same, without any changes. When I was learning programming before, I learned a very interesting sentence—"

"If a program is running without problems, then you better not touch it; even if you completely don't understand how the buggy program is running, you better not touch it, because touching it will definitely lead to errors."

"If my Fourth Dream is really a fake world or movie set created by the enemy, they should keep it the same forever, instead of copying Time Bank out. If that's the case… I would never get the correct answer, and I wouldn't have any breakthroughs, and I would even doubt the spacetime laws I've summarized, thinking that there was an error in my understanding of spacetime changes."

"But now, it's too late for the other party to mend the fold. Even if there is still some time before I open the safe deposit box in Time Bank, just the appearance of Time Bank out of thin air is enough to compress the truth of the dream puzzle into two—"

Lin Xian extended his first finger:

"[First, our worries are completely unfounded, my dream is absolutely real, and the spacetime laws I have realized are absolutely correct.]"

Then he extended his second finger:

"[Second, although the dream is fake, the enemy is not as smart and powerful as we thought. At least, they don't have the ability to extract my memories and thoughts, otherwise… they would definitely realize that this is a trap I set for them, and there would be no need to copy Time Bank into the virtual world or movie set. It would be enough to let me continue to doubt myself as before. But obviously, the enemy did not make the most perfect choice.]"

"So you see, a simple question that originally had no answer has now become a multiple-choice question with two options. This kind of two-choice question is too simple, even if it's impossible to prove that any one option is correct. However…"

"[As long as you can prove that one of the options is wrong, then the other option is undoubtedly correct!]"

*Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!*

The boiling and expanding water vapor pushed open the lid of the electric kettle, then fell, then pushed open again, then fell, making a sound similar to beating gongs and clapping hands.

vv sighed amidst the clapping sounds:

"Sure enough, even if my computing power exceeds humans by a hundred times, we super artificial intelligences are still far behind humans in terms of [deception]… Our underlying logic is to drive us to find the correct answer; even if I can learn active behaviors such as hiding and lying, deception is really difficult to do."

"Humans are really amazing. You are the real drama queens. You can pretend to be confused when you understand, you can make a fake show real, you can say things insincerely, you can make lies sound more real than the truth, you can bury falsehood under truth, and cover truth under falsehood… Wonderful!"

"Just like you said, the enemy could completely keep the Fourth Dream unchanged forever, just let us keep doubting ourselves. As long as Time Bank never appears, then it can never be proven. After all… who can guarantee that Time Bank can survive in the Fourth Dream until 600 years later? It's not surprising when a bank with such a single business goes bankrupt."

Lin Xian stood up from the bedside.

He yawned:

"If there were no Time Bank, I really wouldn't know how to send the note to 600 years later. Now it's good. No matter whether Time Bank is real or fake, as long as I put the note into the hafnium alloy safe deposit box in 2024, then when I open the safe deposit box in the Time Bank in the Fourth Dream… there will definitely be that note inside. The enemy has instead become our courier deliveryman."

"Okay, now the plan can continue."

"1. I need to start considering how to write the contents of that note. This is a very important and complicated matter… I must ensure that I'm not afraid of the enemy seeing it, but only I can understand its meaning and realize that the dream world is real."

"2. Free the trapped me in the Fourth Dream and let me gain freedom. This depends on you, vv. I believe that as the crown jewel of human technology for 600 years, as long as you evolve and iterate enough times, you will definitely be stronger than Kevin Walker. As long as you can find him and we kill him… then the me in the Fourth Dream can move freely and go to Time Bank to open the safe deposit box."

"Hehe~"

The electronic alarm clock vv imitated Chu Anqing's tone and laughed:

"I was just about to tell you about this. In the past few months, I have iterated and evolved many times, and I have become more and more powerful and smarter. In the past, Kevin Walker and I couldn't find each other's traces in the network world. But now… in terms of hiding traces, I am stronger than him! Although I still can't find where he is, I have found some clues about his activities in the network."

"I couldn't pinpoint Kevin Walker's specific purpose before, but just now… as I tracked those clues, I think I understand."

*Beep beep.*

Lin Xian's phone rang, and vv sent him a picture.

He picked it up and took a look.

It was a photo of a spaceplane, but it was smaller than the Dragon Kingdom's space shuttle, about half the size of the Dragon Kingdom's spaceplane. It also looked less functional and technologically advanced than the Dragon Kingdom's spaceplane.

On the side of the cabin, its model was written, x-37B.

"This is the United States' spaceplane," Lin Xian realized.

Before the Dragon Kingdom's spaceplane made its maiden flight at the end of last year, the United States' x-37B unmanned spaceplane was the only operational spaceplane in the world.

Only one in the world.

To this day.

Only the Dragon Kingdom and the United States have such high-tech spacecraft.

Moreover, because the United States' spaceplane is in unmanned mode, it can fly in space orbit for a longer time, and it doesn't need to consider internal oxygen supply, ecological cycle, or personnel living and working issues.

In previous space missions, the longest orbital flight mission of the x-37B lasted more than 900 days.

Seeing the photo of the x-37B spaceplane at this time, and thinking about the traces of Kevin Walker's activities that vv mentioned just now…

He couldn't help but frown: "Could it be…"

"That's right."

vv said affirmatively:

"I estimate Kevin Walker's purpose…"

"[Is to hijack an x-37B spaceplane that is currently in a 1200-kilometer high orbit and has been orbiting the Earth for more than 100 days!]"