171: Chapter 60 Who Am I?_2 171: Chapter 60 Who Am I?_2 ·
“As the experiment progressed, the environment for summoning my doppelgänger kept changing.
Two weeks ago, I attempted to call forth another self within a virtual reality created by high-precision equipment.
After substituting the world I knew with a fabrication made of zeroes and ones, the doppelgänger that appeared looked completely different from the past…”
Coincidentally, that was also the day the Colored Glaze Disaster struck.
The emergency energy switch test caused an unexpected turn in the experiment.
In conclusion, Xingli fell into a coma before merging with the doppelgänger, and the temporarily-separated doppelgänger received the main consciousness of this body.
Thus, the primary consciousness of Xingli’s existence became an energy life form created through the black box of superpowers, based on information—i.e., an Information Life Form naturally capable of manipulating information.
“My consciousness fell into a deep sleep.
You know what happened afterward.”
The Information Life Form possesses the ability to manipulate any environmental information.
At the moment of her creation, Qiluo became aware of the true nature of the doppelgänger experiment and of the researchers’ intention to erase her personality completely.
She decided to escape.
As a physical being, it was difficult for her to evade capture.
If she were to become a mere collection of environmental information, she would have to discard a great deal of personal information.
In other words, she had to abandon the definition of self—lose most of her memories.
The key to her existence between the virtual and the real, the pivotal point of being a life form, lies in having a clear self-awareness.
What kind of person am I?
Finally, the newly born Qiluo made a choice—
“So you gave up your memories and transformed into an incorporeal being to escape?” “Yes.”
“And that guitar is?” “It’s part of my will.
To use an analogy, it’s like the clothes I’m wearing.”
Qiluo concluded, “That’s all there is to it.
It’s nothing extraordinary.
Just a naive fool who got what she deserved due to greed and shortsightedness.”
After laying everything out in the open, the girl with pink hair became silent, waiting for the young man’s judgment like a convict facing trial.
The phrase “got what she deserved” fits her to a T.
She heard Gongsun Ce say.
“Then, is this outfit also a result of information manipulation?”
“I can see through normal information manipulation, but if I look closely—”
Qiluo shouted with a blushing face, “It’s not see-through!
These are the clothes I had when I appeared!!”
“I was thinking you could change the clothes yourself if you set your mind to it.”
“Why are you obsessed with clothes?!”
Gongsun Ce turned his head and said, “After all, you see, it would seem very impolite to ask if you could change your body, skin color, or hair.”
Qiluo, pressing down her dress, yelled, “That’s impolite already!
“You’ve finally slipped up.”
Gongsun Ce flicked his finger.
“Ow!” The pink-haired girl covered her forehead.
“If you were the Miss Xingli from before, hearing such questions you would have taken a more professional approach—warning me about sexual harassment, threatening to call a lawyer, and so forth.
Screaming ‘pervert’ like an anime character, I’ve only ever seen one person do that.”
“It’s a habit we shared…”
Didn’t the doppelgänger merge back into the same personality?”
The mechanism of the power remains unchanged.
Even though Qiluo suffered from a complex case of amnesia due to the experimental accident, now that all her memories have returned, it wouldn’t lead to a personality split.
A change of hairstyle dramatically altered her aura, and even her behavior and speech became different from before.
Such a transformation might appear at first glance as if she had switched personalities, but in reality…
Gongsun Ce concluded, “It’s all an act, right?
True to your reputation as a talented idol, your acting skills are indeed strong.”
Besides, you called your full name as usual when greeting people, and you gave yourself away right from the way you introduced yourself.
Qiluo was waving her hands frantically, her face growing even redder, “Don’t say it out loud ah ah ah ah!”
The gray-haired youth sat down on the other side of the pavilion.
“So, why pretend to have a split personality?
It’s not like after remembering your past you realized you weren’t as pure and flawless as you imagined and were instead filled with the worldly taste of fame and fortune, leading to despair and a simplistic division in front of others?”
It’s like announcing with a megaphone: Look here, everyone, this personality is the past me, and the one you met is the current me!
Don’t confuse the two!
He looked up at the girl’s expression.
Qiluo hid her face in her palms, it seemed he was right.
“Shouldn’t you be a little less childish?”
“I don’t want to talk to Gongsun Ce anymore…”
The girl curled up her legs like she did on the street, hugging her knees with her hands, resembling a pitiful little animal that had been driven out of its home.
“That’s quite a blow.”
“After recalling the past, I couldn’t believe if I was still myself.”
Qiluo murmured, “My appearance and physique are different from before…
my personality too, subconsciously I want to speak in the way I do now…
act in the way I prefer…”
“Even if I retain all my past memories, can I still claim that I am the same Xingli from before?”
He remembered a ship that only existed in philosophical discussions.
During its voyage, the ship suffered damage, and the crew had to replace its planks.
Over time, plank by plank was swapped out, until one day, someone asked.