Chapter 1 The End

轟！！！！！

轟！！！！！

轟！！！！！

Just as the old man finished speaking, and Lin Xian had just clearly seen his face… the familiar white light descended again without warning.

Burning everything.

……

……

Teng!

Lin Xian jumped directly from the large bed in the high-end suite:

"Fuck…"

He looked left and right, unable to find the familiar bedside table clock.

Only then did he realize that he was not in his bedroom at home.

He got out of bed, picked up his phone that was charging on the table, and checked the time:

00:42

"This is reality."

Lin Xian breathed a sigh of relief.

At that moment, he suddenly remembered the words that the psychologist, Doctor Liu, had once said:

"If one day, you lose the reference point for distinguishing between reality and dreams… you know what will happen, right?"

"At that time, you will completely lose the ability to distinguish between reality and dreams."

For so long before this.

He had never taken these words to heart, never thinking that he would have a time when he couldn't distinguish between reality and dreams.

But.

Just now in the dream, when he was stunned with a taser by the soldiers behind him and woke up wearing a hood.

In that instant, he really couldn't quite tell.

Was it reality after waking up?

Or was it waking up inside a dream?

Especially when he heard the old man say "no…iseeyou" to him, he did feel a bit creeped out.

In the dream, it was the future world 600 years later.

There was no way anyone could recognize him.

But the old man's smile was very eerie, as if he had found a treasure, obtained an answer, and figured out a long-standing mystery.

no…iseeyou, directly translated, means "now… I see you."

Used in that context at the time, it was more like "now… I found you."

"This dream has been strange from the beginning."

Lin Xian paced in the huge, high-end suite, his mind beginning to summarize the very short but information-packed dream he just had.

With more than twenty years of dream-entering experience.

Lin Xian was very clear.

He had suddenly appeared in the future world, almost like popping out of a stone, or it could be understood as instantly appearing in the square, on the cobblestone path, or on the dirty, smelly ground.

He didn't belong to that world 600 years later.

He was an outsider.

No one should have known or realized that he would suddenly appear there.

"After all, I can't even be sure when I fall asleep and enter the dream."

Sometimes Lin Xian went to bed at eight or nine o'clock, sometimes at eleven or twelve o'clock, and sometimes as early as one or two o'clock in the afternoon.

When he fell asleep, he would enter the dream and appear in the future world 600 years later.

No one could accurately predict his dream-entering time, not even himself.

And under these circumstances…

Those dozens of soldiers carrying guns actually precisely ambushed him.

"In other words…"

"They probably started ambushing me in this place from noon, or even in the morning, waiting for my appearance. They not only knew the time I entered the dream and transmigrated, but also accurately knew the location where I refreshed in the dream."

This conclusion surprised Lin Xian.

How was this possible?

Thinking back to what the soldier captain said when arresting him, a string of inexplicable charges, including…

Disturbing the spacetime.

In other words.

The other party even knew that he was a spacetime traveler!

"Completely exposed."

Lin Xian frowned tightly.

This was an unprecedented crisis he had encountered.

All the signs indicated that the worst had happened.

He, in 600 years, on August 28, 2624—

Was targeted by the enemy.

And the so-called enemy.

Without a doubt, it was the old man who finally took off his hood.

Lin Xian closed his eyes.

His mind recalled the old man's appearance…

This was not any old man he knew; whether it was his facial features or his figure, he was very unfamiliar.

Compared to old people in reality, his skin was much better, but after all, he was old, so it was unavoidable that it was dry and had some wrinkles.

Eh?

No.

Wrinkles!

Lin Xian suddenly noticed the blind spot!

Whether it was in the second dream, the third dream, or the fourth dream, humans had long mastered advanced gene modification technology and beauty technology. The people in these three dreams all looked as perfect as sculptures, and their skin was as fair as snow and as tender as a baby.

Such a withered old man appearing in the world 600 years later…

Was very discordant.

The art style was out of place.

"In other words…"

"This old man… is very likely not from that era either!"

Da.

Lin Xian stopped walking.

He opened the glass door leading to the balcony, walked out of the room, and bathed in the moonlight of the imperial capital.

It was almost September now.

It could be considered the tail end of summer.

