Chapter 1

“After putting on this golden circlet, you will no longer be a mortal. You can't be tainted by worldly desires anymore. If you are moved, this golden circlet will tighten more and more on your head, causing unbearable pain...”

“What did you say?” The female investigator looked at Li Ang, who was holding the fourth-generation brain-machine interface helmet and muttering to himself, and asked with a frown.

“Nothing.” Li Ang shook his head and, according to Brown Murphy’s memory, flipped the start buttons on the right side of the brain-machine interface one by one.

“Right.”

While debugging the brain-machine interface, he calmly said to the Social Security Administration's suit-wearing agents, “Entering another world requires complete dedication and no interference.

If there are people next to me, I will feel very embarrassed.

You all better stay outside the bedroom.”

“Hmph.”

The female investigator snorted coldly, raised her hand to signal the agents to retreat to the living room outside the bedroom.

“That includes you.” Li Ang added when he saw this.

“...”

The female investigator pursed her lips slightly, pulled down the corners of her mouth, gave Li Ang a threatening look, took two steps back, and stood leaning against the door frame. “You should know that we have obtained your internet protocol address and can monitor your every move at the data level, right?

Remember our agreement, and don’t play tricks.”

“You can rest assured about my work.”

Li Ang slowly put the helmet on his head, slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, closed his eyes, and leaned back.

The expensive ergonomic chair automatically supported his back, arms, and legs. The soft woven surface made him feel like he was floating in the clouds.

To enter another level, one must reach a state of selflessness, weaken or even isolate the body's perception of the outside world, and achieve something similar to the "Zen meditation" in mysticism.

Many wizards would use auxiliary means to help themselves enter meditation better,

Such as small amounts of muscle anesthetic agents, and semi-enclosed water tanks that could deprive the five senses.

Li Ang didn't need to rely on external objects at all. One of the entry methods for cultivating spirit energy was to actively deprive oneself of the five senses and experience long-term self-isolation.

Consciousness gradually floated upward,

First, it slowly floated out of this suburban residence, overlooking the city that had awakened since morning from mid-air,

Then, according to a sense of familiarity in the dark, it traveled rapidly along the interconnected fiber optic lines, circling the earth several times in less than half a minute,

And switched back and forth in the transfer stations of various multinational network service providers, completely erasing the physical address traces of the initial internet protocol,

And finally arrived at a data space purchased with an anonymous account, belonging exclusively to him.

This space was constructed by communication company satellites in near-Earth orbit, equivalent to each wizard's mage tower. Wizards would complete the construction of their forms here, so as to truly enter another level.

This feeling was very wonderful.

Li Ang floated in mid-air and looked down at himself—a large number of data fragments surged in from all directions, attached to the surface of the semi-transparent humanoid body, and quickly formed the Shenlong Hongyi (Mirage Dragon Red Mane) outer garment and the dragon-head white coat.

“Lemon-scented air freshener...”

Along with the formation of Li Ang's form, this data space gradually became clearer,

Changing from all green to a clean and bright bank vault.

The surrounding scenery was clear, the touch of the walls and ground was incredibly real, and the lemon air freshener in the air was exactly the same as the one bought in the supermarket.

Li Ang withdrew his hand pressing against the wall.

This room did not exist in reality, nor was it constructed with a huge amount of data. It was just a simple and plain piece of code—

The essence of the brain-machine interface was to fully utilize the potential of the human brain,

To generate imagination based on human brain function for data signal hints in the virtual world.

For example, when exposed to the [rainy lawn exuding the smell of earth] data, the brain would automatically run and imagine a lifelike rainy lawn.

The whole process would not generate a large amount of data, nor would it require particularly much bandwidth—otherwise, all the great wizards would be quickly discovered by the authorities.

To put it simply, it was like holding a graphics card in your mouth and using your own brain to imagine the picture.

Of course, adaptation was not random fabrication, and parody was not nonsense.

Randomly interpreting data signals (such as trying to interpret water as fire) would cause the brain to become disordered, causing the wizard to be thrown back to the mage tower or the real world.

There was no concept of death in the data world. The closest thing to the concept of death was being exiled back to the real world—if the conscious form was destroyed,

The brain would be like having a terrible nightmare, difficult to calm down for a long time, and difficult to reconnect to the virtual level in a short time.

"...So that's how it is."

Li Ang nodded thoughtfully. This script mission did indeed seal all equipment and props except for the Escape Ticket.

But in the virtual world, he could still call upon data to achieve extraordinary power-like effects.

This did not mean that Li Ang could do whatever he wanted in the data world, and be omnipotent.

The perception from the world was equivalent to signal input,

And the wizard's extraordinary power was equivalent to signal output.

The upper limit of his ability was still limited by his own will, brain computing power, and the total amount of data and processors he controlled.

“Similar to the real world.”

Li Ang strode towards the door, muttering to himself, “The wizard’s ability to manipulate data is automatically converted into my own extraordinary power.

I can expend energy, manipulate data, simulate the effects of equipment, props, and even skills.

And because the brain has thinking habits, the cooling time and restrictions of skills and equipment are also simulated..."

His palm was pressed on the vault door. The heavy and sturdy password door turned and unlocked automatically, sliding open silently to both sides.

The logout location was in a desolate plain. A giant hollow pipeline that stretched for an unknown number of kilometers could be seen on the distant horizon.

The surface of the pipeline was made of glass material.

Through the glass, one could see dense streams of light flying past at high speed—those were the data flowing in the fiber optic network.

The vast and rough pipelines were interconnected and covered the entire wilderness.

Servers providing computing and application services formed prosperous cities;

Local area networks formed fortresses and private manors of varying sizes (some of which were patrolled by a large number of Ai guards);

Looking up, one could see mountains, iron towers, clouds, and stars floating in mid-air.

Those were near-Earth orbit satellites,

Some of them belonged to network providers, and could be visited and logged out at will.

And some dim, red-glowing stars could only be reached through extremely hidden and dangerous paths—these stars were usually highly confidential military institutions and official departments.

Li Ang stood in place, admiring this vast scene like a stream-of-consciousness oil painting, when he suddenly felt something on his shoulder.

Looking down, it was a green cricket.

The female investigator's voice came from the cricket's mouth, "It's me."