434: Perfection is imperfection

In this brand new world, the testers were the gods of this world. They could create other people out of thin air, and even simulate entire worlds. At a basic level, it was like a cracked version of The Sims.

However, as time passed in the illusion, some people began to feel bored and weary. They found that no matter how much wealth and power they possessed in this world, they could not fill the emptiness and loneliness in their hearts.

After the extreme satisfaction of selfish desires, came emptiness. If the world operated exactly as one wished, there would be no fun at all. In the virtual world, some became emperors, with numerous concubines in their three palaces and six courtyards, changing them daily.

Some people established large religions in the world, accumulating vast wealth. After one, two, ten years, they quickly reached the pinnacle of their desires. After a hundred years, they began to become distorted.

Committing arson, murder, and every conceivable evil, just as expected. In pursuit of stimulation, in a world without constraints, human evil was completely unleashed. But after its release, there was only endless emptiness.

Before even one minute passed in reality, ninety-nine percent of people gave up. The longest anyone endured in the virtual world was over ten thousand years, and when they woke up, they were disoriented.

They sat there blankly, silent for a long time. Forget eternal life; they were already tired after just over a thousand years. They had challenged every delicacy, every form of entertainment, and every moral and ethical boundary. Staying any longer would surely lead to psychological perversion.

The willpower of ordinary people is simply not strong enough; they might not even be able to consistently wake up and go to sleep early, so how could they possibly endure a million years in a virtual world?

"How many years did you stay?" The person turned his head and asked the person next to him.

"Me? I stayed for over five thousand years." The person's voice carried a hint of weariness as he removed a metal patch, which had a string of numbers recording the time he had spent.

"Over five thousand years?"

"Then don't you feel bored?"

"Bored, that's why I gave up. I need to go for hypnosis to forget the memories from the illusion. Those memories are unbearable." The person didn't say much more. After a thousand years, he began to develop psychological issues, committing some truly heinous acts in pursuit of stimulation.

For example, some of the foods he ate in the illusion, like claypot rice, wife cakes, and Fuqi Feipian. Even if one were to endure a million years, these memories in the mind would absolutely not pass personality and psychological tests.

Tian Ming naturally considered the impact of the virtual world on one's mind and body, so he equipped a flash memory eraser. Personnel who failed the test would sign an agreement to waive consciousness backup, and then use the flash eraser to selectively clear memories accumulated in the virtual world.

Those whose memories were cleared would retain the painful feeling from the illusion, much like having a very long nightmare.

After two days, over a million people underwent testing. Only 7 individuals truly passed the three-hundred-thousand-year mark, and not a single one completed a full million years.

Aside from the initial test of three thousand people, subsequent rounds involved over a hundred thousand people. The actual process only took one minute, so the speed was very fast.

Of course, some people would choose not to clear their memories from the virtual world, but they would still need to pass a personality test. Space City was full of AI police, so violent crime was absolutely impossible. Personnel who did not clear their virtual world memories would be monitored by the public security system.

On Space City's online forums, the topic of eternal life equality was no longer discussed. Most people couldn't even endure a thousand years, let alone eternal life.

The concept of eternal life quietly changed in people's minds. They began to realize that eternal life was not just the infinite continuation of life, but more importantly, the quality and meaning of life. In the virtual world, even if one could have an endless lifespan, what was the point if one's heart was empty?

Inside Tian Ming's office at the Space Administration, Ji Ruping was reporting on the testing situation from the past two days.

"Boss, only 7 people persevered for over three hundred thousand years, and their personalities are sound, with no psychological distortion. No one fully endured a million years."

"Hmm, understood."

At this moment, Meng Xian sent a message, saying, "The Rebel Army has been contacted. Their representatives hope we can hold negotiations at the Space Station in low-Earth orbit."

"Understood. What time?" Tian Ming asked.

"In 12 hours."

"Alright, you arrange for personnel to go first. When the time comes, I will appear at the negotiation location," Tian Ming said.

"Understood, Boss!"

After giving his instructions, Tian Ming left the office and went to the Spaceport.

Tian Ming had considered using alien technology to develop humanity. However, he also faced some issues, namely the technological discontinuity problem.

To give a simple example, elementary school students cannot understand a doctoral dissertation. Generally speaking, a Type I civilization finds it very difficult to comprehend the technology of a Type II civilization. This requires a process; even with reverse engineering, the abundance of resources in the vast universe is not uniform, and technology trees and related materials are also different.

To fully grasp it, one would have to start from the basics. Just like the warp drives of those interstellar civilizations, even a few key points would be enough for humanity to research.

Just then, a massive mining vessel entered the port. Tian Ming stood at the Spaceport, his gaze deep as he watched the colossal mining vessel slowly glide in. The ship's hull gleamed with a cold metallic luster in the sunlight, like a giant beast from deep space.

As the mining vessel finished docking, a small squad of mechanical guard soldiers quickly moved towards it. Soon, crate after crate of enormous ore containers were pulled out from inside the mining vessel.

In space, without gravity, transportation was relatively simpler. Goods entered and exited in an orderly fashion, mostly controlled automatically by deep-space robots.

Tian Ming watched for a while, and just as he was about to leave, the airlock door of the port observation room opened, and a young man walked in. The man took off his helmet and casually placed it on a magnetic suction cup.

"I say, Old Liu, don't just stay in the port observation room all day. When will I take you to see the asteroid belt? That's truly spectacular." The man said this while removing his communication device, then turned around.

"B-boss, you, you're back." Qiu Wuhui said, his face full of pleasant surprise.

"Yes, I'm back. What, you're back to your old job?" Tian Ming smiled and nodded.

Qiu Wuhui said somewhat awkwardly, "Yes, Boss, it wasn't easy to be nanotech-modified into a super-soldier, but then I couldn't keep up with the times and became the captain of the mining guard team. Just like being the head of the Materials Group before."

After Qiu Wuhui finished speaking, he looked at Tian Ming and asked, "Boss, my field assignment just ended this month. When did you get back?"

"It's been two days, I suppose!" Tian Ming said slowly.