Chapter 226: The Unsovable Question
Du Ming was very satisfied with his current life. As the creator god of an entire world, enjoying the blessings of multiple women, according to the Buddhist saying that one suffers in this life to enjoy bliss in the next, then no matter how much one suffers in this life, the next life probably couldn’t compare to this kind of bliss.
“Actually, over the past thousand years, we’ve discovered the existence of the soul.”
“Soul?” Du Ming repeated. The Gougle Civilization had the concept of a soul, but it had never been confirmed to exist. Looks like the real world developed rapidly over this past millennium.
“Yes, the soul is the standard for judging whether a person is alive or dead. Without a soul, it’s a corpse; only with a soul is one truly alive. When Feitian Corporation said people could live to two hundred, they meant that after two hundred, the person dies and the soul goes to the Underworld.”
Jiang Li wasn’t lying to Du Ming. He had done quite a bit of research on souls, and this was the conclusion he had come to.
The soul is closely tied to the ability to think. A lack of soul doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of thought, but the presence of a soul definitely means the ability to think.
The lingering will of Master Dreamer belonged to something with the ability to think, but it wasn’t considered a soul.
When the Yin-Yang Heaven Seal awakened Spiritual Treasures, it was bestowing the seed of a soul, allowing them to think. After a period of time, these became true souls.
Now that several years had passed, those awakened Spiritual Treasures had all developed true souls.
Clearly, the ability to think is a prerequisite for forming a soul.
But the Gougle Civilization had yet to reach the level of granting thought to programs. This was creating something from nothing—only immortal-level beings could do such a thing. So virtual personalities were still just lines of code.
“You’re saying Du Ming is truly dead, and I am Du Ming’s virtual persona? That all my actions now are just programming?” Du Ming’s pupils contracted, clearly shocked by the revelation, but he quickly returned to normal, though there was a hint of melancholy in his tone.
“So it really is true. I had thought I might be living in another form. Turns out…” Du Ming shook his head. “No, I guess I did think about it—I just deliberately avoided facing it.”
“That’s it?” Bai Hongtu widened his eyes.
Bai Hongtu had imagined all sorts of reactions from Du Ming upon learning the truth about his death—mental breakdown, screaming, heartbreak, the works.
He just never expected such calm. Calm like drinking a glass of plain water.
“Dead is dead. The real Du Ming is dead, and I’m not really Du Ming anyway.” Du Ming shrugged.
“And the real Du Ming was mentally prepared before entering the virtual world. He died without regrets. If time were reversed, he’d still make the same choice.”
Jiang Li didn’t know how to respond. Standing in Du Ming’s shoes, he couldn’t have made a better choice.
Du Ming was a reflection of millions in the Gougle Civilization.
“What surprised me most wasn’t death, but the fact that souls really exist,” Du Ming said. Although he was a virtual persona, his reactions were no different from the real Du Ming.
“Have you ever wondered, why did our Gougle Civilization discover the soul’s existence only in the past thousand years, when the concept of the soul existed long before that?”
People in the Gougle Civilization were generally well-educated. Even though Du Ming didn’t have a high degree and could only get a minor clerical job, he had studied humanities and social sciences in school and thought deeply about such issues.
Du Ming voiced his opinion: “Because humans aren’t afraid of death, they’re afraid of the disappearance of consciousness.”
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, death extinguishes all—everything vanishes. That’s what humans fear. So they imagined the soul, believing there’s still consciousness after death, as a form of psychological comfort for the living.”
Du Ming chuckled, “Never thought souls actually exist. Finding out gave me an unexpected joy.”
“The real Du Ming is dead, but he still has a soul, still has consciousness. I’m happy for him.”
“I don’t have consciousness—I just follow code. But consciousness is such a vague concept. Even if you say I don’t have it, I still feel like I do. It’s just… a bit unsettling, that’s all.”
Du Ming was surprisingly open-minded, leaving Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu speechless.
“I remember you said Feitian Corporation forced you all to work, which made you think the virtual world was beautiful. But say your job in the real world was easy—or you didn’t have to work at all—and you found someone you loved. Would you still choose to stay in the virtual world forever?”
Jiang Li had checked Du Ming’s position at Feitian Corporation. Given the Gougle Civilization’s tech level, his job could easily be done by a robot.
Yet Feitian Corporation not only didn’t replace him with one, it deliberately made his workload heavier.
They were pushing Du Ming into the virtual world.
Jiang Li also discovered that most jobs in the Gougle Civilization were redundant—machines could do them all.
Du Ming thought for a moment and said, “After some inner struggle, I’d still choose the virtual world. No matter how free the real world is, it’s not as free as the virtual one. In my world, I can toy with creation, create anything, even alter time. One minute outside equals a hundred years inside. Compared to reality, the virtual world is far more attractive.”
“If I met someone I liked in the real world, I could just bring her into the virtual world too—so much more we could do here.”
The two fell silent. It seemed Feitian Corporation deliberately increasing people’s workload was just a way to speed up their euthanasia plan. Even without that, people would eventually choose the virtual world on their own.
This was the unsolvable question.
The holographic simulator had firmly gripped people’s hearts—they had no choice but to accept it.
From an individual perspective, no one could refuse the virtual world. If Jiang Li hadn’t crossed over, hadn’t had the Human Sovereign identity, hadn’t been in the Mahayana Stage, he likely would’ve spent his whole life in the virtual world too.
Only those at the top, looking at the big picture and wanting civilization to advance, had any reason to reject it.
And the ruling class of the Gougle Civilization—the Feitian Corporation, who should’ve had that long-term view—were the very ones who made this happen.
So the entire Gougle Civilization entering the virtual era became inevitable.
Is that tragic and lamentable, or joyful and celebratory?
The two said goodbye to Du Ming and went to ask others, wanting to hear more opinions—after all, Du Ming was only one voice.
Du Ming watched them leave, thinking to himself that he was just a virtual persona, a line of code, incapable of thought. That thought made him uncomfortable.
But even that discomfort was part of the code, not a real emotion.
He had no real emotions.
“If I were alive, I wouldn’t be able to alter my memory. But since I’m a program, why not?”
Du Ming acted on the thought, and to his surprise, found he could indeed modify his memory. So he deleted the part where he met Jiang Li.
“Huh? How did I get here?” Du Ming scratched his head, finding himself in the Grand World but unable to recall why.
“Whatever. Lisdale and the others are still waiting for me.”
Du Ming returned to his Small World, continuing his retired hero’s life—carefree and at ease.