Chapter 359: Reverse Meme?

“Quantum Deity...”

Chen Chen whispered the name again. The name alone evoked a strange surge of confidence and power in Chen Chen. He raised his head and asked, “This means that there’s a quantum computer inside this laboratory?”

“By the current looks of it, yes.”

Little X answered with certainty, “According to my calculations, this building located in the Yellowstone National Park is reinforced with a ten-meters-thick concrete shell and enclosed with a lead Faraday barrier. The reason for doing so is to protect the devices inside from being disrupted by external electromagnetic disturbance. Apart from quantum computers, I can’t imagine there being anything else that would require a lead Faraday barrier to protect it from electromagnetic waves.”

“Lead Faraday barrier?”

Chen Chen’s pupils immediately contracted as he quickly made sense of it. “That explains the structure on the inside. In that case, is the central enclosed laboratory the main chamber of the quantum computer?”

“That’s right. The main chamber is suspended by the magnetic levitation equipment while a vacuum space is created on its interior. There’s a gap of seven meters between this chamber and the surrounding outer walls and a magnetic levitation elevator is used for laboratory personnel to access it. This is a true physiological partition.”

Little X reaffirmed. “This all points to a single possibility. The central levitating laboratory is where the quantum computer is hosted!”

“That explains why you couldn’t unravel the Federation’s trump card no matter how hard you looked...”

Chen Chen frowned. “But why is it that I couldn’t see anything resembling a quantum computer inside the footage you generated? Everything that could resemble it was substituted with a black mass instead.”

“Because I couldn’t predict its very existence.”

Little X explained, “In truth, the fact that it’s a quantum computer is only our speculation as well. Due to its ambiguous nature, there’s no way for us to prove its existence as of now.”

Little X made an example. “For instance, what can be predicted is the origin of every single concrete particle used to construct this laboratory structure. I can calculate the origin of every single gram of metal used, when it was built, and so on. That’s because these are natural progressions driven by the inertia of an initiative event.

“When it comes to predicting the other objects inside the laboratory, I can process the initial variables generated during initial prediction by using other events that have occurred in the same timeline as a point of reference. By treating it as a sequential program, I can easily obtain a conclusive outcome since I have the definite values of variables x and y.

“However, this algorithm proved unsuccessful when I tried to predict what was in the central section of this laboratory as all of the clues I’ve gathered couldn’t pinpoint what it could be. This means that it’s essentially camouflaged from my analysis algorithm. If it wasn’t for its surrounding objects giving away its existence, I may never have been able to discover it no matter how many times I reiterated this process...”

“Is that so?”

Chen Chen squinted his eyes and responded, “I think I understand now. The reason you can’t predict what it is should be because it’s a computer on the same level as you, is that right?”

“It’s highly possible.”

Little X agreed. “This is why I wasn’t able to find any signs of this particular computer no matter where I searched online. It appears that this is what the Earth Federation has up their sleeves...”

Chen Chen took a deep breath, a heaviness settling into his mind. “This means that the reason the Earth Federation was able to foresee so many crises is solely attributed to the predictive abilities of this computer that’s similar to yours. This machine can restore the past and predict the future using quantum technology?”

When Chen Chen thought of this, his expression grew stern. “Following that logic, wouldn’t our existence be predicted by this computer as well?”

“It’s possible. However, it may appear that they haven’t detected our existence for now.”

Little X explained after thinking about it, “If the Earth Federation were aware of your existence back then, they wouldn’t have allowed you to build your foundation in Namibia over all these years. There’s a slimmer chance of them just sitting by idly and watching as you grow your empire to the massive scale which it is at now.

“Besides, could anybody predict the existence of the USB drive in the first place?”

Chen Chen nodded ever so slightly when he heard the comforting claims of Little X. It was true, everything he had accomplished was a direct result of the USB drive and the USB drive was in essence a glitch in reality. Not only could it hold its dominion over heaven and Earth, but it could also instantiate objects from other realities. Something like this could not possibly be manufactured by mere humans.

It would even be fair to say that the USB drive was immune from the laws of causation and correlation. Could the existence of such an object be foreseen if it did not subscribe to such laws in the first place?

Upon considering this, Chen Chen steeled his heart and said again, “Apart from the reason you’ve stated, there’s another major explanation for why they haven’t found out about me — the primary purpose of this computer is to help predict whatever crisis the Earth Federation may face. This predictive operation is extremely memory intensive, so it doesn’t have the capacity left to consider myself as a decisive variable.”

