Chapter 145 An Existing Loophole

Hearing Becky's sudden statement, Hao Ren broke out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, Becky, being the straightforward person she was, didn't notice anything amiss in the atmosphere. She continued to say to herself, "Now that I think about it, I've been out playing for almost a month. I still have two missions back home that I haven't turned in. If I delay any longer, they might just mark me down as a missing person—the mercenary business is such a pain. If you don't report in for a while, they just assume you're dead."

Hao Ren cautiously looked at Becky: "Are you unhappy with something here?"

"Pretty happy," Becky said casually, "I just feel like I can't keep playing outside all the time. I should go back to my own life. After all, this isn't my home."

As Becky spoke, she suddenly became alert: "Wait…is something wrong? Am I not allowed to go back? You can't do this! It's your organization's mistake. I was brought here against my will!"

"Don't overthink it, don't overthink it," Hao Ren waved his hand, completely against his will. "Of course, we'll send you home like we promised…but it might take a while, because…" As he spoke, he subtly poked the data terminal on the sofa armrest beside him, urgently urging in his mind: "Quick, make up a plausible lie!"

The data terminal immediately jumped up from the armrest and projected a large number of data charts: "Due to the information asymmetry between different dimensions, the conversion mechanism for reverse transmission is different from unidirectional transmission, which prolongs the waiting time for each physical crossing. Moreover, your crossing process involves the third, sixth, and seventh laws of information destruction, so extra calculations are needed. The equipment required to send you back specifically is currently cooling down, so you can't go back temporarily—Under…I mean, understand?"

Becky: "...Huh?"

Seeing the blank expression on Becky's face, Hao Ren felt relieved and let out a sigh of relief: "In short, the procedures for sending you back haven't been completed yet. Just wait a little longer."

Becky didn't think too much about it. She optimistically interpreted the words "wait a little longer," nodding: "Oh, waiting a little longer is no problem, as long as I can go back. Then I'll bother you for a few more days. I'll pay rent: I have money now!"

Hao Ren wiped the cold sweat off his brow, thinking that this hurdle had been cleared, but clearly, he couldn't keep dragging this on. So, while Becky was watching TV, he gave Nangong Wuyue a look, called the siren girl into the kitchen, and brought the data terminal along with him. He didn't dare to disturb Lily, who was also watching TV: that husky's mouth was too untrustworthy. He figured she'd blab the nuclear launch codes if you told her. Now, while Lily hadn't remembered the situation of Becky not being able to go home, it was best not to remind her. Let her be distracted by the shrimp chip commercial.

"What are you two doing? So mysterious," Vivian was warming up food and gave Hao Ren and Nangong Wuyue a curious look as they entered. "Don't cause trouble."

"Becky's situation is not easy to solve," Hao Ren sighed after closing the kitchen door, "How are we going to explain to her that her body in the dream dimension has been annihilated by the great cosmic will?"

Vivian immediately perked up her ears, remembering this troublesome matter as well.

Due to the asymmetry between the dream dimension and the real world, as well as the fragility of the dream dimension itself, Becky's crossing from her home to Earth was "semi-unidirectional." The so-called semi-unidirectional meant that she could come to Earth in physical form from the dream dimension, but to go back, she had to go through a device like a stasis pod to convert. In other words, she was now like Hao Ren and the other Earth creatures, unable to fully enter the dream dimension, and had to leave her body in the surface world. At the same time, she couldn't stay in the dream dimension for long: she had to leave after the stasis process ended. This restriction obviously had no impact on Hao Ren and the others, who only went in for business trips occasionally, but it was a bit unbearable for someone who was born and raised in the dream dimension: why wasn't she allowed to go back to her good old home whenever she wanted? She had to dream to go back once? And even dreaming was only temporary?

This was like having to pay rent every month in your own home, and having someone check your residence permit every now and then, and having to stay in a hotel outside for a month every half a month. Who would be happy about that?

"Didn't you say you were going to solve this problem from a technical level?" Hao Ren poked the data terminal. "Where is your technical level?"

