Guanghan Palace is a city constructed from Light Amber Ceramic Stone and Light Smoke Filler.

From above, one can see nothing but low, two to three-story buildings, arranged neatly and evenly spread across the desolate and vast surface of the Moon.

Inside a large laboratory within this Moon City,

Zhou Yi was lost in thought.

In front of him was a device shaped like a large flask, completely assembled from special lenses, and at the bottom of the flask stood a small figure the height of a palm.

The little figure wore a sweatshirt, was slim and tall, had very short hair, and a little mustache around the lips, his eyes displaying the clarity and bewilderment characteristic of adolescence.

This flask-contained little figure was named Xu Yuhang, who claimed to come from the year 2025, was thirteen years old, and in his first year of junior high.

However, according to the records of the Mechanical City.

The history of Old Humanity stopped on December 11, 2024 AD.

Zhou Yi, holding the Electric Cat Walkie-Talkie, said, "Do you sometimes feel like you inexplicably find yourself in a dream, and then suddenly wake up?"

The voice was converted into text through the electric cat and projected onto a special display on the flask.

This display, utilizing Intercepting Mirror technology, served as the tool for communication between the outside world and the little figure in the flask.

A young voice sounded from the Electric Cat Walkie-Talkie.

"How do you know?"

"Because I saw it."

"Can you enter my reality?"

Shock was apparent on the boy's face, as his eyes widened slightly.

"You are like a mirror, allowing us to see the scenes of your life..."

Zhou Yi said.

When he came over, he brought Canghai Jun, Book-eating Demon, and Sun Hao. These three were specialists in the Consciousness Domain, capable of participating in the analysis of the flask-contained little figure, to compensate for the consciousness deficits that Mechanical Life couldn't directly reach.

The team's arrival immediately demonstrated tremendous impact.

Canghai Jun was the first to notice: "Chairman, Xu Yuhang and Kobayashi Hina are both complete consciousness entities, quite peculiar. They are very intact, just like normal humans."

Zhou Yi asked, "Are you saying they truly are human?"

"Yes. We have lived with humans for tens of thousands of years, there is no mistake in this judgment. However, they are also different from ordinary humans."

Canghai Jun adjusted his glasses: "Their consciousness evolution has stopped, which is usually a result of death."

"According to the natural circular flow of consciousness, consciousness entities should gradually decompose into consciousness fragments, then enter the Great Holy Spirit for random recombination and regeneration."

"The flask-contained little figure, however, has been forcibly halted in this process, locked at the moment of death."

"They must be restrained by some force or technology, confined in an isolated space without contact with external consciousnesses. They are trapped in a virtual consciousness space, with memories randomly recombining to create the illusion of normal life."

"Based on the attributes, it's unlikely the Heavenly People did it; it's not in their realm of expertise. It will be necessary to trace these consciousness entities to their origins for more specifics."

"But this will be very challenging, given that they can escape from the Great Holy Spirit's binding, which means the constraint strength on their consciousness is incredibly high..."

Book-eating Demon employed her own information-side technology to mark and trace the two flask-contained little figures using the Book of All Living Beings.

Her investigation corroborated Canghai Jun's statements from another perspective.

The flask-contained little figures were in a state of intermittency, which itself is a normal condition.

Book-eating Demon explained, "I've verified both of them through the information layer."

"Everything Xu Yuhang said is true and consistent with the information in his consciousness. Whether it's games or personal identity, that's their actual experience in the information space he resides in. His 2025 is indeed very stable."

"Kobayashi Hina, however, lied about her age, claiming to be 16, when she is actually 19. She dropped out of school early, roams the streets and survives through compensated dating and theft, though her name is real, and she did live in 2017."

"Their life experiences are vastly different, yet share similar traits. They both live in a time period that they find comforting."

"The difference is,"

"Xu Yuhang believes he is still growing, but unable to continue evolving, he can only restructure the past as his future. Painful and uncomfortable memories are filtered out, leaving only the comfortable and pleasant parts."

"Kobayashi Hina lives in a repetitive 2017. She sensed the anomalies early on but didn't care, indulging in various desires instead."

Sun Hao said, "Father, their memories of each other are being erased."

"I think this is the correction force of the sealing mechanism."

Linking the two flask-contained little figures together.

This was proposed by Lumi, responsible for the flask-contained little figure project. It is a mechanical life awakened as a supercomputer and is an A-3 level expert standing at the pinnacle of technology.

Direct interaction with the figures would yield more data.

The results were indeed as expected.

Zhou Yi turned his gaze back to Xu Yuhang.

The little flask-contained boy looked bewildered: "You're saying, I'm already dead...but my consciousness is sealed in something, thinking I'm still alive?"

"You could put it that way. Do you know about the brain in a vat?"

"I've heard of it, but don't understand..."

