"What... is the nest?"
Chen Jin is extremely calm at the moment.
Freed from the constraints of the physical body, without the interference of hormones and neurotransmitters, his thoughts were like a clear spring with impurities removed, cold and clear.
He feels like a machine now.
Those who had the same face as him but completely different temperaments did not answer directly. Instead, they looked up at the endless honeycomb structure and spoke in a gentle voice:
"This place has no distance and no boundaries."
"It is not an extension of the material world and does not occupy real space.
It is based on the bottom layer of "dream" and is a collection of information and consciousness. Here, the concepts of size, distance, orientation... these concepts themselves are meaningless."
Chen Jin stared at them. Although there was no real heartbeat, he still felt some invisible pressure seizing his consciousness:
"You are what Old Master Zhao said... my inner demon?"
A figure climbed out of the hive and stood in front of Chen Jin: "To be precise, I am the only one who is the inner demon."
When the other party heard this, the corner of his mouth seemed to evoke a very faint, almost mocking arc:
"Furthermore, the so-called inner demon has the unique arrogance of Tian Jiazijiu, which is not accurate."
"If I change my perspective, I might still feel that your world is the "inside", and the place where I am is the "outside".
The so-called Feather Lord Cao Yuanchao dream gave birth to this world...
In my opinion, it might be a big dream of a certain "pigeon spirit", which gave rise to what you call Tian Jiazi Jiu."
His tone changed with indifference:
"But arguing about which is true and which is false, and which is true and false, is like arguing about Zhuang Zhou Dream Butterfly, Butterfly Dream Zhuang Zhou, which is meaningless.
Who can truly decipher the nature of dreams?"
Chen Jin's eyes swept across the countless faces that belonged to him, and there were waves in his consciousness. "Then, these... all "I"s are..."
"It's your backup."
The inner demon answered simply and neatly, "Chen Jin" records at different time points and different psychological states since the birth of your individual consciousness.
It's like uploading data to the cloud in real time to prevent your "local terminal" from being accidentally damaged."
He paused slightly and refocused his eyes on Chen Jin:
"And after the coincidence effect between you and me, the scope of this "backup" has expanded.
When you shuttle between Yanfu and Fruit, the "peer" information of Fruit is also uploaded and archived here simultaneously.
They are countless possibilities of "Chen Jin" and thousands of sides of you."
"In my logic, "existence" is above all else.
Only by living, perceiving, thinking, and existing can all subsequent possibilities be possible.
In the universe, those of your peers, after the coincidence effect of you/me occurs, their essence as "Chen Jin" will dissipate."
"But in my opinion, they also had their own lives and their own bonds.
It would be too cruel to let it fall into nothingness.
Therefore, I took them all in and built this [nest] to give them another form of existence."
Chen Jin thought of the key thing, "What about the inheritance? Where are Flesh of Vision and Ji Water Leopard?"
The demon raised his hand and pointed upward.
In the center of the endless honeycomb structure, two particularly eye-catching bubbles are suspended, flowing with magnificent brilliance.
One has the spirit form of Ji Water Leopard crouching inside, and the other is wrapped in the vitality-filled halo of Flesh of Vision.
"Soul and inheritance are essentially information.
They have already been deeply bound to you, and are naturally uploaded here together, hidden in the "Niwan Palace" at this level of consciousness.
With just a thought, you can call up the complete information here, "download" the Niwan Palace of a physical body again, and complete the reconstruction.
At that time, you will be truly "resurrected."
Chen Jin captured a contradiction. "Since you said that all memory information is backed up, why do I often forget some past events?"
"Weakness of the flesh is one of the original sins."
The inner demon answered unceremoniously,
"Your real brain has its limits in its ability to process and store information.
Too much information can lead to overload, unless you maintain some... multiple patterns for a long time.
Therefore, some memories that were judged as "not immediately important" were "sliced" by me.
Temporarily stored in [nest]."
"So... my sometimes uncontrollable mood swings are also related to this place?"
"Exactly."
The inner demon affirmed,
"[The Nest] is not a silent database.
These "backups", these "peers", they are active information collections, the precipitated "you".
Their emotions, memories, and obsessions will be like uninterrupted background noise, continuing to penetrate and affect you as the subject of the work.
When you experience similar situations, or when there is a gap in your defenses, the influence of one or several "sides" will suddenly become apparent, allowing you to experience strong emotions and impulses that do not originate from "you at this moment.""
A wry smile appeared in Chen Jin's consciousness, "In the eyes of outsiders, I'm probably no different from a lunatic, just like the legendary possessed person."
"From the day you and I reunited, you were already possessed by a certain definition."
The inner demon's tone was as calm as a factual statement,
"Anyway, it's all [being possessed by a demon]. What's the difference between being possessed by one demon and being possessed by a thousand demons?"
Chen Jin was silent for a moment and asked a question that has been lingering for a long time:
"When I chose [Flesh of Vision] inheritance, was it... also influenced by you?"
He always felt that according to his temperament and situation at that time,
Choosing this kind of inheritance that favors absolute survival and even seems to be "living on" is not entirely out of intention.
The inner demon did not answer directly, but casually extracted a shimmering memory slice from the honeycomb grid beside him and handed it to Chen Jin.
With his consciousness immersed in it, Chen Jin "saw" a scene
--In a hazy dream, countless "selves" were sitting around, voting on whether to choose [Flesh of Vision] inheritance.
The votes showed an overwhelming trend, and the decision to select Flesh of Vision was finally passed unanimously.
"Existence, above all else."
The inner demon's voice sounded from the side, "Only if you are alive, able to perceive, think, and exist, can you have any possibility of the future.
Choosing [Flesh of Vision] is the decision that best conforms to the "survival first principle".
Death means the end, the return of everything to zero.
We - all of you - agree with this truth."
"The universe exists because of "my" observation.
"When you don't look at this flower, this flower and your heart will become silent together.
When you look at this flower, the color of the flower becomes clear for a moment."
If I no longer look at this world, this world will be the same as death to me.
Therefore, you/I must exist, at all costs."