Ten thousand I am across the heavens

Lan Cheng opened his eyes, his vision blurred with tears, but what he saw was not another version of himself, but a completely different person. Most importantly, the person holding him was a girl, so much so that he almost forgot his sadness.

"You...you...you! Who are you?"

“I am you!” The female Blue City patted the head of the indebted Blue City and said, “When I descended, I took into account the special nature of this world. An emotional mentality will inevitably affect the psychological state of the group. Compared with men, female individuals are more able to maintain rationality when they are under long-term psychological pressure. Therefore, about one-third of the individuals descended through female carriers.”

Judging from everyone's current performance, this decision was correct. As a feminine individual, I was significantly more effective at calming the emotions of those experiencing loss than men. Therefore, we speculate that romantic relationships between the sexes may play a more important role in this world.

Moreover, people in this world are probably even more dependent on emotions such as family and friendship. The distortion of social rules may well be due to the absence of various emotions in a highly cybernetic society.

We ourselves are well-suited to serve as a pilot project to observe social structures that are better suited to this world.

But that's all for later. Right now, I need to take responsibility for your emotions. Come on, tell me what's bothering you.

Lan Cheng felt a chill run down her spine when her feminine self suddenly spoke in a coquettish voice, but when she saw the other person's clear and concerned eyes, she suddenly felt that it wasn't so hard to accept. If her other self had accepted the idea of ​​transforming into a person of the opposite sex to comfort her, what reason did she have to dislike it?

"It's a long story, and it all started when I was born into debt..."

The feminine Lan Cheng listened patiently to his story, holding his hand as if she could empathize with his emotions, sometimes clenching it tightly, sometimes trembling.

Under gentle words of comfort, Lan Cheng unconsciously recounted everything he had experienced. For some reason, he felt much lighter after speaking out, and the negative emotions that had been suppressed in his heart seemed to dissipate little by little.

It wasn't just him; the other Blue City residents were the same, gradually emerging from their predicament through mutual comfort.

Lan Cheng, who was in the best mental and external condition at the moment, saw that everyone was gradually calming down, and then began to explain in detail the conclusions reached after their previous discussions.

"This world is different from other universes. Our physiological structure determines that our emotions are much more sensitive and fragile. In the past, we could keep everything in our hearts and our feelings for each other were just unspoken. But here, we must speak out if we have grievances or difficulties. This is not only being responsible for ourselves, but also for the collective."

Sharing our feelings will become everyone's responsibility, and listening will also become everyone's obligation. The more vulnerable our emotions are, the more carefully we must protect them.

Physiological characteristics should not be an obstacle to our progress; what we need to do is find practical ways to overcome this psychological weakness.

Judging from everyone's performance today, in-depth communication is currently the best way to resolve each other's psychological problems. While the physiological factors that make us prone to emotional fluctuations may lead to unstable emotions and susceptibility to external influences, they also mean that positive emotions are more easily spread among us.

Ordinary comfort and hugs might not have been very effective for us in the past; we would have preferred to quietly adjust ourselves. But here, I think everyone has felt it too. We have unconsciously begun to rely on others and enjoy the feeling of being relied on by others. Because of this, even though we are currently very weak and can only offer limited positive help, we have still managed to calm most people down.

Therefore, after discussion, we believe that such large-scale collective communication and the widespread dissemination of positive emotions are as indispensable to this civilization as food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, and perhaps even more important than some of these. The existing social system clearly does not take responsibility for individual emotions, and this is precisely what we need to address.

The Blue City employees seemed to be deep in thought, and based on their own experiences, they gradually came to agree with this view.

"However, for now, everyone should focus on survival. For those who are in the worst condition, we will provide some material assistance as discreetly as possible to help everyone get through this difficult time. Only then will we have the ability to concentrate our efforts on major tasks later."

Lan Cheng, who was in debt, soon learned about the organization's subsidies for him, and couldn't help but feel a surge of warmth in his heart. In the past, even if he had this feeling, it was only temporary, but this time it made him feel a sense of belonging to this group. This also made him start to think about how the world had developed into the distorted state it is now.

If everyone could be more understanding of each other, without even needing to offer any real material assistance, but simply by releasing more positive emotions towards one another, this positive feedback would snowball, and the entire civilization would unite into an inseparable and close-knit community.

However, the reality of civilization today is quite different. A minority of people occupy absolute social resources, not only exploiting the material wealth of the vast majority of people, but also relentlessly extracting emotional value. People are becoming increasingly alienated and indifferent to each other, completely going to the other extreme.

However, this is not hard to understand. People cannot trust each other as absolutely as they do, nor can they understand each other as well. Ultimately, it is difficult to establish the core of unity in the first wave. The negative emotions transmitted by distrust lead to more hatred and deceit, creating a vicious cycle that makes it not surprising that things have developed to this point.

Just as if all of humanity on Earth could unite, cooperate, and distribute resources fairly, productivity would soon explode, easily satisfying most of everyone's material needs. However, the reality is that a small group of people will always extract surplus value from others in order to perpetually satisfy their own material needs.

Many things, even knowing that doing them in a certain way would benefit everyone, are prevented from achieving the best outcome due to a lack of trust between people.

Lan Cheng had always believed that great achievements couldn't rely on individual morality. Relationships between people must be bound by interests to establish a reasonable system. But this world seemed different. The value of emotions was greatly amplified, which was both a problem and an opportunity. Although the cost of maintaining basic social order had increased, a narrow path to a utopian world had opened up. After a night of conversation, Lan Cheng, who had been depressed, had unknowingly calmed down. And when they awoke, they received a transfer from their other selves.

