Chapter 368: Veto

“This phenomenon is very strange. It’s as if… the brains of those newborns come pre-installed with a computer’s ability to organize and synthesize information. Every one of them is a genius. Theoretically, they could learn all the knowledge in the world in a single day!”

“But… a situation like that is detrimental to social stability. Mr. Pompey believed human evolution should follow a gentle and orderly process. The plan was to wait at least 150 years—until all the Digital Lives who arrived via Consciousness Upload had passed away—before lifting the learning restrictions on these ‘brand-new lives.'”

‘Oh?’

This was the first Jiang Ran had heard of this.

‘So that’s the secret behind it all.’

No wonder these newborns, created out of thin air in the Virtual World, had overloaded the servers Pompey had prepared to run for 30,000 years…

In terms of their life form, these newborns were indeed far ahead of their time. Their brain structure was far more advanced than that of primitive humans.

“No…”

Jiang Ran shook his head.

‘Actually, it’s already difficult to determine whether these new lives, born in the Digital World, can even be considered human anymore.’

According to Pompey’s ideal, this was indeed a species evolution akin to an ascension. If the potential of these new lives were completely unleashed, it was hard to imagine what level they would evolve to after 30,000 years.

A pity.

In the end, it was just an unrealistic fantasy.

No server could withstand these “data bombs.” If Pompey hadn’t deliberately suppressed them, the server probably would have crashed seven or eight years ago.

“Well, I’ll take it one step at a time. For today, I’ll start by downloading *Controllable Nuclear Fusion*.”

Jiang Ran decided not to bite off more than he could chew and start with this epoch-making energy technology. ‘Now Zhang Yang can’t call me an academic fraud, can he?’

Filled with anticipation, Jiang Ran put on the headphone-style helmet, took a deep breath, and pressed the confirm download button—

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The helmet glowed red, issuing an error alert.

“Hm?”

Jiang Ran froze and looked at the staff member.

“Did… did the download work?”

The staff member was just as baffled.

“What’s going on? Why won’t it import? I’ve been working here for so many years… this is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this.”

Then, the staff member took over and tried to operate it for Jiang Ran—

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The helmet glowed red again, and the computer screen displayed “Unknown Error, Import Failed.”

“Is the machine broken?” Jiang Ran asked.

“Impossible.”

The staff member frowned.

“The machines here can’t be damaged. But just in case… let’s try a different one.”

They subsequently tried two more machines, but they also failed to import the knowledge into Jiang Ran’s brain.

Jiang Ran was confused.

“What’s happening?”

“I have no idea!”

The staff member stared at Jiang Ran, dumbfounded, as if looking at a monster.

“This has never happened before! You… young man, are you… are you not a Digital Life?”

But he quickly shook his head.

“No, no, that’s not right. If you weren’t a Digital Life, how could you be here?”

“Young man, please stand up. Let’s have this young lady give it a try and see if it works for her.”

Jiang Ran obediently stood up, and Cheng Mengxue took his seat.

“I-I don’t want to learn this!”

Cheng Mengxue immediately deleted the *Controllable Nuclear Fusion* file, searched for and selected the *Rhine Cat Encyclopedia*, and giggled.

“Hehe~ This way I don’t have to strain my brain learning! I’m going to learn all about every new Rhine Cat product, story, and setting from the last 20 years in one go!”

Then, she put on the helmet and pressed the confirm button.

BEEP…

BEEP…

DING!

A crisp, pleasant tone sounded. The helmet lit up with a green light, indicating a successful transfer.

“Whoa…”

Cheng Mengxue’s eyes widened, sparkling with wonder as she slowly stood up.

“There… there are so many styles of Rhine Cat! And they’re all so well-designed!”

“A rice cooker Rhine Cat… Ahahaha, that’s hilarious! Who came up with this wacky idea? It’s so adorably ugly, I want one!”

Cheng Mengxue was already immersed in her own mental world, frantically digesting the *Rhine Cat Encyclopedia*.

Nearby, the staff member shrugged helplessly at Jiang Ran.

“Young man, you saw it yourself. Other people can download knowledge just fine. I don’t know why there’s a problem with you.”

“You should probably see a doctor, or go to the City Integrated Management Office for help.”

“Okay, will do.”

After thanking him, Jiang Ran watched the staff member leave.

The facts proved it: the problem really was with him. Since everyone else, including Cheng Mengxue, could download knowledge without issue, and he was the only one who couldn’t, there seemed to be only one explanation…

‘I’m not a Digital Life. My fundamental logic is different from everyone else here.’

But that just raised more questions, and they were even harder to explain.

‘Then… what exactly am I?’

Jiang Ran asked himself, but he couldn’t guess the answer.

It was the same old story. He still couldn’t figure out what state he was in, or what his makeup was, here in the year 2045.

There were many suspicious points:

1. In 2045, he still looked 19 years old, which ruled out the possibility of “soul transmigration.” Not to mention he couldn’t be found in the resident database at all, meaning he had died long ago in this world’s history.

2. This was the Virtual World, a world where only Digital Lives could survive. This, in turn, ruled out the possibility of “physical transmigration.” There was no way he could have stuffed his flesh-and-blood body into the network; they were things from two completely different dimensions.

3. Soul transmigration was impossible, and physical transmigration was also impossible, so what other possibility was there? It couldn’t be that in the instant the Positron Cannon activated, the worldline forcibly corrected itself or something… creating a version of him out of thin air that fit the current worldline?

‘Uh… not very realistic.’

It was just wild speculation, but with no evidence, it wasn’t very convincing.