Data Terminal was soon chatting heatedly with Nolan – though this had nothing to do with the brick’s eloquence, it was purely because the thing was a tireless blabbermouth. Nolan barely had a chance to express her own views before being bombarded by the terminal’s endless chatter. By the time the latter finally took a breather, she was so dizzy that she almost forgot her situation. In the end, it was Hao Ren who remembered to arrange her future life: "Speaking of which, we still need to discuss your future life."

Nolan looked around, observing the data space visible only to her: "Do you know what I see around me right now? Nothing... I can only see strange streams of light and shadows here. The whole world is chaos. I have a small window in front of me, and you are in that window. I can’t stand living in a place like this."

"This is a temporary compatibility issue," Hao Ren nodded. "The spaceship's main computer has never loaded a personality plug-in before, and the sensors on the ship don't match your nervous system. You can't observe the outside world from the spaceship's perspective, so the system can only simulate this space for you temporarily. Next, I'll have the terminal write a set of drivers for you to connect some of your senses to the ship. This should be a novel experience, but it's better than staying in a chaotic space."

Lily leaned over the back of Hao Ren's chair and poked her head out from the side: "That means the Tortoise Rock Platform will be your new body from now on! This body's combat power is much stronger than before..."

An incredulous expression appeared on Nolan's face, with a hint of anticipation hidden within her unease: "This ship? Then... does that mean I can fly in space?"

Hao Ren smiled and nodded.

"Can I see what other planets look like from my own perspective?"

Hao Ren connected to the spaceship's external monitor, and the spectacular Crystal Nucleus Research Station and the pale golden planet of Tanagothus appeared before Nolan's eyes: "You can not only see them, but also land on them. All sorts of new and wonderful worlds will be open to you. Of course, that's after you're fully matched with the ship's system. Right now, you can only move around on the bridge, and your vision is limited to the inside of the ship: calling up the external monitor requires another set of circuits."

Nolan closed her eyes slightly, as if taking a deep breath: "Although I don't know what it will eventually become... it seems like it will be a very interesting life."

"You'll lose a lot of the joys of being human, but there will be compensation," Hao Ren nodded seriously. "And if you want, you can simulate another living environment in the spaceship's main computer. You can still live there as a human being, even though it's just simulated. But I believe the spaceship's main computer has the performance to simulate something indistinguishable from the real world for you, even more real than Zorm's Dream Ark before."

"What if I want a hug?" Nolan looked at Hao Ren with a smile that was not quite a smile. "A real, warm hug from a friend, not the temperature and touch of data virtualization. Is that possible?"

Hao Ren stumbled a bit, but he didn't expect Lily behind him to say seriously at this time: "For most tangible creatures, an 'absolutely real world' is inherently a pseudo-proposition."

Hao Ren and Nolan stared at her blankly.

"Human consciousness needs a medium to touch the real world," Lily shrugged. "Consciousness is trapped in the brain, separated from the real world by a cage of flesh and nerves. Our consciousness has never truly touched reality. We feel heat because of nerve conduction, and we feel cold because of nerve conduction. All senses and the judgments made from them are electrical and chemical signals transmitted through billions of cells. Some very simple and primitive viruses are enough to destroy this seemingly advanced perception system, and the world in the eyes of someone with perceptual disorders is completely different. So, to put it bluntly, humans are ghosts trapped in a cage of flesh. We guess what the outside world is like through hundreds of millions of nerve cells, but we never truly touch any substance. So, in conclusion, we have lived in a virtual world since birth: our nervous system weaves all the necessary parameters for our consciousness."

After Hao Ren and Nolan were both stunned, Lily smiled triumphantly: "So why bother with the shell? Is there a difference between an outer shell made of steel or flesh? Is there a difference between nerves or wires transmitting signals to you? Is there a difference between nerve impulses or potential differences in the information you perceive? If you want a hug, then make one up for yourself. As long as you believe it's real, then it is."

"Although I know you graduated from Peking University four times, and I know you're a scholarly dog," Hao Ren looked at Lily with a serious face, "but at this time I still think you ate something wrong – what kind of stimulus did you get? Why did your style suddenly change like this?"

Lily shook her head: "It's nothing, this was my thesis back then – but it wasn't approved later. It was too ahead of its time back then, and I still regret it when I think about it now."

