Probably won't come back again.

But actually it’s hard to say, its capriciousness is not just once or twice.

He felt that there was no need to be so desperate. Since it had an unseen ending, the future was still worth looking forward to.

Moreover, its own Project 404 might inspire it to save other universes.

The man sat up from the hospital bed with the curtain hanging on it. He pulled out the needle hanging on the back of his hand as if nothing had happened. Under the strange eyes of the nurse in front of the bed, he got up, got dressed and left the ward.

The acquaintance who came to pick him up saw that he was in good health. He was surprised and wanted to say hello to him, but he met a pair of unfamiliar eyes and was stunned for a moment.

He still remembered that unfamiliar face, but after two hundred years, standing here, he could no longer match that face with the name in his memory, so he just nodded politely and passed by it.

It's 2014 now.

There are only 7 years until 2021.

During these seven years, he had to complete the preparations for Shelter 404-β and all preparations for the launch of the game server in this old world that had not yet entered the era of prosperity.

There are still a lot of things to do.

There is no time to waste...

…

…

Alpha universe.

In the manager's office on the B5 floor of Vault 404, the picture on the screen was frozen in the final gunshot.

"boom--!"

Hearing the deafening sound, Chu Guang, who was standing at the door of the room, suddenly woke up and quickly walked to the side of the chair.

A rusty revolver was placed on the chair, and a bullet casing lay next to it.

As for the remaining blood stains, they have long since turned into dust.

The AI ​​in this shelter recovered the professor's body and then completed its own formatting.

And now its number is 777...

Chu Guang stared at the pistol blankly, and finally completed the last piece of the puzzle.

He understood it all.

Everything about Project 404 and this shelter.

About my origin.

And the origins of the players.

not only that.

The details that he had temporarily placed in the corner of his memory due to lack of clues gradually became clear as the last piece of the puzzle was added.

Including where the original residents of this shelter went, including how the helmets got into the hands of players.

Just as he guessed, he himself was the first generation manager, and he did it all over again 777 times in 200 years!

Sometimes it's ten or eight years.

Sometimes they are resurrected dozens or hundreds of times in a year!

The original rules of the game were what he had continuously improved and summarized over and over again...

Chu Guang's Adam's apple moved and he looked up at the screen in front of him.

"Do you have to die?"

As if he had guessed that he would ask this question, the professor standing on the screen smiled lightly and said in a gentle voice.

"Even if I hadn't died, I wouldn't be alive today unless I froze myself into a popsicle... But that doesn't really mean anything, right? There aren't many of my old friends left, and the youngest student is almost gone.

, the only digital life that I can’t let go of... I’m destined to not be able to stay with it forever.”

"Instead of letting it wait for the pain that is destined to come, it is better to arrange a pretty good ending for it while I am still awake. So there is no need to regret and feel sad for me. This is not the best arrangement for myself.

"

"As for my death, it is also part of the plan. If I don't transmit the memory of pulling the trigger to the beta universe, the 'fission reaction' I described will not happen. Even if the observer does not intervene, there is no need to

The voice from the void confuses the other me, and the other me will not carry out my plan, not even once."

"Why? I've never heard of morphogenetic field connections being mediated by death—"

Chu Guang subconsciously asked this question, but just halfway through, the answer suddenly appeared in his mind.

really.

Death is not the prerequisite for the morphogenesis field, but it is the prerequisite for Project 404.

As for why, the reason is obvious——

Looking at Chu Guang, who had an expression of surprise on his face, the professor on the screen smiled lightly and continued in a matter-of-fact tone.

"It seems that you have realized that some things can only be done once or countless times. Can you expect others to do things that you can't do? You are repeating the experiment countless times, while the beta fission body is facing an infinite number of times.

The probability of one. If he executes the plan, he will face infinite bad outcomes. But if he does not execute, an infinitesimal one of the molecules will not exist, and you are even less likely to be standing here today."

"It's amazing, isn't it? This is the morphogenesis field. Resonance is not spoken with words, but is reflected in actions. They must do the same thing at the same time. If I don't pull the trigger, the other one will either

If he doesn't get the message from me, he won't pull the trigger even if he receives it."

Chu Guang nodded slowly.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, a similar thing happened on the Orion guided missile cruiser.

At that time, he understood the whole story from the player's post, but now he thinks that it should be a similar principle.

The only difference is that the information transmission across time was completed by extreme coincidence and was different from the carefully designed layout of Plan 404.

"So the more than 20 years I spent in reality...were actually fabricated?"

"Not entirely. Your interpersonal relationships are real. You have indeed interacted with those netizens you are familiar with. Not only have you known each other for several years, but you have also played many games together. As for your identity and background, as well as the people you have worked for

There are indeed traces of forgery in the company and the rented house. After all, it is impossible for us to really create a clone in the beta universe and watch him go to school and grow up like a normal person... This is not allowed in terms of time.

.”

"Actually, in the first few reincarnations, you started as me. As for the final decision to delete my memory and become 'Chu Guang', it was also a decision you made yourself in one of the early reincarnations."

When he said this, the professor standing on the screen smiled and said in a joking tone.

"Didn't you realize that? You actually don't have the contact information of those colleagues and the landlord...especially the latter, who didn't even think of asking you for rent."

Chu Guang said with a bitter smile.

"I thought they felt bad about it and deleted me."

After working for a long time, these people didn't exist at all, or they didn't exist in the beta universe he was matching at the moment.

It’s no wonder that major institutions and organizations in that world couldn’t find him at all.

His information wasn't even erased using any high technology, it was simply not there.

If his information can be found, it can only be said that someone took the funds for themselves.

Looking at Chu Guang who was in a complicated mood, the professor standing on the screen smiled like an old father.

That smile was exactly the same as his, just like the smile he showed when he watched the alliance rising from the ruins like the morning sun——

It's like looking at your own child.

Even though the nihilistic image was blurry, standing in front of the screen, Chu Guang still felt like he was looking into a mirror.

"...Actually, you don't have to feel confused. Just like my assistant said, your existence is not only your memory, but also other people's memories of you. Except for those people who don't exist in the first place, you and you

The experiences of everyone we have ever crossed paths with in our lives are extremely real.”

"Although I was worried a long time ago that you would be unable to implement Plan 404 as you go further and further, but the result is exactly the opposite... It is you who are completely different from me who created the miracle that I cannot.

.”

"And I'm very happy that you can make that decision and let go of things that I can't let go of. From the moment you call yourself Chu Guang, you are no longer me, but my continuation.

"

"Of course, as you said, you want to control your own destiny in your own hands. And now, I plan to hand over this right of choice to you."

As he spoke, the shadow disappeared from the office screen and was replaced by an open folder.

There are files with unknown formats and mosaic icons stored in them, numbered from 0 to 776.

Chu Guang knew what it was without asking.

There is no doubt that what is preserved there is the memory generated by the 776 reopenings over the past 200 years!

As for the file numbered 0,

It was 200 years ago... and the old era before the Prosperity Era belongs to the memory of the "professor" who once created the Prosperity Era!

"...These are the memories you have actually experienced, which happened before you woke up from the door of this shelter. You may have vaguely glanced at some fragments in your dreams, but those are just noises from the parallel world, not
To be continued...