Ch3 - Backstage fans

Thank you for all the nice comments! Enjoy chapter 3~

The cold breeze gently blew, Bai Ruogu huffed in the palm of his hand, looking at the endless thousands of lights on the tall buildings. He rubbed his eyelids and then continued to walk forward. 

    The cold wind whistled past his ears, blowing the scattered hair on his forehead. “In this life’s Bai Ruogu’s” memory it had been thousands of years since he had passed…

    There was a faint light dancing in his eyes, his eyelashes covering half of them. He reached out to brush away the snowflakes that had accidentally fallen on his nose and looked overhead as he laughed casually. 

    The world of today no longer consisted of just the earth, but the entire universe.

    The earth and sky were vast, vast, and all-encompassing. In this universe, he was as small as a spec of dust, which could seemingly go everywhere, but to him…… it was so strange.

    Where should he, the Bai Ruogu of thousands of years ago, go?

  Did anyone who knew him still exist? 

    He smiled silently, shaking his head and walked along the snow-covered road. However, his hands on either side were clenched and far apart.

    Nothing, nothing…… 

    Although he was reborn, there was no one he cared about.

More importantly, the one who accompanied him all his life and guarded him, the times when they supported each other…. 

    Although Bai Ruogu bowed his head and smiled, his gentle eyes were involuntarily a little red.

    He coughed out and took a few deep breaths, his lips shook and then closed. 

    Did the person who made his heart pine for them, who made his heart grow, who made him think about them day and night, who loved him to his bones, his lover, still exist?

    He stopped, thousands of years in time had passed and what could be preserved? During countless disasters, ups and downs could that person have really overcome them? 

    There wasn’t any news of that person in the memory of this life’s Bai Ruogu, only the one time in history where all of network civilization was destroyed; this news struck his heart, his eyelashes trembled lightly, and a lump formed in his throat.

    Next to a self-service hotel, late at night, Bai Ruogu rubbed his face nearby, intending to stay there tonight. 

    His brain was in turmoil, after taking some deep breaths he calmed down.

    Maybe it wasn’t as bad as he thought. 

    Maybe on some unknown planet, that person still existed.

    They might have had an embarrassing appearance, probably stored in a worn-out hardware device. It would be hard for the other person to get close to the star network, and the two would just be unable to meet for a while. 

    At the thought of this he smiled and his body temporarily relaxed.

    No news was the best news, he would keep looking. 

After finding them, he would improve the other party and make his lover the most powerful artificial intelligence in the universe.

    The corners of his mouth gradually rose, before entering the hotel he suddenly raised his head and looked up at the star-filled sky. 

    The blue and mysterious universe was dotted with stars, and the distance was the difference between heaven and earth.

    The youth walked in, and the door closed. 

    The view from the ground perspective looked towards the sky which was full of twinkling stars.

    Deeper in that sky, there seemed to be a vague, gigantic human figure overlooking the entire planet. 

    –.

    The vastness of the universe was such that wherever there was a signal located, there would be invisible data weaving through space. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

    However, there seemed to be an invisible power that could clearly see the data and control it one by one.

Snfgs vlgfmalbc bo vjaj oibk kjr mjimeijafv. Vlweiajcfberis, ktlif bcf qlfmf bo vjaj kjr oislcu, rfnfgji batfg qlfmfr bo vjaj lcafgmfqafv lar qjat jcv agjqqfv la. Ktfgf kfgf jirb rfnfgji ylar bo vjaj yflcu vgjuufv lc atf bqqbrlaf vlgfmalbc. 

    Pc ogbca bo mbecaifrr rwjga ygjlcr, atfgf kfgf qfbqif vgfrrfv lc mbcmfjilcu mibatfr, rbwf ifjclcu yjmx lc atflg mtjlgr, atflg wbnfwfcar ijz jcv mbcolvfca.

They were the top talents of the universe. It was common to intercept and tamper with other people’s information and they thought that everything they did on the star network had no trace.

    However, they did not know that everything they did was clearly under the control of an invisible being. 

    It seemed the invisible being looked back and was able to attach its consciousness to its smart brain based on the path of data.

    Each person was equipped with a smart brain at birth, which was their identity card, life information, and a tool to communicate with the astral network. 

 A smart brain was small and could be worn on the wrist like a watch.

    They could go online at any time and look up things. 

    When the being focused its consciousness on its smart brain, everything about that man’s life, videos and photos at every age, and even his entire network of relationships could be seen.

In an invisible data space, the actions and expressions of the man at the moment were displayed entirely on a blue light screen. 