When Lan Cheng woke up and saw the five hundred yuan in his card, a smile involuntarily appeared on his face. The collective hadn't forgotten him after all. Although it wasn't much, it represented a sentiment—a sentiment that wouldn't let any individual fall into depravity.

Lan Cheng needs to report to school today. He hasn't been to school for two weeks. If he doesn't go soon, he'll be expelled. The tuition wasn't cheap; if he doesn't go and learn about this world, and integrate into its intellectual circles, it would be a huge waste of this opportunity.

Lan Cheng quickly found Qi Sa's student registration card; only with this card could he enter the school. His original parents had spent a considerable amount of money to send him to this school, and a successful graduation would have allowed him to directly join Arasaka Corporation. It was clear that at that time, these parents were quite responsible and had extremely high expectations for their child. But after this incident, they were perhaps completely disillusioned.

Lan Cheng knew he would have to meet this body's parents sooner or later. But not now, because if he went now, he probably wouldn't even be able to get in the door.

Wandering through a maze of roads, navigating the cyberpunk-inspired night city with its towering skyscrapers, I noticed that almost everyone on the streets had undergone cybernetic augmentations. Some were even playing bizarre and outrageous games in motion-sensor suits. This might seem like a sign of a highly tolerant society. In reality, however, it reflects a society losing its ability to restrain individuals. The very cultural core that constrains civilization is undergoing a process of deconstruction, gradually crumbling.

Their school was located at the foot of the Aragaka Tower in the city center. Lan Cheng swiped Qi Sa's ID card at the entrance, and multiple alerts immediately popped up on the screen in front of him, showing that he had been absent from school for a long time and was facing multiple warnings.

These red warnings usually have a significant deterrent effect on students. But for him, it's really not that important. Those who are truly interested in learning and don't care about their background don't care that much. It's just that the vast majority of people aren't there to learn; they're more interested in a prestigious background and a diploma.

Otherwise, in the early 21st century, there were many top universities on Earth that weren't surrounded by walls or easily infiltrated, and no one would stop you from entering university classrooms. Yet, it was almost unheard of for outsiders to attend lectures every day simply to learn.

Lan Cheng genuinely came to learn, and didn't care much about how skipping classes would affect his resume. Despite a bunch of warnings, he walked in with an air of nonchalance.

"Hey? Isn't this that good-for-nothing who skipped two weeks of class just to go home and get glue?" As he walked down the street, a former classmate saw him and couldn't help but laugh.

Lan Cheng took a deep breath, pretending not to see it, but his emotions were already fluctuating. Thankfully, he had received comfort in the group last night, allowing him to release his pent-up emotions. Otherwise, after being ridiculed multiple times along the way, he probably would have already exploded.

However, not all the students were in the mood to laugh at him. In the classroom, one by one, the students took out their school-issued holographic glasses, put them on, and lay back in their seats, ready to listen to the lesson. Only the glasses the student next to Lan Cheng took out looked different from the others. They appeared to be of much lower quality. The student ID card hanging on his chest bore his name: David.

And this was one of the few students who took the initiative to greet Lan Cheng: "Is the motion-sensing suit really that great? You haven't come to school for two weeks. I thought you were going to drop out."

Lan Cheng looked at David, and memories surfaced in his mind. David, like himself, came from a poor family and a single-parent household. However, his mother had a decent job, which enabled him to attend Arasaka Academy. To save money, he bought pirated holographic glasses. They were practically brothers in misfortune at this school.

"Don't even mention it. I've broken ties with my family, and now I'm burdened with debt. All I think about all day is how to pay it off." Lan Cheng shrugged, a response that completely surprised David.

"Aren't you a pervert? You're actually thinking about paying off your loan? I thought you weren't coming to school because you were hopelessly addicted to the R18 Mewtwo movie!"

Hearing David's eager words, Lan Cheng pondered: "Mewtwo? That really is realistic, almost like being there in person. Don't you like the first-person perspective of Black Mewtwo the most? I guarantee my equipment is really realistic, the pain simulation is spot on. Do you want to give it a try?"

"Really? You're willing to let me use something so expensive?" David looked suspicious.

"Hehe, of course there's a price to pay. You know I took out a lot of loans to buy this stuff. If you just contribute a little bit of money to help me pay off some of my loans, I'll let you play with it. If you can get a lot of people to join, I'll even give you a discount."

Lan Cheng knew that it would be very difficult to pay off the loan by working on his own, so he decided to make good use of the equipment he had.

Don't be fooled by the fact that he just made 1,500 yuan yesterday by playing games with clients. This money is hard to earn. It depends on luck and requires a lot of mental resilience. Doing this every day, even if he has other ways to comfort himself, he could still have an emotional breakdown. Opening a business once every two or three days is already the limit under the premise of maintaining his mental health.

David hesitated upon hearing this. He didn't have much money and didn't like to spend it recklessly, but he really wanted to experience those holographic dreams. Many of them depicted the scene of a cyberpsychotic being killed by the terrorist mobile team when he went mad. These were just things to see with holographic glasses. Although they were exciting, they were still very different from the almost perfect simulation of all sensations in the motion-sensing suit.

After some haggling, Lan Cheng finally offered a price that David could accept. With the added benefit of discounts and commissions for bringing others along, David became even more interested. People at school might not be interested, since they were relatively wealthy, but David knew many street urchins who couldn't afford to go to school. They were idle all day, only thinking about seeking thrills, but they didn't have the money to buy good equipment, making them the perfect customers. If he brought a few more each day, he could basically recoup his own costs.

[To be continued]

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