“That’s true.”

Little X answered, “But it’s still dangerous enough as is. Once you grow stronger, the Earth Federation may focus their attention on you. If the Federation decides to temporarily suspend their operation and divert their resources on you, then you may become exposed. Even if the quantum computer cannot predict the existence of the USB drive, it might see an unidentifiable black mass just like how it was in my generated footage. That might be even more problematic.”

Chen Chen’s expression grew solemn. “Do you have any idea how we can avert this?”

“False information!”

Little X suggested. “A computer leaves behind traces on the Internet each time an operation is performed. This is how we perform predictions on one another. In that case, we can forge false information to throw off our opponent’s predictions. Once this false information threshold reaches a certain point, they’ll be deceived and arrive at a false conclusion.”

“But I take it that the success rate of this isn’t very high?”

Chen Chen considered for a moment before raising the point. “Putting it bluntly, this sort of information diversion is just creating external variables. In the grand scheme of the scale of the data, this attempt becomes almost meaningless. It may even leave us more exposed than we otherwise would’ve been. Besides, our opponents don’t need to know the particular details of what I have. They only need to know that I’m an outlier compared to the others.”

“That’s a good point, but I can’t come up with anything else apart from using this method,” Little X answered somewhat dejectedly.

When Chen Chen heard this, he began to pace around in a circle.

He had certainly never expected that the Earth Federation had a quantum computer hidden away all this time to forecast all potential crises. Furthermore, it turned out to be a hyper-advanced quantum computer whose origin was completely unknown.

There was a good reason that Chen Chen determined that this was a piece of vastly superior technology far ahead of modern technology. If this was any common conventional modern device, the Earth Federation should not be running out of memory any time soon and should be able to keep it running at maximum efficiency at all times. In that case, the quantum computer should have discovered the USB drive on the very day Chen Chen had obtained it. It would not have taken them until the current day to discover it.

Therefore, Chen Chen concluded that the computer had to be kept running around the clock, fully dedicated to preventing whatever crisis the Earth Federation may face. The machine carried the weight of humanity on its shoulders. It would be unreasonable for the Earth Federation to repurpose for anything else, especially not for predicting some entrepreneur from the Mainland.

This was why Chen Chen had been given the leeway up till now.

However, as Chen Chen continued to grow his empire and expand the influence of Blacklight Biotechnology, it was only a matter of time until he would be targeted. This was unless Chen Chen decided to suspend his efforts and cease all future development.

The possibility of being exposed could only trend upward so long as Chen Chen continued to gain traction.

When putting it in this perspective, everything he was doing now was as good as dancing on the tip of a blade. He always assumed that he was an invisible, impenetrable entity lurking in the shadows. It appeared to him now that he was nothing more than a prancing jester. In front of a true supercomputer, the little snark brilliance he had displayed was almost meaningless...

Everything that you had done or would ever do could be predicted by this supercomputer. There was a saying in the Mainland — that it was wiser to not feign ignorance in anything you do, for a holy deity watched over us all.

“As far as humans are concerned, a supercomputer like this that can calculate everything and predict everything that’s to come is pretty much the equivalent of an all-knowing deity...”

Chen Chen reflected. He then took a deep breath and suddenly lifted his hand. The black diamond ring on his right ring finger with the Blacklight Biotechnology logo carved into it suddenly popped open, shooting out a transparent NZT-48 pill into Chen Chen’s mouth.

Chen Chen gently swallowed it and closed his eyes.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

Thirty seconds later, Chen Chen slowly opened his eyes. In a split instant, a passage of time streamed past the river in Chen Chen’s eyes. It was tranquil and peaceful, so clear that its bottom was immediately visible but at the same time seemed to assume the form of the deepest abyss in the world. His eyes became two unnatural ponds, stupefying anyone who dared to look into them...

Chen Chen once again entered an indescribable state at this moment.

“It’s not difficult to solve this problem...”

Chen Chen chuckled suddenly. He gently stretched out his right hand and flicked upward. A delicately designed poker card glided across his palms as he did so.

The poker card was transparent and carried a translucent texture like a piece of jade. Etched on it were traces of pure gold, mysterious patterns. As it danced on Chen Chen’s palm, it constantly glittered with ambient, translucent light.