But the heat in the air had not dissipated, as if it would remain hot until after October before it gradually turned cooler.

But Lin Xian, wrapped in the lingering warmth of summer, constantly felt a sense of security slipping away.

He guessed.

This old man was very likely a "person of the old era" who had arrived 600 years later in a hibernation pod.

Zhao Yingjun in the third dream could actually have plastic surgery to become younger and more beautiful.

But she didn't do that.

Not only her, but if it were Lin Xian, he wouldn't use beauty technology to make himself as handsome as a sculpture.

This was probably the "mark of the era" of the old days.

People of each era have the aesthetics and persistence of each era.

In the current era of 2023, only a minority of people can accept plastic surgery and face changes. Most people would rather be average-looking than have plastic surgery.

In this era, how many old people are willing to have skin lifts and whitening?

There definitely are, but not many.

Most of the old people around Lin Xian, on the other hand, prefer the appearance of an immortal with a stern and aged look, so that they can be more convincing when giving directions.

There was nothing special about this; it was understandable. In the end, it was a matter of a deep-seated concept.

Therefore, Lin Xian guessed.

The old man in the fourth dream should be from an earlier era; and the reason why he woke up 600 years later, choosing to live on August 28, 2624… was most likely to catch him.

To catch him, a historical sinner who was anti-humanity, endangering the earth, and disturbing spacetime!

"Nonsense."

Lin Xian believed that he had not done anything harmful to nature, and he believed that his values were very upright, and he would not do anything to harm humanity or endanger the earth. As for disturbing spacetime… who could say for sure? And who could determine it?

"There's no point in thinking about this now."

Lin Xian shook his head.

He stopped dwelling on these things that might or might not be true.

The biggest problem he was facing now was—

How should he break out of this situation?

In the past.

Although he couldn't be said to be lawless in the dream, it was roughly the same. At least he was free, able to go wherever he wanted and do whatever he wanted.

But in the fourth dream.

Even the most basic freedom had been deprived.

As soon as he entered the dream, he was surrounded by dozens of heavily armed soldiers who were ambushing him in advance. Even if Terminator T800 came, he couldn't break through… Unless Ultraman really descended, everyone would be riddled with bullets.

Even if he was given a little time to escape and develop, it would be good.

But the enemy was not so kind.

They didn't give him even a second of extra time.

After reading the arrest warrant, they would directly stun him with a taser, then put a hood on him and take him away.

If every dream was like this… then it would be no different from being in prison.

"I must find a way to break out of this situation."

Lin Xian took a deep breath.

Slowly exhaled…

He had now completely calmed down.

Thinking carefully.

Things were not as bad as he had imagined.

Since the enemy needed to catch him in the future 600 years later, it meant that they had not caught him 600 years ago.

This precisely proved that he was safe now.

Thinking of this, Lin Xian felt a strange sense of fun.

Some time ago, when playing the cat and mouse game…

Reality was dangerous, and dreams were safe, requiring him to rely on operations in dreams to save reality.

Now, it was completely reversed:

Reality was safe, and dreams were dangerous. On the contrary, he needed to use operations in reality to save the dream!

"Interesting."

Lin Xian smiled.

With a clear mind, he immediately thought of two ways to break the situation:

1. Find a way to trigger spacetime changes again, rewrite the future from now on, directly skip the fourth dream, and come to the fifth dream.

Although he didn't know what the fifth dream would be like.

But it couldn't be worse than the fourth dream, right?

In the fourth dream, he was directly camped at the spawn point by the enemy. It was impossible to play. Even a broken game would be better than this dream.

But then again…

This method could only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. It could only save him temporarily, not permanently.

To cut grass, you have to remove the roots.

If he wanted to completely resolve this exposure crisis, he would have to adopt the second method—

2. Find the reason why he was exposed, find out the old man's true identity in 2023, and get rid of him.

This was the only way to truly treat both the symptoms and the root cause.

This was the real battle on the timescale.

At this moment.

Lin Xian once again realized the importance of the laws of spacetime.

Huang Que was right.

Only by comprehending more laws of spacetime could he gain a greater advantage in this spacetime scale battle.

Turning the tables on the future in history, sniping the past in the future.

