At this moment, in the Hive Base Camp on the other side of the earth, Zhang Hengzheng was sitting calmly in a huge room. The walls around the room were covered with dense 3D virtual screens. These screens were only twenty or thirty at most. Centimeters in diameter, but it covered all four walls of the room and the roof.
"Entering the third process, the lights in all cages will be turned off again for thirty seconds."
In the room, Yuehua stood beside Zhang Heng, and at the same time, all the screens were uniformly plunged into 100% darkness.
Zhang Heng did not use infrared or other monitoring equipment, because playing tricks with memes is very childish and ridiculous behavior. The first law of ghost-type curse memes is that when curse-type memes affect life forms, there cannot be a third person. observer. This is true even when observing in surveillance or in infrared. This is a law, just like a law of physics without any suspense.
At this time, in the darkness, Zhang Heng seemed to be able to hear bursts of sounds that seemed to be groans and friction. If anyone heard such sounds, they would probably be frightened and flee the room immediately. The worst thing would be He will also huddle into the corner of the room and lose all sense of resistance.
This kind of voice is full of coldness and malice, like the voice of a dead corpse, and also like the purest evil thoughts, as if it can pull people into some unknown abyss.
However, this kind of sound made no difference at all in front of Zhang Heng. Those constant gurgling sounds had no impact on him at all. It was not until thirty long seconds passed and all the screens lit up that Zhang Heng became interested. looked towards one of the screens.
On the screen, there was a Mexican male face. He was also a student at Queen's College of St. Mary, named Barry Lynch. Through his outstanding performance in the first and second rounds, he had successfully attracted Zhang Henghe. Yuehua's attention.
"Very good. It seems that he is not only smart but also very lucky." After seeing that the other party successfully survived the third round of experiments, Zhang Heng said lightly. He looked at the pale Barry on the screen and sighed. , "It's a pity, if it weren't for the fact that all ghost memes are unsolvable, and once infected, it means death. Otherwise, I would really bring him into the Stellar Foundation."
"If he is really lucky, he will not be infected with this meme." Yuehua said noncommittally, and said seriously again, "A total of 1,600 infected people were observed this time, and 1,003 people survived in the end. Ten people, the survival rate is about 64%, the data is 10% higher than before, the data is uploading... The upload is completed. "
After saying that, Yue Hua suddenly looked back at Zhang Heng in amazement, "Your Majesty Commander, your original speculation was indeed correct. 'Self-belief' or 'self-hypnosis' can indeed help delay the outbreak of memes.
Zhang Heng nodded and said nothing.
"Tell us how to get out!"
"Tell me how we can survive! I want to know everything!"
"Leave me or leave, that's my problem, please!"
"Tell me the second way to defend yourself against memes!"
Almost at the same time that Yue Hua and Zhang Heng were talking, many people were shouting at the top of their lungs on the surveillance camera as if they were grasping for life-saving straws.
Barry on the surveillance video also frowned and thought for a moment, and finally said tentatively, "Tell me the second way to resist memes!"
Yuehua smiled slightly, and said again without waiting for Zhang Heng, "Very good, this time it was Mr. Barry, the infected person under observation in Cage 207, who got the question first. His question was the 'second method of resisting memes' What!'
"Oh Farke!"
"Damn it!"
"No way, he cheated!"
"Little B bastard!"
During the monitoring, a loud shouting and cursing came. Zhang Heng remained motionless, and Yuehua showed no expression at all. He still said, "He asked a very good question, because every method of resisting memes is provided by our fund." It will cost countless lives to summarize the laws of blood and fire. Although these laws cannot be guaranteed to be 100% correct, they can be guaranteed to be more than 80% correct. "
As he said this, he didn't wait for everyone's desperate shouts and curses. Yuehua continued slowly, "In fact, the previous three rounds of experiments and all the words have revealed a lot of information about resisting curse memes, such as:
1. When curse memes affect life forms, there cannot be a third-person observer - everyone knows the laws of horror movies, right? In Japanese, Korean and Thai horror ghost films, the basic cause of death is due to being alone. This rule can also be applied to curse memes. The reason is that curse memes seem to be related to quantum superposition states.
