Chapter 737 — Shadows of the Mind

"...Basically, these are the kinds of anomalous phenomena that have appeared in the mind recently. Although the Mystic Pole Order maintains that these are all rumors, and my own investigation has for the time being found no hard evidence of the phenomena described, judging by the frequency and range of the 'sighting reports,' and adding the intelligence I gathered among the bishops, I fear the situation is not so simple.

"Something has likely gone wrong with the operation of the mind. The stability of certain virtual spaces is declining, and some long-connected followers of the Long Night have indeed run into trouble. I found some hidden cries for help in the deep databases — but for some reason, when I located the followers who had sent those pleas, they knew nothing about them.

"Three districts on the outskirts of the Phantom Hub City have recently been sealed off. The Mystic Pole Order's public explanation is data reconstruction and necessary maintenance... in itself a perfectly normal operation, and temporary sealing of outlying districts is not unprecedented — but for something like this to happen at this particular time still inevitably invites suspicion."

Daniel laid out the intelligence he had gathered, item by item, and the more Gao Yang heard, the tighter his brow furrowed.

The anomaly had grown unmistakable. The ordinary faithful might still be blinded by the words of the Xuanji Order and Pope Changming, but Daniel, as a bishop, had gathered enough intelligence to confirm that the Mind truly had a problem.

Its operation had faltered — but what was the cause?

Gaoyang instinctively glanced at the surrounding Origin Space, and a sudden, unwarranted association welled up in him, twisting his expression into something strange before he could stop it.

This Origin Space was something he had secretly carved out from the deepest layers of the Mind, borrowing the Eversleeper's computing power and siphoning the Mind's throughput. And lately, since the Magic Technology Research Institute had established several new project teams, the Origin Space seemed to be in use with ever greater frequency...

Good heavens — surely he hadn't fleeced the sheep so hard he was about to fleece it to death...

Daniel, however, could not guess what train of thought was barreling through the mind of the mighty outlander wanderer at that moment; he only grew tense at Gaosong's sudden silence: "My Lord?"

Gaoyang started from his musing and looked at Daniel: "Tell me... could the Mind's anomaly have something to do with the Origin Space?"

"...My Lord, to be honest, I have suspected that direction myself," Daniel replied, head lowered after a moment of earnest thought. "After all, the Origin Space is intimately bound up with the Mind's operation, and it has recently been running several large-scale projects, drawing enormous computing power from it. But after a careful examination, I believe the likelihood that the Origin Space is causing the Mind's malfunction is very low."

"Oh?"

"The computing power the Origin Space draws from the Mind all belongs to the 'redundant' portion — in other words, the part outside the Mind's trunk range, the part whose absence does not affect overall operation," Daniel explained. "The Eversleeper's original resource management was crude and simple, wasting vast amounts of computing power. After I restructured their management mechanisms, I hid away that already-wasted portion and devoted it solely to maintaining the Origin Space. So in theory, no matter how much the Origin Space expands and grows, it cannot affect the trunk network..."

"Mm..." Gaoyang rubbed his chin and said musingly, "So by that logic, the Mind's abnormal fluctuations wouldn't affect the Origin Space either?"

"In theory, no. But we had best strengthen our monitoring of the Origin Space in the near future regardless," Daniel said with a nod. "After all, we still have not determined what is causing those anomalies in the trunk network. If it should turn out that the fundamental architecture of the thing called 'the Mind' harbors hidden dangers, then even if the Origin Space and the trunk network are isolated from each other, there is no guaranteeing trouble will not arise."

"Could the researchers working in the Origin Laboratory be in danger?" Gaodai voiced what worried her most at that moment.

"As things stand, no," Daniel answered quickly, evidently having considered this already. "The anomalous connectors in the Mind all share common traits: they maintain long-term networked states, have undergone deep-level cranial nerve modification, can scarcely disconnect fully, and frequently immerse themselves deeply — their spirits are bound too tightly to the network. Our researchers in the Origin Laboratory, by contrast, connect through immersion pods; a layer of real-world protection stands between them and the network, and they do not enter deep immersion. Moreover, they strictly observe the working-hour system you instituted and do not maintain long connections. Their safety can be guaranteed."

Gaoyang breathed a little easier at that: "That's a relief... Still, we should raise our guard. I will remind the researchers on my side to pay particular attention to their own mental state when they connect in the near future, and you will continue to watch for any and all anomalies in the Mind."

Daniel immediately bowed his head deeply: "Yes, My Lord."

Gaoyang let out a breath and raised his head to look at the vast, boundless sky overhead.

Enormous geometric structures and symbolic numerals still revolved in that limpid firmament; an invisible wall of data severed this secret space from the trunk network. Standing amid the broad waters and heavens of the Origin Space, a visitor here would never perceive that another, even more colossal space was running in sync with this one.

But now that Gaoyang had unlocked higher-level permissions, he could see more.

He could see a far vaster world existing parallel to the Origin Space. A magnificent Phantom Hub City spread across the sky above this space, and countless points of light danced and drifted through the void — those were the Changming faithful serving as computing nodes, those were the residents of this world.

And beneath his feet, below the vast, shoreless "water's surface," lay a far more chaotic and complex torrent of light — the deeper foundation of the Mind, the darkest and profundmost "abyss" of this virtual world that had taken centuries to build.

He furrowed his brow.

So it seemed this sheep had not been fleeced to death by him after all...

Then why had it suddenly come to this?