Although Barry could see that this was an observation experiment, he didn't know any more than others about what exactly this experiment wanted to observe and what it was testing.
At this time, as the lights quickly dimmed, Barry's eyes turned into pitch black, and this pitch black was truly 100% pitch black, with no light source left.
"Is this a psychological experiment?" Looking at the darkness in front of him, Barry murmured in a low voice, but before he could finish speaking, he suddenly felt an extreme coldness slowly coming over him, as if there were countless As if the dead body was touching his body, he seemed to hear a faint gurgling sound in his ears. Almost instantly, goosebumps all over Barry's body exploded, and he stepped back seven times in a row. Eight steps later, when he hit the wall behind him, his limbs fell to the ground limply, while his eyes were fixed on the front...
Click...
Thirty seconds seemed short but long, and Barry felt that a long time had passed. Just when his consciousness was about to collapse, the dense lights above his head finally turned on again... Subconsciously, Barry quickly covered his eyes, with tears in his eyes. And Luo, until his eyes adapted to this kind of light again, he saw that the other two people in the cage were just like him, rubbing their eyes constantly, and their eyes were full of horror.
Wait, two people? !
Barry looked around suddenly, but the cage was only a dozen square meters. As long as he stood in the corner of the glass cage, everything in the room could be clearly seen. No matter how he looked, he could not find the missing third party. personal!
The blond burly man disappeared mysteriously...
A haze flashed in Barry's eyes. He remembered the thing he felt before. Yes, Barry could only use 'thing' to call the other person, just like a ghost in the movie. Apart from that, he really didn't know how to continue. Describe that thing...
"Devil! It's the devil!" The eyes of the old man on the side were full of horror. Obviously, he also felt similar to Barry. Even because he was too old, he was in worse health than the young people. At this time, he was affected by that The excitement of the thing actually caused him to lose control and he roared loudly!
Barry didn't have time to take care of the old man. He threw himself against the glass wall and looked outside. However, when he saw the outside scene, his pupils suddenly shrank because he saw that almost as long as he could see the cage, One or two people are missing... And in the most terrifying cage, even everyone has disappeared without a trace!
Subconsciously, Barry's whole body trembled violently. He suddenly thought again that before he passed out, when he went to the park to use the toilet, the young man named Nick who was with him followed that weird and cold "gurgling" sound. , completely disappeared from this world under his own eyes...
Barry would not be so naive as to believe that all of this was a prank set by the armed organization that dared to attack the UK. So in other words, what happened to Nick in London has been repeated here
Memetic infection…
What exactly does this word represent
"The first observation experiment on memetic infected persons is completed."
"A total of 3,432 people were observed to be infected this time. After the first round, 2,926 people survived. The survival rate is about 85%. The data is being uploaded... The upload is complete."
Just as Barry and others were numbly listening to the words on the radio, the voice actually spoke again, "Everyone here who is infected under observation, please continue to work hard. Every time you survive an experiment, you can know more about your Things, including why you are here, what memetic infection is, etc.”
At this moment, Barry said immediately without thinking, "Tell me, what is a memetic infection!"
"Mr. Barry, the infected person under observation in Cage 207, was the first to ask the question." But what Barry didn't expect was that his question actually worked. The voice said calmly, "The memetic effect refers to things like language. In the process of transmitting ideas, beliefs, behaviors, etc., the phenomenon that things similar to the role of genes in the process of biological evolution are transmitted through non-genetic means is, simply put, a kind of information transmission. "
"Memetic infection means that a certain substance or even energy is affected by the transmission of this information. The consequences of the infection are also diverse. Although there are rules to follow, there is no logic to be found. And you, It is precisely because of the influence of a certain memetic effect that oneself is also contaminated by the contagious phenomenon caused by this memetic effect.”
"What memes have infected us, tell us!" Barry asked again before the other party finished speaking. But this time, the voice on the radio did not go as they expected, but said indifferently, "The first permission to ask questions has been exhausted. Now all those infected under observation should be prepared for the second observation experiment."
"Damn, wait!" Now, not only Barry, but also the old man and another middle-aged man on the side kept talking. Barry could even see the other people in the cages outside the glass wall, who were even blushing and thick-necked. Crying to heaven and earth.
Unfortunately, the voice on the radio didn't seem to care about their emotions, and still went his own way and said indifferently, "Entering the second process, the lights in all the cages will be turned off again for thirty seconds."
The moment he heard these words, Barry's pupils suddenly shrank. Only then did he realize how important these densely packed light bulbs, like shadowless lamps on the operating table, were to him. Once the space fell into darkness, I'm afraid that 'thing' would Attack again
"Ten seconds countdown to prepare..."
"Ten, nine, eight..."
"Damn it!" Even a calm person like Barry could not help but turn pale with a look of despair. Without thinking, he retreated directly to a corner of the cage, waiting for the judgment of his fate!
"Three, two, one!"
As the woman's voice sounded, the bright and dazzling high-intensity lights above the head clicked again and were all extinguished!
But just as it was extinguished, Barry felt the coldness coming back again, completely covering his whole body and lingering around him. Barry gritted his teeth and refused to let out the slightest sound, because he knew that in this situation, It's not that thing that's attacking you, but it's attacking the feelings of other people around you. Presumably as long as you don't make a sound, you can continue to live through this cycle, right
The blood all over Barry's body almost solidified. He waited excruciatingly for thirty seconds to pass. When the lights above his head turned on again, he stood up as if he was reborn and looked around. Sure enough, another middle-aged man disappeared. , in the entire 207 cage, only myself and the old man were left!
All this only flashed through his mind, and the next second he looked up without thinking and asked, "Tell me, what meme infection are we infected by!"
"A total of 2,926 infected people were observed this time, and 1,600 survived after the experiment. The survival rate is about 54%. The data is 31% lower than before. The data is uploaded Medium… Upload completed.”
