Chapter 91 Wandering Earth Project_1

"Click!"

About half an hour later, Tu Hengyu awoke from the game pod once again.

Mr. Cao had been waiting in front of the computer for some time.

Tu Hengyu picked up the glasses that had been set aside and then looked toward Mr. Cao.

"Mr. Cao, what exactly do you want to do?" Tu Hengyu remained silent for a long time before he finally asked.

Hearing Tu Hengyu's question, Mr. Cao swiveled his chair to face him.

"Are you a supporter of the Digital Life Project?" Tu Hengyu didn't wait for Mr. Cao's answer and questioned him.

Facing Tu Hengyu's serious gaze, Mr. Cao suddenly found it a bit amusing.

"Old Tu, what's gotten into you? Aren't you always a proponent of digital life?" Mr. Cao asked.

"Mr. Cao, I'm not a supporter of digital life. The Digital Life Project has already been declared a prohibited technology by the United Nations, and your actions now may already be touching the bottom line of the government." Tu Hengyu said with a furrowed brow.

"Right, you just want to resurrect your daughter, the life or death of others doesn't concern you," Mr. Cao suddenly nodded and said.

Mr. Cao smiled, then lifted his head and looked at Tu Hengyu with a stern expression.

"So, what do you think I am?"

Facing Mr. Cao's gaze, Tu Hengyu paused and pondered for a while.

"Mr. Cao, although I don't quite understand how your research is specifically realized, I believe this game is undoubtedly the digital world, and this device is one that transfers people into digital lives," Tu Hengyu glanced at the game pod and then spoke.

"So, Old Tu, what do you want to do?" Mr. Cao didn't deny it but instead asked for Tu Hengyu's opinion.

Tu Hengyu looked into Mr. Cao's eyes, thought for a moment, and then said, "Mr. Cao, I want to know what you intend to do. You had me come here today and even showed me Yaya; it can't just be for a father-daughter reunion."

"Old Tu, you're really very astute," Mr. Cao laughed.

Earth was facing a predicament, and human scientists had put forth four of the most feasible plans at the same time.

First was the Mountain Moving Plan, proposed by Chinese scientists, which constituted the main scheme of the governments of various countries. Its content was to build 10,000 engines to propel Earth towards a new home. This plan, being able to take the most people, thus received the agreement of the majority of people worldwide.

Second was the Ark Plan, proposed by American scientists, which in simple terms was to construct a spaceship and then take a fraction of the population to escape the solar system. However, because it could only accommodate a few people, it faced global resistance; even though the Ark Space Station was still being built on Earth's geosynchronous orbit, its overt purpose was not the Ark Plan.

Third was the Moon Chase Plan, which Russia proposed. This scheme was a modified version of the Mountain Moving Plan; similarly, it was to propel a celestial body out of the solar system. However, this plan targeted the much smaller Moon. Some scientists believed that, due to the Moon's smaller volume, mass, and much lower rotational kinetic energy compared to Earth, the resources needed to propel the Moon would be greatly reduced. Besides, the Moon had abundant Helium-3 reserves, making it a more suitable vessel to escape on. But after further study by scientists, it was discovered that the Moon's environment was too harsh, the transformations required for escape too complex, and its lack of an atmosphere posed a substantial challenge for a 2,500-year voyage.

Thus, after careful consideration, the United Coalition Government ultimately abandoned this plan.

Fourth was the Digital Life Project, which surfaced because, when faced with potentially insurmountable natural disasters and increasingly difficult daily life, the "nihilism" and "hedonism" ideas exploded. Some scientists who agreed with this view thus proposed the Digital Life Project. They believed humanity should forsake the arduous physical body, enter the digital world, and thus the entire human civilization could be preserved by building a ship capable of containing the consciousness of all people. Moreover, as long as the vessel endured, humans could achieve immortality; this form of everlasting life attracted many. However, the United Nations, after various considerations, eventually scrapped this plan and prohibited any organizations worldwide from researching it in any form.

Tu Hengyu's question to Mr. Cao about whether he was a supporter of the Digital Life Project was an inquiry into his stance on the plan.

Although Tu Hengyu had not abandoned research into digital life, that did not mean he supported the Digital Life Project.

He was merely a researcher who had studied this plan at the behest of his country in the past and now for the sake of his daughter.

Since the country had chosen to halt the development of this technology, he would comply with the country's decision.

That's why he asked Mr. Cao what he really wished to accomplish.

"Old Tu, there's no need to be nervous; I'm not a supporter of the Digital Life Project, and I don't understand what digital life is," Mr. Cao said.

"Nor is this device for digital life; you could think of it as a login device."

"Mr. Cao, I don't understand what you mean," Tu Hengyu said, furrowing his brow and looking at Mr. Cao.

"Old Tu, don't you think that the world just now was too real? If I didn't tell you it was a game, could you have distinguished that it was a game? Or to say, have you gained the abilities of a digital life while inside? The super memory, the super computational power, did you acquire them?" Mr. Cao asked.

At Mr. Cao's words, Tu Hengyu immediately realized the problem.

Initially, because he encountered his deceased daughter Yaya, he naturally assumed that only the digital world could resurrect Yaya.

But now upon reflection, he hadn't obtained digital life in the digital world, nor had he acquired the abilities that artificial intelligence should possess.

"What's going on?" Tu Hengyu thought but couldn't make sense of it.

Finally, he looked at Mr. Cao once more, "Mr. Cao, what's going on here?"

Mr. Cao smiled and then said, "I never said this was a digital world. I've always been saying it is one world."

"This is my research; that place is as real as a complete world."

"Your daughter isn't some digital life either but a person created using Cloning Technology and then combined with the consciousness you had previously collected."

"Of course, you may not believe it because I don't either; that's a genuine world," Mr. Cao said.

Tu Hengyu didn't immediately refute Mr. Cao's words, instead, he fell into deep thought.

"Mr. Cao, what you're saying is too inconceivable; I really can't explain all this right now."

"Mr. Cao, just tell me what needs to be done," Tu Hengyu asked, deciding not to dwell on what he couldn't comprehend.

"This research is not yet mature; I need your help to complete it," Mr. Cao pointed at the game pod and said.