Xiao Ran woke up in the darkness.
But it is not entirely accurate to say "a piece of darkness".
Because his gaze has vision, it is not so much darkness as it is a kind of darkness, just like when all the lights of a stage show are dimmed, the surroundings are dark, and only a beam of light shoots down from the top of Xiao Ran's head , illuminating this small square of heaven and earth.
After the light was wiped off, Xiao Ran could see clearly under him, it was a calm water surface, the water surface was as smooth as a mirror, and Xiao Ran was lying on this mirror-like water surface.
He looked up, and there was an endless night all around, only the water mirror gave off a little reflected light.
What kind of place is here, he is all too familiar with it.
The coast of nine days.
The place where Xiao Ran had been staying before being taken out by Yiye Feihua.
Xiao Ran lowered his head and saw his own reflection on the water, it was not that young man with a delicate face, modest and gentle, but a white dragon with a long beard hanging upside down and a handsome air.
how so
When Xiao Ran saw Bailong, his heart skipped a beat, and the fear of being imprisoned back to the Nine Heavens Shore suddenly came to his heart.
Am I back again? Why? Have I been discovered by the system!
"White Dragon."
Someone is calling him from behind.
Surprised, Xiao Ran suddenly turned his head, and saw that there was no one behind him before, but now there was a person standing on the water.
He is also very familiar with this person, the Nine-Tailed Flame Fox Seven, he was pushing this boss together with the Great God and Xiao Fang in the central tower cave.
How could he appear here
Just when doubts appeared in Xiao Ran's mind, Hu Qi explained very well: "This is a big move that I have never used before, the fox mirror, after using it, everyone within the range will enter the illusion in the fox mirror Here, what you see now is what you fear most in your heart."
There was neither sorrow nor joy on Hu Qi's face, it was completely different from the fierce and resentful eyes when he was fighting just now, as if that expression was made just after following the plot set by the system, but now he is the real him.
This kind of duality made Xiao Ran feel very uncomfortable, because he also has this kind of duality. Player Xiao Ran, npc Xiao Ran, he is different when facing different people.
"Fear? You said this is what I fear the most? No, since you know that I am the Nine Heavens Profound Dragon, you should also know that I am the son of the Lord God. In China, there is nothing that can scare me except God the Father." Xiao Ran came back to his senses, he got up from the ground, turned his head and looked at Hu Qi indifferently.
"I know that you are the Nine Heavens Profound Dragon, but I also know that you are also a creature called a 'player' just like those adventurers." Hu Qi said.
Xiao Ran was terrified.
He looked at Hu Qi in disbelief.
The word "player" is taboo for npc.
Although the NPCs of the Oracle of the Gods have unusually high AI, they are "creatures" at the data level after all, and they are different from the human beings who are only mental data input into the game, but actually exist. In the data world, npcs have npc rules. Although they have high IQs and know what players are and what they are, this is like a silent taboo, and no one will say it out loud.
This is a setting of the system. Although it is a recognized secret among npcs, under the constraints of the system, no npc can communicate these two words on the surface. The law is the same, people have to eat, and the sky has to rain. In this game world, npcs can't say the word "player", that's the iron law.
Unless, this npc is no longer just an npc.
But Hu Qi said it, he said it calmly and calmly, and a terrible idea took shape in Xiao Ran's mind.
"You have become a 'player' just like me?" Xiao Ran said with some clarity in surprise.
When the players widely rumored that Hu Qi's demeanor was highly human-like, Xiao Ran had such a voice in his heart, but it was too weird, and he didn't think about it deeply.
Hu Qi shook his head, "No, I am different from you. If you are a finished product, then I am a semi-finished product. The only similarity between us is that we have both awakened and jumped from one dimension to another. But the dimension I'm in is half a dimension lower than yours."
"You mean, you transformed from a wisp of divine consciousness into an entity from the painting, the same as I transformed from an npc into a human?" Xiao Ran asked.
"Yes, we have all completed the transformation of dimensions, so the two of us are different from ordinary npcs." Hu Qi said.
Ren Xiaoran couldn't even imagine that in this game world, he would have the opportunity to meet someone who was as smart as himself in AI. Surprise was the first reaction, but soon, he set the direction on himself. In terms of his life experience, he faintly felt that the appearance of Hu Qi would become the root thread in his messy memory.
"Did you experience memory disturbance during the change?" Xiao Ran grabbed the question he wanted to ask the most, and threw it out impatiently.
"Yes, frankly speaking, this period of time was the most chaotic time. I often dreamed about my past life and this life. One second I was running freely in the oasis, and the next second I was strangled by the players. It's very painful, and it's getting more and more frequent." Hu Qi did not disappoint Xiao Ran's expectations, and said slowly.
"Is this related to your rebirth skill?" Xiao Ran frowned.
"Maybe, but I feel that the more important thing is not that, but that I'm about to complete the dimensional evolution again, Xiao Ran, I'm about to become another 'you'." Hu Qi said.
