When Qingmu returned to the studio, the orange cat was lying on the sofa.
Bi Shenghua said it had just managed to drink two spoonfuls of honey water and couldn't even drink any more beef soup.
The Crow flew to his bird perch, lowered its head, and said, "Are you really going to do this? Won't you reconsider?"
Looking at the orange cat's near-death state, Qingmu said, "It's too late."
Bi Shenghua didn't understand what they were saying, but she didn't care. This person and bird had always been so eccentric, and she was used to it.
Qingmu hypnotized the orange cat and then entered the cat's dream.
It was a rainy night. The orange cat was lying next to the trash can, and not far away, a blurry black figure wearing a raincoat was rummaging through the trash.
The cat was very weak, so the space in the dream seemed very small, like a narrow glass cabin. Outside the cabin was a misty rain, and a dim, yellowish light filtered in.
Qingmu used his Mental Power to stroke the cat, helping to stabilize the space and allowing the cat to relax.
Just then, the Crow came in.
"I just came to take a look," said the Crow.
Qingmu said, "Help me hold this up, don't let the space collapse."
The Crow reluctantly complied, saying, "Actually, I could have gone to fetch Xue'er."
Ignoring the Crow's request, Qingmu skillfully opened the Dream Corridor and stepped inside. In the blink of an eye, he was in the desert. The white cat lay in a pile of yellow sand, like a snow lotus blooming in the desert, making her beauty, elegance, and nobility even more apparent.
Luckily, the Crow wasn't allowed to come in to pick him up. Otherwise, if this bird had entered the desert and seen such a scene, it would probably have been inspired to write poetry, chattering incessantly to its dream cat for a whole day and night. As for its business, it would have been completely forgotten, and it wouldn't have thought of going home until it got hungry and remembered the braised pork knuckle.
Qingmu took Ruxue back to the orange cat's dream.
The two cats met.
They looked at each other, exchanging glances.
Qingmu guided the two consciousnesses to communicate, and then allowed the white cat to acquire the orange cat's memories. This process was somewhat lengthy, even cruel. Especially for the orange cat, despite having three Mental Power beings protecting it, it still had to constantly extract its own memories, which was extremely Mental Power taxing.
The orange cat's figure gradually faded away. It meowed weakly, its cries as mournful and desolate as the rain in the night.
The Crow finally couldn't bear it any longer and went over to wrap its wings around the orange cat. The orange cat tilted its head and rubbed against the Crow's feathers.
Then, its body faded and disappeared, leaving only a shadow in the dark night. Finally, even the shadow vanished.
"This place is yours now," the Crow said to the white cat.
The white cat inherited the orange cat's memories, but her consciousness did not become like the orange cat's. She glanced at the Crow, then proudly turned her head away.
The Crow paused for a moment, then suddenly remembered something, quickly retracting its outstretched wings and explaining, "Uh... I didn't... You know... I just... Uh... It's dying, you should understand..."
The cat rolled her eyes at him, twisted her noble body a couple of times, and began to wander in the dream space that was stretched out by her powerful Mental Power, as if she were getting familiar with a new environment.
Then, she meowed at Qingmu.
The Crow wanted to try and get closer to the white cat, but Qingmu said, "Alright, go out. Your new body is very weak and needs to be fed."
When the Crow saw the limp, dying orange cat on the sofa come back to life, he didn't know whether to be happy or sad.
"Um, should I call you Hanran or Xue'er from now on?" the Crow asked.
The orange cat raised its head and thought for a moment, seemingly agreeing that it was a problem. But it immediately lowered its head again and began munching on the food that Bi Shenghua had prepared for it.
The Crow shook its head and said to Qingmu, "I guarantee that in less than half a month, she'll turn into a fat woman."
Qingmu smiled and said, "You said you loved her."
"I admit it," said the Crow, "But that was in a dream."
Qingmu followed Mei Ziqing to the top floor of the experimental building.
"Things are different here now."
Qingmu remembered that he had visited the entire building. The top floor used to be just a place to store ordinary odds and ends, but now it not only had two thick security doors installed, but also security guards standing at the entrance, and the Tushu had a more stringent access control system than the main entrance downstairs.
"Yes, the professor moved the game development lab to the top floor, and the testing of the game is also being carried out here."
Mei Ziqing walked to the identity verification platform at the door, placed her palm on it, and after a beep, a stiff, mechanical voice said, "Palmprint verification passed."
She moved her hand away, then brought her face closer for the scan. A moment later, the mechanical voice announced, "Iris verification successful."
Then, the heavy door silently slid open to both sides.
"These security measures are way too complicated!" Qingmu followed Mei Ziqing inside, feeling a bit like he was trying to hide something obvious. Wasn't this just blatantly telling everyone that the building's most confidential information was hidden here?
Mei Ziqing smiled and said, "It is indeed a bit troublesome, but it won't be so troublesome once we develop the consciousness verification system."
"Consciousness verification?" Qingmu asked curiously, "How is consciousness verified?"
Mei Ziqing said, "The ' Dream Guide ' game is almost finished. Once the testing is successful, it will be able to record and identify other people's consciousness characteristics. We have to thank you for that! The professor said that the successful development of this game owes a debt to three people, and you are one of them."
"Thank me?"
"Yes! The professor wrote the opening of a ' Genesis ' story in the game, specifically mentioning three people, and you were one of them."
Genesis?
"Yes, Genesis is a book about the origin of the world. A game is a world in itself, and Dream Guide is a game where players create their own world. At the beginning of the game, the world is chaotic and dark, and it is up to the player's consciousness to create it. The professor wrote the beginning of Genesis, and he specifically mentioned your name in it."
"How did he write about me? And will the book portray me as God or Jesus?"
"I don't know, you'll have to ask the professor."
"Besides me, who are the other two?"
" Kronos and Situ."
By this time, they had entered the core area of the top-floor laboratory, where the professor was excitedly talking about something in front of a machine. A man and a woman were standing beside him.
Qingmu recognized the man; he was the young man who played the game during the Turing Test, and the professor had kept him in the lab after the test. Qingmu thought for a moment and remembered that his name was Bian Ziyuan. Kronos was an intelligent program that Bian Ziyuan created in the game.
The woman had her back to the door the whole time. Qingmu had noticed her as soon as he entered. The back looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen her before.