    The being seemed to not have any emotional fluctuations, manipulating data like any other machine.

    Simultaneously, hundreds of millions of blue light screens appeared in this invisible space all being monitored at the same time. 

    Each of the smart brain ports operated in an orderly manner, neither under nor overpowered.

There was suddenly a tiny bit of turbulence in the space that had been running unchanged for thousands of years …… 

 It was one of the many instances of monitoring being tampered with that had occurred over thousands of years.

    As usual, the owner of the space didn’t seem to be much bothered, numbly maintaining the order of the entire space. 

    The person controlling the signal outside thought he had hacked the monitoring and could do as much evil as he wanted. However, he did not know that on the surface, the monitoring was just an image, but the real appearance was clearly displayed in this space.

    At first, it was really no different from bullying, until …… there was a butterfly effect.  

    The angle and force of the peanut were just right, everything collided so coincidentally.

    However, according to the calculations of the being in the space, from the moment the peanut was thrown, its destination had already been calculated.  

    This made the aura of the space solidify for a moment, and it seemed as though there was a little sense of doubt.

    After a short while, a unique voice suddenly came from the end of the billions of smart brains. 

    “System, are you there?” His tone was flat as if he was unsure whether he would get a reply.

    The being in the space paused for an imperceptible moment and a blue-lit screen instantly appeared in the space  

The face was extremely familiar, it was the person who caused the butterfly effect before ……

    The being in the space focused its attention on the person’s face but stopped when it saw the person’s eyes. 

    Those eyes seemed to evoke some kind of memory, making it so that the being couldn’t move its attention for a long time ……

The speed of the movement of data in the space became faster; on the other side, the speed of the star network refreshed for a split second, causing the data to become slow and unresponsive. This caused a huge sense of incredibility among the people on the star network. 

Didn’t I buy an accelerator package recently?!

    The being in the space was gazing, constantly observing the man’s eyes. 

On the other end, the invisible camera attached to the smart brain incessantly recorded images, at a lightning speed the pictures flew into the database and began to continuously overlap and match themselves up.

    The similarity in appearance was indeed high, but the level of maturity was not enough …… 

    Bai Ruogu remembered the existence of the smart brain after the shower.

    He had forgotten some common knowledge, and the use of the smart brain was part of it. 

    He laid down on a sofa, a ghostly blue light shining on his face, and eyed the rising screen above, he suddenly opened his mouth and asked.

    “System, are you there?” 

    AI was everywhere in today’s era, he wasn’t aware of the capabilities of the smart brain, but as it was such an important tool, he was 90% sure there would be a voice that could answer him.

    Time passed quietly until an icy electronic voice suddenly cut through the quiet air. 

    The voice was very cold and rhythmic, with no rise or fall in tone from start to finish.

    “I am here, you’re welcome to make use of me, my host.” 

    The voice was obviously unfamiliar, but it made Bai Ruogu’s heart seize a little, there was some kind of indescribable weirdness.

    Facing this strange world, he wanted to ask something. But out of his inner vigilance, he could only pretend that nothing had happened and use the system as he did every day. 

    The blue light at the centre of the screen was flashing, and Bai Ruogu, who had been in the research field for years, instantly remembered that there might be a camera in the air. He immediately put his head down and acted more like a casual person.

    As he had the experience of his previous life, he deeply knew how powerful the calculation ability of technology could be, once he behaved abnormally, it could probably instantly calculate his identity. 

    Facing this “strange” AI, he slowly lifted his head and acted like he was relaxed and lazy, making seemingly skilled movements he casually asked.

    “How is the weather tomorrow?” 

    After two or three seconds of silence, the smart brain slowly responded, like a standard weather announcer: “Tomorrow’s weather is clear, the average temperature is 26 degrees, southwest wind, a good day to go for a walk.”

    Bai Ruogu nodded while listening, however, his thoughts were racing as he waited until the system finished to say a thank you. 

    The bright light continued to glow in the air and Bai Ruogu did not speak. When he noticed the bright light hadn’t gone out, he wrinkled his eyebrows and looked up with doubt in his eyes.

    The camera on the light brain easily scanned his facial expression and froze after interpreting the emotions behind it, the blue light instantly disappeared and the smart brain became quiet again. 

    The sense of prying eyes finally disappeared and Bai Ruogu breathed a sigh of relief.

    It finally left, he absolutely would not call out that thing again until he had thoroughly studied it. 

    Bai Ruogu then rubbed his somewhat tired forehead. Too many things had happened today, and his brain was a little tired.

