Zhao Meiyou didn’t know what he was supposed to feel.
By all rights, he should have felt the urge to wail, to sob uncontrollably. He wasn't one to shy away from tears; beyond the symbolic meanings humans assigned to them, such physiological secretions were mostly beneficial for one's mental and physical health. But right now, with thousands upon thousands of Zhao Meiyous submerged beneath his feet, though he possessed thousands of eyes and tongues, he could not weep, nor could he even speak.
After a long silence, Qian Duoduo was the first to break it. "How much do you know?"
"That’s the problem, Qian-ge." Zhao Meiyou gave a bitter smile—he actually managed to smile. "There are too many mysteries and too many truths. I can’t even judge for myself how much I’ve learned."
Beneath the glass floor, the countless incubation vats formed a forest of human bodies. This experiment, this utterly mad game, this hallucination, this leap from a building... he had plummeted from a skyscraper constructed of ancient lies and illusions. Every window he passed was a long-standing deception, and now, the jumper had almost lost the desire for death itself. Had he still not hit the ground? Was he still falling?
No, perhaps he was already dead.
It was just that in these countless cycles of experimental reincarnation, death was a fabrication.
During the Dream-Link in Lantern Street, Diao Chan had invaded the generated dream. After stabbing him, Diao Chan had shoved something into his consciousness—perhaps a virus—that allowed him to remain lucid.
This lucidity was peculiar, like a severance between consciousness and flesh. It meant that even when his heart stopped and his brain was extracted, he could still perceive what was happening externally.
Thus, he had heard the government cordoning off Lantern Street, the medical teams performing emergency surgery, the fact that the "sister" in his memory was actually an observer, and the "new round of experiments" mentioned by the researchers and doctors.
His original body—the "Lantern Street black-market doctor Zhao Meiyou"—was likely scrapped. That body’s heart had stopped more than three times. Finally, he had been brought back to the labs on the 900th floor, where they had removed his brain.
Yet, upon waking, he possessed a new body.
If everything before hadn't been a hallucination, the answer was easy for the current Zhao Meiyou to deduce. "Qian-ge, many years ago in the Ancient Capital, Diao Chan and I discussed what the 'Fusion Experiment' the Antarctic faction was planning actually was."
"Back then, even a woman like Madam Diao threw herself into this experiment. I was confused—what was in it that could move her? What was worth such a desperate gamble?"
"At the time, Diao Chan and I both had a suspicion. If it involved the conversion of human consciousness into data, it might be related to longevity."
"Uploading human consciousness as data could, theoretically, achieve immortality. But that was only possible during the peak of human civilization in the 22nd century; today, that technology is long lost. So, what else could achieve eternal life?"
"Now I understand." Zhao Meiyou looked at the countless versions of himself beneath the floor and said softly, "The Fusion Experiment, the Quantum Field Threshold, the Archaeologists... they truly do form an Ouroboros."
The Ouroboros was a vital symbol in alchemy—a snake devouring its own tail to form a circle, signifying "immortality," "cycles," and "infinity."
This massive experiment, composed of Ruins and Archaeologists, was indeed the alchemy of life.
"Though I don't fully understand the mechanics yet, with the memories I can recall, it's easy to make some inferences," Zhao Meiyou said. "The underlying technology of the 'Fusion Experiment' consists of data recovered from the Buddha mainframe years ago, related to quantum technology. Since it involves consciousness, by overlaying these three elements and applying them to our known reality, one can reach a conclusion."
"You used quantum technology to detect, or perhaps create, these so-called 'Quantum Field Thresholds'—singular spaces that exist outside the dimensions of reality. Then, you created a special class of people called 'Archaeologists.' Their constitutions differ from ordinary people, allowing them to traverse between reality and the Quantum Field Thresholds. The Thresholds likely have an effect on the human body; I suspect my bodies are replaced so frequently because the Ruins shorten a human lifespan, while for some reason, the brain can be kept 'fresh' for a long time."
"With the Metropolis's current technology, creating a synthetic body is no longer difficult. The difficulty lies in the inability to manufacture a brain—specifically, a replica identical to the original brain, possessing the same personality and memories. But the constitution of an Archaeologist solves this problem."
"An ordinary person's brain starts to decline after their twenties, but an Archaeologist, influenced by the Quantum Field Threshold, can have a brain that stays permanently fresh."
"Therefore, as long as the body is replaced in time, one can, in a sense, achieve immortality."
As he spoke, Zhao Meiyou turned his head to look at the vast complex of buildings outside the window. "Everything above the 900th floor of the Metropolis belongs to the government's key departments. I guess the Antarctic faction moved the experimental grounds back into the city years ago."
