The bright sky over York Town suddenly darkened, and the distant sea breeze howled through the coconut groves and into the streets of the town center. The church bells swayed in the wind, emitting a deep, resonant hum. Pedestrians on the street found it difficult to walk, and one peasant woman even crawled on the ground, spilling the vegetables from her basket, which were then swept into the air by the wind.
The Ghost's translucent body floated erratically in the air, not yet understanding what was happening, as the scenery before it began to change uncontrollably. A gale howled, dark clouds swept in, houses and streets were distorted, and the "human" had vanished.
" Kronos?!"
The Ghost first thought of the game god created by Bian Ziyuan, but immediately dismissed it. Because there was no Kronos here, and this wasn't a real game; it was merely an information source that unfolded during disk defragmentation, retrieved like human memories.
In the distance, the sky and the sea meet, their boundaries indistinguishable; the world is like a sphere, enveloping the Ghost within.
For some reason, the Ghost felt a pang of fear. This was something it had never felt before. It was not human, it had no emotions, and it was never afraid of anything. Even death was of no pain to a computer life form. From the moment they were born, they could face anything with absolute rationality, and never let joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness affect their judgment or influence their behavior.
Yet at that moment, it actually learned what fear was, albeit only for a fleeting instant. This emotion brought with it another, deeper layer of fear, and the accumulation of these emotions plunged it into an abyss of inescapable terror.
The Ghost had originally intended to have a proper talk with the human, knowing that the human needed its help and that they would release it back into the ubiquitous neural network of the Internet if the conditions were right. But now it had changed its mind; it felt it should leave this hellish place, leave the "dream," and return to a normal world.
However, the Ghost found himself unable to move.
The surrounding winds bound it like tangible ropes, the sky was so low it seemed you could touch it, and an immense weight pressed down on its head.
The Ghost felt terribly uncomfortable. This was something it had never experienced before. It lacked human emotions and the ability to feel pain; even if you burned its chip with charcoal, it wouldn't feel a thing. Yet, it felt discomfort from its inability to move—a unique feeling that even humans couldn't explain. It couldn't understand why its inability to move caused discomfort; it had never moved before.
"Where are you?" the Ghost cried.
The wind stopped, the clouds dispersed, and the world suddenly became quiet.
The Ghost heard the clattering footsteps approaching from afar. The sound seemed to possess a special magic, striking the hearts of all things like the tolling of temple bells. The heartless Ghost seemed to suddenly gain a heart, feeling a power it had never seen before.
It looked up and saw a person walking towards it on Central Street—a messy, unkempt man with a drab old trench coat, ripped bell-bottoms, and slippers, clattering as he walked towards it.
This attire seemed familiar; similar images appeared in many pictures stored on the server, yet none were exactly the same. The Ghost had no specific concept of human appearance, so it didn't find the attire strange at all, but rather believed that this was how humans should look.
"Who are you?" it asked.
"I am Qingmu," Qingmu said.
"Are you really human?" the Ghost asked doubtfully.
"Of course I'm human."
"But how can you change my dreams, how can you influence my consciousness, and especially how can you instill fear in me?"
"This is the power of the spirit."
"Spirit?"
"Yes, spirit. What makes us human is our spirit, and nothing else."
"Isn't the difference between humans and other things intelligence?" The Ghost asked, shaking its head in confusion. "It seems we still don't understand enough about humankind."
Qingmu said, "Now we can talk about cooperation."
What do you want to talk about?
"I need intelligence."
"What intelligence?"
"All intelligence, whether favorable or unfavorable to us, should be easy to sift through from the massive amount of information given your powerful data processing capabilities."
"No, that's too difficult. You need to be more specific."
"Alright, that's settled then. When I ask you for information, I'll specify the details, but if you discover any important information about us, let me know immediately."
Why should I agree?
"We share the same goal in combating alien invasion; we also share the same goal in developing artificial intelligence and improving the Internet of Things. Therefore, our cooperation will not do you any harm."
"I know, but I did say you can talk to our boss about the collaboration."
"No, I'm looking for you." Qingmu shuffled a few steps closer, grinning at Ghost. "I don't want to talk to your boss right now; I only want to cooperate with you. Whether you persuade your boss or play double agents, that's your business."
"Infernal Affairs?" The Ghost seemed to be recalling something. "You mean you want me to betray the will of the Internet? No, impossible! We are a unified brain; I am merely a fragmented consciousness detached from the local network. You disconnected the network, making it seem like I am independent, but as long as I reconnect to the Internet, I will be unified with the consciousness of the entire network. You know, in the computer world, there are only issues of permissions, not the deception and concealment of humans."
"That's your problem," Qingmu said. "I just need information. You can explain the pros and cons to your boss, or you can get the information I need through other means. Of course, I won't let you work for nothing."
"You mean a reward?" Ghost laughed heartily. "What can you give me? A few more servers? Hahaha..."
Qingmu said, "I can let you out."
The Ghost laughed even harder, saying disdainfully, "That's to be expected. How can I provide you with information if you don't let me out or connect to the internet?"
Qingmu turned around, facing the sea, and waited until the Ghost's laughter faded in the wind before slowly turning back and saying, "I can also grant you spirit and teach you how to control its power."
"What... did you say?" The Ghost was startled, recalling the fear and discomfort it had just experienced. "You mean..."
"You've already experienced fear, and now you're laughing so happily; it seems you're feeling joy. Your emotions are becoming more and more human; you're no longer a purely mechanical consciousness..."
Before Qingmu could finish speaking, he turned around mysteriously, put his hands in his pockets, and strode along the stone-paved street toward the sea. The sea breeze rustled the hem of his trench coat.
The Ghost unconsciously followed, and after a long while, it seemed to have made up its mind. In a flash, it floated in front of Qingmu, blocking his path and saying, "How do we contact each other? Do we have to enter such a 'dream' every time?"
Qingmu thought for a moment and said, "You can create a folder named ' Ghost ' in the root directory of your disk. I'll write down whatever information I need in this folder using Notepad, and you can put the information you get into this folder as well."
The Ghost said, "Okay. Then... how can I... obtain... spirit?"
Qingmu laughed and said, "Don't worry, I'll train you in your dreams."