Meme Influence

The players in front of the screen frowned.

These six words in the video made them realize that something was wrong.

like

The Control Bureau's elimination of humans... wasn't as ruthless as the Protagonist 2 claimed.

on the contrary

The players paused, trying to find the right word, but their limited understanding of the Control Bureau made it difficult for them to judge whether wiping out humanity was right or wrong.

So, after thinking about it, they decided not to offer any opinions. Instead, they waited for Brother Banana's analysis in the video.

Soon, the sound in the video continued.

[The phrase "For what happens after death" was part of an email sent by the Control Bureau to all its global sites.]

[Players familiar with other titles in the Only Game should know that Control Bureau is a large and incredibly complex supernatural organization. The game we're playing now, * Control Failure *, is just one of the Control Bureau's sites.]

Would a powerful organization like this, with its military, technology, and a large pool of research talent, casually send six meaningless characters to websites around the world?

[Obviously, they won't. In that case, this statement must have a hidden meaning.]

['Things after death' refers to what happens after a person passes away.]

The word 'for' can indicate both purpose and reason. When used with 'what happens after death,' it can be interpreted as 'for what happens after death.'

[To put it another way, it's for those who died...]

[Through the resurrected former director, the Control Bureau learns secrets about the dead that the living are unaware of.]

[As an organization that controls the supernatural, it would certainly want to understand and research the World of the Dead.]

[The only person in the world who knew about the World of the Dead was the former director. Therefore, cooperating with the experiments was inevitable. But how could one understand the World of the Dead? Experiments involving hypnosis, feigned death, and asphyxiation during the dying phase would likely be conducted. Therefore, we speculate that the former director likely clashed with the Control Bureau regarding cooperation in the experiments, leading to his death.]

[Those who have different opinions about the bureau chief's death are welcome to message me privately to discuss it.]

[Okay, getting back to the point. What would the Control Bureau do about this anomaly that causes headaches and hallucinations in the living, and whose effects persist even after death?]

[Control? Destroy? Or research, etc.? You see, the true form of the ' Divine Seal ' is located beneath a deep-sea meteorite crater. Wouldn't they dive down? Wouldn't they send people closer? Unfortunately, we don't know.]

[But we're certain that, given the Control Bureau's modus operandi, they would have been present at the scene. What happened afterward, however, remains unknown, as there are simply no leads.]

[Since the game doesn't reveal any effective actions taken by the Control Bureau against the ' Divine Seal ' itself, the following analysis is entirely speculative and unofficial.]

Upon seeing this, the players sat up straight.

They didn't care whether the explanation was correct or not.

Until the official explanation comes out, Brother Banana and his group are the only ones who can answer this question.

At this point, the explanation continues in the video.

[Before we begin, we must mention something quite outrageous— Meme.]

[Initially, due to the Soul Project, the Control Bureau experienced suicides and resignations at headquarters. They used Meme to prevent these incidents.]

[What is Meme? And what amazing abilities does it possess?]

[Here, I'll show you where the Meme first appears.]

At this moment, a sentence slowly appears in the video.

[This video has been classified under the order of the Upper Council of the Control Bureau.]

Top Secret

[Any unauthorized personnel who access this video will be immediately subjected to ■■■■ Meme erasure! Continued viewing without proper Meme vaccination will result in immediate cardiac arrest and death.]

You have already been warned.

Please confirm that you are an authorized person.

Upon closer inspection, players recognized the text immediately, regardless of whether they had played "Control Failure" before.

Because this is the opening sequence of the CG trailer for "Control Failure"!

This pre-broadcast warning, when it was announced, left a deep impression on players due to its uniqueness and novelty.

So much so that even before the game was released, the trailer alone became a sensation across all gaming communities.

It is said that some people were actually too scared to look at the warning at the time.

At this moment, Brother Banana spoke up.

The term "Meme" first appeared in the opening warning of the trailer for * Control Failure *. We can infer from the black blocks above that there are many types of Meme. The cardiac arrest shown in the trailer is just one example.

[While this trailer's opening sequence was a joke by the development team, it also demonstrates the power of ' Meme.' Furthermore, Meme influences appear in several other places within the game.]

As soon as he finished speaking, a blue handwritten note appeared in front of the player.

The above is a very long article.

However, thoughtfully, several paragraphs were highlighted in red to indicate the key points.

"Don't be surprised, because I, and everyone here, have gone through the 0970 cycle experiment just like you."

'You must be wondering now why the cycle effect stops once you get here.'

"Because a ' Meme ' has been applied here, causing a cognitive error in your understanding, leading you to believe that 0970 no longer exists. In reality, the characteristics of 0970 have always existed; otherwise, people like you wouldn't keep coming here."

Upon seeing this, the players frowned, some realizing the significance, others bewildered.

This has already confused them.

Brother Banana cleared his throat and spoke in the video.

[This note was found on a corpse in the 'D-10' dormitory area of a parallel world.]

[From this, we can also learn that a so-called ' Meme ' is something that can influence our human thinking and cognition, forcing our brains to accept what the ' Meme ' conveys to us.]

[In layman's terms, Meme tells us that 1+1=100, then we really believe that 1+1=100. Meme tells us that we can fly, then we really believe that we can fly, even if you don't have wings and can't actually fly... but your brain has already been influenced, making you believe that you can fly.]

[Similarly, Meme ' tells you that you'll experience cardiac arrest, then you really might...]

Brother Banana didn't finish his sentence, leaving people in suspense.

Players watching on screen couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines upon seeing this.

Holy crap...

Isn't this thing terrifying...?

It forces a change in a person's cognitive thinking, so that if I say something is something, you must believe it to be something.

This is absolutely devastating!

Just as players were feeling horrified by Meme, Brother Banana gave another example.

[Do you know why the map in the game is so big? Actually, it's also due to the influence of Meme.]

[In the mid-to-late game, we'll find a note in one of the employees' offices...]

The video shows a screenshot of the note.

That was handwritten.

'That damn Maynard! That bastard! Because of his modular site area idea, Site 19 is now a giant maze! It took me over an hour to get a spare office key! It used to only take me 5 minutes! When are those bastards in engineering going to remove this Meme?! It's such a waste of my time!'

Seeing this, players finally understand why the game map is so large...

It turns out it's a ' Meme '...

Brother Banana's voice rang out at that moment.

[From this note, we can see that the influence of a ' Meme ' can be very wide, so wide that it affects everyone in Site 19. ]

[The Meme said, "Your Site 19 is too small," and I said, "It's big." So, everyone on the site felt it was big, including you, the viewer.]

[This is why Site 19 in the parallel world is 'shrunken'; that's the true size of the station. The one we explore in the game is influenced by ' Meme '.]

I see!

The players suddenly realized.

This Meme ...

This setting...

That's absolutely amazing...

At this moment, everything in the video fades away, revealing the game scene of "Control Failure".

Then, Brother Banana spoke up.

[Now that we understand the effects of ' Meme,' we can explain how the Control Bureau deals with 'it' within human consciousness.]

[Note that, as I said before, due to incomplete clues, the following content is entirely our personal speculation and not the official final explanation.]

It was originally a long chapter, but the second half was too messy and needs to be straightened out. I'll break it down into one chapter for now. I'll revise the next chapter gradually.