Chapter 492: 480: Quantum State Soul Lock

Chapter 492: Chapter 480: Quantum State Soul Lock

In the real world, within the Aiselan Kingdom, a full month’s worth of accumulated fear and despair instantly transformed into the fuel for jubilation. More than five million families, after enduring a wait comparable to Hell, welcomed back the loved ones they had prayed for day and night.

On the streets of Golden Stone City, people spontaneously poured out of their homes, hugging, weeping, and singing at the top of their lungs. Tavern owners lugged their treasured wines out to the streets, handing them out for free to every passerby, while young Knights tossed their girlfriends high into the air amid the cheering crowds.

The members of the raid team had become the greatest heroes among heroes. They were pleasantly surprised to discover that the teammates who had “permanently disappeared” during the brutal Boss battles had not actually died. They had simply been rescued and returned to reality early by Lord Wesren; though weak at the moment, their lives were not in danger.

A disaster that had swept the nation and threatened its very foundation finally drew to a miraculous close with a universally joyous ending. The public’s trust in Wesren Heavy Industry and their worship of Allen rebounded with even greater fanaticism after a brief period of doubt, reaching unprecedented heights.

Cole walked through the celebrating crowd, feeling as though an entire world separated him from the surrounding laughter and joy. He didn’t go home, nor did he attend his comrades’ victory banquet. Instead, after mulling it over all night, he dialed the contact number Amy had left for him. He wanted to tell her that the massive fortune he had saved up in the game would be enough to cover another round of her medical treatments. He simply couldn’t bear to watch such a young girl lose her life just like that.

The Spirit Communication Terminal connected. However, the crisp, lively voice of the young girl didn’t come through the other end; instead, there was only the sound of irrepressible, heartbreaking weeping. A tired, aged woman’s voice spoke, thick with a nasal tone. “Excuse me… are you Mr. Cole?”

“I am.” Cole’s heart suddenly sank. “Where is Amy? I’m looking for Amy.”

“Amy, she…” The woman’s crying grew louder. “Shortly after returning to reality… she passed away from multiple organ failure.

“She talked to us so much the night she came back. She said she had made friends in the game and that someone was protecting her… but the next morning, she never woke up.

“She also mentioned that you were the most amazing and warm-hearted player she had ever met, and that being able to live such a brilliant life in the game meant she had nothing left to ask for…”

Cole’s mind went entirely blank. The Spirit Communication Terminal slipped from his grasp and crashed to the ground. The boiling clamor of the crowd and the carnival music completely faded away at this moment, leaving the entire world in deathly silence.

He knew. He had known all along. Before entering the game, the terminally ill girl had had very little time left. The life support systems of the sleep pod had delayed her deterioration, but it was merely a delay. The moment she returned, the price of that overdrawn time was exacted in full.

“Zero,” Cole muttered under his breath. He wondered if Zero was still in the game, and if he had stayed by her side at the very end.

Over the following days, he wandered Golden Stone City like a Ghost. He tried searching for “Zero’s” identity in reality but found absolutely nothing. He then leveraged every connection he had to locate the legendary technical genius known as “Ghost”—Rein. However, the only response he received was that Professor Rein and his family had relocated to another city half a month ago and vanished without a trace. It was as if they had never existed.

Late into the night on the third day, Cole sat alone by the Royal Capital Mirror Lake, remaining completely still until morning. The freezing lake breeze could not scatter the grief and confusion in his heart. When the first glimmer of dawn pierced the darkness to illuminate his haggard face, he suddenly recalled the last message Ghost had sent him.

“What an… interesting experiment.”

Following that, Cole remembered even more. He recalled that bizarre Boss battle, and the kobold Lord that had completely lost control as if it had been “possessed.” He remembered the tragic, heroic sight of Zero disintegrating into a sky full of data streams as he broke all the game’s rules to protect Amy.

An experiment!

A vague and terrifying hypothesis flashed like lightning across a dark Abyss, instantly piercing through his soul. Those players who had “permanently disappeared,” the tampered Bosses, the Zero who had sacrificed himself to protect him, the Amy who had gained a new lease on life within the game… Could their joys and sorrows, their struggles, and their deaths have all been merely an “interesting” experiment? An experiment orchestrated by… that otherworldly visitor, Wizard Allen?

Cole clutched his head with both hands, his body trembling violently from sheer terror. He was the mortal closest to the truth in this entire world. Yet, he could do absolutely nothing. He could only carry this mind-crushing secret and stare lonely into this jubilant world until he died of old age.

***

Meanwhile, Allen’s attention had long since withdrawn from this concluded “game.” He was currently pondering how to resolve the philosophical dilemma of “personal identity,” and at this moment, he had faintly grasped some inspiration.

“Jarvis, if I activate three backups simultaneously—what would happen?”

“Theoretically, they would all believe themselves to be the ’true Allen.’ They would possess equivalent logical judgment and identical personality tendencies,” Jarvis replied. “This means that, in the absence of preset conflict rules, they would attempt to vie for decision-making authority over the real world. In the worst-case scenario, three Allens would simultaneously issue three different commands.”

“Sounds like three captains fighting over the helm of a single ship.”

Relying on several identical versions of “himself” to be open-minded enough to understand one another and voluntarily back down? Don’t be naive. Allen had never trusted others, nor would he pin his hopes on “himself.” It seemed he needed to change his approach.

He suddenly remembered a theory from his past life on Earth—quantum superposition. A particle could exist in multiple states simultaneously until the very moment it was observed, at which point it would “collapse” into a single state, ignoring distance and, from a certain perspective, even surpassing the speed of light. He had thought it completely subverted the imagination back then.

Now, he abruptly realized that what he needed was precisely that “collapse.” He stood up and began constructing this vague intuition into a viable plan.

“If I design the state of the consciousness backups as a ’quantum state’…”

“You are proposing an anti-conflict mechanism based on cognitive collapse. Commander, this is truly a genius idea,” Jarvis stated. “Constructing the theoretical model…

“A single soul, regardless of how many data backups it has, would exist in a superposition of a ’probability cloud.’

“At any given point in time, only one consciousness node is allowed to be ’observed,’ thereby ’collapsing’ into the sole active state. All other backups will be forcibly locked into a ’dormant’ state where they cannot think or act.

“The ’observer’ is the currently active consciousness itself. When it enters dormancy or is destroyed, the ’right of observation’ will be transferred to the next backup—either randomly or according to a preset sequence—causing it to instantly collapse into activation and seamlessly inherit everything.

“Model deduction complete. This concept is theoretically viable and can ensure the absolute uniqueness and eternal continuation of the identity ’Allen’ under any circumstances.”

The issue of a flooded “self” brought about by infinite backups finally had a solution.

“Jarvis, begin designing the technical implementation path immediately,” Allen said. “This technology based on the quantum theory of my past life on Earth will be called the ’Quantum State Soul Lock.’”

Whether it was the original Allen or the thousandth backup, as long as the one who woke up was “Allen,” that would be enough.

He opened his eyes and cast his gaze toward the other side of the main control room. Over there, the second-generation artificial soul cultivation matrix, codenamed “One,” was operating stably. Five identical Rune neural networks were being repeatedly washed over by a massive torrent of emotional data. Zero’s path had gone astray, birthing an uncontrollable Freedom of will. Therefore, One had to be shackled with heavy chains.

“Jarvis, how much longer until One’s cultivation is complete?”

“Reporting to the Commander: It is estimated to take another 14 standard hours,” Jarvis answered. “Limited by the implantation of the ’mental seal,’ the difficulty of its soul emergence is far higher than that of Sample Zero.”

“That’s enough time.”