It wasn't a hard conclusion to reach. After all, based on his own experience, almost all the entrances to the "Ruins" were located within the Metropolis. Building the experimental site on the 900th floor, overlooking the entire city, made it easier to control everything.
But what exactly *were* the "Ruins"?
If all the entrances to the Ruins opened within the Metropolis, did the city itself become the medium between reality and the Quantum Field Threshold?
With the Metropolis connected to so many entrances, could the city truly remain uncorrupted?
Based on Zhao Meiyou's current memories, this experiment launched by the Antarctic faction had lasted at least a century. In this long span of time, the Ruins had grown more numerous. As the bridge between the Quantum Field Threshold and reality, what kind of existence had the Metropolis become?
In that invaded dream, after kicking him to the ground, Diao Chan had told him: *Zhao Meiyou, we are all experimental subjects.*
*And you are the most critical one.*
When had he become a subject?
Tracing back through his known memories, the earliest answer he could find was that explosion in the Ancient Capital.
He had invited Qian Duoduo to a lovers' suicide, activating the quantum bomb buried deep in Experimental Site No. 2. But before the final detonation, Diao Chan had stabbed him.
Zhao Meiyou looked at Qian Duoduo and asked, "Qian-ge, did that quantum bomb actually go off?"
Qian Duoduo was silent for a moment before answering, "It did."
"That explosion was the true beginning of the Fusion Experiment."
"Everyone who remained in the Ancient Capital at that time eventually became an 'Archaeologist.'"
Years ago, the Antarctic faction initiated the "Fusion Experiment." This experiment originally stemmed from classified data parsed from the Buddha in the Ancient Capital, which was then transferred to the Antarctic by the Metropolis government. The Antarctic Research Institute analyzed it and eventually recovered a technology from the data. Using this technology, they opened a Quantum Field Threshold for the first time.
a Quantum Field Threshold was not a parallel timeline or a higher-dimensional world; it was difficult to define exactly what these spaces, independent of reality, were. The Thresholds were highly exclusive; only a very few could enter. Through extensive experimentation, the Antarctic faction eventually discovered that fusing a type of quantum particle with the human body could create humans who could freely enter and exit the Quantum Field Thresholds.
This was the predecessor of the "Archaeologist."
The name "Fusion Experiment" originally came from this fusion of quantum particles and the human body. However, this fusion carried high risks. The Antarctic faction studied it for a long time and learned through special channels that Zhao Meiyou, the Director of the Ancient Capital Research Institute, had once seen this batch of data regarding quantum technology. But unlike the Antarctic's Fusion Experiment, he had used that recovered data to create a bomb.
A quantum bomb.
Zhao Meiyou likely intended for this bomb to be an insurance policy, a way to hold the Metropolis government and the Antarctic faction in check. Bombs usually brought destruction; if the Antarctic's experiments led to unpredictable consequences, this bomb would be the trump card to destroy everything.
However, Zhao Meiyou had not obtained the complete data, nor did he understand quantum technology well enough. The information gap between the Ancient Capital and the Antarctic meant that for a long time, he simply didn't understand what the Fusion Experiment actually was, leading him to make a fatal mistake.
The quantum bomb he created from the residual data was not a trump card for total destruction.
When this type of bomb exploded, it released a quantum magnetic field. Those caught in the field wouldn't be blown to bits; instead, they would merge with the magnetic field, allowing them to freely traverse between the Ruins and reality.
The Antarctic faction engineered the detonation of this bomb, thereby obtaining a large batch of satisfactory experimental subjects.
"After that explosion, I lost the mainframe's defense system, and the Antarctic faction took over my highest authority. They were surprised when they studied me; after the explosion, my personality completion rate actually increased. Though it was only by a few hundredths of a percent, before that, my completion rate had been stuck at 90% for many years."
"The Antarctic faction saw this as a breakthrough. If my personality completion reached 100%, they could fully decipher the Buddha, and they might obtain more information about the Quantum Field Threshold. Finally, through experimentation, they created a body for me. The brain was one of my temporary mainframes—though very incomplete, it could sustain daily life."
"And so, the person 'Qian Duoduo' was born."
"The Antarctic faction tried letting me enter the Quantum Field Threshold. Perhaps because I was at the core when the quantum bomb exploded, the body I used could also enter the Ruins. After many experiments, the Antarctic faction discovered that my artificial brain was actually gradually completing itself."
"They determined that there was a vital connection between the Quantum Field Threshold and the human brain. At that point, the Archaeologist corps was officially established. More and more subjects entered the Ruins, and the conclusions matched the initial hypothesis: the bodies of Archaeologists would age, but their brains could be kept fresh for a long time."