"I must be one step ahead of the enemy."

"I in 2624 has been targeted by the enemy, but I in 2023 has not. The key to this current hurdle is I in 2023… I must take the initiative to find the reason for the exposure and the true identity of the old man in order to support the dream and rewrite the future!"

Having figured it out.

Lin Xian also had a complete plan in his mind.

Currently, he still had several trump cards that he had not released.

One was the super artificial intelligence VV. This was his most powerful weapon. Although it might not be enough in the future 600 years later, VV was the strongest in 2023.

Another trump card was Liu Feng's cosmological constant, the secret and truth of 42; Lin Xian still firmly believed that the cosmological constant 42 was the key to everything, the truly powerful force.

It was just that this final trump card of 42 was too mysterious, and the battle line was too long.

"Don't think so much, let's take it one step at a time."

Lin Xian turned from the balcony and walked into the house.

Tomorrow morning, he would take a private jet with Chu Shanhe back to Donghai.

After arriving in Donghai, it would still be early, and he should be home around noon or one or two o'clock.

He planned to enter the dream at that time to try.

If the enemy's ambush did not start before 12:42 noon, then he still had a chance to escape the ambush.

……

轟————

The Gulfstream jet took off from the business jet base at the Imperial Capital Airport, climbed towards the clouds, and reduced the land of the Imperial Capital, which was full of historical traces, into concentric squares… gradually submerged in the clouds.

Lin Xian leaned his elbow on the glass window, looking at the surging clouds outside, thinking about what happened in the dream yesterday.

His secret.

How exactly was it exposed?

"Lin Xian?"

Suddenly.

Chu Shanhe's call across from him brought Lin Xian back to his senses.

Chu Shanhe looked at Lin Xian:

"What's wrong, Lin Xian? You look so preoccupied. Were you hit hard by seeing Dean Gao Yan this time?"

"No, no."

Lin Xian smiled:

"I was thinking about some other things, about personal privacy… I feel that in today's society, with the blessing of various high-tech and big data, everyone seems to have no privacy, no secrets, as if they are transparent, and there is no sense of security."

"I see."

Chu Shanhe smiled slightly:

"Are you worried about the World Hacker Competition?"

Lin Xian was stunned:

"No, I'm not talking about that. But…"

He suddenly became interested:

"But what is this World Hacker Competition you're talking about? What does it have to do with the personal privacy and personal secrets I just mentioned?"

"Isn't it?" Chu Shanhe was also very surprised and said to Lin Xian:

"I thought you were worried about this. There has been a lot of noise on the Internet recently, and even the national security aspect has been alarmed."

As he spoke, he picked up the tablet computer on the bar of the private jet.

This private jet was equipped with a satellite network system, so even when located in the stratosphere at high altitude, it could still connect to the network signal.

After operating for a while, Chu Shanhe handed the tablet computer over:

"It's this year's World Hacker Competition. It's different from the past when no one paid attention… This year, it's been a huge sensation."

Lin Xian took the tablet computer and looked at the news on it.

《The 2023 World Hacker Competition is about to open!》

The news content stated that the venue for this year's World Hacker Competition, Pwn2Own, was in New York, USA, and the date was September 17, in more than ten days.

Seeing this name, Lin Xian remembered it.

Although he didn't pay much attention to the hacker field, he had heard of this famous competition.

Pwn2Own, generally known as the World Hacker Competition, is the most famous and highest-paid hacker competition in the world.

This competition is organized by the cybersecurity service provider of the US Pentagon and is held once a year. It can be said to be a feast for computer technology enthusiasts all over the world.

In this competition, representative teams from all sides show their abilities and launch security attacks and intrusions on major security organizations and Internet companies around the world, with the standard of obtaining control permissions to win.

All along, world-class giants such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Adobe have funded this event every year, the purpose being to allow hackers to attack their products using vulnerabilities, and thereby further improve their products and promote network security.

In general, this is a competition that is very positive, full of positive energy, and promotes global network security awareness and technological improvement.

It is not the kind of game that people intuitively think of, where a group of hackers gather together to cause damage and pranks.

At the same time

The performance of each participating team on Pwn2Own also represents the strength of its country's network attack and defense technology.

