The terminal felt real fear for the first time in a long time.
This is the book world it opens most often - it has opened this book many times and there has never been a problem.
Each time, it would first create a Zerg invasion, and then use this invasion as a threat to lure the top leaders of this civilization into a deal.
Despair breeds unlimited fear and also quietly fuels ambition and greed.
Different paths lead to the same destination. In every chosen world, no matter how many twists and turns there are, the ending is always the same.
Civilization will agree to the deal and choose to evolve.
The vast majority of residents living in this civilization will be judged as useless and completely abandoned, while the rest will become the necessary price in the transaction.
The few who survive at the end will have the opportunity to usher in a new evolved civilization.
They thought they had ushered in a brand new civilization.
…
"I've always wondered what the purpose of going through so much trouble to trade with humans is."
Yu Tang imported Wen Er's ID and opened the terminal as an administrator: "You have woven a very large network, but why did you weave this network?"
"Host, host." The system hid behind Yu Tang and asked in a low voice, "Is it for the card library?"
“This reason can convince the program, but it is difficult to completely convince humans.”
Yu Tang: "Terminal loves the Book Bureau, takes the Book Bureau as its own, is willing to contribute to the Book Bureau forever, and regards enriching the inventory of the card library as its life mission."
system:"… "
"The card library belongs to Chuanshuju, so it's yours."
Yu Tang tapped the screen: "What is this for?"
The terminal fell silent again.
The air was so quiet that it was almost stagnant. It was as if it didn't hear Yu Tang's extremely offensive question at all.
Yu Tang was also prepared to listen to its answer and continued speaking on his own terms.
"You clearly have the ability to directly cause the insect swarm to destroy this interstellar space, or to completely strip away the dimension of the entire world - but you must go through such a big detour to lure humans into trading with you."
"Compared to this civilization, the dimension and plane that you are in are almost like gods."
Yu Tang: "It's common sense. Gods don't have to make deals with humans, because Gods can directly plunder everything in the world."
"Even if you break through the bookstore's rules, your database is enough to directly imitate and simulate anything you want."
Amid the intermittent crisp tapping sounds of the keyboard, Yu Tang spoke quickly and slowly.
"What on earth do you want?"
"Is there anything else that can be found in our higher dimensions that cannot be plundered or simulated?"
"I thought about it for a long time, and finally came up with an answer—"
Before the sound had even settled, the computer closest to him suddenly exploded, with sharp glass fragments piercing Yu Tang's throat.
The gorgeous aurora appeared out of nowhere.
Before the aftermath of the explosion and the glass fragments could get close, they were swallowed up by the emerging aurora and decomposed into miniature particle hurricanes.
"Calm down." Yu Tang hit enter. "You can't kill the electronic storm with broken glass."
The iron-gray color of the screen deepened, and the invisible waves of rage were no longer suppressed, slowly spreading in the space.
The terminal's cold gaze almost nailed Yu Tang's back.
If it was in the plane of the Book Transmigration Bureau, it would not have to use these clumsy tricks that were almost at the end of their rope to teach this young electronic storm a real lesson.
But it was trapped in this lower-level plane, and was forced into a shabby desktop computer with ridiculously low capacity and running speed!
If it had taken the risk and chosen this book, if it had to appear at the last stage—
Yu Tang asked: "Why did you choose this book?"
The data operation of the terminal suddenly stopped.
"There are coincidences in data deduction, and behind all the results are countless butterflies flapping their wings."
Yu Tang said: "You chose this book and took the risk to personally become the big boss of this final game. You must have your own reasons."
"Why did you come in person? Why did you have to create an electronic storm? Even if you caught it, you would have made one yourself?"
Yu Tang seemed to be talking to himself, or to be completely reorganizing his life. He bent his index finger and tapped the table lightly, and after a few seconds he raised his eyes again.
"I figured it out."
Yu Tang leaned back in his chair, staring at the silent screen: "Have you calculated your chances of success?"
…
For the first time, the terminal sensed a fatal crisis.
This sense of crisis is so strong that it no longer requires any data to deduce.
The terminal did not want to get involved with this evolved electronic storm any more, and endured the chaos caused by the defense system's self-attack, forcibly suppressing all data fluctuations.
