In the real world outside the box, two minutes is far too short.
Mei Ziqing watched as Qingmu and Su Huilan lay down inside. The box closed, and the professor pressed the start button. Several questions were on her mind, but before she could ask them, the Space Box beeped, the lid became transparent again, and then slowly opened.
The two people who had just lain down sat up, as if they were a newlywed couple who had come to buy furniture and had only sat down to test the comfort.
Su Huilan rubbed her temples and stretched her arms. Seeing that Qingmu was already standing outside the box, she laughed and said, "You're quick!"
Mei Yiqiu said, "He doesn't get up as gracefully as you do."
Qingmu stretched lazily and said, "No matter how elegant you are when you crawl out of a coffin, you still look like a zombie."
Su Huilan's smile froze. Her face turned cold as she quickly stepped out of the box, glared at him, and said, "You're the zombie!"
Qingmu chuckled twice.
Su Huilan became even angrier and asked, "What are you laughing at?"
Qingmu changed the subject, saying, "You can't exit this game on your own. What if the time setting malfunctions, or you accidentally set it for too long? Wouldn't you have to live in there until you go crazy?"
Bian Ziyuan interjected, "We've considered the problem you mentioned. Time control is indeed troublesome. Our experimental sample size is too small, and everyone's brain cell activity and metabolism are different, resulting in varying degrees of time unfolding in the dream. However, this unfolding isn't necessarily temporal; it can also be spatial. You feel that time is passing too slowly because you haven't created more things in the dream. This is a game; if you can focus on the game's world itself, time will pass quickly."
Qingmu was surprised that this young man, who had only recently joined the lab, was already so deeply involved in the game's development, and he couldn't help but look at him with new respect. As far as he knew, the development of the Space Box had brought together the wisdom of the world's top physicists, and the Dream Guide game was not just a game; it was a cutting-edge exploration of life sciences.
Mei Yiqiu smiled slightly, seemingly quite satisfied with this new student.
"Regarding the machine malfunction issue," Bian Ziyuan at Mei Yiqiu, and encouraged by the professor, continued, "We're already working on improvements. The second-generation Space Box will definitely have a reasonable technical solution to prevent accidents. Furthermore, while our game design relies on the player's intelligence, it also has a built-in super-intelligent program— Kronos."
" Kronos?" Qingmu frowned. "The artificial intelligence you developed?"
"Yes." Bian Ziyuan with no small amount of pride when talking about Kronos, "We are trying to get Kronos to understand the expression of human consciousness. Once we have a large enough sample of game test data, he should be able to analyze the player's conscious intentions. At that time, if a player wants to quit the game, Kronos will know it with just a thought."
"You mean handing over the player's rights to an artificial intelligence?" Qingmu thought that a timed system would be more reliable.
"You can rest assured that Kronos is running very stably and will not have any problems unless the entire system malfunctions, such as a power outage. But in that case, the Space Box will also stop working, and players can naturally exit the game," Bian Ziyuan said.
Qingmu shook his head dismissively, his expression somewhat grave.
Bian Ziyuan felt slighted. Kronos was his proudest design, which had received unanimous praise from Mei Yiqiu and other top scientists. The professor not only retained the name " Kronos " for the program, but also made him the creator god in the game world.
He asked somewhat displeasedly, "Mr. Qingmu, do you have any further questions?"
Qingmu ignored him, lowering his head and falling into deep thought.
Su Huilan glanced at Qingmu and smiled, "I think Mr. Qingmu isn't worried about machine malfunctions, but rather about problems with Kronos itself."
Bian Ziyuan said confidently, " Kronos is a program I developed; there won't be any problems."
"Really?" Su Huilan said, "Your Kronos can already recognize human thoughts and intentions. Do you think you can still control him? If he doesn't want someone to wake up, could that person never wake up again?"
Bian Ziyuan paused for a moment, then said, "This... unless he modifies the code for himself, but..."
"No buts, Kronos can indeed do it." Mei Yiqiu had been silent until now, suddenly interrupted Bian Ziyuan's answer. "The creator god naturally possesses unparalleled power and energy in that world."
"Then what right do we have to restrain Kronos?" Su Huilan asked.
Mei Yiqiu said, "So we established the underlying rules, which are the fundamental physical rules of that world, and even gods cannot change them. On the other hand, we also have two gods, and gods can restrain each other."
"You mean..." Su Huilan looked at Qingmu in surprise, then giggled, "I didn't see anything special about him just now, and he even..."
Su Huilan wanted to say that Qingmu couldn't even enter the mirror that guides dreams, but she was interrupted by Qingmu before she could finish speaking.
"I've never even seen Prehistoric Town like this before, what kind of god is this!" Qingmu exclaimed, then asked Mei Yiqiu, "Why did you design such a strange pyramid?"
Su Huilan glanced at Qingmu with some curiosity, then looked at Mei Yiqiu with equal curiosity, waiting for his answer.
Mei Yiqiu didn't shy away from anything, saying in front of everyone, "Oh, do you remember when you came to ask me about that strange symbol? We discussed the pyramids back then. Since our research vessel disappeared, we've made many efforts to find traces of those scientists, and we've also intensified our research on the seabed ruins in the South Pacific. Unfortunately, it's gone. Now all that's left for us are a few extremely precious photos and a video clip."
"However, our research on the Mirror Pyramid has not been without progress. We have simulated multi-dimensional mirror spaces on computers, which is the core idea behind the development of the Space Box and Dream Guide games. Therefore, when discussing the game design, the design of this Prehistoric Town was unanimously approved. This not only reflects the game design concept but also constantly reminds us that there is a pyramid on the Nile and another on the seabed of the South Pacific, and that humans four thousand years ago may have already mastered the methods of mirror-symmetric universes and time reversal."
Since joining the lab, Bian Zi and *Tu*Shu Yuan had been busy perfecting the design of Kronos and developing the Dream Guide game. Although they had learned a lot about the causes and consequences, they rarely had the opportunity to hear the professor talk about these things directly. He curiously interjected, "You mean the underwater pyramid disappeared because it entered another universe?"
Mei Yiqiu said, "It's not necessarily another universe; it could be a higher dimension. It's actually still there, we just can't see it."
"That means the research vessel has also entered a higher dimension. Perhaps those scientists have already made a major discovery, and when they return, they can solve this mystery!" Bian Ziyuan said excitedly.
"I'm afraid they won't be coming back." The professor's face showed sorrow. "We just received news that the wreckage of a research vessel was found near the Tubuai Islands, and there were no survivors."