Whether it is at the national level or the computer enthusiast level, they are more concerned about this annual event.

Seeing this, Lin Xian looked up at Chu Shanhe:

"I know about this competition. In the past, the champions have all broken through Google vulnerabilities, Microsoft systems, and cracked Apple mobile phones, etc.; Dragon Country's Tencent team and 360 team seem to have won the championship for two years… Is there anything special this year?"

Chu Shanhe pointed to the screen:

"Swipe your finger and look at the next news item."

Lin Xian lowered his head and swiped to the next news item according to Chu Shanhe's gesture—

《World Hacker Competition is on the verge of breaking out! US genius teenager points his sword at Dragon Country's Tianwang (Skynet)!?》

Lin Xian looked at the news title, which was full of UC style, with suspicion and couldn't help but read on.

Tianwang (Skynet), as the name suggests, must refer to the Dragon Country's famous Tianwang monitoring system (Skynet).

As the saying goes, the Tianwang system is extensive, but omissions are inevitable.

The existence of the Dragon Country's Tianwang system makes it impossible for criminals to escape.

The early Tianwang system only realized the monitoring of public areas through technical means such as cameras and sensors.

With the maturity of computer technology and big data technology in recent years, the Tianwang system has also been continuously innovated and upgraded. The current Tianwang system is powerful enough.

Functions such as face recognition, gait recognition, fuzzy recognition, and trace tracking are already very basic; the most powerful function of Tianwang is resource collection and information analysis.

Within the entire Dragon Country, there are at least billions of various devices connected to the Tianwang system, not only the most basic cameras, but also recording systems, sensing systems, and some household equipment, etc.

The current Tianwang system has formed a complete and complex massive data ecology, encompassing the whereabouts, information, preferences, history, and daily life of more than a billion people in the entire Dragon Country.

If this system is broken by hackers…

Then the consequences are completely unimaginable.

The confidential information of all countries and citizens will be exposed, not only in the past, but even every minute and every second in the future, the Tianwang system can be transformed from the guardian deity of the Dragon Country into a trump card in the hands of the enemy, monitoring the every move of more than a billion people.

Lin Xian finally understood why the World Hacker Competition, which few people paid attention to in the past, had such a high degree of discussion this year.

The news stated that a genius hacker teenager had appeared in the United States, named Kevin Walker.

He was only sixteen years old, and he already had "illustrious achievements" in the hacker field, not only hacking into the Pentagon's cybersecurity system, but also invading the defense systems of many countries.

But this genius hacker teenager has never done any damage.

He was purely doing these things to show off his skills or out of boredom. After each intrusion, he would also pack up the vulnerabilities and fixes and leave them on the server, deeply hiding his merits and fame…

And this time, Kevin Walker, who has never made a public appearance and has never revealed his true identity, actually announced in a high-profile manner that he would join the US team at the 2023 World Hacker Competition, and also announced that he would use the final free display session to invade and control the Dragon Country's Tianwang system under the attention of the world.

A stone stirs up a thousand waves.

This declaration, which was full of provocative nature, directly detonated the network circles of Dragon Country and the United States.

Ka Cha.

Lin Xian pressed the lock screen button and returned the tablet computer to Chu Shanhe:

"If this child… okay, genius hacker teenager, really invades the Dragon Country's Tianwang system, then it will be terrible."

"Yeah… but I think it's highly unlikely."

Chu Shanhe took the tablet computer and smiled dismissively:

"The Tianwang system is a safe moat. How can it be invaded so easily? Moreover, the top level is also paying great attention to this matter this time. This time, the World Hacker Competition is specially led by the National Security Agency, and two masters have been transferred from the Penguin and 360 teams. In addition, three top experts have been specially transferred from the Information Technology Department to form a team to go to New York to participate in this hacker competition."

"This time, the top level has also issued a death order. It doesn't matter whether we can win or not. Victory or defeat is commonplace in military affairs. But… we must definitely defend against the possibility of the United States attacking the Tianwang system. This face must not be lost."

"So don't worry, the 5 players sent out this time are all the top computer talents in our country. In order to protect their safety, the National Security Agency has sent a special team and a special plane to protect them closely. It concerns the country's status and dignity, and there is no room for any carelessness."