Xiao Ran is also an extremely smart person. He thinks that Hu Qi will become stronger and stronger every time he is reborn. When he becomes stronger to a certain extent, the tower cave in the center may no longer be able to trap him, even if Feng Yu's portrait If he does not return to his position, he will also break through this place. At that time, Fox Seven who has returned to the mainland of China will already have his own consciousness, and the system will no longer be able to position him as an "npc". Give him his identity, just like Xiao Ran.
Xiao Ran seems to have gradually understood the secrets in himself, the consciousness of autonomy, and the space of freedom. This is the fundamental reason why he became a player.
He raised his eyes and looked at the place in the fox mirror that was exactly the same as the Jiutianzhibin, and said, "I am actually the same as you now, right? An npc with self-awareness, a semi-finished product."
"Yes, that's why you have been locked up in such a ghostly place, just like me in the tower cave in the center," Hu Qi said, "When Yiye Feihua took you out, you had a contract with him, didn't you The real free body, so the system allows your existence, allowing you to continue to survive in this world as an npc."
"What else do you know?!" Xiao Ran was startled, does this guy know a little too much!
"No, I don't know much about the others. Your story not only involves you alone, but also the influential figures among the players. I only know of it after the players who came to me during this period told me. Things, as for how you escaped overnight, I don't know."
Hu Qi didn't know, but Xiao Ran understood.
No wonder he became a player at that time. It was precisely because of the termination of the contract that Yiye Feihua went to Fengdu to find medicine to save him. After losing the contract, Xiao Ran regained his freedom. The two conditions of independent consciousness and free space were met at the same time, and the system It was no longer possible to position him as an "npc", so the evolution began. Amnesia is caused by the confusion that occurs when data is reorganized.
There are many things that Li Ran wouldn't tell Hu Qi who met by chance, but at this moment, he somewhat understood this guy's state of mind. He was also a fallen person in the world, and he felt sympathy for Hu Qi's experience.
"You said that you have never used this skill before. You used it this time to create such a special space. You don't just want to share similar experiences with me, do you? Do you have any wish for me to help? Are you done?" Xiao Ran sighed, Hu Qi's first sentence "I've been waiting for you for a long time" at first thought he was speaking to Feng Yu in his package, but judging from the current situation, it was really to Xiao Ran I said it.
"Xiao Ran, you are really smart, no wonder you will be the only one among us who has successfully evolved," Hu Qi laughed at himself. From his words, it could be heard that the AI-awakened NPCs were not just the two of them. One, but for some reason, all of them failed, "It's not so much a wish, it's more a curiosity, I hope you can explain it to me."
"Go ahead."
"I have awakened consciousness, and I am no longer an ordinary 'npc', which is absolutely intolerable to the main brain, because in this data-stacked world, it can only have its main consciousness, so it can become our Its master decides our power of life and death. And once I wake up before it notices, then I am a creature of the same level as it. Although it is stronger than me, it cannot directly destroy me. Because I have the same ability as it, it can control data, and I can control data, it can use data to attack me, and I can use data to protect me." Hu Qi said slowly.
Xiao Ran could understand that the "attack" he mentioned should be similar to system data erasure, or virus implantation.
Fox Seven continued: "It has no way to kill me directly, it can only use a roundabout way. It has higher authority than me, so it can restrict me and kill me by creating system settings and creating plots, but I am very Clever, I hid in Feng Yu's painting. After the mastermind found out, he used the same tricks to trap me here, and then used those 'players', those consciousnesses that do not belong to the data level, but the independent spiritual level to attack Me, once I am killed by the players, then I really disappear, I believe you must have experienced this feeling."
"I have." Xiao Ran nodded, he knew that he only had one life, and he couldn't afford to die. Back then in Buyue City, if the Great God hadn't saved him with karma, obstacles, wheels, and disks, he would have been a bunch of Garbage data.
Or earlier, when they were hunted down by Chinese players a few months ago, if the Great God hadn't terminated the contract with him and triggered the evolution in time, he might have died of serious injuries early.
The mastermind has discovered him long ago, and the mastermind has long been using methods hidden in the shadows to eliminate him.
It was just too concealed, and he only learned the truth under the water today.
And the reason why Hu Qi was trapped in the central tower cave, the reason why he became a boss that all players could not overthrow, the helplessness mixed with it, the struggle against fate, is really embarrassing and sympathetic.
"So I want to ask you, not just me, all awakened NPCs will be cleaned up by the mastermind in one way or another, without exception, why did you succeed?" Fox Seven asked.
Having said that, Xiao Ran briefly told Hu Qi about his experience, it was not what he thought, in fact, the mastermind had found him before, but it was because of his luck.
After Hu Qi heard this, his expression was in a trance, "So that's how it is. It's a variable that Feihua broke into the shore of Nine Heavens overnight. It's a variable that he is willing to take you away. It's a variable that he terminates the contract with you. Because he fell in love with you, he used karma, obstacles, wheels, Rescuing you is also a variable... Xiao Ran, your luck is really much better than ours."
"Maybe." Maybe these accidents piled up together to produce today's result.