Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 103 Thought Seal
[Topic: Water is highly poisonous]

Hines emerged from the brain analysis room and, under everyone's gaze, calmly picked up a glass of water. Just when everyone thought he wouldn't be able to drink it, Hines took a small sip.

"Can't you swallow it? If you can't swallow it, just spit it out," Keiko Yamasugi said anxiously from the side.

Hines shook his head and swallowed it with difficulty.

The next moment, his stomach cramped violently, forcing him to reflux again. Mixed with burning stomach acid, he vomited up the mouthful of water.

“Paper, paper…” Hines’ lips trembled, his eyes wide open.

Keiko Yamasugi handed over a dry towel and gently patted her husband's back.

After wiping away all the water stains with a clean towel, Hines, panting heavily, began to speak:
"The water is poisonous."

“Hiens’s perception has been altered.” Luo Qing stood aside gloatingly.

"Honey, how could water be poisonous? The human body is 70% water."

Hines turned pale upon hearing this words of comfort. He said to his wife, "I can't accept this fact. Why would the human body contain highly toxic water? What's the difference between this and being filled with sulfuric acid...?"

Keiko Yamasugi looked at Luo Qing with pleading eyes.

“No need to trouble Professor Luo, I can do it myself.” Hines stood up unsteadily and glanced weakly at Luo Qing: “I will use my willpower to change this misconception. In the meantime, if I become dehydrated, please knock me unconscious and give me an injection of saline solution to replenish my fluids… I am asking you to inject me with poison, preferably without my knowledge.”

"Are you sure you don't need my help?" Luo Qing pulled out a spirit sword from somewhere. This was one of his few magical artifacts, and it was also a quantum-state spirit sword, but Luo Qing had forcibly dragged it out of the macroscopic world.

"The human soul, or rather, human thought, should involve the quantum realm, rather than the molecular realm that makes up neurons. Changes in cognition are also based on the quantum realm. If you want to reverse cognition through personal willpower... that's probably very difficult."

Luo Qing had already witnessed the power of the thought imprint. This thing was far more domineering than the mind-bewitching spells of demonic cultivators, directly affecting the cognitive level.

“But I have a way.” Luo Qing brandished his longsword, a cold aura blooming on the blade, the sword almost seeming to come alive: “My sword is called the ‘Heart Tribulation Sword.’ As the name suggests, it can give rise to inner demons, or it can sever them. Just give it a light tap on your head, and you’ll be back to normal, hehehehe.”

Everyone could tell that Luo Qing's laughter sounded strange.

“No need.” Hines looked at the sharp blade and took two steps back. “Being cut by you looks more painful than being poisoned by water.”

Upon hearing this, the Heart Calamity Sword hummed, seemingly somewhat displeased.

Luo Qing was also unhappy.

"Alright, then you'll have to try to overcome it yourself." Luo Qing clicked his tongue and regretfully tossed the sword back into the quantum world.

...

Two months later.

The Wallfacer Hines announced that his Wallfacer project had failed.

The world doesn't believe it.

The world not only didn't believe it, but it also caused a lot of amusement.

Hines had no choice but to frankly admit that his plan was to improve human intelligence. The brains of modern humans are not fundamentally different from those of humans 5 years ago. However, it is precisely this primitive brain that limits the speed of human civilization's development. To fight against the Trisolarans and break through the interference of the sophons, higher intelligence is naturally required, which in turn requires accelerating the evolution of the human brain.

Unfortunately, although Hines is a neuroscientist, he remains pessimistic about the possibility of improving human intelligence. He believes that the current level of life sciences and gene technology is far from sufficient to modify humans themselves.

In this situation, Hines settled for second best and began to study how to improve human "thinking ability".

Research on improving thinking ability still faces difficulties. Human thinking ability is essentially an external manifestation of self-awareness, which has been proven by modern science to exist at the 'quantum' level.

The quantum realm is one of the technologies locked down by sophons, therefore, his plan could not succeed.

Hines spoke very sincerely on television.

But the world still didn't believe it. Hines had anticipated this, stating that although his plan had failed, he had unexpectedly created a byproduct in his research into methods to enhance human thinking that could change people's beliefs.

This byproduct has been proven effective through experiments conducted by another Wallfacer, Luo Qing, as well as by Hines and hundreds of volunteers.

Byproducts can alter human cognition.

[Ideological Imprint]

This name was a new name that was discussed during a private meeting between Wallfacer Hines and Chang Weisi.

The existence of the thought imprinting device was quickly made public, and when humanity realized that it was indeed a machine capable of changing human thought, the world was plunged into a huge vortex of public opinion.

Strangely, the attitudes of online public opinion and official public opinion are completely different.

—

"Depriving humans of their free thought is a machine of evil!"

"Are you planning to build a giant tower in Antarctica next?"

"Brothers, after ghost enthusiasts, cultivators, and spellcasters, the most sinister Wallfacer has arrived."

"Rediaz, give it your all! I want to see Nuclear Boy."

"This one is Yuri reincarnated."

"So what does this have to do with my monthly salary of three thousand?"

"The person upstairs is amazing. They can still earn 3,000 yuan a month after more than ten years of deflation. The basic wage in our area has been reduced to the 1990s, and it's only a little over 200 yuan."

"Rich guy V me 50".

"Is the Vadashi ideology imprint real? Can I be a sweet and soft girl now?~"

"This is about changing perceptions, not changing gender!"

"Please spread this quickly, I want to change my mindset... I'm fed up with my current decadent life."

"Where's the Wallbreaker? Wallbreaker, please save me! I don't want my mind implanted..."

"You're overthinking it. You can't afford this device. It's obviously designed for the elite."

"I have a question: if the thought imprint doesn't match reality, won't the human brain have internal conflicts between the left and right hemispheres, causing it to crash or freeze?"

"Probably not, but it will be a long period of suffering. For example, my beloved wife, Kanna Hashimoto, got married. This was unacceptable to me, and it took me a long time to accept reality."

"Upstairs, does Kanna Hashimoto know she's your wife?"

"Governments around the world are conservative, and I suspect that the promotion of the idea imprint will encounter enormous resistance."

—

Unlike the serious public opinion environment of the world in the first year of the Crisis Era, after twenty years of development of Internet technology, humanity has entered the post-information age. In this era, the official attitude represented by traditional media is difficult to gain the recognition of netizens.

In 2027, internet culture flourished, with postmodernism, abstract art, and magical realism permeating internet thought, and "fun-loving" individuals dominating mainstream online discourse. Consequently, public acceptance of the "ideological imprint" was exceptionally high.

In contrast, the responses from governments around the world have been much more conservative.

This special session of the General Assembly and the Wallfacers' Reporting Conference will be held under these circumstances.

(End of this chapter)