"Tell me what kind of meme we are infected by!" Barry continued to stare at the loudspeaker above his head, his eyes turning red as he asked.
"Mr. Barry, the infected person under observation in Cage 207, was the first to ask the question." On the radio, the woman's voice spoke again, seeming to be holding back a smile and teasingly said, "Mr. Barry actually grabbed the question twice in a row. It seems that the other The friends in the cage are very dissatisfied.”
Barry was stunned for a moment. He looked around, and sure enough he saw everyone in the other cages next to him looking at him fiercely and slapping the glass wall vigorously. Even if he couldn't hear the other party's roar, he could still tell if he thought about it. , these people have absolutely nothing good to say.
"Dear infected persons under observation, the memetic infection you have received is a cursed meme, a cursed meme. This is one of the most common, but also the most dangerous and troublesome memetic effects, starting from the least harmful. From the unlucky curse to the most harmful contagious ghost curse, this series of curses can be classified as curse memes.
"Unfortunately, what you have encountered is a ghostly cursed meme that is enough to destroy the entire human civilization. This meme comes from other planes and has the ability to transform any room into a Memetic infection source, and every human who enters his room will be infected by this meme. When this meme is in the incubation period, the infected person may have a sixth sense intuitive warning, such as feeling that somewhere Very spooky, scary, etc., or there is a chance of seeing a strange little boy. When the meme reaches the outbreak stage, the infected person will see a white woman who is beyond the scope of physical common sense, and hear something before death. A 'cluck' sound."
"So, you are using us for experiments, right?" Barry fell silent after hearing all this. After a long time, he raised his head and smiled bitterly, "Yes, what you said is indeed true..., although I have not encountered it. What a little white boy, but I did hear the sound of "clucking" and saw others disappear before. "
However, the voice on the radio seemed not to continue communicating with Barry after answering the question, but said again, "And the really fatal thing about curse memes is that after the meme has a ghost effect, any use of it will Physical attacks are ineffective, including gunpowder weapons, laser weapons and sonic weapons... "
"However, this does not mean that we are helpless. Based on the experience accumulated from the memetic attacks that the Foundation has encountered, it can be concluded that curse memes are related to the 'quantum superposition state'. When curse memes affect life forms, That is to say, there cannot be a third-person observer when killing people. Moreover, after the infected person is infected with the cursed meme, there will be a period of incubation period. During the incubation period, the cursed meme will not kill the infected person immediately. Instead, it constantly causes panic and fear in infected people. The more they are afraid of its existence and the more they believe in the existence of the curse, the faster the curse-like memes will break out, and the more 'ferocious' the ghosts will be when they attack the infected people..."
"I understand!" When Barry heard this, his expression immediately changed. Only then did he suddenly realize why the Foundation had conducted two lights-out experiments. It was obvious that every time the lights were turned off, everyone lost all observers. Ah! And the reason why it happened twice is because those who survived the first time had already developed a fear of invisible and intangible memes. Therefore, when the lights-out experiment was conducted for the second time, the memetic infection immediately became more vicious. , which resulted in the fact that the survival rate for the first time was 85%, but the second time it was only over 50%!
Even though he had already seen the Stellar Foundation's behavior, after thinking about all this, Barry still felt horrified by the ruthlessness of the Stellar Foundation!
"Okay, next, all the infected people under observation, you have ten minutes to rest. In ten minutes, we will conduct the third lights-out experiment on you. Please remember, if you want to succeed before the experiment is completed, To survive, please try your best to cooperate with all the work of our foundation. Now, please relax your emotions, keep yourself in a stable state, and imply that you are not afraid of the existence of memes. This mentality will be your best defense against memes. A powerful guarantee!”
"You bastard!" Barry couldn't help but smile bitterly. He looked around, and sure enough, everyone in the other cages around him was yelling crazily at the top of their heads. Some even knelt down and looked at him with tears streaming down his face. The voice kowtowed, obviously hating and fearing this unheard-of foundation to the extreme...
But Barry is different from others. He will not be naive enough to ask questions such as 'how can I be released' or 'how can I get out of here'? It is extremely important to experiment with one question at a time. It's precious. If you ask well, you may be able to know a lot of information in advance. This information may be like the "fear" just now, allowing you to obtain some small means in advance to resist curse memes...
Even if it's just a small means... No one wants to die, let alone die inexplicably in a place where he doesn't know where he is. Just when Barry started to calm his heart and make his mood as peaceful as possible, he suddenly He saw groups of people walking down the previously empty corridor of the prison. These people were similar to himself and were all wearing similar clothes. The only difference was that they were outside the prison.
These people looked numb, each holding two trays in their hands. Each tray contained a glass of lemonade, a bag of chips and a burger. These items were passed into the cage from the bottom according to the number of people currently available. , it was only then that Barry discovered that there were movable devices at the bottom of the four sides of the cage. These devices were extremely clever, but they did not allow the outside world to send anything of small size into it, but they could not make the people inside stretch out a toe. Come on.
After getting the food, Barry felt his stomach growling loudly. It was obvious that he had been anesthetized for at least eighteen hours, otherwise he would not have felt this hungry...
Thinking of this, Barry simply picked up the burger and ate it. After all, if he didn't eat it now, he would probably not have another chance to eat it in ten minutes. It wasn't until he wiped out the French fries and lemonade that he started to smack his mouth with unsatisfied thoughts. .
"Entering the third process, the lights in all the cages will be turned off again for thirty seconds." At this moment, the urgent announcement sounded again, and many people's faces suddenly turned pale.
Barry sighed secretly, stood up, and huddled into the corner of the cage again. It seemed that only in this way could he find a sense of security.
What is supposed to come will come sooner or later...