Chapter 208: Chapter 204: Countdown to Destruction
"Brain in a Vat" was first proposed by Hilary Putnam in 1981 in his book *Reason, Truth, and History*.
The basic theory is as follows:
A person (let’s assume it’s you) has been operated on by an evil scientist. Their brain is removed from their body and placed in a vat of nutrient solution that keeps it alive.
The brain’s nerve endings are connected to a computer, which feeds the brain information according to a program, causing it to have the illusion that everything is completely normal.
For this person, it seems that people, objects, and the sky still exist. Their own movements and physical sensations can all be fed to them as input.
This brain can also have memories implanted or extracted. It can even be fed code to make it ’feel’ as if it is currently reading an interesting and absurd piece of text.
In a sense, human existence is in service to our thoughts and the vessel of those thoughts—the brain. Our sensations are, in themselves, just various electrical signals received by the brain.
Or, one could say our cerebrospinal fluid is the nutrient solution, our cranial cavity is the glass vat, and every person’s brain is, in a way, a brain in a vat.
Yamaguchi Sora himself understood this theory. He had even once considered conducting such an experiment, turning someone into a brain in a vat. He never imagined this would become his own reality!
Yamaguchi Sora wanted to curse out loud but found he had no vocal system, let alone an auditory one. All he had were two lonely eyeballs, allowing him to see his own tragic predicament!
Even this ability to "see" was a gift from Shen Feng.
If the neural connections between these two eyeballs and the brain were severed, he would be plunged into eternal darkness, completely unable to have any contact with the outside world!
Now, with only a brain left, even suicide was completely impossible!
Yamaguchi Sora could only curse wildly in his own mind, cursing that Devil-like man, cursing his cruel and tyrannical nature.
"Yamaguchi, in my eyes, you’re nothing but a piece of self-pitying, self-righteous, and utterly inhuman garbage, waste, and scum."
Shen Feng’s voice suddenly echoed in Yamaguchi’s brain, transmitted through the electrodes and cables connected to it.
Yamaguchi’s thoughts calmed down from their initial rage and madness, and he "spoke" to Shen Feng via brainwaves:
"Kill me. All you want is the analysis of the Evil Spirit Virus."
After understanding his situation, Yamaguchi Sora figured out Shen Feng’s purpose almost instantly, as well as the meaning behind the dream worlds he had experienced before.
From beginning to end, those layers of dreams had only one purpose: to completely hypnotize Yamaguchi Sora’s consciousness and extract the analysis of the Evil Spirit Virus.
The other party was still trying to prepare a Healing Potion for the Evil Spirit Virus.
Now that he was in such a miserable state and the other party’s goal was achieved, the only thing that could truly grant him release was death.
But Yamaguchi Sora waited for a long time and received no reply from Shen Feng, as if he had already left completely.
He finally panicked, screaming incessantly in his mind:
"Come back! Mr. Shen! Kill me! Kill me!"
Still, there was no response.
Several Nanomechanical Robots nearby stepped forward and began to shut down some of the adjacent life support equipment, while also unplugging the lines.
This place seemed to be a hospital on the outskirts of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. Some of the equipment still bore the hospital’s name and serial numbers.
One Nanomechanical Robot opened the vat filled with nutrient solution and removed the electrodes and wires attached to Yamaguchi’s brain.
With that, he was completely cut off from the outside world, unable to receive any external signals.
All that remained were two lonely eyeballs.
"Mr. Shen, I’m begging you! Kill me! Kill me! Please! You can’t just leave! Kill me now!"
Yamaguchi screamed madly in his consciousness, but from the outside, he was merely a strange brain soaking in a vat of nutrient solution.
He looked just like a diseased brain specimen preserved in formaldehyde at a medical school.
Then, to Yamaguchi’s despairing gaze, a Nanomechanical Robot took several strips of thick, black tape and began to wrap them around the glass vat, layer by layer.
Seeing the light and the view of the outside world being blocked out bit by bit, Yamaguchi’s consciousness sank even deeper into despair as he screamed wildly in his mind:
"No, don’t do this! I beg you! SOB... Please! You can’t do this to me! You can’t do this to me! I’m begging you, kill me! Please—!"
He still received no response, only the endless layers of black tape sealing the vat, blocking out the entire world outside.
Soon, all that was left for Yamaguchi was endless darkness.
No sound, no light, no touch, no anything.
Not even pain.
Only the brain, sealed in endless darkness, with its imprisoned consciousness and screams that no one would ever hear.
And yet, he was so clearly awake, able to perceive his own existence.