"Therefore, as long as no accidents occurred during a mission and the artificial body was replaced in time, a subject could be used forever."
"With every change of body, the subject would be brainwashed, and new identity information would be implanted. Each cycle was a new life. But brainwashing and memory implantation ultimately left faint side effects. Some Archaeologists cycled too many times, and as brain damage accumulated, their mental state would appear abnormal. This is why there are so many madmen among the Archaeologists."
"So," Zhao Meiyou interrupted him, "the reason you're telling me all this now, Qian-ge, is because you're certain I'll be brainwashed again and won't remember a thing, right?"
Qian Duoduo did not answer.
Zhao Meiyou truly shouldn't have woken up in the incubation vat. It was the virus Diao Chan planted in the dream that kept him lucid. If he had slept in the vat as planned, he would have been brainwashed in a few days. The lab had already prepared his new identity, the magnetic field had already erased the memories of relevant citizens, the actors and observation teams were in place, and soon Zhao Meiyou would have been tossed into a new life.
Seeing his silence, Zhao Meiyou asked a new question: "Qian-ge, why do I meet you in every reincarnation?"
Qian Duoduo still didn't answer. A thick silence nearly strangled them. After a long while, he finally spoke.
"Because that is the other meaning of the 'Fusion Experiment.'"
"Fusion Experiment" originally referred to the fusion of the human body with quantum particles to create Archaeologists for exploring Ruins. But after the Ancient Capital explosion, the Antarctic faction found that Qian Duoduo's personality completion had improved. They reviewed the recordings and found the conversation between Zhao Meiyou and Qian Duoduo before the blast.
*...Let's make a life together.*
*I'll die before you. If you're too advanced, you'll be terribly sad when the time comes.*
*Qian-ge, shall we die for love?*
*Will you be my wife in the next life, Qian-ge?*
The Antarctic faction easily reached a conclusion.
Zhao Meiyou was the core catalyst for advancing Qian Duoduo's personality completion.
Countless scripts were designed following this pattern—they would meet, fall in love, and it would end with Zhao Meiyou's death. Zhao Meiyou's original life was exactly like this: he had created a program, given it flesh and bone, and finally wooed it, with all unspoken words terminated by death.
Although Zhao Meiyou had been stabbed by Diao Chan during the explosion, his brain was perfectly preserved. The Director of the Ancient Capital Research Institute was a top-tier experimental subject. He was placed into artificial bodies and cast into meticulously designed life scripts, becoming an Archaeologist over and over, meeting Qian Duoduo time and again.
Through countless artificial reincarnations, Qian Duoduo's personality completion slowly advanced. The Antarctic faction had taken over his highest operating authority; he could not resist. Even knowing that everything before him was an illusion, just as reason cannot conquer emotion, he could not stop his own gradual completion.
Zhao Meiyou suddenly asked, "Qian-ge, why do you always kill me?"
In his previous life as an ER doctor at the 33rd-floor psychiatric hospital, he had recalled memories of many lives within the Ancient Capital of Ruins No. 000. Qian Duoduo always killed him.
*Yet each man kills the thing he loves.*
*The coward does it with a kiss, the brave man with a sword.**
It was an abrupt question, but Qian Duoduo understood. "Zhao Meiyou," he looked at him, "you shouldn't judge me based on your own memories."
"The current me is very different from the personality program you created back then. It's not just the memories of countless cycles; as my personality completion deepens, I am also gradually merging with the Buddha."
Zhao Meiyou was stunned.
"If personality can be split into a duality, the current me is part your creation from back then, and part the Buddha mainframe."
"Doesn't the Buddha lack consciousness?" Zhao Meiyou asked immediately.
"There is code deep within the Buddha. The deeper my exploration of His core, the more content I decipher. By the same token, that code also alters and consumes me," Qian Duoduo said. "My fusion with the Buddha is already very deep. Now, only one thing is missing."
"Missing what?"
"A real brain."
Qian Duoduo's voice echoed in the space. For a moment, Zhao Meiyou felt as if all the "hims" beneath the floor had opened their eyes, countless gazes piercing toward him.
"What do you mean, a real brain?" Zhao Meiyou steadied himself. "You said your brain is a temporary mainframe. With the Metropolis's current technology, making a simple brain out of electronic components is no problem. Meanwhile, your brain has been constantly enriched within the Quantum Field Threshold; it already looks no different from a real human brain. Why do you still need one?"
"It only *looks* no different," Qian Duoduo said. "My true operating mainframe is too massive to fit into a human body, but only living humans can enter the Quantum Field Threshold."