2. Enhance your courage. The more fearless a person is, the longer the incubation period of a meme. The more fearful a person is, the shorter the incubation period of a meme. When watching horror movies, you will find that sometimes ghosts are not the original ones. Just kill the victim, but the cat teases the prey and keeps appearing like a ghost. The prey becomes more and more scared, and the ghost becomes more and more fierce, until finally the ghost kills the prey. In fact, this is not the evil taste of ghosts, but a natural phenomenon when cursed memes affect life forms. The time when the infected person is in a normal state and when the ghosts under him are frightened can be called the incubation period. As the incubation period deepens , the infected people become more and more afraid of the unknown Moin, and once it reaches the outbreak stage, it will be death. "
After Yue Hua said this incessantly, he suddenly said again, "Then, let me talk about the third method to resist curse memes, and that is - coma or deep sleep!"
Everyone was stunned when they heard this.
"Yes, you heard it right, they are coma and sleeping state." Yuehua nodded and said, "Based on previous experiments, we have concluded that when the infected person is in active or passive sleep, they will not be attacked. Any attack, after all, you have never heard of anyone being killed by a ghost in his sleep. Of course, except for Freddy in "A Nightmare on Elm Street", but in addition to the Freddy ghost in Europe and the United States, in Asia, indeed No one is killed by cursed memes while in coma or deep sleep. Even if the meme enters the outbreak stage, the infected person will have to wait until they wake up first and then be killed by the meme... "
"This is the third method of resisting memes revealed by the Foundation."
As soon as these words came out, everyone fell into silence, but soon, these people started roaring even more crazily. Many people yelled about how they could sleep in such an environment. Only some calm people began to He frequently looked at the glass wall to the side, as if waiting for the fourth round of experiments to start, then he bumped into it and forced himself into a coma.
As the fourth round started, many people really hit the glass wall as the other party said. With the banging sound in the video, even Yuehua expressed wonder at the potential of human beings. In the face of life and death , even the pain becomes so unimportant.
The same was true for Barry, and he was very lucky. He successfully knocked himself out in the first impact. In the darkness, Zhang Heng in front of the screen could still hear bursts of cold sounds... depriving those who had not made up their minds. , or the lives of infected people who failed to faint.
Thirty seconds passed, and when the lights came on again, more than 800 of the 1,030 people had survived!
"A total of 1,030 infected people were observed this time, and 849 people survived in the end. The survival rate is about 82%. The data is 18% higher than before. The data is being uploaded... Uploading complete."
Yuehua shook her head. The next second, a large amount of clear water was automatically sprayed from the top of everyone's cage. Stimulated by this clear water, all the people who were knocked unconscious stood up screaming, Some covered their heads with blood and kept wailing, while some kept roaring in the water angrily, seeming to vent their unparalleled anger against the Stellar Foundation.
Yuehua shook his head, a sigh flashed in his eyes. It was not that they were cruel, but that these people were basically sentenced to death when they were infected with the meme. They just used the remaining value of these people to try to find ways to fight. It's just a memetic method. Although the method is a bit inhumane, there is nothing we can do about it.
The only thing to blame is their bad luck.
At this time, when Yuehua looked complicated, Zhang Heng said calmly, "It doesn't matter whether the traditional process continues or not. The data has been collected almost. We are going to temporarily add an experimental process to allow these people to die comfortably." some."
Yuehua turned her head in surprise, then smiled and said, "Okay, Commander, you also have a day of kindness, but is it just a temporary experiment?"
"The so-called temporary experiment is the last question I have always wanted to verify the curse memes." Zhang Heng did not pay attention to Yuehua's gaze and just said calmly, "It can be known from the previous laws that 'there is no observer. ' is one of the important conditions for the meme to explode. So, does it mean that when the infected person stays in a situation where a third person observes him forever, he will never die? "
"of course not."
