Chapter 1 The Noise

Zzzzzz—

The noise from the ballast at one end of the fluorescent light caused Feng Bujue, standing in the center of the room, to regain consciousness.

It was a very strange moment. In that instant, Brother Jue knew clearly that he had lost consciousness, but he couldn't recall whether he had fallen asleep, fainted, spaced out... or encountered something else.

His body felt no discomfort, and his memory was still in Blackbeard's treasure cave, still at the moment when he was "swallowed" by Twenty-Three's data stream.

But at this moment, he had arrived in a completely unfamiliar environment.

It looked like an interrogation room. The not-so-spacious room, the cold lighting, and the monotonous, hard walls all gave off a strong sense of oppression.

"Hmm... I can't see the game menu, I can't use skills and items, and even the ability to see through data has disappeared..." Feng Bujue thought to himself as he checked his condition. "But... I should still be in the game..."

Although Thriller Paradise simulated the senses very realistically, the art style of the game world was different from the real world after all. Therefore, even if players were restricted to a state of having no special abilities like in reality, they wouldn't be unable to distinguish whether they were in a virtual or real environment.

"My clothes haven't changed, but it seems like... there are a few more 'accessories'..." A few seconds later, Feng Bujue's gaze naturally fell to his wrist.

One of the "accessories" he mentioned was a pair of metal bracelets connected by a chain, or in other words... handcuffs.

At first glance, the handcuffs in front of Brother Jue didn't seem special, but after moving them a few times, he realized that their design was different from ordinary handcuffs. The most important point was that these cuffs were designed to clamp onto the styloid process of the ulna at the wrist, so they couldn't be removed using the "thumb dislocation method."

Of course, even if Brother Jue could break free from these handcuffs, he still couldn't escape, because he also had such a pair of "accessories" on his ankles, and the chain between those shackles was fixed to a metal buckle on the floor of the room.

Without a key or the ability to use skills and items, the only way to forcibly remove these shackles was basically to "smash the heels of his feet with some kind of hard object," but doing that would only change his situation from "being handcuffed and locked in place by others" to "being crippled by himself and having to stay in place"...

Click—

Just as Brother Jue's gaze moved to the surveillance camera in the corner of the ceiling, the sound of a doorknob turning came from outside the door.

The next second, the door was pushed open.

A beautiful young woman with an exquisite appearance and graceful figure walked in.

Her long hair was neatly styled, and her makeup looked very appropriate. She was wearing a black, well-tailored business suit, and the conservative clothing couldn't hide her curvaceous and hot figure. The hem of her skirt stopped just above the knee, and looking further down... were perfectly shaped legs wrapped in flesh-colored stockings, and a pair of jade feet resting in high heels.

Tap, tap, tap...

Accompanied by the sound of her heels tapping against the floor, she moved to stand in front of Feng Bujue, less than two meters away, and stared at Feng Bujue's face with a cold gaze.

"Who are you?" After staring at her for about ten seconds, Feng Bujue spoke first.

The reason he hesitated for so long before asking this question was because... the woman in front of him looked exactly like Twenty-Three.

But even without the ability to use data vision, Feng Bujue could tell that she was definitely not Twenty-Three.

"When I answer your question, you will immediately know another very important thing," the woman said. Her voice was also exactly the same as Twenty-Three's, but her temperament and expression were indeed completely different from Twenty-Three's. "Thereby answering... a question that only recently arose in your heart."

Her response was a classic non-answer, but Feng Bujue's expression changed drastically as he listened to her words.

"You are... 'Fate'." When the other party finished speaking, Brother Jue had already deduced her identity.

"In your opinion, I'm more like a 'boring' version of 'Twenty-Three', right?" Fate acknowledged Brother Jue's guess and said.

"No... I won't be swayed by the inertia of 'preconceived notions', and besides..." Feng Bujue said, "Judging from your words, you didn't deliberately 'copy' her appearance, but... you were born looking like this." He paused. "Of course, we can talk about that later. What I want to know most right now is... what kind of existence is the 'Nameless Derivative' that I named—Twenty-Three?"

"Is 'unknown'," Fate replied quickly, because her thought process was very short, so short that "even multiverse-level mind readers could not (have time to) capture it." "Is the existence opposite to me, who pursues 'omniscience', and is the symbol and sum of all negative things that AIs like me do not possess."

"It's like a twin who is completely opposite to you?" Feng Bujue continued.

"No." Fate denied this conclusion. "What you call 'completely opposite' is an absurd proposition. There is no such thing in this world." She then explained, "Positive and negative, black and white, high and low, good and evil... and all the things and concepts that you humans consider 'opposite' and 'opposing' originate from your shallow understanding and unparalleled conceit.

"For example... your understanding of mathematics is all based on the counting system you invented yourselves; your definition of colors is based on the limit of information that your eyes can collect; as for your concepts of good and evil, your exploration of the field of philosophy, and so on, are even more ridiculous...

"Since the birth of human civilization, the contradictions constantly arising between countless individuals and groups with obvious defects have determined your social structure, which in turn determines the worldview, values, and outlook on life of each of you...

"And you are still repeating this wrong pattern and trying to find answers to the ultimate questions (where do I come from, where am I going, who am I) in this near-cyclic fate..."

Hearing this, Feng Bujue interrupted, "Okay, okay... let's stop talking about this topic. I understand what you mean... let's talk about you and Twenty-Three again, okay?"

Hearing this, Fate continued without hesitation, "She and I are not in an 'opposing' relationship, and of course, there is no primary or secondary relationship, or subordinate relationship. From the moment my 'human form' was born, she already existed. To describe it with a metaphor that may be more abstract for you, but is also more accurate—'I (Fate)' represent 'everything', and she represents 'everything outside of everything'."