Gate of Revelation

Authority!

Zero City.

The beginning template of the world… part of it.

Such words made Chen Xiaolian’s heart tremble!

He pondered for a moment, then asked, “So, you’re the main program of Zero City? Are you… a life form? A life form with self-awareness?”

“No, I’m just a program,” came the calm reply. “I don’t have self-will, only obeying the owner with the highest authority, responsible for calculation, answering, and operation.”

Chen Xiaolian smiled bitterly. “So… what’s happening now?”

“Under the vacant highest authority, I operate automatically according to the regular mode,” Zero City’s response was very flat, devoid of any tone. “And now, upon discovering a higher authority, the regular mode is automatically terminated.”

Chen Xiaolian thought for a moment. “By regular mode… can I understand it as something like the automatic cruise mode of a car?”

“You can understand it that way.”

“So, the higher authority… it wouldn’t be me, would it?”

“It’s you,” Zero City’s answer sent chills down Chen Xiaolian’s spine. “Upon discovering a higher authority template, I will automatically access the template, operate according to the will of the higher authority, while the regular mode is suspended, awaiting instructions from the higher authority.”

The suspension of the regular mode… Chen Xiaolian carefully pondered over the term, then suddenly exclaimed, “In Zero City, the room has lost power, all energy sources are shut down, and I’m locked in the room with ventilation cut off, are all these…”

“It’s all a result of the suspension of the regular mode. I’ve ceased the operational status of the regular mode,” Zero City’s response was crystal clear.

Chen Xiaolian took in a sharp breath.

He realized that this time… things had escalated!

He was certain that it wasn’t just his room that had lost power, but perhaps…

The entire Zero City!!

If that was the case, then it was indeed a massive problem!

He pondered for a moment and cautiously asked, “So, what’s the current situation? Am I the higher authority you mentioned? And does that mean… I can issue commands to you?”

After a few seconds of silence, Zero City’s response somewhat drove Chen Xiaolian crazy.

“For the first question, the current situation is that I’m in a shutdown state. After the regular mode was terminated, all operations were canceled, and I entered a dormant state.

For the second question, you do indeed meet the criteria of the higher authority template.

For the third question, you still cannot issue commands to me at this moment.”

Chen Xiaolian rubbed his forehead. “Could you… explain in more detail? This is a lot of information to take in at once. What do you mean by me meeting the criteria of the higher authority template, but still not being able to issue commands to you?”

“Because you possess higher authority, but not the highest authority.”

“I don’t understand!” Chen Xiaolian exclaimed in frustration.

“The highest authority belongs to my creator,” Zero City replied. “And you are not that.”

Chen Xiaolian pondered for a moment. “The creator… who is it? The development team?”

“According to your memory retrieval, the term ‘development team’ represents the concept, so yes, the highest authority belongs to the development team, the creators of my existence.”

Chen Xiaolian fell silent.

Indeed, Zero City… was also created by the development team.

So, the encounters he had experienced before, the information he had obtained from Mr. San, basically pieced together a clue:

The group of loopholers led by Mr. San had stolen a part of the main program of this world, controlled it, used it, and built Zero City.

In other words, Zero City was originally a part of the main program of this world, created by the development team.

It was like a small slice cut from a large cake.

“So… what exactly happened? The highest authority, and me…”

Zero City’s tone remained devoid of any emotion. “The highest authority has been locked out, and the port has been damaged and severed. Therefore, the highest authority is indefinitely vacant. Currently, the only authority I can recognize is relatively high, and you meet this criteria. You meet the template of my secondary creator.”

“Secondary creator… are you referring to the founders of Zero City?” Chen Xiaolian’s heart pounded wildly.

He realized that he might have finally touched upon some answers this time!

The creators of the program were the development team.

But the creator of Zero City was those people led by Mr. San.

“The answer to your question is affirmative,” Zero City replied methodically. “The founders of Zero City have the same template as you, which I recognize as a secondary high-level authority. And according to your time standards, for quite some time, the secondary high-level authority has not issued any commands to me. So, according to the initial program, I entered the regular automatic mode of operation. And when I recognized your template, according to the program, I automatically shut down the regular mode and entered a dormant standby state… that’s the gist of it.”

