The Grave of Information (3)
Marsha returned to the main point.
"Anyway, mining in this state is impossible. Even if you bore down four hundred eighty meters, finding proof tied to a specific time period down there is nearly impossible."
Shirone propped his chin on his hand.
'Fermi was right. This is really a gamble worth trying. If we could predict the future…'
A thought surfaced.
"What about that drug, Angel? Is there any other way to cure Emotion Sickness?"
Fermi said, "From the evidence I gathered, the World Health Organization never released a cure for Emotion Sickness."
It was a bleak report.
"But—"
Shirone swept his arm around, looking at the others.
"The Cell Buster happened, right? If Emotion Sickness had wiped out humanity, why would that catastrophe be necessary?"
"Listen to the end. Humanity wasn't annihilated by Emotion Sickness. In other words, it's not that they couldn't develop a cure—they didn't need to." Shirone finally understood.
"They abandoned emotions…?"
"Yes. Future humans developed an emotional system utterly different from ours. You know Giyorgi, yes?"
Shirone nodded.
"What you take from others isn't precious. If you live off plundered goods, Emotion Sickness won't manifest. Future humans own nothing—they simply take. In that state, true human unity would be impossible."
"That's just animals."
"Strays," Fermi corrected.
"But at least they're free from Emotion Sickness. That's what suffering leads to. And this is the end-of-era landscape humanity will reach." Fermi went on.
"The drug made from that information is Angel's Tear—Angel. It's a kind of hallucinogen. Why a drug? Because you have to lower human minds to the level of beasts."
Shirone fell silent.
"We went through countless trials to find the golden balance. Astronomical funds were spent just to build distribution networks across the southern continent. Accept it. This is reality."
"But… we can't report that."
The WHO couldn't announce that all humanity must become strays.
'No— even if they announced it, that wouldn't make it happen overnight. It's strict natural selection: those with emotions simply get weeded out over long stretches of time.'
Fermi was trying to stop that process.
'Angel's Tear.'
Shirone imagined an angel injecting a drug into a human arm and shedding tears.
Was that angel Fermi?
Or just a genius entrepreneur's knack for a dramatic product name.
He couldn't tell.
"There must be a way. Anyway, it isn't an incurable disease. Let's go down. Mine the whole thing."
Marsha shrugged, and Fermi—who exchanged a look with her—said, "I figured you'd like that. But how do we go down? Mukus keeps regenerating."
Shirone cast Hand of God.
"We'll excavate the search point. While I handle the Mukus, you can do the actual searching, right?"
"Mukus isn't a simple material. It's run by a Digitalra—a sentient quantum computer. If you remove a ton of Mukus, it'll refill that ton in an instant. It might pour back ten or a hundred times that amount."
Fermi raised a finger. "And one more thing: this is the world of information. Unlike reality, you can't throw massive manpower at it or set up large-scale works. We only managed to secure this mine by hiring an Undercoder specialist."
Marsha cut in. "Funny you should say that. We were talking about the same thing. As long as Mukus regenerates with a will, trying to mine it from outside is difficult—and dangerous."
"External methods, huh."
Shirone bit his lip and fell into thought. Fermi crossed his arms and rested his chin on his hand.
"A way to fool the Mukus…"
Fermi suddenly snapped his head up. Shirone turned to him in alarm. They spoke at once.
"A virus."
Marsha blinked. "Huh? A virus? Like a cold?"
Not wrong, but Shirone had a different meaning for virus in mind.
"A kind of program. It infiltrates the main system and corrupts data. If we could plant a virus in the Digitalra, mining would be possible."
"Attack it from the inside, then? But could it be done? They say it's an extremely capable machine."
"You only need to change a few small data points. For example, slow Mukus's regeneration rate…" Fermi said.
"Aha," Shirone added. "You could make it age faster or harden. We don't need to crash the whole system—just introduce tiny errors the Digitalra won't notice." Fermi asked, "Could that really work? This place is the world's end, but exactly because of that it's technologically superior. Who could make a program to disrupt a Digitalra?"
Fermi squinted one eye. "One person comes to mind. It's tricky—someone I'm not personally close to."
Shirone lunged. "Is that the problem now? Who is it? Take me to them. I'll convince them somehow."
"You?" Fermi had been staring at Shirone for a long moment, then suddenly puffed his cheeks and burst out laughing.
"Pfft!"
Shirone's ears flushed. "What's with that sneer? I'm offering to help."
"No, sorry. I just couldn't help picturing you—always one hundred percent serious—going to do that."
"What are you talking about? Who is it?"
"Hmm." Fermi calmed his chuckle, smiled, and said, "Have you ever heard of High Gear?"
A virtual memory zone opened.
