C9

"Do you know …" Ms Mistie's tone was filled with mystery, "Do you know of any religious organization or social organization that believes that the entire real world is virtual, and the virtual world that we enter is real?"

"Ms Mistie!" She would always change the topic at the most crucial point, "Don't worry about any religious organizations, can you tell me if your father was … because he knew about the Miss Emma's past?"

"This religious organization believes that there are gods in this world, but they don't exist in this world." She took out the key and opened the bottom drawer. Inside, there was a small box that needed to be opened with another key, so it was obvious that there was something hidden inside that was quite confidential. "They believe that the real gods exist in the virtual world, and that people can communicate with them through the Access Chair."

"Heh heh," I really couldn't believe this nonsense. "So, before the creation of VR technology, there was no god?"

"Of course, in order to communicate with the gods, one must enter a state of non-self consciousness, which is similar to deep meditation. "Yes, it means he has forgotten himself." She continued with her nonsense and took out a holographic projection from the box. It was about the size of a fingernail.

"Is this a holographic projector?" I don't know if Mistie's family, which doesn't seem to be very familiar with modern technology, would actually have such a thing.

"My father believes that." Ms Mistie pressed the switch on the projection ball, and I saw a few weak images projected into the room. "He used the projection ball to record the scene when he was communicating with the gods in the church, but unfortunately, he was not accepted into the church."

I saw that there were a dozen or so Eloi Access Chair in the room. They were spread out in a circle with their heads in the center while their feet were extended outwards like a fan.

"The image was very blurry because my father had the projection ball hidden in his mouth. Although it can eliminate some of the interference later, it is still unable to get a clear image. You know that the projector needs a high-definition reflection to build the scene. I paid for some repairs. " I think that in these six months, Ms Mistie has really done a lot of things, and spent a lot of money, right?

I carefully observed the Access Chair again and discovered that their core cable seemed to connect to a mysterious hole at the center. This should mean that anyone who rode the Access Chair would be able to access the same virtual world.

But for what?

While I was thinking, I saw a door open and a bright light shoot in from outside, destroying the holographic image in an instant, and I could see a figure walk in.

"This should be the High Priest." The Ms Mistie explained, "You can look towards my room, there are 12 experiencers there. My father was among them, recording the religious scene with the reflection of a holographic projection. "

I looked in the direction of the door — it was the door to Mistie's father's room, and the holographic projection and the real world's objects were displayed together — and sure enough, there were twelve experiencers sitting there. I couldn't tell which one was her father, because the image was too blurry.

"Because the projection ball was hidden at the end. Unfortunately, the priest's words were not recorded. But according to my father's recollection, it was some missionary word he didn't quite understand. The general idea is that once we connect to it, we will have the opportunity to personally communicate with the gods. "

"Is that really the case?" Then I saw the priest pull out a column about ten centimeters long from his wide robe.

"This should be some kind of syringe." As she said, the priest held it up to everyone's right shoulder and paused for a moment. "My father said there was a kind of hypnotic fluid inside that would allow people to stop conscious activity."

"Is it similar to an anesthetic?" I asked.

She declined to comment. "Maybe. But what was unavoidable was that... My father swallowed the projectile just to be safe. "

"Swallow it?"

"If you lose consciousness, the projection ball will probably get stuck in your throat and cause you to choke, so you might as well swallow it. After all, it's not that big. "

"May I ask why your father took such a risk to record this religious ceremony?"

"I am not sure," Ms Mistie said as she spread out her hands. "But I believe that he is looking for an opportunity to meet with Mother, because you know that all the Gods claim that they are omnipotent. Even meeting the dead can be done. That's how Father loves Mother. "

But I don't feel love at all. I just feel a kind of deformed feeling that has gone beyond the meaning of my own existence.

"But my father probably didn't believe them, either, so he used a projector to record it. Their security is so tight that nothing extra can be brought in. "

"Well, it looks like your father is giving it his all. I knew that the projector ball would transmit the image in real time, so even if I swallowed it, I would still be able to record the previous image. "

"My father spat out the ball later on. Its core functions were not damaged, so after a simple repair, it can be recorded and placed on the hologram again." The Ms Mistie explained. However, this scene seemed to be out of sync with the conversation earlier, because we were previously discussing the inside story of some entertainment industry, but now we are discussing a clandestine photo of a religious organization's mysterious ceremony!

Perhaps she had also noticed my doubts, but she suddenly stopped her projector. "I'll stop here. Please take a good look at who that person is."

Strangely, the blurry image from before suddenly became clear on this frame, and I saw three men preparing to lie down on the Access Chair.

"My father opened his mouth once before he swallowed, so it was clearly recorded." Mistie explained, "Please look at that man, did you see his appearance somewhere before?"