Meanwhile, Chen Chen declared patiently, “We haven’t lost. Matter of fact, we have the upper hand in this situation. Don’t forget that there’s one trump card that we haven’t played.”

“You mean...” Little X had a slight inclination of what Chen Chen was talking about but hesitated in answering as she was uncertain.

“Memetic effect.”

Chen Chen began to explain, “Little X, I’m sure you understand this as well. Regardless of how powerful the quantum computer is, the very foundation of its operation still requires it to gather information. If it cannot gather information, would it be able to deduct anything regardless of how powerful it is?”

“Theoretically, that’s correct. But how does that play into our strategy?” Little X questioned.

Chen Chen answered with a slight tilt of his head. “The computer shares a similar characteristic as the USB drive, being that both of them are entities that surpass common sense. However, it doesn’t boast the unique advantage of having access to E language. In that case, we can make our move by taking advantage of memetic technology.”

Chen Chen described while pacing around, “Of course, what we’re trying to achieve isn’t to destroy the Earth Federation using memes. Instead, we’re going to reverse the memetic effect to simulate a new special memetic effect.”

“Is that achievable?”

Little X was startled. What Chen Chen was describing was something that even she had next to no knowledge of.

“Don’t forget that this is the inherent ability of E language.”

The corner of Chen Chen’s lips turned up into a smirk. “Do you remember? I’ve mentioned that E language cannot be memorized by humans because the divine civilization added a ‘key’ to E language. This key is an ‘encryption’ that serves to encrypt the underlying messages. It automatically deletes all information related to it from the human mind.

“This phenomenon is, in essence, a form of memetic effect. A meme is a representation of a singular unit of information while a memetic effect represents the transmission of such information. Consider this, the substances of the world are classified into matter and antimatter. In that case, couldn’t information be classified as ‘information’ and ‘anti-information’ as well?

“The memetic effect which E language carries is a testament of the existence of ‘anti-information’. Does this mean that we can camouflage the information of our existence if we can discover the roots of this ‘anti-information’?”

“That could be it!”

Little X exclaimed. Although in terms of computational abilities, she was countless dimensions ahead of humans, but her cognitive processing abilities were still several worlds behind Chen Chen. It was only after being enlightened by Chen Chen when Little X was able to achieve an epiphany.

“As it is, I shall name this ‘anti-information’ as — antimeme!”

“Antimeme?” Little X echoed the phrase.

“That’s right, antimeme it is.”

Chen Chen nodded confidently and drew a deep breath. “So from here on, our primary task is to further our research into the E language to help us gain a deeper understanding of the memetic effect. We’ll find the basis of the antimeme and once we’ve discovered it, we’ll forever have the high ground over the Earth Federation’s quantum computer.”

“The problem is I only managed to gather a few excerpts on the nature of the memetic effect during the 500-person large-scale experiment we conducted on Gantz Island.”

Little X sounded slightly troubled. “If we want to further our research into E language and memetic effect and extend our study into the antimeme you spoke of, we’d need to expand the scale of the experiment by several hundred or thousand times...”

“Then we shall proceed with the experiment.”

Chen Chen declared, “The development of science and technology has always been riddled with sharp thorns and edges. It’s inevitable to have to walk along the borders of destruction.

“From the ancient times when mankind first controlled fire to their first mastery of the use of energy for the first time, this development continued until the genesis of modern nuclear energy. Mankind has stepped into the dangerous period of civilization since.”

Chen Chen whispered, “This is considered a normal observation. With the development of science and technology, weapons similar to nuclear energy and even more powerful weaponry are constantly emerging. These are artificial viruses, antimatter, and memetic effects... These weapons are easily a hundred times more dangerous than nuclear weapons. However, when have you ever seen any countries deciding that these technologies are too dangerous for what they are worth and decide to seal away any relevant studies and cease their research efforts?

“It’s impossible. Humans want to continue to progress and will not suspend their progress just because these subjects are deemed too dangerous. Such complacent actions will never be permitted.

“To be complacent is to become stagnate and this stagnation will quickly translate to society. A society that remains stuck in place will soon lead to the self-destruction of mankind. Therefore, for humans to continue to evolve, technology has to evolve continuously as well!

“Simply put, mankind and its society have progressed to a certain decisive point where not advancing is equivalent to a death sentence!”