This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 36: Boundary War? Cognitive War
Nie Weiyang walked into the hall of the shelter.

Only now had he finally entered Vault 4701, but this wasn't the main part of it. According to the panoramic map of the vault accessible to administrators, it actually had four floors: one underground and three above ground. The main structure of each of the four floors was essentially the same: modular buildings arranged around a central hall.

Nie Weiyang found the room marked "Administrator's Office." It was located deepest on the third underground floor and not on most maps. He didn't rush to interact with the others, but took the elevator downstairs alone and quickly entered the administrator's office.

The office was located at the end of a separate tunnel. When Nie Weiyang approached, the sound of machinery running could be faintly heard, and the heavy silver door opened automatically.

The office is spacious and simple, without any ostentatious decorations, yet every detail exudes rigor and efficiency. In the center is a large solid wood desk, its surface as smooth as a mirror and its edges inlaid with metal edging.

There is a curved terminal on the table, and the wall on the left is an entire electronic monitoring screen, divided into dozens of small windows, silently displaying real-time images of key areas of the institute.

An intelligent temperature control system ensures a constant, optimal temperature, with the occasional faint sound of airflow emanating from hidden vents. The space is sparsely decorated, its only touch being a small biotope in the corner of the desk, housing a few unique fluorescent plants. These plants glow a faint blue-green in the dim light, adding a subtle touch of life to the space.

Nie Weiyang knocked on the ecological tank, which made a crisp sound, rippling the water, and the fluorescent flagella swayed gently.

"Take this away," he said.

'T-4701-AI' responded, and soon, a set of mechanical arms extended from the ceiling, neatly completed the disassembly work, and left Nie Weiyang's sight.

He stared at the scene, then turned to look at the surveillance footage.

There can't be only a few dozen cameras in the shelter.

Nie Weiyang seemed to be lost in thought. He did not act rashly, but sat down in an uncomfortable chair, opened the desktop terminal, and read the information of everyone in the shelter, including himself.

……

Nearly 12 hours later, Nie Weiyang finally closed the shelter's personal database and rubbed his brows.

The situation was worse than he had imagined. The disaster outside the shelter was indeed registered as the 'Boundary War', but it was not any of the previous ones he knew of.

Boundary War, this term represents a supernatural public disaster that has appeared many times in history, and each time it is a danger that endangers all living things, because the "boundary" here refers to "definition".

Or……

【Reality】.

To understand what boundary war is, one must understand 'defining reality and deconstructing reality'.

In human theory, the act of "definition" is an act that humans perform based on their own cognition. People try to capture the essence or core characteristics of a concept and transform it into an image that is easier to communicate and understand using some form of generalization.

But this risks reducing a complex, dynamic, multidimensional concept to a static label.

Real-world objects and concepts are often fluid, context-dependent, and have fuzzy boundaries. A rigid definition cuts off this richness, hindering deeper, more flexible understanding. Furthermore, things evolve; a definition that works in a particular historical period may become outdated or inapplicable in the future. Clinging to old definitions hinders the emergence and development of new cognition, new theories, or new phenomena, while creating the illusion of complete understanding. This false clarity can mask the underlying complexity, contradictions, and uncertainty of a concept.

Furthermore, defining what something is is also defining what it is not, a process that inevitably excludes some marginal or ambiguous cases or perspectives.

“Who has the authority to determine this boundary?” asked the human.

People have pondered this question for thousands of years, and with the advent of the Boundary War, it has found a temporary answer. "I have it, if you're not happy, keep it to yourself, or you'll die of frustration," the Boundary War replied.

The way humans think determines that if we think too much about these issues, we may fall from the trap of being defined and solidified into another trap of "deconstruction, dissolution and nothingness".

But Boundary Wars aren't playing games. They're designed to erode your perceived reality, altering the very definitions of the words you know. Words that once referred to A now refer to BCDEF, and A is then manipulated by them, with the rest of the world suffering no better. Boundary Wars alter reality, and these alterations are widespread and nearly permanent. Even if they are subsequently reversed, the traces of their influence remain.

But if you want to guard against it, you will find that it is completely impossible to guard against it - just like a word will have a problem of semantic dilution after being used too much, words like life and civilization, which are inherently fluid in nature, are themselves an endless war of boundaries.

When the meaning of a word is changed and the corresponding things in reality also gradually change, the thing it originally referred to is basically dead.

It’s like a person’s name, identity, life, and social relationships are completely replaced by another person, and no one remembers the former’s existence. Then the former is equivalent to being dead.

Even twenty years later, after countless setbacks in the Boundary War, humanity still couldn't figure out what had initiated this direct surgical operation on cognition and reality. They only knew that the purpose of the shelter was to preserve "things that remain unchanged," to preserve the sparks of the past, and to release them in some form later...

Homo sapiens has never triumphed. Homo sapiens has simply avoided destruction.

Every time he entered the shelter, Nie Weiyang's identity in the story was a complete combatant, and the issues revolving around those stories were at most questions like "technology", "art", "bloodline", "ethnicity", and "whose name is XXX".

And now, Nie Weiyang sat in the administrator's position, staring at the internal information of the shelter.

The screen displayed the core vocabulary being deconstructed in this boundary war:

【Emotional resonance】

This is one of the important foundations for communication and understanding between people.

There are at least four factions here, with their leaders in charge of security, logistics, medical care, and technological research, respectively. And everyone, including the leaders within these factions, is filled with hostility. Why?

Because people no longer know what true mutual understanding is.

...Everyone in this shabby place has a heart barrier AT stance! And he, Nie Weiyang, the second-in-command whose vision is slightly lower without his glasses, has to unite these people, survive the future disaster, and recognize his achievements as an administrator!

Even Nie Weiyang felt a bit of a headache at this moment. What was even more troubling was that he could see from the surveillance footage that Security Minister Kang Sen was walking quickly through the corridor towards the administrator's office.

The movement was so large that Nie Weiyang could tell with just a glance...

The other party was equipped with a gun.

　Don't worry, Old Nie won't be too soft on these people.

　　If there is no consensus, create consensus (Hey

　　The next chapter begins to create consensus (

　　-
　　It's so strange. If the setting is to release these two chapters at the same time, they will be released in reverse order. I was confused and spent a long time to fix it. I think the second update will be a little later in the future.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)