"This unit has searched through all the data. Strictly speaking, this is not a question of whether it can be solved, but whether it should be solved," the data terminal sighed. "Let me tell you the truth: there's no problem sending Becky back. Just have Raven 12345 directly intervene, or you can apply for a special transfer permission from above, and forcibly send people into the dream dimension regardless of the transfer restrictions. This is easy for the Empire to do, but the trouble is the consequences: the dream dimension is already unstable, and it has been having problems lately, leaking everywhere. It can be said that it is a time of troubles. At this juncture, you are sending people back in violation of the rules, and you have to bear the risk. Maybe the real world will break a hole, and then, with the transfer point as the center, at least one planet, and possibly half a galaxy, will be destroyed under the collision of rules. Can you bear this responsibility?"

Hao Ren felt his face twitch. He couldn't bear this burden, let alone Lily, who lacked the brains to even think about it.

He understood what the data terminal meant: it wasn't impossible to send Becky back, but in any case, this was a destructive activity, and the risks and costs were unavoidable. Perhaps it was better before, but now the "wall of reality" in the dream dimension had signs of collapsing, and even a goddess as capable as Raven 12345 was trying to plug the loopholes. At this juncture, if you were to open a hole in the wall and send people back… that was as dangerous as soldering a blasting cap or sawing a lightbulb.

"It's like trapping a wolf," Vivian said, leaving a sentence before leaving the kitchen with the pot of food, "Trapping a wolf is not a problem—as long as you're willing to part with the child."

Hao Ren chuckled dryly: he understood the principle of not being able to trap a wolf without giving up the child, but what was even more of a headache now was that he didn't even have a child to give up—this universe belonged to that five-digit goddess, and he optimistically estimated that the goddess would not favor one or two people in such a major issue involving the safety of the world.

Nangong Wuyue frowned and thought for a long time: "...Actually, it might not necessarily be a problem, right? The wall of reality is just fragile, not necessarily going to collapse. Sending Becky over might not affect the overall situation?"

The data terminal floated up and down: "That's right, it's a matter of probability, but even if we say it in the most optimistic way, there is only a one in ten chance that sending Becky back will punch a hole in the wall. Are you willing to take this risk?"

Hao Ren scratched his scalp: a nine in ten chance of being safe and sound, a one in ten chance of human extinction. This was a really difficult multiple-choice question.

"I suddenly remembered something: we can bring 'things' from the surface world in and leave them there, but why can't we bring people in?" Hao Ren remembered that when he went to the dream dimension before, Izhaks sold the "magic sword" he made to the locals. That magic sword was now left in the dream dimension in physical form, and it wasn't forcibly ejected when everyone "woke up." He was a little puzzled by this.

"Because individuals with intelligence have too much influence on information," the data terminal explained. "People think, observe, and constantly come into contact with and process information, and at the same time, they themselves generate information, and even multiply information through memory. A person is not just a few dozen kilograms of carbohydrates, but a tangled point of a large amount of complex information. Everything he has come into contact with, recorded, been curious about, and observed is linked to him on an informational level. A person's amount of information is limited, but the amount of information he 'involves' is terrifyingly large, and as long as this person is alive and still observing the outside world, the range of his involvement in the surrounding information will become larger and larger. Remember, information is everything—information also affects everything. An 'observer' has a huge and endless interference in the real world, especially the 'wall of reality' between the dream dimension and the surface world, which is more affected by this because it is in an ambiguous state and is easily affected by observers. And dead things, of course, have no effect: anyway, its amount of information is so small. No matter how strong the source of pollution is, as long as its intensity of harm is dead, it doesn't count as anything. The great cosmic will will easily digest it."

Among the crowd, a bullet is less of a threat than a drop of virus solution, because the former's power is always fixed, while the latter's threat will continue to grow and spread. This is the reason.

Hao Ren thoroughly understood this principle and spread his hands in frustration: "Would it be useful to turn Becky into a vegetable and send her back…"

The data terminal bumped his stomach: "Having a broad mind is a good thing, but if you have a big brain but you can't see your brain, that's a disease."

"Is there really no other way?" Nangong Wuyue held on to the last glimmer of hope, "I always feel like there shouldn't be no way to do this."

The data terminal thought for a while: "If you really want to say it…there is one way."

Hao Ren and Nangong Wuyue immediately stared at it intently.

"Find an existing 'loophole' that is a bit old," the data terminal said, "A loophole that is already open is naturally safe."

(It's my birthday, where's the promised red envelope!)