Yuehua wrinkled her nose and said decisively, "Let's not talk about whether it is possible to guarantee that a person will be permanently watched for decades or hundreds of years. Even if it can be guaranteed, who can guarantee that the 'watcher' will not blink? Perhaps in the blink of an eye, the infected person in the outbreak period will be completely killed by the meme! "
"That's why I did this experiment." Zhang Heng nodded, turned to look at Yuehua, and smiled, "Don't forget, I have you."
Yuehua was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that, indeed, although he did not belong to conventional life, he was still within the category of life. As long as he was a life, he had attention and was considered an observer.
And it is precisely because he is an intelligent life and does not have the fatigue and patience problems of conventional life. Therefore, for Yuehua, he can observe a person for decades or even thousands of years without interruption. Of course, the premise is Thousands of years later, that person is still alive.
But at this moment, Yuehua suddenly received some news. She showed a hint of shock and surprise, and murmured in a low voice, "No, how could it be possible? It's impossible!"
"What's wrong?" Zhang Heng's originally dull pupils shrank slightly, which can make Yuehua, who is always in control of everything, produce such an emotion, indicating that something extremely unbelievable has happened!
"Your Excellency, Commander!" Yuehua quickly showed a solemn look and reported, "In this 'cursed meme observation experiment', I used two counting methods, one of which was through video surveillance observation, and The other method is to use the communication device to count the five hundred condemned class D personnel using the original counting method, and then send the data to me, and combine the two for confirmation."
"Before, in the first three test procedures, all the statistics were normal, but just now, the fourth statistics given to me by D-class personnel conflicted with my statistics!"
Zhang Heng was stunned when he heard this, "Could it be that those people made a statistical error?"
"It's impossible. Five hundred people are divided into fifty groups, with ten people in each group. Each person is responsible for counting the number of people in the cage in an area. Then the ten people gather together and add them up, and then report the data to me. And this time, The data reported by all groups is 727 people! Compared with the 849 people I observed, there are 122 people less!" Yue Hua said in surprise.
Zhang Heng's expression also became serious. He looked at the countless screens in front of him and whispered, "In other words, curse memes have begun to affect electronic equipment?"
"Yes, I have ordered D-class personnel to find the 122 missing people based on previous information. They are..." Yuehua was about to speak when suddenly her mouth opened, but she said nothing. Heng also saw that on some screens in front of him, the people who were still making noise in the cage disappeared directly under his eyes...
"The number of people should be correct now..." Zhang Heng smiled bitterly in a low voice.
"No, it's not this..." Yuehua's expression became more serious, "These humans who were killed by the curse, once we find out that they are false, they will really disappear. This is inevitable. And I am surprised. It’s not this, but…”
"Some of the D-class personnel have begun to disappear..."
A hint of gloom flashed in Zhang Heng's eyes. He suddenly leaned back and exhaled, "Two possibilities."
"The first possibility is that the cursed meme automatically treats the entire island temporary base as a house. Any human being inside the island base will be infected by the meme."
"The second possibility is that when a curse meme breaks out, when the number of dead infected people in an area reaches a certain critical point, the area will automatically form a 'curse dead zone', allowing the curse to break through only There is a restriction of being infected only by entering an infected house. In this area, all uninfected humans will be infected by the curse, causing the curse infection rate to reach an astonishing 100%... "
"I'd rather believe it's the first one." Yuehua's face suddenly changed when she heard this. She is an intelligent life in her own right, so it's easy to imagine how smart she is. Since Zhang Heng was able to list the most logical first point, he then came up with the third one. Two points, then it shows that even Zhang Heng himself is probably inclined to the second point!
"Unfortunately, I am leaning toward the second option." Zhang Heng waved his hand, "Do you still remember my premonition before? When I was in London, I once said, "I have an unknown premonition. It seems that every time one more person dies in London, People, this city will become even colder than before... '"
"That is to say..." Yuehua opened her mouth, with a heavy look on her face, "It is very likely that London has turned into the permanent area you mentioned..."
"Curse the Dead Zone!"