The expression on Nolan's face twitched a few times, and she awkwardly turned her head away: "I was just joking, I didn't expect you to be so serious."

Lily's ears twitched: "Oh, it's okay, I was just showing off..."

Both of them were trying to save face at this time.

It was at this moment that Nolan noticed Lily’s pointy ears weren’t decorative: “Huh? What about your ears...”

Hao Ren happily pressed Lily's furry head up and down: "Haven't seen them before, have you? The world is a big place, this is an alien creature."

Then he pointed to Doudou, who was dozing on the armrest next to her, with another finger: "Take a look at this, it's also an alien creature."

Lily squirmed restlessly under Hao Ren's big hand, wanting to break free but unwilling to, and could only maintain her dignity verbally: "Landlord, don't mess around. I've been a spirit for many years, so I have some dignity. I could at least survive three episodes if you threw me into Journey to the West, you can't do this... Hey, a little further back, scratch behind my ears."

Doudou opened her eyes confusedly, and found that everything in the world was normal, so the little guy patted her tail and continued to sleep.

Nolan was stunned for a long time, opened her mouth, but found that she really couldn't comment on the customs of these aliens, so she spoke up slightly awkwardly to attract Hao Ren's attention: "Ahem, I have a question: You're handing your spaceship over to me, are you sure that’s okay?"

Hao Ren's expression immediately straightened when he heard this question, and he coughed lightly: "Ahem, this is exactly what I wanted to say: Although this ship will become your new body, and you can control some areas of the ship to a certain extent, all of this is limited: after all, this ship has a security protocol, do you understand what I mean?"

"In other words... my activities will be restricted by the program?"

"This ship and everything on it is controlled by a strict permission tree system," Hao Ren held up a few fingers. "First, the permission tree itself has the highest priority, and it cannot be cancelled or changed; second, I am the commander of this ship, and my orders have the first priority below the permission tree system; third, the spaceship's security protocol has the priority second only to the captain in any situation, and you cannot defy it. Later, I will give you a detailed spaceship safety manual and a table of operating rules, so you can know what you can and cannot do, and some prohibited items in the system."

Nolan pondered for a moment, nodded with a smile that was not quite a smile: "So the simplest summary is: I have to obey your orders."

Hao Ren twitched the corners of his mouth unnaturally: "It's my orders as the captain. The ideal situation for this ship is this: its onboard main computer has personality and intelligence from today onwards, but it will still be a perfect execution machine, and the intelligence of the main computer cannot affect the efficiency of the ship's execution of missions. My job is dangerous, and this ship is one of my biggest supports, so I have to make sure it's good enough."

Nolan accepted these words frankly, and still had that same smile that was not quite a smile on her face: "But as long as it doesn't conflict with your orders or the ship's safety protocol, I can act freely, right?"

To this, Hao Ren could only smile: "You truly live up to your name as the Gray Fox."

"Understood, I will try to do my best."

"Speaking of which, I still feel pretty bad about it," Hao Ren couldn't maintain his dignified act for more than a few seconds before reverting to his original form. He scratched his hair. "It feels a bit like forcefully conscripting someone. But don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you."

"It's okay," Nolan smiled freely. "After all, I only survived because of you. Compared to the end of the world, the current situation is really the best it could be. And like I said before: It's already come to this, what's there to talk about?"

Hao Ren nodded: "It's best if you can think that way."

"Speaking of which... Tortoise Rock Platform, right? It sounds like a very mighty name, although it's not very ladylike, it seems very reliable," Nolan smiled brightly. "I will remember this name well, and also remember my new identity: the core intelligence of the Tortoise Rock Platform."

Hao Ren made a strange expression and casually muttered "Oh" before waving his hand: "Then you can discuss the next things with the Data Terminal first, I'll go patrol the other parts of the ship."

After saying this, he grabbed Lily and ran out with Doudou in his arms.

After reaching the corridor, Lily tugged on Hao Ren's sleeve and muttered in a low voice: "Landlord, are we really not going to tell her that the meaning of Tortoise Rock Platform is actually a turtle mound?"

"... Don't mention that, I'm prone to blasphemous thoughts, I didn't come up with this unlucky name."

"Oh."