"Let me see," the man placed one hand on the Access Chair and tried to lie on it. When I saw his face, I immediately thought of the photo, "This is …"

"It's obvious, isn't it?"

Although the picture was somewhat blurry, there were some features that were identical, such as the distance between the eyes, the large nose, and the sharp chin. Of course, if you combine these single elements together, you can see that they are similar.

Ms Mistie even ran a fuzzy program to compare the appearances of the two.

"The similarity is 99%. You saw it too." She pointed to the results of the operation. "In that picture, this boy was Miss Emma's former boyfriend — to put it this way. And here, in the mysterious ritual, he appeared again. "And the only connection between them is …"

"It's your father, Allen!" I exclaimed. At this moment, a myriad of thoughts passed through my mind. I didn't think that this normal live broadcast would allow me to see so many unexpected scenes — the cemetery, the inside story of the celebrities, the religion that promotes theism, and the most surprising connections between seemingly unrelated parts!

By this time, I had completely forgotten about the director's howls by my ear. I could almost hear him talking about the Access Rate again.

I tried to organize my analysis and said, "This man — let's call him X for convenience's sake. I want to follow your plan, X is Miss Emma's real boyfriend, but because Miss Emma became a big star, the film and television companies arranged for Quinn to be Miss Emma's boyfriend. Then X joined the religious organization for some reason — the mysterious church that proclaimed that God was in the virtual world. On your father's side, Allen once participated in an experience of the church in order to pray to God to see Mother again — or to revive Mother. I am not sure about that, but I can only guess at his thoughts. At this event, Allen saw Mr. X … "

"You're right!" "You finally understand this story: My father met Emma's boyfriend at an event, and Quinn is Emma's boyfriend to the public. So... So was Emma and my father still strangers? Is it just because Emma pushed my father down from the Greenbird Bay because a stranger had immoral molestation? "

Of course not! But I recovered some of my sanity after the excitement, and I knew I shouldn't have added subjective judgment to the live broadcast. Moreover, the incident seemed to involve the Eloi Company itself.

"Can you tell me the name of that religion?" I wanted to ease the tension. I didn't even dare to look at the comments from the VIP audience. I think they were shocked too.

"Call …" Ms Mistie closed the projection ball, "Sleeping Religion."

"Sleep …" Feel? Sleep? Does it mean I'm going to sleep? " I suddenly felt a little ridiculous.

"Sleeping, sleeping, teaching of the Church. It means seeking the presence of a true God in your sleep. " The Ms Mistie didn't feel it was funny at all, "This is what my father told me, that the gods promoted by Sleeping Religion exist in the virtual world, and the most basic condition for communicating with gods is the loss of one's will, which people can only do in their sleep. That's why the hypnosis fluid was injected before the ceremony. "

"I'd like to ask again …" I have a question that I'm not very sure about, "As we all know, Eloi Access Chair were not designed for the elderly, because their brain cell activity and level of communication were not enough to withstand the impact of the virtual world, so your father … How did your father get in? "

"I've never experienced it, I don't know, but I think the secret is either in the hypnosis fluid or in the virtual world of access. Maybe they're not connected to any virtual world we can experience. " She shook her head. "My father later recalled that he seemed to have some sort of dream in which he had friends he had once been close to. At the end of the dream, he even saw my mother."

"Your mother?"

"He doesn't know how to describe it. Just as one cannot relive a dream entirely, so my father said that he only felt that he had seen Margaret, but could not remember what they had said. "

"But the gods? What about the gods in the virtual world? "

"I don't know," my father explained.

"But in that case, Margaret would not be reborn, she would just be a disguise of a god."

"What's the difference? If God is omniscient, then even if he disguises himself as my mother, he really is my mother, because he is just like my mother. "

I don't think there's any flaw in her thinking. If a thing is copied to the same degree as the original object, then is there any need to distinguish between them?

"My father was an honest man," she continued to explain, "but in order to see his lover again, he could even sneak into this dangerous church."

"I understand, Ms Mistie," I nodded. "For my father's innocence and for your revenge, you are willing to do anything, right?"

Although she didn't have a clear answer, I saw the determination in her eyes. However, at this time, the director's words suddenly broke the deep and meaningful silence that should have existed at this time, "Mr Latimer, we have already communicated with the Eloi Film And Television Company before. Your next mission is to lead Ms Mistie to interview the Mr Quinn. He has already made his preparations and his car is already outside your house. "

After all, the Ms Mistie had said something that was not conducive to the company's positive image, and was even being watched by hundreds of millions of people (I think the number of Access Rate have already reached that number!), but … But why would the live broadcast continue?

Mr Quinn is already prepared? Was he prepared to defend himself?

At this point, I felt like I was on the side of the Ms Mistie — at least I hated celebrities who cheated their fans by hook or by crook and were protected by the VIP Act.