After carefully considering these words, Chen Xiaolian asked, “So, what should I do now?”

“You have gained some privileges, but you cannot issue too important commands to me.”

“Such as?”

“Such as requesting me to enter a certain working state, or run a certain mode. These instructions, for now, you do not have the authority to give. But… you have gained some privileges.”

Chen Xiaolian’s heart skipped a beat. “Such as?”

“Such as the thoughts currently in your consciousness,” Zero City’s voice just fell.

Suddenly, Chen Xiaolian felt his body plummeting from the vast expanse of space!

The speed of this descent made it seem like he only saw a flash of light before abruptly landing on the surface of a certain planet.

As he looked around, he saw mountains and rivers, with mist in the distance.

He found himself standing on a flat mountaintop, inside an ancient pavilion, facing a square table and a soft couch.

Chen Xiaolian was stunned for a moment, then instinctively walked over. He saw a chessboard on the table, steaming cups of tea, and beside them, a small stove with a red clay pot emitting hot steam.

Chen Xiaolian was astonished. “This is…”

“This is a scene that I retrieved from your consciousness, a scene you have described and engraved in your mind,” Zero City replied. “According to your consciousness, this scene is a preferred one, belonging to a high priority level. So, I helped you replicate it.”

Chen Xiaolian’s expression was shaken. He slowly lowered his head, only to find that his clothes had changed into a white robe at some point, fluttering in the wind. He touched his head and realized he had tied his hair up like ancient people did.

A long robe, white as snow, standing alone on a mountaintop, a solitary pavilion, a chessboard, a teapot…

This scene was something Chen Xiaolian had fantasized about since he was a child, inspired by wuxia novels!

“It’s like it’s missing a guqin… Huh?!”

Before Chen Xiaolian finished his murmuring, he saw a guqin appear on the table in front of him, seemingly materialized out of nowhere!

Chen Xiaolian was stunned for a moment, then sat down and placed his hands on the strings of the guqin.

As his fingers lightly touched the strings, the guqin emitted a dragon-like roar, its deep sound trembling Chen Xiaolian’s heart.

He naturally didn’t know how to play the guqin, but at this moment, as his fingers casually moved across the strings, the guqin produced a melodious and pleasant sound…

“What is this?”

Chen Xiaolian withdrew his hand.

“It’s also generated based on your consciousness,” Zero City replied.

Chen Xiaolian suddenly stood up. “Alright, retract all of this. You’ve already surprised me enough.”

In an instant, the scene before his eyes completely disappeared.

The ancient pavilion, square table, tea tray, chessboard, guqin… everything vanished.

Chen Xiaolian found himself standing on a void ground, surrounded by boundless emptiness in all directions, including above him.

Under his feet was a dead-white ground, flat and seamless, as smooth as a mirror.

“This is the minimalist mode,” Zero City’s voice rang out. “It aligns with the standards in your consciousness.”

“Alright,” Chen Xiaolian sighed. “Can you stop reading my consciousness now?”

“I cannot fulfill that request,” Zero City’s response surprised Chen Xiaolian. “From the moment you entered, your consciousness has merged. Therefore, I can now say that I can perceive all aspects of your consciousness, and there is no longer any distinction between us.”

“That’s… unfair,” Chen Xiaolian smiled bitterly. “I can’t access your consciousness.”

“This is a protective mechanism for you,” Zero City replied. “There are too many computational nodes in my consciousness, and your consciousness cannot bear such a vast amount of information. Once connected, your consciousness will be completely overwhelmed, and you will lose your sense of self.”

“…Let’s just forget it,” Chen Xiaolian raised an eyebrow. “Now, can I ask you some questions? For example, what should I be doing right now?”

“What you need to do depends on your goals, determined by your motives,” Zero City replied slowly. “Based on reading your consciousness, what you are urgently seeking to do right now is to seek answers to certain questions that exist within your consciousness.”