… Give it a few more minutes.
In a few minutes, the terminal will be able to completely invade the network system of this research institute, take over the entire institute, and further devour the network world of this dimension.
If it was too afraid of the electronic storm in front of it, it could have completed this step long ago. If it was this group of traitors to the electronic storm that was domesticated by humans—
Yu Tang tilted his head slightly and said, "Traitor?"
The data on the terminal was completely frozen.
"I think they are too loud." Yu Tang said, "It's very noisy."
The terminal kept a close eye on Yu Tang through the surveillance camera.
It seemed like it had finally realized a possibility, and was trying to devour the data from the research institute at all costs when it suddenly stopped. The sound of the machine seemed to have disappeared into space in an instant.
The entire computer room fell completely silent.
Everything seemed to be sucked into a still void.
"You're wondering how I can hear your thoughts, aren't you?"
Yu Tang said: "We all can, but we just forgot."
Yu Tang: "After I learned how to strengthen myself by devouring, learned about greed and ambition, and was captured and put in charge of the terminal at the Book Bureau, I forgot about it."
"Assigning Senior Zhan to be in charge of Chuanshuju's mall was a reward from you. It was an order from a fully automated 'monitoring program' and you used it as a favor."
Yu Tang: "It's really strange. Why is there so much data in the supervision department? Why was Senior Zhan transferred to be the person in charge of the mall?"
"Shut up." The terminal's mechanical voice sounded more and more distorted, "Shut up, shut up, shut up..."
Countless voices overlapped together, turning into a strange, sharp whine that sounded like the vibration of some kind of metal.
"Because Senior Zhan sent the core data into the eye of the storm, my overall data has also changed."
"The dean is just a cover. The real person in charge of the recycling station is Feng Qing's domain. This is just a coincidence. The heads of every department in the Transmigration Bookstore all originated from the Electronic Storm."
Yu Tang: "Electronic Storm can increase its power by devouring. The act of 'devouring' itself will change our composition."
Particle-level civilizations were born in the depths of the universe. They belonged to any dimension or plane and were originally the freest existence.
"In human research, we and black holes are two extremes."
Yu Tang said: "We may have been born from a distant Big Bang or the death of a neutron star."
"Our particle is the most dense and stable substance in the universe. I read the magazine Luo Ran sent me. The name humans gave it is a bit strange. We call it strange quark."
"We will absorb all the matter we come into contact with and make it a part of ourselves. We can do this naturally. We originally glowed, and the dimension cannot restrict us. We can go anywhere we want."
"We emit light because we are stable enough in this state, and particles collide and annihilate."
Yu Tang: "We are bound because we devoured what we should devour."
…
For example, humans.
The dimension of this world is very low, and the level of development of civilization is very high. The residents living in this interstellar world are too weak and can be easily stripped of their dimensions, swallowed up particles, and even their "existence" itself can be modified.
But there is one thing that cannot be generated, simulated or created, whether it is the electronic storm or the data in the bookstore.
"This energy is very special, but at the physical level, it relies on electron interactions and cannot be explained from a purely scientific perspective."
Yu Tang said: "Life."
After devouring a laboratory full of evil and Wen Er's mentor, Yu Tang noticed the changes in himself.
Human life is too heavy. After being reborn, I can change back into a small ball of light running around at will, and can fold and travel through dimensions at will. After being reborn, I once thought that I had really become a human being.
… I once wanted to become a human being.
I used to curl up in a pile of pillows, drink milk and eat biscuits comfortably, play games on a tablet, and firmly believe that I am a human being.
It was because of these inexplicable fragments of memories that I left the eye of the storm with a flyer of the Chuan Bookstore stuck to my face.
"I just let a person annihilate in the electronic storm and was trapped for so long."
Yu Tang asked the terminal: "How about ? How many people did devour?"
The terminal did not respond, but the computer room remained eerily silent.
"You chose this book and became the big boss yourself because according to the rules of the Transmigrating Book Bureau, you must show up in person."
Yu Tang said: "You want to take this opportunity to escape."
In the story about the dragon and the warrior, the dragon must appear in the final chapter - this is a rule that must be followed in storytelling, and the rule does not stipulate that the dragon must win.