This was simply the most terrifying punishment imaginable, millions of times crueler than the deepest level of Hell.
After all this was done, a Nanomechanical Robot transformed, completely encasing the glass vat in a solid metal shell.
Then, the metal room they were in began to shift like an ocean wave, sinking down into the earth.
Down there was the Gray Tide network that spread throughout the underground of East Japan, connecting to Hua Country via nanomechanical pipelines under the sea.
The vat containing Yamaguchi Sora’s brain would be transported through the undersea Gray Tide pipelines to a small courtyard on the outskirts of Hua Country Tai City.
On the second floor of the small courtyard, Shen Feng removed the signal transmitter connected to his head, his expression grim.
Jingwei, dressed in a maid outfit, brought a cup of tea over and said to Shen Feng:
"Didn’t you already get the analysis of the Evil Spirit Virus? Why are you keeping his rotten brain around? To make spicy fried brains?"
Shen Feng stood up and walked to the window. He rubbed his face, creased from lack of sleep, and looked out at the distant city as he slowly said:
"He has already killed tens of millions of people and could have killed eight hundred million more, or even all of humanity. I can’t let him die a quick death. Since he wanted to create a Hell, he can go to Hell first."
Although he now had the analysis of the Evil Spirit Virus, creating a Healing Potion for it was by no means simple.
Whether it was a serum or a chemical drug, it would require extensive testing to perfect. And humanity had less than a week left!
Right now, there were nearly eight hundred million potential carriers worldwide. Once the imitation Antiviral Serum wore off, these people would rapidly transform into bloodthirsty zombies and continue spreading the virus to the rest of the population!
At that point, human civilization would still be unable to escape its fate of extinction!
Jingwei clicked her tongue. "Tsk tsk, that’s true. But as an artificial intelligence, I still find it hard to understand humanity’s collective sentiment. Is it something like destroying half of my core data?"
Then her expression turned serious, and she said:
"The information on the Evil Spirit Virus has been sent to those players. Let’s hope they can find the final solution..."
Shen Feng nodded and said:
"I hope so, but I also have to prepare for the worst... I will do my best to cultivate the Gray Tide in the areas with the highest number of infected and make a decisive move when things get worse. I hope it will be useful..."
He then gave a bitter smile and said:
"But doing that would likely expose me directly to the Whisperer. Before, in Tokyo, I had the Master of the Void as cover. This time, I’ll have to reveal the existence of the Gray Tide to the whole world... With my current power, I’m nowhere near strong enough to fight the Whisperer. That’s an entity even the creators of the ’True Apocalypse Game’ are wary of... Perhaps this time, human civilization is truly doomed..."
Let the world be destroyed by eight hundred million zombies, or use the Gray Tide to stop the infection and then be discovered and destroyed by the Whisperer.
Perhaps this was the choice Shen Feng now faced.
After what happened in Tokyo, Shen Feng had become even more wary of the Whisperer, his heart filled with vigilance.
One had to remember, even an existence like the Master of the Void was intercepted by the Whisperer. It was easy to imagine what kind of being the Whisperer was!
The moment Shen Feng revealed the slightest trace of his true nature, he would be met with a torrential assault!
Even with a superweapon like the Gray Tide, facing an existence that transcended this Cosmos, perhaps even this dimension, was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
The Gray Tide’s power lay entirely in its scale. Shen Feng’s own body was his greatest weakness!
But regardless of the outcome, he had to take the gamble!
He could only hope that the medical elites would find a way to crack the Evil Spirit Virus soon, so he wouldn’t have to take that final step...
The appearance of the Evil Spirit Virus analysis sent the medical elites of the Salvation Army into a state of excitement.
They naturally understood that this was brought to them by the Commander!
Next, with the Commander’s tacit approval, everyone released the analysis to the entire world, causing a massive uproar. Then, the nations of the world began to pour all their resources into developing a cure for the Evil Spirit Virus.
Most of the general public was still in the dark, unaware of the time limit on the imitation Antiviral Serum’s effectiveness, but the upper echelons of every country were already in a state of extreme tension.
A few countries had even begun secretly constructing bunkers and selecting elites from all walks of life, preparing to initiate a mass evacuation should the global Evil Spirit Virus plague break out again.
After all, while zombies could be killed with weapons, the omnipresent virus was nearly impossible to guard against.
Moreover, even if a Healing Potion for the Evil Spirit Virus was eventually developed, it would still take several days to mass-produce it and inoculate every single person.
Subtracting the time needed for production and inoculation, humanity had less than two days left!
The remaining time was now being counted in hours!