Two bluish circles formed in the dark, and columns of light rose up. Shirone and Fermi stepped out of the circles.
"Where is this…?"
As Shirone looked around, Fermi walked into the darkness. "It's the exit reserved for Abyss Walkers. If I'd known about this earlier, we wouldn't have had to go through that hell."
"This is an exit?"
Shirone had only pressed the button on the pocket watch Fermi had handed him twice.
"It's one of Dream Star's new features. Press the button and you're sent into an Undercoder's virtual memory. It's like recalling a memory compared to reality, but it isn't a real memory—just a false memory created by the hallucinogen's effect."
"So I'm in a hallucination right now. And the person who developed all this is…"
"The Operator. High Gear's original designer and operator, and its number-one ranked user. They might not even be human—Undercoders can come in through Drimo, and mental transmission could bring someone from the edge of the universe."
"But you said they were a person?"
'Sharp one,' Fermi thought. It wasn't exactly a secret, but Shirone didn't like being called out.
"There are a few clues. Chiefly, High Gear's combat base takes human form. Non-logical forms are possible, but the balance often feels off. That said, certain stats can skyrocket, which makes it popular with enthusiasts."
"What exactly is High Gear?" Shirone's simple explanation so far had been that you modify your body in the virtual world and fight.
"You should see it for yourself. Explaining it won't deliver the essence."
At the dismissive tone, Shirone puffed his cheeks, but Fermi had the lead.
Now in the Undercoder's mid-layer, Fermi looked back at Shirone. "High Gear content isn't in the mid-layer. You have to go much deeper."
"Deeper? The Abyss?"
"Not that kind of deep—illegal. We call that place the Floor Coder."
If Omega had no memory of it, it meant the place was created after Shirone was born.
"Illegal? Who even cares about a place like that?"
"Mongin."
"Ah…"
"All Floor Coder content borrows modules from Drimo. It's a huge convenience for developers. You get sensations identical to reality, and even things that are hard to implement are auto-corrected."
The mystery of dreams.
"Most Floor Coder content is stimulating and decadent with poor polish. High Gear, on the other hand, is a masterpiece that takes all the Floor Coder's strengths. It's strict to enter—you need a Dream Star exclusive to Undercoder. If your sync is off, your brain will get shocked."
Fermi slid his hand into the gap between mirrors installed in the mid-layer.
"Information magic. Information."
A magic circle spun, a rectangular gap opened in the wall, and a red door formed.
Shirone watched from a step back. 'Not a mirror.' The differing communication protocol alone hinted at what kind of place the Floor Coder was.
Inside, they entered a corridor of chaotic branches lined with doors.
"Can we just go in? You said High Gear needs a special Dream Star."
"It's fine. This is what I gave you." Shirone's brow twitched.
"You knew it would come to this from the start?"
"Of course. You came with me into the Abyss before and gave quite a speech then. This is my first time in Floor Coder, though."
Fermi stopped and creased a smile. "Curious? Want me to tell you?"
Shirone scoffed and turned away. "No. I'd rather trust a version of myself I don't even remember than trust you."
"Ha ha."
Fermi stopped at a sliding door that could have come from a real-world castle.
"Here."
He opened the door onto darkness; Shirone followed. As it closed, the remodeled interior of a castle unfolded before them.
"—Welcome! To the playground of the entire universe—welcome to the battlefield of High Gear!"
Shirone looked around. Except for someone sitting at a distant counter, the place was uncomfortably empty.
"There's no one here besides us? I thought this was supposed to be a huge simulation."
"It's because it's the first-time link. The first person to link to High Gear can use tutorial content. Usually you go to a battlefield saved from before."
"I'm saying again, I didn't come here for this."
"I know. Still, it's good to know. Talking to the Operator is like plucking stars from the sky. If it's not a system matter, they don't do personal chats."
"You said they're a ranker—number one, right? Then I should just talk to someone in a battlefield or something."
"I'd like to, but they'll be on the opposing side." Shirone didn't see why that mattered.
"See? I told you the essentials wouldn't be conveyed. Anyway, I'm not personally acquainted with them."
"How do you even know, then?"
"The Undercoder's conditional auction market. You can't operate a world this precise without funding. I bought a lot of the Operator's items."
"How much?"
"Hmm. In real-world value, about two quadrillion gold."
Shirone's eyes widened. "What? Two quadrillion?"
"Ha! Why so shocked? You don't still believe money actually exists, do you?"
"Not exactly, but…"
"Anyway, the reason we took the novice link was to meet the tutorial manager. It's a transaction too—maybe they'll connect us to the Operator."
Fermi handled things swiftly, but Shirone still had doubts.
'…Why does it matter that they're on the opposing side?'