Variables and Possibilities

Doing one good deed a day was a virtue beyond measure.

Li Yun was kindhearted and could not bear to see others suffer so much, so he generously shattered the wineglass in the other man's hand. While he was at it, he gave that brave soul—who dared to mix baijiu and beer into extra-spicy hot pot, and was already approaching the countdown to the "gastric perforation plus acute alcohol poisoning" package—a deeply memorable round of "physical induced vomiting."

This prevented the perfectly reasonable development where, by the time the problem was discovered and he was sent to the hospital, it would most likely already be too late, leaving him with no choice but to lie flat on a slab.

Li Yun was quite satisfied with this.

After all, after a performance like that, no one could possibly find fault with him. They might even give this righteous passerby a thumbs-up for stepping in to help!

...Of course, in truth, no one had been able to "see" it.

—Except for an utterly invisible "gaze."

"According to the Behavioral Data Model's assessment, you do not seem like someone who would take the initiative to interfere in such trivial matters?"

That faint "voice," still audible only to Li Yun, quietly passed through the bustle of the street and landed precisely in his ears.

A trace of perfectly measured "confusion" still surfaced in the Main God's voice, which ought to have remained as still as an ancient well.

Li Yun neither confirmed nor denied it.

"...That's why I said the 'human nature' you construct purely from data isn't all that accurate."

He casually dismissed the newly popped-up public message—"Security alert: Online fraud and illegal application links have recently become widespread. For the safety of your person and property, please do not casually click unknown virus links..." —then glanced at the time on his phone.

Li Yun did not "speak" in any objective sense, either.

As a simple signal of consciousness spread outward from his mind, this alternative and efficient form of "language," compared to the mere act of biological vocal cords vibrating the air, conveyed his thoughts far more precisely and without error.

After all, a young man with a ponytail constantly "talking to himself" in front of empty air would probably be seen by others as either a performance artist or a lunatic.

He clearly had no intention of doing something so absurd.

He looked up at the sky and let the blazing sunlight flow from his cheek down his back, his expression remaining calm.

"Main God, the human heart is full of change. Its twists and turns cannot be fully depicted by a little data."

"To give a simple example, place someone before the same choice. The decision he made one second may be completely different from the one he made the next. Because in that brief span, where there may seem to be little difference before and after, his feelings and thoughts may have undergone earth-shaking changes."

"When you observe people through their behavioral data, you can only see the dominant inclination at the instant they truly 'make a choice.' You cannot determine what they were actually thinking, nor what complicated factors were involved along the way."

"Using actions to reverse-engineer thoughts is like seeing a single cross-section of a sphere. It is not exactly wrong, but neither can it be called correct."

"Even human behavior itself does not entirely correspond to one's thoughts. Instinctive impulses, absentminded actions, rebelliousness, casual indifference, seemingly reasonless moments of 'I just want to do this,' or even wanting to do one thing but making a mistake and doing another instead..."

Li Yun suddenly paused, as though deep in thought.

For some reason, his eyes gradually brightened.

"Broadly speaking, humans are essentially a chaotic 'system.' With intelligence, they are no longer driven purely by instinct. They develop all kinds of thoughts, and those complex thoughts further influence patterns of behavior. Within that lies... unpredictability."

"Unpredictability..."

"Or rather, variables... things that cannot be entirely incorporated into prediction with limited information."

It was as if some vague understanding had suddenly pierced a thin layer of window paper.

Li Yun was naturally no fool. He had vaguely entertained similar thoughts before, yet had never grasped the key point. Until this moment, a perfectly fitting word suddenly flashed through his mind like a spark—

"Variables."

That was right. Compared to unchanging, drifting dead things, only living "creatures" possessed this unpredictable nature.

Setting everything else aside.

Most intuitively, dead things could not "create" new things from an old foundation as living things could, nor could they make "mistakes."

And compared to organisms driven purely by instinct, life that had already acquired a certain degree of intelligence and selfhood, possessing ever-rising creativity, clearly possessed a far richer degree of unpredictability—or "variables"...

Then, put that way... there seemed to be something special in this.

Deep in his thoughts, Li Yun keenly sensed some vague conjecture.

At first, he had not intended to extend his train of thought in this direction. Not until recently, when he realized that the "exchanges" descending into certain users themselves at the Main God's request were essentially a form of "possibility"...

Comparing the two.

This sudden idea now seemed especially significant.

He adjusted his glasses, looked around, and ignored the dust on them before simply sitting down on a public bench beside the nearby roadside greenery.

With a thought, the street noise by his ears seemed to abruptly quiet at rapid speed, fading bit by bit until it was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, no longer able to disturb his thoughts.

Even the [Main God] clearly noticed the contemplative look on his face and wisely stopped asking questions, allowing him to pause and think in silence.

Unpredictability, variables, living things, the heart, intelligent life, creativity, old and new...

Countless fragments of information from the past raced through his mind one by one...

To be precise, Li Yun may already have guessed where the difference between "living creatures" and "dead things" lay in that vast dream reflected within the Azure Mirror.

