Chapter 89: The Brain-in-a-Vat Plan

Glancing back briefly at Suction Cup, now locked in a fierce battle with Little Black, Feng Qi turned and sprinted toward the Star City Shelter without hesitation.

He didn't know how long Suction Cup, even with her partially recovered strength, could hold off Little Black. Every second she bought was precious, and he couldn't afford to waste a single moment.

He had to make the most of her sacrifice.

"He~tui!"

Feng Qi: …

After running for about ten minutes, he arrived at the shelter's entrance and stepped inside.

The metallic corridor sloped steeply downward, leading him to a massive underground plaza.

At the plaza's center, a large screen still glowed brightly, with flashing lights dancing across the control console. Everything appeared to be in working order.

Feng Qi approached the console and looked at the screen in front of him.

It displayed Mo Fei's email messages.

Previously, he had only skimmed through part of the archive, stopping when he came across the photo of Suction Cup and Wei Wei interacting. Little Black's sudden arrival had forced him to abandon the rest.

Now he planned to continue where he'd left off, combing through the emails for any crucial information while skipping trivial matters.

One message from Mo Fei caught his attention:

"An idea just hit me. Didn't you mention having a special ability that lets you read memories? What was it called again? Nightmare, right? I think you're not using that power to its full potential."

"You see, every time you enter the Dream Realm, you rely on email to piece together what happened and what your future self experienced. The information you get is incomplete, and you could easily miss critical details."

"More importantly, this method of leaving messages has inherent risks. You use an anonymous darknet email, with the address changing every six months based on the last four digits of your ID. Sure, it seems like only you and I can access it, but there's still a slim chance it could be exposed."

"Imagine this scenario: after you enter the Dream Realm, the you in the original timeline gets mind-controlled. Your secrets would be completely exposed, and the email system would become a tool for the enemy to mislead you. The consequences would be catastrophic."

"If your Nightmare ability is as powerful as you claim, this problem could actually be solved at the root."

The next part described a bold solution that left Feng Qi stunned.

"I came up with a plan inspired by the 'Brain-in-a-Vat' hypothesis. The core concept is to extract your brain after you die, preserve it in a nutrient solution to keep it alive. When you enter the Dream Realm 1,500 years in the future, you can use your Nightmare ability to access your own preserved memories. Essentially, you'd relive everything your future self experienced. This way, you'd know exactly where things went wrong or if your future self was compromised."

Feng Qi was momentarily speechless.

"Your friend is a real wild card. This is downright genius! By preserving your brain, you could directly access your future memories. That's leagues better than relying on emails."

"Wouldn't that make my future self's existence unbearably miserable? It's practically a fate worse than death."

"Just bow and apologize every time you visit the future. It's not a big deal. Future you will forgive you."

Feng Qi: …

He continued scrolling through the email as Mo Fei elaborated on the plan's feasibility.

"If your Nightmare ability is as potent as you say, this plan is definitely viable. However, it hinges on solving two critical issues. Without addressing these, the Brain-in-a-Vat Plan can't move forward."

"The first issue: How do we keep your brain alive for 1,500 years? This would require an advanced nutrient solution and a highly precise device to house your brain, protecting it from external factors like earthquakes or natural disasters."

"I suspect the answer lies in the future's database. Current technology can't meet these requirements. If you can retrieve detailed data, I can help you develop the necessary nutrient solution and precision storage device."

"The second issue: How do you ensure the storage device ends up in the Star City Shelter, so you can retrieve it 1,500 years later? We'll already be long dead by the time the shelter is constructed. Solving this will require a trustworthy successor to carry out the task. Your account credentials could also be entrusted to this person to ensure the plan's success."

"If both issues are resolved, the rest becomes simple. After entering the Dream Realm 1,500 years in the future, you'd just head to the Star City Shelter, locate the storage device in the iron chamber, and use your Nightmare ability to access the memories within your brain."

"This would allow you to uncover everything your future self experienced, even if they were compromised. You could also learn more about the enemy forces manipulating you, as they'd believe you were completely under their control."