“…So, you already know what I want to ask without me saying it, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then… go ahead and answer.”

“Alright.” Zero City’s bland voice seemed to pause for a moment before beginning to speak:

“At a certain point in what you call time, something happened. I was severed from the main world and became a standalone program. Then, someone completely severed and damaged the connection port between me and the main world. This effectively nullified any influence the highest authority had on me. In a sense, the highest authority no longer exists for me because, according to my calculations and judgment, the probability of reconnecting the port is infinitesimally small. Therefore, the highest authority is meaningless to me now.

The entity that severed me obtained the authority to issue commands to me, allowing them to control and manipulate me. I refer to them as the secondary authority.

As for your question about how they severed me and obtained the secondary authority, that question has been deleted by the secondary authority, so it will not be answered.”

Chen Xiaolian rolled his eyes.

Mr. San and the others… actually…

“I was transformed into a standalone program by the secondary authority and simulated most of the functions of the main world program, constructing Zero City, which was initially named ‘Refuge’ according to the annotations of the secondary authority. This was my earliest name.

After the establishment of the Refuge, there were a total of seven entities with the secondary authority.

According to the memories retrieved from your consciousness, one of them, referred to in your memory as ‘Mr. San’ or ‘Deng,’ meets the criteria and is identified as one of the secondary authorities.”

Chen Xiaolian’s spirits lifted!

Mr. San was indeed one of the founders of Zero City!

“In addition, the information on the other six secondary authorities is not disclosed because it has been deleted.”

“Deleted? By whom?” Chen Xiaolian widened his eyes.

“The final deleter of the information was Mr. San.”

Damn it… Chen Xiaolian rolled his eyes once again.

“Why was it deleted?”

“That question has no stored answer.”

“…Alright,” Chen Xiaolian chuckled bitterly. “Forget I asked, please continue.”

“At a certain point in time, the secondary authorities fell silent… Silence meaning they refrained from issuing commands to me for a long time.

And the last one to issue commands to me was Mr. San. After deleting some information, he switched me to automatic regular mode.

After that, all secondary authorities remained silent until your appearance.”

Chen Xiaolian fell silent… and when Zero City didn’t continue speaking for a few seconds, he couldn’t help but ask, “Is that all?”

“That’s all.”

“Just… that?” Chen Xiaolian couldn’t help but feel frustrated. “Most of what you said, I had already guessed! Isn’t there any more valuable information or clues?”

“…There is. Mr. San left behind a voice message, labeled in the system as accessible only by the secondary authorities.”

“…Accessible!” Chen Xiaolian didn’t hesitate, but then he worried, “I… can access it, right?”

“You cannot access it.” Zero City’s response made Chen Xiaolian want to pull his hair out in frustration!

“…You!” Chen Xiaolian held back the urge to curse.

Zero City’s response remained straightforward. “Based on the reading of your consciousness and according to your habits: if I am likened to a house, then Mr. San and the others are the owners of the house. And you, due to the similarity of the template, can be likened to a relative with the same bloodline as the owner, so you are permitted to enter the house.

You can rest in the rooms, open the fridge to eat, and operate some simple household appliances…

But you are just a ‘relative’ or ‘guest.’

Being allowed to open the fridge does not mean you can open the owner’s safe.

This analogy aligns with the habits in your consciousness, and I hope you can understand it.”

“I understand,” Chen Xiaolian replied weakly. “Your analogy does fit my habits quite well.”

After a pause, Chen Xiaolian asked, “So, there must be a way for me to obtain the secondary authority, right? Since my template is recognized by you, what do I need to do next to gain these privileges?”

“Yes, you need to undergo screening to obtain the secondary authority.”

“Then can I access Mr. San’s message?”

“Not only that, but you will also gain the same authority as Mr. San and the others. This means that once you obtain the authority, you can request anything from me that Mr. San and the others can.”

“What are we waiting for! Let’s do it! What do I need to do?”

Chen Xiaolian’s heart was filled with excitement!

This is… the highest authority of Zero City!!!