"Let's put it like this. Imagine a person's brain being removed, placed into a vat filled with nutrient solution, and connected to a supercomputer. The computer simulates all sensory signals—visual, auditory, tactile—via electrodes, making the person believe they're still living normally. Everything they see, hear, and feel is a computer-generated virtual experience."

"Are you saying I'm the brain in a vat?"

"That's our hypothesis."

"But...why would this happen?"

Confusion filled Xu Yuhang's eyes: "I'm just an ordinary junior high student, why would such an experiment be done on me? My family isn't wealthy...I'm not special in any way."

Zhou Yi informed him, "It's not just you—many are in the same situation... Kobayashi Hina is too."

"Hina? Where did she go?"

"She'll be back shortly. While our technology can't entirely rescue you from within, it can maintain intermittent connections, which may disconnect at any time."

Xu Yuhang's expression continued to change.

For a junior high student, this information seemed rather overwhelming.

He gradually faded within the flask.

About an hour later.

Kobayashi Hina appeared from inside.

She was wearing a high school girl's uniform, walking back and forth inside the bottle, glancing around as if searching for the whereabouts of Xu Yuhang.

Earlier, she almost had a passionate encounter with that middle school boy inside the bottle.

Zhou Yi happened to witness that scene.

At this moment, it became apparent that the consciousness was inherently limited. Here, they couldn't change their appearances, nor could they influence each other, which was completely different from consciousness in its normal state.

Hina was trying hard to look outside using the Intercepting Mirror.

"Hello, Mr. Lumi, are you out there?"

"Yes."

"That's great."

Hina smiled, "In your world, is there anything interesting? Like better environments and cities, more charming idols, or trendier, more convenient things?"

Zhou Yi said, "Unfortunately, over here is a Wasteland World, Earth's reconstruction after the Circular Flow outbreak. In terms of convenience and completeness, it can't compare to human civilization before the disaster."

"I see... Life must be tough over there. Is Mr. Lumi a scientist?"

"You could say that."

"According to what you said before, you can enter the dream I am in. Could you create a more glamorous and luxurious dream life for me?"

Unlike Xu Yuhang, Kobayashi Hina only cared about her current life.

To her, whether something was real or illusory wasn't important.

What mattered was making herself happy.

Zhou Yi inquired with Canghai Jun and learned that they could indeed create dreams.

"Chairman, dreams are deep derivatives of the consciousness. This is a good idea; through her dream, we might obtain more information."

Ensuring safety, Canghai Jun infiltrated Kobayashi Hina's consciousness and began Dream Creation.

Hina soon lay down in the bottle and fell asleep.

Upon awakening, she stretched lazily and waved happily, "Thank you, Mr. Lumi, it was a wonderful dream! All the handsome guys I like, and there were such interesting dates and trips!"

Canghai Jun then returned and reported, "Chairman, aside from obtaining some of her personal information, there was no other new discovery."

Not long after.

Xu Yuhang appeared again.

The two little people in the bottle began to chat enthusiastically.

Perhaps it was finding kin in a foreign land, or finally being able to step out of a repetitive loop, they both exhibited a curiosity and interest in each other, talking endlessly even about trivial matters.

Day by day passed according to Earth's time.

Xu Yuhang was nearing the point of completely disappearing, becoming unconnectable.

Zhou Yi told him to make a choice.

"Either return to your previous life, treating all this as a dream."

"Or, we try to help you get out of that sealed space. However, there's no guarantee of success."

"You choose."

The middle schooler was very hesitant.

He looked at the outside of the bottle, "What did Hina decide?"

Zhou Yi said bluntly, "She will go back and continue her previous life."

"..."

Xu Yuhang was silent for a long time.

"Then I want to go back too."

"Understood."

Zhou Yi wasn't surprised.

If he encountered such a situation, choosing the side of common sense was certainly more reassuring than confronting a bizarre, unknown, and dangerous reality.

He asked, "Can I see Hina again?"

"No."

"What about coming to your side? Can I get to your side and then transfer to Hina's world?"

"...Unless you both are connected together, but that also comes with high risk, although theoretically possible technically."

"I want to try!"

Xu Yuhang instantly seemed less restrained.

Adolescent hormones were certainly strong; it seemed Xu Yuhang was a bit lovestruck with Hina at first sight. But in retrospect, it's normal; at his age, one could also get impulsive suddenly.

"Have you made up your mind?"

"Yes!"

Since that's the case.

Zhou Yi then arranged for Lumi and Canghai Jun to initiate the experiment.

While this was taking place.

The Book-eating Demon ran over excitedly, "Found it, found it! I asked the Night God for help and discovered the source of their information layer, it's on Earth."

"Guess where it is?"

The first thing Zhou Yi thought of was, "404 City?"

"No, it's the Forbidden Continent. More precisely, the Spark Plain!"

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