"Of course, this is just a precaution. The chances of your email being exposed are minimal. Ultimately, it's your decision to make."

"If you do gain the infinite memory ability you mentioned, make sure to bring back knowledge related to technological advancements. Flesh and blood are limited; mechanical ascension is the way forward. Pouring all your effort into cultivation studies may not be the best route. Technology has its own unparalleled potential."

"Mechs, warp-capable starships, armies of automated production machines—you cultivation fanatics will never understand. Machines are the true romance of real men."

Reading the last remark, Feng Qi couldn't help but sigh.

Mo Fei, despite his age, still acted like an overgrown child, stubbornly clinging to the belief that technology was the future.

"Sidekick, between a purely technological civilization and a purely cultivation-based one, which do you think is stronger?" Feng Qi asked, curious.

"How would I know? Advocates for both sides make strong arguments, but neither can convince the other. Humanity hasn't reached the peak of either system, so most debates rely on speculation."

"Tech enthusiasts talk about things like two-dimensional weapons and wormhole-based transport. Cultivation supporters counter with reality-altering speech arts and immortality. But no one's actually seen the ultimate form of either path."

"When people debate, it's all about imagination. For example, technological civilizations might throw a two-dimensional foil at a cultivation-based one, but cultivators could counter with a move like 'Opening the Heavens,' splitting the singularity into a whole new world. And if you think I'm wrong, show me proof!"

"It works both ways. Tech supporters can cite causality-based weapons, capable of ignoring time flow to intervene in timelines, erasing cultivators before they're even born."

Feng Qi sighed.

The explanation made one thing clear: until either system reached its zenith, there was no way to determine which was superior.

The debate essentially boiled down to whose imagination was more creative.

Since it was impossible to reach a definitive conclusion, Feng Qi decided to stop pondering the matter.

For now, he would focus on the cultivation path.

Developing technology required an immense accumulation of knowledge. A seemingly simple innovation often concealed a vast foundation of underlying research.

Without infinite memory, pursuing technological advancement was simply impractical.

He couldn't even remember the code for The Savior, let alone grapple with more complex technological theories.

Cultivation knowledge, by contrast, was far easier for him to handle.

It wasn't that cultivation lacked complexity. On the contrary, it was just as intricate as any technological system.

However, the complexity of cultivation was front-loaded during its creation phase.

Developing a cultivation method required extensive exploration, trial and error, and countless failures. Even after completion, a series of safety tests were essential.

The human body, composed of approximately 50 trillion cells, was more complex than any existing technological instrument.

Cultivation growth stemmed from exploring and optimizing the body's potential. The process of developing a new technique was arduous and intricate.

But once created, the learning process for students became exponentially simpler.

Like a machine, once built, it required only the push of a button to function. Yet building the machine itself was an incredibly challenging task.

Right now, Feng Qi was merely transcribing established cultivation techniques. The process was straightforward.

Testing, refining, and ensuring the safety of these techniques had already been done. All that remained was to use them.

Compared to this, pursuing technological progress presented an entirely different challenge.

In technology, the answers weren't the focus—it was the process and reasoning behind them.

Copying cultivation was like copying the answer to an equation. But copying technology required understanding every step of the equation itself.

This was why Feng Qi chose not to focus on technological development for the time being.

Recording technological knowledge was far too mentally taxing without infinite memory. Attempting it now would be a form of self-torture.

After closing Mo Fei's email, Feng Qi turned his attention to the surrounding iron doors of the underground plaza.

Before he began recording more cultivation techniques, he decided to open a few more doors. Perhaps he would find Mu Qing's remains or stumble upon other significant discoveries.

"Oh, it's blind box time again! Last time, you got a tadpole hunter weapon. Wanna guess what you'll pull this time?"

"Hopefully a forehead-flicking gadget. Once I'm strong enough, I'll pull you out of my body and use it to flick your forehead a thousand times," Feng Qi retorted, rolling his eyes.

"..."