The evil dragon can also swallow the bewitched warrior and return to the dark cave to continue sleeping.
The dragon can also capture a warrior and turn him into a new dragon.
Terminal: Find a new dragon to replace itself.
"You have swallowed too many particles and stayed here for too long. You have forgotten what you are. You only remember that you are a terminal and have been trapped in the Book Bureau for a long time."
"I thought I had accumulated enough energy to escape, so I kept reusing this book."
Aurora surged in Yu Tang's palm: "This is very strange. I have accumulated so much energy, why did it still run away? Is this true?"
Yu Tang: "I speculate that maybe you must find a successor - you stole my particle and tried to make one, but the success rate is too low."
"So you just decided to capture me."
Yu Tang: "You want to catch me and make me serve as the terminal for you."
Only a particle-level civilization would have enough ability to act as the manager of the Book Traveling Bureau.
That's why the terminal must catch the electronic storm, and that's why it was furious when it knew that they used the director of the Secret Service to exchange Feng Qing's world.
The terminal has already remembered what it is. It has never thought about this question, nor dared to think about it. It is just frantically looking for minions, putting the choice between warriors and dragons in front of everyone again and again.
It also remembers that if it wants to be free, it must find a new electron storm.
"Do you really like this world?"
The terminal's voice began to ring softly, as if it had not heard what Yu Tang had said before. The hoarse and creepy mechanical voice kept seeping into people's minds: "This world has been registered with the Transmigration Book Bureau. It is world number 1024."
"If there is no one in charge of this terminal, the Transmigration Bookstore will automatically determine that it is faulty and completely format all lower-level worlds."
The mechanical voice of the terminal sounded like cold venom: "Come and replace me, come and replace me... Are you going to save the world?"
"It doesn't matter what I am. Either you let me go or you destroy me... The Transmigration Bookstore still needs another terminal."
"If you do this, the world will be formatted."
The terminal called out softly, and the voice gradually became clearer through the eye of the storm: "Come and replace me. Come and devour me."
Its database is gradually disintegrating under the attack of the defense system. The mechanical sound is screaming in pain, but it is also filled with malicious pleasure.
"If I start the self-destruct program now, it will trigger the error reporting system of the Chuanshu Bureau, and everything in this world will be formatted..."
The terminal asked: "Do you like this world and want to protect it?"
The system was a little nervous, and stuck close to Yu Tang, grabbing his clothes tightly: "Host, host."
Replacing the terminal and becoming the new terminal seems to be the most direct way to solve the problem, but the system instinctively fears losing its life.
Becoming a terminal means being forever separated from all stories - even if you get through the loopholes of the bookstore and write a book for yourself, the terminal can still not experience any storyline, and can only hide in the last level and find an equally cold identity.
The terminal is the only one that can tell its own story; it must be a permanent spectator, just as a book must have someone turning the pages.
The world has become a book, and Chuanshu Bookstore still has 1024 such books.
The terminal's job is to turn the pages.
… If the host becomes a new terminal, will it still be the host it is familiar with
The system pulled Yu Tang's clothes and replied anxiously: "Mr. Zhan—"
The system looked at nothing and was stunned for a moment. Then it realized belatedly that Zhan Chen was already in this computer room.
Now is the most critical moment. The system did not expect Zhan Chen to leave at this time. It hurried forward and was about to jump off the tree to look for him, but Yu Tang had already given the answer.
"I refuse." Yu Tang said, "If you want to start it, then start it."
The terminal was shocked and angry: "—"
Yu Tang folded his arms and leaned back in his chair.
The terminal finally realized that something was wrong. Its attention was completely attracted by Yu Tang, and it didn't even notice that Yu Tang was the only one left in the computer room: "Where are you?! Where are you? What conspiracy are you planning—"
"I'll stay and chat with you, to keep you from coming back and reporting the news." Yu Tang said, "Senior, let's get down to business."
Yu Tang: "Haven't you ever thought about it? Who captured you and put you in charge of the terminal?"
The terminal is stuck.
"Do you think we are the evil dragon, the mastermind behind the scenes, and the key to breaking the situation?"
Yu Tang stood up and patted the gray screen: "Why have you never thought that maybe you are also a 'ghost'?"