Compared to all manner of "dead things" that, once completely born, fell into a fixed pattern, became "set," and in truth lost their initiative.

"Living creatures," which symbolized subjective initiative and possessed selves, undoubtedly had seemingly endless motion and change. Amid the choices and collisions of countless variables, they could forcibly draw out all kinds of results—using variables to interfere with variables, using possibilities to create possibilities, and thus nurturing new developments...

And what truly marked the boundary between the two... was probably that insignificant little thing called the "heart."

Where there was a heart, there was change.

At that moment, for some reason, Li Yun suddenly thought of a strange question—

What if, after obtaining the Azure Jade Mirror, he had not thought things through and spent immense time and effort painstakingly sketching out the tiny remnants of the [Cosmic Model], then arranged everything that followed?

What if, instead, following that vague impulsive thought, with little left in the world that he still cared about, he had chosen to completely abandon those meaningless "principles," gathered resources with all his strength, piled them all onto his own "path," and climbed upward at any cost...

Then, judging by what he knew of himself, under a speed of madness that might have been like climbing the steps to heaven, could those mere twenty-odd years of life's accumulation truly have held onto his true self?

...Would that version of himself have "happened" to resemble the figure reflected in that boundless void not long ago?

Like a clay statue seated by the street, Li Yun silently pondered for a long time. Sunlight passed through layer upon layer of leaves, scattering fragmented patches of light over his hair and shoulders, making several strands gleam faintly as though edged in gold.

He paid no attention at all to the passersby around him. Some pedestrians who happened to notice him quietly slowed to a stop, their gazes lingering on him. Some even covertly took out their phones beneath the cover of their clothes, silently aimed their cameras at the tranquil figure on the bench, and pressed the shutter.

After all, following that slight transformation, the young man's appearance could previously only be called somewhat refined and elegant, even somewhat diminished by the numb, overworked air of a long-time corporate drone.

But now, as the seemingly subtle and inconspicuous natural changes in his physique, skin, bearing, and spirit accumulated, it was like rough stone splitting open to reveal jade, like fine jade giving off light.

At a glance, even with those especially tacky black-rimmed glasses concealing half his face, anyone with eyes could vaguely sense the heart-stirring charm beneath them.

Two young women emerged from the convenience store nearby, opened their parasols, and chatted brightly as they carried their bags.

One of them, with shoulder-length hair and particularly sharp eyes, glanced across the roadside and happened to notice the figure on the bench. She lightly nudged her companion with her elbow and tilted her chin in that direction.

The other followed her gaze. She did not pay attention at first, but when she looked again, her eyes lit up.

The two exchanged glances filled with smiles and a hint of timidity.

After several rounds of nudging and exchanged looks, they hesitated for a long while, whispered a few words, encouraged each other, and finally walked over.

Their footsteps soon stopped near the bench.

"Um... hello?"

The shoulder-length-haired girl looked enviously at his black hair, which, despite him being male, hung even more smoothly than her own.

She spoke first, her voice politely tentative and even softer than usual.

Faced with a greeting from a stranger, the young man unexpectedly did not react at all. It was as if the sound had been directly cut off from his senses, as though he had already immersed himself in his own "performance art," unaware of heaven and earth.

The other girl, whose hair was slightly shorter and who still carried a shopping bag, blinked in confusion. Thinking he might not have heard, she raised her voice slightly and called out again, "Hey? Student?"

All right, it had to be admitted.

After shedding that numb corporate-drone air, Li Yun did indeed look exceptionally young based on his appearance and bearing alone. Calling him a university student was clearly more believable than calling him an office worker.

Yet even now, the figure on the bench maintained the same posture. Even the focus of his eyes did not shift. He looked entirely as though his soul had wandered beyond the heavens.

A faint awkwardness spread through the air.

The short-haired girl frowned. After hesitating, she seemed to carefully inspect him for signs of hearing aids or anything similar. In the end, she tentatively stretched out a hand and cautiously waved it before his eyes.

"Hey? Are you okay?"

Seeing that he still showed no "response," as though he were playing a game of freeze.

The other girl, apparently overcome by mischief and unable to stay still, also raised a hand and waved it before him, trying to reclaim his attention.

There was still no reaction.

She leaned closer and waved harder. Still no reaction...

Then, an accident happened.

Perhaps the long-haired girl leaned a little too close, or perhaps the motion of her hand was slightly too wide. Her constantly waving fingertips accidentally brushed against his glasses frame.

"Click."

With a soft sound, the black-rimmed glasses slid cleanly off and fell onto the ground beside the bench, looking exactly like they were ready to declare, "If you dare fake an accident, I'll dare lie down!"

The two young women froze at once.

The next instant, as though waking from a dream, Li Yun's gaze finally stirred and turned coldly toward the two somewhat reckless girls.

Only then did they clearly see the man's true face.

Beneath those almost stereotypically rigid black-rimmed glasses were exceptionally refined brows and eyes, though his gaze alone was indifferent, as still and silent as a pool of calm water.