Lin Xian also nodded affirmatively.

Yes…

The United States is provoking us so brazenly. The win or loss of the competition doesn't matter, but the Tianwang system must be defended, or else we will really lose face.

Of course, that's what we say.

The country must also be trying its best to win, otherwise why would they send out even the top masters they had been keeping in reserve?

"With the development of Ai technology now, the Tianwang system is becoming more and more powerful."

Chu Shanhe said:

"Some time ago, I heard that the police in one place only used a sketch portrait drawn based on the victim's description, and after entering it into the Tianwang system, they directly locked the criminal suspect; There was also a case where the criminal had been running for three or forty years, and no one could find him. In the end, they entered the criminal's childhood photo into the Tianwang system. The Tianwang system directly used artificial intelligence to generate the appearance of him growing up to be forty or fifty years old, and quickly used the Tianwang recognition system to catch him!"

Listening to Chu Shanhe's eloquent talk.

Lin Xian instantly reacted…

Face recognition,
Sketch portrait,
Childhood photos generating grown-up appearance,
Ai technology,
This!
Isn't this what I all have!

Since even the Tianwang system, which is just starting out in Ai, can generate the appearance of criminals when they grow up through childhood photos, and capture them.

Then VV, as a super artificial intelligence!

Why can't she restore the young appearance of that mysterious old man through a sketch portrait, and then lock him down in 2023!

Although Lin Xian was not sure whether the old man was already born in 2023.

But it was worth a try!

"That's right."

Lin Xian smiled slightly and looked at Chu Shanhe:

"Ai artificial intelligence is still very useful."

……

Four hours later, the Gulfstream jet landed at Pudong International Airport.

Chu Shanhe's driver and Lin Xian's driver were waiting here early, and the two went back to their respective homes.

After returning home.

Lin Xian took out the notebook computer with 130,000 lines of VV code written on it.

Now…

It was time to activate VV.

The cold fusion manuscript had been sent out, and the fourth dream had already gone to pot, so there were no more worries now.

He could write the last 10 lines of VV code into it.

Plug in the notebook power supply and turn it on.

Lin Xian looked at the lower right corner, and the network connection icon and Bluetooth icon both had a red cross.

Because he had previously disassembled the wireless network card module and Bluetooth module of this notebook computer, wanting to wait until VV was stable before connecting to the Internet.

Before connecting to the Internet, VV would definitely only be trapped in this computer and unable to get out, which would be safer.

Open the 130,000 lines of code.

Lin Xian's hand speed was very fast, and he typed in the last 10 lines of code.

"Hu…"

A deep breath.

Finally.

He was going to bring the gift that Zhao Yingjun left for him in 600 years to turn defeat into victory back to 600 years ago!

Pa!

Lin Xian pressed the last Enter key—

Shua shua shua.

The code on the screen scrolled rapidly!

Quickly!

Then, the next second, all the interfaces disappeared without a trace.

There were no programs open on the notebook computer.

Very quiet.

It was as if it had just been turned on.

But…

Lin Xian had a strange feeling.

He seemed to feel a heartbeat,

Felt breathing,
Felt a pulse.

Felt time,
Felt warmth,
Felt a greeting spanning 600 years:

"Hello, VV."

Lin Xian said softly.

"Hello, Lin Xian."

The notebook computer instantly emitted an emotionless mechanical sound, pale and empty, like a radio that had lost its memory.

The next second.

The entire notebook screen turned black, and all the indicator lights disappeared.

But at the same time…

Lin Xian heard a whisper in his ear:

"Long time no see."

He suddenly turned his head!

Found…

Behind, beside, and even below, there was nothing.

Only a wireless headset was hanging on the wall, and at this time, the power indicator light was actually lit up out of thin air.

"VV?"

Lin Xian turned around twice in place, unable to find the source of the sound:

"Where are you?"

Suddenly.

Everything in the room that could make a sound—

The digital alarm clock, TV, mobile phone, Tmall Genie, Switch, smart rice cooker, electronic scale, speaker, tablet computer, wireless headset, sweeping robot, dishwasher, temperature and humidity meter, clock, refrigerator all vibrated slightly at the same time:

"I… am everywhere."