Xü Beijin looks at the ‘breathing lights’ one last time.
Though he then narrows his eyes a little, as he realises something.
NE seems quite used to entering this standby state, with how smoothly the environment has transitioned… It definitely doesn’t look like the first time he’s doing this.
At least, if it was the first time, why would he even dim the lights of the top floor?
Clearly, NE has adopted the human habit of changing the environment when ‘sleeping’; he’s learned how to sleep like a human.
But why? Why would NE go to standby mode in general?
Then, Xü Beijin comes up with a reason.
The grey fog.
The massive amount of useless data in the grey fog, may have already become a massive headache for NE, the game Server.
As a coded AI, such rubbish data would affect his operations deeply.
Put in more human terms, NE is ‘tired.’
In fact, thinking of it another way, if NE really wants to help humans win the game, then as the Server, the management AI, he could definitely adopt more efficient methods to help more directly.
For example… a suitable adjustment of the difficulty of Nightmares downwards?
Clearly, he is already too preoccupied to do such fine tuning. The amount of useless data clogging up his memories is clearly a burden unacceptably heavy for him.
He has to dedicate uncountable resources towards processing and dealing with any effects this might cause on the game itself.
Just like what Iro had to do in the plot of the game, he would also be stuck analysing how the madmen in the grey fog affects the survivors in the Tower.
The pressure in computing, and the additional database of the whole of humanity’s memories that is left to the Server, unsuited for its management, probably means he is overclocking at all times.
In fact, it is possible Xü Beijin fell unconscious in the grey fog because of NE’s current state.
Xü Beijin is still fundamentally linked to and affected by NE. They are still ‘one and the same,’ in a sense.
And perhaps, Xü Beijin not sleeping at all in the Tower for a long time might have affected NE somewhat in turn. Could a game’s Server actually have been adversely affected by a simple human?
Xü Beijin finds it mysterious. Who really hammered out the plan to have NE take the place of the artificial intelligence, Iro, in the game?
There are clearly risks involved, but the Fy’ecas did it regardless.
Even if they really didn’t care about the meagre resistance humanity might be able to put up, they wouldn’t be as careless as this, would they?
Or perhaps, is it a trap hidden in the game’s setting itself?
The game design document, penned by one of the human game designers…
Xü Beijin is hazarding a guess.
Possibly, when the Fy’ecas were implementing the game, in the beginning, humans, or at least the original game designer, was allowed to offer their insights?
Maybe the Fy’ecas didn’t think too deeply about the advice offered, so the humans that participated could lay a trap out in plain sight?
Actually, if he thinks about how, apparently, there are still humans alive outside of the game, in reality…
Maybe they are still working for the Fy’ecas, designing all sorts of similar gauntlets to trap other subordinate species…
Xü Beijin is making wild guesses, but his memories and information still only came from NE, who was only put into place after the game design was implemented.
He knows the truth, but only the truth related to the game and the past Earth and its inhabitants. He knows nothing of how it’s become outside.
And many of the facts he knows about is from the game itself, because the game itself talks about the Apocalypse’s details, about how the Apocalypse took over Earth.
It took all that to make NE have so much data, which in turn helped Xü Beijin learn so much information…
At this point, Xü Beijin narrows his eyes again. He’s certain humans must have been involved in ‘Escape’s whole implementation!
Actually, why would the Fy’ecas just decide to use some game design document they saw?
They already have countless designs and working examples to pull from.
Why human memories? They’ve even wiped their memories about the Apocalypse before putting them into the game.
Clearly, the Fy’ecas didn’t need the humans to remember the truth, because they needed loyal warriors to their species, not begrudged avengers.
So why would the game ‘Escape’ even be based on the Apocalypse that once occurred to humans, and even extrapolating based on that, a shelter, an artificial intelligence, and then have a game Server substituted for that AI…
And also, why an Actor could end up as Iro, and have partial access to NE. Then there’s all these bugs in the game that are exploitable…
And again, the humans in the stream. Humans… they, who didn’t seemingly rescue, or were even aware of the plight of their trapped companions…
Xü Beijin is feeling a wealth of emotions surging through him.
He thinks, he is on the cusp of realising an incredible truth.
Then shortly after, he forces himself to calm down, putting all guesses aside.
He looks at the control panel and familiarises himself with it. Then, he uses it to locate Lin Qin, still trapped outside in the boundary of the Tower.
The panel is two metres wide and a metre long approximately. It looks like some half-transparent piece of glass, backlit, right in front of Xü Beijin. Where his finger touches, it lights up more strongly.
On the panel are access the Server has, like information on each player here, like the amount of players online, and information on the instances (Nightmares) within.
Just as the Missiontakers suspected, NE is a pair of eyes that watch over them at all times. He is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.
For example, the rewards players could draw from after achieving an Ending in Nightmares, can be adjusted here.
Xü Beijin suspects NE to have modified the draw deck for the rewards here, some time before.
Though even this dimly light glass panel isn’t immune to flashing the occasional broken bit of code or weird blob of colour, like it’s threatening to glitch out of existence.
This is probably proof, Xü Beijin thinks, that NE is in a troubled state.
While searching for Lin Qin in the boundary, he thinks about how it’s probably a good thing for humanity.
Whatever the case in the future, NE will always be an unreliable factor. He is on the human’s side now, but he can switch sides without so much as a blink in the future.
Before everyone is out of the Tower, Xü Beijin will have to be wary and vigilant against NE.
He thinks about it, but not too deeply, because he is pretty concerned with getting Lin Qin out of the dark and depressing boundary of the Tower first.
Shortly thereafter, Lin Qin, who is bored, blanking out in the boundary of the Tower, suddenly hears Xü Beijin’s voice.
“Little apple?”
Lin Qin immediately perks his head up, alert, looking left and right, and then looks rather confused when Xü Beijin is nowhere to be seen.
Though he does respond with a “Beijin?”
“I’m on the top floor of the Tower, and I’m able to contact you now,” Xü Beijin says, “next, I’ll lead you back from the boundary of the Tower.”
Lin Qin sighs in relief, and says, “ok…” Then he asks, “have you finished doing what you wanted to do?”
“I’ve managed to convince NE──Start heading back. Remember the way you came? I need you to walk back to the start of the path.”
“I do…” Lin Qin replies, while walking the way he came nonchalantly, avoiding all dangers on the way without breaking a sweat, and asking, “so you’ve finished what you needed to do? Did you save humanity?”
“Not yet… it’s still a long way ahead,” Xü Beijin bitterly chuckles, and says, “the first step has gone smoothly, though.”
Lin Qin congratulates him, “that’s great.”
Xü Beijin thinks for a bit, and says, “I might need your help later.”
Lin Qin seems surprised, before happily asking, “sure, who do I need to beat up?”
Xü Beijin “…”
Taking a deep breath, and answers, “no beatings involved.”
Lin Qin goes ‘oh,’ sounding disappointed; he thinks the best way he can help Xü Beijin is via his immense strength.
He asks, “then what else can I help you with?” He sounds doubtful as he adds, “I don’t think there’s much else I can do, really.”
Xü Beijin looks a little taken aback, and seemingly realises something, saying, “you…”
Lin Qin continues, “in this ‘boundary,’ I can help guide you, because my senses are sharp and I’m strong──At least the Missiontakers say that I am. What else can I help you with besides?”
Xü Beijin’s tone sinks a little, and he says, “no, that’s not right, Lin Qin…”
His usual taciturn nature makes him a little embarrassed to say his true feelings.
But he thinks, he should say something.
So he tells Lin Qin, “you are already helping me greatly, when you can stand by my side.”