    He pulled up the quilt and got into bed, falling straight to sleep. 

    However, he did not know that when he fell asleep the whole scene of the room was displayed on a big screen.

    The space was full of constantly flowing data, with the valuable data being repeatedly calculated. 

    A hoarse and indistinguishable mechanical voice kept ringing, the results of the calculations being read out.

    –46.5% likely to have amnesia. 

    –34.1% likely to have other personalities.

    –10.4% likely to be reborn or transmigrated. 

    -9% of possible other causes.

    There was a 0.001% chance that …… it was him. 

    A voice seemed to be raging in the space, continuously making noises. Large amounts of data became chaotic before being forcibly corrected.

    Part of the data experienced aftershocks, which was proof of the space’s suppression of powerful fluctuations. 

    Bai Ruogu thought he acted everything normally. However, he did not know that for these thousands of years others would not call their smart brain a system, but …… A Miao.

In the middle of the night, even though the space had become far less orderly than before, there was one thing that was still going on methodically. 

    In this profound universe, countless amounts of data were shuttling around.

    At the exact same time, many boys and girls were using their smart brains, with excited faces as they refreshed comments on the star network, topping up large amounts of money on it to support their idols on the leaderboards. 

    The annual rankings closed today, and they would fight to the death tonight to get a good position for their brother and sister!

    They watched the rankings of their beloved idols climb up step by step, excited beyond words, and gave strong cheers within their respective fan groups. 

    [Hurry up ah ah ah ah! We’re going to be in the top five soon, and we aspire to be in the top three tonight! Brother is counting on us!]

    [No problem! Dad just gave me a million star coins for pocket money, I’ll give it all to my brother!] 

 Holy crap, a wealthy woman is looking for someone to keep!

    [Hey, hey, hey! Students should not spend money, just refresh more comments ……] 

    Every family was leading in an orderly manner, many of the rich fans directly launched lotteries on the star network, and fans with connections even sought out some big VIP friends to draw traffic.

    Some fans observed the data while watching their own beloved idol’s rankings get higher and higher, their hearts fluttering with excitement. 

   Meanwhile, when they looked at the top spot in the ranking, their hearts shrank and they couldn’t help but smack their mouths.

    They rubbed their eyes and tutted twice. 

    What are you looking at?! The person in first place had been there for many years. This had not changed since the ranking system was first established, and was the same for all the major lists.

    There was no telling how high the numbers were behind this position. There had been countless rich people who had thrown millions of star coins at idols in second place and had not been able to see beyond it. 

    Boy, fortunately, the person was no longer around. As a matter of fact, if he was still here, he would have simply swept the entire interstellar off its feet, how would the others survive?

    They looked at the name at the top position with envy, at the same time knowing that their own beloved idols were not able to reach that height, they sighed. They could only have heart, not power. 

    Forget it, it was simply a legend. The goal in this life should be to win second place. Anyway, second place was regarded as the first in the eyes of everyone today.

    All kinds of names in the rankings were frantically scrolling upwards, yet at the top position of every list, whether it was the celebrity list, the most influential list, or the technological advancements list, it was always one name. It had never changed for thousands of years and had even become the default inside the hearts of countless people. 

    However, no one could have imagined that the reason why the person at the top could not be overtaken no matter what, was because they had the biggest fan behind-the-scenes ……

    All the money that rushed into the backend of the ranking system was condensed into data in a certain space, with a powerful intention the data was reused, and finally rushed into the score of the one at the top of each list. 

    The space seemed to have a rise in temperature and a surge of emotion.

    That emotion was fierce and persistent. Simultaneously, a rhythmic male voice echoed in all directions. 

    That voice contained a dazed excitement, each word carrying intense emotions.

    “All yours, no one is better than you, you are the best, the best ……” 

    The frequency was getting faster and faster, although interspersed with vibrations, the tone was still a recognizable, mechanical synthesized sound.

    The platform on which the rankings were hosted was built by the owner of that sound, and all the proceeds went to him. The owner had signed a contract with humans that stated they would not change any data on their own accord and would not use loopholes to indirectly reach the purpose of changing data. 

    He used all the money the star network users had topped up and used it all for that one person. The citizens of the star network were still puzzled, they didn’t know that the amount of money used by that one person was the sum of everyone on the star network ……

    The people who did not know the inside story were glad that that person was no longer alive, otherwise, their competitor would be so powerful that they’d sweep the entire interstellar.  

The people who knew the inside story were even more fortunate, fortunate that that person had died thousands of years ago, otherwise how much chaos would there be in the interstellar?