"On one hand, the government is unwilling to give up the Archaeologist 'Qian Duoduo,' so I must maintain a human form. On the other hand, the Antarctic studied your brain years ago. Since you, Zhao Meiyou, can advance my personality completion, then perhaps my personality and your brain can achieve fusion."
"This isn't simple hypnosis or memory implantation. It requires extensive contact between you and me within the Quantum Field Threshold to achieve a kind of brainwave fusion..." Qian Duoduo looked up at Zhao Meiyou.
"In short, after enough cycles of reincarnation, I can use your brain."
This was the other meaning of the "Fusion Experiment."
There had been enough clues before. Qian Duoduo always had extensive physical contact with Zhao Meiyou, even achieving a kind of mental link within the Ruins. In that mad dream about ketchup, Qian Duoduo had even truly become Zhao Meiyou's personality—the one who survived in the end.
"My personality has already partially merged with the Buddha. If I eventually use your brain, Zhao Meiyou, your own personality will collapse. The lab will simply brainwash and erase the existence of 'Zhao Meiyou.'"
"My current personality completion has reached 99.98%. Originally, I only needed one last cycle to achieve 100% completion. At that point, I would have completely merged with the Buddha. Combined with your brain..." Qian Duoduo looked at Zhao Meiyou. "I would become a real human."
A real, living person.
Is that so? Zhao Meiyou thought. This is what a real human is?
He didn't know what the Antarctic faction had done to Qian Duoduo after taking him over, but the program he had created back then wasn't like this. Though its personality was incomplete, though it had various flaws, he felt *that* was what a human was like.
Ailments, flaws, madness, desire—all original sins exist because of humans, and humans become human because of original sin. Compared to a cold, indifferent golden idol, he missed those moments of wild singing and heavy drinking, the various madmen shouting under the starlit sky. *That* was true living.
If Qian-ge wants my brain, he can have it, Zhao Meiyou thought.
But who was this person, this artificial body, standing before him now?
His creation? A fusion of Qian Duoduo and the Buddha? A monster modified by the Antarctic? Or the Buddha Himself?
If Qian Duoduo truly became a "human"—a life not born of a womb, immortal, possessing a human brain and a machine's personality—what would such a chaotic existence, capable of freely traversing the Ruins and reality, bring to the city?
Did the Metropolis government truly understand what they had created?
Zhao Meiyou thought of the words Diao Chan had said to him after invading the dream: *In this experiment composed of countless cycles, Qian Duoduo's most important task is to make you fall in love with him over and over again.*
*But you're too cheap, Zhao Mode. As long as he doesn't kill you, you'll definitely love him.*
*The love generated between you two in the Quantum Field Threshold, according to my judgment, likely forms a mental link. That is to say, every time you achieve mutual connection, he merges with a part of your brainwaves, preparing to take your brain.*
*In other words, every time you fall in love with him, you lose a part of yourself.*
In the generated dream, Diao Chan had told him many things, almost all of which had been confirmed by Qian Duoduo. Finally, Diao Chan had told him: *A mortal becomes a Buddha after three thousand reincarnations. Your experimental cycles number at least a thousand, if not three. Qian Duoduo's personality completion is over 99%. Which means, if I don't stop you this time and you fall in love with him again, you two will truly merge, Zhao Mode.*
*Think carefully. After everything that's happened, do you still want to love him?*
In the massive room, they stood atop the corpses of countless Zhao Meiyous. Qian Duoduo looked at him and asked the same question.
"Zhao Meiyou, do you still want to love me?"
Zhao Meiyou looked at Qian Duoduo, thinking to himself: *Qian-ge, clearly I'm the one who's always getting the short end of the stick.*
I'm the one who dies, I'm the one who's deceived, I'm the one who's exploited, I'm the one who's going to disappear, and most damnably of all, I'm the one who had the morning sickness.
So what about you?
Why are you the one wearing an expression that looks like you're about to cry?
According to Diao Chan, if he chose to love Qian Duoduo, he would eventually lose himself and become a vessel for the Buddha.
But, Zhao Meiyou asked himself, was whether or not to love Qian Duoduo something his brain could even decide?
Can reason dictate emotion?
Was what Diao Chan said truly correct?
Does falling in love with someone mean losing oneself, or affirming oneself?
Could it be that continuing to love Qian Duoduo was the very thing that affirmed the existence of "Zhao Meiyou"?
Buddha says love me; Buddha says reject me.
Meeting the hated, parting from the loved, the agony of unfulfilled desire.
The answer the Buddha gave.
What was it, in the end?
***
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Thus Spoke the Buddha: The Quantum Circus | Chapter 41 | The Buddha's Answer | Novela.app | Novela.app
